I just checked the ATA website and realized that the last blog I wrote was never posted. I went back and found it on my computer so I’m just posting it now. It’s obviously a little out dated by now, but since I spent some time on it I thought I’d post it anyways. Just remember I wrote this at least a month ago, here it is:

--It’s been a long time since my last blog post. I’ve been really busy with traveling, training, and playing matches. The last time you heard from me I was playing my last European tournament in Croatia. I ended up losing a tough 3-setter in the Quarterfinals; it was a battle till the end. I played well and fought hard, but definitely had my chances to win the match. I was a little more pleased with that tournament than the rest of my European results. I got a few good matches under my belt and gained some confidence. After that match the 48hrs or so travel back to the States began. I spent a lot more time waiting in airports on long layovers than actually flying in the air. I left Croatia Saturday morning and arrived in Charlottesville, VA Sunday night. I was so glad to finally be back on U.S. soil!

I flew straight to Virginia rather than back home because I accepted a main draw wild card into the Boyd Tinsley Classic $50k starting on that Tuesday/Wednesday. The UVA women’s coaches set me up with housing which turned out well because Carly Gullickson and Nicole Kriz also stayed at the house. We had a great time together all week. Charlottesville is one of my favorite places and the Boar’s Head Sports Club where the tournament is played is really nice. I requested a Wednesday start because of all my traveling and wanted to get a couple practices in before my first match. I drew Ahsha Rolle 1st round in the main draw of singles. Ahsha is a really talented player and ranked in the 200’s and previously top 100. She beat me the only time we played each other about a year in a half ago. However, this time around I came up with the victory. I won 6-3, 6-2. I just played consistent, solid tennis and stayed more mentally tough than her. I was excited to get the win over her and move into the next round. After my singles match I played doubles with Alison Riske, a good young American player who I beat in the finals of G18’s National Hard Courts in 2007. We drew my housing mates, Carly and Nicole, first round which was a bit unfortunate. They are both very good doubles players so we knew it would be a tough match, but we gave them a run for their money. We ended up losing 6-7, 5-7 and had chances to win the 1st set. The 1st set and two games were played in the freezing rain. We couldn’t believe they were putting us on the court in those conditions; we were all getting a good kick out of it. But the rain got too heavy and it was starting to ruin the courts so we had to stop and resume play the next day. Carly and Nicole went on to win the tournament; even though I wish that was us I was happy for them. In my 2nd round of singles I played Lilia Osterloh from USA. She’s a really experienced player who I had never played before. I lost the close match to her 4-6, 4-6. We had good, long rallies and games. She played smart and found a weakness in my game that gave me a little trouble. I had a number of chances early in the first set, but wasn’t converting on my game points. In the 2nd set I dug myself a hole going down 1-4, I battled back to 3-4, 3-5, 4-5, but unfortunately never got it to 5-5 and lost the match. The one thing I was really disappointed in was my serve; I had a large number of double faults which was very frustrating. Take away all those doubles faults and I probably win that match 6-4, 6-4. I can’t wait to get another shot at her now that I know how she plays. After my singles match we finished our doubles match which I previously mentioned. I enjoyed the rest of my week in Charlottesville practicing, watching the matches, and hanging out with a few of my friends that live there.

I finally made it back to Austin Sunday night. It felt so nice to be sleeping in my own bed again. I was back on the court and in the gym on Monday. No time to relax or get comfortable because I had to get ready for my next tournament that was coming up at the end of the week. I worked hard on fitness with Coach Strecker and worked with my Dad a few times on the clay. I left again on Friday afternoon for Raleigh, North Carolina. My accommodation wasn’t exactly organized so I had to spend the night at a hotel by the airport. I caught a ride to the tournament site with a couple friends who flew in Saturday morning. I had a good practice in the nice heat and humidity that afternoon and signed in for qualifying. I stayed two nights in housing with Allie Will and Rebecca Marino which was fun. Then I moved in with The Sell family who’s awesome and I stayed with them last year. Lindsay Lee-Waters stayed with me there also because she had her car and it’s a bit of a drive to and from the courts. I played my first round of qualifying on Sunday and beat Danielle Mills 6-2, 6-1. Then I played Simone Kalhorn 2nd round and beat her 6-2, 6-2. She was an interesting player and made me focus to the fullest which was a good test. In my qualifying round match I beat Shika Uberoi 6-3, 6-1. That was a pretty tough match, but I played well and dug out some long games. I was feeling pretty good about my game and mental toughness at that point. Unfortunately I got sick the next day, possibly from the bad dinner I had the night before and lost my next match to a German girl. --

