Last weekend, Andrea and I went to Amelia Island to have a chill weekend together and to watch the Ukrainian team take on the Romanians in the Billie Jean King Cup. Due to the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, the tie was staged by the Elina Svitolina Foundation in Amelia Island. We have been Svitolina fans for quite a while and it was an awesome opportunity to see some top tennis players near to us.
The format for the tiebreak matches is to have two lines of singles play the first day, then two lines of singles the second day along with a doubles match. The first day, Ukrain's Lesia Tsurenko beat Ana Bogdan in the first match, and Elina Svitolina beat Jaqueline Cristian in the second. Ukraine's victory seemed certain going in to Saturday, but Cristian won over Tsurenko and Bogdan beat Svitolina. So, going in to the doubles match, both teams were tied up with 2 wins each. The Romanians decided to switch up their lineup, presumably since Cristian and Bogdan had been playing so well, and put them back in for another match against Ukrainian twins Lyudmyla and Nadiia Kichenok. We were rooting for the Ukrainian team, but the Romanians prevailed and it was certainly an exciting ending.
We enjoyed the matches, and it was the closest we've been to the players during a match. At times when they came to the side of the court to wipe off with a towel, they could be close enough to reach out and touch. Andrea got a pic with Elina Svitolina and with Lesia Tsurenko, although they weren't super smiley in the pics as they weren't having much success at the time.
On Sunday morning, we did some tennis clinics at the resort, and overall it was a perfect weekend. The weekend was also a momentus weekend as it was the first time we left our kids at home overnight unsupervised. The kids did a good job setting alarms and making all their appointments and to work. We're proud of them for being responsible and independent.
No comments:
Post a Comment