Back in the USA

As I already told you in the previous article, I arrived in America, where I’m planing to stay for four weeks and play four tournaments. I hope I will be able to be that long away from home. I’m starting with an UTR tournament, in order to get used with the conditions, time zone, courts, weather.

It’s a plan that works for me: I play some matches on the UTR circuit in order to get my tournament rhythm for the ITF’s. And that’s how I started also this season. I came to the USA on December 30th and started with an UTR tournament. After that, I played a good W25 tournament, where I reached the quarters after four wins.

This is the first year that I am traveling twice to America. The first experience, in 2019, was not the most pleasant one because of the tornado adventure that I told you about in a previous article.

But one of the beautiful things we discovered here since then, were the families that hosted us.

In the meantime I’ve lost a match here and I’m trying to motivate myself to write. The morning after the defeat is quite hard, you wake up thinking about the things you could have done better in the match, outside of it, you are trying to figure out what you did wrong or in which moments you could have played better or made other decisions.

But the good thing is that tennis gives you another chance every week.
I managed to do some fitness training and in the afternoon and I will practice for an hour on the tennis court. This is how I prepare for tomorrow’s match, adjusting my shots. In those moments after a defeat, you need your team by your side, which objectively analyses how you played, but also continues to support you.

Returning to the accommodation in the States, the system of “host families” is practiced there quite often. Many people are passionate about tennis and they really like to help professional players. They like the interaction with us, they listen to our stories, they want to know things from the inside.

Last week I was hosted by a very nice family. They came to watch every match that I played, to cheer for me, which meant obviously a great support for me. They made sure that I had the best conditions, so I could play my matches in all tranquility: transport to the club, healthy food and spending my free time in the most pleasant way.

In January I had a similar experience, but a little different. I stayed in the same house with Dia Evtimova and Vera Lapko who was accompanied by her coach. Every evening we met for dinner with the family and the other housemates and shared experiences from the circuit. It’s a great pleasure for me to talk about tennis. Vera and Dia spoiled us with dishes prepared by them, Vera cooked a specific borsch from her country and Dia prepared Bulgarian cakes for us (I didn’t prepare anything). This time too, the family was present at all our matches.

Since 2019, when I played in America for the first time, I have really appreciated this opportunity to meet new, different people and I am very glad that I still keep in touch with them, through social media.

Another advantage of the tournaments organized in America are the practice courts that you can find at every turn. Last week we had a court right in front of the apartment and you could go play there at any time if you had a partner. In the European ITF tournaments it is usually very difficult to get a full court for practice, you have to share it with two other players.

Another plus is the physiotherapist of the tournament, to whom you can go at any time, regardless of the problem you have or if you just want to prepare your body for the next match. Only at the WTA tournaments, you find professional physiotherapists you can trust; at the ITF’s I played, I rarely went to the tournament physiotherapists because I heard about one or another that they were not competent.

Soon I will start the next ITF W25 tournament in another state, Mississippi, so now I’m flying there.

I’ll keep you posted about my results and the next adventures I will go through.

P.S. This time, I had the opportunity to go to the Miami Open. I saw Monica Niculescu playing her doubles match and I was impressed by the organization there. I convinced myself once again that the Americans are at the top in terms of marketing and event organization.