Hilton Head, SC
October 20th we hit the road to a W35k in Hilton Head, SC. Lucky for us, this tournament was only about a 6 hour drive away. We packed all of our stuff in the car, as well as Guinness, and started our drive. We were able to rent an airbnb just a 5 minute walk from the beach for a great price. Once we arrived and got everything situated, we made the 2 minute drive to the courts and got a solid hit in. Since we both had to work on Saturday and couldn’t leave until Sunday, we only had 2 days to prepare for this tournament. Having played the 2 tournaments in CA just a week and a half ago, we still felt very warm and ready for this tournament. The courts at this club felt just like the courts we work on back home and allowed us to feel great going into our match on Tuesday.
On Tuesday, we had a good first round match up against an unseeded American and Israeli. Being close to the water, it was constantly windy at the courts. During our first set, we could not figure out how to handle the pace of our opponents ball with such strong winds. We quickly lost that set 6-1 and needed to mentally reset before the 2nd set. We began getting a groove and figuring out what we needed to change for these conditions, however, our opponents ultimately handled the conditions better than us and we fell short 4-6. This is the first match in a while that we did not feel like we played our best tennis. It is hard coming out of a match knowing that you normally can play at a higher level, however, it’s impossible to play our best every single match and that is something we are learning.
This was our first trip where we did not win a match which was definitely a hard feeling. It is hard not to think that this tournament was a waste of money when you didn’t win a match. However, we have to tell ourselves that every single tournament is a learning experience and a stepping stone in our journey no matter what the outcome is. We have to stay positive throughout our journey or we are not going to make it where we want to be. Since we were able to drive, the cost of this trip was fairly low and we were also able to pick up 1 WTA point.
To make this trip hurt even more, this tournament was our last tournament for the year. Madison has had a blood flow issue in her legs that she has been fighting for 2.5 years. It finally reached a point where it is limiting her performance and we need her to be able to perform at her best if we want to be the best. Therefore, she has made the extremely difficult decision to get surgery on November 5th to attempt to fix her problem. The goal is that she will be ready to go by the new year and we can come back stronger than ever. We are beyond happy with the progress that we made this year and are happy to say that we finished the year ranked 1050 in the world. Looking back on our journey and the troubles we have gone through, we are so proud of ourselves for getting to this point. We cannot wait to come back stronger next year!
Total Points Earned: 1
Price Breakdown:
Lodging: $547
Groceries: $230
Gas: $96
Total Cost: $873
Total Earnings: $132
