RACHEL's JOURNAL

Winter Nationals

12-29-05

I'm having a good time at the Winter Nationals in Tucson. My parents and I drove for 15 hours on Christmas Day, because when I'm done with the tournament, we are driving to New Mexico to go skiing with some friends who are meeting us there. My first singles match was weird because it was against my doubles partner! We were evenly matched and I lost a tough battle 7-5, 6-4. The next day I improved by not rushing my serves and worked on not getting mad and won the match 6-0 6-3. In the next round, I played a very tough backboard player, and she got to every shot! I played my best tennis in this match even though I lost 6-3 6-0, but the score doesn't show how well I was hitting. During the match, some man I didn't know was cheering me on. Afterwards, he came up to me and told me he was from California and that he was impressed with my strong mental attitude and that I was going to whip up on all these girls soon! He said it was either my natural talent or my coaching! I felt so proud of myself because that's what I was working on and people noticed.
THANKS, COACHES!!!

Rachel Baldree