Decatur, IL
On June 10th, we had the opportunity to play a W35k tournament very close to home in Decatur, IL. We flew out early the Friday before to Nashville to celebrate Madi’s 25th birthday with her family. After spending two fun days in Nashville, we drove home and got back to work, beginning practice on Sunday. With the tournament being in Decatur, we were able to stay at Madi’s house in Lexington, IL—just about an hour from the tournament site.
That Sunday, we practiced at Bloomington Country Club, where Madi grew up playing, which made for a special full-circle moment. It was such a great feeling to be back home for a tournament. On Monday, we drove over to Decatur to check out the tournament site and get a feel for the courts. For once, we were heading into a tournament as a seeded team—4th seeds!
There were a few factors leading into this tournament that made us hesitant about how it would go. One of the biggest was our equipment. We had both been using the same tennis racquets for four years—which, if you’re not familiar with tennis, is a really long time. Every time you restring a racquet, small pieces of graphite chip away, and over time the weight distribution shifts, which can significantly impact performance.
We had been saving up for months to finally invest in new racquets. The week before this tournament, we bit the bullet and each bought two new ones. Even though we got the exact same model as our old racquets, they felt completely different. Ideally, you want to switch racquets every two years at most. Since we pushed ours to four, they were well past their prime. We had started losing control over the ball and knew a change was necessary, but because we waited so long—mainly due to financial reasons—the transition was especially difficult.
When we hit on Sunday and Monday, we could already feel how different the new racquets were. During practice, they didn’t feel too bad, so we made the decision to use them in the tournament—after just two days of hitting with them. In hindsight, that turned out to be a huge mistake.
In the round of 16, we were matched up against an American team composed of sisters ranked around 1200 in the world. Their style of play was something we had never seen before. They hit every single ball aggressively and followed everything into the net. That constant pressure forced us to go for higher-risk shots just to stay in the points. But the moment we stepped into match play with our new racquets, we realized just how different it felt from practice. We had no feel on the ball—it felt like we didn’t even know how to play tennis. We lost this match 0–6, 0–6. It’s a match we’d love to erase from our memories forever.
That loss broke us mentally. We had finally gotten the chance to play a tournament close to home—and this was how we performed. On top of that, we were already emotionally and physically exhausted from two months of nonstop tournaments and packing up an entire house. Just three days after getting home from this trip, we were making the big move to Boca Raton, FL. Our minds were everywhere but on the court, and it showed.
After that match, we knew we needed to take a step back and get control of our lives off the court before we could continue competing. We had planned to drive to Kansas for a tournament the following week, but ultimately, we decided to skip it. Instead, we focused on adjusting to our new racquets and giving ourselves some space to reset.
We took a weekend trip up to Chicago to visit Anastasia’s family and train with her coach there. That week turned into the mental reset we desperately needed. We were surrounded by people who love and support us, and it reminded us that—no matter how bad one tournament feels—we're not alone. It helped us realize that while this loss hurt deeply, we still have so many people rooting for us.
This is a tournament we’ll try our best to forget, but the lessons will stay with us. When we return to the tournament circuit, we’ll be more mentally prepared and emotionally grounded. This journey isn’t easy. We hit a breaking point—and that’s okay. What matters now is how we come back from it.
Points Earned: 1
Price Breakdown
Flights: $250 x 2 = $500
Bags: $70 x 4 =$280
Tournament Entry: $20 x 2 =$40
Total Cost: $820
Total Earnings: $78
