I know I briefly mentioned at the end of my first summer update that I spent the month of July competing in the prize money circuit in Toulouse, France, but I will explain their system a bit and highlight some of my matches during this month.

I do not want to bore readers discussing every match as there were probably over 20 plus matches, but there were a few worth sharing highlights from. I highlight 4 matches that show the progression I had from playing right after arriving from the airport to my final match in France, which was a real BREAKTHROUGH! 

At the end of this post, I highlight the differences between France’s rating / tournament system versus that in the United States. Lastly, I wanted to give a special shout out to my dad who spent over two weeks with me in Toulouse, where we “ate, slept, and breathed” tennis day in and day out! We had a couple great days where we got to do some sight-seeing, but I was lucky enough to have him watch a great deal of matches providing me valuable insight that really led to my final breakthrough in France! We got to celebrate France’s World Cup Victory along with Bastille Day, which were both incredible to be there for. Thank you again for the constant support and for being my “Uncle Tony”. 

Straight from airport to my first tournament match:

Let me start off by saying that I had no idea that my match was actually going to be the same day I arrived in Toulouse. I had a disastrous travel experience where I missed my connecting flight in Dublin, Ireland because of a delay in San Francisco, so I was forced to spend the night in Ireland before taking an early morning flight to France… Long story short I arrived in France basically sleeping a grand total of 5 hours the prior two nights.

My coach picked me up at the airport and I remember thinking back to what my college coach used to say, “Adversity training” as well as my Team USA coach who said, “expect the unexpected”. My Argentinian opponent was waiting for me at the tournament and as soon as I walked in, I was a handed a can of balls and told to go to Court 1. I always like to have 20-30 minutes for a proper dynamic warm up, elastics, and stretching, but clearly that was not going to happen.

Before I knew it, the match started, my legs felt like Jell-O, my body did not know what time it was, but I was smiling thinking to myself “how crazy and fun is this experience as it was nothing like I had ever experienced in my tennis career so far”. I did not get down on myself rather tried to compete as well as I could and put a lot of balls in the court to the best of my ability. I lost the first set 7-5, but knew if I just played a bit more aggressive I could take the second set.

I came out firing and dominated points with more aggressive court positioning close to the baseline as well as coming to net to finish the point. This strategy worked and I won the second set 6-3! Fast-forward and we were now in the third set holding serve until it is 6-6. At this point, I felt like my body was about to shut down, but I just battled and left it all out there. Unfortunately, I lost the third set tiebreaker 10-8, after having two match points, but this match was a great entry into the French system and tournaments  

Epic 4-hour, 3 set, Round of Sixteen Matchup against a French Pro Player:

After losing a very tough 7-6 7-6 match in the morning to another French player in my first tournament of the day, I had to get right back to work in my second tournament later that afternoon.

Wanted to share this picture of me at my favorite French bakery!

Even though I was a bit disappointed losing such a close match in the morning, I did not have time to feel sorry for myself nor did I want to carry that over into my next match. I had to wipe the slate clean and build off of what I did not do well earlier in the day. This was the first match of the tournament for my opponent who was a 0 as where I had to start and play 2 matches prior given I had a 2/6 ranking.

·      Quick side-note my coach and team could have put me at a 0 or -2/6 rating to start this experience, but felt strongly that I should play at a slightly lower rating which would give me a lot more match play in every tournament. I could not be happier that we chose that route as I got many incredible matches throughout the month!

Now back to the match… as we are playing on red clay, it is imperative to really work the point and be willing to hit high and heavy topspin. The ball moves slower on red clay, takes weird bounces, and in turn both footwork & shot selection are crucial. We started this match outdoors on red clay and I came out with a chip on my shoulder. I felt hungry and ready for battle, which showed as I came out to win the first set 6-3! I won this set returning deep in the middle of the court and mixing up my shot selection utilizing topspin, slice, and flat shots when I was really able to attack from inside the court. Lastly, I was patient and knew I had to work the point to displace my opponent off the court before I could try and approach the net to close the point. This strategy was working flawlessly, but before I knew it dusk was starting to set. With no lights, we were forced to move inside where we would play on red clay in a “bubble like” indoor structure. At this point, it is closed to 8:30/9pm as that is when it would get dark in July!

As we started the second set, I felt my energy drop a bit and the momentum was shifting as my opponent started to elevate his game. I began getting a little impatient and was over hitting a bit, which resulted in unnecessary unforced errors that began to give him more confidence. I quickly reset and knew I needed to go back to what was working, which helped dig me out of a 3-1 whole to be leading 5-4 serving for the set. I began to feel a bit of the nerves as this was the first 0 ranked player I was competing against and he had ATP points, but I tried to stay present in what I needed to execute. Before I knew it, I had my first match point, which I played too tentative, which is not what got me there… I ultimately did not capitalize on that first match point and went on to lose the second set 7-6! 

Now, it is almost 10:30pm at night and the two of us are the only ones left at the club except for a handful of spectators and the tournament director. I came out firing with a high serve percentage and smart shot selection that allowed me to close out a lot of points at net. I could tell he was mentally starting to crack and I just needed to keep going. After I built a solid lead I could feel my energy and intensity drop a bit thinking he was going to hand me this match.

