Sunday, October 12th, 2025

11:55 a.m.

Well, it didn't end like the way I would have liked it. When you get injuries it's never the best thing, it's terrible. When I was playing I felt the pop in my calf, and I knew right away that something bad happened. Now I have to go back and see how bad it is.Those things - there's nothing that we can do. For a player - for every player - this is, I think, the worst part. When you get an injury when you're playing and doing well, and something like that happens, It's always a bad feeling. So now I have to rest and see. I have had this in the past, on the other on the other calf, but the other one didn't look bad, like this one right now. But hope it's just something that is not that bad.

I can't say that it was a good weekend, but it's always fun to play, always fun to compete. But right now it's tough for me, because I like to play and I hate when something like this happens.

9:38 a.m.

It's good to be back on court for another day. When you have a bye, it's bad. It's bad because when you have a bye your opponent comes with already one match, and they're a bit warmer. So I don't like to have a bye, but I don't complain! I think our first round was good. The first round is always important. You feel the ball, you feel the court a little bit, and even though you played yesterday it's always another day. So it's always good to have a good first round and I think we did well. It's a good advantage for us that we've known each other for so long, Marcelo and me. We've been playing together for so long, so that helps us.

8:02 a.m.

Last night after a long day it was good to have a nice dinner with my son. We went to eat some some steak! It's good when I have time to hang out with him. Then I had to recap the whole day - what I did good, what I did wrong. I woke up this morning already thinking about today, it's another day and, and that's what I think is the difference now with my age. When I was young and playing I sometimes I cared too much about when I lose, or the mistakes that I make, and now I learn with those mistakes. So now, when I have something that went wrong in a match, I try to understand better what I did wrong for next time. I change, but I don't get frustrated more than five minutes - it takes five minutes. So my frustration is the first five minutes, I don't like to stay with that feeling too long. It's even the same thing when I win, I celebrate for 5-10 minutes, and that's it. That's the next match now. So that's what I learned. In all those years playing, the thing is that the frustration and even the happiness needs to take, like, 5-10, minutes.

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Saturday, October 11th, 2025

5:11 p.m.

Well, the day is over. The final was a really tough match. I think they played really well, our opponents, they really hit good shots. We tried to come back in the second set and we almost made it. It's not what I want, but, overall, I love competition. I love to compete, so it's nice to be here. It's nice to be able to play another final, and they deserve it. They played much better than us, and they deserve it. Now it's rest and then be ready for tomorrow, another day.

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2:24 p.m.

Well, that was a tough match. We knew that it was going to be a tough match. I know Youssef, I know Karin, they're good players, and they had some opportunities in the second set as well. I'm glad that we put everything together to come back. After being down 10-7, to come back in and beat them, 12-10, is important. So I think the good side of the match was this, that even though they had a couple of set points, we came back in. We had a little drama in the match, which sometimes happens, but that stays on the court. Pickleball, we have all four great competitors, and we are old enough to leave what happened on court on court. What happens on the court always stays on court.

12:51 p.m.

It's always tough to play after a long break. We knew that we were going to have this break. It's tough to decide if you're gonna eat or not eat. So I tried to get a protein shake just to help a little bit. I don't like to eat too much before a match, and it's tough. I think we struggled a little bit on the first set. Myself, I think I made a lot of mistakes. But the good thing is, the second set, we came back better, cutting the errors and it was a good result.

I think it's great for us, after 50 years old, to still compete at a high level. I think the APP is doing a great job to have this senior tour. It's fantastic for the players. We can feel young again.

9:28 a.m.

Ours was a good first match. You know, after a while without playing a tournament and in matches, it's important to have a good first one and I think we both played well, we had a good win, and that gave us a little bit more confidence for the next one.

I think the second match we we played well. The thing is we know each other so well. We've been playing for two years already, every tournament, having good results. So we know pretty much what we're going to do. Like, I know what she's going to do. She knows what I'm going to do. So we're always ready for the next ball, and that helps a lot. And if one is not playing that well, the other one is always there to help. I think the second match was really good. We know now the matches are getting tougher and tougher. Now we play quarterfinals, and we're expecting a tough match, but we're ready for that one.

7:44 a.m.

This morning was tough! I had to wake up at like six in the morning, since I had to play at eight. I always like to, if my match is at eight o'clock, wake up at least two hours before the match, and I have a quick breakfast because I want to get here earlier so we have a good warm up. I need to get the paddles tested, so I need to be earlier. I did some stretching, had a good warm up with my partner, Lee, and we're ready to play. I've been playing with Lee about two years already, so we know each other really well. We both don't warm up too much - we like to warm up a little bit - just feel the ball, feel the court. And we are ready for the match!

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Friday, October 10th, 2025

3:22 p.m.

I'm on my way to Fort Lauderdale right now to the AARP Open and so far a nice start. I'm driving from Orlando, Florida. There's a lot of traffic right now on the turnpike. I just left my work - I am the head coach of a tennis academy at a private school in the Orlando area - I got in my car, and now I have to deal with this terrible traffic, but you know, it's part of the game. I'm excited and looking forward to getting to Fort Lauderdale and starting play tomorrow. To be honest, I hate traffic, but it's good because I have a lot of time to think about how I'm going to play this weekend. It's around 3:00 and Waze shows me that I'm going to get there around 7:30, so when I get there I'll be ready for dinnertime, I'll rest and try to be ready for Saturday!

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