Duke Tennis

"A day without laughter is a day wasted."- Chaplin

2012-01-30T07:44:00.000-08:00

Dear Wonderful Fans,

With the conclusion of a really great weekend, we are off to National Team Indoors in just over a week! This is an awesome opportunity for us to play some of the best teams in the nation. Jamie presented us with our famous tennis center quote on Friday: “ We set standards that make others wish they played for Duke.” After the playing this weekend and the overall energy, we are definitely ready to live up to the challenge of setting a higher standard for ourselves and for the other teams out there.

In this blog I’d like to introduce you all to the three honorary members of our team, our three lucky charms— Albert, the tennis fairy, Dobby the gnome and Bumper the Leprechaun. This may seem a little strange to some of you (DWT is sane, don’t worry) but I think that these three little characters have earned their way into our team and have become an integral part of the locker room.

Here’s a little background: Dobby, personally named by our Harry Potter wiz- Hanna- lives in his own little garden house on our windowsill. His dear friend, Albert, who has a Santa Claus-ish beard, BRAIDED EYEBROWS and who is dressed in a very abstract glittery outfit, has his very own tennis racket and resides next to Dobby. Oh, and Albert originated in one of Trice’s Christmas gifts last year. Big Ray’s little, green leprechaun, Bumper, is cased in one of the smallest containers I’ve ever seen. Despite us begging her to release him, Rachel refuses because apparently he’s guarding a gold coin (I don’t know any Irish folklore but apparently a leprechaun cannot stop guarding this coin to bring luck.). Anyways, Bumper lives on the same windowsill in our locker room and accompanies Big Ray in her matches each week.

Why are these abstract charms so important? Well, they’re our lucky charms of course but more importantly, they have become a kind of pre-match locker room attraction and ritual for us— they make us laugh!

There is no denying that everyone gets a little nervous before matches. This is good. A little nerves, when managed correctly, makes one more ready to play and more energetic on the court. But it is when nerves get the better of us that we stop seeing the fun in playing and we become too serious. I know that each girl will tell you that they play best when they’re having fun out there. While they’re having fun, they transfer the positive energy to the rest of the team and before long, we’re all having fun, we’re positive and more often than not, we’re winning. I think that the rest of the team will agree with me when I say that there’s no better way to have fun than to laugh… and that’s precisely what our lucky charms represent in our locker room.

Whether it is a funny story, a joke, or just us being silly, every girl on this team knows how to laugh at themselves and with others. We try and bring a light atmosphere to every practice, match and event so that we aren’t only getting the job done, but we’re having fun doing it. Beyond teammates, DWT is a wonderful friendship circle and we’re proud of it! And thanks, to our three little lucky charms, we have daily reminders of the importance of having fun together.

Next weekend, we play Northwestern at noon on Saturday (4^th Feb.). We hope that you can all come out and support us because we always value you all cheering us on.

GO DUKE!

Yours in Tennis,

Monica Gorny and the rest of DWT.

Striving for Greatness

2012-01-23T06:14:00.000-08:00

Dear Wonderful Fans,

I’m happy to say that our first dual match weekend was a great success— not only in terms of the results which were obviously very pleasing, but also in terms of how our team was able to come together, work together and really play for each other. Thank-you so much for coming out and supporting us. It always means so much to hear you cheering and it makes our jobs on court all the more pleasant and much easier!

Before our match against William and Mary on Friday, Jamie provided us with a really meaningful quote that I think sums up what we’re trying to achieve— “you don’t have to be great to start but you have to start to become great.” This weekend was the start to an extensive season ahead. Our ultimate goal is to win the NCAA Championship in May but in order to get there, we need to apply ourselves to every match so that we can be as prepared as possible for what lies ahead. No match is going to be easy and I think that each girl has realized and prepared herself for this.

This weekend was the first dual match for the four freshmen and the first time that they were playing for a team rather than for themselves. Rather then fret and fear the matches, they all approached this challenge with such ease and poise! Additionally, each of them did an amazing job of cheering on the rest of the team and really looking out for one another. With a new team (especially as much as 4 new freshmen), the team aspect sometimes can be difficult to develop because of differing dynamics, but I think that this group of girls is truly here to play as a unit rather than as separate individuals.

As we move forward, we definitely hope to build upon this weekend from all aspects. We are trying to fulfill our responsibilities to the team by looking after ourselves off the court and making sure that we’re staying healthy and rested so that we can perform at our best when the times come. This means many sacrifices in other aspects of our lives, but we have a goal and a well-established belief that the team is the priority right now. As the famous DWT saying goes: “TEAM FIRST!”

Next weekend we play the first rounds of the National Indoor tournament. We play against College of Charleston at 2PM on Friday and if we win, we play Illinois/ Winthrop on Saturday at 6PM. Please come out and cheer us on! And, if you see us around, don’t be afraid to ask us anything or talk to us because we really want to get to know you a little better and I think it would be awesome if you got to know us off the court a little better as well. We have some real goofballs on the team but I don’t think this is always clear from our serious on -court selves!

GO DUKE!

Yours in Tennis,

Monica Gorny and the rest of DWT

Welcome Back!

2012-01-17T07:15:00.001-08:00

Dear Wonderful Fans,

I hope that you all had a wonderful Christmas break! This goes without saying, but DWT is tremendously grateful for your support thus far and we hope that you are as ready as we are for a much-anticipated season. Similarly to last season, this blog will serve as a weekly update for you and will provide you with some “insider” information about our team. But, more importantly, I hope that this will be a means by which you get to know this year’s team a little better. As I’m sure you know, we have four new additions to the team this year— Annie Mulholland, Beatrice Capra, Ester Goldfeld and Monica Turewitz. My hope is that you get to know each one of these special girls for their off-court personalities as much as for their on- court, beastly selves by the end of this semester.

A brief recap from the end of last semester: we had the opportunity to participate in a very rewarding, team bonding experience by reaching out to the Durham community. We visited The Girls Club mentoring program where we gave a brief presentation in which we introduced ourselves and talked about the value of teamwork and how this is applicable to one’s life outside the athletic world. After this, we presented each of the 25, excited children with their own Babolat rackets. This experience was not only beneficial to the children but it made us realize how important it is to use our privileged positions as Duke student-athletes to help and inspire the less fortunate. Additionally, the presentation forced us to reflect on the value of teamwork and the meaning of being a good teammate, which will be tremendously important in defining our successes this semester.

Back to this semester: This weekend, we had the opportunity to play some great matches at the UNLV Invitational as a prelude to the dual match season. I think that each of us now has a better understanding of the things that we need to work on personally this week as we move towards our first dual match. Off-court, this was the first time in Vegas for a lot of us and we had the opportunity to explore the crazy casino world (without actually participating obviously). While the slot machines are the usual attraction in this part of the country, our pyramidal-shaped Luxor hotel provided us with enough areas of exploration. Hanna’s mathematical mind could not get enough of the diagonal path of the inclinators as opposed to the normal up/down movement of elevators. Other attractions included dining at various lavish restaurants and losing ourselves in the AMAZING four-story M&M World. Oh, and obviously we spent a lot of time relating our experiences to the wild adventures depicted in “The Hangover” movie.

This weekend we will embark on our dual match journey with a match against William and Mary on Friday at 5PM and a match against Indiana on Sunday at noon. I know that we are extremely excited and ready to prove to you and to ourselves that we can reach our goal of winning this year’s NCAA Championship. However, every journey begins with a single step and we realize that we have a lot of work ahead of us to achieve this goal.

Please come out and support us and BE LOUD (tennis is a LOUD sport)!

GO DUKE!

Yours in tennis,

Monica Gorny and the rest of DWT.

Fall 2011 Reflection

2011-11-18T07:38:00.000-08:00

Dear Wonderful Fans,

Our fall season has officially come to an end and I’d just like to thank-you all so much for the support throughout the semester. Since our last tournament, we have taken some time to reflect on the positives and negatives of the semester and the things that we need to work on going into the spring season.

In my view, we have an amazing group of girls who have grown so much closer since the beginning of the year. Having four new freshmen on a team can always pose some difficulties with team dynamics but we have been really fortunate to have amazing personalities that have taken the idea of “team” to heart and have proven to have the potential to become true team players.

Having said that, I think that we will grow a lot closer as we move into dual match season. The freshmen have just come in off the junior and pro circuits where the main focus has been on themselves. However, as the upperclassmen already know, college tennis is all about the team and dual match season will help the freshmen realize this very soon.

In the next couple of weeks leading up to Christmas break, I will post video interviews of each of the freshmen so that you can hear their thoughts of their first semester at Duke as well as their goals going into season:

To access these videos and others that have been taken throughout this semester please go to:

http://www.youtube.com/BlueDevilTennis

Once again, thanks for the support and have a happy Thanksgiving!

GO DUKE!

Yours in tennis,

Monica Gorny and the rest of DWT

Welcome Back!

2011-09-14T17:07:00.000-07:00

Dear Wonderful Fans,

Welcome back from the summer! Again, I’d like to introduce myself. My name is Monica Gorny and I am a senior on the women’s tennis team. Throughout our season last year, I kept the Duke tennis blog up-to-date with our trips, events and the likes. I cannot express how amazing your support has been throughout the years and I hope that it continues to flourish as we move into our 2011/2012 year.

First of all, I’d like to introduce you to our four new and AMAZING freshmen that joined us this semester: Beatrice Capra, Monica Turewicz, Annie Mulholland and Ester Goldfeld. These girls have been a wonderful addition to our team thus far; on and off the court. Their professionalism and work ethic will be much appreciated by the coaches and by the upperclassmen as we move towards the season. I will make sure to give you a little more information about each of them so that you know exactly who you are supporting at our matches later on this year.

This weekend will see action from both the men’s and women’s team as we compete in the Fab Four Tournament, held at Cary Tennis Center from Friday to Sunday. Matches start at 10 AM on Friday. If you can, please come and support us! We’d love to see some Duke fans in the stands.

GO DUKE!

Yours in Tennis,

Monica Gorny and the rest of DWT

Discipline and Trust

2011-04-13T10:27:00.000-07:00

Dear Wonderful Fans,

Unfortunately, our home match season has come to an end. I cannot express our gratitude for all you support this season. Seeing and hearing you all at our matches got us through thick and through thin and I can assure you that you made our jobs out there a lot easier. Having said that, we still have a long way to go this season. And this is where it gets exciting. Our wins against top ACC teams this past week have given us a great confidence boost as we move into our ACC tournament and NCAA tournament play after this weekend. Our ITA team ranking has moved to 3, making us the top ranked ACC school, Nadine Fahoum had amazing wins against both Clemson and Georgia Tech at the number 1 position making her ACC player of the week, and Big Ray is still at a cruising altitude of 22 consecutive wins. Needless to say, these achievements are something to be proud of. But our team very strongly recognizes that our goal still remains exactly the same as it was at the beginning of the semester: to become National Champions.

Yesterday, we had a team psychology session with Greg Dale, which reinforced our ultimate goals and mission of the season. Individual and team successes are very rewarding and very significant no matter how small or big they may seem. However, it is sometimes easy to immerse oneself in one’s successes and lose track of the thing that has been the driving factor from the get-go. I think that yesterday’s session really helped put everything in perspective. Earlier in the semester we spoke of our core values within the team: Trust, Team First, Discipline and Fight. At this point in the season we realize that it is important for us to reflect on these values and do our best to stay true to them for the team’s sake. Two blogs ago, I talked of the “Team First” aspect and I still maintain that our team is one of the most integrated there is. Right now, it is important for us to focus intently on the “Trust” and “Discipline” values that we discussed. “What can I do to contribute to this team’s success?”

It is no secret that our team for the most part suffers from a Facebook addiction. Within 2 hours after practice, you can rest assured that there will be some DWT Facebook activity. Of course this is a way for us to take a break from a very demanding life and communicate with people we do not have time to see on a daily basis. However (and here I speak for myself), Facebook has the tendency to consume and I know that I have been drawn into this on several occasions. Instead of finishing work in a timely manner to go to sleep early, I have stayed up late because of these types of distractions. As we move towards the demanding end of the semester academically and tennis-wise, eliminating these seemingly insignificant distractions will become the determining factor in how we fair. Additionally, it has become imperative that each of us takes the time and effort to take care of our bodies. Whether this means taking 5 minutes extra to stretch or go to the training room, we all realize that we need to be committed to this. It is all about staying disciplined and trusting that your teammates will do the same. By making these small sacrifices, we can each make the world of difference.

I am happy to announce that Reka and some other girls have placed a block on their Facebook during their study hours and I am limiting my “Facebook and distraction” time to once a day in an effort to get to bed earlier.

This week we leave to Florida for our last two ACC regular season matches:

On Friday at 5PM we play Miami and on Sunday at 12PM we play Florida State.

GO DUKE!

Yours in Tennis,

Monica Gorny and the rest of DWT

Leadership, Silent Warrior, Fire, Irreplaceable

2011-04-05T08:04:00.000-07:00

Dear Wonderful Fans,

If I had to describe this weekend to you in one word, I’d say that it was magical. From a tennis standpoint, we had two really good wins against Virginia Tech and Virginia. Big Ray fought unbelievably in her match against Virginia to remain undefeated this season and Reka’s win against Virginia Tech moved her to the most ACC wins in Duke history. However, what made this weekend even more special was the fact that we could share it with our parents. With the hustle and bustle of Duke life, we often forget how important our parents have been in getting us to where we are today. If it were not for them, I doubt that we would have the honor and privilege of representing a school of such a high caliber. I know that seeing my parents made me think of how grateful I am for everything that they have done for me.

On Saturday, Jamie treated us all to an amazing dinner at the University Club. I know that the team was extremely excited about the rare occasion of being able to trade sports clothing for something a little more spiffy. Parents, girls and coaches mingled with excited chatter and enjoyed delicious food. Towards the end of the evening, Jamie rose to give a speech about something that is really difficult to think about— our seniors graduating.

Yes, I had originally planned to dedicate this blog to our parents, but Jamie’s speech on Saturday made me very aware of the fact that as our season draws closer to an end, we move closer to a time that we all wished we could avoid.

Leadership— Liz Plotkin, or otherwise known as “grandma thunder” or “lil Liz” is one of the most assertive, forward leaders I have ever met. I believe that with her leadership and guidance on this team, we were able to become much more integrated. There have been countless occasions where Liz has stepped up and has confronted an issue that was bothering the team. No matter how insignificant someone’s problem may seem, Liz has been the person who has settled unnecessary conflicts and has formed a link between the team and the coaches. Additionally, Liz is a true inspiration. I don’t think I know of anyone else that has had two very serious knee surgeries and has come back to play amazing tennis the way she has. I think the girls on our team look up to Liz in a big way as she shows the true meaning of “nothing is impossible.”

