Sunday, October 25, 2022, was a landmark session of heavy hitting and the visit of tennis royalty. My hitting partner Luke and I performed our usual 10 minute mini tennis warmup followed by an hour of free hitting. At the same time, we had an audience. Coach Tom (Dynka) coached a young student, whose parents remained to watch the lesson. We did not disappoint the youngster’s parents, who often watched us, as we hit hard balls at each other, captured in the following rally.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fV589tdLL5A

At 9 a.m. tennis royalty appeared for coach Tom, in the form of Lulia Bucea. Since early 2019, we frequently witnessed Lulia and former coach Eddie (Miron) and noted how she was such an amazing player. We always were amazed at her hard hitting for such a small person, with her signature crack off the racquet strings. Today with coach Tom, we witnessed tennis poetry. She and Tom started off in mini-tennis, whacking controlled groundstrokes at each other that landed somehow inside the service line. This was mini-tennis unlike anything I had ever seen.

They gradually moved to the baseline and started an infinite rally of massive topspin backhands and forehands, which showed that Lulia’s form had morphed to professional level. We were spell-bound and often stopped our own hitting just to gape at the power and control of their strokes.

As always since 2019, Lulia’s father collected stray balls and at one point I briefly spoke with him. He was understandably proud of his daughter and told how she was entering her first professional tournament in October of 2022 in the US. I felt a flush of admiration for Lulia. Today, her awe inspiring performance was testimony to all her hard work with coach Eddie paying off. In the years ahead, we hoped to replicate her path.

To watch Lulia (in black) play in as a qualifier in a Fredericton tournament (March, 2023) click the button: