Montreal, Canada

After a great tournament playing a UTR PTT in Houston, Texas, I headed to Montreal, Canada to play two weeks of Futures tournaments. The first week was in Sherbrooke, about two hours from Montreal, and the second week was at Canada’s National Training Center in Montreal. I was hopeful for these tournaments because they would be the first ITF events I’ve played indoors. My game adapts to different conditions, but indoors I feel most at home. The serve and return become extremely important, points are shorter, and it’s easier to take big cuts at the ball.

I was coming off a short two weeks of training and coaching back home, as well as my best tournament to date at the PTT in Houston. I went 5–1 on the week and finished in 5th place, so I was feeling good about my rhythm and confidence heading into Canada.

One thing that continues to surprise me on the Futures tour is how different the conditions can be from tournament to tournament. There is no consistency with the type of ball being used. Each tournament uses a different brand, which can really impact how the ball feels on the strings and how fast it moves. Then there is the court surface. In Montreal the courts were very fast, favoring big servers and players who like to hit hard and flat. Other tournaments, like Greece or Tunisia, are played on slow, gritty surfaces with crazy wind speeds. Add in elevation and heat, and every week becomes a completely different challenge.

Luckily, these fast indoor courts suited my game well.

Going into these two weeks I set a couple small goals for myself. I wanted to slow down on my serve and really focus on breathing and visualization. Something as simple as not rushing and bouncing the ball a few extra times can make a big difference. I also focused on staying mentally strong, treating every point with equal importance and not letting my focus drift in the bigger moments.

Leading up to my first match I had some good practices, linking up again with my doubles partner from Mexico, Aurel Ciocanu. By setting multiple alarms—and definitely not thinking about it constantly—I also made sure I signed up before the deadline as an alternate for qualifying.

In the first round of qualies I faced a seeded American player. I came out extremely focused and served very well, hitting my targets and limiting baseline errors. I broke him early and won the first set 6–1. The second set stayed tight until 4–4, where I secured the break and finished the match 6–4. I didn’t get broken the whole match, which is especially tough when serving it out at 5–4.

In the second round of qualies I played another American player, one of the top juniors in the country committed to Ohio State. I continued serving well, which on these fast courts is a huge advantage. The match stayed tight, but my opponent started to unravel in the big moments, including some key double faults. I won the match 7–6, 6–4.

Another positive was that I avoided the usual letdown after winning the first set, because I tend to go three sets a lot. Closing it out in two felt good.

A note for parents: coaching is allowed in these matches when a referee is present, and my opponent had his dad right on the court throughout the match. He spent most of the time intensely coaching and bickering, which seemed to make his son tighter and more stressed. Instead of playing freely, he looked worried about executing everything perfectly. As a parent or coach, it’s usually better to let kids compete freely, encourage them positively, and talk things through afterward. Sometimes too much coaching in the moment creates more problems than solutions.

Just like that, after two of my best wins and playing some of my best tennis, I was into the main draw of my first ITF singles tournament. It felt great to finally string together multiple tough wins in a row.

When you qualify into the main draw, you always hope for a little luck. You could end up playing one of the top seeds (around 400–500 ATP), another qualifier, a wildcard, or a direct acceptance. I ended up drawing another American player ranked around 1000 ATP.

I didn’t feel too nervous going into the match. I stuck with my normal pre-match routines and treated it like any other day. It did feel more official though—multiple line judges, my name on a banner beside the court, and a decent crowd watching.

I came out serving well again and managed to break at 5–4 to take the first set. The truth was that aside from my serve, I wasn’t playing great. My groundstrokes felt off and I struggled to find rhythm. My opponent wasn’t playing great either, so it became one of those matches where you just try to find a way to win ugly.

In the second set I found myself up 3–2, 40–0 on his serve. During the point he floated me a short backhand. I stepped up to take it down the line—one of my money shots—but clipped the top of the net. He escaped the game and gained momentum. I got broken shortly after.

The score moved quickly from there: 3–4, 3–5, 4–5, 5–5, 5–6, and I lost the set 7–5.

The third set stayed tight. I had multiple break point chances but couldn’t convert. Ultimately the match was on my racquet. I had opportunities to close it out and didn’t execute. I lost the final set 6–4.

That one hurt.

I was so close to my first ATP singles point, and it felt like the moment was right there.

The second week in Montreal brought a bit of déjà vu. I ended up playing the same opponent I beat in the first round of qualies the previous week. This time he took the first set 6–3. That fired me up, and I locked in to dominate the second set 6–1.

In the deciding tiebreaker I jumped out to a 7–5 lead. After the match another player on the court next to me said I may have been hooked on a baseline call during that point that would have put me up 8–5. Instead the breaker tightened: 7–6, 7–7, 8–7, 8–8. He then hit two forehand winners that clipped the line and took the tiebreaker 10–8.

Matches at this level often come down to just a few points.

A couple of tough losses, and waiting around unsuccessfully to try and get into doubles, wrapped up my trip to Canada. But there were still plenty of positives. I played some of my best tennis, qualified for my first ITF main draw, and proved to myself that I can compete at this level.

Also, it is ridiculously cold up in Canada. With another storm coming in, I am very happy to get out of here and head somewhere warmer for the next stretch of tournaments.