Closing it Out Against the Top Dog is HARD 118
Smiling both inside and out I thought “this is what I love about this game.” I knew that I was being asked the question. “Will you play safe and hope to escape with a win or will you go after it?”
Smiling both inside and out I thought “this is what I love about this game.” I knew that I was being asked the question. “Will you play safe and hope to escape with a win or will you go after it?”
The normal ups and downs of tennis matches, points and shots. I needed to continue to be accepting of these ups and downs. They come with the game.
The words “shouldn’t,” “don’t,” “can’t,” have faded out along with large global words like “never and all. They seem to provide little value to what I want from myself.
I have been working on my game for 35+ years. It is never too late and I never know too much to learn something new..
I am what I am. I am not my old story and not yet my new story. Never perfect. Working toward being better. Always on the journey. That is who I am.
I often write that I have redefined winning in a way that almost every match has wins. The sweetest of wins is when all that is important to me comes through in the big matches, the finals of the National Championships.
Over the years I have learned to redefine winning to include the way I play, the effort that I give, the attitude I maintain, the responsibility I take, the appreciation for my opponent, how I react after the match, the way I am with the one who has defeated me and the resilience with which I bounce back.
I love the challenges of managing my stories.
I felt that my mental and emotional training was really strong. Since the move to Boulder I have been excited about every moment of every day. And I am feeling so happy. I can’t imagine a better mindset for going into a competition.
I have always believed that if my life is good, my tennis will be good.
So I arrived excited, happy and eager to observe the state of my tennis. Winning is always important to me but it is far from the only thing. I want to play well.
Nearly two years since the last National. Now, I am two days away from the National Clay Championships. New Orleans Tennis Club founded in 1876, the oldest tennis club in the country. It will be great to be back in the mix. The first day buzz of seeing players who I have been competing with for over 30 years. First practice on the clay in the humid south tomorrow. Pumped for feeling the dirt under my tennis shoes.