Oh Boston

I'm playing at a tennis center that isn't in the greatest parts of town. I would like to call it the ghetto. One of the days during the tournament there was a teenage boy who ran through the tennis center. He didn't go on the courts but ran around them trying to out run the cops. Yep, the cops were chasing him. All this was happening while professional tennis matches were taking place. He ran into a dead end and just sat down. He knew he was caught so he just sat down in a chair that was nearby. As he was escorted out of the tennis center, police dogs came later to sniff out what he threw out of his pockets right before he was arrested. Great excitement happening on the pro tennis circuit!

Good News

Update on El Paso: I got to the semi's of doubles and lost in the round of 16 in singles. I unfortunately had to play my doubles partner in singles and that afternoon we played together for doubles. That doesn't happen all the time, but when it does you just got to deal with it. 

After that I headed home the same day (Friday) I lost doubles and made it to LA around 11pm. I wanted to get back as fast as possible because Keaton's graduation was the next day. I was really happy I was able to make it. I'm very proud of him!

The next Monday I had a tournament near my house in Claremont, Ca. It is a tournament called US Open Sectional Playoffs. I was playing the southern California regional and there are a total of 16 regions. Each region has one winner and I was playing well enough to win my region. Once each region finished the winners of the region come together and play in a final tournament. So in August the 16 winners go to Yale and compete to win a spot in the qualifying draw of the US Open! It's a fantastic opportunity and I can't believe I'm 4 matches away from playing in a Grand Slam! The tournament is held in the middle of August so I have some time to prepare and play some other pro tournaments until I compete against the other 15 winners.

I'm currently in Boston, MA playing in a 50K. I'm staying with my coaches parents and thankfully my coach was able to come with. I rarely have him with me and he doesn't get to see me play very much. It's nice to have him with me. 

Hot and HOT

I'm currently in El Paso, TX where the temperature is hovering around 100 degrees. I just came from Hilton Head, SC where it was hot and humid and at 9am it was already 90 degrees. I'm a person who does like warm weather, but there comes a point to where you just need it to cool down a little. On the tennis court, it's especially hot since the heat comes off the concrete and makes you even hotter as your running around the court playing a 2 hour match.

I got here Sunday morning and took that day off. It was much needed since I played all of last week. My partner and I won the doubles tournament! It was quite eventful getting to Texas. My partner lives in Atlanta which is only about 5 hours from Hilton Head. Once we were done with our match on Saturday we showered and packed up and drove to her house. We did some laundry and chilled out a bit before heading to bed. I struggled falling asleep since the room I was staying in felt like a sauna. The next thing I know I wake up with sever stomach pains. It felt worse when I was laying down and here and there I would get waves of nausea. My wonderful fiance and mom were available to help me through the pain even though it was 2am there time. The pain finally subsided and I fell asleep for about 30 more minutes until I got up at 5:45am. I think I got about 3 or 4 hours of sleep.

Next, the dad drove me to the train station to take to the airport. I guess I had just missed one so I sat there for about 30 minutes. I thought I wasn't going to make my flight since I checked in with just 45 minutes until my boarding time. But everything went smoothly there on out and my bag came too! I was scared it wasn't going to make the flight.

I only play doubles tomorrow with a partner I have never played with before. She's from Bolivia. Hope things go well!

The great thing is I'm getting wonderful rest at the house I'm staying at and delicious food to eat. Cereal, fruit, and lots of pasta and chicken. The mom and I are going to attempt to make mango sorbet. YUM :)

Toluca, Mexico

This post was meant to be posted about a week ago but I never finished it since it was negative and just random thoughts. But I decided to post it anyways.

I don't even know where to start this post at. I will just ramble on. It'll be a stream of consciousness post.

Why did I even come to Mexico? I chose between the BNP WTA pre-qualifier and three tournaments in Mexico. What was I thinking? I could have stayed close to home because the pre-qualifier for a WTA tournament was only 2 hours from my house. My family could have been there. But I chose Mexico and I was confident in it.

