After what seemed like an intense hour of playing tennis under the impossibly blazing hot sun, that's what I am. What I felt like.

My opponent for the tournament I attended earlier today was an eight year old girl who had started playing when she was five. Believe me, she's not that good at all. What I'm trying to say is, I could've beaten her if it wasn't for the sky's shining eye. I couldn't serve properly at all because of its glare, and my skin felt like it was set on fire. It was almost torturous.

In the beginning, I was playing all well and fine. I did all my firm and fast shots, and they were nicely placed. But as time went by, my hard shots turned into flying snails and slowly flew over the net. As if that wasn't bad enough, they all kept flying out of the court. What started out as 3-0 with me in the lead turned out to be 5-7, the first set's win being my opponent's.

I really did feel like giving up already, when the second set got to 2-0, me being left behind. But I felt like I needed to push myself more so I gave myself some self-motivation. It kind of worked, because I'm sure I would've started crawling on the ground already if I didn't have any. I got myself thinking, 'C'mon! You can get this game, Tsing Yu! Win this match!' I kind of held my ground, and it might have been good for my mental health. I might have held my ground a little too much. Either that, or not enough.

The points wouldn't move! It kept changing from Advantage Server, to Deuce, to Advantage Receiver, to Deuce, and back again to the start. It seemed to go on forever! I would have given in already if I wasn't pushing myself so hard. It wasn't enough though, cause in the end I still gave away the game. 3-0 it is, then!

The little girl wanted to go use the washroom, so I sat in the shade and waited. My face was flushed, looking like a tomato, and I was breathing in and out quite heavily. I was feeling down in the dumps, blaming myself for not being to perform better. Coach arrived and said something along the lines of, "There's no shame in retiring, you know. You should if you want to." I shamelessly jumped at the chance of getting away and thus gave the match away.

I don't really have any regrets about today. I really really really thank my friends' and my own coach, Michael, for supporting us so much. And not only that, he's been so tolerant with us, he's amazing. I don't feel like I've let myself down, but I do feel like I've let him down. I feel like he's been just too kind to us, paying for the tournament's fees, buying us lunch and arranging the transportation.

So, thank you, coach. And mom too, in the sidelines, for being so understanding and allowing me to go for tennis class and attend tournaments like this.

P.S. I hope you're better now, Mandy. You had put so much into your matches, and you should be proud. Don't look down on yourself all the time. As for Yee Ling, I hope your ankle heals swiftly! I miss you already. It's a pity you couldn't come with us on this little adventure of the 21st of March.

-My tennis related events started at six in the morning, and ended at four in the afternoon-