R2: Amina through, Mariam recovering from Injury

Posted on by

 [2] Amina Orfi (EGY) 3-0 Mariam Metwally (EGY)  11-6, 11-2, 11-7 (33m)

How GIFTED is that Alexandria Queen.

I have been observing – and loving – Mariam for such a long time. I’ve seen her going through so many injuries, health troubles, I saw her having treatments that made her put on so much weight, which in turn got her more injuries. I saw her falling in love, getting everything in her head, in her life, in the right place, I was her getting so fit… She just needs to be really consistent in her training and her body care to make sure her talent shines through.
Because today, she was not playing a push over. And yes, the fitness was not good enough. But OH MY LORD, how hard she made Amina’s life!? Superb short game, Amina was moving fast and was able to respond but it was NOT a walk in the park to get some fresh air I tell you.

Now, knowing Amina, she’ll be actually happy to get a nice solid round one, to get into things quickly. She responded pretty well to Mariam’s pressure, pretty close to the middle of the game, then fitness – or more precisely the shortness of it – taking its marks, and Amina ahead, 9/3.

A nice push from Mariam, again some lovely rallies, but it’s 11/6 in 11m for the young Prodigy.

The second game, the Alexandria Lady didn’t do much, Amina was all over and far too accurate, 7m for 11/2.

But we went back to the same set up than in the first game, 4/4, 5/5, 6/8, 10/6 match ball, with again some superb rallies, and the Destroyer closing it in 10m, 11/7.

She didn’t make a single error the whole match.

Mariam : I haven’t been able to play or train as I have been recovering from a hip injury, a tear and had to have an injection in the joints that requires complete rest. I wanted to play so I took a lot of pain killers.

I played the Grasshopper, not sure how I managed to win that first round, and I’m not sure how I managed to win yesterday either, I was able to attack more I guess.

But today, Amina was such a strong player, she retrieved everything, it’s not the same pace, it’s not the same level.

I was trying to breathe in the second, but my whole chest was burning!

I’m not sure how I manage to play against such players without any training, I can imagine what I could do probably if I could train and get fitter! I think I could be somewhere else, I believe I could be somewhere else.

I just need to be fitter and injury free, that way I’ll be more consistent.

Amina

“I think the strongest aspect of my game is my pace. I’m young and I’m fast, so I think that is the most important attribute that I have.
“I try my best to play my best every tournament and every match. I also try and just take it one match at a time until the tournament is finished.”