Even though Susan and I were playing each other today, we still met to warm up this morning as we had been doing all week. As I've said before, even though we are all fierce competitors on the court, we're all friends off the court. The weather had turned a little cooler through the morning, and the skies weren't quite the bright blue with bright sunshine as it had been in days past. Perfect playing conditions. Susan hits a strong, flat hard ball, and she came out banging. I was down 6-1, 5-1 and serving at 15-40 before I knew it. I held off the couple of match points she had and was able to win my serve for 2-5. I just dug in and kept fighting. I was able to finally lift the ball and get some depth, plus my will to compete to the very end kicked in too. I broke, then held to get the score to 4-5. One more break of serve and I knew I could get to a third set. Susan played a strong service game and I came up short, losing the second set 6-4. Even though I was disappointed to lose, I came away feeling like I left it all on the court. I'm gaining more confidence in matches against the top players. The difference in our games is more mental (on my part) than physical. Ball for ball I can hang in there. I just need to believe. I'll have one more shot tomorrow to have a great mental day on the court. I get to play Fran in the playoff for third and fourth. She lost to Mariana today two and two. I lost to Fran in the finals of Houston on clay in March. I'll be ready for tomorrow. It's my last match of the tournament and I'm excited at the thought of ending the week with a great win. One thing is for sure, I'll play my heart out.
Susan and I went on late this afternoon to play our doubles playoff. We were playing Tracey Thompson and her partner, Shelly Stillman-Scott. Shelly is a member of the club we're playing at, so needless to say she is a crowd favorite! Susan and I lost the first set 6-4. I was playing very well, and just kept moving forward and staying positive. We were down 4-2 in the second set, and once again that inner warrior in me came out. We broke back, held and went on to win the second set 6-4. We seemed to have the momentum. My serve got us a lot of free points, we were aggressive and kept moving forward. We went up 5-0 in the third right away, then went on to close it out for the victory, 6-1. I was so relieved! I felt like I had redeemed myself from my doubles play the day before. A bronze ball in doubles works for me! Fran and Kathy, who we lost to in the semis, went on to win the gold ball today in doubles today.
I hope to have a matching bronze in singles by the end of the day tomorrow!
new pictures below
1 comment:
Great day of tennis my friend! To come back from 1-6,1-5 and make a match of it really shows your character and fight. Awesome doubles win as well. You're laerning your doubles lessons well from Phil! Good luck tomorrow against Fran. Tell her I said Hi!
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