Silent Warrior— Jamie’s description of Ellah on Saturday night was something that definitely stood out for me and I’m sure stood out to the rest of the team as well. He said that in his 14 years at Duke, he had never seen a player grow as much as Ellah. Now, I wasn’t here when El was a freshman but in my time here at Duke, Ellah has been someone that I have developed great respect for. On the court, she shows tremendous fight and will power. Off the court, I think El is one of the most selfless and genuine girls I have met. She is a true friend who always has valuable advice to give. El is not a very loud person by nature, but she still manages to be a huge presence on our team. In our warm up on Saturday El was a little late coming back from the training room and every girl noticed that she wasn’t there. It felt weird not to have El on the court with us for that short time which shows how significant her role is on the team. She has definitely earned the respect of her fellow teammates.

Fire— This sums up Nadine Fahoum’s personality on and off the court. Nadine only arrived at Duke a year ago and has adapted and integrated into our team dynamic as well as anyone could hope for. I personally feel as if I have known her for much longer. To every practice, match or team activity, Nadine brings so much laughter, light heartedness and fun to the group. We all feel so lucky that she chose to transfer to Duke because in addition to the amazing tennis that she has brought, she has added life to our team and makes everything so much more enjoyable.

Irreplaceable— Reka Zsilinszka. That’s all I can say if I want to be accurate— Reka Zsilinszka is irreplaceable. I do not think that one can come up with a single word that can describe Reka’s impact on our team. Her crazy goofiness mixed with her compassion and selflessness make her the epitome of a team player. Reka has impacted all our lives in a profound way because of her continuous effort to bond the team and include everyone in all activities. She is a role model. Obviously, her collection of awards that she has garnered over her time at Duke make her an inspiration. But I think that it is her pure heart and good intentions that make her someone that we all look up to. I know that Reks has made my life at Duke so much easier and happier. All the girls will agree with me when I say that her unique position on our team cannot be replaced.

GO SENIORS!

Tomorrow, we play against our major rivals— UNC – at Chapel Hill at 3PM. If you can make it to our match, I know we all will greatly appreciate it. GTHC!

This weekend is senior weekend as we play our last two home matches of the season. We play Clemson on Saturday at 12 PM and Georgia Tech on Sunday also at 12 PM. Come out and cheer on DWT’s special seniors!

GO DUKE!

Yours in tennis,

Monica Gorny and the rest of DWT

Team First

2011-03-22T21:48:00.000-07:00

Dear Wonderful Fans,

During our lifting session today I was inspired by something in our team that has been distinctly present throughout this semester, and throughout our time together as a team thus far. A catchy phrase that we have used both seriously and jokingly sums it up: TEAM FIRST! During our more challenging lift today, it was evident that we all could feel the effects of the intensive season on our bodies. We have been working hard throughout the semester and as we move further into our ACC matches, we all realize that it is not going to get easier. However, what is remarkable (and I use today’s lift as an example), is that despite the fatigue and aches that we all feel to a certain extent, there has barely been any complaining. Instead there has been an increase in encouragement and a strong sense of togetherness. This togetherness in our team, both on and off the court, has made our season so much more enjoyable because no matter what the challenge may be, we have each other’s backs and that reassurance is enough to get us through the toughest of times.

In a sports psychology session with Greg Dale this semester we discussed our core team values and the importance of adhering to them. In amongst others such as trust and fight, “team first” came up and seems to have had the most profound effect on our team. Why? Because countless hours of hard work, determination and oodles of fight would not be as satisfying if we only did it for ourselves. Knowing that by working hard you’re also improving your team is so much more motivating and rewarding and in college tennis, this is the key to a successful program.

Yes, we are a tennis team and therefore we associate the “team first “idea with tennis related activities. But, to put your team first in tennis, you need to put your team first in other aspects of your life as well. This season has proved that we are all willing to do this. Mary Clayton is a great example of this. In doubles, I must admit that I usually have the jitters at the beginnings of matches but Mary has taken the time to figure out what she can do to try and relieve me of this problem. She uses seemingly insignificant things such as smiling more often to try and relax me and this has made the world of difference. Additionally, it is no secret that Mar has been steam rolling her opponents in the last few matches. Instead of dwelling in her victory, Mary immediately goes to another court to cheer on a teammate as if her personal success depended on it. Off the court, Mary also exemplifies the “team first” idea. All the girls will agree with me when I say that Mary is a “social butterfly” and has many friends around Duke campus because of her bubbly, friendly personality. However, she is always willing to help her team out first. I know that I not only treasure Mary’s friendship, but I also respect her for the way in which she selflessly thinks and puts the team above herself.

DWT can be described as a successful tennis team. But to us, DWT is a family where everything we do is for the benefit of each other. Every single girl is the most important part of the team and we all realize and maintain that idea. This will hopefully help us be successful this season and for seasons to come. But more importantly, I hope that this helps us in our futures where we can remain friends and help each other in times of need. TEAM FIRST!

This week we are leaving for two away matches to continue our ACC play:

On Friday we play Boston College and on Sunday we play Maryland.

Thank you for all your support so far this season. It has been really helpful to all of us!

GO DUKE!

Yours in tennis,

Monica Gorny and the rest of DWT

DWT on Spring Break in Arizona: Update 1

2011-03-09T21:06:00.000-08:00

Dear Wonderful Fans,

As you all know, we’re on our spring break in Arizona at the moment. We’ve been blessed with amazingly warm weather over the past few days and as a result, we have a few burnt faces on our team. In amongst practicing, the last couple of days have been really relaxing and a good break from the bustle of our really demanding lives at Duke. Here is a summary of what we have been up to...

On Monday, we started off with a good practice session that started us on the road to getting acclimatized to the conditions. It’s really dry here so the ball travels through the air a little faster. It definitely takes some getting used to. After practice, some girls went on a hike with Marc. I did not go so I don’t know the specific details but I did hear some entertaining stories. Firstly, the girls that went said that it was more of a mountain climbing experience than a hike. Liz’s scratched-up running shoes are proof enough. Despite the evidence that indicates how strenuous this hike was, apparently Mary was on a role and practically ran up and down the mountain. But, the person who was the most prominently spoken about after this expedition was our awesomely funny freshman- Hanna! We all know that cactuses are not something that one can just touch and I’m sure you’ll all agree that there is a clear difference between a cactus and a rock. Well, apparently dear Hanna tried to grab onto a cactus for support while climbing down the mountain. When asked what inspired her to do this, she simply said that it looked like a rock to her. A rock? A green, prickly rock? Thank goodness that she didn’t manage to grab hold of it or else things may have ended badly. This story has evolved over the past three days. Today, the consensus is that Hanna jumped on a cactus. I don’t know the real truth but I must say that the story is extremely entertaining. Go Han!

Yesterday, we went on a shopping expedition to an outlet mall five minutes away from our hotel. I’m sure all the girls will agree with me when I say that it was successful. We all walked out with multiple bags in our hands. Reka and Ellah were late coming out of the mall because apparently they got “lost” – in a circular mall with numerous signs indicating the exits. Or, they hadn’t had enough of their epic shopping spree. I’ll leave it to you to decide.

Today, we were treated to a movie— The Adjustment Bureau. It was a really good movie. But was even better (not everyone will agree with me on this one— especially not our coaches), was Reka’s commentating. “Oh my gosh, they like love each other…sigh…gasp…. giggle.” You didn’t have to be actually present at the movie to know what was going on.

As you can see, there is never a boring moment on this team. We have a wonderful bunch of girls that make the most of every opportunity to have fun while still keeping “the eyes on the prize.” Tomorrow we take on the Arizona State Sun Devils and on Friday we play California. The last few days of practice have definitely been good preparation for our tasks ahead and we’re ready to battle it out over the next two days.

GO DUKE!

Yours in tennis,

Monica Gorny and the rest of DWT

All the Way From Israel: Fiery Fahoum

2011-03-06T21:31:00.000-08:00

Dearest Wonderful Fans,

As I am writing this blog, we are on a plane to Phoenix, Arizona for our spring break trip. We are all so grateful that we’ll be in a wonderfully warm and sunny area so that we can shed our pasty selves and come back to campus in a week, flaunting flattering tans. In between exciting activities that I’m sure Jamie has planned for us, we will be further acclimatizing to outdoor conditions, ending the trip with two dual matches against Arizona State and California. Spring break is always one of the most fun trips of the season so we’re all very excited to see what the week holds in store for us.

In the last two blogs I introduced to you our two amazing freshmen— Big Ray and Han. In this blog, I’d like to introduce you to our third and final newcomer of this year— Nadine Fahoum (or purely Fahoum as she is known to us). In her few months at Duke, Israeli-born Fahoum has brought a diverse array of essential dimensions to this team. Tennis enthusiasts always say that the two most important characteristics that a tennis player needs in order to succeed are mental strength and heart. Fahoum is one of the most passionate players that I have ever come across. She is not only out there to play a good game of tennis and win, but she is also out there to play the game that she loves. No matter how insignificant a match may be, Fahoum’s heart is always in it. There is no doubt that everyone enjoys winning. But Fahoum also loves the fight and this is why it is such a pleasure to watch her out there.

An important thing to note about Fahoum is the fact that she is an international, transfer student. Not a lot of us can relate to this. I can assure you that this can make entering a closely-knit team such as ours a lot more challenging. However, from the first day that Fahoum set foot on Duke’s campus, one would think that she had always been a part of our team. Her spunk and fiery personality make her an outstanding teammate, and above all, an amazing friend. Whether one needs advice or just someone to talk to, Fahoum will stop what she’s doing and direct her full attention to you. Additionally, she is someone that you can trust with anything. I know that she has earned our respect for her ability to mediate any conflicts without betraying any trusts.

Evidently, Fahoum can be a mature and serious person when that is what is required. However, she can be a total goof as well. One thing that Fahoum will never live down within our team is her denial of the fact that she has an Israeli accent. Try and tell her that, and she’ll deny it with a heavily accented “Don’t tok tu me.” I cannot describe to you how entertaining this is. Additionally, Fahoum has an “interesting” music taste. On our team, it is often described as flat out atrocious. Personally, I do like some of the songs that Fahoum likes, with the emphasis on “some.” But generally, her music cannot be described as our team’s “songs of choice.” Before a practice about two weeks ago, Fahoum sent out a mass text saying that she had a really good, new playlist to play during our practice. We all were really excited, because seldomly does anyone create a playlist for the sole purpose of practicing to it. As practice began, so did the first songs. By the fifth song we had all had enough. Not only had none of us heard these songs before, but also some of them were not even in English. These instances of Fahoum’s international flavor and humor bring us so many laughs and we all love her for it.

GO FAHOUM!

As mentioned above, we are playing Arizona State and California this week. This blog has been updated weekly so far, but because it is our spring break trip, I will try to keep you all updated on a more frequent basis so please follow us on the blog site: http://duketennis.blogspot.com/ or on the Facebook Duke Tennis page.

Go Duke!

Yours in Tennis,

Monica Gorny and the rest of DWT.

Hands + Hard Work + Humor = Hanna

2011-02-27T19:43:00.000-08:00

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…

2011-02-15T18:07:00.000-08:00

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

2011-02-11T19:43:00.000-08:00

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

2011-02-11T09:56:00.000-08:00

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

Hills Family Trip - Hawaii Day 3

2011-01-07T18:04:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone,

Day 3 of Hawaii is in the books and it was another incredible day. After an early wake up we headed to our amazing hotel breakfast as I'm sure everyone watched on Jared's video yesterday. Before we knew it we were back on the courts for our first practice and we got some good singles work in. Practices are improving daily, along with overall team intensity. I can tell my teammates sense how close our first match is and the importance of starting off on the right foot.

After morning practice we went for lunch at a local sandwich shop and relaxed for around and hour. We then proceeded to our second practice which primarily focused on doubles. During breaks it can sometimes be hard to get solid doubles practices in so everyone was happy to put in the extra work. Not to mention doubles drills are some of the most fun (especially when they end with butts up as you will see in the video). After the second practice we had a couple hours of free time and most of the guys headed down to the beach. A couple of us stayed behind to lift some weights to make sure we were looking our best at the beach (suns out guns out as Coach P likes to say), and one or two took naps.

The beach was a blast as usual. Today we brought a tennis ball out and were playing the game 500. The rules are fairly simple with a designated thrower that calls out a number when he throws the ball in the air, if someone from the group catches the ball he gets the points, and if someone gets to 500 they become the thrower. Luckily everyone came out injury free! After a good hour and a half of hanging and playing around in the ocean we went back to the hotel to get ready for dinner. Tonight we went to Duke's which was a fantastic restaurant with and even better view. It was half inside and half outside overlooking the ocean. Additionally, they had some great live local music.

Possibly the most noteworthy event of the day was the arrival of Cunha. After nearly 24 hrs straight of flying he finally made it to the hotel. He looked pretty tired as expected and promptly headed to the shower before having a quick bite to eat. That pretty much sums up day 3 of our trip, I hope you guys are enjoying our little recaps and the videos we've been making. Finally, I just wanted to let you guys know that I'm not the most technologically inclined person and my video didn't quite turn out as I had hoped but you should still be able to see some fun and interesting clips.

-Reid

Hills Family Trip - Hawaii Day 2

2011-01-07T18:02:00.000-08:00

Aloha everyone,

Day 2 in Hawaii! Waking up to another 82 degrees and all sun, another day in paradise. We started off the day going to an amazing buffet breakfast with some of the best tasting fruits we’ve ever had. After eating a good amount of food, we all loaded up the vans and headed to the courts for a practice with the Louisville tennis team. It was a good way to really get into the match mode mentality and get the competitive juices flowing. After a set of doubles and a couple sets of singles, our day became even more exciting. We headed to the North Shore of the island where some of the biggest waves in the world are. A surfing competition was taking place so we watched that for a while and then decided to test the unknown waters ourselves. We made it in to about our knees until everyone was on their back falling into the water. The ocean kicked my butt today stealing my sunglasses and necklace, so mad!! After some tackling in the sand, some competitions of who would be the last knocked down in the water, and staring at some cute girls, we headed back to the hotel through a beautiful scenic route with mountains, crazy trees, and the ocean on our side the whole time. We had some good chicken and burgers for dinner, and are all so exhausted from the action packed day. Keep everyone updated, more to come about tomorrow!

-Jared Pinsky

Hills Family Trip - Hawaii Day 1

2011-01-07T17:59:00.000-08:00

First of all I would like to thank the Hills family very much for this trip. It is the first time the whole Duke Tennis guys and girls teams are travelling together, and it is the first time we have had a chance to have such a great time in preparation for the spring season. Hawaii has been an absolute paradise so far, and we have only been here for one day.

