Ok, so my blog is now back after many complaints I've heard from people who want it back. So to those who complained here you go. Now at this current moment I don't have any exciting or important news so I'm not going to write anything besides this little note here. So without further ado Happy New Year to you all and welcome back. Make 2011 the best year yet!

Hey everyone, sorry for the delay. I really didn't feel like discussing my previous tournament seeing I was only there for a couple days. But here is a general overview as to what went down. I lost second round of the qualifying draw which I got a bye first round. Then I didn't get into doubles seeing everyone and their cousin signed up to play. So that was Esperance. I'm glad I got out of there. After we left Esperance we headed to Brisbane about a 5 hour flight from Perth and in the airport we saw Curtis Stone! If you don't know who he is well he has his own cooking show on TLC called the "Take Home Chef". And man is he good looking! He can cook for me any day. haha. Anyway in Brisbane we stayed at my former teammate Katie Lee's house. It was great. Her family was very nice and made us feel right at home. They even took us to Noosa which is a beach town about 90 minutes north of Brisbane. So it was great to get away from tennis for a little bit after my first two horrendous weeks. But while I was in Brisbane I got a lot of good practice in. I got to play over at Nudgee University where I hit with a couple guys and and Australian girl Harriet Sheahan. Then I went over to the Brisbane Tennis Center where they play the Brisbane International before the Australian Open. And let me tell you the facility was sooo nice. One day I hope to play there. I also got a really good hit with Shannon Golds the former Australia pro who was up to about 200 in the world, and she now is one of the hitting partners for Sam Stosur. So it was a busy week but it was good. I started to feel comfortable on the court again. So I'm hoping it will continue this weekend in Traralgon. The qualies starts tomorrow. Wish me luck!!

Esperance, Australia

This place is soooo much better than Kalgoorlie. We drove through the outback to get here and we went from desert to country to beach all in the matter of about 4 hours. We even went through a couple of towns on the way here and like one Australian said 'you blink and you miss it'. He was exactly right. One 'town' had a population of 190 people. Literally. It took all of 7 seconds to get from one side of town to the other. Crazy to think you would know every person in your town and every person would know you...guess you couldn't get into trouble. But anyway Esperance is really nice. It is right along the southern coast and it is much more civilized than Kalgoorlie. It has more streets than the one main road Kalgoorlie had. This is actually a town! The ocean is a beautiful teal color and the sand is snow white. They even had a permanent resident here...Sammy the sea lion. He lives on the beach next to the pier. Saw him today. Thought he was dead at first seeing he didn't move for a while. But he is alive and well. He's cute, rather large but cute. Anywho, the tournament starts tomorrow. I'm hoping to do well. But this tournament is stacked. The cutoff for the main draw is like 250. So we shall see how this one turns out...

Kalgoorlie

Well Kalgoorlie wasn't good to me it turns out. In the tournament I managed to make it into the main draw by winning two qualifying matches but then I had to play Sasha Jones from New Zealand who is about 250 in the world. I lost to her 3-6 6-4 and didn't play well but didn't play bad either. All week here I felt as though I wasn't playing well. I think I just need to get used to the different type of tennis balls they use as well as the wind. But that is no excuse, all I can do is make it work in the next few tournaments or else this trip will be a bust..and I don't want that. In addition to singles I didn't play doubles either. I was supposed to play with someone who then switch partners (I was not informed of this) the morning sign in closed and by the time I finished my match the deadline for doubles had close so I didn't have time to find anyone. So at the moment I want out of this town. All I'm doing now is practicing and working out. And the town here doesn't have much to offer. We went to go see the "ghost town" they have here and it turns out there isn't even a town to see. There isn't even a slab of wood on the ground to tell it was there. The area just has an information board about the town that once stood there but if that wasn't there you wouldn't have known because it is just a desert full of shrubs now. They have some sort of a downtown but all of the stores close at 6 and nothing is open on Sundays. So this place just reminds me of the old western movies that you see vacant with the tumble weeds blowing across the street. Don't know why on earth would they hold a tennis tournament here...oh well. Only a few more days that I'm out of this place and onto Esperance next!!

Finally in Australia

G'day mate. I've finally reached Australia! It was a very very very long couple of travel days but we've arrived. We started our journey at 8am Tuesday the 26th when we got on the Tri-Rail in Florida and headed to the Miami Airport. We got to the airport around 10:30 then had to wait around for the ticket counter to open. The first flight left Miami destined for Washington Dulles Airport. Then we left Washington and went to San Francisco where we had 3 hours to kill so we got dinner and walked around. Then we left San Francisco on the biggest plane I've ever been on. It was one of those 747s with the 2 levels and the 4 engines and hundreds of seats. The worst part was getting on the plane where you could see inside the first class and business class where they had the comfy chairs that folded out into a bed and their own tv screens...it was just like a ha ha wish you could sit here type of thing, but only if you dished out a few thousand dollars. But anyway the flight was wicked long. 14 hours as a matter of fact. The first part seemed to drag on but they had good movies on that I've never seen before like 'Grown Ups' 'The Back-up Plan' 'Cyrus' and the 'The Joneses'. The last two I could have cared less about but they weren't terrible. Also on the flight we got some decent food and all the water you could ask for. Other than that it was uneventful. I did manage to sleep for about 45 minutes that's it. But after 14 long hours we landed in Sydney on the 28th, 2 days after leaving Miami! Weird. But once in Sydney we had to take another flight down to Melbourne and then from Melbourne to Perth on the west coast. So the entire journey took 27 hours on an airplane but I was awake for over 40 hours with probably about 2 hours worth of sleeping. It wasn't fun. I really wish I could sleep on planes. But to top things off once we were in Perth we had to drive 5 hours to get to Kalgoorlie which is a mining town in the middle of nowhere which is where the first tournament is being held. That drive was awful! We were literally driving through the outback in the middle of the night. There was nothing around, no lights no buildings no nothing besides 18 wheelers. It was kind of creepy. Especially when we got stopped at a railroad crossing and there wasn't anything around. I thought people were going to jump out at us. But we finally arrived in Kalgoorlie at around midnight and man did I sleep good that night. Since then I've just been practicing so nothing too exciting. The courts aren't too bad. They're on the edge of town next to cricket fields so the area is really windy, I just hope it calms down before the matches start. But it's doubtful. Anyway the tournament starts tomorrow so hopefully I'll do okay, but we'll see tomorrow.

