Kim's Diary --Back into the match day rhythm - 網球 Tennis

Back into the match day rhythm 01-11-2006

So it was my first match back today. I started pretty well, going up 3-0
without losing a point. I'm not sure if that's ever happened to me! After that
though, I think I made a few too many mistakes. I'm happy I won but that's
probably what I am most happy about.

I don't expect to have an easy match in the beginning of my comeback. It's good
to have a tougher match so you can find things you've got to work on, and also
be challenged mentally. This kind of match can only help me in this tournament,
and at the Championships, too; speaking of which, I've attached a picture of me
and my plane ticket to Madrid, which I got today.

It was kind of hard to get back into the match day rhythm. Just preparing
before the match, getting back into the routine of getting my drinks and
racquets ready. I'll have to get used to that again! But still, everything
went pretty smoothly. I had the night match and I've always liked those,
anywhere in the world. Here in Belgium they're great, and I also love playing
outdoors under the lights.

I did a lot of press afterwards. It's not something I like or dislike, it's
just a part of finishing my day at a tournament. The press conference I had
the first day I got here was probably much longer; tonight I think a lot of
people had deadlines so it wasn't too bad, and it's not that late.

Some good and some not so good things have happened since yesterday, when I
last spoke to you guys. I mentioned I might go to Brian's basketball game last
night; I did, and unfortunately they lost. It was too bad. He's here right next
to me so maybe I won't talk too much about it! But some of his teammates came
to watch my match today so that was nice.

One thing I'm very happy about is that Caroline Maes, who I mentioned is
staying with me this week, won her first round match today. I was actually
quite nervous for her. She's had some tough months and she didn't know if
she wanted to keep going in tennis, but she has been working hard. She was
supposed to play in the qualifying, but she was playing in Turkey last week,
so they gave her a main draw wild card; they had one left, and she felt lucky
and thankful. Today she beat Yuliana Fedak, who is ranked about No.65, and
Caroline is around No.320. Very exciting for her! Maybe I'm even happier about
her win than mine today! She's actually going to be staying with me the whole
week. She stays over a lot. 1;33We've known each other for like 12 years so I
know her well. I feel very comfortable with her, we have lots of fun. I'm
friends with many people, but I only have a few really, really good friends,
and she is definitely one of them.

Another nice thing is that my sister Elke was at the tournament today,
watching my match. She came over with her sports camp, which was about 45 kids,
and they were all yelling and screaming for me! She also came to watch me
at the US Open last year. She never sat in the player's box though. She would
always sit other places, which was hard because I always wanted to find her
and make eye contact. I'm really close with her. She's my younger sister and
I love her!

Another good friend who came to see me play today was Martin, from Fila, my
sponsor. He came all the way from America - it was really nice to see him.

I play my second round match tomorrow night against Martina Müller. I played
her in the first round of the US Open last year; it's always a bonus to play
with someone who you've played before, especially in these times, where there
are so many new girls playing the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour. Usually I play
someone I've never seen before! Martina is a smaller girl, is quick and
fights until the end. It'll be tough. I hope I can play a little better than
I did today. Like I said yesterday, I just have to focus on myself rather
than on my opponents, and just know what I have to work on. I've got a lot of
improvements to make!

Talk to you all after the match!!

Kim
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kim真是好女孩

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