I'm in!!

I just heard that I received a wildcard into the 25k tournament in Hammond, Louisiana. This is great news. I get to finally play in a tournament. It seems like it has been forever since I last played but in reality it has only been about 2 weeks. So I'm excited. There are a lot of good competition in this tournament. The draws are tough so I'm excited to see what I can do. But heading over there tomorrow, and the qualifying draw starts on Sunday. I'll keep you posted. Until then wish me luck!

Common Courtesy

Lately I've been hearing and seeing a lot of pro tour players being mean to the ball kids. I saw Azarenka yelling at the ball kids, several players in lowel level tournaments I've seen yelling at the kids. So all I can say is why? They haven't done anything wrong. Maybe they didn't get back to their spot before you started serving but who cares, give them a break. Maybe they couldn't understand that you meant towel but they gave you the tennis balls instead. Who cares! They are just kids. They look up to the players and for the players to treat the kids badly it is uncalled for.

When I was playing a tournament down in Australia last year a player was yelling at a ball kid for something, but he was literally screaming at the kid so loud you could hear him across the site. It was ridiculous. I was playing on the next court at the time and as this player was going on and on about how bad the ball kids were I turned and told my ball kids that they were doing a great job, and the smiles that I got from them was something that was a way better than winning a match. No one likes to get yelled at, especially not an innocent little kid.

That aggravates me when players are mean to the kids. This sport is full of Divas. Kids look up to the tennis players as role models or look at them like it's their own superhero and for the players to yell at them is ridiculous. I've seen this going on for a while now and just thought I would share my feelings.

ATP Delray Beach

Today I got the chance to watch some of the men's matches over in Delray Beach at the Delray Beach International. This is the tournament Roddick withdrew from following his win over in Memphis. But I got to see the giant Ivo Karlovic play Janko Tipsarevic. That was an interesting match. Ivo is a huge compared to Janko. But the first set went the distance and Janko edged Ivo in the tiebreaker 16-14. Ivo had a bunch of set points but Janko got lucky with a couple returns, and Janko even hit a second serve ace down set point. Talk about being ballsy. But it paid off. Janko ended up winning the match in another tiebreaker 7-1 but he was up 5-2 in the second and on his match point at 5-3 he passed Ivo at the net and the linesman called the ball out but it clearly was on the line. But I have to say Ivo has a nasty backhand slice. That ball doesn't come off the ground at all. If only he could move... but that's what you get when you're almost 7 feet tall. Better luck next time.

Then I got to watch Mardy Fish take on Bjorn Phau (pronounced POW) but that wasn't too exciting Phau retired down 5-0. The guy couldn't move. I think they said he was sick or something. But it looked like it. He was missing by about 6 feet on some shots and shanking others. But that's a nice round for Fish. I wish I could play people who retire. I think in my 17 years of playing tennis I think 1 girl retired against me. It must be more common in the higher level pro tournaments. But who knows maybe I'll get a few in the future. Anyway some other players that were there playing were Donald Young and Kevin Anderson. I didn't get to watch the match but Anderson won 67(5) 76(4) 62. Seems like it was a good match by the score but who knows.

That was my afternoon, it was a good learning experience I guess you could say. Saw some good players, some good matches, got sunburned so all in all it was a good day... But I'm still trying to figure out where I'm headed next. When I figure it out I'll let you all know.

Practice, practice, and more practice

Another week has come and gone and I am still waiting to see if I'll get into the tournaments in the States. As of now they are still really tough to get into. The cutoff for the main draw is about 150 and the qualifying is under 300. I am about 30th on the alternate list for the tournament in Hammond and about 100 for Clearwater. So my chances of getting in are a little slim. I'm praying for a wildcard.

Since there hasn't been any tournaments lately all I've been doing is practicing and preparing as if I am going to get into these tournaments so nothing exciting has happened in the last week. But I did run into Chris Evert the other day. That was awesome. When I went to the Evert Academy a long time ago and one summer I got to hit with her almost every morning. I could see how competitive she was in practice so I could only imagine what she was like in her years of Grand Slam competition. But since the other day I haven't seen her or spoke to her in about 6 years. It's weird how time seems to go by so quickly. It seems like just yesterday we were hitting on the back courts.

So that was my week. It's not exciting when you aren't traveling and playing in tournaments. But you can't do anything about that until you do get into one. As of now I'm just keeping my fingers crossed. Hopefully I'll get some good news in a couple of days. I'll keep you posted.

Midland, MI

Midland, Michigan. Home to over 40 thousand of which about 4 thousand are members of the USTA. This place was called best tennis town in the national a few years back. Now it holds a 100k tournament in the middle of winter. A tournament where I did not fair too well. Losing to Alexandra Stevenson in the 1st round of qualies. I lost but so did the Steelers, so I can be happy about one thing. I saw some good matches and did some fun things like the tournaments Community Outreach Program where I went to a school and talked to a bunch of 10-12 year old kids. I showed them how to serve, hit forehands and backhands, and volleys. I answered some of their questions like 'Do you need to wear your hair in a ponytail when playing tennis?' or 'Have you ever played tennis sick?' So they were fun questions, nothing too serious. I made sure to use words and terms they would understand because I've made that mistake before and all I got were crickets sounds and little blank stares. But it was great they all seemed to enjoy themselves. I even got a few of the kids to come down and hit and as the kids got rowdier I just saw the Principal's face like 'what is she doing?' Oh well, they enjoyed it and so did I.