Rock Hill, SC

Well I am back in Florida for about 24 hours before myself and my mom head to Australia. But I'll tell you about last week at the 25k in Rock Hill, SC. So here we go!

I ended up having to qualify for the tournament so my first match was on Sunday and I won my first two matches against decent opponents. One who is really difficult to play because it can be hit or miss but ended up winning. So I managed to get into the final round of the qualifying and had to play Brittany Augustine who I played 2 summers ago in Brownsville, TX and lost in 3 sets. So I had a game plan in mind and I knew it was going to be tough but I grinded it out with a 3-6 6-3 6-3 win to make it into the main draw.

My first round in the main was against a Brazilian player who I've seen many times but never have played. I guess in her career she has played over 500 matches so she was an experienced player. Anyway she is a player who just doesn't miss and she also doesn't go for many winners. I ended up winning 6-3 6-2 by being really aggressive and hitting as many forehands as I could. Then in the next round I had to play the number 1 seed from Columbia who was ranked 131 in the world. And going into the match I knew it would be a great experience for me so I put it all on the line and turns out I won 6-4 6-3. Again I hit a lot of big forehands and she just made a lot of forehand errors. The next day I had to play a friend of mine Irina and woke up not feeling well at all. It must have been due to the change in the weather, going from 85 degrees to the 40s. But no wondering many top pros pull out of matches when they feel sick, its not fun. You can't move well at all, your reactions are delayed, and in my case I was nauseous the whole time. But it was bad, I think I was done in about 10 minutes. So that was my tournament for the singles, and I couldn't have been happier. That was a great tournament, played some good competition, got 6 matches under my belt. It was a good week to have before heading off to Australia tomorrow.

Then in doubles I paired up with Sanaz again and we made it all the way to the finals. We took out the number 4 seeds and the number 2 seeds. But we fell in the finals to the two girls I took out in singles (maybe it was there revenge) but it was close. We lost the first set, won the second set, then lost in the 10-point breaker. So again it was a really good tournament.

Now it is off to Australia tomorrow morning. I CANNOT wait! I'm really excited so I will try to keep you all informed as to what is happening in the Land Down Under. Until then I would like everyone to celebrate on Wednesday the 27th of October because that will be a day that I will never experience. Weird. Leave America on Tuesday and get to Australia on Thursday. So have a BBQ, open a present, or light off a firework, but enjoy Wednesday the 27th for me!!!

50k Troy, Alabama

So I ended up getting a wildcard in the qualifying draw of a 50k in Troy, Al. I found out on Wednesday that I got the wildcard and was on a flight Saturday morning. They wanted me to get here on Friday but thank goodness I didn't because there is absolutely nothing here. They only seem to have fast food and gas stations on the main road. But they do have a Wal-Mart so that is a plus. But anyway qualifying matches started on Sunday and I ended up playing Krisan who I played 2 summers ago and she just doesn't miss and runs everything down. But I had a good game plan and played aggressively and ended up winning 3 and 2. Then my next round was against the number 2 seed in the qualies Solovieva who I guess turns out to have been the number one ranked junior in the world at one point. I lost 2 and 2. I didn't play bad I just didn't play good either. Everything was hit to my backhand and I felt I couldn't be aggressive hitting just backhands so that was the story in the singles.

On a better note I got into the doubles main draw which is a plus. I played with Elizabeth Lumpkin but our first round was against the number 2 seeds of Ditty and Spears. :( That was a sucky draw. Elizabeth and I have have never played together and to get the 2nd seed is just bad luck. Both are ranked in the top 200 and one I can't remember which but one is ranked top 60 in the world for doubles. Anyway we lost 0 and 4. And that was my first doubles match I've played since July, and I seemed to have forgotten how to play doubles for the first set. We had some chances in the second set that we let slip away. But it was a good experience to play players who have competed in Grand Slams. So now I know what to work on. And hopefully one day I'll get there. But that was it for Troy, Al. Now I'm off to Rock Hill, South Carolina for a 25k which I am in the qualifying draw of. Hopefully I'll do some damage there. But I'll post my next blog after that one is finished or before if something exciting happens...

Florida must flood

I have been living in the great state of Florida for close to 3 months now and have experienced many of what the state has to offer, from the Beaches to the Theme Parks and even the Cuisine. But what I want to discuss are the reasons why I would never choose to live here when tennis is over. So here are 10 reasons...

1. It's wicked hot here. All year long. The seasons consist of Spring, Summer, Boiling, and Hell.

2. There are fountains in every lake or pond. Like what ever happened to Nature's own beauty or man-made beauty for that matter.

3. People drive crazy here. They ride your back bumper, they cut you off, they go through red lights. It's like the rules of the road (aka the Law) don't apply
to them.

4. Most women are made of either plastic, botox, silicone, or anything else that makes them look shiny. (Insert a favorite movie quote of mine) "You're plastic. Cold, shiny, hard plastic."

5. Everyone is constantly on their cell phones. I would like to have a conversation where we look each other in the eye and converse. I don't like when I am speaking and they are looking at their phone texting because I know the person isn't listening and that means I need to repeat myself, which I don't like to do.

6. Florida's official language is Spanish. I am no bueno at it even though I took it in college (which I failed). But Florida is part of the United States if I am not mistaken so where did the English go.

7. Did I mention the crazy drivers...

8. I can never watch my favorite sports teams (Patriots, Red Sox, Celtics) unless they are playing Miami or other Florida team.

9. Too many people, and people are always in a rush. Relax people and stop making babies. This world is over populated enough, it seems every one comes to Florida. I would rather vacation here for a few days but other then that get me the heck out of here!

10. My last and final reason I don't like Florida is because the rest of my family is not here. I am very family oriented and I miss seeing everyone each week. I live with my sister and I see my grandmother who lives down here every week or two which is great but I miss the others.

