When Anna Bright found out earlier this week that her partner for the North Carolina Open wasn’t going to be able to play because of injury, she got on the phone.
But she didn’t call Vivian Glozman. At least not right away.
“Andrea Koop texted me and said she couldn’t play,” Bright said. “I had about two hours to find a partner, and I think I called like eight people, but none of them could play. So, like 10 minutes before the deadline, I called Viv and told her I was waiting on an answer from one person, and if it’s not a yes, then it’s me and you. So it was.”
Nothing like calling an old friend to help you out of a jam, right?
“I’m so lucky with the way it worked out,” Glozman said.
The two were college teammates for a year at Cal and Bright said Glozman had reached out a few months ago asking to play in a few tournaments.
“She texted me (asking about availability) for four or five tournaments,” Bright said. “I said, ‘You haven’t played a pro tournament yet. That’s going to be a no.’”
Hey, sometimes you gotta be honest, right? So Glozman moved on and registered for the North Carolina Open, but she ran into the same problem Bright did – Glozman’s partner also had to withdraw.
“I was trying to get her a partner, too,” Bright said. “I couldn’t find anyone, and she was already coming and we made it to the semis. I’m stoked.”
Bright and Glozman won their first match and then beat Shelby Bates and Ewa Radzikowska in the second round before losing to the top-seeded team of Anna Leigh Waters and Catherine Parenteau, 11-8, 11-7. Glozman and Bright then fell in the bronze medal match to Jessie Irvine and Jackie Kawamoto, 11-3, 11-4.
“We’re really close so there’s already good chemistry,” Bright said of having played tennis previously with Glozman. “We practiced together some and I knew she was comfortable. It feels pretty natural. We played a good amount of practice games and it’s been so much fun.
“To be honest, after watching her play the last two days, I thought we had a chance to make the semis.”
Waters and Parenteau will be playing Yana Grechkina and Lauren Stratman for the gold medal. Waters is going for another triple crown and has yet to lose a doubles match this season.
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