I'm here in Arlington VA carrying my daughters, Mercedes, bags and such. She just won her first WPRO match in 5 games. That's great enough but she went through the entire rookie process in 1 match. Game 1 she had the butterflies so bad that she was pale and cold sweat ... hands were even shaking. Played hard but shooting % was way below 50% and she had about 3-4 fault serves ... most of which were Z's I think. Just trying to find a comfort level and pull out of the nerves... but never gave up on lost 16-14. Game 2 she got too comfortable, must have had an andrenaline depression and just got beat up 11-4. Game 3 it was ... there's nothing left to lose time ... she had settled down and it was tied about halfway through the game when she found "the serve" ... a deep Z which got her the game at 11-9. Game 4 she was again serving great and built a lead of 10-3 or 4 when she laid back a bit and let Tracy come back and tie her at 10-10. TO time... regroup and she got the serve back and served out. Game 5 she was in complete control ... serves were falling in and she was shooting comfortably and smart like I know she can.

What a win for a 17yr old. And not only did she come back but she pulled out the W which is big vs just getting rid of the butterflies.

Lots of fun. She's got Rhonda next :)

Tell her "way to go" for me, Ed.

Jim

It was a great match to watch. Both players played hard and the match was tight all the way through. Nice to have Mercedes starting to play some WPRO events. We hope to see her at more of them.

Excellent, congratulations!

What a GREAT story!

Congratulations to both!

Manny

Thanks guys. Mercedes actually played Rhonda very tough ... for 2 games anyway. It wasn't 1-2-3-4-5 ... there were a lot of sideouts, but Rhonda's shots are so crisp and accurate she couldn't get anything going on offense. Then she went up against #6 Cristina Amaya - great player from Colombia. Cristina served her bait serves ... aka low percentage returns which Mercedes got suckered into in game 1, but laid off in game 2 and was up 13-7 when she just ran out of gas and started making a lot of mistakes.

I'm so proud of Mercedes. She has really gotten good physically and with her shot selection/execution ... just needs to continuously step it up which she is more determined than ever following the prostop. Last night were playing some doubles ... she's playing the backhand and the hardest hitter in the club is ripping drive serves at her and she's ripping them harder coming back!!! Today I'm licking my wounds after playing her singles afterwards ... she had me 12-7 and I came back to win 15-14 ... she needs to get more mentally tough and finish the games :) ... lots of fun though.