So for these reasons I want to have my own Island where I can decide what happens and who can come stay and visit then exile them when needed.

A nickel for your thoughts

Why is it that most of all the disaster movies and television shows have to start with a airplane crashing or going missing. All of the shows this fall seem to have this happen. For instance, Lost - a plane crashed, this new show No Ordinary Family - a plane crashed, Cast Away - a plane crashed, War of the Worlds - a plane crashed, and The Event - a plane disappears. Why do all shows have to have planes go missing or go down in flames??!! As a person who doesn't like to fly that much, I don't want to watch a movie or show that depicts just that. Why can't a cruise liner disappear?? Or a bus load of marching band members go lost? That would be more interesting to me, and there are many more people to choose from to have a good storyline. Just a thought. Any comments?

Strong Like Bull

Practice this week is finally over, but it was a great week. I got a chance to work one on one with Ola Malmqvist who is the Head of Women's Tennis for the USTA. Now I have gotten to work with him before but never one on one, and man did he kill me. But I got to experience him on my court every day of this week. I continued to work on my backhand which has gotten a lot better. Hit my forehand bigger. Improve my serve, and cut down my unforced errors by not missing in the net or wide. So I can definitely say after this week I have improved my game. I even got a chance to play a player who once was top 50 in the world. The first day I was down 4-6 4-4 then a monsoon hit. But the next day I won the set we played 6-3. So that was a good experience. Another great thing is that I have been doing a lot of fitness and each day I feel a little more stronger and faster and I think feeling fitter on the court is increasing my confidence. And in practice sets and matches my confidence is starting to show. So I am very excited about that. Now all that I need to do is to continue to play the way I am now in my next tournament, two weeks from now. Until then I'll continue to workout and try and build on the confidence I have in my game now.

Visa smesha

It is official. I am heading to Australia. Due to a recent mishap I thought for a second that I was going to have to change plans and head to Europe to play a few tournaments. Turns out that I needed a specific visa that would allow me to take money from Australia, so I needed a working visa instead of just a tourist visa. Nothing was stated that I needed one but turns out I did. Now I've been to places in Europe and didn't need one so that's what was thought when making plans for Australia. So last night I filled out Australia's online visa application form and voila this morning I got an email saying visa granted. Thank goodness it was fast, they say usually the one I applied for takes about a month to get accepted and I don't have a month. So I'm glad one country knows how to get things done right away...

Going to the Land Down Under

Before reading I insist you watch the video below before reading. It sets the mood...





Turns out that myself and my mom are headed to Australia in November. The land of Kangaroos, Koalas, the Great Barrier Reef, Sydney Opera House, the Outback, and good ol' Vegemite. But we aren't going to site see. We're headed there because there are a bunch of 25k's that I intend on winning. I can't wait to get there but not looking forward to 23 hours on a plane. But I'm going to be playing 4 tournaments at each end of the continent. Two in the West near Perth and two near Melbourne in the Southeast. But I can't wait to go. I've never been there but only heard great things.

Now here are a few fun facts about the country courtesy of AboutAustralia.com.au and every other website on the Internet featuring Australian facts.

~Australia's capital is Canberra.

~Australia's population of 21 million is mostly concentrated along the eastern and southeastern coasts.

~Australia's climate is generally arid to semiarid; temperate in south and east; tropical in north.

~Australia is the sixth largest nation after Russia, Canada, China, the United States of America and Brazil. (It's roughly the same size as the United States excluding Alaska).

~Australia is the lowest, flattest and, apart from Antarctica, the driest of the continents.

~The Australian federation consists of six States and two Territories*
(Australian Capital Territory*, New South Wales, Northern Territory*, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria, Western Australia)

~Australia is the world's largest exporter of coal, accounting for 29% of global coal exports.

~Australia’s national day, Australia Day, is celebrated on January 26th, which happens to be my sister's birthday.

~The Great Barrier Reef off the northeast coast, is the largest coral reef in the world. It is comprised of over 3000 individual reef systems. It is home to the world's largest collection of corals (more than 400 different kinds of coral), over 1500 species of tropical fish, more than 200 types of birds, around 20 types of reptiles.

Now that I feel a bit more intelligent from finding all these facts all I have to do now is practice yelling my Aussie Aussie Aussie Oi Oi Oi.

I hope you enjoyed your free geography lesson.

Hooroo (I guess it's the Australian way of saying goodbye)

Athlete's Don't Walk

So for the past few weeks all I have really be doing is playing tennis and working out. A couple weeks ago I was supposed to play 3 tournaments out West but that was stratched from the schedule so instead I got to do two-a-day fitnesses. I did about an hour and a half of either lifting, running, agility, or plyometrics followed by an hour of tennis a break for lunch and then another hour and a half of cardio, sprints, lifting or any other form of exercise that made me gasp for air. So I started that on a Monday and by Thursday I hit my breaking point. I could barely walk I was so sore and tired but it was actually very helpful. The next week I was promoted to 2 tennis hits a day and 1 fitness session. I was so happy. Since then my tennis has gotten a lot better and so has my fitness.

But for the last two weeks we have been working out with Pat Etcheberry who has trained many top professionals like Justine Henin, Pete Sampras, even a few pro golfers and NFL players. So the man knows his stuff. As he said you need to build a good foundation before you put the roof on. So 3 times a week we were running laps on a soccer field and the other 2 days were agility, lifting, and medicine ball throws. So by the end of the week I was pretty beat. Especially this week when we ran laps on the field after a tough day of practice followed by the next day of an hour and a half drilling with no breaks...here's how it went. Our coach was hand tossing about 10 balls then once your turn ended you ran to pick up the balls that you hit on the other side of the court. Then you would run back to the side where the coach was and you hit another 10 balls. We did this over and over for an hour and a half! At the start of practice he told us to warm up then get a drink because we wouldn't get another break until the end of practice, unless you could pick up the balls and grab a quick drink before it was your turn again. We all looked at each other like are you serious?! Well he was. But even though the practice was exhausting a lot of good got out of it. Now I have the weekend off, so I can finally sleep past 7:15am. Then onto a new week.

