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April 20, 2009

Ashley Enters Last Week In Bol, Croatia

Hello from Bol,

I have now entered my last week in Europe. I had a lovely 4:30am wakeup call Saturday morning and arrived in Bol on the ferry at 6:30am. I caught a ride with one of the tournament umpires to my hotel, checked into my room, and went back to bed for a couple hours! I’m so excited that my hotel this week has a TV, bathtub, heat/air, wireless internet in the lobby, and huge buffets of good food. It’s all about the little things! Over the last few days I’ve been preparing for my last tournament as well as possible. I’ve been practicing twice a day and doing fitness as well. I’ve played a number of practice sets, tiebreakers, and done some maintenance work. I had one light hit today because I was tired yesterday afternoon and my legs are feeling a bit heavy. I also got some massage work on my neck, shoulder, and back which was more than needed. It was nice to have a relaxing afternoon.

The tournament starts up tomorrow. I am on the schedule for doubles not before 2:30pm against Akiki(CRO)/Obrez(SLO). This week I’m playing with Valentina Sulpizio from Italy and we’re the #2 seeds. We’ve been practicing a lot together the last few days and have had some great practice sets. I met her at the tournaments in Italy and I played her in the quarters of doubles last week. She’s a great clay court player and I’m looking forward to seeing how well we can do in doubles this week. I play singles on Wednesday against the #1 seed Florence Haring from France. The schedule for Wednesday will be out tomorrow evening. I have to be focused right from the start this week. I’m well prepared and excited about this last tournament. So hopefully I can make a push into the late rounds in singles and doubles. I better get some rest now. I’ll let you know how doubles goes tomorrow and when I will play my singles match. Good night : )

Posted by Jack Newman at April 20, 2009 3:19 PM