Saturday 4th Aril 2015…….tournament day!!!

A beautiful morning in the desert very warm and sunny and today was the start of the tennis…..a little bit of history first.

Ashley is 15 years old and is really a wonderful gifted athlete and tennis player and this tournament is one of the biggest in the country and she is in the 18 and under age group..normally she would be ranked and be in the main draw but because the last year she has undergone 2 foot surgeries and as only been back on the courts about two months she was not ranked so to get into the main event on Monday she has to play qualifying games and her first one was today.

So this morning Stella and I went to Pauline and Corning (Ashley's parents) house which is on a beautiful golf course with tennis courts and watched her warm up…..I have not seen Ashley since August and she has grown and become so strong she is 5 feet 11 inches tall and so powerful……this is the complex where she was warming up…pretty nice I think!!!

\

We then went down to the Indian Wels tennis site which is where the professionals have a huge tournament in March and this site is out of this world……

This is the court where Ashley was to play!!!

 

Ashley’s opponent was a 17 year old and it was a good game but Ashley was just too strong and she won 6 – 1 6 – 2…..I was so proud to see her and to be here to support her……now the next step is that she has a match tomorrow at 12.30pm and if she wins that another match at 4.00pm and if she wins that game she will be into the main drawer on Monday.

After the game we all went to Pauline and Corning’s place where we messed around in the pool and then late afternoon Stella, Pauline and I went for a nice hike into the mountains at the base of the town, quite lovely as you can see…

It was a lovely end to a great day and I now look forward to tomorrow’s matches..stay tuned!!!

Yashi Kochi!!!