NYC continued...

On Sunday, Nat and I met up with Mike (my college coach) and headed to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. That place was amazing! It was humongous. It’s impossible to look at everything without being in there for 2 weeks straight. There was so much art and sculptures I didn’t even see half of what the museum held. But what I did see was great. In the Egyptian section they literally took a tomb (or what looked like a tomb) from Egypt and stuck it in the museum. They rebuild what would have been a person’s balcony inside of the museum and placed the sculptures where they would have been hundreds of years ago. The place was just room after room after room of artifacts, paintings, and sculptures. It’s a must see if you are in New York.

Then on Monday I ended up watching the first rounds at the Open and there were a lot of them. I saw Roddick, Clijsters, Stosur, Dent, Schiavone, Ivanovic to name a few. This was my first time being there during the tournament so there was a lot to take in. The stadiums were good sizes and there were people everywhere. All the matches were fun to watch, some were close and all the favorites ended up winning. But it was a great day, the weather was great (got burned), the matches were great, and the atmosphere there is great. But wish I were there to play instead of watching. Next Year!!! I hope.

Luncheon & Arthur Ashe Kids Day

My 2nd day in the Big City was awesome. We first had a luncheon held in the President’s Suite in Ashe Stadium. This place is a big deal. The President of the USTA watches the US Open from here, many famous people and tennis legends sit in this area during the 2 weeks. To get into the Suite you walked in through 2 wicked heavy wooden doors and you’re amazed at what you see. Clean white carpet, gold rimmed mirrors, 3 bartenders behind a wooden bar rimmed with gold panels and a huge glass wall looking out onto the stadium that sits close to 30 thousand people. The furniture was sort of Cape style, white sofas with light blue and gray pillows, so it was a very inviting place. We ended up heading upstairs to a dining room they had set up with white table cloths, white plates, and sterling silver utensils. It was really fancy. The waiters asked us if we would like still or sparkling water which never got empty in our glasses. It was nice to be treated like that. But anyway we got a speech from the USTA President and ITA President. We met with both of them and even David Dinkins the former mayor of NY showed up. As we ate lunch Patrick McEnroe also came in and gave us a nice speech. And after a small awards ceremony we headed downstairs to watch Arthur Ashe Kids Day. We were about 20 yards away from the stage and the court so I was excited about that. The hosts were 2 people from the Disney Channel who I didn’t know and the girl had way too high of heels on and too tight shorts. Like excuse me this is a kid’s show here! But the performers were the Jonas Brothers, Demi Lovato, Shontelle, the Bryan Brothers, and All-Star Weekend. They all were good, didn’t care for the Jonas Brothers too much, but it was entertaining. On the court I saw Andy Roddick, Melanie Oudin, Novak Djokovic, Lindsey Vonn (US Skier), Kim Clijsters, Rafael Nadal, and Roger Federer. So a great group of players showed up and put on a good show. And after the show ended we ended up watching a few of the last qualifying matches but they weren’t that good so we left and took the subway back to the hotel. After getting back to the room I was told by my dad that I needed to go and see Grand Central Station because it is too famous to miss so Nat and I headed downstairs and walked about 100 feet to the entrance. And he was right, it was great to see. It is huge! The chandeliers and the ceiling were amazing. The ceiling was painted blue with all the stars, and they outlined in the Zodiac signs. It was beautiful.

New York City

Today I just got into NYC for an ITA banquet held here this weekend. I flew into LaGuardia and took a taxi to the Grand Hyatt in Midtown. I pulled up to the hotel around 1 and wow is it a nice hotel. A bell boy came opened my door and pulled out my bags for me. Then as you walk into the rotating doors you see this huge marble wall with water flowing down it. You take an escalator to the lobby and find more marble, dim lighting and modern style furniture. So the whole time from the airport to the hotel I was praying I could check in early. I get up to the desk and they tell me my room is ready. Thank goodness! Now the best part is that the receptionist tells me to take the elevators because my room is on the 26th floor, so I head over to a wall that literally has 10 elevators. I get into one and it only goes up to the 24th floor. So I’m like whatever and hit the button to the 24th floor but it doesn’t work so I hit the 23rd. I get to the 23rd floor thinking I could get into another elevator that will take me to my floor, only that wasn’t the case. I walked around the halls for about 5 minutes looking for other elevators but couldn’t find any and thought that I must look creepy just walking up and down the halls, so I just decided to take stairs. I walked up 3 flights with my backpack, my tennis bag, and my suitcase and I was winded. Ha. So I finally reached the ghost floor and trying to find my room was like walking around in a corn maze. I was waiting for Jack Nicolas or the twins to be sitting on their tricycles around the corners. I walked one way the numbers were descending, I headed another way and the numbers were too high. But I finally got to the room and it’s pretty nice. It was smaller than I imagined and the bathroom and closet seem to be on the wrong sides. But that’s just me. Now I’m just gonna sit here possibly take a nap and wait for dinner tonight downtown. Then the banquet tomorrow and Arthur Ashe Kids Day!!! Can’t wait!

I'm back

So my apologies for not writing anything in a very long time, I just haven’t felt like writing anything because not much has been going on. I’ve decided to write this because after my graduation party I had yesterday at my house I realized that a lot of people do actually read this. So in making everyone happy I am going to try and make this a weekly ritual (or every other week). To start I would like to inform everyone that I am currently writing this miles in the air on my way to the Sunshine State (Florida for those who don’t know). This ride down isn’t so bad. I’m sitting at a window seat in front of the middle emergency rows so I can’t put my seat back but oh well and the first half of the flight was a little bumpy not too bad but annoying because it was constant and I don’t like turbulence too much. And I’m sitting here wondering if the armrest is mine or the person next to me but she is leaning towards the aisle so I guess it’s mine until we bump arms and we think ‘oops sorry you can have it’ then neither of us take it for a while. But anyway, enough of what I’m doing now, I’ll change the subject and go to tennis.