Lesson learned, top ranked players especially those playing the ITF and ATP Circuit never just “tank” or “hand someone a match on a golden platter”. He kept fighting and started elevating his game later in the third set. I had two more match points, one of which I played extremely well and he came up with a backhand winner down the line that barely caught the singles sideline… Hat off to him as that was a gutsy call and he converted, but the other match point I started it off well then hit a dumb drop shot that he got to and lost the point. Ultimately, I lost this match in a 3rd set super tiebreaker 10-8 after battling it out for 4 hours. Even though I was beyond furious that I could not convert my three match points, I viewed this match as a huge breakthrough in that I competed from start to finish throughout the whole 4 hours, had a very smart tactical game plan that I executed, and did not let my earlier match impact my mindset and performance.

This was the start of an amazing few weeks in France for me!

Tournament Final against former French Professional:

I will keep this match description brief, as I really want to highlight my final match in France, which was the best match of the month for me! 

I came into this tournament winning 4 matches before I went up against an older player who was very experienced and mature in his game style. We were playing on QUIK, which is a type of surface in France that is almost a mix of hard-court and a gravel like spongy material that you can slide in, but is very tough on the body.

 Building off of a solid few matches prior, I came out again with a very high serve percentage looking to dictate with a lot of inside out forehands waiting for the short ball to get to net. I won the first set 6-3, but he elevated his game in the second set and I lost a tight set 7-5. Ultimately, I again had a couple match point opportunities in the third set that I could not convert and lost this 3 hour, 3 set battle 7-6 (9-7 in the breaker), which was a tough one to swallow knowing that I was in control with chances for a great deal of the match with the exception of part of the second set.

Now onto highlighting what I consider my real BREAKTHROUGH in France!

FINAL MATCH IN FRANCE: 3 Set Battle in 100-degree heat (110 on heat index):

I came into this match feeling the best I had in France yet! I just won 3 matches against some very tough Argentinian players earlier in the tournament and now was going up against the #2 ranked junior college player in the United States who is from France. I had mixed emotions because I knew this would be my final match for the month as I was leaving the next morning. I came out feeling an incredible energy, focus and was in the “zone” going up 5-2. I did not close the set out as easily as I could and ultimately won it 7-5! My opponent did not make many unforced errors and played very similar to a counter-puncher in that he made a lot of balls and was very smart with his shot selection. I was forced to win the point with a winner, work the point until I got a short ball and close it out at net, or force an error from him by my shot selection.

The heat in France this day reminded me back to playing in the insane heat in Guam and Florida with the summer humidity. It was so hot that the bottom soles of my shoes literally were starting to come apart after an hour and a half or so of battling out there.

I could see my opponent was physically struggling not just because his skin turned bright red, but the fact he needed to dump water on his head while keeled over. I knew I had to keep fighting, but the heat was definitely also starting to get to me, however I did not show any sign of weakness or slowing down (at least externally to him and the spectators…). I could not convert the second set as my shot selection / serve percentage decreased and in turn I did not capitalize a lot of crucial opportunities that I had. I lost this set 7-5 and felt my body needed a pick me up. I quickly went and took several salt tablets, changed my entire outfit as my old clothes looked as if I was in a swimming pool and reset.

The third set began and we were both battling. I knew I needed to continue to stay aggressive, but play “smart” tennis not trying to paint lines or rush the point… We both held serve, and I ultimately had a chance to win the match serving at 5-4, but got broken. Immediately after getting broken, I did not dwell on it rather came out and played an incredible return game. I put every return in the court and felt like the ball was as big a “volleyball”. I was teeing off and quickly got the break back to go up 6-5. I could see my opponent was beyond suffering and I kept telling myself a variety of things such as “fight”, “play one point at a time”, “you are tired, but he is way more tired”, “you are prepared for this” and before I knew it I was up 40-30 serving for the match. We played a crazy long point that went almost 20 balls exchanging slices, heavy cross-court balls, but I finally got that short ball I was looking for and did not hold back. I cracked that forehand and ultimately my opponent missed!

My body was almost running on empty at this point, my hands were shaking and I could barely feel my feet. My mind had so many emotions / adrenaline that I had this euphoric feeling and could not stop smiling. This match was by far the BEST TENNIS I had played to date. I cannot begin to say how rewarding it is to see hard work throughout the past month pay off like that.

Brief explanation of French Money Circuit and rating system:

France, unlike the United States, utilizes a 4 series classification rating system ranging from at the low end (4th series) all the way up to the highest ratings in the (1st series). Essentially, at each of these four levels players hold a number rating such as 30/4 to 30/1 within the 4th series and in the 2nd series players can be ranked higher like 5/6, 4/6, 3/6, 2/6, 1/6, 0. Finally, after a 0, the ratings become negative (these players with negative rankings are some of the best players in France and around the world) with the exception of the top 100 numbers! These top 100 players do not hold a ranking seen in the four different series, rather they are so good that France gives them a number such as “50 or 80” meaning they are the #50 or #80 best player in France.

This system really rates players much more accurately than the U.S. NTRP rating system uses a scale from 1.0 (novice) to 7.0 (professional top ATP player). This U.S. system does not allow players to play tournaments where they can first start competing against players who might be slightly less ranked followed by someone around their level then someone better then them and so on… The French system does an incredible job with their ratings and in turn almost every single match is a competitive one rather than a blow out!

Lastly, unlike in the U.S. where players can only be entered in 1 tournament at a time, France allows players to be in as many 3-4 tournaments every single week. France’s circuit utilizes great communication between tournament directors and competitors to schedule match times as many players can even have two tournaments going on simultaneously!

Final Part Summer Blog coming soon!

Stay tuned for the final part of my summer series, which will talk about a little time away from the tennis court in Asia during August.

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