How convinced was Roberta Vinci that she stood very little chance of beating Serena Williams in the semifinals of the US Open? She says she called her travel agent to book a flight home based on her expectation that she would lose to Williams.
Vinci spoke with the media after her three-set win over Williams in the semis and shared the tidbit about her travel plans.
Here is a transcription of what she said via Tennis-X:
ROBERTA VINCI: Yesterday I called my travel agency to say, Okay, book me a flight, because you know… (Laughter.) And then now I have my final tomorrow. So it’s incredible, yeah.
Q. So you had a flight booked to go home?
ROBERTA VINCI: No, no, no, tomorrow. Because I played on second I don’t want to do quick. So, okay, I lost today against Serena and tomorrow I will go home.
Q. What time was your flight scheduled for tomorrow?
ROBERTA VINCI: Um, 10:00 in the night. So maybe I can… (Laughter.) Maybe I can, eh?
Vinci did note that her flight was scheduled for late Saturday night, so she did leave herself some margin to actually reach the finals, but it’s clear she expected to lose.
The finals match is not scheduled to start until after 3:00 p.m. She won’t have much time to celebrate if she does pull off the victory. Either that or she’ll just have to reschedule her travel plans.
