5 December 2008

Well, today was my 1st singles tennis tournament held at Mission San Jose in Fremont which is approximately 1/2 an hour's drive from home. Match was supposed to start at 8am. My opponent is Michelle Myzell-Chapman, quite an experienced player coz I could check her play record online.

Anyway, didn't sleep well the night before. Woke up many times. Guess I was excited and was afraid I would oversleep altho the alarm clock hasn't failed me thus far. I was all in my tennis gear and about to leave when Ed told me to take my sweatpants with me just in case coz that day was chilly (4 deg C). I took his advice and chucked it into my car and began my journey.

Reached there at 7.45am and walked onto court to do my check-in. It was really windy that day and as I walked, my teeth were chattering and I was shivering. Now, what was I thinking about - I must've been crazy coz everyone who's there was in their thermal wear and here I am, like a heroine, only dressed in tennis skirt. As the check-in desk wasn't ready, I quickly ran back to my car to wear my sweatpants. I was thankful I listened to Ed's advice.

The 1st set was horrible with the wind blowing through the court and my fingers felt numb due to the cold and wind chill. Both Michelle and me struggled with our ball toss and I struggled mostly with being able to hit the ball coz the wind kept carrying it away from me. Footwork was all fouled up. I lost the match 5-7, 5-7. Not trying to make excuses but Michelle was a better player and she could adjust to the conditions better than I can.

But, it's just my luck. The one condition that I've never trained in and here I am being tested to the fullest in my 1st singles match. I've learnt a lot from that experience tho and hope that in the future, I would be able to handle this condition better.

I can't tell you how happy I was just to get off the court after losing. I was just so glad that I won't have to go back there again the next day coz had I won, I would've to play in the semis and no way am I going back there, hahaha.

So, story of my life - Won 1, lost 1. Oops! sorry lah, no photos to prove I've lost coz remember, I was in too much of a hurry to get off court, hahaha.