Looking my Columbian semifinal opponent, the 9th seed, up and down, it was apparent that she was the stereotypical power player. About 25 cm taller than me? Check. Biceps that appeared as big my thighs? Check. Thighs of her own that resembled tree trunks? Check.

Welcome to the big time, Kim Taeyeon...

She looked supremely confident but I was undeterred, many a player had underestimated me because of my size, many a player had left the court with their tails between their legs after I had outplayed them.

Tiffany and I had got in many excellent practice sessions the week before the tournament began, and had gotten used to the unfamiliar and unpredictable conditions in New York, as well as adjusted to the massive time difference. It was easier for her than for me, she had lived here for over 13 years after all, but I now felt comfortable as well.

My opponent had a simple game plan: Serve big, swing freely, keep points short.

Unfortunately for her, it happened that her game plan played right into my hands. I was faster than her on court by a country mile, retrieving most of her missiles with relative ease and forcing her into committing errors, while racking up winners as well. The match was rather straightforward, really, I won by a comfortable scoreline of 6-3, 6-1.

As the week progressed, things were going better than I had ever expected. Tiffany and I, two unheralded, relatively unknown players on the junior tennis scene, had tore through the singles field, taking our places in the final of the junior US Open Championships. We had relatively comfortable victories en route to the final, even against highly seeded players there was much hype about, appearing to be head and shoulders above the other juniors in terms of standard. We had also progressed to the final of the doubles event after some routine victories. The supposed cream of the crop of tennis juniors weren't really doing much to impress me...

However, there was plenty of hype over the singles final, with two massive underdogs upsetting the odds to reach the final, generating much interest among tennis aficionados, all of whom were eager to witness the first of possibly many clashes between two future stars.

Both of us had impressed greatly in our paths to the final, Tiffany had ousted the top seed, a hard-hitting baseliner from Spain in only the second round, before absolutely dominating the fourth seed in a crushing 6-0, 6-4 victory in the semifinals. My path had been somewhat easier, but I had convincingly taken apart 3 seeded players in the last 3 rounds. We were both in the midst of fairytale runs, but it remained to be seen who would eventually live happily ever after.

"It's going to be so weird playing you competitively, I know your game inside out and vice versa, it's gonna mess with my head I tell you." Tiffany commented while we watched one of those terrible rom-coms on the big hotel TV screens. Tiffany had many talents, but picking a good movie wasn't one of them for sure...

"I guess that'll make it interesting."

"By the way, 3 weeks are almost up, I don't exactly think you've showed your irresistible charms enough..."

I smirked, "Wait for it honey, patience is a virtue...unless you're in a hurry?"

"I'm not, but you should be, time is ticking away..."

"I appreciate the concern, but I think I know what I'm doing."

And I did. The events of the past two weeks had panned out exactly as I had hoped and I knew exactly what I had to do the next day.

"Oh my gosh this is essentially my hometown tournament, I really want to win this..."

"Should I give you a walkover then?" I raised my eyebrows and asked jokingly.

"Over my dead body! I want to win on merit, not because someone took pity on me and handed me victory on a plate. I swear, if you play at anything less than your 100% tomorrow, you can give up any hope of our relationship being anything more!" Tiffany pointed her finger at me accusingly while giving me a stern warning.

"Whoa, whoa, take it easy. I was just joking." I raised my arms in surrender.

"Not funny."

"You know, just trying to show off my vast and unique charms, since you asked." I did an exaggerated hair flip.

 "Well, not at all impressed. Try harder next time, my dear Taeyeon. You have about...1 day to make things better." She gave me yet another wink before refocusing on the movie.

Don't worry, I will definitely make things better...you have no idea...