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.