SATURDAY FINALS OF SINGLES AND DOUBLES

It is now Saturday and the Finals of Singles was set again for 10:30 am. I got up early and had a good breakfast and warm up session with my normal warm up partner (Vesna) from Flordia. We have been warming up every morning at 7:15 because the matches started and 8:30 and all the courts were being used for the tournament. I spoke with Fran again about my opponent's game and she gave me some useful information that I could use. I really thought she would be tired after her long match with Fran, so again one of my plans was to wear her out! Physically I felt great, so I knew that stamina would not be an issue for ME!!! We started the match at 10:30 on the money!! Every single point was extremely long and very good, we both used deep shots against each other, came to the net, used angles etc. Overall the first set was great. I was up 4-2, then before I knew it she came back and won the set 6-4!!! I was disappointed because I felt like I had the uppper hand in the first set, but she somehow managed to pull it out with some clever drop shots and good net play. I did force the issue on some of the points, coming to the net and hitting some oh but I missed a few shots to lose the first set. The second set started a bit slow for me and she had the momentum. She got up 2-0 in the second set by being more aggressive and using the wind to her advantage. Well I was not going to give up!! I kept plugging in, using my movement and good net play to tie it up at 2-2. We battled back and forth to 3-3 and I finally broke her to go up 4-3 and I fininished the second set at 6-3. We took a 10 min break and came back out to do more battle. It was one set for the entire championship so I was going to give it my all. I was not tired at all, my legs felt great and I thought I had the momentum after winning the second set. I thought she may have ran out of gas in the second so I was ready to rumbel and make her run some more!!! We started the 3rd set and again I went down 2-0, similar to the 2nd set. Again I fought back to 2-2. We kept holding serve and I finally broke to go up 4-3. She broke back and tied it up at 4-4, she then went up 5-4, 30-love against my serve. I managed to win that game with some unbeilievable gets and some good strategic points. I tied it up at 5-5, went up 6-5 and finished the match at 7-5 in the third. I could not believe that I had just won the Worlds!!! I jumped for joy and thanked all of my USA teammates and players who supported and encouraged me throughout the match. It made all the difference in the world to have them there!!! What a great experience!!! It it hard to explain how it felt, but I knew I had accomplished something big!!! I did not celebrate too long because I now had to play the doubles at 4:30. My singles match lasted 4 1/2 hours, started at 10:30 and finished at 3:00. I quickly ate lunch (late), got a 30 minute massage and proceeded to go back to the courts for the finals of the doubles. We played our own teammates (#1 seeds), Fran and Susan. It was an All American Doubles finals. I think my partner was a bit concerned that I would be tired, but I assured her that I was fine and ready to play!! We started just after 4:30 and the concern was that we would end up playing under the lights. The lights at the club were not good, hard to follow the lobs because they went over the lights, but we had to play. We started a little slow, but eventually started to get warmed up. We played a very tough first set winning it 7-5, after being down 4-2. We capitalized on our net game and solid overheads to close out the first set. We started strong in the 2nd, went up 4-2 and 5-2, and eventually finishing at 6-3 in the second set. Once again, I was the World Champion in Doubles!!! We hugged and hugged and we celebrated. A great accomplishment for both of us!!! It was time to celebrate and boy did I. Even though I had played over 6 hours of tennis that day, I found the energy dance and dance until 2 am!!! Tomorrow is a rest day, and I can't wait!! I will get a massage and take a turkish bath and just lay by the beach and soak it all in!!! I travel back home early monday morning. I look forward to seeing everyone and showing you pictures and the videos from Team World and Individual Tournaments!!!