Two Sets

After having a day off yesterday I was rested, energized and excited to play Kathy. I felt good warming up with Mary this morning and had a game plan in mind. We had a great first set that I won 7-5. Our points were long, but I stuck to my plan of working her backhand and taking some of her high, floaty balls out of the air and moving in. In the sixth game of the second set, during one of our long rallies I felt a twinge of a pull in my right hamstring. I got very tentative and afraid to move, thinking a false move on the hard courts might create really bad injury. I finished the second set that she won 6-2. I told her I needed our ten minute break, but I wasn't sure I'd be able to finish. This close to Turkey I just didn't want to take the risk of hurting myself beyond repair before such an important event. I talked to Mary and a couple of others and everyone was in agreement it would be foolish to finish. I retired the third set and iced my hamstring to the point of numbness. We also defaulted the consolation doubles match we were to play this afternoon. I have such mixed emotions of not finishing a match, but as I said, my entire focus this year has been on playing in Turkey. I have teammates to think about besides myself. My plan now is to go home, rest for most of this week, stretch, see the physical therapist and start my countdown for leaving. As far as my play, I am happy with the way I'm hitting the ball. I am disappointed that I did not have better overall results here, but I'm so glad I got to play the matches I did, against the quality opponents that I had.