Frustrating and Encouraging

Today was frustrating.
I finally played like I knew how to play. I felt the ball and swung through the shot.
But...I lost. It was one of those matches I should have won. In the end I just made more errors than she did. She was ranked about 250 in the world. She was ranked as high as 128 at the end of '09.

I know with all of myself I could have won. It's encouraging to know I believe I can win. I know I can beat girls that are at least 250 in the world. I've improved so much from last year. My mental game has gotten a lot stronger, my defense has improved, and the way I see the court and what's going on has massively improved. I'm able to analyze what I'm doing and what my opponent is doing on the court instead of looking back after the match and knowing what to do.

On the other hand, my partner and I won our doubles match today. That puts us in the semi's. My partner's name is Nicole Rottman. Her and I played together in Mexico and won the tournament there. This is only our second time playing together. So that means we haven't lost a match together! Hopefully I didn't just jinks us :)

We played really well today. Another encouraging thing...my doubles has improved.
Hooray for improvement!

So far, the start of the year has been tough but a great start nonetheless. I didn't know what to expect since I didn't get to practice much over the break. I had to take time off to get a cordisone shot, take time off from a pec strain, take time off from my shoulder hurting. There was a lot of resting involved during the break. Since I wasn't up to where I wanted to be going into the year, I didn't really know what to expect going into my first few tournaments. But I'm happy where I'm at. I always want to improve and wish I could have won. But it's a good start to the year.

Here's hoping for more improvement the rest of the year!

Doubles tomorrow!!