JAKARTA - Indonesian women's singles coach Herli Djaenudin said Gregoria Mariska Tunjung's condition was so exhausted that she was physically exhausted against South Korean representative An Se Young in the 2022 Australian Open final at the Quay Center, Sydney, Sunday.
In his trip to the final, Gregoria had to undergo a three-game match when he faced Japan's Saena Kawakami in the quarter-finals and Han Yue from China in the semifinals. Herli said his team even vomited after his match against Han, Saturday.
"Today Gregoria (energy) has run out. His fatigue has not recovered. He can't keep up with the opponent's speed. In the first game he can still (match), but the second game has run out. So he made a lot of mistakes himself," said Herli, quoted from Antara, Sunday.
Gregoria, who for the first time penetrated the BWF World Tour final, lost two straight games 17-21, 9-21 to An Se Young in a 36-minute match so she had to settle for just being the runner-up to the Super 300 level tournament.
Even so, according to Herli, Gregoria's achievement to reach the final in Australia was the maximum result when his condition was still not 100 percent recovered after participating in three European tournaments.
"Gregoria has not fully recovered from the jet lag from the European tour. The condition is already up. The slow leg movement can catch the shuttlecock. We still have to be grateful for this result," said Herli.
Gregoria also said she had been very exhausted in the previous two matches. Even though he lost, he was still happy with his achievements in Australia.
The badminton player ranked 19th in the world said that his exhausted physical condition made him unable to get out of the opponent's pressure in the second game. Meanwhile, An Se Young's performance was even more excellent than the first game.
"The previous two games, I admit, were really tiring and in the final I couldn't get out of the pressure," he said.
"That's because the return and the quality of the opponent is very good. When I got the opportunity to take points, I couldn't wait and died myself," he added.
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