Martina Navratilova: Agnieszka Radwanska was a special player who overachieved
Martina Navratilova has hailed Agnieszka Radwanska as “the most creative player of her generation” and believes she overachieved because of it.
The Polish star announced her retirement last week at the age of just 29 due to injury.
Radwanska reached number two in the world and played in a Wimbledon final in her career, but Navratilova says that was due to one very special quality.
“Agnieszka Radwanska was a contradiction,” Navratilova wrote in her wtatennis.com column.
“She was the most imaginative and creative player of her generation, and yet so risk-averse that she had a really hard time trying anything new on the practice court.
“She didn’t want to miss, not even in practice.
“That was why she didn’t like to hit the ball hard when she felt she couldn’t control it.
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“I worked with her for a few months and, on the practice court, she was happy playing it safe.
“When most players practise, they are at their most imaginative and creative – they do stuff that they wouldn’t normally even try on a match court.
“Radwanska was the total opposite. In matches, she would hit shots on the fly that she had never done in practice.
“When she had to be, she was the most imaginative player there was.
“In matches, Radwanska would play the shot of the day, the shot of the month, the shot of the year.
“I think she made the highlight reel more often than any other player on the WTA Tour.
“She was quick on her feet and quick with her mind.
“Looking back at her career, you would probably say she overachieved – it’s hard to accomplish as much as she did without any weapons, though you could say that perhaps she could have hit the ball a little harder.
“Tennis will miss Radwanska a lot. She was one of a kind, and there aren’t too many who can say that.”
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