The last two tournaments of my summer weren’t as good as I would have hoped them to be. I had a decent tournament in Atlanta, making it to the quarterfinals in singles before losing to Allie Will (a Florida Gator) and making it to the semifinals of doubles with Sanaz before being ousted by Irina Falconi (Georgia Tech) and her partner Maria Sanchez (Southern Cal).

So heading to Lexington, KY I thought it would be a good tournament for me, however that was not the case. In the first round I had to play Ester Goldfeld and I thought it would be a good matchup. But in my opening service game on the very first serve I hit my knee just locked up and hurt like hell for the next few games. I couldn’t bend it to serve nor could I run for her return. I was limping all over the place. Funny thing though was I won 3 straight games not being able to move. Then I thought ‘hey I’m winning’ then all downhill from there. I lost the match 6-3 6-4. But hey, not being able to move or serve still not too bad, imagine if I were healthy. Then in doubles we got into the main draw and got match up again the number 1 seeds who were ranked 300 in the world (doubles rankings is the combined ranking of a team). But our match was great. We played so well and we were the better team out there but we ended up losing 4-6 6-2 10-7. We just made a few errors in the tiebreaker but we clearly were the better team, they just had more experience.

Then in St. Joseph, MO I ended up only playing doubles, but what I should have done was just go home. So my mistake, you live you learn right? But I got there thinking I was going to play both singles and doubles, but my knee just didn’t get better even though I was hitting for only 30 minutes each day. So the college coaches thought it would be best to just play one or the other. I chose doubles because less moving and we certainly had a chance of winning the tournament. I partnered with Sanaz again and we ended up losing in the semifinals to a girl from Venezuela (Paz) and her partner from Thailand (really long last name, not going to even try). We didn’t play so well and they were good so they deserved to win. So that was that tournament. I ended up making less than what a nights stay at Motel 6 would cost. Being a professional tennis player isn’t what it seems like on TV were they make millions of dollars. It stinks being at the bottom, but like I’ve heard, you have to start somewhere.

Now I’m heading down to Florida to begin training after a week off, so I’m hoping I still know how to hit a tennis ball. And for the sake of my stomach I am doing 2 a day fitness for the first half of the week so I can get used to the heat and I might be able to practice for the whole time. (My logic is really I can vomit when no one is looking while doing fitness on my own rather than having an audience during practice).

Well I hope you all enjoyed the newest installment of my blog. Sorry for the delay, but until next time.

Traveling is no fun

Going from place to place every week some times becomes a hassle, especially when it comes to flying. Here are a number of reasons why.

1. The airports are so crowded nowadays. You zig zag through endless long lines like animals waiting to get slaughtered.

2. The kiosk machines to check you in never read your credit card correctly.

3. You have to pay 25 bucks for your first bag and another 15 for your second.

4. You strip down practically to your undies to get through the metal detector, while the TSA agents stare you down like vultures over roadkill.

5. The flight is delayed because of weather or mechanical problems or the flight crew issues or late passengers

6. Your carry-on is so big it hits passengers in the head as you try to stuff it into the overhead compartment.

7. The person sitting behind you feels the need to slam their tray table up and down every 5 seconds.

8. The person sitting behind you pretty much reclines your seat to get in and out of their chair.

9. Infants who cry nonstop. This is the best on night flights when you are trying to get some sleep. Well for me I don't sleep because I think we're going to crash or the plane will rip apart in midair, but the cries drown out my ipod which is annoying.

10. No food is given besides 10 teeny tiny pretzels and a shot glass size soda.

11. Lastly, your luggage gets lost because some guy with the earmuffs had a bad day and you find out it is travelling on a plane to somewhere on the other side of the world.


My 10 year plan to get avoid all this...

Nice right? I thought so.

USTA Camp Chapters 3 & 4

Okay, so I'm sorry it has been a while since camp finished and I haven't posted anything. Please forgive me. On second thought, I'm not really sorry. It's my blog and I can write whenever I want. But I do want some readers.. so I'm sorry.

Anyway enough apologies...we survived camp. I wasn't as sore as last years but I thought this years was better and the coaches were great. So I think I left you at day two so on the third day (Wednesday) I started off hitting with two others and a very well known coach. Does Tom Gullikson sound familiar? He trained players such as Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi. He was captain of the US Davis Cup Team as well as coached the Men's Olympic Team in 1996 the year they won. So he knows his stuff. Well we did a lot of good drills and I got some good tips from him so that was a great experience. Then in the afternoon we played a set of doubles which me and my partner won in a tiebreaker, and after a pro set of singles. I ended up playing a girl who is 8 in the world in juniors. That was fun. The whole match we traded service games until I was broken then I broke her right back. We ended up having to play a tiebreaker to decide the match. A tiebreaker that I won. Yay! But it was a great match and it was a great day.

Thursday was our last day (hallelujah). We started out drilling again, just myself and a girl who plays for Texas and plays similar to me. (one-handed backhand and a big forehand) Our coach was a former top 50 player in the world and is one of the USTA's Summer Team Coach. But we trained wicked hard for and hour and a half, most of the time I sounded like a flute because I was gasping for air. But after the practice I don't think I had anything left in me. I was cooked. Well-done in fact maybe even a little charred. Then in the afternoon we just played a few sets and that was that. But the week was great. I learned a lot and played with the best college players in the country. It was great to participate in before the summer tournaments start.

Now I'm still in Boca just practicing before my upcoming tournaments in Atlanta, Kentucky, and Missouri. I'll try to keep you posted on those when I have free time.