Today was our first official practice day. We started the day with an awesome breakfast with a lot of fruits and a few new local dishes. Everybody was starving, probably because by then it was 1PM in Duke’s time zone. We headed straight from breakfast to practice where we hit for around an hour and a half. The weather is awesome to play and most of our players were playing shirtless exhibiting their muscles, specially our muscle monster Jared Pinsky (NOT). The courts are pretty slow and the ball bounces pretty high, very different from the indoor courts we are used to playing on this time of the year in the East Coast. So it was great that we got here early in the week to adapt.

After the morning practice we split the team in two groups to get lunch, some went to Subway and the others went to a local sandwich chain next door, which supposedly was amazing (of course I was in the Subway group). After lunch we headed back to the courts for our second practice where we played a few points to start getting into the dual match state of mind.

This afternoon after practice we had free time to do whatever we wanted. We divided in a few groups but most of us ended up going to the beach and the swimming pool to work on our tan and try and get into the Hawaiian lifestyle. At 6:15 we met up in the lobby to eat dinner in the Lu Lu’s restaurant.

Being from Brazil it was great playing tennis in the warm weather again and getting my Brazilian color back. It is a little weird to walk around and listen to everybody speaking English since I am so used to going to the beach only in Brazil, where everybody speaks only Portuguese. Also it is the first time I got to chill in the beach with my teammates, which was also great.

I hope this blog shows you guys a little bit of the insights of our amazing trip. It would be great if you guys could be here to enjoy these moments with us. This is all for today,

Alain Michel

DWT travels to Virginia

2010-04-07T08:47:00.000-07:00

Hello all!!! In light of the frenzy that hits Duke after winning a national championship in basketball, we've all been shell-shocked with excitement, which is my (very-legitimate) excuse for this delayed post...so, before I go on, I would just like to say: YES!!!! 2010 NATIONAL CHAMPS!! Ok, done now, and on to tennis.

This past weekened, we traveled to Virginia to take on Virginia Tech, and UVA. Our first stop was Blacksburg, Virginia, where we were scheduled to take on the Hokies. Playing in Blacksburg is always an adventure...often a slightly unpleasant one. Playing beneath a large empty field with an abundance of cows often causes the courts to be excessively windy...and smelly. However, we all dealt with the situation, and tried our best to adjust. We won the doubles point by a hair, with Ellah and Jess clinching it for us, and then took to the courts in singles. Ellah and I managed to win our second sets decisively, after having close first sets. Monica and Mary had no such issues, as they were on and off the court in about 5 seconds! Liz grinded it our with her very LOUD opponent, and came away with a straight set win. Jess ran into some trouble, as the girl she played decided to become Federer for a day, and lost her match in two tough sets...So, final score against V-Tech: 6-1...go DWT!!

Next up for us was UVA, and we all secretly like going there, in part because the campus is PRETTY, and there is a truly amazing frozen yogurt place that we always invade. It's also a very good tennis atmosphere, since a lot of fans came out, and the UVA girls are always intense. To start, we took the doubles point yet again, but this time it was Ellah and Amanda with the crucial clinch. 1-0 Duke!!

For singles, the situation got a little bit interesting...first off the court were Mary and Monica once again...However, Monica had lost her match, while Mary had won, which brought the team score to 2-1 for Duke. A while later, Ellah lost a tough 3-set slugfest to UVA's #1 player, bringing the team score to 2-2. Meanwhile, I had won my first set, and managed to have (and lose) a matchpoint, so I had just started my first set. Amanda was also at the start of her third set as well...so it was up to Liz to close her match out, and that she did, winning her clutch match 7-5, 7-6. Such a good win!!!

Soon after, Amanda came away with the clinch, winning her third set 6-4 a few minutes before I won my third set by the same score. Thus, final score: 5-2. GO DUKE!!!!

Trip to Virginia was deemed a great success!

Till next time,

-Reka

Wrapping up the weekend...

2010-02-22T09:13:00.000-08:00

Hi Duke Tennis Fans!

I hope everyone enjoyed the gorgeous weather and had a great weekend! The women's team rebounded from a tough loss to UNC at National Indoors with wins against #7 Michigan on Saturday and Furman on Sunday. Despite taking a little bit of time to adjust to playing outside (as we hadn't hit any tennis balls outside since October), we were able to adapt pretty quickly and it felt incredible to play outside!

We started off Saturday losing the doubles point to Michigan, which was a disappointment. It was one of those days where you just have to go with the flow and work through the kinks. Luckily, we had a short-term memory with doubles and came out fired up to play our singles matches. I'm really proud of how the girls rebounded, and like Jamie says, we proved that we can we can win 4, 5, and 6 singles matches against even the toughest teams in the country! It definitely gave us a boost and helped us going into our match against Furman on Sunday. Furman was a tough team, as a lot of the girls have unconventional strokes and are really scrappy. This can easily throw people off their game, but we were able to stay focused and get the job done quickly. We won 7-0 and are now enjoying a much needed day off today!

Here's a little hint of what we typically do on our day off: WORK! The life of a college student-athlete is consumed by sports and academics. When we aren't playing our sport, we are doing school work... and vice versa. Today, I'll be spending some quality time at Mad Hatters (my favorite place to study), will run errands at Target, go to class, and hopefully watch the Bachelor with my girlfriends tonight :) We all take full advantage of these days off to catch up on all the things that we need to and also rest our bodies.

Looking forward to our first ACC match against NC State on Thursday afternoon at 4pm and then traveling to Gainesville to play Florida on Sunday. Both should be battles!

GO DUKE!

-Amanda Granson

Long Overdue Men's Update

2010-02-10T09:33:00.001-08:00

Hopefully this posting will mark the end of the drought of postings from the men’s team, and a beginning of a steady and thoughtful series of posts throughout the rest of the season (and some pictures and videos as well).

Forgive the lack of flare in this initial posting, but I feel that I must provide a little factual background since this is the first DMT post in quite a long time.

This past Friday, the Duke Men’s Tennis (DMT) took on #12 Illinois, followed by a double header against Notre Dame and NCCU on Sunday. The Illinois match was packed with people, and we owe all supporters a debt of gratitude for coming out. It was disappointing that we came up short, but it was an awesome atmosphere and one I will remember long after I take my leave of DMT after this year.

Contrastingly, Sunday was a great showing for us. We somehow pulled out the doubles point against Notre Dame (ND), and went on to roll them 7-0. We went on to unsurprisingly roll through NCCU, but more importantly, we did so quickly enough that I was able to catch the second half of the Super Bowl.

We now have a two week break before we play VCU on February 21^st (at VCU). This downtime is a product of our loss against Alabama in the 2^nd round of the ITA Kickoff Weekend (in really awesome, sub fifty degree weather). If we had won that match we would be traveling to play in the ITA National Indoors at UVA this coming weekend. It sucks, to be completely honest, but it’s not an end all and it’s only a minor setback with respect to the entire season. It’s a long season, and our biggest goals are lay at the end of the year.

The upside to this loss? We have time to get back to some hard training. In the spirit of this, we started today with a 6:30am conditioning workout. Stumbling out of the apartment with Aaron (aka “Carp”…we live together) at 6:05am into amidst near darkness is a hell of a way to start a Wednesday. But the feeling after finishing a tough early morning workout is really awesome, a high that that lasts for a couple hours (until your body starts yelling at you for not getting to sleep earlier enough in preparation for such an early rising).

This afternoon I think we are hoping to play some ultimate frisbee, but we’ll have to see whether this happens in light of the wind and cold (or maybe we’ll try it indoors). Personally I would lobby for touch football, but the chance for injury may be a little too high, and I don’t think the non-American members of the team are overly excited at this prospect (though they would do anything for us to play soccer instead).

Now that the ball is rolling on DMT postings, I’ll try and make sure that future postings give insight into more of the inner workings of DMT and not just what is posted on GoDuke.

Famous DMT quote: “It was already dead”.

- Explanation: Luke Marchese’s response to objections to his decision to euthanize an injured bee during a pre-practice huddle.

Best of luck to Duke Women’s Tennis (DWT) this coming weekend as they go to compete at the ITA National Indoor Championships!

Until next time…

- Dylan Arnould

Indiana

2010-02-07T07:31:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was a great day for women's tennis! We took down Indiana 7-0 and everyone played very solid matches. Doubles went well, as we're becoming more and more comfortable poaching and trying out new formations. This year has been awesome for our growth as doubles players. We have been placing a lot of emphasis on doubs in practice because it's such an important part of matches, and helps to set the tone for singles. I think I can speak for every single one of us in saying that we are all gaining confidence and are pumped to put our doubles skills to test next weekend at Indoor Nationals in Madison, Wisconsin.

The day might not have been as successful, had we not first had an INCREDIBLE breakfast at the Washington Duke. Normally our pre-match meal is at Nosh, but occasionally Jamie takes us to the WaDuke buffet, which is glorious. Yes, we realize that we are spoiled... but we couldn't be more thankful for it. All of us loaded up on eggs, english muffins, fruit, oatmeal, pancakes, and waffles. It was quite the feast, and we had to practically roll ourselves out of the hotel.

As a team that travels together, plays together, eats dinner together, goes to movies together, and studies together, we get to know each other's silly habits and practically become sisters. As we're getting to know our new freshmen more and more, we are starting to pick up on the little things that they do. Mary can't eat her bacon, eggs, or pancakes unless they are swimming in syrup. We've noticed that Monica is a bit clumsy, and yesterday she even broke her orange juice glass while we were eating at the WaDuke. Jess is our little snacker and the official 'athlete' on the team. She always has little bags of healthy nuts, fruits, or power bars on hand and can throw a tennis ball down the length of the center like a pro. We're so lucky to have them here at Duke. They have been incredible additions to the team!

Until next time!

-Amanda

On Our Way to Indoor Nationals!

2010-02-02T10:47:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone! It certainly has been a while since anyone has posted on this blog. The start of the new semester was hectic for everyone, but we've finally settled into the swing of things, and are excited to start keeping you all in the loop again with more frequent updates :)

I'm very happy to report that women's tennis came out with two wins this weekend to advance to the rd. of 16 of National Indoors in Madison, Wisconsin! Starting out on a very snowy Saturday afternoon with a match against Yale, we were both mentally and physically prepared to play after a tough week of practices. Knowing that Yale would have nothing to lose and would come out firing, we all showed great energy and played solid tennis. Winning all three doubles points, we entered into the singles play with confidence and ended up beating them 7-0.

The following morning we fueled up for our match against VCU with an amazing breakfast at Nosh! Most of us got the 'Mike's Slammer' which has a pancake (the size of a basketball), eggs, bacon, and potatoes. DELICIOUS! The pancakes were so good that we even went back for seconds (and added chocolate chips to the next batch :) We have a running joke on the team that Reka plays better when she eats chocolate, so we normally coerce her (and are met with little resistance) to order chocolate chip pancakes, chocolate chip muffins, or hot chocolate so that she gets her fill. Mission accomplished.

Fueled and ready to go, we headed over to play VCU. Doubles got off to a great start for Monica & Jess along with Liz & Reka. They made very quick work of their matches, while Ellah and I struggled a little more than we would have liked. Setting up the points correctly, but unable to execute the put-aways, we finally got into a groove and won our match 8-6. Up next, singles! Although Mary lost her match in a tough two-setter, both Liz and Monica picked up the first two singles wins for the team. With the score at 3-1, Reka, Ellah, and I were left battling it out on our courts to clinch the match. Ellah, having easily won the first set, had a tougher second set before winning the match in a tiebreaker. Although I lost my first set, I mentally restarted my match in the second set and was able to win the next two sets to propel the team to a 5-1 lead. Shortly after, Reka closed out her match, which she won 7-5, 6-4.

We are really pleased with how the matches went this weekend and are excited to travel to Madison two weekends from now! Before then, we have a match this coming Saturday at 11am vs. Indiana. Hope to see you all out there!

-Amanda Granson

GO DUKE!

Quick Update!

2009-11-06T19:45:00.000-08:00

Today was a great day for DWT! Reka won her back draw match up at the Indoor National tournament in New Haven, CT and we went 6-1 here at the Kitty Harris Invitational! Ellah and I started out the day winning our doubles match 8-3 vs. TCU. We followed up with two singles victories against our University of Florida opponents. Liz also played a girl from Florida, but came up short in a tough two setter. After a quick lunch break, we were back out on the court to match up against Georgia Tech. Liz had a very commanding victory against her opponent, while both Ellah and I battled back from down a set to win in three!

Tomorrow is another big day of tennis! Doubles starts at 9am and singles will follow at 1.

GO DUKE!

Fall Break in Tulsa, OK

2009-10-04T17:57:00.000-07:00

Hey there all, been quite some time...

I'm currently in Tulsa, OK, for the All-American Championships. I'll be playing the qualifying (which starts tomorrow), along with Henrique (our extremely good and only freshmen this year). In total there are three of us here, but Reid is in the main draw, which starts Wednesday. It's a rather quiet feeling so far, with only the three of us and Ramsey here, very unlike typical Duke Tennis trips, and perhaps less amusing as well (alas, some of our more colorful comrades are not present to provide often odd and intriguing entertainment and stories).

We got here Saturday, and it seems per usual this year, where Duke Tennis goes, rain follows. However, we did manage to practice outside yesterday and today, so it hasn't been continually raining, and it's supposed to be fine for the rest of the week (fingers crossed). And

Anyway, Henrique will start off the tournament for us when he plays his first round qualifying match at 10am. I will follow with my match at 12pm. I'll try and keep this somewhat frequent and brief, but before I sign off, a couple mundane facts to help frame our conditions here in Tulsa.

Hotel: Courtyard by Marriot...Maybe 10 minutes from the Tulsa courts.
Dinners so far: Te Amo Italiano (very good), Macarroni Grill.
Interesting Fact: Our rental car (Chevy Malibu, white) is covered in bird feces, a consequence of one evening parked underneath a tree outside the hotel.
Odd Moment: Playful sarcasm from the hotel receptionist when asking for a wake-up call last night.
Travel Inconveniences: Minimal

Thanks for reading all,

Dylan

starting off the year...

2009-09-30T19:21:00.000-07:00

This past weekend we had our first fall tournament of the season at Wake Forest! It was great to compete again with all the girls, and it was especially incredible to see Liz make her debut on the court for the first time in two years! She played really well, beat a ranked player, and has a lot of good things to build off of. Our new freshman, Monica (aka Mon Mon), also made her debut on the court with us and had a good tournament. She has been a great addition to the team and is extremely good natured. Both Ellah and Reka had a solid performance playing doubles together. The duo teamed up to get to the finals of the doubles draw, but lost a tough match to Illinois for first place.

