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January 17, 2009

Ashley Weinhold 2009 Update

Happy New Year! I hope everyone enjoyed the holidays with friends and family. I was very happy to step foot in Austin after my travels throughout Spain. I also took a little time off from tennis to relax and spend time with my family. I went snowboarding over Christmas which was a lot of fun and something I don't get to do very often. Overall I had a nice holiday season and I'm looking forward to a great new year of tennis.

As I look back on my trip from Spain I am grateful for the opportunity and feel I am a better, more experienced player. You learn a lot about yourself and others around the World when you travel alone for a long period of time in an unfamiliar place. There were challenges along the way that I had to overcome like adapting to the culture, language, and cuisine, along with taking care of myself while I was sick and dealing with the wins and losses. I feel like I developed my clay court game more fully and have a greater understanding of how to play on the surface. I can translate some of these things onto the hard court surface as well. There are a few basic things such as emphasizing the use of my legs on every shot, my positioning on the court, and working the point to get the advantage. There are also specific shots and footwork patterns that I have come to realize I need to work on more in order to get better, faster, and stronger. The singles level of play over in Europe seems stronger even at lower level pro tournaments which opens my eyes about the rest of my playing field that I'm competing against for the top spot. In some regard I wish I had this experience a year or two ago, but I am glad to have had it this early in the process. Life on the pro circuit is not as glamorous as some may think. Days on the road are long and tiring whether just training or playing matches. It can take a toll on you physically, mentally, and emotionally. At the same time it is fun and really exciting. It is a privelege to travel around the world seeing new places and meeting new people. I think it's important to develop and grow relationships with others everywhere you go. You never know where you may run into them again or need their assistance. I have stayed in touch with a few people since being back from Spain and I will see a couple of them in the coming weeks at tournaments. I know that the next time I travel overseas I will be better prepared than the first by already having this experience. I look forward to having new adventures in foreign places.

My full 2009 tournament schedule is still in the works, but for the next couple months I will be playing in the states. Currently I am in Florida training more on the clay and getting ready to play a $25k this coming week. After this tournament I will be back home and on the hard courts for a week before heading out to play another challenger in California. My number one goal for this year is to stay healthy. I have also set some goals in regards to my year end ranking in singles and doubles, tournament wins, etc. I am focusing hard on my fitness and conditioning this year also with the help of Coach Strecker. I will be continuing to grow and develop my game daily with Coach Moros, my dad, and all the other ATA coaches. I really appreciate all of the support I am given from ATA and others outside of the program. Keep working hard and I will see all of you around the courts when I get home.

Ashley Weinhold

Posted by Jack Newman at 4:19 PM | Comments ()