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Liverpool/Wimbledon Qualies Following is a two part post. I wrote the first part while on a three hour train ride from Liverpool to London on Sunday night. Second part was written after my loss in singles. You might notice a different tone between the two… Either way. Read up. Liverpool It is never a good feeling when you arrive in another place, let alone another country or continent and your bags are not there to meet you. Its such an empty feeling. What makes things even worse is that all of my tennis gear is in those bags. Casual clothes can be replaced by going to some local store, however, grass court shoes are tough to come by, especially when you have to play the next day and no one else wears a size 13. Thankfully American Airlines came through and delivered all the gear next morning. Liverpool is a city most famous for the birthplace of a band some of you might have heard of, The Beatles. Personally, I don’t have an extensive collection of their songs, however I do know some of their biggest hits, just like everyone else. Its is also a home to a very successful soccer, or football teams (depending on where you live), Liverpool FC and Everton FC. Manchester is about 45 minutes away from Liverpool and huge rivals Manchester United are located there. I managed not to make a mistake of confusing the two. As some of you might have seen on the website (www.liverpooltennis.co.uk) this was an exhibition tournament with four different age and gender groups competing. From juniors, to ATP and WTA players, to Men’s and Women’s Legends which included Goran Ivanisevic, Mansour Bahrami, Illie Nastase, Pat Cash, Michael Pernfors, Martina Hingis and Jana Novotna just to name a few. I never got to watch most of these players play in their prime, so this was definitely a treat and honor also to be playing with them in the same event. Since its an exhibition tournament, atmosphere is little bit more relaxed than it will be at Wimbledon, however it was still very competitive. My other option instead of playing the Liverpool event was to play qualifyings for Queens or Halle ATP events, however since I was in California the week before, it was logistically impossible to make it all the way across and be ready to play on Saturday morning. With two groups of four, two players made it to the semifinals. I was able to get out of my group and advance. In the semis I beat Ken Skupski, who is a British players, however played his last four years in US at LSU and had a very good career during that time. In the other semi final, Paul Capdeville took down my usual doubles partner, Robert Kendrick. So, for the second time in three days, I had to play Paul and was able to prevail both times. In the finals it was little bit tougher because neither one of us got to warm up properly because of the morning rain. In the end, I was able to get the “W” in the third set Tie Break. That’s the “beauty” of grass court tennis. After the trophy celebration and few interviews, it was time to pack up my bags and head to the train station where I am taking the train all the way to Wimbledon Village. This is the only country where I enjoy taking a train instead of flying. “Super Chill Ride” as Paulie P would say! On that note, Wimbledon qualies start tomorrow. Nothing “chill” about that, just pure business. Everyone wants to make it to the AELTC (All England Lawn and Tennis Club) by next Monday. Out of 128 that start off, 16 will be in the “big show.” Until next post (next Monday), cheers from UK. AD ps. In my speech today at the trophy presentation, I forgot to mention all the ball kids that were there this week. I apologize for that and am using this opportunity to thank you for your efforts. Wimby Qualies Well, to say that I am disappointed about yesterday’s match, would definitely be an understatement. Nothing seemed to go the right way. Frustrating definitely, but its over with now and not much can be done about it. In our doubles match we were able to pull out a victory and now we are playing vs. Kendrick/Kuznetsov in the last round of qualies. It definitely will make for a very interesting match since we are all good friends first and foremost. Secondly, I am staying with Robert at one apartment while Brendan (my partner) and Alex (Robert’s partner) are staying together at another place. It should be fun either way. With this loss in singles here, I failed to defend my second round Main Draw showing from last year, however those were the last points that I had to defend for the rest of the year. From now on, every win counts towards the positive side. So, with a fresh and clean slate, next 6 months should be fun. Post Comment (New Feature: Non-Xanga members can comment now too!) Fun Times “Time flies when you are having fun.” This saying has been around for a while and gets used quite a bit. In my case I am just using it to describe last couple of months in absolute shortest summary. From surgery, to a wedding to a challenger title and on, it has been quite busy last couple of months. My last post was while in Vegas which was almost 3 months ago. Big tournaments and small tournaments went by and my success was mediocre to say at best. However, on April 28th I decided to have a minor surgical procedure performed, but with hopes for major results. I guess if you are to have some sort of surgery, you might as well do it that way. Name of the procedure was ETS, which is short for Endoscopic Thoracic Symphatectomy. This surgery is used to treat a medical condition that I was born with and have lived for 25 years so far, which is called Hyperhidrosis. It is an extremely bothersome condition which affected me 24/7. Hands being impacted the most by this condition made playing tennis more difficult for me. It makes things little bit harder when you are facing a 140mph serve and you cant really even hold on to a racket. Another problem with this excessive sweating caused for some cramping issues in longer matches. I wont even say anything about the impact it had in social life, because that could be a chapter on its own. For the last 8 years or so I consulted many doctors and specialist hoping to get a solution for this, but was never able to get anything done. Most of them were either not familiar wit this issue or were simply ignorant of it and used some other explanation which when looked at now is borderline laughable. Thanks to the power of internet and obviously my desire to get rid of this, I was able to do research and find all the possible solution for my conditions. I tried absolutely everything but to no avail. Final solution involved going under the knife and definitely had some possible negative side effects, however, it was a risk which I was willing to