Cancun, Mexico Futures Tournament

Last week I competed in the Cancun $15,000 Futures tournament. This was my first Futures tournament in 2 months and I was really excited to get out there and compete. The tournament was held at World Tennis Academy and it had a unique setup. There were 8 hard courts but there was a bubble over the 3 courts that they used for the matches. This caused the courts to play pretty fast and similar to an indoor court. It was nice to have the courts protected from the sun as it was less humid underneath the bubble.

I arrived a few days early to get used to the conditions down in Mexico. I stayed at an Airbnb near the courts and it was an awesome experience. I stayed in the home of a very welcoming Mexican family and they took great care of me. It was awesome to be able to see their culture and how they live. They cooked breakfast for me every morning and I enjoyed trying traditional Mexican food. Here is a picture of my amazing hosts. 

Last Saturday I started off with a tough opening match against a good 18-year-old ranked Romanian player. He had a big game with a good 1st serve and powerful groundstrokes. He started off the match playing really well and broke me only once and held the rest of the1st set to take it 6-3. I responded in the 2nd set by getting an early break by playing more aggressive and keeping the ball deeper. This made it more difficult for him to continue playing offensive tennis as I also got a good rhythm with my serve to take the 2nd 6-3. In the 3rd set, I had a few break chances early on, but I didn't convert as he came up with clutch shots. My opponent broke me to take a 5-2 lead in the final set. I got a quick hold to make it 3-5 and then played my best return game to break him back and make it 4-5. I made every return that game and played solid tennis. However, the next game I found myself down 0-40 on my serve and facing 3 match points. I saved the first with a good approach and then saved the next 2 with big 1st serves. I held for 5-5 and then broke him at love to take the 6-5 lead. My opponent was visibly upset as he didn't take advantage of his opportunities. I served out the match in the next game 3-6, 6-3, 7-5 for a tough 2.5-hour win.

On to the next round, I played another young player from Mexico. He was a good baseliner with good groundstrokes, however, he didn't have a strong serve. In the 1st set, I got out to a quick 2-0 lead but didn't stretch the lead as well as I could have. He broke me back and then I had multiple break chances but didn't convert them. It remained close until I got the break at 5-5 and then served out the set 7-5. In the 2nd set, I again had the momentum with a 4-1 lead but couldn't sustain it. I have to give credit to my opponent for fighting and hanging in there. He reeled off 4 straight games and served for the 2nd set at 5-4 before I broke him back at love. We traded holds and ended up in a tiebreak. I started off the tiebreak strong and stayed very focused. I didn't let him hang around this time and won the tiebreak 7-0 to take a 7-5, 7-6 win. Although this wasn't my best tennis, I competed well and got the win.

In the final round, I played against the #2 seed in Qualifying who is currently ranked 1100 in the world. He is a solid player with a complete game including big groundstrokes and solid volleys. In the first set he broke me right away to go up an early break 2-1, but I broke him right back to even it at 2-2. There were a lot of close games in the beginning but I got the key break at 4-3 to then serve for the set. I came up with some big first serves to take the 1st set 6-3. In the second set, I got up an early break 3-1 and you could tell that my opponent was tired after playing a lot of matches in the last month. I continued to play solid tennis and serve well to take the match 6-3, 6-2. This was by far my best match of the week and I qualified for my 3rd Futures Main draw!

In the 1st round of the Main Draw, I faced off against the #4 seed Evan Song from the U.S. who is currently ranked 450. He is a lefty who plays smart, consistent tennis from the baseline. He also has a tricky lefty serve as he mixes up the spins very well. In the 1st set, I had a few break point chances to go up an early break but he came up with big shots on those points. I've noticed at that level, most of these top players play their best on the big points and make you really earn it. He broke me at 2-2 and then against at 2-4 before serving out the 1st set 6-2. My opponent also got the early break in the 2nd set. I had some chances to get it back on serve but he served clutch. I ended up losing the match 6-2, 6-3. This was a tough match as I felt like it could have been a lot closer and I didn't have my best serving day either. My first serve percentage was too low at 39% and I had too many double faults. 

I got to enjoy my last day at the beach. This was another positive week for me as I qualified for another main draw while not playing my best tennis. I got 4 good matches in before coming back to California and training for a few days. Today I am off to Hong Kong for 2 more Futures tournaments to finish off the year!

"If you do what you've always done, you'll get what you've always gotten" - Tony Robbins