17th National Korean American Sports Festival 2013

17th National Korean American Sports Festival 2013

The past summer, the 17th Korean American National Sports Festival was played in Kansas. I had the exceptional privilege of being on Chicago's tennis representative team. I was the very last player in the bracket and I got absolutely destroyed by a division 1 college player. His serve was absolutely amazing and he represented Washington in the team event. Washington ended up taking gold medal in the singles and team event, but Chicago managed to get Silver in Singles and team event. There may not have been much competition in this years tournament but it was still very difficult considering the states that were represented. Our team was asked to go play against the Korean Olympic Tennis team in Korea but Chicago had to unfortunately turn down the offer due to conflicting schedules. Chicago managed to win this years Korean Sports Festival, or "Korean Olympics" as I like to call it. Chicago's Korean Association was very proud and the president was featured on television.

Korean Tournament 2013

The Korean Tournament is an biannual tennis tournament that is hosted by the KTAC(Korean Tennis Association of Chicago). This tournament was just recently played on October 18-20. This is the 28th biannual Korean Tournament. There are three separate events that take place, individual singles, individual doubles, and team events. I played individual singles and lost in the first round against the runner-up, Jinwoo Oak. He was a great college player and it was a fun reunion for he is my doubles partner. On the second day, October 19, it was individual doubles and my partner and I, managed to get runner up and we gained a lot of experience. It was a great experience, and I liked playing doubles. On team events, my team, The Dream Team managed to get first place for the third straight year. Our team is starting to become the dominating force in the Korean Tournament. My partner and I managed to go undefeated until we faced our final opponents who were division 1 college players. The other two doubles teams in our team managed to win their match. In the end, the Korean Tournament was a success in the individual doubles category and the team event category but a slight failure in the individual singles category. Next year will be a better year and I will play harder.

US Open 2k13 August 26-September 9

One of the largest tennis tournaments of the world recently finished, The US Open.  All of the players played extremely well but Rafael Nadal managed to take home the 1st place prize by defeating the 1st seed Novak Djokovic.  I personally wanted my favorite player, Roger Federer, to win but Mr. Federer is starting to get old and is having some difficulty with the younger players.  He used to be a god of tennis but he has sadly started to lose his touch, but you'll always be my favorite player Federer!  Back to the main story, Djokovic and Nadal had an incredible match and one point even consisted of a 54 ball rally.  Nadal played amazing tennis and managed to beat Djokovic 6-2, 3-6, 6-4, and 6-1.  I personally felt bad for Djokovic because when I watched him on the television screen, it looked like he was trying his absolute best to win but he just couldn't handle it.  Nadal managed to play some amazing points and its even more amazing because he had recently recovered from a knee surgery that kept him off the courts for months.  Some other notable champions to be mentioned are the Women's Champion Serena Williams, Men's juniors Champion, Borna Coric, and Women's juniors Champion, Ana Konjuh.  Belated congratulations to the champions and excellent tennis to all of the players in the tournament.  You all inspire my tennis and I hope to one day be able to achieve the level of tennis that you display.  Continue playing your best and good luck on future tournaments.