It has been a pretty good couple of days here in Sacramento.  I won my second round of singles on Thursday against Denis Lajola (USA) 6-2 6-2.  I played a pretty solid match overall.  It was a big improvement from the level of tennis in the first round so I was pretty happy with that.  Today, in the quarterfinals, I went up against Philip Bester (CAN) who is a friend of mine.  We trained and roomed together at IMG academies in Bradenton, FL from when I was fourteen to roughly seventeen and a half.  Needless to say we are pretty familiar with each other's game and have played in the past a couple of times.  I lost to him both times that we previously played but in pretty close matches.  It was a strange match overall.  It was just a couple of points here and there to decide each set.  I was lucky enough to come up big on a couple of points in the third set to take the match 6-4 2-6 6-3.  I will face Nicolas Meister (USA) in the semifinals tomorrow at 1:00PM.  The only time we have played was 7-6 in the third (barely squeezed it out) so I look forward to a tough battle.  

     Thursday's doubles match was not a pretty showing by any means but Jordan Cox and I were lucky to squeeze it out in the third set tiebreaker 2-6 6-0 10-7.  Today we went up against Phillip Simmonds (USA) and Vahid Mirzadeh (USA) in the semifinals of doubles.  They played pretty well and came up big on the deciding points when they needed to.  So they took us down 6-4 6-3.  The no-ad scoring system in doubles frustrates me like crazy.  I just want to let that be known to the world. 

     Besides all the tennis action it has been a pretty good time here in Sacramento.  The weather has been off the charts for the most part.  It is roughly eighty to ninety degrees every day with a slight breeze and no humidity.  I couldn't ask for it much better.  Our housing people took us out on the boat today as well.  There was a little bit of tubing involved along with some wakeboarding as well.  I had a pretty good time watching Greg Ouellette wakeboard for second.  There is nothing like watching a former Florida gator crash and burn.  No offense to any gator fans out there.  There always has to be some SEC trash talk involved.  You know how it is.  Jordan Cox also made a few attempts at wakeboarding but was unsuccessful.  I have faith that he will work out the kinks and get up one of these next couple of days though.  Perseverance is key in the wakeboarding game. 

     I would also like to give a shout-out to the king himself, Lebron James.  Without his dominant performance in game six last night, I am not sure I would have been able to get through my singles match today.  When Lebron steps up, I step up.  That is just the way it is.  Watching his 45-point performance last night was the most pumped I have been in my entire life to date.  That is a fact.  The guy was as coldblooded as I have ever seen in my life.  I was watching a little bit of the replay tonight just to reminisce on how unreal it actually was.  He is a machine and a hero.  End of story. 

     Anyways it has been real as usual.  That is all of the information I have for you today.  I hope that you all enjoyed the blog.  I will post again either tomorrow or Sunday.  Thanks for reading along.  Be blessed. 

All the best,

DB