On a more lighter note, one of my friends here Tatia Mikadze from Goergia and I were having lunch a few hours ago. I ordered a Spicy Beef Noodle(without the beef) as I am still a vegetarian. Tatia ordered chicken and rice in a clay pot. It sounded pretty interesting and straightforward. But when it came and she opened the clay pot, I asked her “what’s that”? Something in there looked black and long and in an instant I burst out laughing. I said “Tatia,I am so sorry, it’s your lunch, I know, but I can’t help it”. I was still laughing when Tatia prodded and found a pair of blackened chicken feet in the clay pot of rice!!!!! Honestly, sorry to those who relish chicken feet, but that was utterly and simply gross!!!
In her slight Russain accent, she shakes her head and tells me “ The menu should have said Chicken and chicken feet with rice in a clay pot”……. To say the least, Tatia did not even touch the dish and had to walk out.
I leave for the next city of Fuzhou tomorrow afternoon. The next one is a $25,000 and I will play the qualies there.
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
June 30th 1:00 pm
I lost to the 7th seed Qiang Wang 6-3,7-5.
The conditions today were different a bit from the past few days. It was sweltering heat, on court temperature was about 98-100 degrees f. Humidity was 90%. This was at 10 a.m. It only got hotter.
I also didn’t get much sleep last night mainly because of my asthma. It affects me very rarely when I am either exhausted or in cold weather. But I do not attribute this for my loss today.
Today I started out rather poorly and that cost me the match. I got broken in the 4th game of the first set and soon she was leading 4-1. I also took a Motrin for my groin which was starting to bother me very early on. I held my serve twice after that, but could never break her in the 1st set.
I was starting to feel drowsy in the 2nd set, possibly because of the motrin. Every long point we had ,felt like I was running a 400m sprint in 100 degree weather. Of course, I knew at this time it was more mental than physical. So I decided in the 2nd set that even if I go down, I will at least fight hard. By then I was down 1-4.
I had gone to the supermarket yesterday and had bought some baby powder. That was so useful today when my hands were so slippery from the sweat and I could barely hold my racquet. For the first time in the match, I broke her serve and held mine to level the match at 4-4. I was definitely in better position, but still couldn’t hold my serve at 4-4. I broke her serve again to level it 5-5, but was too spent to hit my usual serves. Whenever we had long rallies, both of us needed at least 25-30 seconds to recover. She did serve better throughout the match, while I was just serving to keep it in.
All in all, it was a good experience. But the crux of the matter is if my intensity had been better in the 1st set,I might have had a better shot at her. I don’t think under these conditions,I could have lasted a 3rd set. In my favour, though, I felt I was on par with this girl and tomorrow if I played her- the outcome maybe different.
The conditions today were different a bit from the past few days. It was sweltering heat, on court temperature was about 98-100 degrees f. Humidity was 90%. This was at 10 a.m. It only got hotter.
I also didn’t get much sleep last night mainly because of my asthma. It affects me very rarely when I am either exhausted or in cold weather. But I do not attribute this for my loss today.
Today I started out rather poorly and that cost me the match. I got broken in the 4th game of the first set and soon she was leading 4-1. I also took a Motrin for my groin which was starting to bother me very early on. I held my serve twice after that, but could never break her in the 1st set.
I was starting to feel drowsy in the 2nd set, possibly because of the motrin. Every long point we had ,felt like I was running a 400m sprint in 100 degree weather. Of course, I knew at this time it was more mental than physical. So I decided in the 2nd set that even if I go down, I will at least fight hard. By then I was down 1-4.
I had gone to the supermarket yesterday and had bought some baby powder. That was so useful today when my hands were so slippery from the sweat and I could barely hold my racquet. For the first time in the match, I broke her serve and held mine to level the match at 4-4. I was definitely in better position, but still couldn’t hold my serve at 4-4. I broke her serve again to level it 5-5, but was too spent to hit my usual serves. Whenever we had long rallies, both of us needed at least 25-30 seconds to recover. She did serve better throughout the match, while I was just serving to keep it in.
All in all, it was a good experience. But the crux of the matter is if my intensity had been better in the 1st set,I might have had a better shot at her. I don’t think under these conditions,I could have lasted a 3rd set. In my favour, though, I felt I was on par with this girl and tomorrow if I played her- the outcome maybe different.
