tennis, life and a few things in between

5-4, 5-0, 3-5. The last set we were down 0-3, then 1-4. I’ve one double in the first set. During the warm up, I hit a few singlehanded backhand, thinking of Pete Sampras.

… the second pair since June 6th, 2024

• June 6th

A pair mourning doves’ incubating log, since April 6th, 2024

• VI, 4.29 hatched
• V, April 23, 19 days
• IV April 18, 2 weeks!
• III April 16
• II Saturday, April 6th

The story of the day is a pair mourning doves 哀鸽. I got there early to practice my serve (duh!) and seeing a bird flies by more frequently than usual, “what a nice companion!”

The early bird gets the worm.

The mourning doves, one is incubating and one is bring in more twigs and grass to build or enhance their nest at top of the tent between two tennis courts.

But when my three buddies arrived, the bird grow bolder, not only in and out of our tent more but also landed on the net often. Then did I realize that he’s bring in the materials to enhance the nest, which is up the tent.

An hour later, next court is occupied by four more guys. The birdie is more desperate. It must be the love!

Per Indiana division of fish and wildlife, the big eyes birds

• there are 500 millions of them in US
• Courtship activities begin in late winter (late February/early March) with egg laying beginning in late April/early May.
• Doves will attempt 2 to 5 nestings in a year
• Incubation lasts about 14 days and both the male and female take part.
• Nesting almost never occurs in densely wooded areas.
• The male and female both assist in the construction of the nest. The male will select the material for the nest and then deliver it to the female who builds the nest.
• The male usually sits on the nest during the day while the female takes her turn at night.
• The lifespan of a dove is relatively short, whereby, on average, they live just longer than a year. The two to five nestings per year are necessary to maintain the population levels.

…哀鸽 树枝和草

His 2008 memoir, A Champion’s Mind: Lessons from a Life in Tennis is a good read. Among many things he covered in the book, was the fact that when he switched from double handed backhand to single hand, he lost many many matches.

清高的男神
相比之下 费德勒就是个小妓女, 给点钱就肯卖身相许. 小费自己说的 – 非🇺🇸的网球员他们的话题就是 谁会被点秋香在🇺🇸红起来

再听他的书 还是有感触
…
他开始时是双反… 听从进监狱的医生教练… 改单反. 期间的路坑坑洼洼 输了好久 [偷笑]

前星期看迈阿密公开赛, 觉得有些闷: 男女都是底线 都是双反. 一个模子刻出来的. 闷死人

可喜男神Grigor Dimitrov (1991-; 2008, $26m) 不过没有赢. 也许双反确实有优势 [闭嘴]

On serve, Sampras uses continental grip.

~ continental grip → bevel 2: serve & volley
~ eastern forehand grip → bevel 3: hit the flat shots
~ western grip → bevel 5: forehand
~ semi western → bevel 4: spin & pace on forehand

… I’ve no idea which grip do I use -:). Just play.

Today, 5-1, 5-1 and 4-5 w/ Bruce, Graham and Neil: no doubles and feeling good about my serve. However, I failed to serve out the last set.

Dave L and I won over Jay and Denny: no doubles, and I held all my serves except 1.

BUT … I think that the waiter’s tray is still with me …

I serve out not only doubles, aces too, from time to time but this photo is the first, because after change over, Cheri pointed to it and said it was a really good serve. Thanks coach! It means a lot.

We supposedly to repeat last week’s fun but Graham didn’t show up. We ended up playing Canadian. Hope and I won 1 game each and Cheri 2.

Have a big bowl of pasta – yummy yummy spaghettioooo

Look who did I run into – two herons.

One more practice day that begins at dark. I saw the pair at the last minutes. They stand still and looking back at me -:) … as if to say, you budge. this was my home …

Ok, back to serve … what serve?

… I think I’m getting a little better?

We’re here again for the Open.

… more pix & videos on Google Maps

Last year we attended the regular game on day 1. This year we tried the qualifying round, which I like more – less people.

On serve: here are some slowmo of Venus, Caroline Wozniacki, Paula Badosa & Simona Halep

… since I’m in the process to overhaul my serve, I took many slow-motion serves of the female players:

Pre-paid parking is better than pay at entrance: $35 for SunPass and $40 for cash or credit card.

The projected quarter final; the pinky Santa Margherita Rosé Giardino garden and the Sunset Terrace arch.

Lacking corporate heavy hitters, such as Amex and Chase that are stables at US Open, La Roche-Posay passes out mini size suntan lotion here. At Amex corner at the US Open, they offered at least two different full sizes botles.

USTA offers qualifying rounds for free, but Miami charges a fee, which is fine.

Lockers. Clear bag policy. People do bring their own bottled water. The stadium provides free WiFi, with decent connectivity.

Bathrooms have no ac, if I remembered right. USTA do. The ground is nicely groomed and laid out. I enjoyed the different seating areas, bars and eateries.

