Wednesday 4 September 2019 16:25, UK
Doing your job without your most important tool or favourite work clothes would be tough for most people to handle.
What if you're a tennis player, you're overseas for a tournament and you head for the airport luggage conveyor belt only to find out all your luggage is missing.....
Sky Sports Scholar Emily Appleton reveals all.....
My final trip of the summer was to Leipzig and Braunschweig in Germany for two weeks of competition. I was really excited because I would be back on the clay and competing in a country that I am fond of!
To get to Leipzig I had to take two flights and when I arrived unfortunately my two bags hadn't!
London airports don't allow tennis rackets to be taken as hand luggage and so I was without all of my rackets, my tennis shoes. All I had were the clothes I was wearing on my back.
The situation was far from ideal but I tried not to panic - yet - as they were sure the bags would arrive later that evening.
The next morning (the day of my first match!) my bags were still nowhere to be seen.
At the time of my first match I still had no equipment and was still wearing the clothes from the day before - luckily I travelled in sports kit!
My doubles partner kindly lent me her second pair of tennis shoes and I also borrowed a racket.
We played really well together and considering all of the factors as well as it being the first time we had met each other I was really pleased with what happened and we had beaten a strong German pair.
A day later my bags still hadn't showed up and it was time for my first round singles match.
I faced a Hungarian who certainly had experience on the red clay and she was a really tough opponent. We
started the match at 6pm and after three hours of battle I won 7-6 4-6 7-5 without my own equipment. I was so pleased to win my first round in the W25 and especially considering the circumstances.
Unfortunately my luggage didn't even show up in time for the next day for my second round singles and the quarter-finals of the doubles.
In the singles I lost very closely to the eventual winner and really challenged her to the end.
In the doubles, despite having match points, we lost 16-14 in the final set tiebreaker to the pair that went on to win the tournament.
They were tough losses to face but I was very pleased with how the week had gone and clear progress had been made - even without my own things!
It always sucks to lose but to lose to the winner of the tournament is more rewarding and it showed that I am so close.
Fortunately my luggage showed up almost a week later and so I was able to play the next week with my own equipment.
I'm back in England for a three-week training block where I will focus on my fitness. I'm really excited to continue working as I'm seeing good improvements in my game and mindset daily.