A few other highlights from the last couple tournaments I’ve played lately:

-Quarterfinals of El Paso $25k En route I beat #4 seed, Alexandra Stevenson, former top 20 player in the World. Barbara Bonic from Serbia. Eventually fell to #8 seed Kim Couts 3-6, 7-6(3), 6-7(4) in 3hrs. 45mins.

-Doubles Champion of Brownsville $10k with Sacha Jones

-Now playing World Team Tennis for the St. Louis Aces! A blog entry about WTT coming soon. Go Aces!

Cheers,

Ashley Weinhold

Another short post tonight because I need rest even more today. I pulled out my singles match today 6-4, 0-6, 6-1. My hip/leg started bothering me at the end of the 1st set and continued through the rest of the match. I had the trainer work on me after the 2nd set which seemed to help a little. Then after my match I had some more massage work done on it. Once again today I just competed hard and found a way to win. I had about an hour in a half before our quarterfinal doubles match so I grabbed some lunch. We won 6-2. 6-1. Our opponents weren't too bad, we just played well. Then we had about 45 minutes of rest before we went back on the court for the semifinals. We ended up losing that match 6-7, 3-6. Our opponents played well, but I believe that we are a better doubles team overall. We weren’t exactly as fresh as they were because only one of the girls played singles today and in their quarterfinal doubles match they were up 5-2 and their opponents retired. I was missing some volleys because I wasn’t staying low enough and moving thru the ball quickly enough. But I also did a lot of things well. The tired bus hit me hard mid way thru our doubles, but we both kept fighting till the end. Curse of the doubles semifinal's this trip unfortunately, 0 for 3. Oh well. I know there will be more chances to earn some hardware in the near future.

Right now I’m icing down my hip/leg and loading up on Ibprofen. I’m going to soak my legs in the tub tonight and get a good stretch in just before I go to bed. I play (5) Karolina Pliskova from Czech tomorrow, 1st on at 11am. It should be another challenging match, looking forward to it. I need to go rest up now. Talk to you tomorrow! Wish me luck : )

Ashely

This will be quick tonight because I’m pretty tired and need to get some sleep. I took down the #1 seed today, 6-2, 6-4. I played smart and competed hard. I used my strengths against her weaknesses fairly well. I also improved my first serve percentage and only had a couple double faults. I’m glad to finally get a W and against a pretty tough first round opponent. I’m going to keep staying focused on playing one point at a time and enjoying this last tournament. I play a qualifier, Zorica Petrov, from Serbia tomorrow at 10am. I only saw a few minutes of her match today and will probably have a similar game plan as today.

Valentina and I also won our doubles match 6-0, 6-2 this afternoon. It was extremely windy and rainy at times. We handled the conditions well and played a solid match. We play the quarterfinals tomorrow not before 2:30pm against Banovec/Kubicikova. The doubles final was scheduled to be on Friday. Since we didn’t get any tennis in yesterday, if we win our first match then we may play the semifinal tomorrow also. We better stay focused on our task at hand first though!

Rumor is rain all day tomorrow, but you never know. I’m ready for a full day of tennis and sunshine! Wish me luck : )

This is what I wrote last night, but when I was about to post it the internet went down for the rest of the night:

There were no tennis balls hit in Bol today…it rained morning till night. It almost cleared this afternoon, but as soon as we were going to warm up for our match more rain came. Rainy days at tournaments can be pretty lazy and boring. I went to the gym this afternoon. I just wanted to work up a little sweat, do some core work, and get a good stretch in. I just finished dinner and now I’m about to check out the players party for a few minutes. I’m only going to stay 15-30 minutes though because I have an early match tomorrow. I’m 1st up at 9:30am for singles and doubles not before 2:30pm. Weather permitting of course. The forecast I saw today showed rain until next Tuesday! I don’t think it’s raining at the moment so that could be a good sign. Alright, I better go make an appearance at player party now. Wish me luck tomorrow!

P.S. It's dry this morning!

