Victoria Mboko hits a return to American Caty McNally during their match at the Australian Open on Wednesday.DAVID GRAY/AFP/Getty Images
In tennis, it’s not when you’re behind that you get worried; it’s when you’re ahead. Many players tense up and start flubbing shots when they are on the brink of winning, especially if they are young and inexperienced.
Victoria Mboko is certainly young: just 19 years old. She is certainly inexperienced: This is her first time in the main draw of the famed Australian Open.
So Mboko might easily have succumbed to the yips when she was trying to close out the first set of her second-round match on Wednesday against a seasoned opponent. Caty McNally is 24 and…