tennis, life and a few things in between

Dong Yi Feng 东溢丰 698 Cafe / 新東溢豐
135-29 37th Ave,
Flushing, NY 11354

We had dinner last night with Yuan Meng 袁梦, Dream Girl and her entourage, Ras and Yu at Dong Yi Feng Seafood.  More than 20 of us showed up.  Tony collected more than $5k for her.

It’s my second time meeting Yuan and her coach/manager Yu. Both are warm.

After Dick gave a short welcome speech, Yu spoke, mentioned that there are many sponsors chasing them, but they refused. This $5k  donation was different, very heart felt … Over the course of 10 (?) years, Yu said she never hide anything from DG, except tonight’s dinner.

“I didn’t tell her a thing.”

So its a bit surprise to DG. After fumbling with words, DG got emotional, cried. They lived in a family style hostel in Flushing because of tight budget. Yu blamed the landlord’s fight late in the night, “I heard knife ..”

So they didn’t sleep well at all. DG lost in the first qualifying round.

If she’s still at it, next year they certainly can stay with any of us. I’ve a few moments to chat, I found DG to be genuine, content, talkative (mostly about herself), acting younger. She certainly isn’t like the scary kitten Yu first encountered – distrusting everyone.

Jonathan said to DG, as long you tried your best, we’re here to support you. Is this experience talking?  Yu was circling the room, asked me for videos of the night to bring home for the media.