Hands + Hard Work + Humor = Hanna

Dear Wonderful Fans,

Last weekend we played our hearts out at the National Indoors. Unfortunately we lost to Florida in the semi-finals. But, it was an amazing run and I think we all learned a lot from the experience and we look forward to our next matches. We moved up to number 4 in the ITA National rankings so we’re all really excited about that! But, the hard work definitely does not stop there and we’re all working super hard as we move into our first outdoor matches this week.

I want to use this blog to introduce to you our other amazing freshman, Hanna Mar, or “Handsy Hanna.” Now if there is anyone’s touch that I envy, it is definitely Hanna’s. From absolutely amazing volleys to her “tweeners” (and I can’t explain this term to you… you’d have to see it for yourself), Hanna can basically hit any shot in the book. As I’m sure you all know, it’s an absolute treat to watch her play because of her vigorous on court energy. I know we can all learn from her diverse game.

Like Big Ray, Han brings her own special dimension to our team. First and foremost, she is one of the hardest workers on our team. No matter what she is doing, one can trust that she will give it her all. For example, when we have our Howser conditioning sessions Hanna does every drill, no matter how seemingly insignificant it seems, at 110% effort level. She also never complains. I have yet to hear an “agh, I don’t feel like this” or an “ I can’t” from her. This is a remarkable trait that I know I envy, especially because she’s still a freshman. She pushes us all to work harder.

However serious Hanna is about working hard, she is equally really witty and fun to be around. Firstly, it is important to note that Hanna is a math GENIOUS! This is no joke. But what makes us laugh is the way that she applies her mathematical skills to everyday situations. Actually at National Indoors last weekend we were practicing serves and instead of saying, “let’s switch sides” Han said, “let’s change angles.” Once Jamie indicated that he had no clue what she had said, Hanna tried to explain by using some mathematical lingo and trying to depict an angle with her hands. I can’t really express in words how funny this was but we all couldn’t breath we were laughing so hard.

Yes, Hanna has an amazingly mathematical brain but play a Taylor Swift song and you might want to put some earplugs in. I experienced this when I roomed with Hanna at a tournament in California last semester. I played “You Belong With Me” in the room and no sooner had it started playing when Hanna broke into really loud song. However, instead of keeping in tune, Han was about 5 tones off. This was HILLARIOUS! There have been many such instances. But what is even more amusing is the fact that Hanna actually admits to her “not -so -awesome” singing and does it in spite of everything. I know that we all absolutely treasure her goofiness!

GOOO HAN!

This week we’re heading into 2 matches. On Wednesday we play Wake Forest at 3PM at home.

On Friday we play NC State at 3PM away.

Please come out and show your support on Wednesday at our first outdoor match!

GO DUKE!

Yours in tennis,

Monica Gorny and the rest of DWT

Big Ray with the BIG Game, but an even BIGGER Heart…

Dear Wonderful Fans,

As promised I’d like to start introducing our Duke Women’s Tennis stars to you so that you can get to know them a little better. This week, I’d like to introduce to you a girl that has not only brought with her a beastly game to our program, but a girl who holds a very special place in all our hearts. To you all she is known as the star freshman, Rachel Kahan. But to us she is known as BIG RAY!

Yes, I could probably spend hours talking about Rachel’s absolutely amazing tennis—one that all of us marvel at— but that is not what this blog is about. So from now on, I am going to refer to her as Big Ray because that’s exactly what she is to us!

As soon as Ray made her first appearance at Duke, we all knew that she was going to be an absolute sweetheart. Initially, she was a meek girl who brightened our days with her delightful smile. However, very soon we learnt that Ray not only had a beautiful smile, but she also had a beautiful heart. Hampered by an ankle injury last semester, Ray wasn’t able to showcase her outstanding tennis abilities. While others would dwell in their sorrow and be completely disheartened, Ray took to impacting the team in the only way that she could- huge amounts of support. Ask any of the girls and they will tell you that Ray is the epitome of a team player.

I remember one practice where Ray came up with the idea of filling up all our water bottles, even if they were not yet empty. Soon she was hobbling back and forth filling our water bottles AND adding ice to them (Something that no one else would think of doing) for the whole 2 hours. No one had caught on to what Ray was up to for the first hour, but after a while we all realized that instead of emptying, our water bottles were filling. When confronted, Ray answered, “do you need more water? Anybody? I’m going there anyway.” This was so out of the ordinary that we were all completely gob smacked. Who would ever volunteer to fill our water bottles, especially when they were still recovering from an injury? Only Big Ray.

This is only an example of many other instances where Ray has gone out of her way to help us. She not only helps in her actions, but in her words. When Ray cheers for us, our spirits are lifted. When you need to be comforted, Ray offers such kind words that you immediately feel better. And what does she do this for? For absolutely nothing. In fact Ray completely shies away from praise even though she well deserves it. She’s barely been here a semester and a half and already she has impacted our team in ways that we, ourselves don’t even realize.

