Same routine as before early walk into town, picked up some cheese pretzels for breakfast and then onto Starbucks for coffee. Met the Wolf for practice at the club ahead of her second round match which her parents had attended for. Sadly Oana’s match was poor, a couple of missed smashes at the net got in her head and festered which destroyed her confidence at the net and she never recovered. It was so sad to see a net player as talented as Oana with so many doubles trophies in her career struggle so badly with shots she can normally make in her sleep. She was far too negative with consistent internal dialogue, she took a bathroom break after set one but could not wash the demons away. Ilinca Amariei is a talented young player who is enjoying much success this year and she’s an intelligent player, she knew Wolfy was struggling and worked to her weakness by feeding her lobs, moon balls and drop shots, anything to draw her in. I was disappointed, and I care about Oana, she knows this and trusts my honesty, so she knows I would never say anything to hurt her but she beat herself today as good as Ilinca Amariei is, yet what happened to Oana today is very common, when a particular shot or pattern of play abandons you, you cannot get it out of your head. All players have been there. The good news for Oana she has accepted it for what it is and she will be strong and move forward. We talked very honestly about the match a little later and I emphase with how that one crumbled away, there are no doubts about the future, no lessons learned, bad stuff happened today and we put it behind us move on. Next was Briana Szabo and Patricia Tig, a great match on paper and it was very close with some decent tennis but quite short and effective points. I missed the final set to watch Wolfy’s doubles match which I really made a point of cheering for to help her and her partner through and make Oana feel good about herself and we won in straight sets!

Next was Stefi Bojica against the second seed Angela Fita Boluda. What a started as a brilliant effort from Stefi with great intensity and a super attitude, playing through her injury in a very exciting match was ruined by the donkey in the Umpire chair who refused to check a ball mark on the other side of the court for Stefi at her request. The supervisor explained that if the umpire believes a mark to be correct he or she does not need to check it, this is not true, if a player asks an umpire to check a mark they should always do so to dispel any doubt. The controversy happened right at the end of set two which Stefi lost after winning the first, sadly the emotion and pain of the injury was too much and despite bravely fighting through she never recovered physically or mentally. She might have lost the match anyway as it was turning I the second but that smug bastard in the chair did not help. I feel for Stefi so much of course on human level as I hate seeing my favourite players hurting out there but also as a fan I was so excited by her level but all that was ruined but an unnecessary situation which could have been resolved a few times with common sense.

After the match I had a couple of coffees at Starbucks before Team Wolf went out for dinner. Oana was in good spirits, the doubles win definitely helped and she has reflected on disappointing defeat and preparing for next week where I am confident she will bounce back stronger. The ‘coach’ talk is a little tongue in cheek, I am no coach, but I am here this week as support for Oana, I am here for her as a friend, to do what I can to help her through the shit times. And if I did not have to work for a living and could afford to I would go to all the tournaments for her.

Proud of you Wolfy 🐺