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Brooke Bolender © Cynthia Lum |
Brooke Bolender of Delray Beach, Fla., is competing in the final Easter Bowl of her junior career and is seeded eighth in the girls' 18s draw. The 18-year-old right-hander has been one of the top junior players in the country over the last several years and will move on to college this coming fall, when she will join the Michigan Wolverines women's tennis team. Bolender is writing about her experiences at the Easter Bowl this week in an exclusive blog for USTA.com. Check back daily for updates.
Thursday, April, 15, 2010
Hello world, it’s me again. Well, it's official. My Easter Bowl career is over. I have played my final match at the wonderful tournament they run here in Palm Springs. It came to an end sooner than I would have liked, but, hey, that’s okay! My partner and I lost a tough match today against Courtney Dolehide and Ellen Tsay. They played very well. However, I am happy for Robin because she’ll be battling in the semifinals tomorrow afternoon!
Well, today started off just as the last five days have started off. I woke up, ate some breakfast and just chilled at the room with my mom for a little. I did some nice ESPN watching and was nice and comfortable just lying in bed. Once I went to the site, I warmed up Robin and just sat around and was a spectator for the majority of the day. Once Robin was done with her singles, we walked around and watched a couple other matches, then went to hit together. Our doubles started at 5:00, so we got ready for that and hit the courts. It didn’t go as well as we wanted, but it happens!
After that, Robin and I waited around for a little before racking up a group of girls to go to dinner. As we were waiting to go to dinner, we were luckily entertained by Kyle McPhillips doing her “Dougie” dance for us. I believe her goal was to learn the entire dance. After the free dance show, it was time to go to dinner. We went to a delicious Italian restaurant with a large group of like 15 people. It was a lot of fun!
Well, since I am out of the tournament, I am sadly leaving beautiful Palm Springs for the last time. It has been a nice run here. I can say with confidence that I will miss this tournament. There are some very exciting matches planned for tomorrow with the girls' 18s semifinals and the guys' 18s quarterfinals, so I’m sure there will be exciting results for everyone tomorrow!
Go Blue!
Brooke
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Hello all. Well, I have some good news, and I have some bad news... well, I guess it depends who you are. I wasn’t as successful in singles today as I was hoping. I lost a tough battle to my friend, Lauren Herring. Apparently there are rumors going around now that we hate each other because of the match, but we’re both just laughing those off. Gotta love rumors! So, anyways, back to the good news! Robin and I were happy with how the doubles went again today with a nice win over a solid team, so that was a good way to end the day.
My day started off about the same as all of the others. I woke up, ate some yummy breakfast and went to warm up at the main site. While waiting for my match time, I walked around and cheered on a couple of people, including Alexios. He had a solid 3-set win today. After that, it was time to play. I have known Lauren for a long time. People have said we are inseparable, but we have never played against each other in singles, so I knew it would be an interesting day. I ended up losing what felt like a life-time long match, 4 in the third. It was a heart-breaker, but I’m happy if anyone moves on to the quarters it’s a friend. Because my match was so long, the wait in between singles and doubles was only an hour, so I guess that’s a positive! After doubles, I left the site and went to one of my favorite places on Earth... PANERA! It definitely made the day better. Once I got back to the hotel, I decided it just wouldn’t be right to do any school tonight, so I chose “American Idol” instead. Don’t worry, I’ll catch up tomorrow!
There was a basketball game played tonight that I was particularly interested in because it determined who the Cleveland Cavaliers' first victim in the playoffs would be, and I was extremely happy to hear that they would be taking on, and beating, the Chicago Bulls. I would like to congratulate the Bulls fans (Evan King) for making it to the playoffs, even though it’ll be short-lasting. I also would like to give a shout out to Bob Van Overbeek because he has been such a dedicated reader of the informational blog I have been writing everyday for you all. Bob is currently doing some damage in college tennis for the Florida Gators, even though personally I think he would have made a pretty spectacular Wolverine.
Well, that’s about all the news I have for you all today. I’m sure there will be some more tomorrow, as the quarterfinals always bring out more drama! Hopefully I’ll come back with some more solid news then!
Go Blue!
Brooke
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Hello again, everyone! I’m happy to say that today was very successful in singles and doubles. The weather was much improved from the 1,000 mph of wind that we all went through yesterday.
I started the day by waking up and eating some delicious breakfast before heading to the site to warm up with my doubles partner Robin Anderson. It was a solid warm up, in my opinion. Once 11:30 came around, I got ready to play and was happy to hear they were exactly on time, so I went on the court right at 11:30. I ended up having to play my friend, Courtney Dolehide, and was fortunate to come away with a win. She’s an awesome player. After singles, I decided to go back to the hotel before doubles since we weren’t scheduled to play until 5:45!