So, when you see Big Ray around remember that she not only has a Big Game, But a Massive heart and that’s what we all should cheer for! GO BIG RAAAAY!

On a separate note, we are off to the National Team Indoors for this weekend where we will face some of the top teams in the nation. We have been training really hard since our close fought battle with Florida on Sunday and we’re ready to take it to them and bring home the tournament title. Our first match is at 12:30 PM on Friday against Tennessee.

Here is a link to the draw:

http://www.itatennis.com/Assets/ita_assets/pdf/Women$%2127s+National+Team+Indoor/2011+Women$%2127s+Team+Indoor+%28Wisconsin%29/2011_WTI_Draw.pdf

GO DUKE!

Yours in tennis,

Monica Gorny and the rest of Duke Women’s Tennis

Duke Tennis's HUGE Weekend

Dearest Wonderful Duke Fans,

Even though this goes without saying, I would like to start off by thanking all of you for your superb support so far this season. The encouragement has been outstanding and the Duke Women’s Tennis team is tremendously grateful to all of you. On our part, I must say that we haven’t been good enough at touching base with you on a regular basis. However, this is about to change.

Obviously, you know us for our on court tennis skills as this is all you see…But did you know that the same Ellah Nze who conducts herself with utmost professionalism and seriousness on court can be easily plunged into fits of giggles? And, did you know that the team’s warrior, Reka Zsilinska, who completely wears her opponents down with her unmatchable consistency is a crazy nutter off the court? Yes, we want you all to get to know our off-court selves better so that when you watch us, you’re not just supporting an awesome tennis player but you are also supporting a unique personality. Hopefully, through this blog we can achieve this aim.

This week, we’ve all been intensely preparing for our HUGE match against Florida this Sunday. In our locker room conversations, we’ve been discussing how happy we are that we’re playing the Gators at home rather than having to travel there. For one, we don’t have to miss additional days of class but most importantly we’re going to have all of you behind us! THIS MAKES A HUGE DIFFERENCE! Having reassuring faces to look up at and hearing our names being shouted out is a huge factor in getting us through matches. I’m not just saying this; it’s absolutely true. One of the team’s personal favorites is the slow clap on match points… This not only pumps us up to win the point, but it actually gets rid of some of the match point jitters that we experience. Your faith in us is both flattering and significantly motivating.

I would also like to use this introductory blog as an opportunity to clarify that tennis IS a LOUD sport. Don’t be shy to cheer and chant as much as you like. Obviously, insulting the opposing team isn’t the way to do this, but “Go Duke”, “Go Devils” and anything else you come up with are all acceptable! And we love loud clapping so please please please don’t be shy!

This weekend is a wonderful opportunity for Duke Tennis in general:

The Duke Tennis Men’s team is playing #3 Tennessee tomorrow at 6PM. I know that they’ll very much appreciate your support as they battle it out and hopefully come out on top!

And then on Sunday, the Duke Women’s Tennis team is taking on the #2 Florida Gators at NOON. Please come out and show your support and don’t be shy to cheer as LOUD as you desire!

Best in tennis,

Monica Gorny and the rest of Duke Women’s Tennis

P.S I’ve attached a photo of us in practice earlier today! Thumbs up to us crushing the Gators (sorry about its blurriness).

GO DUKE!

Duke Women's Tennis Update

Dear Royal Blue Members and Tennis Supporters,

I wanted to thank you for all the support you have given both teams at the start of our seasons and of course wanted to thank you in advance for the rest of the year. I thought it would be nice to give you a quick update as to how our team was doing and some different things we have been working on. After our Northwestern and Indiana matches last week we felt we really needed to do a better job with our doubles and have been working hard all week. We have tried to emphasize to our girls that doubles is a lot about attitude and if you walk on the court believing you are going to win your match that is 90 percent of the battle.

There is a huge difference between saying “ I could win” vs “I should win” and we are working to instill that mindset into our team. You may seem some new doubles combinations in our next few matches, our goal as a team is to find the combinations that give us the best chance of winning the doubles point, not just trying to find one great team. In singles both Marc and I feel like we are getting better every time we go on the court. We having been working on being more disciplined and trying to have our team understand the differences in the types of errors they are making. We have been talking a lot about physical errors vs mental errors and in that of course trying to eliminate the mental errors. Everyone in the world makes physical errors on the tennis court (missing a forehand for example) what we want our team to look at is where they missed that forehand and was it because they made a bad decision on where to hit it. Hopefully this weekend and over the course of the next few weeks you will see a highly energized, disciplined team!!

On a personal note I want to add how much we love working with this group of girls. They put a lot into making all of us in the Duke tennis family proud and I hope when you walk away from a match you recognize that. We always talk about giving our fans an exciting product to watch and I think this group is getting better at that every time we walk on the court. Thank you for being such great supporters of both the men’s and women’s tennis teams here at Duke and hopefully we see you out at our matches.

All the Best,

Jamie Ashworth

Duke Women’s Tennis