Ashley

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 : )

Here’s a more detailed post about my matches yesterday. My singles play wasn’t as solid as my doubles. I fell behind early in both sets and was coming back, but could never gain the lead. I had a few missed break point opportunities here and there. I struggled with my serve more than anything though. I had a very low first serve percentage and more than a handful of double faults. It’s hard to hold serve when I’m having a hard time even starting the point. Then that adds more pressure for the need to break my opponents serve as well. My serve is usually an anchor for the rest of my game and it let me down today. I beat myself more than my opponent beat me. She had a big forehand at times and a consistent backhand. But I continue to struggle to develop points the way I want and limit my unforced errors. It’s a hard loss to swallow while realizing that this is my third singles loss in a row since I’ve been over here. This is not anywhere near the results I was expecting out of myself on this trip.

As far as my doubles goes, I was fairly happy with the way I played. I still could have served better, but everything else was pretty solid. In my last two doubles matches I’ve noticed that the things I worked on with Kevin the other week are becoming more instinctive. I’m more observant of my opponents and what they are more than likely going to do based on the ball they’ve received from us. Therefore I am adjusting my positioning on the court and using my movement more efficiently. I was also committed to serving and volleying on 1st and 2nd serves which I think is improving. I tried to be at the net every single point which is what doubles is supposed to be all about, right. Now I just need to find a good consistent partner to play with and it will be all good.

Today I walked all around the island taking pictures. It was a beautiful day, perfect temperature and sunny. I caught a few rays on the rocks…it wasn’t really a beach because there was no sand. The water was many different blues and crystal clear, but it was way to cold for me to go in! I went for a little run in the hills also. There doesn’t seem to be a weight room anywhere on this island because no one knows where one is. I’m going to hit a couple times tomorrow and hopefully get a practice set in with someone. I’ll probably head to my next tournament in Bol on Saturday. Supposedly it’s only a 15-30 minute ferry ride over, but for some reason the departure time is 5:10am from the hotel and the ferry leaves at 6am. I think there’s only one ferry a day from here…that sounds a bit ridiculous if you ask me. I’m still at the same hotel with no heat/air so I’ve been wearing multiple layers of clothing to bed because it gets sooo cold. It’s been pretty boring with no TV also. I’ve tried to change hotels a couple times, but they won’t take any more reservations even though they have rooms…stubborn! I may get some dinner in town tonight because the food at my hotel is starting to get more and more difficult to eat…similar to Spain last year. Ok, I’ll let you guys go now. Next I talk to you I’ll probably be in Bol. Hopefully they have internet access there! Cheers,

Ashley

Another quick post tonight since it’s nearly 11pm. I lost singles 3-6, 3-6…my serve let me down a lot today and just too many unforced errors. I’m very disappointed with another first round singles loss. I also lost doubles 2-6, 5-7, but I played well and was solid. Our opponents just figured out where to attack so there wasn’t too much I could do about that part. I’m staying in Hvar to practice for the next couple days before I head to my last tournament in Bol which is another Croatian island. I’ll try to write a more in depth blog tomorrow. Goodnight Y’all.

Ashley

This is going to be a short one tonight…I won my 1st round doubles match today 6-4, 6-4 against two Romanians. I had a hard time finding a doubles partner and signed in with a girl who doesn’t even have a singles or doubles ranking. We got into the main draw by a few spots because of my doubles ranking. We played pretty well together for the first time. She has a good attitude which scores points in my book. There’s a bit of a language barrier though, she’s from Poland. We’ll have a tougher match tomorrow afternoon against the #2 seeds, Sulpizio/Kosinska. Looking forward to it though.

I play my 1st round singles match tomorrow 2nd up after 9:30am against Charlotte Rodier from France. I’ve never played her or seen her before. I’m planning on playing my A Game and being aggressive from start to finish. It’s been nearly 2 weeks since I last played a singles match…I’m pretty anxious to get out there and compete hard. I have to hike back to my hotel now and get some shut eye. Double duty tomorrow with singles and doubles. Talk to you later!

