Future Fed Cupper Diary: Christina McHale

Day 7: Sunday, Feb. 3, 2008

Today was not exactly the day we had been hoping for. Julia and I woke up for a couple of minutes this morning at 6:30, and we were happy to find that it wasn’t raining outside. However, not even five minutes later, it started to pour. At 8:30, we went to go eat breakfast, where we met up with the rest of the team. The rain didn’t seem to be letting up, so Lori took Julia and me to the gym, where we did a treadmill and upper-body workout.

By accident, when we were doing the treadmill workout, instead of doing intervals of a one-minute sprint and then a two-minute jog, Julia was doing intervals of a one-minute sprint and then a one-minute jog. She didn’t seem to think it was very funny, but I did.

After that intense workout, we went back to the room to shower, and then we took a walk to the stadium court to see how it looked. It wasn’t raining as hard any more, but the court was absolutely drenched. We then grabbed some lunch and headed back to the room to do some homework and just relax. It wasn’t a very eventful morning, but now Julia is going to tell you all about our Super Bowl afternoon.

Day 6: Saturday, Feb. 2, 2008

Hey everyone!

Today was very different from the other days that we have had here at Fed Cup because the actual matches started, but we were still equally as busy.

At 7:30 a.m., we met Jean and Lori at the stadium for a live interview with the local San Diego Fox station. The reporter asked us some general questions about this particular Fed Cup, and, according to Lori and Jean, we did a great job.

After the interview was done, we went back to eat some breakfast. It was funny because while we were eating, Wade came into the breakfast room and said that he turned on his TV while he was getting ready this morning, and he almost had a heart attack when he saw us. We were thrilled to find out that someone had actually seen us on TV that early in the morning.

At 8:45, Julia and I headed off to stadium court again, where we played some doubles points with Lisa Raymond to get her ready for her match tomorrow. We played for about an hour, and then we had some time to spare before it was time for the team to meet at 11:30.

At 11:30, the entire team, including coaches and USTA staff, met for a quick pep talk before we all headed off to the stadium. The energy from the crowd was great, and Julia and I could not wait for the matches to start.

We took our courtside seats with the rest of the Fed Cup team, and began to watch Lindsay play against Sabine Lsicki. Sabine started off playing really well, and Lindsay didn’t seem like she was feeling her shots at all. We all really tried to pump up Lindsay and show her positive energy, but unfortunately she ended up losing, 6-1, 7-5. It wasn’t the start that we had hoped for, but the end of the day ended much better.

Now read Julia’s blog to hear about the rest of the day.  


Day 5: Friday, Feb. 1, 2008

Hey everyone! After the beach run, Julia and I were excited to finally grab some lunch after a long morning. During lunch we had a chat with the official doctor for the team, who talked to us about the importance of having a balance in our lives to prevent ourselves from burning out. From there we went back to the room to relax for thirty minutes, and then we were back out on the court at 2:30.

We started off with the classic one minute drill that we’ve been doing all week, where we have to rally for a minute straight without hitting any balls in the service boxes. We then warmed up our volleys, overheads, and serves and began to play a set. However, it started to drizzle in the middle of our set, so our practice was cut a bit short. Just as we were heading back to our room, we were told by all the coaches that they had just remembered that we had to prepare a speech for the official dinner, where there would be over a hundred and twenty people present. Julia and I tried to keep our composure, but when we got back to the room we were so nervous.

After we had showered and changed into the matching outfits, we spent the next hour making index cards for our speech and frantically practicing what we were going to say. When it was finally 6:30, we headed down to the area where our whole team was meeting, and the German team was there as well. After a couple of minutes, Zina started to laugh and told us that she and the other coaches had played a trick on us, and that all we had to do was give our speech in front of the two teams. I have to admit they got us pretty good.

After we finished our mini speeches, we headed off to the “Walnut Room”, where the official dinner was being held. It was pretty cool because Julia and I got to sit at the same table with the entire U.S. team. While we ate the delicious food, numerous people made speeches, including the captains from both the U.S. and German teams. I was surprised when the teams exchanged gifts after dinner, but apparently it’s a tradition for both teams to do so at an event like this. Anyways, the matches start tomorrow, and Julia and I are very excited to be able to sit courtside and cheer for Lindsay and Ashley. I’ll keep you posted on how things go!  

Day 4: Jan. 31, 2008

At 3:40, we got the word that over on center court they were ready for us, so Julia and I grabbed our bags and headed off to the stadium. We got onto the stadium court and started playing some doubles tiebreakers against our opponents, Lindsay Davenport and Lisa Raymond!! Despite the fact that Julia and I were quite nervous to play against them, I think we held our own very well, though, and we barely lost the first tiebreak, 8-6.

