Krista Hardebeck is one of the rising young stars of junior tennis. Now ranked No. 1 in the USTA Girls' 18s and a career-high 36th in the ITF World Junior Rankings, the 16-year-old from Santa Ana, Calif., has had an impressive year, highlighted by back-to-back wins at the USTA International Spring Championships and Easter Bowl in April. Hardebeck is taking time from her busy schedule to write a blog from this week's Dunlop Orange Bowl in Key Biscayne, Fla. Check back daily for updates.
Hello Everyone!
My name is Krista Hardebeck, and this is my blog all about my experiences at the 2010 Orange Bowl. Today was a pre-game prepping day. Nothing too exciting; just some hitting and preparing for our matches.
After I woke up, I had some breakfast at the cafe in our hotel. Then I took the shuttle over to hit with my friend and doubles partner Chanelle Van Nguyen. Since we didn't have a court until 12:30, Chanelle wanted to walk around to see if there was an empty court. Lucky us, we found a court that ended up staying open for an hour and a half, so we got in a good, long hit.
After hitting, I chilled around the site for a little bit and said hi to all of my long lost friends. I love these tournaments so much because I get to see some people I only get to see once a year!
After this, I hit with my friends, Vicky Duval and Ester Goldfeld. After our hit, I checked the draw and saw that first round I play a qualifier or lucky loser. Then I went back to the hotel and started getting ready for dinner. I was so excited because there was going to be an awesome player party! Once I was ready, I went down to eat dinner with my very good friend, Catherine Harrison.
When we first got there, not much was going on. We played some Wii, ate our dinner and waited for more people to come. Soon enough, more of our friends started to flood in. Just as the party was getting started (at least for our group of friends), my very good friend and roommate Grace Min finally arrived! Once I got back to the party, my friends and I were ready to dance. To put it bluntly, we gave a new definition to the phrase "dancing with ourselves." Hardly any other people danced with us, but we still had an absolute blast. All in all, I would say Orange Bowl: Day 1 was a success!
Thanks for reading!
Love, Krista