My time in Barcelona was brief. I signed in for the WTA event on Friday, but didn’t get in. The qualifying cut off was 248 which is quiet different than the 3 byes they had last year. I signed in as an alternate on Saturday just incase someone got sick or was still in the tournament from the previous week and couldn’t make it to Barcelona. I ended up being the 4th alternate and I believe the first 2 alternates got in because a doubles team was still winning in Marbella, Spain and couldn’t play their qualifying singles match also. I spent a large portion of my time in Barcelona at David Lloyd - Club Turo where the tournament is hosted. It was a great club with a very nice gym, indoor/outdoor pool, spa, squash courts, clay and hard courts, and a big stadium court. They had a nice player’s lounge where everyone ate and hung out. Audi was the official car sponsor and they drove us to and from the courts. Life in the big leagues isn’t too bad at all. It rained Wednesday-Sunday off and on. I was able to get a few practice sessions in, but it was raining during some of them. On Saturday night I went to the F.C. Barcelona futbol game. Aranxta Sanchez-Vicario (3 time Roland Garros Champion) was the co-tournament director and she had a few tickets available for the players and I was lucky enough to get one of them. I went with Camille Pin, Biljana Pavlova, and a couple other people. That stadium is incredible and we had great seats. F.C. Barcelona scored in the first two minutes of the game and ended up winning the 2-0. I never would have thought that I’d be going to two futbol games in two different countries within six days, pretty cool I must say. After the game we walked back to the hotel and got some food along the way. Then I had to pack for my 6:55am flight. So I only got a few hours of sleep.

Now I am in Hvar, Croatia. I don’t know what country is harder to travel in…Italy or Croatia. It was another difficult trip. My early morning didn’t start off too pleasant. The check in line was an hour long for one flight. Then when I got to the desk I was informed that Lufthansa airline only allows 20kg (44lbs) total of baggage between 1 or 2 bags. So that was a bit of an issue on top of me running thru the terminal because I almost missed my flight because the check in line took so long. I changed planes in Frankfurt, Germany and arrived in Split, Croatia. From the airport I had to take a bus to the Split port, buy a ticket for the ferry, find the Catamaran on the other side of the port, board, and dozed off. The ferry ride to the Island of Hvar took a little more than an hour. From there I found the tournament hotel, but they didn’t have any more rooms available so they told me to go to the 3rd tournament hotel on top of the hill. So I dragged my bags another million miles thru town ha-ha to the roads where I found a taxi thank goodness. I made it to the hotel and got myself a room. I’m going to say there’s much more too be desired at this one…no TV, no internet (I’m posting this from another hotel lobby in town just down the hill) and no heat/air conditioning. After I threw my bags in the room I went to go find the tournament site with another player I just met. It’s a hike up to the club, about a mile or so. There’s bus transportation to the courts, but that’s back down the hill about 15 minutes to town so I’m not sure which is better. Neither sounds very good to me. This trip doesn’t seem to be getting any easier. Alright, I’m going to stop complaining now ha-ha. I checked out the courts and tried to find a doubles partner, but was unsuccessful. Sign in closes tomorrow at noon, so I’m going to go over to the courts early tomorrow and try to find someone to play with. I’m also going to practice twice tomorrow, main draw starts up Tuesday. I need to catch up on some sleep, more updates later. Goodnight!

It’s been a little while since I last posted a blog. I haven’t spent much time on the computer because I’ve been so busy the last few days. For anyone who’s wondering…I’m fine from the earthquake that happened Monday morning outside of Rome. I didn’t even know about it until a few people texted me to see if I was okay. So I obviously didn’t feel it and I was sleeping at the time. The death toll is up to 278 now, very sad. I hope the numbers don’t keep growing and the town can get back up on their feet as soon as possible.

