Should have won...

by Karen
(the Netherlands)

I guess it was in 2007, at a local tennis club. I was playing against a girl who was much better than me. I never played her before, but I saw her play a couple of times.

In the beginning the match was really close. I was playing my own game and I was really relaxed and enjoying the match. I didn't even worry about the result, because I wasn't expecting really anything, just playing a nice match.

But I won the first set and I was leading 4-1 in the second. That's the moment everything turned around. At that point I really wanted to win and I kind of thought I was already there.

I didn't play my own game anymore, and I was waiting for her to make the errors. But she didn't make errors. I lost that set 7-5 and I started to get really angry.

Because of the rain that week, we didn't play a third set, but just a tie-break. The beginning was hopeless, until I realized I was probably not going to win anymore. I relaxed and played the same game as I did in the first set.

I survived some match points, but at 6-5 I missed an easy forehand approach shot. That forehand is still so clear in my memory. I remember the open court, I remember I was so convinced I was going to make that shot. The ball júst hit the net and it rolled back to me. I even remember kicking the ball back to the net.

After the match, I've been crying for quite a while, and that's something I normally don't do.
Last year, in 2008, I played this girl again, and I lost 6-1 6-1.

But know that I wrote this, I know what I have to do to win the next time against her, so I can't wait to play her again!

So remember to always play your own game and don't worry about the result too much! Just have fun playing the game you like so much.