Alec Adamson's Tennis Journey

I just wrapped up the 2nd week here in Santa Margherita di Pula on the Italian island of Sardegna. I now just have 1 more tournament this upcoming week before returning to the United States after spending 3 amazing months playing in Europe. We had a few days after the last tournament ended to see a few of the local sites. We saw the Nora ruins which are old Roman ruins and we also saw the city of Pula which had a cool umbrella street. This past Saturday I played my first round of qualifying against Marcel Sudzum, a pretty good 16 year old from the Netherlands. He had a good serve and a big forehand at times so he was a dangerous opponent. I got up a break early in the 1st set 3-2 by playing solid tennis and then held in a long 10-deuce game on my serve after saving a few break points. I broke him again before serving out the set at love to win the 1st set 6-2. The second set was closer as he got a few holds to start the 2nd set and evened it at 2-2. I broke him...

After I finished up the last tournament in France, I took a long but beautiful train down through France and into Italy. Last week I trained with Jesse, my teammate from Davis, on the red clay in Piombino, Italy. Playing on the red clay is a big difference because it is a lot slower and you need to be more patient when constructing points.  After we finished 5 days of good training on the clay, last Thursday we took the ferry to the Italian island of Sardegna and then drove down to Santa Margherita di Pula where the next Futures are held. It was a long trek as the ferry took about 6.5 hours and then we had to drive another 4 hours on the island.  The tournament is held at a really cool resort, Forte Village Resort, where there are four hotels on the property and it is very expensive. There are 11 red clay courts at the site which they take good care of. We are staying about a mile from the resort in a nice AirBNB that is 200 feet from the Mediterranean sea.  ...

I finished up the last of 3 Futures tournaments in Portugal this last week. I really enjoyed my time in Portugal as it is a great country and I got to take in some of the sights in Sintra on my last day. The cost of living is fairly cheap in Portugal, especially the food. The past few weeks I have stayed at a few different Airbnbs around Sintra, which was great as it is less expensive than a hotel and you also get to stay wiPortugueseugese family and experience their culture.   I played the first round of Qualifying last Saturday against a local Portuguese player who trains at the academy where the tournament was hosted. He was mainly just a baseliner who had a good forehand and liked to retrieve. I started the first set strong by mixing in serve and volley and coming to the net when it was there. I won the first set 6-2 with a few breaks of serve. The second set was more competitive as he tried to play more aggressive and it got to 3-3 before I got the break. I would ...