I have been re-thinking my decision since the first week of Mexico I got sick and had to retire out of my singles match. Luckily I recovered pretty quickly and was able to play doubles. My partner and I made it to the finals which is great, but I always want to do well in singles too. The second week of Mexico (Toluca, the title of this post) was even worse. I just didn't care about anything. I was struggling with thoughts, with my desire, with my attitude. I didn't want to be here. I didn't want to play tennis that day. So I didn't. I struggled mentally and it showed on the court. I ended up winning the first set somehow and then really went south the next two sets. I honestly didn't care if I won or lost that day. I ended up losing of course. My attitude was poor because of the housing, the city, the culture, the language, the courts, the facility, the food. Everything was getting to me. I got a little sick again during the tournament but instead of things coming up like the first week, things were going out the bottom the second week.

I couldn't hold myself together. I succumbed to the obstacles and let them win. I didn't put them aside for the match and just play tennis. I put them in front of me and that's all I could see.

I was frustrated I was sick again. I was frustrated the housing wasn't what I expected. I stayed with this family last year and they were great. This time around it was like they never knew me. They barely spoke English, they were always late, they always fed us late, it took around 30 minutes to get to the club, and it was just plane awkward staying at their house.

I had a conversation with my coach that really helped put things in perspective. The main thing he said was each match is an opportunity not an obstacle.  Look for ways to be successful, not excuses to fail. With everything he said including the above quote, I really learned something. I realized I shouldn't regret coming to Mexico. I shouldn't regret not playing the BNP. I should believe I made the right chose. I wouldn't have learned more mental toughness without going through these experiences. I could look at the situation and think I wasted 2 weeks. But I don't think I did. I may not have the results I want but going through what I did has made me stronger and more aware of what I can do if I ever feel or go through something like this again. And I'm sure I will feel like this again.


My roommate, travel buddy, and doubles partner is from Austria. In German there's a saying she introduced me to. 

zwick die oaschbocken zamm

This means "Put your butt together"!!!

It's similar to come on, let's go and fight!

So, I will do that.
I will put my butt together and fight on!

More from Irapuato

I wanted to post some more pictures since I figured out I can use the wifi on my phone to upload them. Hopefully not all of them will be sideways like the last one.
Irapuato is known for it's strawberries. My housing family was telling me it was the city where most of the strawberries get distributed out from. We were able to visit a "strawberry house" . They had everything you could imagine. They had strawberry jam, strawberries covered in chocolate, crystallized strawberries, and strawberries with whipped cream. I bought some jam and had to get chocolate covered strawberries...which only cost about $1.50 for a small. It was delicious!
And of course here are the puppies! Aren't they cute?

la casa de las fresas "strawberry house"

There were strawberries everywhere!

jam jam jam

they bit everything and every one!

adorable but upside down

:)

End of Irapuato

After a disastrous start to the tournament, things
turned around and I was able to play doubles. Nicole and I made it to the finals but were unable to stop our partners. It was a close match. One break of serve in each set. Here's a picture of the runner up's.

Sorry, I don't know how to rotate the picture. I uploaded it from my phone using wifi here in Mexico and can't seem to find the rotate button. Just turn your head and you'll see the picture :)

Annoying + Wonderful things

Here are a few annoying things that happen while I have visited Mexico.

1. Everything is run so much slower here than in the states. They are in no rush at all.
2. The first day we practiced the tournament had no new balls for us to use.
3. The next day we practiced the tournament tells us they don't know what the official ball is. It could be pressurized or non-pressurized. Those are two different things!
4. They finally decide to use pressurized balls at over 6,000 feet. Weird. And I had one day to practice with these balls at this altitude.
5. The schedule for each day doesn't come out of until late at night. Sometimes it's posted at a hotel, sometimes it's posted at the club. You never know what you're going to get!


Here are a few wonderful things:

1. The housing family has taken great care of me especially while I was sick.
2. I found a website that I can watch all my shows on! Hulu and Netflix don't work outside the US.
3. I get to play with puppies everyday :)
4. Skype is just plain wonderful.
5. I have friends to travel with.


That's all for now ;)