USTA National Level 3 @ Deer Park

It was not a great start to this tournament. The rain forecast was surely to come our way, just not sure when for the L3 Nationals, which was played out of Deer Park, TX over the weekend starting on September 22, 2018. Just like the high chance forecast for the rain, I sensed a big challenge to myself in the matches I would play this weekend. But still, I had high hope to hold off those negative thoughts for as long as I could to complete all my matches.

waiting to return a serve

My first match was supposed to be at 8:00 a.m. but the rain decided to kick in and push my match back. My match was delayed until 10:00 a.m. when the sun peeked out and made the courts playable. Finally, I was able to start playing my match.

My first opponent was Vivica Corley. Because of the rain delay, the officials told us to play short set, and start each set at 2-2. During the match, I kept most rallies cross-court most of the time. Sometimes I wanted to end the point quicker, and to speed up my attacking process and put pressure, I hit harder and sharper cross-court to open up the court. It was a risky strategic choice, but fortunately, I won 4-1, 4-0. I was still thinking about the rain after my first match. (I get rain-anxiety for no reason.) I thought it would start raining again. But, to my surprise, the sun stayed out a little longer than expected, long enough for most of us to start our second match in the draw, at 11:45 a.m.!

My-Anh Holmes serving

In my match, I played against My-Anh Holmes. She came from the neighboring state Louisiana, along with her mom. We also started at 2-2 for this match. Right from the beginning, it was hard to keep rallying with her, because of her deep, forcing ground-strokes. I couldn't keep control of my shots, I couldn't keep the ball in the court.  Because of her shots overpowering me and pushing me back, I felt helpless and I struggled to get the ball back in play, and made so many errors.

At 3-5, ad-out, set point for My-Anh, a loud horn went off, a lightning warning, and we had to get off the courts. The clouds were getting darker and darker as we waited "patiently" to get back on the courts. Not only the sky's hue didn't improve, but the wind started howling louder and stronger, then with a split second, the rain came down hard, REALLY hard rain! It felt like a hurricane out there! We quickly got into the car, all wet, and started driving off. The tournament is cancelled for the day. I was hoping for better weather tomorrow; I was hoping for my better game to return.

Vivica Corley readying for match

We were back on Sunday, but starting off playing doubles. The completion of the singles were to follow after doubles. My partner Chloe Zeng and I played against Kori Montoya and Adeline Flanagan. In most of the point, we focused to be active at the net, we backed each other up at the baseline, and we moved together to set up each other to put away the possible shots. We pressured our opponent's team , and took time away when we attacked at the net. We won 6-1. I was feeling a little more confident, but the unfinished "business" with My-Anh still lingered.

After about 30 minutes of break, My-Anh Holmes and I were able to continue our match at 3-5 (ad-out). I won the point and went back to deuce. We battled it out back and forth, but in the end I lost that service game, and the set! I lost all control--my emotion, my game, and my belief. I couldn't gain control of the point, I stayed back defending most of the time. Defending tennis got me absolutely nowhere! I lost 1-4, 0-4.  Instead of playing to win. I was playing not to lose--waiting for my opponent's errors, rather than creating my opportunity to win points. I was learning, yet again.

my partner, Chloe Zeng and I took a water break

After my second singles match loss, I had one more chance to play. The draw fed me into the consolation qualifying, which happened to be against my doubles partner, Chloe Zeng. We knew each other games quite a bit. I started off by focusing on what I could control, and my goal was clear. I pushed away all feelings of fear--from previous match with My-Anh-- and focused on where I would hit my shots. I forced a lot of errors, and made little errors. I pressured Chloe by taking a lot of balls on the rise and early. My shots were not as powerful and forceful like that of Chloe's. She usually would be able to stay steady and hit hard shots, but Chloe had an off-day today. So, it was a lucky break for me I ended up winning the match, 4-1, 4-0. We hugged each other at the net, and exchanged words of encouragements to one another. 

I had an hour to prepare for my next match and I used this time wisely. I meditated and concentrated on my game strategy. I pictured myself hitting the shots. I pictured myself fighting, for every single point.

matching tops. ;-)

My fourth opponent was Anapaula Campos. She hit very sharp cross-court shots which were pretty hard to defend. I kept miss-hitting and my shots sat right in front of her waiting to be put away. In the second set I sucked it up and hit harder and cleaner, trying to fight my way back into the match. I was confident in my shots and it payed off. We went to a tiebreaker. But not long enough, I was down 2-6 in the tiebreaker. I just kept holding on to my second set's strategy, staying consistent, focusing harder on the balls and producing cleaner groundstrokes; I hit but in strategic patterns; I hit and hit some more, I was on task and on track. And we were back at 6-6 all. It was at this moment, I got ahead of myself, a youthful, inexperience mistake: I started thinking about winning, instead of about playing and competing. I was thinking of how it would feel, how happy I would be. That was a big mistake. I got sidetracked!

I lost 2-4, 4-2, 6-10! It was a tough loss, but a valuable lesson for me to stay in the moment--the game.

receiving my check-in materials

But not all was lost, my partner Chloe Zeng and I had another doubles match to play. This round we meet the #1 seeded doubles team, My-Anh Holmes and Natalie Devraj. From the start, I could sense Chloe and I weren't very coordinated with our movements. We were mentally drained from our singles losses, and from the lingering rain, dark clouds over us. But the rain was something we couldn't control. Why do these outside factors affect us so much? We were anxious and lacking motivation to fight to the end. It was difficult for us to get back up again when our previous match results put us in a slump. We hit very weak sitter shots that they easily put away. If that weren't enough, our opponent team hit so many clean winners, and we couldn't defend that well either. They were super active a the net to put even more pressure on us. Needless to say, we lost 0-6! 

That was the end of this tournament for me. I felt very unmotivated. I didn't want to keep losing like this. I was scared that I might never get better. No, I told myself. I will play and get better. I will evolve my game in ways that will continue to make me a better player. I am a crafty player. That is my characteristic, that's what I do.

And just like the unwelcoming rain, the inevitable wins and the losses in competition need to be appreciated for its moment--for learning and evaluating of myself. ​So watch out, I will surprise you the next time I'm on court. :-) 

​Love all,
Karina Zaharieva