Slater was unable to beat young Liam O'Brien, in a very narrow and even unfair way, and failed to make the mid-year cut.

Margaret River was the best surfing Slater had shown all year, and the heat was decided by a score of 15,53 to 14.

In the interview after coming out of the water, Kelly was accessible and first talked about what had happened on the series and when asked about her plans from now on, she was optimistic: “Whatever, we are breathing.” She said she wants to get intubated a lot, that she has been watching The Box.

“We’ll see how things play out,” Slater concluded.

The comment is likely a suggestion that the WSL could, and almost certainly will, give her a wildcard for the second half of the year and into the mid-year cutoff next year.

The big question is whether Slater will accept that wildcard and compete in the wave pool, El Salvador, Brazil, JBay and Teahupoo.

Kelly said he wants to retire after going to Paris 2024 and to do so he would have to be one of the top two Americans on tour or the U.S. men's team would win the 2024 World Surfing Games and be invited by his country's surfing federation.

Currently the two highest-ranked Americans on the CT are Griffin Colapinto in fifth and John John Florence in seventh.