It is Friday now and the activity at the club is slowing down. It is now the semifinals or finals of many of the age groups and alot of players (who are no longer playing) have gone home or have left to sightsee around the island. It seems so quiet around the club!!! Nevertheless, there are some great matches to be played today. The men's draws were larger than the women's draws so most of them are still in the quarterfinals or semifinals. There were many awesome matches played in all of the age groups, some upsets and some predictable results.
Myke and I were just enjoying the matches and getting ready to play the finals of our doubles later this afternoon. I warmed up well with Danny Walden, who played in the men's 50's age group and also had a very tough doubles match to play today. They won their doubles and he gave me the credit for such a great warm up!!! HA!! HA!!
We were finally called to play our match and we were psyched.!! We had played great against the Aussies and we felt ready. We had our strategy planned and it was a matter of who would execute the best today. We knew that Mary would be the aggressive player and Fran the super, super consistent player. We played extremely close in the first set, with some service breaks. We were neck and neck and finally had to play a tiebreaker in the first set. They played consistent and moved great and we got down early 3-0. We managed to get back into it some, but we came up short and lost it 7-4.
We started very strong in the 2nd set, we were up 2-0 and 40 love. Somehow we lost that game and the momentum shifted!! They just played flawless!! We tried everything, and they had the answer to everything we threw at them and we ended up losing the second set 6-2. They are well deserving of this World Title because they played great!! I am very proud of my US teammates and if I was to choose losing to anyone, I am happy that it was them!!! Congratulations Mary and Fran for a job well done!!
Well the competition is over now and I am exhausted!! That was a very grueling 2 1/2 weeks of tennis!! I can honestly say that if it had not been for my wonderful trainer, Rob ("The one and only Rob!!), I would not have lasted through these 2 1/2 weeks of grueling tennis. He has worked with me very hard to get ready for this and I thank him everyday!! (sometimes I curse at him during workouts, but it is only out of love!!!!) . I am very, very, happy that I can now relax and just watch some great tennis!! Sangrias and Mojitos here we come!!!!
This has been an incredible experience. All my experiences playing Internationally (Cup Team and Individual tournaments) have been different and fantastic. This was one of my favorites, the location was great (spectacular), the tournament was run very well, and the competition was fantastic. I am very proud of my accomplishments here. I played with focus and determination and never gave up, no matter what the score was. For this I am very happy and satisfied.
The trip back will be long and I will miss the quiet and beautiful island of Mallorca, Spain but I will come back!!!! I will leave Sunday morning to Barcelona and sightsee for a couple of days, planning to see the Sagrada Familia Cathedral and other beautiful areas of Barcelona.
Hasta Luego amigos!!!
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