I’m writing from a Tucson, Arizona, hotel room early on a Saturday morning. I’m here with the Columbia team for our spring break trip to Arizona. Yesterday, we flew in, practiced, drove for a few hours, and practiced again. But we don’t have another match for a couple of days, and I’m at least close to caught up on my school work. So I’ll take a few moments to tell you what the last few weeks have been like.
Right now, my body may not be sure what side of the country it’s on, or what time zone it’s in. Last week I flew from New York to Indian Wells and played my first-round match there. After that, I flew back in time for a double-header that our team had at home, even though I didn’t end up playing. A couple of days later, we packed up and headed west again for this trip. I guess it isn’t unusual in college sports these days, now that conferences are spread out all over the country, and teams travel from one coast to the other. I don’t love being in an airplane, but there’s not much choice except to get used to it.
I’ll start by saying that Indian Wells was kind of crazy. It was pretty difficult, honestly, adjusting again to the show, especially after how I started the year.
In January I played one of the biggest tournaments in professional tennis, the Australian Open. When I got back, I was like one or two weeks behind in school. So I had to catch up on schoolwork while I was playing team matches and practicing. Then I left to play another big pro tournament, one of the Masters, my first Masters.
But I’m never going to complain about getting a wild card at Indian Wells. Of course it’s better if you can qualify for the main draw, or get in with your ranking, so you feel like you’re earning it. But at the same time, it’s such a good opportunity for me to be exposed to the level of play that I want to reach. I don’t necessarily get that chance often.