The hard work is definitely paying off, that's for sure, ... I have said before that last year I wasn't sure if I would play again and after much thought, decided I had more to do in tennis and really this year has just been amazing...This tournament was not on my original schedule for this year, but I saw last month that I might qualify for the WTA Tour Championships, so decided to stay in Europe and play the big events to try to get my points up. Mary Pierce