Monday, June 28, 2010
June 28th 6:15 p.m. - 3rd match
I won my match 6-0,6-1 to qualify into the main draw, but it didn’t come without its frills. It was also a mega humid day here in Hefei. Even before I stepped on court,I felt like I was in a hot shower.
My opponent looked like she was hurting from the time she stepped on court. She huffed and puffed through the first set when I completely dominated her at 6-0. She then almost collapsed into her chair and asked for the trainer.Five minutes of that and a pill later for God knows what, came her Kevin-Spacey-style-Oscar winning performance where she transformed herself into a complete weakling, unable to continue. I thought she was going to give up, but nope. She continues and serves to hold her serve for the first time in the match. She is still hobbling between the points. For me, its highly distracting. I just don’t know what to expect from her. Then I hold serve and go up 2-1 and then she decides to take a bathroom break where she can barely walk without help. She comes back and puts up a spirited effort and those 2 games were the longest in the match, but I step up for a4-1 lead. Her theatrics are still not over.She calls for the trainer again. The ref reminds her that she cant call the trainer for the same injury twice. She then feigns some injury to her knee and gets that treated for another 5 min to buy time. I decided she was just delaying the inevitable. Finally I closed out the match at 6-1.
While her stalling and feigning injuries really annoyed me, if I was her coach,I would be quite happy with her. Why- because she did everything within the rules of tennis and took advantage of all the small loopholes to try to change the course of the match. Now the only thing is that if this had been a more close match, it might have altered the outcome of things.
So, 3 matches later-I am finally in the draw.I will play a Chinese 7th seeded player possibly on Wednesday. I have requested for 1 day off, so my body can recover a bit. I try to catch an Indian movie on the net in the evenings and since Yahoo and Google talk work, I am saved. Otherwise it would be difficult to be here without much to do in the evenings.
My opponent looked like she was hurting from the time she stepped on court. She huffed and puffed through the first set when I completely dominated her at 6-0. She then almost collapsed into her chair and asked for the trainer.Five minutes of that and a pill later for God knows what, came her Kevin-Spacey-style-Oscar winning performance where she transformed herself into a complete weakling, unable to continue. I thought she was going to give up, but nope. She continues and serves to hold her serve for the first time in the match. She is still hobbling between the points. For me, its highly distracting. I just don’t know what to expect from her. Then I hold serve and go up 2-1 and then she decides to take a bathroom break where she can barely walk without help. She comes back and puts up a spirited effort and those 2 games were the longest in the match, but I step up for a4-1 lead. Her theatrics are still not over.She calls for the trainer again. The ref reminds her that she cant call the trainer for the same injury twice. She then feigns some injury to her knee and gets that treated for another 5 min to buy time. I decided she was just delaying the inevitable. Finally I closed out the match at 6-1.
While her stalling and feigning injuries really annoyed me, if I was her coach,I would be quite happy with her. Why- because she did everything within the rules of tennis and took advantage of all the small loopholes to try to change the course of the match. Now the only thing is that if this had been a more close match, it might have altered the outcome of things.
So, 3 matches later-I am finally in the draw.I will play a Chinese 7th seeded player possibly on Wednesday. I have requested for 1 day off, so my body can recover a bit. I try to catch an Indian movie on the net in the evenings and since Yahoo and Google talk work, I am saved. Otherwise it would be difficult to be here without much to do in the evenings.
Sunday, June 27, 2010
27 June 6:30 pm
Phew! I pulled it through with a tough win 7-6,6-4 over Boyan Wang from China.
Today was a weird schedule and I did not plan it very well. My match was 3rd after 10 am.The first match finished at 1 p.m and the 2nd match finished only at 3:15 pm. I did not eat much before the match and so felt a bit weak in the end.
But all said and done,I got up to a 3-0 lead. My opponent was a teeny-weeny firecracker. She started to really play after 3 games where she would step in and return my serve with ease and deflect it away from me. When someone takes the ball so early, the ball just takes off. Many points, she would reel winners left and right. She broke my serve at 3-0 and held hers for 3-2. I then steeped up and held my serve to go for a 4-2 and then a 5-3 lead. She held her serve and then came the worst game possibly of my match. I served for the set at 5-4 and until then, I was serving fairly well. I didn’t double fault…until then. Call it nerves, call it lack of matches, whatever the hell it was, it wasn’t good. I served 2 double faults that game and then she leveled the match at 5-5. She held her serve and so I served to stay in the 1 set. That game was a very long service game of mine, where I decided to take the pace off and hit my 1st serve it. I think that’s what won me my set and the match eventually. I served to her body, but actually did stare at the barrel of 2 set points. I clung on somehow and brought it to a tie-break.