Although it was such a good feeling to be out on the court competing again, my favorite part of the weekend was just being with the team. It didn't matter what we were doing...driving in the car, dinners, breakfasts at 7am, watching TV together at night, quoting our favorite youtube videos...we were always laughing and had permanent smiles on our faces. It reminded me how much fun we have together and just how much I've missed team trips with the girls!

We are all really looking forward to our next tournament, All Americans, out in California. Liz and Monica begin matches on Saturday in the pre-qualifying draw, I begin on Tuesday in the qualifying draw, and both Reka and Ellah will be starting play on Thursday in the main draw. Keep an eye out for results!!

Until next time, GO DUKE!

-Amanda

www.tennismd.com

2009-07-16T16:47:00.000-07:00

Hello All,

It has been awhile since our last blog has gone up. We are going to try to make this a more frequent thing with some one-liner tips, health suggestions, interesting things we see on the recruiting trail, etc. Anything to keep the mind going and hooked on tennis.

So anyways, I am up in CT running a few camps this summer and just met a very nice guy who started this company online. I immediately thought about all of you. Check it out...

www.tennismd.com

That's right...

www.tennismd.com

This is an unbelievable site for all ages and levels. Have you ever had something tweaked on court but it wasn't severe enough to go see the doctor for? It happens all of the time. Figure out what you did, how to treat it, what doc to see and on and on! So check this out...TennisMD is the answer for everyone.

Here is a little info about them:

"TennisMD is the most comprehensive online Tennis health community – 100% dedicated to injury prevention and treatment specifically for Tennis. Through insightful articles, expert-hosted videos and an ever-growing community of Tennis players like you sharing information, TennisMD helps educate, enlighten and empower Tennis with solution-focused content.

We have assembled the Tennis industry’s leading health and fitness experts – each sharing valuable, practical advice to keep you playing injury-free. Their overall experience translates to your overall wellness."

I suggest you bookmark it and use it wisely!

Have fun and stay healthy.

PS:They also have a sportsMD.com and also a golfersMD.com

#5 Duke vs. #7 Georgia Tech

2009-04-11T20:26:00.000-07:00

The Lady Blue Devils took the court today at noon playing against the Georgia Tech Yellow jackets. We started off with a clean sweep of the doubles with Reka and Ellah cruising to an 8-4 victory, followed by Jess and I. We won 8-2 Amanda and Melissa battled to take the final match winning in a tiebreaker. They won 87. We had our ten-minute break and quickly got ready to take the courts again. We knew that GT was going to come out firing in the singles so we knew we had to be prepared to stay out on the court as long as it was going to take. Finishing her match quickly, Melissa cruised to a 6-3, 6-2 playing beautifully to obtain her 100th match season victory! Congrats Melissa! So proud of you! Next was Reka to come off taking down her opponent 6-3, 6-0. Reka was so pumped and it was awesome to listen to her fire herself up after each point. So tough Reka! There were four matches left (me, Ellah, Amanda, and Jess) and they were all in third sets. I closed out my match winning 2-6, 6-2, 6-2. Awesome! We had officially beaten Georgia Tech! Shortly after, Amanda had retired from her match. It was Ellah and Jess left and they were both battling. Ellah lost 6-4, 3-6, 3-6, but she fought till the very end. She never gives up! Jess soon finished just barely losing as well. (3-6, 7-6, 3-6) Our last season match was finished, and we were victorious.
It is such an awesome feeling to finish our season on such a strong and positive note. I feel that we are definitely match tough and are ready to compete in ACC’s next weekend and NCAA’s shortly after. We are really fighting hard and are hungry to win. WE finished tied for 1st with University of Miami for the ACC Regular Season Champs, and have also been undefeated this season at home!! We have you, the fans, to thank for this. Ya’ll have been so amazing and have really helped pull us through in our tough matches. We are truly grateful and appreciate every single one of you for coming and supporting us. Again, ya’ll are awesome!!! Thank you!!
Today was also Senior Day ☹ This was Tara, Melissa, and Jess’s last season match. They were given beautiful flowers and a plaque. I have been truly honored and blessed to have gotten to know these three outstanding and unique ladies. I am sad that I have only gotten one semester with them, but I would take that over never getting to know them. Melissa and Jess have been awesome leaders through out this entire season and have been huge mentors for me. I will miss these girls terribly. I love you guys!!!
We start the ACC Tournament this Friday where we will be seeded 2. We are pumped and ready to play! It’s at the Cary Tennis Center if any of you would like to come out and watch. It will be a great weekend of tennis!
Until next time………. GO DUKE!!!!!!

Duke vs. Virginia Tech

2009-04-09T09:13:00.000-07:00

Immediately following our thoroughly dominating win against Virginia, we had a quick turnaround and played Virginia Tech the next day at noon. Following the routine for our early matches, we had a nice little team breakfast to start of our day, and then hit the court to tear up the Hokies. It was a nice change from our last few matches, since we were actually at HOME, had some amazing fans out, AND had a sunny day. Truly, a very rare combination for us in the last few months. The doubles started off well, with all of us winning the 3 matches; AND, we actually managed to play some solid doubles on all 3 courts...looks like all the doubles drilling is paying off!

Singles was equally solid, and almost everyone won their matches without losing a set, except for Ellah, who struggled a bit with a combination of wrist issues, and her opponent having an out-of-body experience, which is never pleasant. But overall, we won 5 out of 6 singles, and swept the doubles point. Not bad, for a busy weekend! It was especially important for us to get a quick win, since we've been spending SO much time on the courts, and this week will be no different, when we take on Clemson and Georgia Tech back to back to finish out our regular season.

GO DUKE!!

-Reka

2009-04-07T06:54:00.000-07:00

Home match: Virginia

2009-04-06T15:14:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone!

So we played our first home match, after a long time, on Saturday. Starting with doubles, the teams of Mang and Granson won 8-4, Robinson and Cecil won 8-3, and Zsilinszka (did I spell that right?) and Nze won 8-6. With the 1-0 lead, we were off to a good start. The girls played great singles against a gritty Virginia to close out the match 7-0. Some people won easily, while others toughed it out. Mallory crushed Emily Fraser at no.1 singles 6-1, 6-0. Reka and Ellah played long three-setters and triumphed in the end. Amanda, Melissa, and Jess all won in straight sets.

Overall, we were happy with our performance, and look forward to playing more home matches. After that, hello ACCs! We are all gearing up to play the remainder of our season, and prepare for the national championships. I feel (watching from the stands) that not much can stop the girls from doing as well as they want to in the NCAAs. As of now, we hope to go all the way! So stay tuned in, for exciting results will follow.

Till next time,
Tara

DWT v. UNC

2009-04-06T13:57:00.000-07:00

We traveled to UNC for our final away match for the spring. I am still out for the spring so I got to see most of the matches. The doubles matches were really close on all three courts and although we lost the doubles point I feel as though the girls played fairly well. We were all really excited to put the doubles matches behind us so we could get a fresh start on singles. The girls knew that we were all better in singles all down the line up so we didn't stress the doubles losses too much. We got a few games in until the matches were sent inside due to rain. Most of the courts got off to really good starts. I primarily watched Amanda, Melissa and Jess. Melissa had an overall pretty easy match besides the sketchy line calls. Amanda traded games with her opponent but fell short in the end. Jess on the other hand started off slow but dominated in the second and third sets. I did not watch much of mallory's or ellah's matches but mallory absolutely killed UNC's number one and ellah lost in a tough one against their number 2. This left the clinch up to Reka who entered a third set just as Jess finished her match. It was really exciting to watch Reka close it out. She got an early lead in the third and we knew she would be able to close it out when her opponent started cramping..thank god for Reka's long points.

Although the score was close at 4-3 I never felt as though UNC had a chance to win. I have so much confidence in my team because of their talent and the way they have been playing recently. I would rather be playing but I am really excited to see us play some of the tougher teams in a couple weeks!

UVA

2009-04-05T07:05:00.000-07:00

Well, we lost 4-3 to the undefeated, #1 ranked team in the country INDOORS. I guess we are supposed to be happy with that result. I mean, we were playing with an injured Carleton and without Wietoska and THE SCORE WAS 4-3 WITH THE #1 RANKED TEAM...INDOORS!!! I say INDOORS because UVA doesn't lose indoors.

Should we be happy? That's a tough question. A lot of teams would be happy with this result and there is no fault in that. We took the doubles point (DP) from a team that has lost only 1 previous DP all year. They arguably have the best DP in the country and we took it from them with two of our doubles players sitting. Needless to say, we played well with the make-shift teams that we put out there.

Overall, I think we realized how good we can be and how far we have come and it gave us a benchmark for where we need to go. We didn't know how close or how far we were from it. Now we know. We are getting closer but there is still a lot of work to be done.

So yes, I am happy about the match but I am not happy about the loss.

Some quick facts:

-We had wins over two of the top-ranked doubles teams in the country, #6 and #14.

-Dylan Arnould beat the #20 ranked player in the country in straight sets (highest ranked win in dual season play by a Duke player).

-David Holland stepped up and played his best match all year

-Best of all is that he didn't do anything special. He just realized that he was good enough and trusted himself.

Thanks for Reading!

Too Bad Terps

2009-03-31T06:42:00.000-07:00

We just completed our last weekend of traveling before ncaas- sooooooooooooo happy!!! I think we were getting a little sick of planes, airports, hotels, and emailing teachers about having to miss more of their classes. Despite these minor issues, we had a wonderful weekend of tennis! We played Maryland on Friday afternoon, and the weather was nice so we were all very glad to be playing outside. I think we had the fastest doubles match I have ever seen in my four years! Amanda and I had the longest match and our score was 8-1. So, needless to say, we had a lot of momentum going into singles. The courts were split up, and I played in between Amanda and Jess, so I did not see what happened with Mallory, Ellah, and Reka, but by the speed and scores of their matches, I assume they played pretty well. Combined, they only lost 9 games. On my left, Amanda made quick work of her opponent and had the support of her family and friends who were able to come watch. On my right, Jess, who also had her dad and aunt behind her, played a few close games in the first set but then pulled away in the second and finished the day up with a nice victory. My match went pretty smoothly and I won 6-1, 6-2.

I think it was important for us to go out there with a lot of intensity and drive to play like we know we can play, so that we have the confidence needed for the remainder of our season. We have some tough acc matches coming up, so this weekend was great for us to build off of. If anyone is reading this, please come support us this weekend and next weekend for our first acc home matches!!!

Until next time...

DWT! LET'S GO DUKE!

Down with the Terps

2009-03-30T08:35:00.000-07:00

Finally, a break in the weather gave us the chance to play at least part of a dual match on the outdoor courts of Ambler Tennis Stadium. We came in somewhat banged up for our last regular season home match of the year. Torsten is still nursing his knee injury, Kiril wasn’t able to play after falling on his wrist yesterday against Boston College, and Reid had to fight through an seriously aching back to get through doubles and singles.

We started off decently in the doubles, with a pretty unfamiliar set of teams at two and three, Reid and I being the only intact team from our previous matches. We started off well, with Reid and I getting off to a very good start, and Carp and Al also getting off to a quick start. But things started deteriorating rather quickly, with Al and Carp trying to stave off their Terrapin adversaries, and Holland and Pinsky having to pull through some tight games to finally clinch it and put us up 1-0 heading into singles.

Singles wasn’t all too simple an affair either. We had a couple fast starts with Reid and I taking quick first sets, but Maryland kept at us until the very end. I was able to put my match away before the rain forced us inside, but then a serious concern arose when Reid seemed to have even more seriously injured his back when he was up a set and 4-1. After getting some treatment from the trainer he toughed it out indoors to run off two more games for a 6-0, 6-2 victory, though not without a few grimaces of pain. We then dropped our first singles match, putting the score at 3-1 with three matches still on court. It got particularly tense when I looked at the scoreboard and we were losing on one of the courts of the three courts, and at the start of a third set on the other two…

Fortunately things worked out, but it wasn’t easy. Luke got yet another consecutive victory, and Holland gutted out a tight third setter to bring the overall score to 5-2. It was good that we got the win, but it didn’t come without some hiccups and few things we need to get better with. With UNC on our plate Tuesday, we’ll need to be all there in every possible way. But hey, we got the W, and at the end of the day, that’s what counts. You still learn when you win in spite of a sub-optimum performance, but it’s a lot less painful and less sleep inhibiting. But credit also goes to Maryland, as they gave us all we could handle and they deserve recognition for it. UNC, then UVA, then Virginia Tech…It’s going to be a long week ahead, but hopefully a very gratifying one as well. Thanks for reading, and thanks for all your support, we hope to have some great news to write about after this week.

Dylan Arnould

2009-03-26T15:17:00.001-07:00

I’ve spent the last two years losing to Wake Forest. My freshmen year we lost at home, and then last year we lost a 4-3 match at their facility (which only has five courts instead of six, don’t even get me started on that). Even so, this time was probably the worst start I’ve ever had against them as a team. We got flattened in doubles in what seemed like five minutes. They won 8-1, 8-3, and 8-4. They must have thought they were going to roll over us in no time at all.

Now fast forward about an hour and a half, and Duke has already clinched the match with Luke’s last point, only right after Reid just served out his match. It was one of the fastest dual matches of the year for us (even though it did end 4-3). What happened? Why after thirty minutes into the singles matches was Wake suddenly scrambling to regain even a whisper of the momentum that they had a stranglehold on just a half hour before?

I’m going to hold off on the details of all that transpired, but I’ll just say that the way we came out of the locker room was something that Wake had never seen from us before, and I’m not even sure we’d seen it yet this year from ourselves. It was quick, it was fun, and it was damn gratifying to finally be able to send the Demon Deacons packing, hopefully not for the last time.

Luke "Ron Burgundy" Marchese

2009-03-26T15:02:00.000-07:00

Yesterday the Duke men’s tennis team earned undoubtedly its most satisfying victory of the season. Coming off two hard fought ACC losses in our own house, it was quite clear that the outcome of this match would depend on sheer will. And after the doubles point, it appeared as if our ACC woes would continue. We were absolutely outhustled and outplayed for the point, leaving the entire team feeling lost and dejected going into the intermission. But an inspirational locker room meeting led by some of our seasoned veterans was all it took to fuel our most inspired performance of the season. And an hour and forty minutes later, the win was clinched. In the words of the great Herb Nebauer, “A.D.V... Another Duke Victory.” Now we are looking forward to these weekend’s home contests against Boston College and Maryland.

