Karolina Muchova And Coco Gauff Played A Tiebreak Neither Will Forget

Nervy tennis is so rich.

It can contain both the worst of the sport (in a technical sense) and the best of it (in a narrative sense).

You can witness breakdowns in routine strokes, diseased shot selection, and facial expressions that indicate a horrible geyser of bile into the esophagus.

But you'll also see the bravery of a player who is flagging, hurting, and still playing gorgeous tennis from a land beyond conscious thought.

Rarely will there be tennis nervier than the third-set tiebreak that decided Thursday's Wimbledon semifinal between Coco Gauff and Karolina Muchova, and would have advanced either player into her first final at the tournament.

The two women had traded the first two sets, each won with roughly equivalent ease, and danced cagily all the way to 6-6 in the third.

Between points, Muchova clutched at her right side with a wince; in press afterward she diagnosed it as a stitch, said she "couldn't catch a breath," and was trying to massage it away.

Despite coming out flat, Gauff elbowed her way back into the match with her usual stamina, opportunism, and guile; she looked fresher going into the deciding frame.

They proceeded to play 22 points so entertaining, with career-defining chances earned and squandered by both players, that I had to run back the tiebreak as soon as it ended in Muchova's favor.

Why not do it together?