As I mentioned in my last blog, Lindsey Pereira was coming into Rome to visit. I left Latina on Saturday afternoon and met her at the airport in Rome. By the way that airport was extremely difficult to get to from Latina. There are two airports in Rome and I hadn't been to Ciampino before which is the one she flew into. I don't even want to get into it all, I'm just glad I made it to the airport before she landed. We stayed at a “Bungalow” fairly close to the city; Lindsey found it online for a great price. Little did we know that it was actually a RV Camping ground! Our room was like a tiny mobile home. It didn’t have a TV and my suitcase could barely fit anywhere in the room, but we did have our own bathroom which was good. I’m glad we were out doing things all day and only needed a bed to sleep in. It was hilarious. There was a really nice tennis club next door that we tried to get into, but it was a private club and they wouldn't let us play on the courts which was a bummer. So instead we hit on the soccer field which was interesting and had to use a little imagination. It was also a good spot to do some fitness and sprints. We were excellent sightseers! You name it and we probably saw it. On Sunday we saw the Pope, The Pantheon, Trevi Fountain, Spanish Steps, many Piazza’s, and went to a Roma soccer game which was really cool. We also had dinner at Baffetto which is known as one of the best places for pizza in Rome. On Monday we visited the Colloseum, Palantine Hill, Roman Forum, Trastevere, and the beach at sunset. On Tuesday morning we went to the Vatican Museum, Sistine Chapel, and St. Peter’s Basilica. By that time we had seen more than enough sights and ancient ruins so we decided to take it nice and easy for the rest of the day. We had some great coffee at the famous La Tazza d’oro and found our new favorite bakery shop. We covered lots of ground and walked everywhere, but it sure was tiring at times! Over all those days I'm going to say we walked over 20 miles. Lindsey flew back to Dublin on Tuesday night. I’m so glad she came to Rome and we were able to do so many things. I hope it’s not too long before we do something like that again together, we had a blast!

I spent Tuesday night in Rome and flew into Barcelona yesterday afternoon. I made it here safely and to my hotel easily. This tournament hotel is really nice and in a great area called L’illa. There is a huge mall next door with lots of shops, tapas bars, and restaurants. It’s also close to the F.C. Barcelona Stadium where they play all of their soccer games. I’m about to head over to the tennis club and try to find someone to practice with. Sign in is tomorrow from 1-4pm. I’m still pretty far out of qualifying so we’ll see what happens. Talk to you guys soon. Adios,

Ashley

We’ve been getting a lot of rain here the last couple of days. It’s warm and sunny at the moment so hopefully it stays that way. Neda and I lost our doubles match 3-6, 5-7. I didn’t play too well the 1st set, but I made a few corrections and played better in the 2nd set. We were in a position to win the 2nd set being up 5-4 with me serving, but they started attacking my partner more and we had some loose points with too many unforced errors. Other than the last three games she played pretty solid. I’m happy with the way I served throughout the entire match, my placement and consistency was the best it’s been since I’ve been here. I also returned pretty well the whole match. I still need to keep working on my net play and aggressiveness.

The last couple of days I’ve been trying to figure out my tournament schedule for the rest of my time over here. I’m 8th alternate for qualifying of a $100k in Belgium on indoor hard courts. I could take the risk and go there to sign in and hope for the best. But I don’t really see 8 people dropping out or not showing up when the tournament starts in 2 ½ days. So I decided not to go and stay here in Italy to train on the clay until I go to the WTA event in Barcelona. Since I haven’t been getting as many matches as I expected up to this point I decided to add two additional tournaments to my schedule. After I try to get into the WTA event in Barcelona I’ll be going to Croatia for two 10ks. I’ve never been to Croatia so I’m looking forward to that trip and playing more matches.

One of my good friends and ATA alum, Lindsey Pereira, is going to come visit me in Italy over the weekend. She’s living in Ireland at the moment and has some free time so I’m very excited to see her. We’re going to stay in Rome and do some exploring together, it should be fun!

I practiced three times today and got a fitness session in also, it was a good day. Now I’m ready for a nap! We may go bowling tonight with a couple of the baseball players that are here for a tournament also. Last night we shot some pool and I was definitely a little rusty, hopefully my bowling will be better! That’s about all for now. Ciao ciao,

Ashley

I’m still in Latina…I signed in for a $50k over the weekend and missed the singles cut off by 2 spots which was a bummer. It’s another strong tournament this week. Fortunately I found a doubles partner today and we made the cut with our combined ranking around 590. Megan and I aren’t playing doubles together this week because she had previously committed to playing with Kathrin Woerle. I’m playing with Neda Kozic from Serbia, this will be another first time partnership. We play tomorrow at 10am against Ekaterina Ivanova & Viktoria Kutuzova. I know how Ivanova plays because that’s who Megan and I lost to last week, but I’m not familiar with her partner this time. I’m looking forward to implementing a few things I’ve been working on with Megan and Kevin in my doubles match tomorrow. We’ll see how it goes. Wish us luck!

That’s about all for now. It’s my mom’s birthday today so if anyone of you see her please wish her a happy birthday. My dad’s birthday was just 4 days ago also. Alright, time for bed. Talk to you after my doubles tomorrow.