Stay Classy Duke Fans,

Luke

Coach's Corner - Wake Forest

2009-03-26T07:09:00.001-07:00

Hello All,

First off, sorry for not having any blogs posted as of late. There should be quite a few coming around in the next couple of days.

Wake Forest- For any of you that were there, that was by far our worst doubles of the year. It was horrible, flat, lack-luster, heartless, gutless, and many more adjectives that I cannot express in this PG-rated blog. So what do you do as a coach at that point to get your team back on track?

Well, before going into the locker room to meet with the guys prior to singles, Ramsey (fuming with smoke coming out of his ears) came over to me.

He asked, "So how do we deal with this?"

My answer wasn't exactly how but more what we needed to see from the guys, "We need to have the guys get behind one another right now. They need to do this for themselves but more importantly for each other. There needs to be a reason to win this match."

He responded, "Good. I agree. I only have one thing to say and them I'm out of there."

Ramsey and I proceeded to walk into the locker room and saw the boys with their heads in their hands with an expectant look that they were going to be "lit up". After about a minute of silence, Ramsey, KJ and I spoke only a few words and then left. Whether it was the message or how concise it was (who knows? maybe both) the boys rallied behind each other. They decided to take it upon themselves to win the match. They came out of the locker room with the eyes of inspired warriors, all 10 of them.

When I saw them, I told KJ that we were going to be just fine. Ramsey and I chose not to go on the courts until the latter parts of the first sets. We wanted the boys to win it on their own to show them that it is all about them and how they prepare mentally for these matches. The best part of it all was that it wasn't only won by the guys on the courts, it was won by all 10 of them.

Luke said it best about Carp and the boys upstairs, "You gave me an edge that was huge. I felt like it was 2 on 1. It was the first time in my tennis career that I felt that unconditional support that I came to college for."

So all in all, the team made a huge jump yesterday. Not in the level of their games, but as a team and that's what wins championships. It was great to see and so much fun to be a part of.

Thanks for all of the support.

Miami

2009-03-24T20:47:00.000-07:00

Sunday was a hard fought day for the Lady Blue Devils. Under the scorching noon sun we began our battle against the Miami Hurricanes. Jess and I started off slow in our doubles match and were too far down when we began our hard fought comeback. We lost 8-5. Whose match went fairly similar to ours and next to finish was Melissa and Amanda losing 8-4. Reka and Ellah pulled their match out with an 8-6 victory, but unfortunately we had already lost the doubles point. We take our ten minute break to reapply sunscreen and get pumped up for singles. We have been down 1-0 before going into singles and have been victorious in the end. We know that we are going to have to deal with more than just the sun and wind today. Miami has very obnoxious fans who really get into the matches. We are all mentally prepared for any distractions that might come our way and know that we just need to focus on what we can control in our matches. (attitude, fight, composure, etc) Well, I am not proud to say that I was the first one off the court losing 6-3, 6-3 to fellow junior competitor, Julia Cohen. Not one of my finer and entertaining matches. Though soon after Jess came off the court with a beautiful 6-1, 6-3 victory over the girl who had defeated her in the deciding match last year. Way to be mentally tough Jess!!! Next off was Melissa who played aggressive to come up with a 6-3, 6-4 win to tie the score at 2-2. Our last three matches are close with Ellah, Amanda, and Reka. Ellah had a tough match, but fought till the end, before barely losing 7-6, 6-4. Her opponent was very obnoxious and fed off the crowd for her intensity. Ok, so now we are down 2-3 with 2 matches left to go. Amanda had won a hard fought first set 6-4 after coming back from being 3-0 down. Though she lost the second set 6-0, the third set was a battle. Amanda fought till the very end but fell just short of the winners circle losing the thrid set 7-5. That had been the deciding match. Duke had lost 4-2 to Miami, but Reka was still battling it out on her court. After winning her first set 6-4, she lost her second fairly quickly 6-1. We weren't worried though because we all know that Reka will stay out on the court all day if that's what it takes for her to win. She played her heart out but was defeated 7-6 (7-5) in the deciding set tiebreaker. 5-2 Hurricanes. :( It was a very disappointing and unsatisfying day for us, but we learned from our matches and know what we need to improve to gain revenge at our next Hurricane encounter. We are headed off to play NC State on Wednesday, where we are fired up to continue our ACC matches!!! We have quite a stretch of matches to come, but we are hungry to win and are ready to put our losses behind us.

Let's go Duke!!!!!

Mal

Let the ACC matches BEGIN: Florida State

2009-03-20T19:59:00.000-07:00

Aaaaaannnd here we go: the crazy schedule has officially begun. ACC season has started. To kick it all off, we travelled to Florida, namely Tallahassee, to take on the Florida State Seminoles. This time of year is never easy...the classes missed start to rack up, and the grumblings of unhappy professors do not help the stress levels, but, for those few crucial hours of our matches, we can put academics aside, and focus JUST on tennis. Today, our match was scheduled for 4 PM, even though it said 3 PM on our schedule for some reason (JAMIE!!!), which meant a looong day. After a hefty breakfast as usual for me (I will spare the description of the epic amount of food consumed) we hit the courts at 10:45 for a short warm-up, so we wouldn't be sitting around all day. Then we paid a visit to our favorite ever-present sandwich shop, Jimmy John's, whose reliable sandwiches we simply cannot have enough of... although lately, Jersey Mike has been giving Jimmy a run for his money in terms of team popularity...

After lunch, we went back to the court for our ACTUAL warm-up, which was actually quite uneventful, and went smoothly as usual. And THEN the matches began. Florida State is historically always a tough team, and is one of those awful places to play; the crowd jeers and screams, and most of the players get super-pumped and start yelling all sorts of strange things into your face. Thus, it was very helpful when we won the doubles point, with our clutch duos of Jess/Mal and Melis/Amanda emerging victorious to clinch our doubles. Elz and I had a little mini-comeback but ended up not winning in the end, but at least made them SWEAT REALLY REALLY hard to beat us. So, overall, we went into the singles on a good note.

The singles was hard-fought on each court, and we ended victoriously on most courts...Amanda was an absolute beast, beating her opponent in approximately 7 seconds, and putting us ahead 2-0 in the match. Jess was next to finish, losing a tough match to a strong opponent. I didn't get to see any of her match, but in the one point I saw, Jess smacked an overhead winner, which was ridiculously huge, and inspired me to win the next game in my own match, which made me the 3rd match to finish. I was SO happy to win because my opponent had this whole CROWD watching her, and they literally bellowed every time she won a point...which was fine, until they started screaming for my double faults, which I thought was a little much. Ellah, my roomate/doubles partner/fellow sophomore was the clincher, beating her French freshman in straight sets, and improving her spring record to an UNDEFEATED 12-0. Get it girl, get it get it girlll!! The last two matches to finish were Melis (in straight) and Mal (in three sets), who both had annoyingly streaky opponents, making it difficult to get a rhythm, but they both pulled it out, to give us on overall 6-1 win. Not a bad way to start out the ACC matches!

Till next time...LET'S GO DUKE!!!

-Reka

Notre Dame

2009-03-16T08:07:00.001-07:00

Thursday was a tough day for Duke Women's Tennis. We lost to Notre Dame 5-2. Prior to this we had only one loss this season to Northwestern at the National Indoors. We had been doing extremely well and quickly rising to the number three national ranking, the highest ranking our team has achieved for quite some time. Presently, we are on spring break and have been practicing all week for this match up against the Irish, who are right behind us as the number four ranked team. I felt our team was intense during our practices and was ready to compete. We focused intensely on doubles drills because capturing the doubles point in a dual match is crucial to the momentum needed for the singles matches. Fortunately, we were able to win the doubles point. Jess and Mal played great and won their match at #2 , scoring 8-5, before Reka and I clinched it with a score of 8-6 at #3. Singles, however, was not as successful as doubles; we lost five of our six singles matches. I was first off the court winning my match 6-2, 6-2. I felt I played well and was relieved to be off the court quickly. After I got off the court, I was able to watch and cheer for my teammates, who collectively were in close matches on every court. Even though our team did not come out on top, everyone fought until the last point and gave it their best effort. I think in this situation, we just have to give Notre Dame credit because after losing the doubles point, they were fired up and simply outplayed us. Although we were all very disappointed with the loss, it is not the end for our team. We are a resilient group of players and will be back on the road this coming Thursday, traveling back to Florida to begin ACC matches against Florida State and University of Miami. Upon completion of this Thursday's matches, everyone got a little break: some going home, others visiting Disney to relax and enjoy the remainder of spring break. Today we return to the court to begin practice and rebound from our upset. A couple of days of rest, practice and fine tuning a few areas in our game, will provide us with the energy and tools needed to compete this weekend. Thanks for reading about our spring break competition.

Revenge!!

2009-02-28T20:57:00.000-08:00

WE BEAT NORTHWESTERN!!!!!! Traveling up to Chicago to play the #1 team in the country, we knew that this was our shot to redeem ourselves from National Indoors and we did! It was probably one of the most exciting matches that I have ever been apart of.

We started off by losing a hard fought doubles point. Although Reka and Ellah crushed their opponents at the #3 spot, both Melissa and me, along with Jess and Mallory, had a tougher time of it and lost our matches 8-6. Despite this early setback, none of us were discouraged. We know that we are a tough group to face in singles, and went out after the break very fired up.

Taking the lead in most of the singles matches from the very beginning, we started off well and took 4 of the 6 first sets down the line up. Ellah and Reka effortlessly cruised through their first sets while Melissa and Mallory battled it out and also came out on top. Both Jess and I lost our first sets, but did not let this get us down.

Melissa ended up finishing first with a very convincing 6-2 score in her second set. Jess and I ended up finishing only seconds after each other, but unfortunately we were not victorious. Down 3-1, it was up to the final three players, Reka, Ellah, and Mallory to finish out the match. Quickly after Jess and I finished, Reka won her match to put the score at 3-2. Both Mal and Ellah lost their second sets, but battled it out for their third sets and came out on top! They finished only a minute apart with Mallory winning her third set 7-5 and Ellah winning her third set 7-6. We went nuts!!! Those of us on the sidelines were screaming so loud that we definitely rivaled the 100 spectators in the crowd. It was an incredible feeling to beat this team and I am so proud of how everyone played and competed today. There was a lot of heart shown from all the girls. This win proves that we have what it takes to be #1 in the country!

To celebrate, Jamie took us to Ruth Chris Steakhouse! I speak for the entire time team in saying that it was one of the best meals that we have ever had. The steaks were INCREDIBLE and all of us left the restaurant with full stomachs :)

YEAH DUKE!!!!

Until next time....

-Amanda

Texas A&M

2009-02-22T14:41:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone!

Yesterday we played Texas A&M. The day started with a team breakfast at Nash's. Reka again unsurprised everyone by consuming three giant chocolate pancakes with syrup and butter, and what she called a soup bowl of hot chocolate! So our day was off to an auspicious start.

We were especially pumped becuase it was senior Jess's birthday yesterday. We love Jess and were excited to celebrate with her. As we always do, we spent quality time in the locker room before beginning practice. I sneaked in some knee rehab as I had arthroscopy and a lateral release about 10 days ago. It was also Family Day yesterday and we eagerly anticipated a large crowd. And you guys came :)! As did our favorite Blue Devil mascot. He pranced around, lifting our spirits even higher. So, the match began.

Melissa and Amanda, at No. 1 doubles, played great tennis to crush their opponents 8-3. Our No. 2 and No.3 doubles were a little more dicey. Jess and Mallory came back from from the dead to take the match 9-8, and 7-0 in the tiebreak. Reka and Ellah battled hard to win 8-6 and came up with some gutsy shots in tight situations. Duke = 1, Texam A&M = 0.

Watching from the stands, I was impressed by the way our team handled the singles. One by one, the Duke girls dismantled their opponents and didn't give them a chance. Melissa's mesmerizing forehand, Reka's revitalizing volleys (!!), Mallory's menacing backhand, Ellah's elegant footwork, Amanda's amazing second serve, and Jess's gentle hands (at the net) were all a treat to watch! We won 6-1!

This was a great win since Texas A&M is very good, and the girls still shutout their opponents in a focused, determined way. Helped by our fans... and our very own ubiquitous Crazy Towel Guy. When we returned to the locker room, tired but happy, we found two boxes of chocolate and buttercream cupcakes made by our assistant coach, Kelly. She had made them for Jess's birthday, but obviously we felt the need to help Jess out ;)! They were absolutely delicious. Thanks Kelly!

We hope that you enjoyed the match yesterday. Thank you all for coming, and for supporting us.

Cheers,
Tara

Lighting that FIRE!!

2009-02-18T17:17:00.001-08:00

So our trip to National Indoors was pretty successful. We had some ups and downs but we learned a lot and really came together as a team. We had an easy win over Wisconsin 7-0 which was a great start. The courts were really fast, so it took some adjustments from everyone, (some struggled more than others (me)), but after that match we were really fired up for our chance to take on the #1 team in the nation- Northwestern. We got down pretty quick in doubles which was unlike us, but we did a great job of evening things out in the first few singles matches. Everyone battled really hard and before I knew it, I was starting my third set and the score was tied at 3-3. It didn't end well. I lost 7-5 in the third but my team was very supportive and understanding. We were determined to come out the next day with fire and purpose and we took down #4 Baylor, with Ellah closing out a tough third set to give us the W.

The trip really made us believe that we are one of the best teams in the nation and that we can take down anyone. I just can't wait until two weeks from now when we get another shot at Northwestern. Losing a close match like that gives you a certain toughness and desire to win that you can't get anywhere else. I am so confident in my team and hopefully they will be confident in me if I ever get the opportunity again to close out a match for us. Stay tuned because we this team this season is going all the way!!!

Be back soon...

Melissa

Shutout #2 (7-0)

2009-02-08T18:16:00.000-08:00

Today at 12 o'clock we took the court to begin our doubles matches against Princeton University. We knew that this was not going to be an easy match and that we needed to be on fire from the very beginning. Ellah and Reka cruised through their match with an 8-0 victory in about half an hour. Next to finish was me and Jess, winning 8-1. Then, we walked over and got to watch Amanda and Melissa take down Princeton's number 1 team. They played extrememly solid and their volleys are a thing of beauty to watch. They compliment each other's games very well on the court.

We are now up to a 1-0 lead and we get our ten minute break between singles and doubles. We all go to the locker room to refuel and refocused for our upcoming singles matches. We knew that these singles matches were going to be no easy task. Jamie's quote for the day was, "Opportunity is disguised as hard work, which is why it is usually missed." (something like that) Our goal was to not let them have a chance to gain momentum. We had done exceptionally well with that in the doubles and we were determined to carry that over into our singles. We walked onto the court and did our usual chant and were fired up and ready to play!

