Rising sophomore and All-American Irina Falconi has agreed to blog for RamblinWreck.com this summer. She will keep Yellow Jacket fans up-to-date on her training as she prepares for her second season on the Flats.
July 16, 2009
Entry #6
Hello again! So today was the second round of the Norman Wilkerson Tennis Tournament. Oddly enough, my opponent ended up being Lindsey Burdette of Stanford, who is another member of the USTA Collegiate Team. The day started off with a nice breakfast with Yasmin Schnack of UCLA, followed by a fun trip in the car with Hilary Barte and the two USTA Coaches, Cathy Sell of Princeton and Amanda Augustus of Cal Berkeley. I had agreed to warm up with Amanda Fink yesterday so after a few mobility drills, we were both on court already sweating in the early hours of the morning. After about 45 minutes of play, I was warmed up and ready to play.
The Match
So Lindsey and I both walked on court with the intention to win. After our five minute warm up, we start the match with me serving. I hold smoothly, feeling much more confident with my serve than the prior match. Lindsey comes back with a very strong hold game which lets me know that I’m going to have to handle her serve with an aggressive mentality throughout the match. I hold and break to make the score 4-1. This is the point where I know I have to be the most aggressive because it would be a mistake to let my guard down because she will come in and get back in the match. She shows me she wants to stay in the match, and it becomes 4-3. I come back firing, with a break and hold segment to end the first set at 6-3.
The second set starts off with Lindsey serving, which meant I had to continue doing what I was doing and break early in the set to keep the momentum going my way. After a couple of breaks and holds, the score is 5-2 on serve. This game was probably the longest and most nerve wrecking. After about six deuces, I finally am able to take the match with a score of 6-2. Quarters tomorrow!!!
Follow Falconi’s progress at the Norman Wilkerson Tennis Experience by clicking here.
