We started our day watching the Olympics, something we love to do. Then Natalie made her way for a warm up at one o'clock. The Frickey's and I made our way over once laundry was finished, lunch too. Nat went on right around three o'clock and boy was she on! Her Hungarian opponent couldn't handle the variety of balls our gal was sending over the net. Natalie's confidence was solid and evident. She was serving to win the second set, was down....love 30. Came to the line and served two confident huge first serves to make it 30 all. Came back to the line and served a third big first serve to go up 40-30. The next point went live and Natalie drill a back hand that the opponent couldn't get to. Must say, the best match of tennis Nat has play thus far this season. Was happy to see her confident in her game plan and abilities. Natalie won it 6-2, 6-0!
Some of you might be wondering....why isn't Natalie confident or why is it so evident today? I will attempt to explain. Embarking on the pro circuit of tennis is a whole new world. In the last 18 months, Natalie has found herself walking into player lounges filled will players she has watched or admired for years. So she kinda walks in like a tourist, amazed at her surroundings if you will. Continuing to attend such tournaments will help her to realize that she is "one of them" and not a tourist. That she belongs there, and has the right to be there. That she can compete with the top in the world. The day Natalie can walk into a player lounge and not have the "tourist" reaction is a mile stone for any player. All has an affect on confidence. Natalie's tennis techniques are looking great....thanks Jason.....right now its the battle of confidence.....so today's match was full of confidence....a mile stone indeed! WOOT!
Tomorrow, our gal will face Samantha Murry (GBR), who is the second seed with a world ranking of 240. The two have not played each other. Murry played a three set match today vs. Ellie. They will play third on after ten.....code for 1ish.
We will find out tomorrow afternoon if Natalie and Nicole will make it into the double draws. Even though their tourney ranking is 404, they are on the edge of not making it into the draw. They did request a wild card as a back up plan, so we will see what happens.
There will be live scoring so please follow the link in last post and enjoy. As for me, time to dream and ready myself to watch the lil yellow ball tomorrow.....Love and Blessings....Sherry!