“I should be angry,” Ajla Tomljanovic faces turbulent questions with admirable calmness as she knows “the dream is not over yet”

Ajla Tomljanovic's AO 2024 dream ended at the ends of Jelena Ostapenko.

“I should be angry,” Ajla Tomljanovic faces turbulent questions with admirable calmness as she knows “the dream is not over yet”

Ajla Tomljanovic (Credit: Tennis World)

Day 5 of the Australian Open brought a lot of disappointment for several players. From Elena Rybakina to Emma Raducanu, many dreams got crushed. Among them is also Aussie player Ajla Tomljanovic who was making a comeback after a year. She lost to Latvian player Jelena Ostapenko in the second round.

The previous year, Tomljanovic suffered a major injury on her knees and had to go through surgery. Due to this, she could not participate in the AO. When asked how she felt after sitting for almost 12 months and then facing a revival only for it to be cut down short, the Aussie replied that her emotions are right now underwhelmed.

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As the match just happened, it will take time for her to process the feeling, her feelings are a bit mixed as per her. Although she did admit that she should be angry given the match results. She shared at the post-game interview:

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I feel like I should be angry, but I'm really chilled because it didn't feel like I did something crazy wrong. I actually feel like I can learn a lot from this match.
Ajla Tomljanovic said

Even though the AO 2024 journey ended quite early for her, Tomljanovic considered herself lucky that she is able to be on the ground and play, and also it’s not exactly over yet for her. The Aussie is still in the doubles round of the tournament. She is playing alongside Daria Saville and the pair has reached the second round of the tournament.

I already kind of in my mind excited about the next tournaments. I'm really hungry just to keep playing because my body is holding up well, and I'm super happy about that. I'm still in doubles (Daria Saville), so the dream is not over yet.
Ajla Tomljanovic added

Ajla Tomljanovic gets thrashed in the second round

The second round of the match was pretty easy for Jelena Ostapenko. Ending in a three-setter, the Latvian defeated Ajla Tomljanovic on her home court. In the first set, Ostapenko was unstoppable and broke the Aussie in just 19 minutes.

Jelena Ostapenko (L) and Ajla Tomljanovic (R)
Jelena Ostapenko (L) and Ajla Tomljanovic (R) (Credit: Fox Sport and The US Sun)

The second round brought some hope for Tomljanovic as she tried to maintain a score of 3-2 after the Latvian missed a serve. She then blasted a forehand winner on her third set point to level at a set apiece. The match was now standing at 6-0, 3-6.

In the decider set again, Ostapenko went all dominating on Tomljanovic and took the point to 4-0. Tomljanovic, geared herself up and went ahead to win four games subsequently, but the Latvian showed her tenacity and won the match with 6-0, 3-6, 6-4.

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