One men and five women singles matches we watched, 99% trading baseline ground strokes, with 100% double hand backhand – out of the same cookie cutter, which is boring.

We watched the last three matches in full at the Grandstand:

1. V Kopriva def J.J. Wolf (1998-): 6-3, 1-6, 6-4 @ Court 5
2. Wang Xinyu (王欣瑜, 2001-) defeat Hailey Baptiste (2001-) 7-6, 6-3 Court Butch Buchholz
3. Yue Yuan (袁悦, 1998-) defeat A. Blinkova 6-4, 6-2 @ Court 7
4. Venus Williams lost to Diana Shnaider 3-6, 3-6 @ Grandstand
5. Caroline Wozniacki def C. Burel 6-1, 6-4 @ Grandstand
6. Paula Badosa def Simone Halep 1-6, 6-4, 6-3 @ Grandstand

A lot more Chinese women players are on tour now. Two or more decades behind the Russia.

The first 3 matches, we only watched the ending. The last 3 were all excellent. Especially seeing Venus.

I’m happy to see her but also sad at seeing her not able to return so many shots that used to be a cake walk for her. Venus lost to 19 years old Russian Diana Shnaider (2004-), 6-3, 6-3. The result is better than I anticipated: her opponent isn’t good. Love the sisters but at 43, many shots Venus used to brush aside with ease, now she couldn’t even get to it. It must be the love of the game that keeps her on tour. Seeing her play is A treat.

Caroline Wozniacki (1990-; Denmark) mom of two, defeat 22 years old French woman Clara Burel (2001-) 6-1, 6-4, an easy day at work.

They wear almost identical Adidas out fit – Caroline in one piece and the French in two. CW looks very fit after two children.

Their match was chair by Chinese chair umpire Jennifer Zhang Juan.

The last match: Paula Basosa beat Simona Halep 1-6, 6-4, 6-3.
A lot of Romanian fans cheering for Halep. But the funny thing is, the blue color of the flags have different shades – this is a first. Did they buy from a discount store who cheated on color?

Surprisingly, she didn’t scream like her old self, like an animal. The level of grunt is acceptable; making watching her play not a bad experience.

Theirs is the last one on the Grand Stand. By then, the Open ground is basking under the setting sun. With very few people around, it’s very enjoyable.

Two Romania flags’ blue have different shades. Both their outfits, Simone in two pinkish blue Badosa in one, a black dress have different color neckline: blue has yellow and black with deep pink. Both are nice.

… Miami Grand Prix is coming up shortly

The best two sets I’ve played in a year or two: serving out both sets. We inspired one another

雾天
7:10 进池
7:38 上场
练发球
8:00-10:00 热身, 二局

二位男娃7:50到 把俺准备练发球的计划剪短

球发的怎么样?
第一球 发了个ace
一个发球失误
然后 就真的没有然后了- 因为竞争激烈 俺只好重操旧业 回归旧的发球方法
赢了当然开心
但心在滴血 – 靠旧方法 [抓狂] 不光彩.
我们已经约好炮了 – 下星期六 不见不散

🍀 happy St Patty’s Day 🍀

… with two wheels, to practice serves.

My new sun visor feels good and looks good too. However, my serve still hasn’t improved much 起早贪黑也没用. And my recent three matches are on the losing side:

– Today 3.14: 3-5, 4-5, 2-5

– Tue 3.12: 5-2, 5-1, 3-0 running out of time

– Sat 3.09: 0-5, 3-5, 4-5

…an advise from a fellow player, using blue tape to fix my grip … so far, no visible improvement.

A small green frog is sitting at the corner of the table. At first, I thought it’s a trinket … No matter what I do, it just won’t budge… till the coach comes. And it goes downhill from there.

Three sets with Matt, Greg and Brad, won 2 lost one.

How many double faults?

Two -:( including one that gave the game away, ultimately the set.

Coach said, that my shoulder isn’t turning: just one more thing to include to improve my serve.

Yesterday I swam 1,012 yard in 25 minutes.

Today, it’s a busy day – Dear diary

7am hit the pool. A man I’d played pickelball a couple of times with was two steps ahead of me (buy me a drink I’ll reveal his name wink …) and didn’t hold the door. Matt the pool cleaner was 2 steps behind me. I held the door for him – isn’t this the way suppose to be in a civilized place? (Watched Tucker’s interview of Putin? …) After a brief swim, as I was leaving, a gent came in. Although I was quite distance from the door, he held it for me. Thank you sir.

At tennis court, we’ve a cute but lazy company … Let’s go to the video above

We got to the social hall at 6:58pm, and we were late for 7pm wine tasting. Gush -:) Is it the lure of the wine or the social norm that you get to an event EARLY?

Live music, by a composer himself and my husband of Debussy’s Arabesque 1.