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| Vania in action at Wimbledon© Getty Images |
Vania King has had an outstanding career since turning pro in July 2006, winning one singles and seven doubles titles on the WTA Tour, and, most recently, reaching the mixed doubles final at the 2009 French Open. A 20-year-old from Long Beach, Calif., King is writing an exclusive blog for USTA.com throughout the year as she travels to different tournaments around the world. This week, she is in London, competing at Wimbledon.
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She will be answering questions from fans in her daily blogs and would love to hear from you . Please keep in mind, however, that due to her busy playing schedule she does not have time to answer all questions.
July 1, 2009
Hey everyone!
I'm writing my last blog from Wimbledon.. and my last blog from Europe, and I may not be back to Europe for another year!! I'm so sad to go but so happy to go home! I'm always keen on going to the new place, but I had such a good time in Europe (i.e., Paris je'taime), and I have so many terrific memories. I think I said before, but since this year was my first year to travel by myself (without a family member), I feel like I've matured and grown a lot. I have a very, very long way to go to reach actual maturity, but I'm learning! I think I was too close-minded about traveling and foreign countries, and I never really took the time to appreciate the opportunity of being there!
Looking back, my first tournament was Rome. I loved the food, the architecture... the people are very interesting there. They totally ripped us off at the hotel because we stayed at a really old hotel that was not updated whatsoever in the last century, and yet we were charged 130 euros per night, I believe. I had to pay for two rooms because we arrived early, and I had to pay for a separate room for my coach. I like the way Europeans dress, but it was funny to see all the men with their tight polos, coats, scarves and aviators. I noticed that the women there don't really dress with skirts and dresses, but maybe it was the season? We went to sightsee around the city... the Parthenon, Fountain of Treve (not sure if that's correctly spelled), Colosseum, etc. In terms of tennis, I won my first two matches on red clay there -- surprisingly for me. I forgot to sign us into doubles, so I was in a bit of hot water with my doubles partner.
Next was Madrid, more modern than Rome, and the hotel was heaven. The timeliness and organization was a bit to be lacking at the tournament, although the potential of the venue is incredible. Not much shopping done, however, I found some Chinese shop owners, and I went into a shoe shop worried I wouldn't be able to speak with the sales clerk, but although I couldn't speak to her in Spanish, I could speak to her in Chinese! I wish I could speak more languages; it's such a useful tool. The courts were so fast, and it felt like a lot of altitude there. I remember our first round of doubles, I think I swallowed a pint of clay with all the clay flying everywhere because of the wind. I remember there were some mini-tornadoes that blew suddenly on different courts, and one person was critically injured. A swarm of bees also caused havok there, and play was suspended on a court for the firefighters to get rid of them.
Then straight to Paris, which I was sure I would hate. We stayed at an apartment 8 minutes walking distance from the site, which I was concerned about in the beginning because I didn't know the area, but because my coach is French, he showed me around, and I was comfortable walking around afterwards. The first week, a friend of mine came from Nice where she was training, and another Parisian friend took us out every day sightseeing, which was amazing. I still have not gone into the Loevre, but certainly next year! Another friend came with her family from Switzerland and ended up staying longer with me until the last week. The second and third week I had already been to most places, so we went out either to dinner and the hang out, or to party. The player's party was amazing -- that's all I'm going to say about it. Haha! We made an amazing run to the finals of the mixed -- totally unexpected, and me loving Paris was unexpected, too! If I could speak French, then I could definitely live there... at least part time.
Off to Birmingham. Unfortunately, not a very exciting place, especially coming from Paris. And it rained almost every day. Most of the excitement comes from the pubs or the uni students partying at the clubs all vying for attention. I also didn't do too well in the tournament, so that didn't up the tournament in my eyes. Basically Birmingham was a detox week for me.
We took the tournament bus down to Eastbourne, one of the sunniest cities in England. It was a terrific change -- sun! And sea! And men! Hahaha, because it was a combined event. The grass courts there were so nice -- in Birmingham, I have to be honest...they suck. I'm not complaining because everyone has to play on them. But Eastbourne had really nice grass!
Because we made the semis of doubles (btw on the Tour I say "make" or "made" results, instead of "reaching" or "got to" just because everyone can understand me that way... I now do it to Americans, too), I missed the Wimbledon pre-party, which was supposed to be amazing, but at least we got our own ride to London without taking the tournament's big bus.