First to finish was Melissa winning 61 60. Everytime I looked over she was either hitting a beutiful putaway volley or a big groundstroke winner. She was on fire! I finished next with a 62 61 win. My main focus was just to have big targets and really pull her off the court in order to work my way into the net. I was happy with how I played and was excited to watch my others teammates successfully close out their matches.

Jess's match was more of a mental match today. She breezed through her match winning 61 62, but this was no easy feat. The girl she was playing, Blakely Ashley, had been a long time opponent of Jess. They were from the same section and had played one another a lot through out juniors. There is a certain personal pressure that is added when you are faced in one of these situation. Jess handled it beautifully though. Those matches are more self-rewarding than playing someone you know nothing about. Proud of you Jess!

Reka closed out her match with a 64 60 victory. The points that I was watching in her first set seemed to be a battle. The girl was hanging right there with her and was not giving her many free points. However, once Reka captured that first set it was smooth sailing from there. The girl lost her aggressiveness and started going for too much. Reka breezed through the next set fairly quickly.

The last two matches left were Ellah and Amanda. These both went into third set tiebreakers and were very entertaining to watch. Ellah had lost the first set 61. The girl she was playing was just not missing and hitting a lot of winners. However, Ellah didn't panic and just fought her way back quickly to win the second set 61. From there it was all downhill. She cruised through the tiebraker winning it 10 1.

Amanda was the last one left. She had won the first set 64 and fought hard through the second just barely losing it 63. On to another tiebreaker. It was extremely close all the way through and the crowd was really getting into it. Amanda and her opponent were fighting for every ball and going for all their shots. It was quite thrilling to watch, and was so sweet when Amanda closed it out winning the breaker 13-11. That was close!

That completed our 7-0 victory over Princeton!

Those who do not know I am the new "freshy" on the team since just arriving this January. I cannot express how blessed I feel to be able to play and compete with these awesome girls. They have fight and are hungry to win. Every time we step out on the court we go with a purpose. I am honored to be apart of this team and represent Duke. We enjoy what we do, and we hope all of you enjoy watching. Thanks for all of your support. It really means a lot to us.
Until next time.......

Mallory Cecil

Shutout...7-0

2009-02-07T12:10:00.000-08:00

Yesterday afternoon we played Indiana University. I remember travelling to Bloomington last year and having a tough match against them. Last year, we beat them 6-1 but I recall the scores being close across all courts. Yesterday was different. Before every home match, Jamie writes a quote on the board in the locker room for everyone to read. The quote is the first message we see as we walk into the room. Yesterday's message was, "If you don't make things happen, things will happen to you." When discussing this quote, Jamie stressed the importance of each player being aggressive from the first point and gaining the momentum early on in the match. His words definitely stuck because we were back in the locker room within 30 minutes discussing tactics for singles! Jess and Mallory dominated on court 2, winning 8-0. Reka and I finished within minutes of them on court 3 with a score of 8-1, to clinch the doubles point. Melissa and Amanda were on the court a little bit longer, eventually pulling through 8-3. They played the same team last year and went to a tiebreak, but yesterday they wasted no time getting an early lead and holding on to it.

Singles for the most part was not much different from the doubles. While I was trying to focus on my match, every time I looked up at the scoreboard everyone was in command of their first set. One person in particular, Jess, was steam rolling through her match. When I sat down on the bench at 2-1, I looked up and saw she was already up 4-0!!! With that said, she was the first one off the court coming away with a 6-1, 6-0 victory. I finished shortly after her, winning 6-1, 6-1. My opponent was a decent player and had not yet lost a match this season. Thus, I went on the court taking Jamie's advice, and made things happen. I felt I played aggressively from the start, which carried over through the entire match. I was happy with the way I played and to be off the court quickly. As soon as I finished, I wasn't surprised to see Reka up 6-1, 5-0. She has a knack for frustrating players with her style of play, and most players are dumb founded after the first few games, giving up easily. Hey, no complaints here!! A win is a win.

Mallory had a close one on the court next to me, but the combination of some good defensive skills and big forehands on decisive points proved to be too much for her opponent and she won 6-4. Taking the momentum from the first set, she held on to her lead and won the second set 6-3. Melissa and Amanda were in control their first sets, but had close second sets which is to be expected. Usually when you win the first set decisively, your opponent changes their game plan to fight back. But in the end, both of them demonstrated why they are a part of the 9th ranked team and closed out their respective matches in two sets. Overall, everyone was happy to have won all their matches and have an early night. We play Princeton tomorrow at 12pm. Thanks to everyone for their continuous support. GO DUKE!!

Dylan Arnould- ITA Indoor wrap-up

2009-02-02T07:52:00.000-08:00

2:00pm. That was the original start time for our match Sunday against Penn State, after coming off our rough loss to Florida State on Saturday. 3:00pm is when we actually started, and 7:35pm was our scheduled flight out of State College Airport. Damn Oklahoma State was being a pest and fighting back against FSU and keeping us from starting our match in the four court Penn State facility (which Ramsey plans to complain to the ITA about…I mean, four courts for a dual match in a national tournament?). Anyway, all was well because we managed to clinch a 4-0 victory by about 5:45p, leaving ample time for us to shower and get to the airport in time for our flight (which is good since there are only like 3 flights a day in and out of the State College Airport and ours was the last one of the day).

As for the match, well, I’ll go so far as to offer some picture of what happened. In doubles, Kiril and Al played another solid match and knocked off the number one Penn State team, despite one of their opponents’ persistent grunts about the lucky and fluky shots that Al and Kiril kept hitting, which in actuality were probably pretty typical shots for them. At number two Reid and I played arguably our best match of the season, cleaning up 8-3, including a bizarre shank overhead that I was incredibly lucky to make on break point against us (especially since it came after 2 or 3 complete duff volleys in a row). Torsten and Holland were down 7-2 but fought back the 7-6 when the match was then stopped since we had clinched the doubles point 2-0 (in this tournament format they were stopping all doubles play once the point was decided).

Singles wise, it was a good day. Kiril played awesome at line two even though he was sick the whole weekend. Reid won two pretty close sets to knock off his big serving but erratic opponent, who was quite entertaining to watch with his bizarre attitude and colorful reactions to any good shots Reid hit (as if Reid should not be allowed to hit any good shots…How does he think Reid got to be ranked so high in the first place?). Anyway, Jared fought through to win in straight sets as well, pulling out quite a few close games and showing some inspiring flare. Reid’s win gave us the 4-0 win, and with our flight less than 2 hours from departure, my match was stopped midway through the second set, along with Torsten and Holland’s matches that had only just gotten underway (a consequence of there only being four courts…)

And yes, we missed most of the Superbowl, but we did catch some of the second half in the airport, until we had to board our flight and missed the last few minutes of the game…Not like we missed anything interesting though, I mean what actually happened after it was 20-14 Pittsburgh late in the 4th?

Quotes of the Trip:

I want to take the opportunity to offer some of the best quotes from this weekend, spoken by some of the truly unique characters on our team. I will leave the quotes anonymous, but I think they can help give a glimpse of some of the humor that was pervasive during our travels this past weekend.

“Hey, name five countries in South America” Response: “Brazil, Argentina, Portugal……”

“Do you want me to get you a cookie? I’ll go get you a cookie. I don’t want a cookie, but I’ll go get one for you, ok?”

Dining Highlights:

Foccia Luna in State College right down the street from the Courtyard Marriot where we were staying. Highly recommended, great pizza, the salmon was quite a hit as well.

Dining Low Point:

Ruby Tuesday’s. I know it’s harsh to say, but in comparison to any similar chain restaurants (Chili’s, Applebee’s, Olive Garden, Outback) it’s really lacking. Do they really need to just add like 4 lbs of cheese or butter to every dish, and even then it still doesn’t taste good?

Best Bonding Location:

The hotel hot tub. I wasn’t too keen on it so I didn’t actually go, but that was the place if you were soul searching, or so I heard.

Trip Theme:

Emergen-C fizzing drink mix. Whether you were one of the sick people on the trip or not, you were likely having at least 2 packets of Emergen-C per day, with some people having upwards of 6 or 7. 32 Vitamins and Minerals, you going to argue against that?

We leave on Thursday to play Illinois on Friday night, and then on to South Bend to face the Fighting Irish on Sunday. They are going to be battles, but I have a good feeling about them, and we owe both of these teams some revenge from the last two years. Wish us luck, and thanks for your reading and keeping up with our progress throughout the year.

Until next time,

Dylan Arnould

We're Going to Madison!

2009-02-01T18:29:00.000-08:00

For the first time in two years Duke Women's tennis is heading to Madison, Wisconsin as one of sixteen teams to make it to the National Indoor tournament! We are so excited! This is a great opportunity to play against the best teams in the country and we are definitely up to the challenge :)

Today's match was a successful one against the Ohio State Buckeyes. Despite some unforeseen challenges that arose with my being sick with food poisoning and Tara's nagging knee injuries, we were able to make it through the day. Doubles started off with a bang with Reka and Ella winning a promising match against a tough #3 team. It definitely gave both Melissa and me a boost of confidence to see our two underclassman playing so well. Jess and Mallory were competing hard against a very good team as well, but came up short and lost in a tough match. Melissa and I were left to battle it out to determine who would win the doubles point, and thanks to some great poaching by Mang and solid play on both of our parts we were able to clinch the doubles point for the team!

Taking the ten minute break in between doubles and singles, everyone was fired up to get out on the court again and take on the Buckeyes one on one. I was questioning whether I would be able to play because I was still feeling really sick, but decided to give it my best effort. Unfortunately, it wasn't enough and I ended up losing 6-4, 6-3. It was a disappointing loss, but my teammates really came through in the rest of the matches! Reka, always the solid player, dominated her opponent and gave us a 2-0 lead. Melissa finished up next with a convincing win at #5, closing out a close second set to give us a 3-0 lead. Clinching the match for the second time this season, Mallory Cecil played unbelievably against Kristen Flowers and won her match at the #1 spot!

The crowd was VERY supportive and it was so much fun to see everyone rallying behind us. I think the Duke Field Hockey team deserves a big shout-out for today- they came out in full force and had even made signs for each one of us with things like "Eureka" and "Don't Mess with Jess" written all over them! Crazy Towel Guy also came by after the basketball game- he has certainly proven to be one of our biggest supporters over the past two seasons and it's always great to see him in the stands!

Until next time...

Coach's Corner - Josh Goffi

2009-01-31T18:09:00.000-08:00

This is a little out of the norm for me to be writing our team blog but I think there is good reason. We lost today to the Florida State Seminoles (FSU) 5-0. That's right Duke fans, 5-0. Shocking. Well that's what the papers say at least. All you need to know is that the boys were points away from winning that match 4-1. We just came up short in the clutch this time and that's okay. It is going to come, I can promise you that. So here is the thing, I am not going to write to you about what happened today but rather what didn't happen.

Penn State only has 4 indoor courts. So, after we lost a doubles point where we had match points to win, singles matches 1-4 went on and 5 and 6 had to wait for an open court. Unfortunately, we were not able to complete the matches at 5 and 6 because the FSU coaches didn't want their players to possibly get injured so they decided to pull them when the match was clinched. Therefore, they defaulted those spots giving the match the final score of 5-2 with Torsten and Holland picking up the retirement victories. In my opinion, as a coach, that is unacceptable and all four players involved lost an opportunity to become better as a player but more importantly to grow as a person.

Tennis is the greatest sport in the world for one reason, it is the ultimate teacher. The character that one builds from this game is priceless. The opportunities to grow are endless but they are all disguised as daunting challenges. As players, we have to confront them and embrace them and that is not easy to do at all. Today, Torsten and Holland missed out on an opportunity to challenge their self pride and professionalism. When no one was watching and the outcome didn't really matter, they still needed to perform their jobs with the highest level of professionalism yet that opportunity was stolen from them.

Try to follow me here because this is where I go off on my rant about a few of the life lessons you can learn through tennis... Humility is an ongoing lesson because tennis is like a roller coaster, the highs and lows are never ending throughout a set, match, career, etc. When you feel on top of the world, there is an inevitable low lurking around the corner and vice versa. If you undertand this then the highs won't be so high and the lows won't be so low. Another is courage. We encounter self doubt all of the time on the court. When you are uncertain about yourself and your abilities, you still have to push through and do the right thing. Perspective is another. You learn not to panic because nothing ever happens the way you planned, so don't panic…ADAPT! And my personal favorite, it teaches you how to dig deep. Most people don't know how deep they can dig mentally and/or physically and most might not see the relevance this has to life but to me it is extremely important. With this self-awareness, you can walk into any situation and feel like you can find a way to get through it somehow, no matter what. You never panic, you just adapt. I can go on and on with situations that mimic everyday life…

If you really think about it, how many times have you felt these emotions or been in situations like I just described above? On the court? Off of the court? Personally, just in this past week I encountered all of them and most importantly, dealt with them. If you take the situations that tennis presents to you head on, it creates a confidence (not to be confused with arrogance) that can get you through life. Most tennis players are very successful in life after their tennis careers and I say most because not all fully take on the challenges that tennis presents.

This sport is fantastic and we are all blessed because every level of playing presents challenges. I know you can relate to these situations on and off the court just like the pros, so dive in and embrace these opportunities. If you are just starting tennis, stick with it because it's the greatest.

Hope you were able to follow me...

Thanks for reading,

Josh

Insert Creative Title Here

2009-01-31T15:01:00.000-08:00

You haven't truly experienced Duke unless you walk around at 7 AM on a Saturday; it gives new meaning to the word 'deserted.' But our 10 o'clock match required an early warm-up, and our dear coach, Jamie Ashworth, wanted us to be "alert and ready to go," which in my case, means waking up a minimum of 3 hours before the start of a match. Sometimes, even that doesn't really work. As motivation (or BRIBERY) for waking up at this atrocious hour, we were treated to a breakfast buffet at the Washington Duke...I don't speak for the whole team here, but the combination of "breakfast" and "buffet" never bodes well to my dietary habits. After eating an assortment of approximately 2 danishes, a croissant, an omelet, a muffin, and an infinite number of french toasts, we were ready to get started.

Unfortunately, there was a slight flaw to our morning: Amanda, our favorite bubbly teammate, was conspicuously absent from our group. She had woken up this morning with some kind of a ridiculous stomach virus, and had to go to the training room to get an IV...it was pretty apparent that she would be in no shape to play today. This presented us with a pretty hefty quandary: with the absence of Amanda, we only had 5 healthy players to take the court. Hmmmmmmm. Solution? TARA IYER SAVES THE DAY!!!

