So I survived my first full week as a blogger.  I am feeling loose as a goose and ready for week two.  Can you feel the intensity in the air right now?  I know I can.  I am ready to snap some necks and cash some checks.  Let's do this thing. 

     I had to throw in a little motivational speech in there to make sure you guys were awake.  Ok, on to the updates.  So I took the bus from Celaya to Guadalajara yesterday at 4:30pm.  First off, the bus was incredible.  The legroom was off the charts.  The seats reclined into semi-beds.  There were footrests that folded down from the seat in front of me.  Not to mention that the views were incredible since it I was on the road during the sunset.  I snapped a couple of shots that I have to share with you guys (below).  I couldn't decide which one was more awesome.  So I am just going to throw a duo of pictures at you.  All of this action came for the beautiful price of 410 pesos ($32 roughly).  The only down side is that I was forced to watch Eat, Pray, Love followed by Pretty Woman in Spanish.  I decided to watch Zoolander just afterwards on my computer to try and balance things out. 

     The facility here in Guadalajara is pretty incredible.  They held the 2011 Pan American games here so it has all sorts of different sporting setups.  I haven't gotten around to seeing any of them besides the tennis courts just yet though.  They have a pretty good-sized stadium court (below) and multiple smaller stadium seated courts.  It would be one hundred times better if people were actually here to sit in the stands.  Unfortunately in futures tournaments that is something you rarely find.  Although in Mexico you will usually find about as big of a crowd as anywhere else in the world.  They love their tennis here.  I will give them credit for that.  Anyways the setup is pretty awesome.  The one real downside is that there is no grub to be found anywhere on site.  I plan on packing my own lunch tomorrow.  Subway is just across the street from the hotel so problem solved.  It is also roughly 90 plus degrees during the day. Shade is not something that is easily found.  The sun is pretty brutal I am not going to lie.  It is not all that humid here.  It is mostly just purebred heat.  I am definitely getting a good bronzing.  I did lather on a little 100 SPF sunscreen to try and avoid getting scorched today though.  Overall this place is pretty sweet.  I can't complain.

     I start playing singles tomorrow at 12:30pm.  I play the same guy as I played first round last week.  This is pretty rare but happens every once in a while.  They make the draw by choosing two players to randomly draw chips out of an ITF official bag.  So it is purely the luck of the draw.  I am playing doubles with Darian King (BAR) again this week.  We played our first round of doubles today and won 6-4 6-3 so on to the second round on Wednesday.  That is about all the info I have for you at this point in time.  I will probably throw a shorter post in tomorrow after my singles.  I believe the comment section is up and running perfectly now.  So feel free to say hello, make fun, or just like and share with you friends.  Any of those options are cool with me.  Anyways it has been fun.  You know what they say, "Monday, fun day."  By they, I mean nobody.  For real though I am out of here.  Have a good one people. 

All the best,

DB

     Well today was a beautiful day here in Celaya, Mexico.  The sun was shining, the birds were chirping, and the ball was going in between the lines.  That last one is a key ingredient.  I won my singles 6-0 6-2 against Mauricio Astorga (MEX).  I played well and did the things I needed to do to get through.  Darian King and I also won our doubles 6-0 3-6 10-7 (super tiebreaker for the third set).  It was a pretty strange doubles match.  We came out pretty hot.  We were making every return and getting all the lucky breaks.  Then boom second set hit us like a sack of bricks.  Our opponent played a good return game at 0-1 to break.  Just like that the momentum shifted.  Momentum is a very fragile thing in tennis.  It is something you really have to take care of.  If not, then someone is always waiting to steal it from you.  We were luckily able to raise our level of play in the tiebreaker and get it done in the end.  My semifinals of singles will be at 11:00am and our doubles is not before 3:00pm.  So it will be another full day of tennis tomorrow. 

     One of the more funny things I have found at the futures here in Mexico are the practice balls (above).  In every other country that I have been to you get one new can of practice balls every day.  Here is a whole different story.  You have to give a deposit of fifty pesos in order to get four practice balls.  As you can see, the selection is stellar.  I would say fifty percent of the balls in the bucket are already popped or within two minutes of popping.  So you must choose your four very wisely.  I usually spend about five minutes shuffling through the bucket hoping to find a hidden gem somewhere.  Let me just confirm to you that it's not there.  During the matches we change balls every eleven and thirteen games.  So since I only played fourteen games, I shook hands with my opponent and the referee.  Then I jogged out to pick up the somewhat fresh balls on the court.  I threw them in my bag and went on my way.  I consider that a big win in itself.  It is the little things in life you know?

     On to the serious stuff.  This bad boy (above) aka the gym is where all the magic has been happening this week.  You should have seen the before picture.  I have pretty much left the gym in shambles.  You might notice a white piece of paper on the far treadmill.  Most likely says out of order due to over use.  You're welcome.  Seriously though.  It may not look like much, but it has everything you could possibly need minus a underwater treadmill (only joking, underwater treadmills aren't a necessity).  It is tough to really get a good work out in during the middle of a tournament.  So you have to get a little in here and there in order to stay on point with your fitness level.  I try to get some mini workout sessions in each day just to keep everything up to date.  So far it is working like a charm.  I am also a little bit superstitious (by a little I mean a lot), so if I do something one day and win.  You can expect me to do that same thing every day after until I lose.  Thus why I have had Subway for dinner every night before a match.  Like I said in my previous post. Us athletes are a strange breed. 

     Side not for the day.  Spanish speaking people really struggle with the name Devin.  I have been called David, Dave, and Davin up to this point.  It keeps me alert, that much is for sure.  I find it pretty entertaining myself.  It is always good to be called a few different names for a few weeks to keep things fresh. 

     Anyways, it is dinnertime.  I am off to Subway to get myself a foot long pechuga de pollo (grilled chicken).  There have been a few little problems with the comments section, but it should be all good now.  Some of your comments may have been lost in mix.  I promise they have not been forgotten though.  I hope everyone has had a great day and have an even better weekend.  I will post again tomorrow night after all the action is over with.  Thanks for hearing me out. 

All the best,

Davin