Tiebreak was a smooth ride and she made 2 double faults and I won it at 7-1. The second set was fairly straight forward with us holding serves for the most part and I clinching it at 5-4. Small drama there was when she served 15-40, my string broke and she saved one match point. But I probably played the best point of the second set at 30-40 and cliniched the set and match. That surely was a relief. My amtch was about 2 ½ hrs long.Next up is my final round of qualifying which will be the 2nd match tomorrow against Xin Ji. Let’s see how my body holds up. This will be a good test.
Today was a weird schedule and I did not plan it very well. My match was 3rd after 10 am.The first match finished at 1 p.m and the 2nd match finished only at 3:15 pm. I did not eat much before the match and so felt a bit weak in the end.
But all said and done,I got up to a 3-0 lead. My opponent was a teeny-weeny firecracker. She started to really play after 3 games where she would step in and return my serve with ease and deflect it away from me. When someone takes the ball so early, the ball just takes off. Many points, she would reel winners left and right. She broke my serve at 3-0 and held hers for 3-2. I then steeped up and held my serve to go for a 4-2 and then a 5-3 lead. She held her serve and then came the worst game possibly of my match. I served for the set at 5-4 and until then, I was serving fairly well. I didn’t double fault…until then. Call it nerves, call it lack of matches, whatever the hell it was, it wasn’t good. I served 2 double faults that game and then she leveled the match at 5-5. She held her serve and so I served to stay in the 1 set. That game was a very long service game of mine, where I decided to take the pace off and hit my 1st serve it. I think that’s what won me my set and the match eventually. I served to her body, but actually did stare at the barrel of 2 set points. I clung on somehow and brought it to a tie-break.
Tiebreak was a smooth ride and she made 2 double faults and I won it at 7-1. The second set was fairly straight forward with us holding serves for the most part and I clinching it at 5-4. Small drama there was when she served 15-40, my string broke and she saved one match point. But I probably played the best point of the second set at 30-40 and cliniched the set and match. That surely was a relief. My amtch was about 2 ½ hrs long.Next up is my final round of qualifying which will be the 2nd match tomorrow against Xin Ji. Let’s see how my body holds up. This will be a good test.
Saturday, June 26, 2010
Tue June 22nd
Hours before my trip, my father-in-law showed me a report on torrential rains hitting the city of Fuzhou, China and people being evacuated there. This was some cause for concern for me as Fuzhou is where the 2nd tournament will be held. The reason for me choosing to go all the way around the world was that I get to play 2 tournaments back to back-something I haven’t done is 10 years!!! Now is Fuzhou is under water, should I even go?? I later learnt that there are 2 cities in China by the same name and the tournament city is not affected.
My trip to China itself was decided in the last week. I wanted to play the 10ks in Thailand, but was out of qualies there. So I decided to play China. I bought a ticket, and got a Chinese visa in the last 4-5 days. By now, everyone at home had gotten used to my last minute change of plans. Thank God for that!!
My brother Ganesh promised to take care of the summer camps while I am gone. Our summer camps run in 2 different locations simultaneously, so this would be a tough few weeks for him.
Its now 5 pm. Now it hits me. I am going to miss my little girl. I have never been this long away from her. The last time I was away from her was about a week and I was just in US. Now I would be halfway around the world….. The only solace is that she is in fantastic hands. Sanjeev’s parents really dote on her and she is so comfortable with them. Hopefully she will not miss me too much.
June 23rd: I am on a plane to Taipei and will change planes twice before I will arrive in Hefei,China. After a 14 hr plane ride, I had a brutal 6 hour layover in Taipei before boarding my plane to Guangzhou. Now I didn’t have much choice in these reservations as everything last minute was totally expensive.
June 24th:Once I got to Guangzhou,I was briefly stopped by the immigration. My heart stopped for a second as China is not a country I wanted to be taken aside and interrogated. But thankfully, they just wanted to see my residency card of the USA.
