I have trepidation about Kate’s
first match this afternoon. My concern
is how will she manage the match against Chen.
Chen is a big ball striker. Kate
has been away from competitive tennis long enough that the edge may not be
there. Of course, I have no way of
knowing this and I doubt she can see the future, either, but the comeback might be harder than we both anticipate.
“Where
is Aunt Kate? I don’t see her.” Quinn looks up at me from her seat between
Jada and I. Looking under her white
visor, she has a puzzled look on her face.
It pulls me out of my private thoughts and back into the moment.
Quinn is wearing
pink pants that end at her ankles along with a white pull over shirt with red
polka dots. Her hair has a pink and
white ribbon that gives her a very small ponytail in back. She insisted on the ribbon before we left, so
she could look like Kate.
I
responded, “Aunt Kate will be coming out soon.
See that tunnel just across from the tennis court? Keep looking there Quinn as that is where she
is right now. It won’t be long.”
Almost on cue, Kate is coming out of the
locker room and walking on the court right now. Amanda Chen walks right behind her as both
are carrying their large tennis bags. Chen
has earphones on and is listening to music on her phone. Kate prefers to enter the court using all of
her senses to better acclimate to the on stage feeling of taking the court.
“Aunt
Kate, Aunt Kate.” Quinn is out her seat
waving her small arms as she calls out loudly.
She is jumping up and down with excitement.
Quinn
wants so bad to have Kate look at her.
She was not disappointed as Kate quickly spotted the three of us among
less than fifty other spectators and blew a kiss. I could
see her mouth the words, ‘I love you'.
“She
saw me Aunt Rosy. Aunt Kate saw me!” Quinn is laughing and pointing towards
Kate.
“Yes,
Quinn, and she blew a kiss to you. Did
you catch it?”
“I
have it right here.” Quinn held her
little hands over her heart.
I am thinking this might be the most exciting part of the day for Quinn. It’s her first match so I hope it is not too
boring for her. She becomes quiet as her little head swivels back apparently
watching the dozen or so ball boys and girls who assist the players during the
match. They are all dressed alike in
white and green outfits.
As
the players begin the warmup portion Jada and Quinn engage in
conversation. Prior to leaving our residence I asked
Jada to look after Quinn so I could attend to my coaching duties. It’s important for me to observe
everything. How Kate is playing, how
Chen is playing, the wind directions, conditions of the court. There is always something to assess.
Jada
interrupts my thinking, “Who is the player in the red, Rosy? Kate’s opponent, right?”
“Her
name is Amanda Chen. Yes, she will be
playing Kate today.”
“She
is short, isn’t she?”, inquires Quinn, suddenly interested in the tennis
discussion.
“Yes,
Quinn, she is short. But, she runs
quickly and hits the ball real hard.”
“Harder
than Aunt Kate? Does she hit it harder
than her?” Quinn’s eyes are big and
curious.
“Well,
yes, sometimes she does. But, tennis
isn’t always about who hits the ball the hardest, Quinn. Where you hit the ball is important, too.”
“Can
I have my coloring book now, Jada?” This allows me an unexpected smile.
With
Quinn busy coloring, I begin my coaching
duties watching the players in their warm up activity. Not much can be deciphered at this point, but
I study the footwork of each player. Who
is most active with their feet. Fans
tend to watch the racket and swing, but it all starts with the footwork. The player who moves to the ball early and
plants their feet will hit more accurate and powerful strokes.
The players have finished the warm-up and
Amanda Chen will serve first to Kate. This
is where I get to know Chen. I begin
studying her every move. Amanda is
wearing a deep red tennis skirt with a white top, colors very similar to what
she wore at Standford. Shorter than Kate
at 5 foot 7 inches, she is well proportioned and very fit. Her leg muscles are strong and provide her
with the basis for very powerful ball striking.
Chen has her straight black hair pulled back in a pony-tail that is
short enough that it doesn’t ever encumber her game. Some tennis players with longer hair will
periodically make adjustments to keep it out of their way while playing. Moving the pony-tail to one side or the other
before each point. This is most
prevalent before they serve. Not the
case with Chen. She’s all about the
game. This young tennis player is
business like in her demeaner. I like
her attitude.