USTA Camp Chapter 2

Today was the 2nd day of camp and I must say it was wicked tiring, but it wasn't so bad. All of the players were split up on a number of courts each with a coach working on 2 on 1s most of the time. My court however was a little different. It was myself, a player from georgia tech, and southern cal with a coach who has trained many top tennis players in the world. Literally 2 minutes into the start of practice we were drilling, we didn't even get a chance to really warm-up before getting run around the court. But the first drill was 2 on 1, and the one person had to work on depth, hitting past targets set up deep in the court. Well he wanted us to hit 30 balls past those targets and for every miss you would lose one in the count. It took me 10 minutes to get to 4. The most I got was I think 14. But in the time allowed none of us got to 30. Then the second drill was probably one of the hardest drills I've ever done. Here is the set up: the coach was on one side of the court up at net and there was one of us up at a time. We would hit everything back to him for only 1 minute but that 1 minute was hell. He would drop shot you, then lob you, then run you to one alley and then to the other. So you literally were running your ass around the court as hard and fast as you could for 1 minute while trying to get the ball back to him. After your 1 minute you had 2 minutes rest as the others girls took their turns. We did this for 30 minutes straight. My legs were like jello after the first minute. But I have to say once it was done you really felt like you got something out of it and that's a good feeling. The best part of the drill though was watching the other courts around us get like 7 water breaks, sitting down laughing and having a good time, as we were getting our asses kicked, unable to breathe or stand without the fence for support. I must say that was the best part. Then we switched courts, finally and we did volleys. I don't think any of us could keep our racquet's up we were so tired. But it was only for about 15 minutes so we pushed through it and completed the drill. And after all the drilling we had fitness, and to our surprise it wasn't running or lifting, just some abs, back, and hurdles. If it were anything else people would have dropped like flies, me especially. So that was our morning session. The afternoon was a simple practice match with a 10 point tiebreaker played if you split sets. So overall not such a bad day. But as I'm writing this I can feel the soreness beginning. I hope I'm able to walk in the morning, but we'll just have to wait and see.

USTA Camp - Chapter 1

Last night I flew into Ft. Lauderdale from Cleveland and to my surprise nothing was delayed too bad and the flight wasn't so bad either. In Cleveland I got onto the plane and sat in seat 1a then 5 minutes later a monstrous thunderstorm came rolling in. It looked like a monsoon outside and the lightning was like paparazzi. It was crazy. But the storm past quickly, thank goodness, I did not want to fly in that. But took off and headed for Detroit which was about a 25 minute flight. I got to listen to my Ipod for a total of 8 minutes. Really enjoyable. Half of the time I was looking for something good to listen to. But whatever we landed safely then went straight to my gate for my 2nd flight. On the plane they said it had free wifi but it isn't free, which sucks. To get it you have to sign up for all this crap that you are never going to use, ever. So that was kinda disappointing so I watched Fever Pitch instead. Then about 30 minutes left to the flight there were thunderstorms out the window. Then the pilot comes on and says its going to be turbulant so buckle up in a deep meaningful voice. A little scary to hear but it wasn't bad. It actually was wicked cool to see. And that was that. I got in at about 10:45, then got to the hotel around 11:30 and in bed by midnight.

I woke up at 7 wondering 'where am I' and 'why am I getting up so early'. Well turns out I needed to get up to participate in the USTA Summer Camp held for a few top college players. For those who don't know about it well here is how the 12 players are picked:
a) Top 6 American players in the final rankings are automatically selected
b) Two spots for the highest American doubles team
c) One spot for the highest finishing American in the NCAAs
d) The other 6 spots are decided by a committee of USTA Player Development Staff, USTA National Coaches, ITA Staff, and current college coaches.

So for this week the best American collegiate tennis players are practicing together. It's pretty cool actually. You get the chance to know them for who they really are and not just a tennis player you are supposed to hate because they are the enemy. So it's a awesome experience. And you have some of the best coaches in the country there with you helping you out and giving you advice.

Well today it started and I actually got to take the day off, well sort of. I warm-up with everyone then did some knee re-hab and shoulder exercises all while the others were outside running around in the heat wanting to probably die. I did feel bad for them because I ended up going outside and watching as they were running around. Then in the afternoon it was the same. We did a short 'educational session' which was on nutrition for tennis which served its point. You did learn something. After that I ended up biking for 30 minutes because I felt like I should be doing something even though my idea of a day off is doing nothing besides watching tv or a movie. But I felt good that I did something productive. Then I waited around for about an hour as the others finished up their afternoon practice. It was a pretty boring day but oh well days off for me are.

So tomorrow I'll officially start the USTA Camp. I hope it won't be as bad as 3 weeks ago...Check back tomorrow.

We are the champions

Hello again. Well its deja vu all over again. I ended up losing in the quarterfinals in singles and then won the doubles with Sanaz Marand. So not too shabby. Well here is a little re-cap of the week.

My first round match in singles was against a girl from Colombia. She couldn't make more than 3 balls in the court. However, she did have some occasional rockets that made their way to the corners of the court. But other than that it was just an ordinary day at the office. I won easily 6-1 6-1. Then second round I ended up having to play my doubles partner Sanaz. And it is tough playing a friend of yours. You start to feel bad at the beginning and then you kind of just say 'screw it. I want to win.' You're 'come ons' get a little louder as the match continues. But it was a battle I ended up getting blanked in the 1st set then came back and won the next 2. So it was 0-6 6-4 6-3. Then in the quarters I played a girl from Finland who looked like she wasn't going to get to a lot of balls but she did and made a good defensive play. So I ended up losing 3-6 6-7(5). I played better towards the end of the match but I lost focus and made a few too many mistakes. But you live and learn I guess.

In doubles we had a close match first round against two players who just had the belief that they would win, but not the ability. So we ended up winning I think 6-1 6-4. But who cares about the score. All that matters is we won. Then the next round I had to play against my doubles partner from last week Kaitlyn and her new partner. We struggled a little bit but ended up winning in straight sets 4 and 3. Then in the 3rd round we played two girls who liked to hit the crap out of the ball. Well too bad for them because we were on fire that day. We ended up killing them 6-0 6-1. They were lucky to get that one game thanks to the no-ad rule and a fluke return winner from one of the girls. Then in the finals we again played two girls who liked to really hit the ball hard. We started the match and they were just smacking return winners and hitting aces. We couldn't do much but wait for them to cool off and that is just what happened. They were up in the 1st set 4-1 and that was the last games they won. We won the next 11 games in a row to win the tournament. They even tried to change the momentum of the match by taking a 'bathroom break'. Well it did them some real good because the next game the girl who was serving double faulted twice, whiffed a forehand and then a well placed volley by Sanaz gave us the game. So nice try ladies! But we just played really well the 2nd set I don't think we would have lost anyways.