I was supposed to have just 1 hr to switch planes to Hefei, but there was some serious storm brewing outside. I had not seen this kind of thunder and lightning and so all the planes were delayed indefinitely. I could barely keep my eyes open and after a 3 hour wait, everybody seems to be rushing.I thought that maybe our plane would finally depart only to find that they were distributing free dinner!!! Oh well! That seemed to keep most of the antsy people quiet for sometime while they had dinner!!!
After nearly 4 hours, we finally boarded the plane. Only to find that the weather had gotten bad again and we would not take –off for the next 3 hours. That was the most excruciating wait. I longed for a comfortable bed to sleep on. When I finally arrived into hefei at 130 am, I had to take taxi to the hotel. Except the driver had completely no idea where to go. He couldn’t even read the directions in English.Oh Boy!! I am surely in trouble here. Thanfully he had a cell phone and called the hotel number to get directions.
When I finally arrived there, the lady at the front desk tells me she has no room available. The was the last straw. I have never shed tears for these things when I was on tour. I have been through a lot worse while I was alone travelling in Europe. Man- I have had close calls… but now everything is a bit different. Maybe I have softened up a bit. Life in the US is certainly hectic, but very plush and very comfortable.
But now I am close to tears. I am in strange country stuck at 2 am without a room. But thankfully the lady called up another hotel for me and arranged a taxi for me to go there. Sanjeev had also been terribly worried and I was finally able to get a hold of him to inform him that I was safe. Now I am here….all I have to do is play some good tennis!!!!
June 25th: The sign in was supposed to be today.I was 4 out of the main draw. I prayed for some divine intervention which would allow me to get into the main draw directly, but I guess I didn’t pray hard enough!!
After the draw was made, I found that out of nearly 45 girls in the draw, I was one of the four people who didn’t get a bye. Now what this meant was, I had to win 3 matches to qualify, while the others just had to win just 2. Of course, I was furious. I was no 3 in the acceptance list, so why didn’t I get a bye? Just then I got a call from US and spoke to my girl for a few minutes. Sahana lightened me up so much by her talk about Snow White, that this became so trivial.
I still intend to confront the referee at some point….
June 26th: But now I had more important matters at hand. I had to perform at the best of my ability. I was drawn to play a Chinese girl called Leo Zhang. While I was waiting for my matches, a mother of one of the players asked me how old I was. Nowadays, I am not liking that question. I asked her to guess my age. She said 23. My day was made. When I told her my real age, she looked totally surprised.
My match began around 1130 am. The weather was humid and hot. Just the weather I like..There were not that many spectators. I was happy with the way I was striking the ball. The courts are a bit slower and bounce is quite high. I soon broke her serve in the 3rd game. After that I started gaining control of the match. I didn’t lose my serve the whole match,so I was happy with that. She did put up some more resistance in the 2nd set, but I felt I chose my shots wisely. I only went for broke if I had a clear shot of it. So I won my match 6-1,6-1. I know I am having a good feel and my timing is good, but my cause for concern is if I will have the fitness and if I can recover in time for each match? That is, if I continue to win……Tomorrow I play 3rd match of the day. Lets see if I can pull that one too….
My trip to China itself was decided in the last week. I wanted to play the 10ks in Thailand, but was out of qualies there. So I decided to play China. I bought a ticket, and got a Chinese visa in the last 4-5 days. By now, everyone at home had gotten used to my last minute change of plans. Thank God for that!!
My brother Ganesh promised to take care of the summer camps while I am gone. Our summer camps run in 2 different locations simultaneously, so this would be a tough few weeks for him.
Its now 5 pm. Now it hits me. I am going to miss my little girl. I have never been this long away from her. The last time I was away from her was about a week and I was just in US. Now I would be halfway around the world….. The only solace is that she is in fantastic hands. Sanjeev’s parents really dote on her and she is so comfortable with them. Hopefully she will not miss me too much.
June 23rd: I am on a plane to Taipei and will change planes twice before I will arrive in Hefei,China. After a 14 hr plane ride, I had a brutal 6 hour layover in Taipei before boarding my plane to Guangzhou. Now I didn’t have much choice in these reservations as everything last minute was totally expensive.
June 24th:Once I got to Guangzhou,I was briefly stopped by the immigration. My heart stopped for a second as China is not a country I wanted to be taken aside and interrogated. But thankfully, they just wanted to see my residency card of the USA.