My apologies once again about not blogging the last couple days. Megan and I ended up losing our semifinal doubles match 6-1, 2-6, 6-10. We played an exceptional 1st set, it was real doubles. It was 1-1 in the 2nd set and we lost two no ad points in a row to go down 1-3 and I think that was a big momentum shift in the match. Our opponents started getting more comfortable with us both being up at the net every point. They threw in a couple more down the line shots and lobs that kept us off balance. We backed off just a tiny bit and they took advantage and stepped up their game. Going into the 3rd set tiebreaker it was back to all even, but they had a slight edge with the momentum. It was back and forth until 6-6 and they ran away with the next 4 points unfortunately. I’m bummed we lost that match and couldn’t quite close the door on them, but it was high quality doubles overall. Megan and I have the potential to be a great and unique doubles team. Before our doubles match on Thursday we worked on doubles for a couple hours with her coach Kevin. He has plenty of great knowledge and I learned some new things that will help me in my matches to come. I need to get used to certain movements and some plays to run which just takes practice. I hope we can start training more together and play as often as possible.

Megan and I decided to take Friday off and go sightseeing in Roma. It was the first day I’ve taken off since being here so I was ready to have a fun day. We traveled by foot, bus, metro(subway), and train. It took us about 45 minutes to get into the city from Latina. As I say…Rome wasn’t built in a day so we can’t see it all in one day either. We did a good job of seeing as much as we could with the little amount of time that we had. We took the metro to Vatican City first to see St. Peter’s Basilica, St. Peter’s Piazza, and the Sistine Chapel. We wanted to go inside the Sistine Chapel, but that would have required going thru the Vatican Museum also and we didn’t have time for that if we wanted to see the Colosseum. So then we took the metro to the Colosseo district, the heart of ancient Rome. We got convinced into going on an English speaking tour of the Colosseum for 45 minutes. The good thing about the tour was that we didn’t have to wait in a huge line to buy tickets to enter. I think we could have done without the tour because it was kind of crowded and we were so focused on taking lots of pictures. But we did learn a few things along the way. One being, 700,000 people were killed in the Colosseum. It was an incredible sight to see! After the Colosseum we went to Palatine Hill, but it was closed so we couldn’t get in. Then we saw the Roman Forum from the outside because that was also closed. Everything seemed to close around 5 which was a bummer. We also saw The Vittoriano Monument, Piazza Venezia in the Public Square. We walked all around the area taking tons of pictures, going into souvenir shops and eating all sorts of foods. We had a gelato, café, canoli, crepe, pasta and amazing pizza all throughout the day, we were pigs! We had to take advantage while we could, who knows if and when I’ll be back in Rome. The pizza we had was in Vatican City, they had many different kinds and you just point to which one you want and how much. They charge you per 100grams, mine was only a couple euros. We ate on the street like all the locals do. It was the first thing we ate in Rome and we should have had more because it was the best thing we had all day. Oh and we also stumbled upon Fontana di Trevi. The fountain was completed in 1762 and features a mythological sculptural composition of Neptune, god of the sea, flanked by two Tritons. It’s gorgeous, especially at night when we saw it and there were tons of people gathered around to look at it. I wanted to go to The Pantheon and the Spanish Steps, but we didn’t have enough time. You definitely need a few days to take in all the sights. We had a great time exploring Rome and it’s definitely a day we’ll remember.

I better head to bed because tomorrow they spring forward one hour here. So now I’ll be 7 hours ahead of Austin time. I’ll write again tomorrow and fill you in on what I’m doing next. Ciao!

