Diary

Indu
Anand

Past Entries

June 16, 2005

Once again, we are the NCAA national champion, for the third year in a row. Even though we were only seeded No. 3 at the national championship, we were confident that we could win again.

We arrived in Kalamazoo, Michigan, late at night on Monday, May 16th We were amazed by the luxurious Victorian bed and breakfast house where we were staying. After exploring the house and meeting our wonderful host we went to bed ready for practice the next morning.

We woke up the next morning to the smell of fresh banana nut muffins and cinnamon French toast. After the breakfast we went to the courts to check in, practice, and scope out the competition. The other players were tough, but we were tougher!

We had lunch at Rollie Pollie and later that day, we attended a players' meeting and a small parade before going to the amazing banquet where we loaded up on carbs and dove into the sundae bar. When we got back to our house, we gathered into Richie and Lindsay's room to watch TV and prepare for our first day of competition.

We woke up Wednesday morning to Jamie running around the house screaming at the top of her lungs, "EMORY TENNIS! EMORY TENNIS! WAKE UP! EMORY TENNIS!" The entire house was up in a minute. After our breakfast Jamie, Lindsay, Linda and I went next door to the Kalamazoo Art Institute. We looked at the paintings and took pictures.

After our lunch at Rollie Pollie, which was our lunch every day in Kalamazoo, we went to the courts to warm up for our quarterfinal match against Redlands (Calif.). Mary Ellen Gordon, former Emory tennis national champion, and Jamie's parents were there supporting us at the match.

Lindsay and I crushed our opponents 8-0 in the doubles and Emory was up 2-1 going into the singles. We won the next three singles matches to move us into the next round. After a filling dinner at Pasta Pasta we went back to our house to watch, "Meet the Fockers." It was too funny!

The next morning we woke up once again to Jamie's screaming and also the pouring rain. My parents drove up that morning to make it to our semifinal match of the championship against the No. 2 seed, Amherst (Mass.).

We played our matches indoors and won all three doubles in amazing comeback victories; however, singles did not go so well. Linda and I were waiting patiently for open courts. Jamie won her match, but now all the pressure was on me to win my match, so we could go onto the finals.

After winning the first set in a tiebreaker, with the support of all my teammates and the other fans, I won the match, 6-3 in the second set. We went out to dinner at a steakhouse to celebrate our amazing win. We showed that we were still green and growing!

Friday morning we woke up to my screaming rather than Jamie's. We were ready to take on the No. 1 seed, Washington & Lee (Va.). Before leaving to Rollie Pollie for lunch we did our usual morning jog. Poor Linda tripped and scraped herself badly, but she's a warrior and toughed it through. Serena's mom had come to the hosue and brought us Amazing M&M bars because we are all amazing.

We got to the courts for our warm-up and to my surprise, my little sister Anu and my friend Mike from Emory had driven up to cheer us on! Before we started play, I recited a beautifully written pump up speech that I had prepared that morning. This got everyone in the mood to dominate!

Lindsay and I won our doubles and Jamie and Carina had an amazing nerve-wracking doubles match. We were up 2-1 going into the singles. After I came off the court, we were up 3-1. Jamie came off soon after with an amazing win making the score 4-2.

Poor Linda was up 4-1 in the second set and about to win; however, painful cramps took over her body and she was rushed to the emergency room unable to finish her match!

In the meantime, Richie had lost the first set, won the second set, and was up 2-1 in the third. The entire championship final came down to Richie's match!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Like always, the Eagles prevail! Richie came through to win the match on a double fault! We did it again! We were the national champions! We accepted our trophy and NCAA watches with pride. Linda and Amy were in the hospital together, but they were with us in spirit!

Indu Anand is a freshman from Burr Ridge, Ill. She would love to answer e-mail questions from Emory recruits and fans.