Day 2 in Singapore, The Lion City

Written by: Staff on 13th December 2011

Day 2 in Singapore, The Lion City |

Ladies and Gents, I woke up refreshed this morning around 6am to a wonderful little breakfast of eggs, toast, and a traditional curry puff. Hopped on the MRT and rode for about twenty minutes to Farrer Park where I met with the director of the Karosi Academy, Zsolt Karosi. Along the way, a pretty bold child was playing in one of the stations and came up to me, grabbed my racket as I was holding it and looked up at me and started shadow swinging. This brought a smile to my face as these events don’t happen in the states. He didn’t do it with audacity, it was almost like pure curiosity, unthreatening and magical.

After meeting Zsolt, we hit for about an hour and in the warm humid morning, I was quick to discover my grip on the racket was soaked and in need of replacement. I hit in with a few of his morning lessons before he was kind enough to contact some of his other students and let them know I was in town and able to provide my services. It was even hotter today than it was yesterday because the sun kept poking through the clouds. In the afternoon, I had a hit with a precocious 14 year old named Xiuneng Wang. He’s a much better player than I was at that age. Yet after our hit where I tested all aspects of his game, it was clear he suffers from the same plights as many juniors I work with. In the beginning stages, the kids hit just about as well as me, freely and with confidence. As soon as I mention points, they get tentative, tight, and errors start to creep in. When I tell them to go back to hitting up the middle normally and with no lateral movement, they start hitting better than me again. So I had a little discussion with this young man about how to play points with the same kind of “unconciousness” that he does when we’re just hitting casually. It was a fun experience because his little brother was there with his family, video taping his performance. I remember when my father used to do the same thing when I would have a hit with a stronger older player. Being half-chinese helps my communication out here as well, I could foresee moving here one day in the future if the timing were right.

My mom joined me at the courts somehow, totally surprising me after my session. We stopped in little India before heading home and had the freshest, tastiest, and savory little late lunch one could ask for. I swear, western food is terribly old, processed, and flavor-less compared to the food out here. You can survive on these $3 and $4 meals, the lack of portion size is made up for by taste and presentation. We shared our usual Singaporean milk tea, ordered chicken and nasi bryani served on a large banana leaf, mutton soup where the lamb practically melted in your mouth with a broth that was so good I drank the rest of the entire bowl. Fat and satisfied with the day’s work, we did a little shopping in the area for incense and curry powder before heading home. You’ve never been so relieved as I was when I finally took a cold shower, shedding all of my sweaty clothes and socks. I think I’ll laze around outside, read a book, and watch the sky change colors for a bit before heading to bed and starting another adventure tomorrow. There’s a pro women’s exhibition that starts on the 16th featuring 5 women from the top 50 including Stosur and Azarenka, let’s see if I can sneak in and get a hit in with one of them