Kate is wearing a
light blue skirt with a white top. Her dark
brown hair is pulled back and secured with a ribbon that matches her
skirt. It is slightly longer than Chen’s
but with more body. Her shoes are a dark
blue with turquoise highlighting. Kate
is wearing white wrist bands to aid in sweat removal. Her expression says ‘let’s get this thing
started’. I like the look in her
eye.
Kate catches my
eye from the court and I mouth, “C’mon Kate.”
The
very first ball strike is a first serve ace delivered off the racket of Amanda
Chen. It is hard and down the T. Kate barely moves before it is past her. If this was on center stage in front of a big
crowd I would hear the reaction. As it
is, it is practically unnoticed in front of less than one hundred
spectators.
About
177 kilometers. “Just your basic 115 mph
serve”, I comment aloud.
Becoming
aware of this detail Quinn asks, “Can Aunt Kate serve 115 miles per hour?”
“On
her very best of days, Quinn, yes, she can.” She returns to her book. Jada continues to work with Quinn.
Chen
breezes through the first game. Two aces
combined with two unforced errors on the first serve and she only had to hit
the ball five times for the first game love hold. “That took all of one and a half
minutes. Impressive.” Jada looked at me to see if I was talking to
her or myself.
Kate
walks to the other side of the net in preparation of her first service game. She sips her water bottle as most players do
before the next game begins. As she sets the bottle down by her chair, she
looks over at me. I know Kates’ body
language. She just received the
‘official’ wake-up call that this is going to be a competitive match. Chen has weapons.
I’m thinking that
right now, Kate’s response, that is what is most important. I want to see how she responds. She doesn’t have to duplicate Chen’s love
hold, but, she does need to hold her serve and send the message back that she
is up to this challenge.”
The
game lasts nine minutes. Kate fights
off several break points but manages to hold serve. Amanda Chen wins the next game easily with
Kate only getting one point on the service game. This game took just two minutes.
Jada,
looking at her phone, remarks to me, “The announcers are calling Amanda Chen
very efficient. From, Deidre of Tennis
Channel, she tweeted, ‘No wasted points
or effort. She serves big and then her
next shot is almost as powerful. Sort of
like first strike tennis at its best.
Kate has her work cut out for her'. I’m thinking Deidre and I are in
agreement.
Here is another tweet from McGiver who is calling the game, “If Kate can’t start
extending some of these rallies it is going to be a very short match.” We’ll see about that is my thought. Secretly I know McGiver is spot on.
Chen
ends up winning the first set six games to two.
The rallies are even but Chen is serving bigger and bolder than
Kate. As the set ends, I use my tennis
app to retrieve the stats.
I’m noting, Chen
is winning 85% of her first serve points while getting a little over 80% of
those in play. Kate is winning 75% of
her first serves but only getting a little over 60% in play. Yikes.
Not good numbers.
If Kate doesn’t
serve better, and Chen continues to put up these numbers, this might be just a
two-set match. Kate is going to have to
up her percentage of first serves. And,
Chen needs to come down to earth.
“Hmmm. I just wish Kate would call me down to
courtside so I could address a few things with her, I announce to whoever is
listening.”
“Can’t you just go
down there without her asking, Rosy?”, inquires Jada.
“No. We have an
agreement, Kate and I. No coaching
visits unless Kate requests them. She
likes to try and figure out these situations, herself. It’s a valid point, because in the four major
tournaments coaching visits are strictly prohibited.
“Is Aunt Kate
going to lose?” Quinn looks up from her
coloring book with a concerned look on her face. Her eyebrows are furrowed as she squints
from the sun.
“Quinn, you need
your visor back on honey.” That simple
question shouldn’t irritate me, but it evokes a feeling of edginess in me. Because I don’t like what I’m thinking is the
honest response. I settle for this
response, “Well, we don’t know who will win at this point. We’re hoping your Aunt Kate can play better
this second set.”
The second set
continues on looking and feeling very much like the first one. Chen leads Kate by a score of 3 games to
two. Kate will be serving next but before
the sixth game she motions for me to come courtside for a visit. Finally! What have you been waiting for Kate?
