When Pressure Leads to Relief: Waters Wins Again

As the wins start to pile up and the triple crowns keep coming, the numbers start to lose their meaning. 

It’s hard to understand what 112-2 truly means. It seems made up. 

Officially, Anna Leigh Waters isn’t unbeatable, but her success this season is something north of shocking. Victories don’t just happen, they are expected. She’s lost once in singles this season. She’s lost once in mixed doubles this season. That’s it. 

And she didn’t lose this weekend, either.

Waters is Oklahoma softball, U-Conn women’s hoops. This is Serena Williams at her best and Tiger Woods at his most-dominant. This is all of that, rolled together and manifesting itself in the form of a 16 year-old who is on the most-positive, longest run since Forrest Gump went coast to coast.

Sunday at the Orange Cup Classic in San Clemente, Calif., Waters wrapped up a fourth tournament in a row without a loss and now has won 16 triple crowns in her career. 

Waters earned a singles title against Catherine Parenteau, beat Parenteau and Tyson McGuffin, along with her partner Ben Johns in mixed doubles and then teamed with Parenteau for the women’s bracket championship with a victory against Irina Tereschenko and Etta Wright.

“This tournament, I was feeling a little bit of pressure,” Waters said. “And then I was like, ‘Anna Leigh, relax. Whatever happens, happens. Just focus on your game.’” 

Well, it “happened” again. The focus was there, and it has been ever since Waters took a few weeks off in mid-April. Officially, the time off was for medical leave of absence for dental surgery, but it was also used as a time to recover and get better.

“I just trained every day,” she said. “I was in the gym a lot. I was on the court a lot. I was trying to figure out new shots and how to be more aggressive. I just grinded it out in April, and it’s helped me out the rest of the year.”

Her only singles loss of the season came to Parenteau, but Waters won efficiently on Sunday, 11-7, 11-7. 

“I think I’ll learn how to deal with that pressure more,” Waters said of being expected to win every time she picks up a paddle. “Every tournament, I get better at it, so hopefully that’s in the future for me.”

Waters and Johns won against Parenteau and McGuffin, 11-3, 11-6, 11-9 and Waters and Parenteau beat Tereschenko and Wright, 11-2, 10-12, 11-8, 11-3. 

“It’s been interesting,” Waters said of the expectations and the pressure. “When I was first No. 1, I had an issue with it and felt more pressure, when you should be feeling less.”

A week ago, in the singles final of the Texas Open, Waters faced a match point against Lea Jansen, but was able to rally, recover, and win.

“Even if I’m down, I can come back,” she said. “I showed that in Texas. I’m never out.”

And rarely down, either. That kind of environment can be difficult in ways an underdog or an upstart can’t comprehend. Winning becomes expected. Expectation can be a burden and then instead of experiencing the joy of victory, it becomes a giant exhale. 

For one more week, Waters did that. She won again, and she said she was happy.

“It’s just a relief,” she said.