Sorry for the delay on the blog post everyone.  I had the unfortunate luck of playing the doubles finals at 10:00pm last night.  I did not arrive back to the hotel until roughly 12:30am.  At that point all I could consider thinking about was sleep.  We won the doubles final 6-3 5-7 10-4.(Darian King and I with our trophies below)  So at least I went to sleep on a good note.  I am wide-awake now though and will try to bring you up to date on the past couple of days. 

     I played a tough quarterfinal of singles yesterday.  I won 6-4 6-7 7-5 in a pretty solid battle.  It was extremely windy out there so it wasn't especially pretty tennis.  I can't complain though because I got the job done.  Today was a different story though.  I lost the semifinals of singles against Antoine Benneteau 6-3 5-7 2-6.  I had chances in the second set but just couldn't convert.  Also my serve let me down a little bit in the third set.  That was pretty much the decider.  Overall it was a productive week though.  I wish I could have taken this one to title town, but I guess it just wasn't meant to be.  Either way, I am going to take the positives away from it and keep working.   

     The week may be over, but there are a few things that I feel that I need to address.  This may not be necessary information.  However, it is info I think is worth telling.  Just trying to give you a little closer look inside the tournament and Mexico itself.  First of all, I want you to check out the lunch spot for this week (below).  This place was pure gold.  I ate lunch here just about everyday and the food was beautiful.  Chicken with sides of pasta and salad (below).  How can you go wrong?  Plus you get bonus tortillas and a fruit drink of your choice on the house.  The total price of this whole lunch fiasco was 45 pesos ($3.50).  See what I am saying? PURE GOLD. 

     If you have read the previous blog posts you will realize that I take food pretty seriously.  Anybody that knows me knows how I feel about food.  I am known to tear up during a good meal simply because of how much it means to me.  Okay maybe not tear up but you get what I am saying.  I dream about food on the reg.  To be completely upfront and honest, I want to be the guy in Man vs. Food someday when my tennis career is over.  For now I will stick to the healthy stuff though.  This is just your standard random "about me" paragraph. 

     If you have ever been to Mexico you have probably seen a stray dog or cat around.  It is pretty sad to see the stray animals running around for the most part, but one of these pups is running a system on Guadalajara, Mexico (below).  His name is Archibald aka Archie.  You are probably thinking, "Archibald doesn't sound Spanish."  Well that is probably because I made the name up myself.  I claimed him as my mascot for this week so I felt the need to give him a blog shout out.  This dog is living at the tennis arena here in Guadalajara.  He gets frequent food handouts from the restaurant here and plenty of attention from the youngsters around.  Not to mention scattered naps in the shade during the day.  Keep living the dream Archibald.  I am going to miss you bro. 

     Last but not least, I want to tell you guys about crossing the street in Mexico.  It sounds like a pretty standard task right?  Not quite.  It is always an adventure.  Crosswalks are a rarity here so you just have to wing it.  It is pretty much a real life version of frogger and let's just say that I have almost lost on a couple different occasions.  The cars like to speed up when they see me for some reason.  I don't know if it is because I reek of America or it is just the standard procedures to try and take out pedestrians.  Either way it is a thrill though.  There is nothing like a good rush every now and again. 

     So this is it for Mexico posts.  I am headed to Bradenton, Florida tomorrow morning to get ready for the Tampa, FL 10k on clay that is starting on Tuesday.  I have enjoyed Mexico, but I would be lying if I said I wasn't looking forward to getting back into the US of A.  I will be staying at my brother Jordan Cox's place for the next few weeks in Bradenton to train.  So my next blog will be coming from the home soil.  I am pretty excited about it.  Anyways, that is all I have for you tonight.  I need to get some sleep in as I have a 7:30am flight.  That means a 4:30am hotel departure.  I love me some international flights.  Thanks again for reading.  See you guys in the States!

All the best,

Devin