I was supposed to have just 1 hr to switch planes to Hefei, but there was some serious storm brewing outside. I had not seen this kind of thunder and lightning and so all the planes were delayed indefinitely. I could barely keep my eyes open and after a 3 hour wait, everybody seems to be rushing.I thought that maybe our plane would finally depart only to find that they were distributing free dinner!!! Oh well! That seemed to keep most of the antsy people quiet for sometime while they had dinner!!!
After nearly 4 hours, we finally boarded the plane. Only to find that the weather had gotten bad again and we would not take –off for the next 3 hours. That was the most excruciating wait. I longed for a comfortable bed to sleep on. When I finally arrived into hefei at 130 am, I had to take taxi to the hotel. Except the driver had completely no idea where to go. He couldn’t even read the directions in English.Oh Boy!! I am surely in trouble here. Thanfully he had a cell phone and called the hotel number to get directions.
When I finally arrived there, the lady at the front desk tells me she has no room available. The was the last straw. I have never shed tears for these things when I was on tour. I have been through a lot worse while I was alone travelling in Europe. Man- I have had close calls… but now everything is a bit different. Maybe I have softened up a bit. Life in the US is certainly hectic, but very plush and very comfortable.
But now I am close to tears. I am in strange country stuck at 2 am without a room. But thankfully the lady called up another hotel for me and arranged a taxi for me to go there. Sanjeev had also been terribly worried and I was finally able to get a hold of him to inform him that I was safe. Now I am here….all I have to do is play some good tennis!!!!
June 25th: The sign in was supposed to be today.I was 4 out of the main draw. I prayed for some divine intervention which would allow me to get into the main draw directly, but I guess I didn’t pray hard enough!!
After the draw was made, I found that out of nearly 45 girls in the draw, I was one of the four people who didn’t get a bye. Now what this meant was, I had to win 3 matches to qualify, while the others just had to win just 2. Of course, I was furious. I was no 3 in the acceptance list, so why didn’t I get a bye? Just then I got a call from US and spoke to my girl for a few minutes. Sahana lightened me up so much by her talk about Snow White, that this became so trivial.
I still intend to confront the referee at some point….
June 26th: But now I had more important matters at hand. I had to perform at the best of my ability. I was drawn to play a Chinese girl called Leo Zhang. While I was waiting for my matches, a mother of one of the players asked me how old I was. Nowadays, I am not liking that question. I asked her to guess my age. She said 23. My day was made. When I told her my real age, she looked totally surprised.
My match began around 1130 am. The weather was humid and hot. Just the weather I like..There were not that many spectators. I was happy with the way I was striking the ball. The courts are a bit slower and bounce is quite high. I soon broke her serve in the 3rd game. After that I started gaining control of the match. I didn’t lose my serve the whole match,so I was happy with that. She did put up some more resistance in the 2nd set, but I felt I chose my shots wisely. I only went for broke if I had a clear shot of it. So I won my match 6-1,6-1. I know I am having a good feel and my timing is good, but my cause for concern is if I will have the fitness and if I can recover in time for each match? That is, if I continue to win……Tomorrow I play 3rd match of the day. Lets see if I can pull that one too….
Sunday, June 6, 2010
Why does it have to be Rafa or Roger?
This is the question running through my mind this entire fortnight. Why cant I just be neutral and really rejoice the tennis of these two extraordinary men?Of course, they both are two ends of the spectrum. Rugged and ruffian like, Rafa exudes power, stamina and sheer might. Roger on the other hand, demonstrates finesse, touch and class and everything else that Rafa doesnt.
Being a former player myself, though nowhere close to that calibre,(I must add)I dont take sides. I dont have favourites. The best player wins on that day. I dont understand hero worship. I can admire a perfectly executed shot or go gaga over one of the longest rallies at the French, but taking sides kills the thrill, in my view.
The other day one of the parents came up to me and told me that he cannot even watch Federer's matches as the tension is overwhelming and his blood pressure rises.And then comes all the sad smiley faces posted on facebook page when Federer lost to Soderling.
What is it about Federer that makes grown men cry and feel so sensitive? He is surely not a man's man. Not muscular. Not all that handsome. Not flashy. No,not one bit flashy. Is it because, for 6 years straight, he was featured in the semi-final of every Grand Slam or is it his mastery of almost every shot in the book? Or could it be that he is just a perfectly clean tennis player? Devoid of any gossip or scandals? Does he ever not get injured? Mind boggling. Just think one minute....