When I join Kate
at courtside, she is in her players chair under a large purple umbrella. The
first thing I notice is that Kate’s face is red and she is sweating
profusely. Her breathing is labored, and
she is frowning as she puts down her sport drink. She is slumped in her chair. Not good body language. I want
to grab her and shake her and say, ‘sit up’.
Of course, that is not how I will respond. She needs my coaching at this moment. I need to give her something to hold on to so
she can reset.
“I got nothing,
Aunt Rosy. She is killing me out
there. Nothing I try works.” Kate pauses.
“What the hell do I do? It’s not like she ever misses a shot. You said bring her to the net. That’s been working out real, good.”
I let the sarcasm
pass. No point in engaging in
negativity. As a coach it’s important to
let those types of comments go. The
important thing is I have a frustrated player in front of me who needs answers
to the questions that Chen is posing. “Kate, when we talked about bringing her to
the net it will only work if you are taking the ball further into the court, so
she won’t have time to get there. You
are striking balls behind the baseline on almost every rally point. Trying drop shots from two feet behind the
baseline is not going to do it.”
“How am I going to
move up when she is blasting the ball.
You have an answer for that? This
is so frustrating.” Kate looks down at
her shoes avoiding eye contact with me.
I lower my voice a
bit. I want to be the calming
influence. The voice of reason right
now. “Yes, it’s frustrating, but the
question is, what are you going to do about it?
Are you going to continue playing her game from behind the baseline,
Kate? Because I can guarantee you that
it will get even more frustrating if you stay with that strategy.” I pause.
I want to Kate to absorb this before I get any further or move on to something
else.
Kate sighs deeply,
and looks up. She locks eyes with
me. Finally, she shows signs of
listening. “I know, but I just don’t
know how to change that up. When I move
up, she blasts it right by me.” Her eyes
go back to the ground. She takes her
towel and covers up most of her head.
I recognize this
is as a bad sign. But, I can change
this. I just need to get Kate to focus
on the solution.
“Kate, look at
me. Look at me.”
Kate keeps the
towel on her head but finally looks up and engages eye contact, again. “Remember how you beat Martinez in
Australia? Chen doesn’t hit the ball any
harder than Martinez, right? Okay, so
you remember the strategy that got you out of that hole, right?”
Kate removes the
towel from her head and sips some of her beverage. “Yeah, I went to the deep slice shot, both
forehand and backhand. Then when her
returns shortened up on my side I started aiming for the corners. Playing the point, extending it until I had
the opening.”
I smile at her and
show her a clenched fist. “Exactly,
Kate. Using the slice to slow her down
and then stretch her out. Do that and
you will see her aggressiveness challenged in a way you have not seen the entire match. She is way too comfortable out there right
now. The plan will be to start asking
new questions of her. Can she make the
good return on a slice? Backhand and
forehand. Throw off her game. Get into her head and then your game will
start to raise up as hers goes down.”
Kate is now
sitting up in her chair. Nodding. Taking it in.
I see the energy returning.
“One more thing,
Kate, first serves need to be in play. I
don’t care if you take some speed off, but, no second serves from here on out.”
‘OK, got it.”
“And, Kate, there
is one more thing you are going to have to do. I pause just a second to make sure I have her
full attention. “You are going to have to change your energy. Keep acting like you are not good enough to
win this match and you won’t. You need
some positive energy out there. If you
miss a shot, let it go. No sulking, no
complaining. Reset after every
point. Every point. I don’t care what you have to tell yourself
to do this, but this has to happen.”
Kate takes a deep breathe, and lets it out slowly. That’s it girl, breathe.
I finish with, “C’,mon,
now, let’s go.”
Upon returning to
my seat back at court side I see that Quinn is looking at me. “Are you mad at Aunt Kate? Are you two fighting?”
“No, no, Quinn,
I’m not mad at Aunt Kate. We
were…um…..working out a plan to win the tennis match.” I resolve to explain this with Kate at my
side to Quinn later.
Quinn appears
reflective of this answer but does not follow up with another question or
comment. She returns to her coloring
book and I to the match.
The two players
hold serve and with the score five to four.
Kate is serving to stay in the match.