I also got to take part in a dinner for the sponsors and players that was held at the town's Country Club. That was interesting. I think I was the 2nd player to arrive and all there was was a sea of adults in their suits and ties, dresses and high heels, and I'm in my jeans and a sweater feeling way out of place. But I knew this when I walked by the open bar where all the adults were and I overheard "Return Investment" and "Real Estate Assets". I thought no comprende and walked the other way. But I ended up finding a few players I knew and sat with them for the evening. By the time desserts were being eaten all the players needed to go up on stage and say a few words. I thought 1) Crap I need to talk in front of this large crowd and 2) I hope my face doesn't look like the fat kid who just downed a chocolate cake! But it wasn't too bad. We were told we could just say our name and where we are from and if you wanted you could say whatever. But it turns out I had to speak last and everyone before me practically told their whole life story so I couldn't just say my name and where I was from. So I just said a little thank you to the sponsors for putting such a nice tournament together. And said I'll be back next year. So that was the evening. A little embarrassing and a few awkward turtle moments but it was a fun event, and I was glad to go.

Now I get to head back to Florida and thaw out before my next few tournaments in March, where I'll be looking to end my drought of not qualifying. So this will be an important couple of weeks, just practicing and staying healthy. I'll keep you guys posted. Ciao

Travel Days = No Fun

We all know what it is like to travel..the endless lines at the ticket counter, practically getting molested at the security check point, and the passenger next to you hogging the armrest. Well here is something else that just seems to make me upset when traveling by plane. It starts at your point of origin where you get a small delay. You think no worries I still have 2 hours to catch my connecting flight. Then that small delay turns into an hour delay and you start to sweat thinking you could miss your next flight if delayed any longer. Turns out your good to go. You board the plane, sit next to someone who captures your armrest before you could, or someone who falls asleep snoring while you pray they wake up so you can go to the bathroom. But that is fine because you know that you are going to catch your next flight. Well once you land it all turns to hell because you realize where the plane has just taxied in to. Like myself the other day I found myself at one end of the earth and needed to walk all the way to the other in order to catch my flight. I started literally at the last gate at the end of the terminal where I needed to walk all the way to the other end of the terminal and then some. And while walking I hear over the loud speaker that if you don't check in 20 minutes before the scheduled flight is supposed to leave then they can kick you off the plane. So once I hear this I'm panicking. At this point I'm thinking about jogging (or is it yogging, it could be with a soft j) but I say screw it I would look like an idiot with my big tennis bag. So I get on one of those moving sidewalks. Well one side says walk the other side says stand. But I think people can't read because we have people standing on the walking side, or elderly and their walkers walking on the walk side, people standing on the stand side with their huge pieces of luggage on the walk side so you can't get by. It's just a mess. I was about to scream as I saw myself nearing that 20 minute mark. Tick Tock Tick Tock. So I finally get the end of the terminal where I then needed to go underground in order to get to the smaller terminal. I had to walk underneath the runway where they had flashing lights and sounds to make it seems like a cool tunnel, but it wasn't. I was surprised not to see bodies flailing around on the floor from seizures at the other end of the tunnel the lights were so bad. Once at the end of the tunnel, once my seizures stopped, I made my way up the escalator and to my gate which I walked passed because it was not clearly marked...At this point I'm exhausted and sweating from the journey. Below I've even drawn out a little map to demonstrate the perils that took place in Detroit International Airport.



So that is another reason why I hate traveling. But I did get to Midland safely and that is all that matters...

What the...

I just looked up my tournament schedule and realized that I got into the qualifying draw of a 100k tournament but I didn't get into a 25k. Interesting. For those of you who don't know what this means I'll explain...

There is a structure that applies to WTA tennis tournaments. The lowest are the Circuit Events, then International Events, then Premier Events, and lastly the highest which are the 4 Premier Mandatory Events which also called Grand Slams (these are the ones you see on TV held in New York, London, Paris, and Melbourne). You start by playing in the Circuit Events to gain points and these points allow you to qualify for the upper levels of the tennis structure.

I am currently playing in the Circuit Events. Now the lowest of the Circuit Events are the 10k tournaments. The next is a 25k, then 50k, 75k, and lastly a 100k. So as you can see a 25k is lower than a 100k. This has got me wondering how on earth does one qualify for a 100k and not a 25k. Crazy. I guess everyone who is a tennis player in the U.S. is playing the 25k. Oh well. I would rather play the 100k and play well, which means you get more points and more money. There is also more highly ranked players, so the experience should be great. Well we'll see when I get there...