Oh forgot to say, the club that we played at was awesome. They had a man-made lake that had a small beach so you could relax on the lounge chairs and listen to the fountains. They also had this huge blow up thing called the 'Blob'. Where a person (a) would be on one end of it as another person (b) standing 10 feet above jumps on the other end and skyrockets the other person (a) into the air and into the lake. It was soooo much fun. A little scary standing at the top and if you didn't land on it perfectly you slid into the water. If you have ever seen heavy weights it is the same thing that Ben Stiller pops with a spear. But it is so fun. I wish I had one.

So that was that for Cleveland, Ohio. Now it is off to Boca Raton, Fl for a USTA camp were they have you play tennis for 5 hours a day plus fitness and an educational session. I hope I make it through the week. Wish me luck! I keep everyone informed.

Winner winner chicken dinner

Yay!! We won doubles!!! So excited. Kaitlyn and I won 6-4 6-2 against the hometown girl and her partner who ended up winning the singles. So this is my 1st professional tournament and ended up winning the doubles. Not a bad start to a career. In the match we got down 0-2 in the first set but ended up coming back and stealing a few games from them with the no-ad rule and then we served it out easily to take the 1st set. Then in the 2nd set our opponents were upset with one another missing easy shots and the hometown favorite just started to hit the crap out of the ball, but doing that is all well and good you just have to hit the ball in the court. She just swung and a few hit the back fence like it was baseball. But oh well good for us. We did end up getting a wicked heavy piece of hardware. The thing has to way at least 10 pounds. So good thing we are driving places this summer or else I would definitely be over the weight limit.

Now its off to Cleveland, Ohio for my 2nd tournament of the summer. Hope it goes just as well as my first. You stay classy planet earth.

Off with her head

It has been close to a week since my last post. So I'll try and get you on board as to whats been happening at the tournament in Mt. Pleasant. Well for starters I lost in the quarters of singles and is currently in the finals of doubles, which will be played tomorrow morning. But it's wicked hot here. I know one day was said to be 115 degrees with the heat index and the next day was up to 111 degrees. So I can tell you all I've really been doing is sweating as much as a 500 pound man on the Biggest Loser and that's just sitting. In my matches after about 2 games my shirt is already feeling like I just got out of a pool. So it's just a great feeling...

Anyway my first round match was against a feisty opponent who just drilled balls with her two hands on both sides swings. I played pretty good for being a bit nervous in my 1st round. Served well and hit my shots cleanly. So it was a good match. Then 2nd round I played an opponent who didn't look like she was going to get my shots but did and made me play a lot of extra shots. She also made me go insane with her questioning every freakin shot that hit a line. Literally, not joking about 20 times she would stop play have the umpire coming down and check a mark. IT'S CLAY!!! So there would have to be a mark but no she always pointed to a different mark and the umpire would a agree with her and I would lose the point or have to hit a 2nd serve when I clearly aced her. I was like are you f'ing kidding me. I felt like Federer playing against Nadal when Nadal used the shotspot and all Federer's shot were out by millimeters. You think you hit a winner, get your hopes up only to have them be dashed in the blink of an eye. And all you want them to do is stop questioning everything. But anyway I was close to making it go three sets but pulled it out in two. So a win is a win. And today I lost to a top junior who ran down everything and didn't miss. I played like crap, couldn't get a ball in the court so I deserved to lose.

But on a good note I made it into the finals of doubles. We've played some good teams and the no ad scoring is tough but we've done pretty good for never playing together before. Our first match was won in a match tiebreaker to decide the third set after splitting. Then our next two matches we seemed to play much better together. So I'm excited for the finals, hopefully we'll end up on the winning side but if not it's been a good tournament. We'll see what happens tomorrow. Until then...

Mt. Pleasant, SC

Currently sitting in the hotel room in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina. Not much else to do seeing it is wicked hot here. You walk outside and feel your skin melting. I thought Florida was bad. This is about the same. Today the temperature got up to about 96 and the heat index was up to 106. Thank god we are playing on clay this week that's all I can say.

Yesterday we drove up here from Boca. It took about 8 hours which isn't bad. My road rage didn't flare up too bad. But I just have to say how I love the people who ride your ass to make you move over but then it takes them for what seems like forever to pass you. Like pass me already! Geez. Or the people who NEVER look in the rear view mirror and go 50 in the fast lane. Ahh my blood pressure just rose.

Anyway...The ride was uneventful besides the lake forming in the back seat of the car (not kidding). Like my mom says, ducks could swim back there. We have no idea what it is from or why it is happening. All we could do to get rid of the pool was to buy a shamwow and soak it up. And yes the shamwow does wow you with how much water it soaks up. I suggest buying one.

On a completely different note I signed in today as a professional!! Crazy! This is my first tournament as a pro. I was second on the qualifiers list which would have meant I would be seeded 2 in the qualifying draw. But after signing in (as a pro) I looked online to see the time I played. I looked once, twice, three times (a lady - ha sorry made me think of that song) up and down the rows of names and times but couldn't find my name. After several minutes of staring at the screen I realized I'm in the main draw. Yippy! I don't have to play 4 matches just for the heck of it. Sucks that I am here 3 days early but that got me out of Florida and the endless pointless conversations that went on at the dinner table. So not complaining. But just going to practice for the next 2 days. The main draw starts Tuesday so I'll let you know how it goes. (I hope well or else get ready for a very explicit blog)

Damn it now I have that stupid song stuck in my head. Thanks Lionel.

Congratulations

Just wanted to say congratulations to my friend Katie Lee (AKA Ninja) for becoming a Cougar (no not that kind of cougar) but a student athlete for the College of Charleston. Yay!!

Weekly wrap-up

Sorry for the delay. I've just been wicked tired from practice and haven't had the strength to move my fingers to type. ha. That's a lame excuse. The real reason is because life hasn't been as exciting as the first few days in South Florida. Anyway I'll try and inform you as to what has been happening.

