Comment from Carolyn: This is why Erika and Tracy missed the blog yesterday: Erika injured her foot playing South Africa:
The Court Cup had some bad luck today against South Africa to whom they lost 2/1. Shelly Works won 62 62 in about two hours; Anna Zimmermann lost in three sets at #1 singles. Alissa Finerman/Erika Smith lost in three sets in the deciding doubles and Erika hurt her foot in the 2nd set but they managed to win it 62; however she hurt it further (she heard a pop) and couldn’t move. Alissa was all over the court, she’s amazingly quick, and Erika hung in there but had to leave the court on crutches. I had to find the physio who sent me to the doctors (hanging out by the bar..hmmm) who then led me to the doctor’s office at Ali Bey where they had used crutches for a 10 euro fee (new ones were 25 Euros)…we took them to Erika and a cart was ordered to transport Erika back to her room. Vesna, who is a paramedic was called to the court (she was watching the Young Cup doubles) and looked at Erika’s foot, which was swollen and looking black and blue on the ball of her foot. It was a really sad ending to the match, as Erika was planning on playing the individuals with Dailey next week and this was her first ever Cup team. The Court Cup plays Spain in the 5-8 playoff tomorrow.
The Bueno Cup team beat Sweden decisively behind singles wins by Tracy Houk and Ros Nideffer and a doubles win by Fran Chandler/Vicki Buholz.
Erika — our match with Spain started at 9:00 am. The toughest part for me was arranging for a cart to drive me to the courts since I am on crutches. The foot is swollen and painful, so I would just be playing the role of coach today.
Once again, Shelly got things started for us. The first set went the distance with Shelly winning the tiebreaker 8-6 after fighting off three set points. The set took almost two hours! Shelly quickly (for Shelly) went up 3-0 in the second set, aided by her opponent’s obvious disappointment for not closing out the first set. Not only did she have three set points in the tiebreaker, she had been up 5-4 in the set. Shelly won the second set 6-2.
Anna then played the top Spanish player and lost a tough two setter. As always, she was fighting for every point.
So, we headed into the doubles tied 1-1. Shelly and Alissa were playing together for the first time and we had worked out their strategy before the match. Shelly is more comfortable on the baseline, so it was going to be one up/one back doubles until Shelly worked her way into net. They won the first set 6-3 with me coaching on the changeover and Anna cheering from the sidelines. The Spanish team adjusted their strategy in the second set and started coming to net more frequently. They won the second set 6-3 and were up 5-3 in the third. Other Spanish players were trickling over to watch during the second and third sets, so it felt like an away college match. Fortunately, at 3-5 down in the third, our women’s 35s team arrived and provided some energy and cheering. Shelly and Alissa fought back to 6-6 and it was all coming down to a tiebreaker. They played a great tiebreaker with Alissa hitting some clutch volley winners and Shelly hitting some perfect lobs that resulted in missed overheads. At one point, Alissa surprised the Spanish team by hitting a perfect topspin lob for a winner. We won the tiebreaker 7-4. When asked "what were you thinking when you hit that topspin lob?", Alissa said that she had spent four days watching Shelly hit beautiful lobs and wanted to get in in the fun. Why not try it in the tiebreaker of the third set of the deciding match?
Tonight was the player dinner and the US team gathered for pictures. Everyone looked great — the men in their matching ties and the women with matching scarves.
We play Austria tomorrow for the 5/6 spot. But, the weather forecast is for rain.
Tracy–
We had a bye today, so Vicki and I took a taxi in the morning to the town of Side. It’s on the water and you can sit outside and enjoy a Turkish tea, or fresh squeezed pomegranate juice. It was a nice change of scenery, from the tennis courts. After spending a few hours there, we headed back
To watch the Czeck Republic beat Great Britain, after they split the singles and the doubles sealed the deal. We play them tomorrow at 9AM. We hit the courts for an afternoon practice, then got ready for the Official Dinner. It was a fun event. After dinner, I went back to my room to try and confirm my return flight reservations. It’s really difficult to get anything done over here. Keep your fingers crossed , and wish us luck for tomorrow.
Since I missed the blog yesterday , I will leave you with two new words.
Nasilsin- how are you
Ok, maybe just one. I don’t want you to get to overwhelmed .