Guadalajara, Jalisco Open

I came back from Salinas back to Miami and decided to start training hard for the next challenger. I had 6 days. I put in 6 hours every day between time on the court and the gym and arrived to Guadalajara very prepared to play qualies.
Sometimes, when I qualify in the challenger , I play better in the main draw.
I didn't have tough qualies because the top seed got in the main draw automatically so I played low ranked player in the last round of qualies.
I drew the No 2 seed in the main draw, the player by the name Matthias Bachinger.
I never beat the player inside top 100 in my entire career. I knew that now it was a good opportunity. I'm playing in the high altitude against the player who is not very familiar with the peculiar conditions of high altitude tennis and not very comfortable with pressures. balls.
I stayed tough and won 64 64. It was probably one of the happiest days in my life. That win advanced me to the second round where I had an easier match against the Mexican Miguel Reyes-Varella. I player him before 2 times and both times beat him, so I was confident that I could win this match. The tournament organizers put me at night so the crowds could get behind Miguel, who was the only Mexican left in the draw.
I was nervous the first 20 minutes of the match and got broken a few times. I stayed in the match though and was able to raise my level. I won 63 61.
My next round opponent was Rajeev Ram. I played against him the year before and he beat me in straight sets.I knew that he was capable of playing some great tennis because he is a serve and volleyer and plays very aggressive style putting a lot of pressure on the opponent making constantly hit passing shots.

Salinas, Ecuador

After coming back from Minsk and competing in the Davis Cup indoors , I got sick for 5 days and my preparation for the clay court challenger in Salinas was shorter than I was hoping for.
I didn't get in doubles and my first round singles was against player from south America who mainly plays on clay.
I wasn't feeling comfortable there at all and lost in straight sets.

Davis Cup in Minsk

It's going to be a long flight from Mexico City to Minsk, which is the capital of Belarus...around 10 and a half hours. I hope I have enough battery on my iPad.
I flew in Minsk and had a 6 hour layover. I decided to go to the sky lounge to kill a few hours.
I took a shower and felt a lot better.
My next flight was delayed for 45 minutes due to broken arm rest

Mexico City, Berimbau, 2012

I arrived here the Monday night of the tournament, the latest I ever arrived to the tournament considering that I have to defend a title here.
The reason I came so late is because I was competing on that same Monday at the tournament in Monterrey, where I beat Daniel Garza in the final. After the final I took the evening flight from Monterrey to Mexico city and got to my hotel room by 9:30 pm.
I have to play my first round on Tuesday against Edgar Lopez from Mexico.
Tuesday:
I came to the club and was ready to play my match when all of a sudden the rain started. The courts are covered but the little holes in the roof created wet spots on the court and made it impossible for the match to start.
The match got rescheduled for Wednesday because the rain wasn't stopping and it was getting pretty late.
That night I was picked up by my host family from the club. I stayed with them last year and I loved it.

Wednesday:
I woke up with the pain in my groin. I got it injured during the final when running for the drop shot.
I took some medicine to keep the pain down. I didn't feel the pain in the first set but it slowly came back in the second set and I didn't want to push it anymore. On top of it, my opponent was playing very good tennis even though I have never seen or heard of him before.
I retired in the second set when I started to feel a lot of pain.
Now I'm taking a few days off from tennis and start mental preparation for Davis Cup in Belarus.

Monterrey, MX

After starting this year in Australia, I decided to come back to Mexico at the end of January to compete in 2 future events 15K in Monterrey and Mexico city. After Mexico city I'm supposed to fly to Belarus for Davis Cup tie.
The weather in Monterrey is nice. I'm staying in Novotel hotel which is very close to the tournament site. I'm rooming this week with my friend Joel Kincaid. He lost in the qualies but decided to stay for a few days to train. So far, we are both having a good time.
The hotel is full of police/military guards so I'm not sure if this area is very safe. In the evenings I stay in the room, order room service dinner and watch Australian Open on TV.
I'm playing my first round singles and doubles on Tuesday.

Tuesday:
I won my first round against a very talented player from Venezuela. I beat him 75 63. It wasn't easy to play because the balls were flying a lot in the warm conditions of Monterrey. You also have to take into consideration a little bit of altitude.
Tomorrow I'm playing against a Mexican player Tiburon Ramirez.

Wednesday:
My match was scheduled for 12 pm during the warmest part of the day. I won the toss and chose to start on the side that doesn't have the sun because during the morning warm up I played on the sunny side.
Cesar chose return. We were holding serves till 4:4 when he broke me with a few good passing shots. He held his serve on the next game and the first set was his.
The second set was very intense and went into the tie breaker. I won it 7:5.
The third set was the same scenario till 3:3 when I broke him at 15 and held at love. At 3:5 Cesar serving , I broke him after 2 deuces. I won 4:6 7:6 6:3.

Thursday:
I had a singles day off but still had to play doubles semifinal. My doubles partner was returning very well and we best the other team pretty easily.

Friday:
I played against a Brazilian tennis player. I have never seen him before , so it was a little bit of challenge trying to figure out how to beat him.
I played well on my serve and toon some chances on his serve because he was missing a lot of rally shots.
I won 64 64 and felt very good to make the semifinal. I had a little bit of time to rest and had to get ready for the doubles final.
In the final we faced the American tram Britton/Krajicek. The served very well and didn't make any mistakes at the net. They also put a lot of pressure on our second serves and that made the difference in the match, which we lost in 2 sets.

Saturday:

My semifinal of singles was scheduled for 11 am. It was a pretty cold day. I came to the club a little bit earlier to warm up because I didn't have anyone who was going to warm me up. I found a local pro who agreed to hit with me for 20 minutes. It was better than warming up against the wall.
I came out strong and didn't get broken the entire match.
I won 63 62.

Sunday:
Looks very rainy and the match is delayed by 2 hours because it was raining at night and there is no sun and no wind. It takes a long time for courts to dry.
I'm trying to stay warm by drinking warm tea and wearing warm clothes.
It's 3 pm on Sunday of the final and still raining. I wonder if the final will be moved to Monday??

Monday:
The final was scheduled for 11 am again but it was still raining in the morning.
Finally, we started at 12:30.
I tried to warm up before the match but I came out on the court a little bit rushed and not 100% ready.
I got broken in the first game but broke back right away.
I player more solid and served higher percentage.
I won 62 63. There were not too many people in the club and there was no real award ceremony.
After the final I went online to book my flight to Mexico city, club Berimbau, where I would compete in the next tournament. I was scheduled to play my first round on Tuesday.