That's right, Tara was the hero of the day, as she teamed up with Amanda's usual partner Melissa (a.k.a Isamel, but noone really calls her that) to win their doubles match 8-3, after literally not having hit a ball for AT LEAST a few months. It wasn't particularly spectacular, due to the obvious inhibition of movement on Tara's part, but they totally got the job done, and it gave our whole team a boost. Adding Melissa and Tara's win to the pure destruction that Ellah and I produced on court 3, we ended up winning the doubles point to start off the match. On court 2, Mal (OUR LITTLE BABY FRESHMAN!!!) and Jess were also dominating, and were up 6-3 before the doubles point was won. Oh, and this would probably be a good time to mention WHO exactly we were playing: the VCU Rams.

Next came singles....since I was technically playing tennis and not paying attention at the beginning, I didn't manage to keep track of everyone's score, except for Jess', since I am perpetually hypnotized by the barrage of volleys and overheads that always seem to be occurring on her court. She got down an early break, but then battled back to win the first set 6-4. Meanwhile, our amazing adorable freshman MALLORY had done a little something I would term BEASTLINESS and won her match 6-1, 6-0. I was the second one off the court (by literally 2 milliseconds) and won 6-0, 6-0, to the utter dismay of my opponent, who seemed particularly flustered by the incredible shanks I managed to produce on the run. With those two wins, we went up 3-0, and only needed one more win to clinch! At this point, it seemed that Ellah, Melissa, and Jess were determined to keep us in suspense and vie for that all-important clinching honor. Ellah happened to be the one to do it, keeping the foot stomps to a minimum, and won her match 6-0, 6-4. That second set was a little tighter, maybe due to the fact that her opponent's grunts got continually more annoying as the match progressed. With the match won, Melissa and Jess were the last two on court. Melissa had a temporary out-of-body experience when she was up 5-2, (you know what I'm talking about, we've ALL done it) but returned to her body just in time, to win the second set 7-6. Jess, or Robocop as Jay called her today, continued her onslaught of netness, hitting 20 million volleys and overheads in the last 6 games, and took the second set 6-1.

sooooo, to sum the day up:

Duke: 6 VCU: 1

Great success!

till next time............

-REKA

Behind the Strings by Steve Carrow

2009-01-26T12:55:00.000-08:00

What started out four years ago as a way to make some extra money to offset the alarming rate of “daycare” has now evolved into a very fulfilling part of my life – Stringing for Duke Tennis.

On an average day, I’ll wake at 5:20am dress for the gym and load up the car with my “work attire “, a very large bag full of last night’s stringing labors and head out for Sheffield Tennis Center. After arrival, I’ll “restock” the “completed bins” in the men’s and women’s locker room and head off for a quick workout, followed by a day of my “day job” (as a Project Manager for Duke). Then on my return trip home, I’ll swing back by Sheffield to pick up a new allotment from the “to be strung bins”. After dinner and family time, I retire to my stringing room and turn on CNN or ESPN to listen to (depending on the day/season) and begin my second career. Depending on the load, usually one to four hours of work on these weekdays along with added time on Saturdays and Sundays usually gets me caught up with demand. I do manage to slip in five to seven hours of sleep each night also, contrary to what Ramsey will tell you, and then the process starts all over again.

As glamorous as that sounds, it’s really NOT the fulfilling part. No the part that makes it all worthwhile (aside from the check once a month) is the interaction with this amazing group of young adults and coaches. First the kids, sure, we like to call them “kids”, but they’re so much more. Day in and day out I get to see them up close, working together for a common goal and having a youthful energy and lighthearted fun attitude all the while. Like siblings, they pick on one another and compete amongst themselves on and off the court. But also like birth brothers and sisters, they stick up for each other from outsiders with a bond of loyalty that can only be described as “family”. The personalities and nationalities are as diverse as you might expect from a University called simply “Duke”. But the cohesion of a team among this group brings this simple North Carolina native to truly believe that “world peace” could most certainly be attainable some day, but for a common goal.

As a tennis fan, I’m amazed at both their physical and mental skills of the game, but as a support member of these teams, I’m most proud of their character. Any predated preconceived notions of elitist “Duke” arrogance, has been replaced with the reality of true moral sincerity. Sure they’re all intelligent and the fact that they’re also division one athletes test my notions of divine fairness when it comes to the distributions from the gene pool . But any resentment towards the genetic gods is soon dissipated when I witness the work ethic and the stress toll of a work load of academics and athletics at the highest level possible. Add to that the ingrained pressures of being an adolescent in 2009 and envy is soon replaced with empathy (except when they’re on a road trip to Hawaii). It’s the mastery of the life balance and commitment to excellence in all of those areas that I most admire from this group of student athletes. I’m really glad through these blogs that you (the fans) get to see what fine individuals these young adults are. They’re really worthy of your support and I know firsthand how much they genuinely appreciate it!

As for the coaches, what can I say except WOW? They sign up for the jobs of mentor, teacher, friend, boss, disciplinarian, coordinator, travel agent, maid, role model and the list goes on and on. Couple that with the responsibilities and accountabilities of answering to the parents, fans, staff, alumni and Athletic director and you’ve got a recipe for stress with a side order of “you get to work nights, holidays and weekends away from home”. Still thinking they’ve got it made because they get to coach tennis for a living? Consider this, during the season the teams only get one day off a week and don’t forget that you have to keep one eye on the global domain of recruiting all the while. But even with all of those trials and pressures they still make it fun, after all, it’s still a game right? Come to any match and you’ll see the results of these amazingly talented and committed individuals who are simply, the best in the business. Former standouts themselves, they know firsthand the pressures and challenges facing their teams and impressively meet them head on, conquer them and make it look as smooth as the strokes they perfect each day. But the really impressive part is that they not only endure this process, but embrace it. Ask any one of them if they would rather be doing something else and without hesitation the answer is always an emphatic no! Tennis is a remarkable sport that brings together people that otherwise might never cross paths. It’s my honor to be involved with this outstanding group of dynamic and impeccable people and my pleasure to share these views from inside with you the fans.

As always, thanks for your support and for joining us on this journey. Hold on tight – it’s going to be a fun ride, full of mains, crosses and some perfect tension for just the right feel at impact.

Dylan Arnould- Nostalgic and Feeling Good

2009-01-26T07:56:00.001-08:00

For me, Saturday’s match against VCU (Virginia Commonwealth University) brought back some old memories and familiarly good feelings afterwards. As a team we posted a very solid and overwhelming performance, bettering the VCU Rams by a score of 6-1. And why was I feeling nostalgic? Probably because VCU was the second team I ever played against in my collegiate dual match career almost exactly two years ago, but probably even more so because former Duke Tennis alumni Peter Rodrigues 07’, David Goulet 08’, and Alex Stone 08’ were all in attendance, all of whom I played on the team with, and all of whom drove a long distance to be there.

The doubles started off really close and with us down a break on two of the three courts. Al and Kiril we doing well keeping their opponents at the number one position, but Reid and I were struggling to find a groove and Torsten and Holland were in a close fight at line three. But we battled back well at positions two and three, most impressively with Holland and Torsten fighting off a match point to come back and win their match in a tiebreaker. Reid and I ended up losing shortly after the doubles point was clinched, though it was of no consequence to the overall outcome and we had done well to come back and stay alive for the sake of alleviating some of the pressure on the freshmen duo. Big props to them for fighting back and coming up big, and also to Al and Kiril for a really hard earned win at number one.

Our singles warm-ups were subject to a new innovation in player introductions thanks to Mike Gagnon (the invaluable Director of Clinical Operations and Planning for Surgery at the Duke Medical Center who has donated his time and energy to helping both the men’s and women’s tennis teams) who offered pro basketball intros that helped get things started and revved up the energy level. After battling back in the doubles to take a 1-0 lead in the overall score, there was no let up as we got out to first set leads on nearly every court right away. I was actually on serve throughout most of my first set, but as I glanced at the Goldstein scoreboard I saw we were dominating on almost every other court. Torsten was next to me playing well and smothering his opponent, and on the other side of me Reid was off to a fast start and it seemed improbable that his opponent would be able to successfully fight back. Kiril was playing well and providing some great fire for the rest of us, as even though I was unable to see much of his match I heard quite a few of his “Go Duke!” yells. I got off early enough to see the last few games of Pinsky’s match which he closed out confidently with some crowd pleasing shot making. Al had the upper hand on his scrappy opponent throughout most of the match until a hard fought set didn’t go his way, and then was unfortunate to have to concede to playing an always unpredictable super tiebreaker to decide the match, which he narrowly lost.

It was a great feeling afterwards and all among us were pleased, especially our coach Mr. Josh Goffi who was celebrating his 30th birthday in conjunction with our victory. Spirits were high though and the crowd was awesome, with there being an awesome attendance turn out. Among the attendees were such notables as Count Chocula, the Chicken, and if I’m not mistaken I believe the infamous Gorilla was there as well. Most crucial though were the guys not playing that were providing the noise and support that makes such an incredibly huge difference. It was a team effort between the ten of us and our famed coaching triumvirate in addition to the incredible crowd support that delivered the decisive victory. The atmosphere was great and I can’t wait for our next home match, which regrettably is not until we play a double header on March 4th before we then start up the ACC Season with N.C. State on March 18th. Thanks to everyone that came out and supported us, you all made it such an awesome atmosphere to play in and showed what an advantage it is to have a supportive and plentiful home crowd. We leave Thursday to head up to Penn State where we will play for a spot in the last sixteen of the Team National Indoor Championships on Saturday and Sunday (I’ll be really annoyed if we are scheduled so that we miss the Super Bowl).

Our first dual match!

2009-01-24T13:59:00.000-08:00

We played our first dual match of the season against Old Dominion University yesterday. Understandably, the girls were all nervous, but exited at the same time. It had been more than eight months since we had officially competed as a team (the Fall season comprised of individual tournaments). Liz Plotkin and I could not play due to injury, and we were ready to cheer like crazy!

Our new freshman, Mallory Cecil was businesslike. She pulled back her long blond hair into a tight bun, and stepped onto the court with confidence. Jessi Robinson partnered Mal, and we watched them with eager anticipation. They made a great doubles team! After stuggling through (and winning) a loooooooooooong first game, they effortlessly demolished their opponets. The other doubles teams were more experienced, as the girls had played together last season. They played well, and led the team to the first point.

All this while, more and more people streamed in. They were ready to support the girls, and did so quite loudly! The singles started. Jess, Ellah Nze, Reka Z., and Melissa Mang played superb tennis in the beginning and steamrolled their opponents in the first set. Ellah's opponent, a feisty hitter, came back and even led in the second set. But Ellah, helped by the crowd, triumphed in the end. I must say, the Sprited Freshmen Luke Marchese and David Holland, and the Crazy Towel Guy, didn't exactly keep their voices low! A special thanks to them. Mallory and Amanda Granson were down in the beginning, but came back and dominated in the end. We won 7-0.

The experience was made even more memorable by the people who came to support the team yesterday. I would like to thank you all for watching, and hope you come to the rest of our home matches. You make it fun; we love you!

Thanks for reading,
Tara

The Magnificent 7-0

2009-01-23T05:23:00.000-08:00

Our coaching “triumvirate” of Ramsey Smith, Josh Goffi, and KJ Hippensteel made their dual match debut this evening under the roof of Sheffield indoor tennis center. Everything they wore matched. The crisp jacket, the windpants, the shoes, the socks… their GQ-like attention to detail must have put fear into the sweatpants-clad Elon staff. They looked, in a word, professional.

And so did the players (figuratively speaking, of course, — my 1998 Volvo was bought with my own money). We did such a “professional” job it was almost a little dull. On one end, you saw the Good German Torsten Wietoska slowly dismantle Phil Nemec’s Canadian net-rushing. On the other end, in a match that was just dying to be played on red clay, Alain Michel’s “Brasileiro” style slowly dragged down and strangled Alberto Rojas’s legendary grinding. And in the middle, Reid Carleton and his background chorus of soccer player fans made Damon Gooch’s evening a nightmare — sweet revenge from last weekend. Pinsky, Kiril, and Dylan all dominated. As Lil' Wayne’s voice blasted through the speakers announcing our triumph, everyone but our guests from across the state left the building satisfied.

There were still some moments of drama. They may not have known it, but Dylan and Alain were playing match-clinching points at the same time. Dylan won his match approximately 2 seconds before Al, giving him the honor of first clinch of the year.

In the locker room afterwards, one didn’t really know what to criticize. Doubles were fiery and the breaks came early and often. Outside of a couple tough first sets, singles went pretty smoothly. At least this time (and hopefully the first of many), we went out and accomplished close to what we set out to do. It was a job well done from all aspects of the program.

I guess good things happen when a certain member of your team is reading “The Game: Penetrating the Secret Society of Pickup Artists.” It keeps our priorities straight.

However, tomorrow is a new day and Saturday night brings a new opponent, the highly ranked VCU Rams. We have quite a rivalry with these guys, especially after last year’s painful (particularly for me, as I lost the decider) 4-3 loss. It will be one of the most exciting home matches of the year. Saturday night indoor matches always have a great atmosphere and huge crowd and this should be no exception. There will be an absolute battle on the courts. Basketball tickets will be given away, and pizza will be eaten… at no charge. If you’re not there, you’re missing out on what is probably the best night of college tennis in North Carolina all year.

Thanks to everyone who came out and supported us tonight, and to everyone keeping up with the blog,

Aaron

The Battle of Tobacco Road

2009-01-20T11:45:00.000-08:00

MLK Day – A Day to Celebrate

January 19, 2008 – MLK Day. More than 45 years ago, Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his famous “I Have a Dream” speech heard around the world. Every year on this day, the United States of America pays respect to a legend who advocated peace and equality. Despite the overwhelming sense of unity felt around the nation, there remained one hot spot, a tennis center to be specific, in which animosity and unadulterated hatred still thrived. On the third and final day of the Duke Invitational, the Battle of Tobacco Road unraveled under the lights of the Sheffield Tennis Center. Duke versus UNC – pride, honor, and most importantly, bragging rights were on the line.

Doubles play commenced with more intensity and fight than the two previous days combined. The international tandem of Al (Alain) and Kiril played an extremely well fought match but came up a bit short against a team who seemingly forgot how to miss a volley. Reid and Dylan prevailed in a close contest against their Tar Heel opponents through the winning combination of Reid’s deft volleys and Dylan’s burning desire to plow the ball straight through opponent’s chests. The freshmen duo of Torsten and Holland played a solid match demonstrating maturity and team chemistry well beyond their years. The “Dream Team” consisting of Carp and Pinsky put on a show for the crowd with a decisive 8-3 victory complete with eclectic shot making. At the completion of doubles action, Duke tallied 3 W’s while UNC garnered only 1.