So I get to London. My coach basically bans me from partying, going out and gossiping, although how is he really going to stop me from gossiping? So I didn't get to party at all, although I went out to dinner most nights, and I went to see the musical "Wicked" (I love the songs and the storyline, although I didn't think they were as good as the original cast), and yesterday I went to see "Transformers 2." My friend training in Nice came the first week, and my best friend came to visit me from California for 10 days, as well, which was awesome, since the most time we got to spend together was an afternoon at most and only two or three times this year.
I made it straight into the main draw and played a very good first round but lost in the second, playing very nervously, since I haven't played a big match in awhile. Unfortunately, we lost first round mixed, but I had a lot of fun! And in the doubles, we lost today to the Williams sisters, which is a tough draw, but I felt we had a lot of chances. Next time we have to believe more and play solid.
So here I am, remembering fondly of these memories, and looking forward to going home and making new memories for the future!!
Cheers, au revoir, adios!
June 27, 2009
Hey everyone!
Well, I'm writing in my break (finally!) between matches... although I am so tired that I'm sure my rest day tomorrow will go by too quickly! I played every day from Monday to Saturday -- singles, doubles, singles, doubles and mixed, and doubles today. I think I'm getting mentally exhausted, which is worse than physical exhaustion sometimes because it takes longer to recover!
I was the last player in the initial main draw acceptance list for Wimbledon, and after playing the qualifying of Aussie Open and Roland Garros, it was nice to finally come in the first week of main draw. I won my first round in singles, playing very well, and in my second round, I just felt a lot of pressure on myself to produce a good result, so I felt I played very forced and nervously. She played well, though, serving many aces and unreturnables. So my next goal is to pass a few rounds at Grand Slams because I've only passed the first round.
We won our third round of doubles today (I am playing with Anna-Lena Groenefeld from Germany), so we are now in the quarters. There is no match play on Sunday, and our opponents still have to play, so the earliest we will play is Tuesday. It's the first time I've been in the quarterfinals, as well, so I'm really excited! Three weeks ago I was in the finals of mixed, and now I'm in the quarters of doubles, so it's a year of new, better results for me! :)
I also played mixed with Jordan Kerr, but unfortunately we lost 6-4 in the third set. By the end of the third set, I don't think any of the four of us could see a thing. I had a lot of fun, though, and we tried our best, which is all you can ask for! (Well, you can ask for more, but you can't guarantee more.)
My coach did not let me out while I had matches, so other than walking to the little area of restaurants and markets in Southfields, I have been inside most of the time. I think after Paris, he decided that letting me out wasn't a good thing! He also tried to enforce a ban on gossiping, which somewhat worked, but of course I got my share in, haha! ;)
We are staying in Southfields, which is the district, I guess you could call it, right next to Wimbledon. Our apartment is about 10 to 15 minutes walk away, but when the crowds are busy, it might be double or triple the time. Last Sunday I went with a few other players to an afternoon church service and dinner, which was nice. Tomorrow there will be another service and BBQ, which I hope more people will attend! I would like to go shopping, but my friends who came to see me have gone, and not many of my other friends want to shop here, where the pound is so strong! Tennis players are very cheap, actually.
I did get to go see "Wicked" tonight, but I couldn't find anyone else interested in seeing it, so I went alone. The show was AMAZING, as expected, since I know all the words by heart, even though I've never seen the show before. I've sung songs from it, and I just love the music. I must reiterate that if a guy could sing "As Long as You're Mine" with me or to me... I would fall in love. I can't guarantee how long, but I would. I love that song so much, and when it's sung correctly, it's just...words can't describe it. I love great singing, anyways, but with the perfect music...
Okay, enough about that....
Bob asks: Vania, I had a league match the other day – a very hard-fought match at the 3.0 level. My opponent was trying all sorts of things, including leaving the court to go drink a beer. Is that legal?
Hi Bob. Well, I'm no expert on tennis rules, but first of all, I don't believe that drinking alcohol is not allowed. However, if your activities are longer than the allowed time (I believe it's 90 seconds on a changeover... maybe less?) then it is definitely not allowed. I don't think you can just walk off the court, either, but league rules might be different! Sorry I'm not too big of a help here, and good luck for next time!
Cheers everybody!
Read Vania's past blogs:
AEGON International, Eastbourne, England
Roland Garros in Paris
Madrid Open in Madrid, Spain
Italian Open in Rome
Family Circle Cup in Charleston, S.C.
Back home in California
Sony Ericsson Open in Key Biscayne, Fla.
BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, Calif.
Monterrey Open in Monterrey, Mexico
Regions Morgan Keegan Championships & the Cellular South Cup in Memphis, Tenn.
Dow Corning Tennis Classic in Midland, Mich.