Summer Update Part 1 of 3 (Zimbabwe & Guam)

To my fellow readers I want to apologize for being off the grid almost all summer since my last update from Tunisia! This summer has been filled with nonstop tennis, travel, and adventure. I am very excited to highlight everything in a three-part blog segment that I will be sending out over the next couple weeks. I will be writing a lot more frequent blog posts throughout the rest of the fall as I continue this amazing tennis journey.

Zimbabwe Futures Tournaments:

After starting my international summer tournament swing off with a tough loss in Tunisia in the last round of qualifying, I wanted to build off that in Zimbabwe.

As I arrived in Harare, Zimbabwe with less than 24 hours to adjust to a completely foreign place, new court conditions, and altitude (which I did not know about until after my first match), I felt a bit disoriented. During my first practice there my ball was flying all over the place and I could not figure out why… soon I would realize that we were playing up at almost 4,500 feet. The higher the altitude, the more the ball flies, less control you have, and in turn you need to tighten the tension of your strings on your racket so you gain more control. Lesson learned à always do your due diligence ahead of time even if you don't expect somewhere to be at altitude!

After practice, I checked the draw and saw that I was playing a guy from Zimbabwe who was given a wildcard. My initial reaction was that I had an amazing draw and felt very confident in my chances after Rayne (one of my closest friends on tour) mentioned to me that he was a lot older in his mid 40’s… This is something that you rarely ever see on tour, so I had no idea what to expect and did not look into the guy myself before playing him.

First Match in Zimbabwe against Former Australian Open Doubles Champion:

As we step on court, I was amazed to see over 50 people watching our match, cheering on my opponent, Wayne Black. Little did I know, he was formerly ranked #4 in the world in doubles and as high as top 70 in singles on ATP tour. He actually won the Australian Open title in Doubles as well as Indian Wells and Miami Open back in his earlier days! I remember in the warm-up and first few games thinking this guy had one of the best return and transition games I had ever played against, but I did not let that get to me.

Even though I was playing quite tentatively and not really attacking the way I normally do (given I was trying to keep the ball from sailing out), I was up 5-4 serving for the set. This is my ideal position because I really trust my serve and like when I am able to dictate the start of the point by mixing up my serve locations. I came out and did just that setting myself up with two set points… However, once I got to these set points, I felt myself tighten up a bit and start to play even more passively, which resulted in Wayne coming to net and gaining momentum. Before I knew it I was somehow down 6-5 and felt myself starting to get frustrated and not letting go of the last couple games. I tried to regroup mentally and tactically, but found myself so perplexed by what just transpired that I let that impact my game the rest of the set, ultimately causing me to lose not only that set, but the match.

Looking back at this match, my biggest lesson learned is ALWAYS respect your opponent no matter how old he is, how he looks, and what you have heard about him. That does not mean give your opponent too much credit, but simply respect that every single match is going to be a battle and nothing will be given to you. The entire rest of the summer, I have done just that and will never make that mistake I made against Wayne.

I wanted to share a few pictures (see above) from an amazing safari and hike I went on during one of my off days in Harare, Zimbabwe!

Second match in Zimbabwe against a player recently ranked in top 1500:

Coming into this match, I was fired up and ready to attack after having enough time to adjust to the high-altitude conditions and fast courts in Harare. I was starting to feel great and wanted to turn things around after a couple losses these past two weeks. My main objective in this match was to have high intensity and positivity from the start. I definitely came out with fire and was using my forehand to dictate play and close points out at the net!

I was up 5-4 again with multiple set points and found myself in a situation all too familiar. I was trying to not let my mind and subconscious thoughts flash back to last week and prior matches where I might have slipped and given up the lead. On a couple of the set points, I changed tactic and did not play aggressively like I did to get to that point.

At this level, opportunities are slim, the room for error is minimal, and if you don't take advantage of momentum you will lose it quickly. I got broken and we ended up going to a 1st set tiebreaker, where I again had a couple chances that I could not convert.

After losing another very close first set where I had several set points, I found myself just in a fog. I tried to reset for the 2nd set, but could not seem to let go of the last set and moreover my match the week before. Going into Guam, I just wanted to close out sets where I had the opportunity and more importantly not let any prior point or situation bring me down.

Three Hour, Three Set Qualifying Battle in Guam:

Guam was probably the place I was most excited to go on tour so far because I had no idea what to expect! Jeremy (my doubles partner) and I arrived and our first reaction was “HOT, STICKY, CRAZY HUMIDITY”, making Florida seem like nothing. To give you all a sense of weather and on-court conditions, the humidity was close to 75% with a heat index on court close to 115-120 degrees Fahrenheit!!! Definitely the hottest conditions I have ever played in to date.

After over 24 hours of flights from Africa to Asia, I was pretty exhausted, but I had to compete in the first round of Qualifying the next day and was not going to let myself make any excuses about jet lag, fatigue, or anything. I came focused on a mission to execute my game plan, enjoy competing, and have fun in the process.

My first match was WILD – down 7-5, 5-3 to a very good Australian player, some people might just shut down and or let the heat and humidity get the best of them, but I was determined to fight until the very end. I remember saying to myself over and over again “keep fighting”, “you got this”, “work your patterns and believe”…

Sure enough, I came back tied things up 5-5 and then went on to win the next two games to win the set 7-5! I was fired up, but knew that my work was not done, but just getting started. As we start the third set, I can see my opponent is gassed not just physically, but mentally and I know that I need to double down and battle for every point. I did tell myself that, but actually came out a bit flat to start the set… maybe I lost a little adrenaline from the 2nd set comeback, but either way my back was again against the wall down 3-0. I knew that I just needed to make a couple adjustments and I could turn things around quickly. I worked my forehand a lot inside out trying to wear down his backhand waiting for a short ball to come in on and this worked flawlessly.

Before I knew it, I was in cruise control and serving for the match! I could not believe that my opponent literally handed me the match at the end, he slapped two balls out, hit a very bad drop shot return, then just did not even reach for a serve of mine, but I knew this was a sign of defeat, physical and mental exhaustion, and I had truly broken him. After battling it out for over three hours, I was so pumped up that I finally won and excited to move on to the next round

Riding my confidence, I won my next match much easier and qualified for the Main Draw!

End up playing my Doubles Partner in Main Draw:

What are the odds that I fly across the world to play my doubles partner of all people, probably less than 1 %, but that is just what happened to me… I was pretty shocked as usually tournament directors and ITF officials try to keep that from happening, but it was out of my control. After traveling together for over almost a month, eating all our meals together, sharing a room, and practicing constantly I was a bit thrown off not only in terms of my pre match preparation, but moreover my mental state during the match.

I could not seem to separate our relationship as doubles partners and great friends and had this awkward feeling as I didn't have that “killer instinct” and fire I usually have during matches. Jeremy was able to separate everything a lot better than me, which might be a testament to the fact that he has 8 years on me and a lot more match play, but either way it was a pretty tough draw and lesson to learn as I was competing for my first ATP point.

Preview of Part 2 Summer Update:

I was lucky enough to spend the month in Toulouse, France competing in their prize money circuit. This was a very unique experience unlike any tennis tournament I had played so far because they use a special rating system for their players that is much better than other systems (I will explain more later). I got the opportunity to play a ton of competitive matches on multiple different surfaces. Lastly, my dad came to watch and coach me for over two weeks, which was a major highlight as he provided me with a lot of live real-time insights into different strategic and mental things I was not always seeing in these matches.

I look forward to talking more about my month in France in my next post… Stay tuned!!!

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