Inside the locker room, energy as well as morale was high. The coaching staff of which I’ll refer to as the Duke Tennis Triumvirate (Smith, Goffi, and Hippensteel) was extremely pleased with our performance as well as our ability to match and ultimately surpass UNC’s energy. Nevertheless, the triumvirate issued sage advice by telling us not to get complacent and to come out even hungrier for singles. They reiterated that our UNC foes, despite an abysmal past two days, would still fight and compete because they were playing Duke. After the 10 minute intermission, the singles matches began. Right off the bat, things got heated as energy and emotions ran high.

As a person more inclined to numbers than words, I’ll first start off with the overall statistics. We won 5 out of the 8 singles matches which equates to 62.5% for those who fancy percentages. The Tar Heels were successful at the top positions, but the Duke Blue Devils dominated everywhere else. At the first spot, Reid unfortunately ran into a player who had signed up for the wrong tournament. His opponent, Donato, may have hit a plethora of winners, but lacked geography prowess to know that Melbourne was no where near Durham, North Carolina. Kiril, the Bulgarian sensation, competed extremely well but in the end, could not overcome his opponent’s lefty crosscourt forehand. However, this is where UNC’s success ended. To lead the way, Junior Dylan Arnould won a three setter while exhibiting true tenacity. During an extended rally in the first set, I was shocked as I looked over to see Mr. Arnould on the ground nursing his left ankle while grimacing in pain. In my three years at this institution, I’ve witnessed two catastrophic events and could only hope for the best. Relief spread among the Sheffield crowd as he finally got to his feet and gently walked to his bench. After receiving medical attention, the crowd applauded as he returned to the baseline to continue play. Arnould did drop the first set, but under the guidance of Mr. Hippensteel, Arnould would battle back in the second and would run away with the 3rd. In the other matches, Torsten played a great match against Crone of UNC. Despite Crone’s incessant approaches to net, Torsten utilized his superior German genes and came up with fantastic passing shots. I watched this match in its final stages and vividly remember one scene in particular. After Torsten aced Crone to obtain his first match point, Torsten pumped his fists and let out a roar that epitomized fighting spirit – David Hasselhoff pre-Wendy’s/YouTube would be most proud. On the other end of the center, Jared Pinsky made quick work of his Tar Heel opponent. Word on the street was that Mr. Pinsky heard the day’s cookies were the best of the weekend and well frankly, he couldn’t miss out. Holland, who was determined to take first place in time spent on court, once again was battling deep in a third set. Amidst the militia of UNC players heckling, Holland dug deep and triumphed once again. The other freshmen from New Jersey, Luke Marchese, channeled his hatred toward UNC by not only beating, but crushing his opponent. A man of few smiles, Marchese did have a big grin for this victory. The match that went the distance involved the Sao Paulo native, Al. His opponent, Ahari, notorious for getting in one’s face proved to be just that. Even I as a spectator knew I was in for the long haul after Ahari went wild after just the first point. Nevertheless, Al remained stoic and unfazed despite these antics. Sure enough Al confidently took the first set 6-3 which, much to my relief, temporarily quieted Ahari. The second set was closely contested as Al had two match points. On the second match point, Al decided to end the match with an exclamation point as he attempted to win the point with a drop shot. Unfortunately, this exclamation point would soon turn into ellipses as Ahari would go on to win the point and eventually the set. In the third and final set, Al came up a bit short due to the combination of the weekend’s fatigue as well as better play from his opponent.

All in all, this weekend was a success as we dominated all three days of play. Additionally, Junior Dylan Arnould receives accolades as he earned the most points and thus won the singles contest of the Duke Invitational. The Duke Tennis Triumvirate congratulated everyone on a great weekend and was extremely excited to get the season underway.

Finally, as an engineer, I’m accustomed to succinct statistics that capture the entire weekend in one glance. I have formulated them and they are as follows:

Statistics

· Matches Won: 32

· Matches Lost: 8

· Winning Percentage: 80%

· Duke > UNC

I want to personally thank everyone who came out to support us this weekend.

Thanks for tuning in and enjoy the Inauguration (and snow)

David Lue

Liz Plotkin-Last Day in Michigan

2009-01-19T19:54:00.000-08:00

Depending on who is reading this you may or may not know that I have been struggling with a knee injury for the past year. Therefore, I will be writing about the matches I watched.

We faced Michigan in doubles and Vandy in singles on our last day of competition in Michigan. It FINALLY warmed up to 18 degrees on our last day there which made it much more bearable. The tennis improved as well. It was great to see everyone get more comfortable playing and most of the singles matches were won fairly easily. The doubles matches on the other hand were both very close. Amanda and Melissa pulled out a really close one 9-7. Ellah and Reka lost in a a nail bitter but had a ton of really great points. Overall, this weekend was a great start to the season. My teammates were able to get some really good matches and I truly enjoyed watching them. I'm looking forward to our first dual match later this week!

Dylan Arnould- Act II from The Gothic Wonderland

2009-01-18T18:51:00.000-08:00

Day two of the Duke Invitational brought with it more inspiring results and performances from the Duke Men’s Tennis Team against the ETSU (Eastern Tennessee State University) Buccaneers, along with some more excellent cuisine catered courtside (It’s just a shame that normal on-campus dining can’t measure up). After a total of thirteen matches – four doubles and nine singles – we finished with a dominating 8-1 record in singles play, with a slightly less impressive 2-2 split in the doubles action.

The day got started on a slightly different note, with Al providing a new warm-up CD intended to surpass the inspiration that Luke’s heavily hip-hop inspired mix did for us on day one. A more dance and techno influenced compilation infused with some hip-hop favorites from the previous day, I’ll put my personal opinions aside and just say that I suppose it’s difficult to argue with the performance results that came afterwards…

The doubles got off to a mixed start, with Carp and I offering some instances of solid and disciplined doubles play at the number four position, though unable to adequately consolidate on service breaks, and ultimately going down. Reid and Torsten started out on fire at the number two slot and seemed destined to overwhelm their Buccaneer opponents, but a few close games and bad breaks disrupted their very sound play early on. Alain and Kiril proved their reliability and grit as a doubles team once again, proving too determined and fired up for the number one duo they were facing, a rather dangerous and talented team if I may say so. Pinksy and Holland were too far away for me to see much, but they took care of their opponents in a close 8-6 match.

We headed into the locker feeling pretty good about of our play despite failing to dominate the doubles like we did the day before. The reality was that this team was a cut above the Elon squad we faced the day before. Nevertheless we refocused in the locker room and headed back out to provide some impressive singles play, though perhaps more so in the way we took care of our matches and did all the little things than simply ball striking or flare. What we lacked in flash and grandeur we made up for with discipline, competitiveness, focus and tough play. Ramsey, Josh, and K.J. remarked to us in our post match briefing on how we wore down our opponents and broke their spirits, not only winning our matches but leaving our adversaries feeling completely defeated. We’re hoping to make that a habit for all teams paying a visit to the Gothic Wonderland this year.

Singles wrap-up (from what I was able to actually see of everyone…)

My match started with some rough patches in the first set, with my eventually getting back on serve after being down a break and then breaking a second time to then serve out the set. After that it was a matter of keeping him from getting back up, which I was thankfully able to do and allowed me to get off the court a little quicker than the previous day. My neighboring teammate Torsten stepped up his level a couple of notches today, putting behind him some early bumps to get grooved and physically overwhelm his opponent with heavy balls and net attacks. He also literally left sweat and blood on the court when he managed to fall yet again and reopen a wound on his fingers. This misfortune was on top of his undoubtedly feeling a bit intimidated by how vocal and loud I was being on the court next to him…Kiril battled their number one player Enrique Olivares from Venezuela, ultimately coming up short, but as he related to me after the match, the difference was merely a few big points that didn’t go his way. Reid overcame his somewhat off day to win the first set against his opponent and then run away rather comfortable with the second. The few glimpses I did catch reminded me of my aspiration to one day make half as many crazy gets as him. I hear Al (Alain) performed extremely well, though I saw almost nothing of his match, as he was on the other end of the Sheffield Indoor Center and finished before me. Holland showed some great heart, pulling out a tight three set match on a day that was certainly not his best. Pinsky took care of business and slid lefty serves and smacked early returns to dispose of his opponent rather tidily. Carp’s balls had too much depth and he drilled enough down the line backhands to manhandle his opponent similar to day one. Luke battled back from a set down to force a third set, until whoops a 10 point super tie breaker was played in lieu of a third, but which he buckled down to take 10-8.

Tomorrow we’ve got our rivals from 8 miles down the road, the North Carolina Tar Heels. Irrespective of some recent struggles, their hatred of Duke is only perhaps surpassed by ours for them. Needless to say it should be an awesome prelude to our real showdown to come at the end of March. May the visiting Tar Heels be sent packing and the bellows of “Go Heels” be obscured by the screams (which I will surely be leading in both quantity and decibels) of “Go Duke”!

Thank for your interest and support,

Dylan Arnould

Jess Robinson-Alrighty...Day 2!

2009-01-18T18:16:00.000-08:00

So even though “Opposite day” isn’t officially until the 25th of this month (yes, it is a holiday) the duke women’s tennis team had pretty close to our own little opposite day: after cruising through both doubles matches yesterday, our teams struggled today and lost to two very aggressive Tennessee teams. Our wins in singles flipped as well, Reka and I very gratefully got our first wins of the spring under our belts while Amanda and Ellah lost a couple of tough battles against some solid Michigan players. And then there’s Melissa…our shining singles star. Two days brought two very convincing wins for our beloved senior, who every time I looked over was smashing another forehand down-the-line.

The first tournament back after the holidays is always a bit of a shock to the system- everyone woke up pretty sore this morning. Thankfully, our amazing trainer, Jennie, is here to help with all of our little aches and pains so we can finish up strong tomorrow. After two tough days of matches, dinner was pretty quiet tonight – that is, at the start of dinner. Dessert seemed to spark some excitement though- more for some than for others. When I say some I mean Reka, who desperately wants me to make note of the fact that she polished off two sizeable desserts practically all on her own – good thing her style of play calls for plenty of running!!
Until tomorrow then…..GO DUKE!

Aaron Carpenter- Sunrise at Sheffield

2009-01-17T20:30:00.000-08:00

The hour long rallies of Kiril Dimitrov. Jared Pinsky effortlessly poaching off a return for a clean winner. The oddly disgusting taste of a mix of a Bruegger’s Bagel and a purple Gatorade in your mouth. “Ah”, I thought, “This is what Duke Tennis is all about.”

Today was the first day of the Duke Invitational— a “hidden dual” round robin tournament that counts for only individual (not team) rankings and, more or less, gets the season started. It’s quite an event. Everyone on the team gets to play singles and doubles we’re all chomping at the bit to get out there to jockey for position and get match-tough. Our first round was against a team from just down I-40— The Elon Phoenix.

It’s hard to find fault with the results. We lost one doubles match to a very “on”, line one team and only dropped a set in the singles, which is a good sign considering we play them in our opening home match on Thursday. Though I’m perfectly satisfied with the way I played, my match was a little too dramatic for my tastes.

My opponent, Clark Howell, came out crushing forehands left and right, shocking me into a state where all I could do was try to get the ball back somewhere close to the backhand, try to keep my chin up, and hope for Andy Roddick’s soul to try to leave his body.

My coach for the match, Mr. Josh Goffi, agreed. We sat at bench at 3-2 Elon in the first and discussed how things were going.

“This guy’s playing well,” he opened.

“ Yeah, I don’t know what’s going on. Things just aren’t clicking right now, man. I don’t know if I’m playing a little tight or what. I just gotta get back into it, you know?”

Anxiety was a little high. I was down a break for crissakes!

“ Yeah… yeah… I think if you just make him hit, say, one more ball each rally this guy is gonna come crashing down pretty quick,” he prophesized. He was correct— ten games and a good deal more unforced errors on the opposite end of the court later, I was looking at Duke 6-3,6-0 on the scoreboard. Now I could just lie down on my bed, have dinner, and write this blog for the rest of the day.

Other matches were more exciting and, I dare say, more expertly played. Reid battled it and won out against a ranked opponent at line one. Kiril clamped down and drowned his opponent in a never-ending barrage of topspin. Dylan hit the ball hard, unsurprisingly. Pinsky won his roller-coaster of a match and rewarded himself with a fresh chocolate chip cookie afterwards. Torsten proved German tennis is still alive. David Holland got a win against a great grinder. David Lue got through a tough first set to run away with the second and Luke Marchese had a win against an opponent who simply forgot how to miss a forehand. However, his greatest victory of the day was his highly inspirational and alarmingly “gangsta” warm-up CD, which gave us all more motivation than is perhaps healthy.

Tomorrow we take on ETSU, which should be a very hard-fought match. A lot of us played them in the fall and had very good matches. We’ll keep you posted on how everything turns out from this tournament and the rest of the season.

Thanks for reading,
Aaron Carpenter

Melissa Mang-First Day Jitters

2009-01-17T12:42:00.001-08:00

Today was our first match of the Spring! We played a mock dual match meaning we played two teams- Tennessee in singles and then Vanderbilt in doubles. Everyone seemed a little nervous and there were some tough matches but overall we did really great- sometimes the hardest part is just getting through that first day. My match went 7-6, 7-5 but it definitely should not have been that close- I let a few key game points slip away, giving her more momentum. My serve carried me through the match though, giving me a lot of free points and confidence.

We played awesome in our two doubles matches, finishing up the day on a really positive note! It snowed like 4-5 inches while we were playing and Jamie has been having fun fishtailing in the rental, but so far no snow ball fights have broken out...we'll see how long that lasts. We're looking forward to having another good day tomorrow!

I'll be back soon.

Michigan - COLD!

2009-01-16T20:38:00.000-08:00

This is our first night in the cold state of Michigan. It is an impressive 0 degrees with a windchill of -16. The air hurts your lungs when you walk outside. The great thing about Ann Arbor though...the people. Despite the weather, I love the Midwest. We went to the world famous Zingerman's restaurant for lunch, and dinner with a Duke Tennis Alum, Susan Summerville. Her four cute daughters came to the courts dressed in the their Duke gear to watch the girls hit. We have royal blue spreading across the country!

The Michigan Invitational starts tomorrow. We are up against Tennessee in singles and Vanderbilt in doubles action. GO DUKE!

Welcome to Duke Tennis

2009-01-12T09:04:00.000-08:00

Welcome to The Duke Tennis Blog. After every match, we will have one player from each team post a blog with their thoughts on the team's performance and also their own. We are hoping that it will give you, the fan, an insider's view of how the match went.