Sorry you didn’t hear from me yesterday…I didn’t get online much at all and it was really late by the time I got to bed. I ended up losing my singles match to (3) Zuzana Ondraskova 6-2, 0-6, 1-6. I know it’s a strange score. My main focus was to come out aggressive and play to win. I think I accomplished that for the most part. In the first set I was dictating points, hitting winners, and playing relaxed. Everything seemed to be going in and I got a little lucky here and there with bounces and such. I won the 1st set 6-2 pretty easily. In the 2nd set I was going after my same shots, but barely missing them this time around. Some net tape trying to attack off of returns and missing it wide or long in the rallies. We did have some close games that I should have won, but towards the end of the set I was just making too many errors. The 3rd set should have been closer as well. I had a few game point opportunities here and there, but didn’t get them. The last two games of the match was all her, she was getting me out of position and attacking. She was more consistent than me in the last set and a half and placing her ball well. She had a nice forehand and her backhand got more consistent as the match went on. She used to be top 75 in the World and right now inside the top 200 so that’s not too bad at all. Even though I’m not happy with the end result, I am happy that I came out playing more aggressively and more relaxed than last week. Plus I found my forehand! It went missing for a couple weeks which I was getting frustrated about. I hit it well in my singles match which was good and a mini victory in itself. I also served better than last week, having a pretty high percentage of first serves and only 2 or 3 doubles faults. So there were some good things to take away from the match and build on.

Our bus ride back to the hotel was pretty entertaining thanks to Kevin. His entire wine bottle leaked out in his bag and it was getting all over the place, we had to be quite creative to clean it up and the driver wasn't too happy with him. It was funny, you probably just had to be there. Megan and I really needed to do laundry, so we did that after my singles match. It was an adventure. We followed a map that the lady gave me at the front desk which wasn’t too exact, but we found it just fine. The only thing is that it was at least a mile away and I was carrying two giant bags of laundry while Megan was rolling her stuffed suitcase down the street. It was pretty funny. The laundry is not cheap here! We paid 4-6 euro per washer and dryer and we had 2 different loads each. And we had to dry our clothes twice because the first 40mins pretty much did nothing and they were still really wet, don’t you hate it when that happens? Oh and the coin machine thing was in like 4 different languages, it was quite interesting trying to figure out how to even get our wash started. We went to the supermarket and bank while we were waiting. Then finally our clothes were clean, we folded them, packed up, and walked back. All in all I think it was at least 4 hours haha.

As far as today goes…Megan and I won our doubles 6-2, 6-1. We played against the same team I played in doubles last week that took way too many match points to beat, 7-6, 6-7, 10-7. A little different this week which was good! Tomorrow we play the semis against my partner from last week, Marina Shamayko, and Ekaterina Ivanova. We’re playing well together so we’ll see what we can do tomorrow. We’re 2nd up not before 2pm. Wish us luck! I’m off to bed, goodnight!

Today was a pretty good day and an interesting one for my doubles partner, Megan Moulton-Levy. I was talking to her coach online last night to find out if they got here okay and everything. He got in yesterday from the States, but Megan was playing a tournament in Egypt last week and we weren’t exactly sure when she was getting in. Her flight was suppose to get in Monday afternoon, but little did she know that the tournament started on Monday unlike a Tuesday start in the U.S. She was on the schedule for singles at 11 and doubles with me 2nd after 1pm and had no idea. Haha. So her coach, Kevin, called her ASAP obviously and she got a flight from Cairo, Egypt at 4:50am getting her to Rome at 7:30am. Then she had to find a way to get to Latina and the tournament site which is quite difficult to find in the middle of nowhere. Thank goodness she was smart taking a taxi instead of the train otherwise she would have never made it (my recommendation by the way). I arrived at the courts around 10:40 and was in relief and excited to see Megan there also, just in time for her match! We jumped on a court and I hit a few balls with her so she could be semi warmed up and awake for her match. She ended up winning 7-6, 7-6. Quite impressive under the circumstances. They gave her two hours before our doubles so we had lunch at the club. Then we worked on a couple doubles things before we went on the court for our match at 4pm. We won our match 6-2, 6-3 fairly comfortably. We were energetic and excited to play. I think we could be a really good team. I’m looking forward to playing more matches together this week and hopefully in the future. I’m sure glad I talked to Kevin last night or else I’d probably be writing about my partner not showing up for our match and getting defaulted haha. I'm glad it didn't turn out that way. Wow, what a day!

I play singles 2nd up after 10:30 tomorrow vs. (3) Zuzana Ondraskova from CZE. I don’t know anything about her game, so I will be focused on playing my A game. I’m going to be intense, dictate, and be aggressive right from the start. She is ranked quite a bit higher than me so really I have nothing to lose, only to gain. We have a day off from doubles tomorrow so maybe Megan and I will practice together in the afternoon after she gets a lot of rest from her crazy travels. I’ll let you know how my match goes tomorrow. Goodnight!