Chen makes three outstanding returns in a row and Kate mishandles all of
them. The score is love forty and Chen
has three match points. Kate executes
back to back aces and Chen is down to one break point. Kate serves hard down the T and Chen lunges
for it and connects with a fluttery miss hit shot that floats deep in the court
behind Kate. It’s a lucky hit and Kate
is going to have to return it to stay in the match. She pivots to her right and heads for the far
corner of her side of the court as the ball lands Kate makes a desperation
connection. But, the ball strike is
weak. It’s questionable if it will even
make it to the other side of the net.
I am thinking, oh
crap, that’s it. Match over. Jada, in a much louder voice says, ‘oh, no,
Kate!’ The crowd senses the end of the
match and the decibel level increases as Chen moves in for the kill shot. The ball is dropping down quickly, gravity
managing to do its job, and Chen is ready for the overhead kill.
Chen, no more than
two feet from the net, comes down hard on the ball for the put away. The crowd roars in equal parts agony and
delight. Many stand up in amazement as
they watch the ball catch in the middle of the net and drop to Chen’s
feet. She has missed the easy overhead.
I’m on my feet as
I can't control my urge to scream “yes!” No
one can really hear the remark except Jada, and maybe Quinn. Chen lets out a short shrill scream. It is a piercing sound that reverberates throughout
the stadium. It is painful to her as
well as her coaching box and the fans rooting for her. She looks up at the sky in disbelief,
scrunching her eyes closed and she slowly pivots from the net to return to her
position along the baseline. What the
crowd doesn’t realize is that Amanda Chen lost her clear view of the ball. The ball was between her vision and the sun
and she just couldn’t find it.
I observe as Chen
makes eye contact with her coaching box.
Her coach and hitting partner are standing raising their fist, urging
her on. “Shake it off Amanda.” “Keep fighting, get the next point.”
Chen reaches the
baseline. She has her back to Kate. She is staring at the wall behind her. Now, who needs to hit the reset button? She had the match in her back pocket. How
well can Chen regroup. Purge that
negative emotion. This is all the
chance Kate needs.
My feeling that
this was trouble for Chen is confirmed in the next few moments. Kate gets the next three points to win the
game and tie the match. With the score 5
to 5 Amanda Chen serves and loses all 4 of her points. I watch as Chen double faults, hit two balls
long early in the rallies, and then Kate blisters a good serve for a winning
return.
Kate practically
jumps off the court after the winner.
The small crowd is on their feet and Kate flashes the subtle clenched
fist to our players box. This gesture confirms
that the match has flipped. Kate is now
in control of the second set.
Chen calls her
coach down to court at the break. She is
furious. I cannot hear all that they are
saying but I catch bits and pieces, “I blew it”, “how the hell do I miss that
shot”, “can’t believe it”, all from the tense and frustrated voice of Amanda
Chen. Her coach, Patricia Beliveau, is
trying to calm her. Get her to let it go.
I turn my
attention to Kate. She is quietly
toweling off some of the sweat and drinking her beverage. Staying both hydrated and calm. Her right foot is hopping up and down as she
sits in her players chair. This is a
sign that she can’t wait to get back on the court to finish this set off. It’s a good sign and I anticipate that Kate
will hold serve and win the second set.
For the second
time in the last ten minutes the intuition is a bullseye. Kate easily holds serve when Chen makes her
second of two unforced errors, on an easy groundstroke that she normally
executes with eyes closed. I hear Kate
call out after the final winning point, “C’mon”, the common shout that many
players shout to ramp themselves up and to let their opponent know that they
are up against a force.
I’m on my feet,
along with Jada and Quinn, yelling encouragement right to Kate who is no more
than 20 steps away. Kate suddenly turns
her head away from us. A loud crowd reaction and the sound of a
racket being slammed into the red earth, is the distraction. Looking at Chens seating area, as Amanda
punishes her racket on the ground. It
takes a good seven strikes, but she has reached her desired goal. Complete destruction of her Head Extreme
racket. The yellow frame ends up looking
like a stretched pretzel. Chen is beside
herself with disgust and anger.
What I am I
thinking now? This last set will be a
humdinger.
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