Make yourself heard

Let's face it. As women most of us got the message that we're supposed to placate, get along, be seen but not heard. If you look at who's winning on the tennis courts, you might want to rethink the wallflower approach. It certainly worked for Monica Seles (above), one of the original grunters on the WTA tour.

Last night a friend who I'm playing doubles with in a social tournament on Sunday told me to try grunting when I serve. She's rated 3.5 and has a pretty powerful first serve. Her advice comes from a serve clinic she attended last weekend. After work tonight, I went out with my ball hopper (thankfully, I was the only on the two courts) and gave it a whirl. Definitely gave my serve a little extra oomph. Maybe it will psych out the competition on Sunday.

Licking my wounds, so to speak

This week I was missing being at Stanford (blasphemy, since I work at Cal) and watching so many great WTA players. What was there to do but hit the courts again? Unfortunately, I was a bit literal minded about this when I dove for a ball during a practice doubles game with my team, the Sweet Spots (very cute, huh?). The good news is that I found the wherewithal to roll. I scraped my arm badly and both my knees. Now, 48 hours later, I'm sore (bruised right hip, sore left shoulder, tight neck). So, the dive was a bonehead move. Nonetheless, there's a part of me that's proud of my (practice) war wounds.