First off, I want to wish all of my blog readers a Happy New Year! I apologize for my lack of posts over the Holidays. Lots of exciting things happened the past few weeks, so this post is a bit longer to cover everything that happened at the end of 2017!

Reunited with Current & Former CMS Stags in Southern California:

Before diving into my exciting past week in NYC, it is important to discuss my two prior doubles tournaments in Southern California. I was lucky enough to play my first doubles tournament with Julian Gordy, current team captain and junior at CMC, who has been a partner of mine in the past. We were seeded #1 in a 4-team draw, and ended up going against two brothers in the Final. Julian stepped up big at times when my return was a bit shaky and I was trying to find a rhythm. He is extremely comfortable at the net and has an amazing feel and IQ for doubles. Playing with Julian in this tournament definitely taught me a few things, which I carried into the following week were I played with CMS Tennis Legend, Warren Wood, Triple Crown Winner in 2015 (NCAA DIII Team, Singles, & Doubles Title Winner).

Considering it was our first time playing together, I felt out of the gates Warren and I had a pretty solid chemistry and compatible game styles. Like Julian, Warren has amazing feel and court awareness. Throughout the tournament, Warren gave me useful tips such as when the other team lines up in “I Formation” while serving, I need to move to the middle more on the ad-side to defend against the serve down the tee. Moreover, he really emphasized constantly closing the net especially when the returns are low, which is critical because the net guy (me) can then attack the ball and ideally angle off a high volley. Even though we lost in the Quarterfinals against a team from UC Davis, I thought we played quite well and fought hard. We definitely had our chances against them as we were up 3-0 in the first set, but after losing the first set in a 7-point super tiebreaker, and getting down 3-0 early in the second set, we could not figure it out in time!

The reason I mention both of these guys and tournaments is because I think they were crucial reps to help me get ready to play the Men’s Indoor National Championships in NYC this past week.

Seeded #28, Major Singles Letdown in NYC:

Coming into this tournament, I had high expectations for both singles and doubles. After playing a solid first match against a Russian player who I beat 6-3, 6-1, I felt really dialed in and ready to play ball. Not only did I have a great draw in singles, but also I felt quite confident that my big attacking game style would cross over well playing indoors as it has in the past.

In the Round of 64, I am up 4-1 in first set against an unseeded player. I am totally locked in, hitting a high percentage of first serves, hitting my opponent off the court, and just playing high percentage smart tennis. I felt in control and had him right where I wanted… however, things quickly changed as I let him get an easy hold then I proceeded to play a loose game and got broken - the score was now 4-3. Fast-forward and we end up in a first set 7-point super tiebreaker. I end up going down quickly 6-2, but somehow manage to fight off over 5 set points to finally have an opportunity of my own! Instead of playing composed, relaxed, and hitting through my strokes, I bailed out and hit a mediocre slice backhand on the 5th or 6th shot of the rally… I lost that point and did not capitalize on the amazing opportunity I had up 8-7 in the breaker. I ultimately lost the tiebreaker 10-8 and could not seem to mentally regroup and dial it back in. I quickly went down in the second set 3-0, but yet again fought back to 2-3. Unfortunately, I got broken again. I ended up losing the second set and was beyond angry, frustrated, and confused with what just transpired. What was the most frustrating is that as soon as I was off the court, I immediately knew what went wrong:

·      After going up 4-1, I started playing way flatter and was trying to hit too big

·      I was changing directions on my groundstrokes and going down the line way too early in the point

·      Lastly, I felt my energy and intensity dropped and I was too flat late in the first set and second set

This match is going to stick with me a long time because I genuinely beat myself by committing way too many unforced errors and checking out mentally. I do not want to ever have a match like this again and I plan to hold myself accountable in 2018 and beyond to make sure that these types of mistakes get corrected quicker. I definitely learn a lot from winning, but I must say I have always learned more and grown from these frustrating losses.

Strong Doubles Showing à First Bronze Ball of my Career: 

Even though I was beyond livid regarding what just transpired earlier on December 27th during my singles match, I knew that I could not let that carry over into doubles. I was lucky enough to be introduced to my partner, Justin Natale, formerly top 600 on the ATP tour, thanks to a Maccabiah Games teammate (Danny Desatnik). I have to give him a major shout out for not only helping warm me up for the tournament, but also for making the initial introduction to one of the smartest tennis players I have ever met to date!

