Double AJ tennis champion seeks to shine in Florida
FRESHLY MINTED All-Jamaica under-16 and under-18 girls’ singles champion Katherine Dibbs is now aiming to put on a special showing at this weekend’s United States Tennis Association (USTA) Level Four tournament in Florida.
The 15-year-old Dibbs, who comfortably won both singles titles earlier this week, told The Gleaner that she is looking forward to a very competitive tournament, which is scheduled to begin on Sunday.
“I am kind of nervous because it is an under-18 tournament and so there might be a lot of highlevel players playing in it, and so it should be very competitive,” said Dibbs.
“But I feel confident with my game right now and I am hoping to do really well,” she said.
MENTAL TRAINING
Dibbs, who is a student at Hillel Academy, underlined that she has been working very hard to improve her mental strength ahead of this highly anticipated tournament.
“Mentally, sometimes I go into different zones, like sometimes I kind of lose my focus and I start daydreaming, and so I am working on that,” Dibbs said.
“Physically, I think I am doing really well because I am going to the gym and I think I am very fit now and so, physically, I should be good,” she said.
Reflecting on her performance at the All-Jamaica tournament this week, Dibbs underscored that she was really pleased about her efforts because she worked very hard during the COVID-19 pandemic to improve all aspects of her game on court.
“I am feeling really good and am proud of myself that I was able to win both singles titles,” Dibbs said. “The competition was good and I think that I played really well, and so I was very pleased with my performance. I have been training a lot, twice a day, since this coronavirus pandemic started, and so the work that I have put in really came out in this tournament,” said Dibbs, who left the island yesterday for the tournament. out the top order in a clinical spell, claiming the first four wickets to fall.
He got Chris Lynn to chip the third ball of the game back for a return catch without a run scored before removing Nick Kelly two balls later to a catch at slip, also without scoring.
In his next over, the third of the innings, Nabi induced Denesh Ramdin (9) to sky the ball to deep square and then claimed the precious wicket of Evin Lewis (1) off the very next delivery, top-edging a sweep to Chase at short backward square.
DUNKS PERFORMANCE
Dunk tried to dig Patriots out of their hole, striking two sixes in a 37-ball knock as he added 27 for the fifth wicket with Jahmar Hamilton (9) and 24 for the fifth with Sohail Tanvir (12).
His demise in the 14th over, caught in the deep off-spinner Rahkeem Cornwall, was a huge blow to Patriots’ hopes, and not even Joseph with a couple of sixes at the end could get them score up to a competitive one.
Cornwall then gave Zouks a whirlwind start, blasting two fours and three sixes in an 11-ball 26 before a sharp shower drove players from the field.
On their return, Mark Deyal (0) and Andre Fletcher (16) perished cheaply, but Najibullah and Chase came together to see off the timid Patriots challenge.