A player dropped into a full split to reach a wide ball, and the camera caught her with both legs extended flat on the hard court surface, racket stretched to its maximum reach. The athletic flexibility is impressive. The expression on her face — a mixture of determination and the dawning realization that standing back up would be a separate athletic event — is even more impressive.
Split retrievals happen in tennis when the ball lands far outside the player's normal range. The decision to attempt one requires a split-second calculation: can I reach this ball, and can I get back up before the next shot arrives? This player calculated yes on the first question and did not calculate the second one at all. The ball came back over the net. The return shot arrived. The player was still negotiating with her hamstrings about the standing-up part.
