Amelia Island 10k

So I finally played a professional tournament after a 5 month layoff. It wasn't the best result (lost 6-2 6-4) but I played a full match. I played and competed and it felt great being out there again. My goals for this tournament were to have fun, enjoy getting back into tournament play, and also just being able to compete against top ranked players again. Did I think I was going to win the whole tournament? no, but I just wanted to get out there, enjoy being out there, and to get some matches under my belt.

Stadium Court

My first round opponent was Tereza Hladikova (CZE), who I guess was top 200 a few years ago. So going into the match I knew the girl would be tough and knew how to work the points in her favor. We were scheduled to be 3rd on after 8am so you would think I would get on by let's say 11. Well not in this case. The two matches before me went 6-4 and 7-5 in the 3rd sets, and I didn't get on until after 2 in the afternoon. We also had to switch courts because the matches were taking so long. But I didn't really mind. However, I did have to warm up about 3 times thinking that I was about to play my match but ended up having to sit back down and wait for the match ahead of me to finish. That part sucked a bit. But on the plus side, I got to play on the stadium court which was cool because they use to hold the Bausch and Lomb WTA tournament at this same site for 20 years and that was the court that players like Davenport, Sharapova, and Schiavone played and won on. So that part was awesome.

Well anyway, we walk onto the court and it's like David vs. Goliath but David (aka me) loses. During the match I figured well she's tall so most likely she is going to have a big serve and indeed she did. It was like trying to return Isner's serve. I tried standing farther back from the baseline to try and get a good read on the ball but I ended up leaving too much court open and she would hit an ace or a monster serve far away enough for me to just get it back and she could tee-off on it with her forehand. Or I stood back and it would still kick up high over my head. All I could do was laugh at some of the serves just thinking they were too good. But a few games here and there I got good enough reads were I stayed closer to the baseline and just reacted to her serve and attacked the return and that worked a few times, enough to break her a couple of times. That helped my confidence a bit. I served ok during the match, but not good enough to hold every time, and when you play and opponent with a great serve the importance of holding is much greater. So I got broken multiple times and that did me in. I didn't play badly, I just was rusty. It was one of those matches were you're hitting the ball great but the ball isn't going exactly where you want it and need it to go. I also could have worked the points a little more, instead of bailing out and trying to hit a winner instead of rolling the ball back deep and starting the point over. But those things come with time, and a lot of match play and that's what the next few weeks are about. So I'm looking forward to my next tournament in Williamsburg, VA this week. :)

A walkway around the courts. So pretty! I had to add it.

Women's Open

In preparation for my tournament next week (first in about 6 months) I signed myself up for a Women's Open this weekend just to make sure I knew how to play and score a match. Now, it definitely wasn't a big tournament (only 4 entries) but hey, a match is a match right? The tournament site, was held in beautiful Palm Beach Gardens at the Ballen Isles Country Club. (Fun fact alert: Venus and Serena live there in one of the million developments there.) But the site was wicked nice. It has about 20 clay courts and some hard courts, a large club house, swimming pool, and golf courses spread throughout the development. So you get the point, it's nice. Anyway, back to tennis, in my first match I played a girl from the Bahamas. I've never seen or heard of her so I didn't really know what to expect. We both checked in at the tournament desk and the tournament director runs through the list of saying we play 2 out of 3 sets, tiebreakers at 6-6 the usual. Then I hear we'll be playing a Coman tiebreaker. I was like what? I have no idea what that is! (I found this hilarious because I was joking around with friends a few weeks back saying that I hope the rules and scoring hasn't changed since my 6 month absence. Well, apparently it has!) I don't know if it's new or I've just never had to play it, but it's just like a normal tiebreaker except you change ends after the first point and after every 4 points, which I have to admit is a bit lame having to change sides so often. But oh well I didn't have to play a tiebreak anyway. I won my match 6-2 6-0. I wasn't that nervous during the match but I could tell after not playing for so long my feel on the ball was off. (My drop shots were like lobs landing at the service line, and my hands at the net were like that of a brick layer's hands, not soft haha.) But as the match went on things seemed to settle down and I played pretty well for my first match in months. My next match was ok I guess. I won 6-0 6-0. The girl I played wasn't very good, so I guess you could say I practiced my serving and returning during the match. But I finally played some matches and that's all that matters. I can't wait for next week when I play a 10k in Amelia Island and another the week after in Virginia. Those matches will be much more difficult but I'm looking forward to playing again. For now it's just baby steps and like my dad says it's all practice until I get to the US Open. Haha. I'll be sure to write during Amelia Island, so adios until then.

Update 2.0

I need to apologize yet again for not writing. It's been about 2 months since my last post (sounds like confession). In my last post I was writing about getting back to practicing, but I had another setback. I was hitting for about 2 weeks when I did something to my back. I have no idea what, but all I know is that it was very painful. I could barely sit down, it hurt to stand up, walk up stairs, even sleep. So as you could tell I couldn't practice anymore. Now, I was depressed after I hurt my knee because I was starting to play great and I had to sit out 6-8 weeks but during my rehab I was watching matches I got excited to play again even though I knew it would be tough to get back into. Once I got to practice again I found a new enjoyment in playing. I was happy, smiling, excited to practice and begin tournaments. Well, that all abruptly changed when I hurt my back. I think I was in a severe depression then. Asking myself why is this happening again? I played all throughout college without many big injuries why now? Each week I thought I was getting better but then something happened and my back hurt again. It was like 2 steps forward 5 steps back. Each week I had to go online and withdraw from tournaments that I wanted to play. Each week my ranking would slip. Each week my cardio would fade. Each week off would mean triple the weeks needed to get my fitness back, my rhythm back, my mind back to playing again. Now this is the first week back that I am allowed to hit, and I'm hoping to get out there and nothing hurts, but I won't find out until I hit so keep your fingers crossed. I am hoping these past few weeks/months are the last of my injuries, and I can start to move forward in this sport. I just need to keep positive thoughts flowing. I know there will be a difficult few weeks ahead but I just need to keep moving forward and never give up. To do that I'll take a lesson for the US Women's World Cup Soccer Team. Down 2-1 to Brazil (best team with the best player in the world) late in extra time, they never gave up. Ended up tying 2-2 and won 5-3 in penalty kicks. Never give up and hope for the best, that's what I'll be doing in the coming weeks.