take. Procedure itself took only 30 minutes or so and I was awake not too long afterwards. Results were noticeable immediately. It was amazing that such a minor procedure was able to solve so many problems for me and give me confidence on and off the court. Since the procedure involved some incisions and deflation of lungs, doctors advised me to take a week or so off to let the scars heal and also for my lungs to try and get back to normal levels. Exactly 7 days later I was on the court in extremely humid conditions at Saddlebrook testing out my “new hands.” In previous years I would require numerous wristbands, towels, grips and different hand drying lotions just to try and hold on to a racket for couple games at a time. All that stuff was thrown out the bag now. It is amazing how much easier tennis is when you can actually hold on to a racket. Now all I have to worry about is actually seeing those 140mph serves. Some people asked why I decided to get this surgery done in the middle of a season and my answer is that first and foremost I wanted to get rid of this condition as soon as possible. I skipped the French Open and few other warm up tournaments because I didn’t have any major points to defend during that time. This way I would recover in time for Wimbledon and Summer Circuit in US, where I am hoping to make a run, especially since I don’t have any points to defend during that time, or for the rest of the year for that matter. I can laugh about it now, but I sarcastically joked about it last year while going through a rough patch of losses, saying that the good thing about not winning any matches now, is that I don’t have to defend any points next year! You try to find something positive in any negative situation. Since I skipped French Open and was fully recovered I took at trip out to California to play two challenger events, in order to get some matches and hopefully some confidence before going into grass court season. My first event, held at the Home Depot Center in Carson, CA I was able to win the tournament. Surgery definitely proved to be a success! In my next event in Yuba City, CA, I wasn’t as successful. Playing six matches in Carson took at toll on my shoulder after not playing a tournament for a while. Loss was very disappointing because this was another chance to gain more ranking points before going into Wimbledon and the summer season. However, I wasn’t able to capitalize. I did however get a chance to go an visit a friend of mine and also a big supporter of Illinois Tennis. Dave Miner and his family own a vinery in nearby Napa Valley, CA and were kind enough to host Tim Smyczek and I for a tour. (Photo is to be inserted here as soon as my camera arrives along with the rest of my bags that were stuck in Chicago!) Since my flight to England is from LAX, I had one extra day to also practice in Los Angeles with the one and only Pete Sampras. This was an absolute privilege to practice at his private home. We stayed on the court for a while, definitely working up a sweat. I also picked his brain about the upcoming grass court season and his suggestions on how to play on it, since it definitely takes some getting used to. Since I will be back in Los Angeles for the Countrywide Classic, we already tentatively set up some more hits so next time I will not forget my camera to actually take a photo or two. I am writing this while on the plane on my way to England. Liverpool is my first destination, followed by Wimbledon qualies. Since my ranking dropped, I will have to try and qualify by winning three consecutive matches at the Rohampton Courts. Wimbledon is the only tournament where qualifying matches and main draw matches are played at two completely different sites. It is the only thing other than weather that I don’t like about “Wimby.” You don’t even feel like you are playing the tournament, unless you do qualify. I guess that’s what makes it more rewarding when you do qualify. You get to play at the Big Show! On that note, see you at Wimbledon. Cheers! AD PS. This week you can follow the results at Liverpool International Website. Post Comment (New Feature: Non-Xanga members can comment now too!) Andre Agassi College Preparatory SchoolOn my day off I had a privilege of joining Sam Querrey and Jim Thomas in a tour of Andre Agassi's College Preparatory School in Las Vegas. One of the coolest experiences! Read more about it here... Post Comment (New Feature: Non-Xanga members can comment now too!) Las Vegas 2008 As you can see, the previous paragraph has been written couple of days ago. I have been in Vegas since last Thursday and I have been able to stay out of trouble on and off the court so far. Qualifying is always rough at every tournament and for me to get through at this tournament also was a good accomplishment. Since I had a BYE in the first round, my second round match was played on Sunday in the windiest conditions I have ever seen, let alone played tennis in! My opponent (Scoville Jenkins) and I looked extremely uncoordinated trying to make contact with a ball. Somehow, I was able to get through and in my last round I faced Ryan Sweeting who is also a very good friend of mine. Its never easy playing a friend, but it definitely makes it lot harder when we are both trying to get in the Main Draw and have a lot at stake in the match. Again, after couple of lucky bounces went my way, I was able to prevail once again and put my name in the main draw for the third time this year. (Qualied in Australia, Delray Beach and now in Vegas) In my first round of the main draw I played Jurgen Melzer of Austria who is a tough player for many reasons, but especially because he is a lefty. I dent think i am the only person out there, but playing lefties just makes things awkward. Everything is coming at you the "wrong" way. Serves, their forehand to your backhand, spins... just awkward. Again, couple of lucky bounce my way and now I am onto second round where I face Potito Starace. I am 1-0 vs him and hopefully can improve on that record. Our only meeting so far was at the Australian Open in 2006 where I prevailed in 5 sets on the court 21 that was tucked all the way in the back of the Melbourne Park! That was my first 5 set win ever. I certainly don't plan on going 5 sets tomorrow... Also, i have finally been able to get a hold of some of the photos from the Dallas Challenger. Here are just a few...   Last but not least, about two weeks ago I had a "pleasure" of going to the Van Halen concert/Mullet convention in Tampa, FL. This opportunity was provided by Kevin O'Connor, head guy at the Saddlebrook/major of Tampa. Here is a picture of that...  Post Comment (New Feature: Non-Xanga members can comment now too!) |
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