Boca Raton, FL
After a grueling drive home from Mississippi on Friday April 4th, our weekend was anything but restful. While Madi worked long hours at Busch Gardens, we were already prepping for our next tournament—this time in Boca Raton, Florida. As soon as she got home Sunday evening, we hit the road again. Luckily, the 4.5-hour drive felt like a breeze compared to Mississippi.
We checked into a hotel near the tournament site and dove into our usual routine: a solid practice session and signing up for the doubles draw. The courts felt great, and we were pumped for the competition. But when the draw dropped that evening, we got hit with a curveball—we didn’t make it in. Instead, we were the number one alternates. Confused, we dug into the rankings and saw we had a better cumulative ranking than one of the accepted pairs. Something didn’t add up.
Thankfully, the tournament supervisor took the time to explain everything. Turns out, doubles draws factor in singles rankings too—a detail we had no clue about. Though disappointed, we put our names on the alternate list and hoped for the best.
Then, Florida weather struck. Torrential rain canceled all matches the next day, delaying the tournament. By Wednesday, with no guarantee of getting in and no hotel left to stay in, we had no choice but to head home.
After a draining 5-hour drive and barely unpacking, Anastasia decided to check the draw one last time before bed. While looking at the draw, she saw that one of the teams had a slot open next to it and it said alternates on it.
Within seconds, she sprinted to Madi’s room, and soon after, Madi was on the phone with the supervisor. If we could be back in Boca by 1:30 PM the next day, the spot was ours. Chaos ensued. We scrambled to call out of work (awkward, since we’d just told our boss we were coming back), lined up a sitter for Guinness, and got ready for one more shot at competition and an opportunity to earn more points!
We left home again at 7 AM, handed Guinness off to the sitter and drove down to Boca Raton. We made it just in time—20 minutes to warm up before stepping onto the court to face a really high level team. An American who won NCAA singles championships 2 years ago, and her partner from Spain who is currently ranked #400 in the world. Challenging matchup and they were not even seeded at the tournament, that is how high the level was at this 35k.
Two games in it started to rain and the match was delayed 25 minutes. We remained focused and took on adversity as a challenge.
The first set was very close. Everyone held their serve comfortably. Then at 5-5, we found our opening—broke serve, went up 6-5, and earned FOUR set points. After a couple of bad errors and built up pressure, the momentum shifted quickly and all of a sudden we were trailing behind until we lost the 1st set 7-6. Very disappointing at the moment but we still had a lot of tennis ahead of us. Our momentum and confidence only grew in the 2nd set and soon enough we won the 2nd set without even realizing it. To be completely honest: we didn’t quite regroup fast enough for the deciding 10-point breaker. They came out swinging, we couldn’t match the fire quick enough, and it ended 10-6. It was quite heartbreaking but what a journey.
From being left out of the draw, to getting in at the last minute, to nearly taking down one of the strongest teams there, we walked away with a WTA point, a ton of hard-earned lessons, and proof that we belong at this level.
Total Points Earned: 1
Price Breakdown
Hotel: $65 (thanks to hotel points)
Gas: $200
Food: $100
Tournament Entry: $20 x 2 =$40
Total Cost: $405
Total Earnings: $156
