I was trying to think what is the best way to describe the last three weeks. At first I wanted to say that everything was shit until it wasn’t and then I went through my relatively objective tennis notes (that include a separate column for subjective emotional statements) and came to realize it wasn’t actually that bad. So the best way to put it into words is actually that one viral tiktok audio that says something along the lines of “Pat yourself on the back girl”.

As I was still in the process of juggling busy girl summer and trying to ‘split the G’ in Dublin (had exactly two attempts because #athlethesdontputshitintheirbody and came awfully close on the 2nd so that was good enough for me), the tennis schedule still looked rather modest. However, the time I didn’t spend on court at end of June was made up by trying to hit some PBs at the gym. Apparently I have been gaslighting myself and I can actually do my PTs strength routines with heavier weights than I have done so far. Happy to announce that pistol squats are still horrible and plyometric push ups have a special place in hell. “What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger” or whatever Kelly Clarkson was singing about.

Tennis practice wise things have been everywhere and nowhere. Hitting was really inconsistent in normal practices and I felt as if my body and brain just were doing completely different things at the same time. Yet, the infamous 8 AM Sunday lesson keeps feeling good (and I keep getting new grips as a gift for playing well enough) which is really odd considering that coached practices were always my nr 1 enemy from mental point of view. Anyways, at some point I also realized that I might be busy bee but the calendar doesn’t care and summer will eventually end so if I want to play some tournaments then now is in fact the time for that. That being said, I signed up and played my second ever Ladies 4 (15-30pts) tournament the 2nd week of July. At this point I’m not sure if I’m cursed or dumb for making my life considerably harder than it should be but out of the five matches I played, only 1 (one!!) was under 2 hours and finished in 2 sets.

I played 1/8 and 1/4 qualification rounds + QF back-to-back-to-back on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday and for some reason kept advancing while playing objectively (not even exaggerating) some of my worst tennis in recent history. I was double faulting like there’s no tomorrow, was so stiff from the body which showed in my groundstrokes and did so many questionable things on court that if you could give an award for poor decision making, I would be prime candidate for getting one. HOWEVER, one thing that legitimately did not let me down once during all 5 matches was my mental stability and pushing forward like a freight train when I could have easily just given up. I have been talking in length about how my own brain is my worst enemy and my biggest asset and although last week had a bit of both, the latter seemed to be working overtime. I think I owe it to my past professional and personal experiences that have made me pretty much unfazed about things that would normally freak people out. It’s also hilarious how my emotional stability comes out during tournaments where theoretically I would expect myself to be more riled up than at some random practice. Also major (like major) shoutout to my personal/conditioning/”recovery is also part of training” coach who voluntarily showed up on Wednesday, sat through my 2.5h match and now has a list as long as a CVS receipt somewhere on his phone about everything we still need to work on. Because besides all the aforementioned I got some much needed actual tennis specific tips that I needed to hear more than anything at that point and it made a world’s difference for the SF and F matches on Saturday and Sunday respectively. The swing was so much looser, the approach to shots much more “I know wtf I’m doing so let’s just trust myself a bit” and therefore the flow of the game was exponentially better. And I think that was the most enjoyable part of it all: the game progressively improved throughout the week and despite taking a loss in the final, the match was still even, had many positives and I came home with a good feeling. Side note: that’s what I felt mentally. Physically, my HR in the final was consistently around 190 and I was actively thinking I will die on the court because the match started at 12:00 with 30 degrees and lasted 2 hours. All in all, I didn’t also expect to make it to the final in my 2nd ever Ladies 4 tournament but I’m happy I did and now I’m about 10x wiser about what needs to be done that future matches would feel more like how the last two felt.

Tournament results: 1/8 quali: 6/3 – 2/6 – 7/6 (1) // 1/4 quali: 6/2 – 6/3 // QF: 5/7 – 6/1 – 7/5 // SF: 2/6 – 6/2 – 6/3 // F: 2/6 – 6/2 – 3/6

Now it’s an easy day and then we are back in biz to try and replicate the newfound feeling in some practices. Next two tournaments are back-to-back at the end of July/beginning of August and I honestly cannot wait!!

Hours spent on court between 22/06-12/07: 19.5h

~ hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard – S.