Not long before she vanquished her nerves and finally won the Wimbledon singles title she richly deserved, I asked Jana Novotna if she felt she had ever choked in a tennis match.
Novotna turned her penetrating gaze on me for a moment or two. She was very far from a fool and just as far from a poker face.
“Well, I must tell you that I hate that word,” she said.
It is an ugly word, I conceded.
“A very, very ugly word,” she said.
So what word would she prefer?
“I think you could say, ‘She got a little tight,’ Novotna said, having begun to laugh.