It has been about 5 months since I last updated my blog — I was so busy training that I literally I just throw off my shoes and lay flat on the bed every night when I get home. Yes, literally worn out with training everyday. But hey, I love what I am doing and for the love of the game, I will always give it my all.

The last five months has been a roller coaster ride – mentally, physically, emotionally. I got recruited by a new coach, and he’s one of the best coaches in West coast. Best meaning he’s pretty tough — strict on training, very demanding too. But everything was all worth it. I am very proud to say that I have greatly improved in terms of skills, techniques, and everything overall.

Everything is much better now, but I am pretty sure that it could still get better. For the love of the game, I am willing to give it my all and even if it means giving up on some things in life, I would. Maybe I need to start with this blog. I have to let it go because I have to focus on my training (well plus the fact that the domain is about to expire anyway LOL).

So, this is where we part ways now. Just so you know, like the thousands of other hopefuls, I am still dreaming that someday, I could be good enough to get noticed by the people who run the U.S. Open. But for now, I’m pretty contented watching Serena and Venus Williams from the bleachers whenever they play.

I have another bad news. I sprained my ankle in practice today. I’m devastated and in a lot of pain. I wasn’t even sure how it happened. All I can remember was that I was running baseline to baseline and then I landed in a wrong way. I guess I wasn’t prepared for it. So now I’m hurting a lot. I can’t even run on the treadmill and I’ll be missing out on a lot of practice. This is one of the worst days of my life.

After school and practice today, I still had the energy to run for 30 minutes on the treadmill. It’s all part of the game plan. I need to seriously work on my speed and endurance so that I can compete with other faster and stronger competitors. Getting this treadmill is really a great idea and I am absolutely going to abuse this machine until I can be most effective out on the court.

The great thing about treadmills is that you don’t have to actually run outside to be running. All you have to do is stay indoors ad you can even watch TV or read a magazine to entertain you while you’re at the comfort of your living room.

The treadmill arrived today! When I went home, my Mom excitedly showed me and she put it in a corner in our living room. She demonstrated how to fold it and unfold it afterwards. Pretty exciting stuff. And of course, since I was so giddy to try it out, I hurriedly changed into something comfortable and went on it for 30 minutes. Was I determined or what? Haha! I can’t wait for this to be part of my routine and I know that this can really help me a lot in improving my game.

I went back to practice today. But before I started, my coach and I had a talk and he was encouraging me to do better and focus on practice. Losing is part of the game and the most important thing is that I can be able to learn from it so that next time, I wouldn’t do the same thing again. Practice makes perfect. It’s really true. I know that it’s up to me to pick up the pieces. My coach and my support system can only do so much. The rest is up to me. And I’m ready to compete again.

I really feel bad for losing another match today. I know it was just a pre-season game but I really wanted to win of course. I really felt good about my chances going into it but it just wasn’t meant to be I guess. I lost 2-6, 3-6. I had too many unforced errors and I wasn’t just hitting my shots at all. I’m very disappointed with myself but I guess I just have to take on the positives of the game which was, as my coach said, I was running a lot better and a bit faster today. But I was just not executing the game plane well.

But that’s ok, you win some, you lose some. I’ll just have to practice more. I know I’ll get there.

My mom and I searched online last night for the perfect treadmill. My coach called us up to follow up on this as this is very important for my cardio and endurance. We found this website which offered a lot of different kinds of treadmills. There were folding and non-folding ones and automatic and manual treadmills. We had to check the reviews for the treadmills because we didn’t really know a thing about buying one in the first place. But in the end, we finally chose this:

Smooth 6.75

It’s pretty entertaining watching female tennis players wear all these interesting outfits while on court. I know that some of my friends would love to play the sport just because of the cute outfits. Let’s look at some of the fashion in tennis over the years.

High Fashion

Maria Sharapova in Wimbledon

Serena Williams wearing BOOTS in US OPEN

The most disturbing of all – Venus Williams left me speechless

When I don’t have practice or school work, I really spend my time being lazy around the house or being with my friends. Last time I had a free time, I took advantage of it and caught up with my reading. It’s definitely one of my guilty pleasures. Right now I’m being such a geek and I’m reading through my Harry Potter books again (for the nth time). I’m so sad that the last movie ended. I have gotten so used to waiting for the next movie but now there’s nothing to look forward to.

I’ll miss you.

I finally had the time to bond with my friends. It’s been a really long time since I last had a lazy afternoon with my girls. Cara and I both did not have practice so we decided to meet up with the girls for some pizza and fries. We both shouldn’t really be eating junk food but we thought having one cheat day should be fine since we haven’t done this in a long time. The great thing about my friends is that even though we barely spend quality time together, when we do find the time, it seemed like we were always hanging out together every day.

It was a great day for sure. I love my friends!