What's the phenomenon behind a player not able to close the match?

[crisulu]

Hello,

I hope to open a serious topic and let's leave rigged discussions aside.

I want to discuss and see other's opinion and facts of what happens when a tennis player -and generally sports- that has a lead suddenly throws up.

I take yesterday's example of Minella Mandy. She played really well, won the TB in the first set and kept a lead in the second one. However, when she was winning 1-5 she suddenly changed attitude. She didn't provide the same gameplay and her opponent managed to win the set 7-5. I admit that I had a ticket on, and for the moment I was really pissed off and my first thought was "Nuts! Rigged!". This phenomenon happens quite often, for example Nur Sultan was mostly like this, in almost every match there was a chock at some point where the winner lost 3+ consecutive games, even lost the full match. Fortunately, sometimes the losing opponent indeed changes tactics and get's better and better, a well deserved comeback.

But I want to focus on the ones that just... stops playing as before when they are in their last games. I find it to be really unfair and unprofessional. I can understand the psychological pressure behind, also the mind can induce a player to stop focusing when they are about to win, that's justifiable but still impacts the objective competences of the player. They are other times when I personally think that the winning opponent just tries to fix the score for himself/herself, not for any external influences. For example a player can play psychologically on the opponent, inducing confidence and a hope to just kick his/her nuts when the score is equilibrated again. I also think that in other situations a player just tries to see her/his competences under stress by giving up lead and see how they manage to win when the score is really close. I find this to be unsporting and bad both for the apparent winner because it puts at risk the victory, which like most sports, it's competitive and you have to win and also because it's not a real satisfaction for the opponent to do a gifted comeback.

What is your opinion about all this, my thoughts and matches where the winner kinda stops being focused at victory line? What are some objective facts that could explain such situation?

[maybe998]

not sure anyone can answer that, but its not uncommon for sports matches to be fixed from the start, especially unpopular sports like tenis, table tenis and so on, which dont get quite as much attention. It could be psychology, but idk how that factors in when u have a 1-5 lead like in your example. I try to stay away from unpopular markets such as you exampled here, but these things happen all the time, so its just how the cookie crumbles in the ages of sports betting

[nagakhoa]

I believe I have placed over 2000 bets on Stake's tennis markets, and I freaking love it when what you've described happens. Just like Djokovic's historic comeback this year against Tsitsipas, these are the things inherent to sports. Stories of underdogs overcoming adversity against all odds are inspiring and poetic.

As for myself, winning or losing one bet doesn't make a big difference . I manage my bankroll and diversify value bets, rather than going all in. So even if I lose money, I'm happy to know that an athlete just went through an once-in-a-lifetime experience of his/her life that he/she can look back 30 years from now and be happy about it.

[Sankebab]

Psychology is really important in sports. One of the keys

[hiawc]

Its Wta so u know this happens often

[Ri19za]

Is the key for itlol

[casinogambler]

You see it even in team games, like football. Common to have matches play out as a "game of two halves". Mentality, psychology. A decision could change something drastically, or sliding doors moments could suddenly outcome the entire swing. Should happen more often in individual sports like tennis I guess.