Giammalva RC Junior Open Tournament (Jr)

I had an Open tournament on Saturday, August 19, 2017. It was called Giammalva RC Junior Open Tournament (Jr). 

My first opponent was an attacker named Yihan Wang. She was a very fun player to play against. My first serve would be out or in the net most of the time. However, my second serve was good enough to save me because of the spin. She had a difficult time return those. 

Yihan's serves were really fast, and the ball stayed low after the bounce. So, I had to slice most of my returns off her serves. Consequently, my deep slice returns caused her trouble as she would hit most of my slice balls in the net because of the backspin. I ended up winning 4-0; 4-0.

Giammalva's "Ironman"!

My second opponent was also an attacker. She played with great determination and a positive attitude of a champion. Her name was Rebecca Bukhman. For this match I tried to keep my shot speed slightly above my usually rally speed. In other words, I was trying to hit a bit more than usual. I had notice that as we kept the rally long enough, she would miss first. I won the match 4-0; 4-1. I let that one game slipped away was because of my lapsed concentration on what I was suppose to do--be steady!

I'm warming up on center court! ;-)

Isabel & I checking in!

In the finals, I played a player that I had played before. Isabel He was a consistent and a fun player to play with, especially during the finals. I made a lot of errors, but it was also hard for Isabel to return my first serves. I was thinking of a goal to be aggressive and attack, and I made mistakes, of course, due to poor timing and decision when to attack. I lost two games in the first set ,and 1 game in the second set (4-2; 4-1, final score). I had yet to find a way to stay consistent, but still play aggressive tennis.

We're checking out!

...with our medals, of course!!!

Even though I won the tournament. I was happy. But, I think I could have had played even better. I know that I am improving because I know that tomorrow me will be better than I am today!

It always begins with an unconditional love... <3
Karina Zaharieva.