Practice on Tuesday was much better than Monday. I lasted more than 30 minutes. So that's a plus. I didn't have the urge to run to the side of the court and enjoy my breakfast twice. Another plus. And I didn't lose to another kid the size of the net strap. Triple plus. So overall a great day by my standards as far as practice goes. Then later in the day at dinner I got to enjoy a great conversation that consisted of question after question after question after question which all asked the same thing and the answer was simply 'I don't know'. Like asking the same question phrased differently is going to get a different answer. No I don't think that is how it works. It was like Chinese water torture where the drips fall onto your forehead and you can't do anything about it, it just makes you go insane. Yeah, that's what it was like. Then after dinner we wanted to get out of the house but in a retirement community there isn't much of a nightlife besides the 'arcade'. Well this was not the type of arcade I had in my mind. You walk into this place, the lights dim, the air smells of oldness, and all you hear are buttons being pressed as the slots are rolling. You turn the corner and all you see are walkers spewed along the walls and an oxygen tank or two. Then you see them. Senior citizens with their eyes glued on the screen anticipating their next big win (which only is only about 5 bucks). Yeah this was my kind of place...not really. It was weird being in a place where I was the youngest by about 50 years. But besides all that is was kinda fun. It wasted time, we got out of the house, and lost only a dollar. So overall it wasn't such a bad day.

On Wednesday I practiced for the entire two hours! Yeah you read it right. Bring out the confetti as I take a bow. Thank you very much. I think it was because I was ecstatic about what I was going to have for dinner later in the day. The whole day I had the Pointer Sisters song I'm So Excited in my head so how can you not have energy. Dinner was planned for a Cuban restaurant that my family loves. They have the BEST plantain chips served with garlic sauce. It might sound gross but don't knock it till you try it. mmmm delicious. So while practicing that's all I could think of. Lose a point here, shank a ball there I could care less because I knew what was coming. I actually played pretty good not caring too much. Maybe I should try that during my matches.

And today nothing but the same. Practice went well. I stayed vertical. I guess it takes someone like myself three days to get acclimated to the heat and humidity here. So not such a bad week of practice after a few days off. Had good company here but don't want to overstay my welcome. So tomorrow we ride off to Mt. Pleasant, SC for my first tournament as a professional tennis player. I'll let you know how it goes.

Hell - day 1

So I woke up this morning actually feeling like practice was going to be okay..boy was I wrong! After taking 6 complete days off I ended up almost puking numerous times, passing out, even had the color wash out of my sight so I could only see gray, getting a bloody nose, and above all losing to a boy who hasn't hit puberty yet. So overall it was a fantastic day. One I'll be sure to remember for a long time. But I guess that's what I get for taking time off and returning in the hottest and most humid state in the country.

So practice this morning was mostly spend crouched down, breathing hard with my racket holding me up. 2 hours was scheduled for practice but I stopped at a hour and a half and of that hour and a half about 30 minutes was probably spent actually hitting and the rest I was wanting to just curl up and die. I haven't felt that bad since freshmen year at school when we ran hills after a 2 hour practice and sprints. The worst thing was I had to call it quits when everything went gray while I was serving. Talk about embarrassing. Serving is so freaking easy, all you do is just stand there, throw the ball up and hit it. Not too strenuous. But I was literally about to pass out and choke on my vomit. Then in the afternoon I was selected to play a kid who was probably 13 and didn't even come up to my boobs. And about halfway through the first set I ended up with a bloody nose. I thought "yes! could my day get any better. I already made a fool of myself this morning. Why now?" But after taking a few minutes to stop the bleeding I went right back into the match. I wish I didn't. I lost. That's all I'll say about it. I'm sure the coaches are like 'why the hell is she here?' Oh well I guess. It's only day 1. There is a positive to take from this day and that is my stamina actually improved in 4 hours from morning practice to the afternoon.

Oh I forgot to say after the afternoon hit the coach was like 'so you wanna do some fitness?' Like are you kidding me! I'm dying over here. But I was a trooper and said sure I'll do fitness (I was actually planning on it just not with the head strength and conditioning coach for the USTA). It wasn't too bad, he knew how my day went by asking 'how are you still standing?' He didn't kill me just 10 minute bike, hurdles, squats, abs, shoulder rehab, and stretching. So overall the day was ok but not like what I predicted waking up this morning. I can't wait to get up tomorrow morning and feel how sore I'm going to be.

Bravo is the best

On my last day of vacation I decided to stay in my pjs, plop my fat ass on the couch and watch tv. What did I watch you might ask? Well I happened to watch just about the entire freakin' season of the Real Housewives of NYC!! No, not just a few episodes about 8 full hours worth. I only got off the couch for bathroom breaks, a lunch break, and dinner which was called at 5:45 and almost ruined my day because it interfered with the season finale which I had yet to see. But after scarfing down supper along with not paying any attention to the conversation around me I found that I only missed a few minutes of the finale. And thank god because it was a good one. But not as good as the bitchfest that went down in the virgin islands. Man that was entertaining. Kelly earned moron of the month from me yelling "ok Al Sharpton" when Bethenny clearly was quoting Jack Nicholson from 'A Few Good Men - you can't handle the truth'. Moron!! Anyway after I wiped away my tears from laughing so hard from that comment I imagined what life would be like to just leave town and head to the Caribbean for a weekend. I wish. But until that day arrives I'll be busting my ass playing tennis, travelling from place to place to earn pennies so I can travel to the next place. But oh well. For now I'm just going to enjoy my last day off and when I wake up in the morning hell is going to start. I just hope I don't pass out from this heat. Until then...

The life of a retiree

So a week ago my college life was officially over. I finished my college tennis career losing in the finals of the NCAA doubles tournament and since then have been on vacation. I am here in hot and sunny florida doing absolutely nothing. I am living that of the life cameron diaz had in the movie "in her shoes''. Sleeping in the house with her grandmother, going to the pool during the day and eating dinner around 5:30. This is my current life, the life of a retiree and I am only 22 years old. All of this is going to change though, Monday morning when my new life's journey starts. I will be getting up early practicing doing fitness and preparing myself for a professional tennis career. Next week is my first week of practice before my first tournament as a pro. I can't wait to get started but let's see how I feel Monday evening...