WEDNESDAY AT THE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS

Today I am playing in the quarter finals of the World Championships. I made it past 2 excellent players and put in alot of legwork!!! Points on the red clay just last forever!! Very difficult to close out points. One thing I have learned this past several weeks is the importance of the famous DROP SHOT!! It is one of the most frequently used shots on the red clay and the Europeans just love to use it!! They have mastered it! And from watching the matches these past weeks, the Americans don't like use it enough and hate to be dropped!!!
I play at 12:00 today so I warmed up early this am, had a nice breakfast, stretched, and watched some of the early morning matches. I play a very tough opponent from Portugal (their #1 player). Again, I don't know much about her. She was tall and strong and very athletic looking.
We warmed up I noticed that she had a heavy topspin forehand and a wicked one handed backhand slice. Her topspin backhand was erratic. Good serve and a very good net game.
We started the match and again (typical red clay) the points were long and grueling. She did not miss much and her heavy topspin forehand kept me pinned to the baseline. She used her slice and drop shots well, so I sometimes felt like a yo-yo. I managed to win the first set 6-4, but it was not easy!! The first set last 1 1/2 hours!! On to the second set and again, long points, long set!! I was always leading in the set, but she kept fighting back and her Portugal friends were loud and very distracting on every point!!! I finally had to say something because they were at the point of rude and unsportsmanlike!! I won the 2nd set in a very close tiebreak. Finally the match was over, we hugged at the end of the match and spoke for a while and her friends were actually very funny and nice after the match. The match ended and 3:30 pm and I was tired!! I had 1 hour and had to be ready lto play the doubles semi finals against the Australians and the #2 seeds.
I got something to eat quickly, drank a protein shake, showered, stretched and off to the courts I went for the quarter finals of the doubles. I knew our opponents because I played doubles against them with Mary Dailey during our Team competition. We barely one 7-6 in the third, so I knew they were going to be tough. Myke and I won the doubles last year and we play well together. We planned out our strategy, hit to the weaker player and play aggressive!!.
I actually felt pretty good, a bit tired but I was pumped up to play the doubles. It was the semifinals of the World's so being tired was not something I was going to think about!!! We played great, winning the first set 6-3 and the second 6-4. We were in the Finals of the doubles and we are to play the #1 seeds and our American friends, Mary Daily and Fran Chandler.
I was a little disappointed because the schedule for the 45's did not give us a day off (I have played everyday now, with no break) !! I was to play the semis of singles tomorrow (Thursday), Friday would be the day off, and the Finals on Saturday. I really could use the day off tomorrow!!!