He didnt miss a Grand Slam in almost 6 years and got to the last four in all of them....And without a regular coach.
Rafa's fans are just as vociferous . My fitness trainer exclaimed today" Rafa won it again".He is "The Man". To me, what makes Rafa stand apart from his many peers is the way he adapted his game to suit grass. There have been some real serious clay court icons like Bruguera and Guga. But what makes Rafa special is the way he served and volleyed his way against Roger in Wimbledon in 2008. That blows me away.
Both these guys are spectacular and amazing personalities. I still can't pick my favorite out of these.....
Being a former player myself, though nowhere close to that calibre,(I must add)I dont take sides. I dont have favourites. The best player wins on that day. I dont understand hero worship. I can admire a perfectly executed shot or go gaga over one of the longest rallies at the French, but taking sides kills the thrill, in my view.
The other day one of the parents came up to me and told me that he cannot even watch Federer's matches as the tension is overwhelming and his blood pressure rises.And then comes all the sad smiley faces posted on facebook page when Federer lost to Soderling.
What is it about Federer that makes grown men cry and feel so sensitive? He is surely not a man's man. Not muscular. Not all that handsome. Not flashy. No,not one bit flashy. Is it because, for 6 years straight, he was featured in the semi-final of every Grand Slam or is it his mastery of almost every shot in the book? Or could it be that he is just a perfectly clean tennis player? Devoid of any gossip or scandals? Does he ever not get injured? Mind boggling. Just think one minute....
He didnt miss a Grand Slam in almost 6 years and got to the last four in all of them....And without a regular coach.
Rafa's fans are just as vociferous . My fitness trainer exclaimed today" Rafa won it again".He is "The Man". To me, what makes Rafa stand apart from his many peers is the way he adapted his game to suit grass. There have been some real serious clay court icons like Bruguera and Guga. But what makes Rafa special is the way he served and volleyed his way against Roger in Wimbledon in 2008. That blows me away.
Both these guys are spectacular and amazing personalities. I still can't pick my favorite out of these.....
Friday, June 4, 2010
18 May 2010
We qualified and played 2 Canadian girls. It was easy, but Malika and I combined well and won a 3 setter to advance into the quarters. We had a day off which I decided to use to get the Meilus therapy done.
Meilus is a truly ground breaking machine that relieves sore muscles by elongating them. I tried it the first time in Florida a year ago recommended by my former coach and friend Dave O Meara. The results were quite amazing.
In California, there are no experts using this machine. So I went an hour away to a doctor who practices the meilus therapy. I was not disappointed.
Meilus is a truly ground breaking machine that relieves sore muscles by elongating them. I tried it the first time in Florida a year ago recommended by my former coach and friend Dave O Meara. The results were quite amazing.
In California, there are no experts using this machine. So I went an hour away to a doctor who practices the meilus therapy. I was not disappointed.
17 May 2010
My second round is against Magda from the country of Georgia. Its interesting that I have to mention it-there is a state in the Us called Georgia and most people here have never even heard of the Country of Georgia!!!
She looked like she was built of iron. She started out hitting the ball pretty hard. Her serves were not that big, but effective enough. I had a tough time keeping up with the pace of her shots after about 7-8 rallies. I realized this and tried to mix up the pace of the shots. I did win a few extra points this way. But it was quite apparent that she had more firepower than me today.She beat me 6-2,6-3.
The most interesting thing was Magda had a pet teddy bear she carried with her everywhere,including on court.I joked with her after the match, that if my 4 yr old little girl saw it-she would immediately want to play with it.
Malika and I signed up for doubles and made it to the qualies. We had a qualifying match later that day which we won with ease.
She looked like she was built of iron. She started out hitting the ball pretty hard. Her serves were not that big, but effective enough. I had a tough time keeping up with the pace of her shots after about 7-8 rallies. I realized this and tried to mix up the pace of the shots. I did win a few extra points this way. But it was quite apparent that she had more firepower than me today.She beat me 6-2,6-3.
The most interesting thing was Magda had a pet teddy bear she carried with her everywhere,including on court.I joked with her after the match, that if my 4 yr old little girl saw it-she would immediately want to play with it.
Malika and I signed up for doubles and made it to the qualies. We had a qualifying match later that day which we won with ease.
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