Saturday, October 11th, 2025

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 walk 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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