The drive back to the hotel was more exciting than necessary. My mom and I definitely missed the street we needed to turn on and got completely turned around! It made the drive back much longer than needed. To say the least, we were happy when we finally found our street again. So at the hotel, I crashed on the bed and was happy to see that "Law & Order SVU" was on -- one of the most amazing shows ever. I watched some cops solve a crime and got ready to leave for the site again. When I got there, I hit with my partner again, and we were ready to play. We have never played together before, and we were both happy with how the first time went.
By the time we left the site it was already past 7 PM! It was too late to go to dinner, so we grabbed something quick and got back to the room. We were in a rush because "American Idol" was starting soon, and I had to get back to see everyone perform!
Now it is time for another shout out to no one other than Trice Capra. We all miss her dearly. I think this is the first year since we were about 12 that we aren’t playing this together. We have spent almost every birthday for the last five years together, but we missed out this year. I would also like to give a shout out to Nathan Pasha, even though he was talking about how the Cleveland Cavs aren’t going to make it to the NBA finals. He doesn’t know what he’s talking about. I have one other thing I’d like to share... the new college rankings came out today, and I am happy to say that Michigan stayed in the top 5 with a solid ranking of 4 in the country. HERE WE GO MICHIGAN!
Okay, well, it’s time to finish watching "The Biggest Loser." Don’t judge. I play my buddy, Lauren Herring, tomorrow. We’ve never played before, so it’ll be fun! Our match is scheduled for 1:30, and doubles is scheduled for 5:15, so it’ll be another long day! Hopefully I’ll come back with more good news!
I’ll update more tomorrow. GO BLUE!
Brooke
Monday, April 12, 2010
I’m back again guys! Well today was a successful but decently long day for everyone, especially the Girls' 18s singles. I woke up to find out that it had rained during the night and some in the morning- I thought this was the desert! Even though there was rain the matches were only pushed back two hours, so my match was scheduled for 3:45. I went to warm up with my buddy Lauren Herring and it was windy to say the least. Once we got to the site it surprisingly started raining again, but this time it was sunny and raining at the same time. I was confused. It didn’t rain for long and the matches were back on the court. Even though today was the first day, there were intense matches going on. I walked around a little and watched some matches to make the time pass only to hear Justin Rossi sing “Hail to the Victors” (Michigan’s fight song) to me every time I passed by. It was solid! We’re going to Michigan together next year.
As I was watching matches I got closer and closer to playing and finally went on the court. It was a successful day for me; I played well and was happy with the day’s work. The girl’s doubles draw came out so there was talk about who everyone played in the first round, and I’m very excited to get started in the dubs. Speaking of doubles today is my partner's 17th birthday. HAPPY BIRTHDAY ROBIN!! So after my match I stretched a little, had a nice conversation with THE Gabe Flores and headed back to the hotel. After I got all nice and clean my mom and I headed to dinner and grabbed from groceries for the room. When I got back it was one of my least favorite times: math time. I tackled some math for a little and now it is time to relax. I’m not sure who I play tomorrow but I play at 11:30 so I’m hoping the wind won’t be awake yet while I’m on the court. I’m pretty sure all the girls played in a tornado today it was so windy!
Well I’m off to get ready for my match tomorrow, I’m sure I’ll have more stuff to tell you all afterwards The guys' 18s starts tomorrow and that always is exciting to see!
GO BLUE!
Brooke
Sunday, April 11, 2010
Hey guys,
My name is Brooke Bolender, and I am blogging from the Easter Bowl for everyone this year. This is my final year here... I can’t believe it! I am taking blogging duty over from the one and only Grace Min, who did a fantastic job keeping everyone informed last week.
I got to Palm Springs today after a scenic drive from Carson with Lauren Herring and my mom. When I got there, I met with my doubles partner, Robin Anderson, and we headed to practice. Since the 14s started today at the main site, we had to drive to the Indian Wells site to practice. That is one nice site! After the hit, we headed over to check in, only to fill out a hundred forms that everyone has to fill out there. This year was the first year I was old enough to sign my own forms! :) After check in was complete, I ended my day at the site and headed back to the hotel.
On a different note, there were a couple other sporting events that went on during the day. I was sad to see Tiger did not have the sick comeback I was hoping for, but he’ll be back in no time. However, the Michigan women’s tennis team had a very nice win over the Ohio State Buckeyes today at home. GO BLUE! That makes them undefeated in the BIG 10. I would also like to tell everyone that the Lakers continued their slump with a solid loss to the Trail Blazers, sorry to Ray and Alexios... NOT! Let’s go Cavs! I have another shout out to Bulls fan Evan King (2009 EASTER BOWL CHAMP!!) for their nice victory today over the Raptors, which puts them in a nice 8th place.
It’s getting late, and I have to get ready for my match tomorrow against a tough opponent at 1:45, so I will have to update you guys tomorrow! GO BLUE!
Brooke