If you mean in the intro shot, that's because this venue has food and drink. People don't take their seats until partway through the warm up (or the first game). However, there were some very good seats available, and they were free the prior night as well. It looks like one or more of the sponsors must not have done a good job finding people to use their tickets, which is frustrating. I know this is an issue at the ToC sometimes also. The PSA obviously wants those seats to be used, but the sponsors get annoyed if people they don't know are in their seats.

@@georgekrumm1857 Same thing happened in the World Cup in Japan in 2002 (empty seats at midfield); it doesn't necessarily reflect on the U.S. or the popularity of the sport.

Very true. People focus so much on how great her racket skills are they forget she's an incredible mover as well.

It's on thier website. They have the highlights of the match but they don't put it on KZfaq. Don't know why they do that. Maybe to drive traffic to their website.

Must be extremely hard to take for Gohar. Wasn't the first time. Reaching and losing big finals is tough.

Not the best athlete? She is the GOAT of the female game. Her movement, racket skills and game intelligence are out of this world!

@@maximilianschenzle5158 if you cant see that Gohar and El Hamamy are far better athletes, consult an optician... but for the rest i'm totally agree with you and she's by far my favorite player.

@@sticky-fingers Actually not sure about that. Gohar vs. Hammamy in the semis was a close 5 games match, while Sherbini outplayed Gohar in 3 straight games making it look quite easy. If you define athleticism by speed or physicality, I just think that Sherbini makes it look way more effortless, since she is way more efficient in her movement and clever in her shot selection, which makes her opponents do more of the work. Thus, she might be perceived as such, however, she is just more efficient and intelligent on court.

​@@maximilianschenzle5158 speed, physicality, recovery, power. Fortunately, being the best athlete doesnt mean being the best player. So while i stay on "she's not the best athlete", I'm totally agree with the 2nd part of your post, because i think like you that she's, by far, the best player for all the reasons you mentionned.

It's not always injury or illness when people don't play well, there are days you did everything right health-wise, but your game is just off. It might also be the pressure that Sherbini gives, never seen Gohar wrong-footed and late to the ball as many times in this match than against another player.

I wouldn't say that. When she's on, she's terrifying and hits harder than anyone else on the women's tour. But Sherbini is in the running for best-ever and she's healthy right now. It's just a different level.

It is not about hitting hard, it is hitting smart.