We played a couple more points, and then we changed the teams so that we could each have a chance to experience Lindsay and Lisa as our partners. Julia first played with Lindsay against Lisa and me, and then Lindsay and I played against Julia and Lisa. It was really interesting to see how they mixed up the shots they hit, rather than just trying to smack every ball at net. It was such an amazing experience getting to play with and against them, and the first thing Julia and I said to each other when we got off the court was, “I can’t believe we just played with Lindsay Davenport and Lisa Raymond!”

Once we were done with that, Julia and I had to quickly rush back to the room to shower and get dressed because we had to go to a charity event for San Diego tennis with Lori McNeil and Jean Nachand.

At this event, they had a mini “quick-start” tournament, where eight young players played with eight ex-Fed Cup players. “Quick-start” tennis is a game played in a much smaller court with a foam ball. Although we were a little disappointed in Lori McNeil’s performance, as she and her partner lost first round, it was actually quite funny watching all the mini matches take place.

After the charity event ended, we quickly got back into the car because Julia and I had massages set up back at the hotel to help relieve our sore muscles. Anyway, I should go because we have an early practice tomorrow. I’ll keep you posted!

Day 3: Jan. 30, 2008

Hey everyone! Today was another busy day. After Julia and I ate breakfast, we went to go watch Lindsay Davenport practice. It was incredible to see how deep she hit every single ball, and even with how windy it was outside, she hardly missed. I think in the whole 30 minutes that we were watching, she only hit two balls into the net.

From there, we went to go practice with Lori McNeil and Jean Nachand, and the main goal of our practice was to try and incorporate what we had just seen in Lindsay’s practice.

After about an hour and a half, we quickly had to change into our USA tracksuits and head to the media center because it was now time for the pre-draw press conference. I thought it might take awhile, but the reporters asked very brief, short questions, so it was over within five minutes. My favorite part of the whole press conference was when after everyone had left, Julia and I got to take some pictures from up on the podium, as if we were the actual players being asked the questions.
 
After that we grabbed some lunch and then were off to another practice. Now read Julia’s blog to see how our afternoon and team dinner went. I’ll keep you posted again tomorrow!

Day 2: Jan. 29, 2008

Wow! I am already tired, and it has only been the first day. I woke up at 6 a.m. to this loud, obnoxious sound of rushing water, but I was so tired that I was able to fall back asleep within minutes. Julia, however, didn’t have the same luck and spent the next two hours trying to figure out where it was coming from. It turns out that it was just the gardeners watering the plants outside our hotel room door.

Anyway, since we were both so excited to get our team uniforms, we got dressed in them and headed off to the breakfast room. It is really nice because the hotel has set up a private room for the whole U.S. team and staff to eat all our meals in.

While we were at breakfast we were introduced to the captain of the team, Zina Garrison, who was really friendly. After we ate, we went back to our room to get our rackets and then headed out to the designated U.S. practice court. Julia and I got to practice with one of the members of the Fed Cup team, Laura Granville. We had a number of coaches with us on the court, including Zina Garrison, Lori McNeil, Wade McGuire, Jean Nachand and the physio, Amber. It was really amazing to get all this personal attention from such great coaches.

Our practice consisted of a lot of really intense two on ones. After an hour, we got to move over to the stadium court to hit because it was now our turn to have that court. After two hours of that hard practice, we were now ready for our first fitness of the day. We started off with three horizontals, three verticals and three diagonal repeaters. Just when I thought we were done, Lori told us we had to run three 17’s. It was a very intense morning to say the least!

After that intense morning, we went back to our room to quickly shower and then grab some lunch, where I have to admit I made a pretty amazing sandwich. Now read Julia’s blog to hear about our afternoon. Talk to you tomorrow.

Day 1: Jan. 28, 2008

Hi Everyone!

I am Christina McHale, and I am 15 years old. I am originally from New Jersey, but I just recently started training at the USTA Boca Training Center. I am writing to you because this week I have the great privilege and honor of being one of the “Future Fed Cuppers” for the U.S. team’s quarterfinal-round tie against Germany.

The Fed Cup this week is being held in San Diego at the La Jolla Beach and Tennis Club, and I just arrived here late in the afternoon today. I stopped by my room to quickly unpack because I had to go meet some of the Fed Cup staff. The whole staff was really nice, and I was super excited when they gave me my team uniform.

After that, a number of the USTA staff and my fellow “Future Fed Cupper,” Julia Boserup, and I all went out to a little restaurant near the hotel. I had a great time because I loved hearing all the funny stories they had to share about the previous Fed Cups and Davis Cups. It was really weird for me, though, to hear them refer to the pros on a first-name basis, and I was constantly nudging Julia to ask if the Andy they were talking about was Andy Roddick or if that Martina in the story was, in fact, Martina Navratilova. Turns out it was.

Once dinner ended, we all came back to the hotel and went our separate ways. We have a busy day tomorrow, so I will keep you posted!

Future Fed Cupper Diary: Julia Boserup