A. Jaeger - I lost '83 Wimbledon final on purpose

Any time you're on the field/court of play, you do your best to win.

Anything less is a display of contempt for yourself, your opponent, and the game.

And to come back 25 years later and claim you were blitzed in a match (which from all available evidence, you probably would have lost decisively anyway) because you decided you wanted to lose, does the same thing.

Andrea Jaeger has some issues. From all appearances, she appears to be happy and content and doing good things as a nun, and good for her. She had a very good career, and it was prematurely derailed by truly significant injuries., not drugs or dope or anything else.

Yet every few months or so, you read a story about her, and almost always, there are a few graphs in this vein -- more or less pumping herself up to be better than she was, or inventing boogeymen to explain why things went wrong.

 

VERY self-serving statement.

And the timing's ludicrous.

 

She night not have tried in the match at all, or got behind early and in her mind "threw it" or just gave up, quit.

But if so, she did it because she thought she had no chance to win. Martina would have beaten her badly anyway so it's BS. Getting whipped all over the court and then coming back a couple decades later and saying Oh I meant to lose that, isn't anything to take serious.

 

You know what?

Martina Navratilova is so honest, in-your-face and competitive, that I think she would have seen right through someone who was really intentionally trying to lose a Wimbledon final against her and would have called them on it.

If it had really happened.

Jaeger may have not cared much, herself, whether she did win, or not. She may not, in fact, have played her best and to her full potential that day. But that happens to athletes. It happens to everybody. You're not at your best every day, every time out.

She may have thought she'd hurt/bothered Navratilova, and so, was trying to be nice, or, she may have been upset about a run-in with her father.

But she did the best she could on that day, and Navratilova, obviously, did way better. Martina won, fair and square, with no help from Jaeger.

She just didn't need it.

I doubt there's anyone who would think that she did.

 

She's a nun! Whether she described it as completely accurate, that's for her mind and demons to figure. But I don't think she's making something up to get publicity, or to sell a book.
Again, she's a nun!
Whatever you think about organized religion, there has to be something pure about this "confession." Just has to.

 

Uh, no, there doesn't.

 

I've pretty much lost faith after 30-something years of Catholicism, but I'm going to chose to believe that Andrea's calling led her to attempt to set the record right here. However she remembers it, I don't doubt it's what's real to her right now. Some lucky British journo just happened to ask her the right question. Andrea probably has other things she'd like to get off her chest from those days, but maybe needs prodding. I have a friend who became a nun at age 35, after living quite the wild-child life, and she reminds me of Andrea in this case. What they remember might not be completely correct, but it is how they process it now.

 

Interesting she kept her name after becoming a nun. Most who join an order adopt a new first name to reflect their new life.

Modern nuns don't wear the habit outfit except in formal settings.

 

A confession is between you and your priest.

Running to the newspaper to claim that you lost because you didn't give your all is not a confession. And it's hardly nun-like. What purpose does it serve if it's not self serving?

 

What principle is there in hollowing someone else's victory?

 

WFFuckinW. If you're going to throw a match, take it to your grave...especially if you're a nun.

 

Every story I've read and the couple of Real Sports pieces I've seen on her tends to lean to her telling the truth in this case. Sure, we're skeptical types and I usually lead that parade, but if there's an exception to the rule, this is Exhibit A.

Andrea Jaeger never said she would have mashed Martina Navratilova at Wimbledon had she been at the top of her game, but she's a nun, she's not doing this for money or a publicity stunt and she has long moved on to a life well beyond tennis.

From all accounts, Jaeger probably would have been more uncomfortable with her life and the lifestyle had she climbed to No. 1 in the world. She's a strong a case as can be made about the saying of having the courage to win and ascend to the top.