Good Day!
Sorry, my updates are behind. With new Iphone....haven't been able to use it to update. Currently, learning how to do so. In short, future updates will be done court side or shortly after the matches.
Natalie and I flew into New York, then made the short drive to the Cogan's country home in CT. We really appreciate their willingness to put up with our schedule and our intrusion into their space. What a lovely family indeed... Kennedy, John, Ellie and LuLu! We had a great time getting to know them better and enjoyed the home cooking. Kennedy was one of Beth's best friends, so it was awesome to share some "Beth" stories.
Bound for the US Open National Playoffs tourney, we were excited to be in CT. The tennis center at Yale was well organized and impressive. Well, with the exception of their security at the vehicle gate. Def lacking there. Sorry, I digressed.
Natalie played Magda Okruashvili from GEO, on Friday. True to her "I want to keep you interested and not bored" style.....Natalie battled from behind at times to win the thrilling match and move on to the quarterfinal round.
In the quarters, Natalie faced the 4th seed Sandra Roma from SWE. Winning the first set, and doing well in the second, looked as tho Natalie would cruise to victory shortly. And then......heat exhaustion! At times, her shouting in frustration "please, just let me throw up". Hmmm not good! After a medical time out in the beginning of the third set, stomach cramps, chills and ears hurting.....she was down 0-5. She some how dug deep inside and battled to 4-5. Included in this comeback.... a TWEENER. The crowd was loving it....I however ....was worried. She would serve to tie it up, but with the first serve I could tell she had nothing left, mentally she was ready....but her body was failing her. A quick service game and the match was over. The crowd gave her and Sandra an standing O....was really neat. But, an unfortunate ending to a great run for a wild card into the qualifier of the US Open.
Soooo very proud of Natalie!
On Monday, we made the trek to NYC to stay a couple of days and watch some tennis. We went to watch some of the opening rounds of the US Open qualifier. At times, I could see Natalie imagining herself on the court....the "want" continuing to form. We were able to see many new and old friends which always much fun.
