Cheers to all. I am writing you from London, England where i am currently getting ready for my second ever Wimbledon. It is a rainy day here so practice has been scarce and far between. I practiced with Zack Fleishman today who is playing his first tournament in over 2 years after a long battle with injuries. We had to practice indoors obviously but it was a battle to get on the courts. Imagine 256 people (men and women) trying to get on 20 courts spread throughout the city. Not pretty!! The forecast doesn’t look great for tomorrow either, hopefully it won’t affect the schedule of matches tomorrow but we will just have to wait and see what rainy london has in store for us. I am here with my long time coach Craig Cignarelli which is amazing in itself. I can remember practicing serve and volley with Craig when i was 12 years old, one day dreaming of being at Wimbledon like Pete Sampras and Patrick Rafter. So when i asked if Craig wanted to come with me, he was ready at the drop of a hat. So now we are here on the eve of Wimbledon reflecting on all of those years of hard work done at 6 a.m. before school is in session and the ‘sick days’ i took just so Craig and i could practice all day long. I loved the game so much and it is a great feeling just to be a part of the most prestigious tournament in the world now. Obviously i am not satisfied with just being here, i want to do well, but I wanted to share that thought with you. If you want something bad enough and work hard enough for it, then you will achieve it!!
Hey guys, things have been pretty busy with me the last couple of weeks. It started at the $10k conveniently located in Tampa, FL where i decided to play so that i could get some matches and try to get the season kick started that way. Well, i got what i came for and ended up playing 9 matches in 10 days. I didn’t plan on playing in the tournament so i had to work my way through qualifying, which was 4 matches, and then i made my way through the main draw beating some good opponents along the way. In the quarterfinals i played Luka Gregorc and we had a loooong 3 1/2hr match and in the semifinals i beat Denis Kudla in another long three set match. In the finals i lost to Blake Strode who was just too good on that day. It was a long road to the finals and i was happy with my performance. After a couple of days off Greg Ouelette and I decided to play in a mens open money tournament in Jacksonville, FL. It was the Firehouse subs annual fundraiser for the Public Safety Foundation and they did a great job with the tournament and raised $350,000 for the charity!!! The tournament went great and as you can see in the photo we came away with the big check. It was a fun weekend and maybe we will be back next year to defend the title. Now i am back home and training for my next tournament which i think will be the qualifying of Wimbledon. Wish me luck !!!
Greetings from Tampa. I know it has been a little while since I last blogged but I am finally starting to feel better. About three weeks ago I started to get sick and I am one of those people that hates medication and won’t even take advil if I can help it. But recently I have had a cough and weakness that I couldn’t shake, so I broke down and went to the dr. I got diagnosed with bronchitis and have been getting treated for that since. Today is the first day that I have felt like I am getting better. I guess there is something to be said for western medicine haha. This illness made me retire in savannah GA challenger and also a bad showing in the Sarasota challenger. This week I am playing a $10k in Tampa FL where I am the #1 seed and will hopefully getting some good matches in. If you are around come on by. All the best!!
Check out the photos from my recent graduation from university… . ATP University. I didn’t think i would be back in a classroom after college but somehow I got sucked back in. It was actually a very interesting three days down in Miami. The ATP has 2 mandatory classes each year, for the top 200 players in the world, where you learn about everything within the ATP and all of its members and how they are there to help us when ever we have a problem. I really enjoyed my time there and learned a lot about what goes into every tournament and how much they really do care about us (the players). We got lessons on how to deal with the media, how to use social networking to our advantage, anti-doping/gambling, spoke to tournament directors, financial advisors and ATP staff. Here are the photos !!
Hey everyone. I did an exhibition yesterday at the Long Boat Key Country Club in Sarasota, FL where they are already getting events kicked off for the 2011 Sarasota Open. Tony Driscoll always does a great job with this tournament. Last year they had 36,000 spectators so get your tickets while you can. Check out www.SarasotaOpen.org
Marina del Rey Patch Interview
A big thanks to McCarton over at the Marina del Rey Patch. I hope you enjoy the interview, please let me know what you think.
-Lester
http://marinadelrey.patch.com/articles/marina-del-rey-still-home-for-tennis-pro-cook
Well said Lovey!!
Here is an article at www.10sballs.com where they make an argument about how the USTA needs to step up and support the top 25 Americans who are very talented and can break through with a little extra help instead of focusing on testing 8 year olds for the next big hope! Oops, i think i may not have quoted this article very accurately.
Well, after a couple of months in Tampa I am back on the road which means airports, security lines, hotels and taxi’s. Ahhhh how I have missed those. I am in Atlanta today to do an exhibition with Cliff Drysdale, Johan Kriek, Bobby Reynolds, Tim Smyczek and Alex Kuznetsov at the Midtown Athletic Club. It is a great club they have here and I am sure the day will be great. From here we are all going to travel to Dallas tomorrow to get ready for the t bar m challenger. They will be broadcasting matches live on the Internet with commentary and etc. I will publish the link once I get a chance to. I have to go play some doubles and show these old timers how the game is played now!!
Hey everyone!! I am sure that you have all been hearing about the new hologram technology in bracelets to improve your balance, strength and flexibility. You have probably seen the one on the infomercials where the guy pushes you over and tells you that you are not balanced. It is a shame that those products with a phony actor get air time and the ones that really work like Equalibryum don’t, but what they do have is a kick a$$ lineup of athletes who would vouch for the product any day. I have luckily become one of those athletes and you will see me sporting my new bracelet on the court. I want to thank Malcolm over at Equalibryum for accepting me into the family and I hope that we can have a great partnership together for years to come!!!
Australian Open 2011
Well, the holidays are over and everyone is going back to work. Except for me. Today is the start of the 2011 Australian Open in Melbourne, Australia and i am writing you from Tampa. This off season was a very tough one for me this year. In the last tournament of the year i suffered a tricep injury which kept me from competing at my best. When i got back to Tampa i learned that i tore my tricep and was going to need a little bit of time to recover. They didn’t say exactly because everyone heals at a different pace. But after 5 weeks i still could not practice and knew that it was going to be tough to make the Australian Open qualifying.
I got to practice the last couple of days but it wasn’t enough time to feel good and confident about my game to where i could compete down there. Not to mention my cardio was way down. In the end, it was a very tough decision but i pulled out of the tournament. I can’t remember the last time that i had to pull out of a tournament, much less a grand slam because of an injury. But with every dark cloud there is a silver lining. I get to take things slowly and not rush the beginning of my season while everyone else only got a couple of weeks off, i get a couple months off. While every one else rushed their pre season training, i get to be more specific with mine. And I know that when i am ready to go, my body will be much more rested than the others and will be able to compete at a higher level.
But until then I will keep up with my yoga routines, spinning and jogging to get my cardio up. Anyways, Happy New Year !!!