Most of the teams in this tournament have played numerous national tournaments together, grew up playing with one another, and or were former or current college teammates. That said, I was not going to let myself make excuses for a lack of chemistry, communication, or feel for my partner’s game. I knew all we could do was control what we did on our side of the court and that the more matches we got under our belt, the better we would play together. That is exactly what proceeded to happen over the course of the week!

Our first match we went up against a player and coach from Tufts University in one of the longest doubles matches I have ever been a part of. Justin and I came out of the gates a bit shaky; we needed the first set to get a feel for one another. We finally started to find our groove in the second set forcing a 7-point tiebreaker, which we won and then really hit our stride in the third set winning that 6-2. This doubles match was almost 3 hours and was the last match to finish at around 11:30pm at night!

The next day we faced another experienced team from Fordham University, two brothers who have played together since they were little. Justin and I definitely had our work cut out for us, but we felt a lot of momentum and confidence after that 3-set win the night before. He and I managed to get by this scrappy team in straight sets 7-6 6-2. We both began anticipating each other’s moves and communicating a lot more organically. I could begin to see a true doubles team forming before my eyes, which was quite exciting.

Our biggest test yet, going up against the #1 seeds in the Quarterfinals we knew we had to play smart clean doubles. That meant high first serve percentage, lots of solid volleys and returns, and most importantly capitalizing on break point opportunities. The opposing team consisted of Wisconsin’s #1 player and a solid player from San Diego State’s team, so both of these guys knew how to play aggressive doubles. Both teams held serve the entire first set, forcing a 7-point tiebreaker, which is exactly where we knew we had to make a move.

Right before the tiebreaker started, Justin turned and said to me “High focus for 5 minutes, this is where we make our move and break away”. We did exactly that and squeaked out the breaker 7-5. After winning the breaker, we took that momentum into the 2nd set and came out firing. We got a quick break and both of us played two huge service games with lots of aces and easy first volley winners. Up 4-1, we took our foot off the gas pedal for a game, but then quickly regrouped and won the second set 6-3!

Justin and I now were up against the #8 seed in the Semifinals. I definitely felt a mix of excitement and nerves going into the match as I could see the finish line in site. Justin reminded me the importance of staying in the moment and letting the match come to us instead of trying to force things. Unfortunately we gotten broken early in both sets and that was huge for us as we really had not been broken at all until this point in the tournament. Ultimately, we lost to this team, but I felt we had a bit of an emotional / physical letdown in this match after beating the #1 seed.

Onto the Bronze Ball match, which had to be one of the most thrilling matches I’ve been a part of in terms of doubles. Justin and I quickly go down 5-2, but we both smile and know what we need to do (increase our first serve percentage, lock in on our returns, and put a lot more balls back into play). We proceed to do just that and end up bringing it to a 7-point tiebreaker. Again, we go down in the tiebreaker, but I can feel oddly enough that we were still in control. We made another run and ended up pulling out the breaker. Funny enough, we go up 4-1 in the second set, but ultimately can’t close things out and lose that set 7-5. Here we are playing a 10-point super tiebreaker for a bronze ball.

Justin and I go to the bench for the changeover and he just says “are you ready to go? We have not come this far to let this get away from us” and followed it up with “get it together man. 5 minutes of focus and intensity; get it done”. We came out of the tiebreaker dialed in and fired up. We served smart and came out quickly getting out to a 6-1 lead. We did not look back and won that tiebreaker 10-5!

I was overcome with emotion. I never imagined winning my first Ball at this age! I hope this is the first of many, but I know I have a lot of work to go in order to get there. I must say, my doubles IQ, confidence, and overall game awareness increased so much over the course of this week. I learned a ton from Justin. His desire, hunger, and determination to win are amazing; yet more incredible is his ability to stay very relaxed and present in the moment.

Last but not least, I want to thank my mom for her amazing support on and off the court while I was in NYC. I have to say there are not too many mom out there who would stay at a tennis center all day from 9am to midnight! Alongside my mom was my uncle Jim who came out several days to watch me play. He has been a huge supporter of my tennis and it meant so much to me that he was able to watch me play in NYC!!!

Off to Florida:

I am now sitting at the airport ready to get back to the grind after taking a solid week off of everything. I feel mentally and physically refreshed ready to kick of 2018 with a solid start. I look forward to keeping all of my family and friends updated on this amazing journey in the new year!