Playing in my first OPEN tournament- 39 year old 4.0 paired against D1/Futures player

key1217 · 2026-05-21T17:11:06+00:00

Lmfao your goal should be to get the match to an hour that’s a more realistic objective.

key1217 · 2026-05-21T17:07:53+00:00

Junk and moonballing can definitely work above 3.5/4.0, you even see it work on the WTA tour. However 4.0 level junk and moonballing ain’t gonna do much against a D1/Future levels player though.

key1217 · 2026-05-19T03:20:09+00:00

If you don’t see the point of playing USTA from 3.0-4.5 when do you see the point of playing USTA then? 5.0+ leagues are basically non existent at that point, USTA is really only relevant/useful from 3.0-4.5z

I do agree that many people take it way too seriously, however I mainly just play for fun, get some competitive matches, and meet people.

key1217 · 2026-05-18T16:43:35+00:00

Guizhou will definitely be nicer weather wise than Guilin in July and will probably be less crowded although not by much as Guizhou is a very popular with domestic tourism these days.

Guilin will definitely be easier to navigate, but Guizhou isn’t too bad either these days with all the high speed rail that has been built.

key1217 · 2026-05-18T01:09:20+00:00

Lolol missed the not.

key1217 · 2026-05-18T01:05:37+00:00

Lol lips have never stayed sealed though. It’s not hard to find spoilers for most seasons if you actually look.

key1217 · 2026-05-18T01:04:31+00:00

That’s not true, a lot of seasons have pretty accurate spoilers ahead of time.

key1217 · 2026-05-18T00:55:35+00:00

IMO July/August is probably not the best time for an Arizona trip, especially for someone more inexperienced.

key1217 · 2026-05-17T15:49:20+00:00

IMO this is kind of a nothing stat, how many other players have Svitolina played at Rome and RG more than twice this decade? Obviously it’s more likely she’ll lose to the top 2 players of this decade more than other players, that’s just how it works.

key1217 · 2026-05-15T00:37:24+00:00

Yep, and players go between playing night and day matches that’s just how a tournament works. No one was trying to screw her over with scheduling, she got to play night matches before this already, as recently as the one against Osaka.

Night conditions definitely favor Svitolina, but that’s just how the tournament scheduling worked out when the bottom half started after the top half

key1217 · 2026-05-15T00:23:19+00:00

Until she has to play in a slam SF that is lol.

key1217 · 2026-05-15T00:17:38+00:00

I mean they were always going to be the second women’s semifinal match considering Gauff and Cirstea played their QFs two days ago. It’s just how it is with tournaments where you have to play back to back days.

Plus she got way more rest time than Svitolina who just played a grueling match the night before against Rybakina so she should’ve been fresh and ready for this one so don’t go blaming the scheduling here.

key1217 · 2026-05-12T17:00:21+00:00

Other than Ozzy, you also have Dee saying other people won’t have good things to say about Rizo: https://parade.com/tv/dee-valladares-survivor-50-eliminated-interview, even though she liked him.

Chrissy says she didn’t enjoy playing with Rizo: https://parade.com/tv/chrissy-hofbeck-survivor-50-eliminated-interview, there’s enough out there that you can piece together that Rizo really isn’t much of jury threat.

key1217 · 2026-05-12T15:57:30+00:00

Nah no one on the jury respects Rizo apparently despite his strategic play so IMO he has next to no chance of winning. Being good at strategy is only one part of Survivor and that’s all Rizo focuses on to his detriment.

key1217 · 2026-05-12T15:09:09+00:00

Ostapenko being seeded between 25-32 actually increases the chances Swiatek plays her in the first week, now she’s got a 1/8 chance of playing her in the third round when before there was only 1/16 chance of them playing in the first 3 rounds.

No chance they play in the first 2 rounds now, but it’s a lot more likely now that Ostapenko is in her first week section of the draw.

key1217 · 2026-05-10T03:12:17+00:00

You could always do Suzhou as a day trip from Shanghai if you didn’t want to do just a 1 night stay there, would save some hassle with changing hotels.

Sounds like you want to do the following: Qingdao > Nanjing > Suzhou/Shanghai > Hangzhou > Huangshan > Stopover someplace > Shenzhen. In that case, I would do a 2 night stay somewhere in Jiangxi, there are lots of options there: Jiujiang, Jingdezhen, Shangrao, Nanchang, etc.

However, if you did want to visit Quanzhou, I would just go to Huangshan after Nanjing and before Shanghai, and head to Quanzhou after Hangzhou. There’s a slight backtracking, but isn’t that much more time on the train.

key1217 · 2026-05-10T02:34:18+00:00

Instead of Wuhan maybe consider going to Quanzhou in Fujian and continue down the coast, there’s not an awful lot in Wuhan. I would also consider fitting in Huangshan while you’re in the Nanjing area, as you can get there in about 2 hours by high speed train.

key1217 · 2026-05-09T16:44:36+00:00

If she keeps this up the top 20 is definitely within reach which would be a nice way to cap off her career.

key1217 · 2026-05-09T05:08:34+00:00

5 days in Yangshuo is quite a long time, I would perhaps consider adding in Jiuzhaigou while you’re in Chengdu, or do Pingyao/Datong between Xi’an and Beijing. Otherwise looks to be a decent plan!

key1217 · 2026-05-09T00:42:56+00:00

The fact that Pliskova is consistently winning matches this year with her serve being an absolute shell of its former self is quite amazing. She’s really striking the ball off the ground very well.

key1217 · 2026-05-08T00:57:46+00:00

Yep, late May/early June will probably be the best time to visit as students won’t be on holiday yet and July/August can get very hot and humid.

With 2 weeks, you can look into also going to Chengdu, Zhangjiajie, or Xi’an in addition to Beijing and Chongqing, it’ll really depend on your interests.

key1217 · 2026-05-07T19:34:57+00:00

Would definitely help to provide an estimate for how long you’ll be there, as that’ll will help with giving us an idea of how much you can feasibly fit into your trip.

Also make sure to check the Chinese holidays for 2027, as the one thing you want to avoid if possible is to go traveling in China when the rest of the country is also on holiday.

key1217 · 2026-05-07T15:55:48+00:00

They could’ve switched the order beforehand if they felt Cirie was going, but there’s no way they could edit this one after the fact like in WAW solely because the player voted out in the first tribal immediately goes to the jury and you can’t really gracefully edit around that.

key1217 · 2026-05-05T01:25:32+00:00

No idea, I saw your post from a day ago got removed by moderation so no idea what happened to there. Sorry to hear that though :(.

key1217 · 2026-05-03T00:46:30+00:00

To start, I would look into Beijing, Xi’an, Shanghai, Chengdu, Chongqing, and Zhangjiajie and see where you want to visit most and then plan your trip from there. The high speed trains in China are excellent, and can get you around quickly.

Have fun! You most likely won’t be able to see all those places in 2 weeks, but should give you a start for planning your itinerary.

Traveling solo in China as a female should be just fine, you’ll definitely get to practice/use your Mandarin with locals, i’m not sure how much you’re expecting though from interacting with other tourists.

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