As the 2007-2008 USF Dons season kicks underway yours truly has had a great opportunity to coach former All-American star from UC Cal Berkeley and 2004 graduate Raquel Kops-Jones of Fresno, CA at the US OPEN in Flushing Meadows, NY. Arriving here on Sunday August 19th, Raquel and I put in some good practices as she prepared for the women’s qualifying event. Lots of sparring with other WTA tour players and myself really had Raquel in good form.
Raquel currently 170 WTA needed to win three rounds in the qualifying draw to make the big stage. Rain delays and bad timing prevented her from going on first on at 11a.m. on Tuesday the 21st as we waited from 9 in the morning all the way till 6p.m. before they canceled play. Since she was scheduled to play early on Tuesday they made her play last on Wednesday. Raquel toughed out a 3 set match against a girl from Slovenia and was even cramping in the third but survived. At last round one completed as we leave flushing at 10:30p.m. to catch the bus. A sense of relief but joy from me is what has transpired as I look ahead to her 2nd round match.
Thursday comes around and she is 4th up on court 11. We wait for the Hugo Armando match to end and as soon as he does, we find out she has been switched to court 13. Raquel comes out firing and wins the first set against the 23 seed from China and jumps out to an early 5-1 lead in the second. Coast looks clear and I am already thinking wow she’s going to be in the last round of qualies!!! Well 5-2 goes by then 5-3 as I get a little tense inside and pretty soon it is 5-4 and I am thinking uh oh. Raquel gathers her composure and calmly serves out the match!!! What a sense of joy to see she is in the last round of qualies at the US OPEN. I am happy but realize she has some things she needs to work on and so I say to her right after the match lets go back on the practice court for 15 minutes as it near 10p.m. EST. We work on a few areas for those 15 minutes and go to the locker rooms and get ready for Thursdays battle as we leave Flushing late at night again.
Raquel is 4th on court 7 on Thursday and we anxiously wait the conclusion of the Scoville Jenkins match in the gym as we do some movement drills to get her going. The gym is packed with everyone doing the little extra it takes. I look over and Robby Ginepri is working on his core stability with the medicine ball with his trainer. Other WTA players are working on their flexibility, and a bunch of others are on the treadmills. Quickly the Scoville Jenkins match is over as his opponenet retires and just like that is it showtime. As she steps on to court 7 for the last round of qualies to battle against a girl from the Ukraine there is a good size crowd cheering her on as she is one of the few Americans left. Raquel again jumps out to a 3-1 lead and is playing well only to squander and lose the first set 7-6. Opportunity gone. Second set up comes around and she is up 3-1 and her opponent is about to have a mental breakdown. Raquel unfortunately plays a sloppy game and just like that it is 3-2 with it being back on serve. A pivotal 6th game goes back and fourth with the umpire making a terrible call on the far side against Raquel which would have given her a break point and turn the momentum right around. She indeed wins the next point which could have made it 4-2 but the girl is hanging tough and holds. I can feel the momentum slipping and just like that it goes break, hold, break and Raquel loses 6-3. The dream is over for the 2007 US OPEN. The hard work of the week has paid off but the opportunity to play in the big stage is gone. It was a tough feeling but sometimes you learn more from the losses than you do from the wins. It kind of reminded me of our chance this past April against USD in the 1st round of the WCC Championships and how we did not take what was ours. You only have so many opportunities to show what you are made of and the good players and teams always rise to the occasion and never let the moment pass them by. Hopefully all of these experiences will make her and our USF Dons team mentally tougher in the future. Go Dons!!!
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