Monastir, Tunisia

After two hard weeks of training in Vegas with my close friend Geoff and his son Sam Pohl, I headed off to Monastir, Tunisia to play another set of Futures tournaments. Monastir has a very similar setup to Sharm El Sheikh in Egypt. The hotel is right next to the courts, and most of the players stay there for the duration of the tournaments. Similar to Egypt, Monastir runs tournaments nearly year-round, so players often stay for multiple weeks at a time.

I didn’t know much about Tunisia before arriving, other than that it is the home country of Ons Jabeur, one of the top players on the WTA Tour.

During my time in Monastir, I didn’t have a roommate and was staying by myself. The first week was tough. I often struggled to connect with other players and set up enough practice hits. Many players already knew each other or traveled together and were already hitting with those people. I remember eating most of my meals alone and spending hours stuck in the hotel room. The hardest part about these tournaments is the waiting. If you lose in qualifying on Sunday and aren’t playing doubles, you have to wait a full week to compete again. You end up repeating the same routine — practice, gym, meals, sleep — day after day.

Week one, I played a very evenly matched opponent and had a great opportunity to get myself into the win column. After a long back-and-forth match, I ended up falling just short, losing 10–8 in the third-set tiebreaker. Having a match that lasts nearly two hours decided by a 10-point tiebreaker can feel brutal, but it’s part of the format and something you have to be ready for in these tournaments.

Week two, I played a tough Swedish player who controlled the points well and beat me in straight sets. Another week down, another loss. At that point I had played five tournaments — three weeks in Egypt and two in Tunisia — and I still didn’t have a single win. I started wondering if I even remembered how to win a match.

When you’re alone most of the day, your mind can start to wander. I found myself questioning everything. Was I going to go this whole trip without a win? Should I just stay in Tunisia until I finally win one? What was I even doing here? Those are the kinds of thoughts that run through your head when you spend long stretches by yourself.

I had to rely on some friends and a coach of mine to help shift my perspective. Instead of focusing only on winning and losing, I tried to focus on why I was there in the first place and what motivated me to be on the court. Thinking about my family, friends, and students back home who supported me helped a lot.

In week three, things finally turned around. I played a Russian player in the first round of qualifying and came out with a 6–3, 6–2 win. It felt amazing to finally get in the W column. I had beaten stronger players in the past, but that win felt really good after everything that had happened on the trip.

Shortly after the match, I found out that my next opponent — a seeded player — had withdrawn from the tournament. That meant I advanced to the next round by default and earned my first ITF point. ITF points are similar to transition points in qualifying draws and help move you up the acceptance lists for future tournaments. It wasn’t the way I expected to earn my first ITF point, but I was happy to take it.

That put me into the final round of qualifying against a young French player. The scheduling at these tournaments can be chaotic. Only the first match of the day has a scheduled time, and the rest of the matches follow in order. If you’re later in the day, you often have no idea exactly when you’ll play.

I was watching the scores of my court and waiting patiently when my hotel phone rang.

“Tommy, you are on court five right now. The umpire and opponent are waiting for you. Where are you?”

Online I was scheduled on court six, but they had switched courts without me realizing. I scrambled to grab my bag and sprinted over. They were nice enough to let me play, although I didn’t get a warm-up.

Somehow, I started the match great. I went up two breaks quickly and found myself leading 4–0. Maybe I should ditch my warm-up more often! My opponent slowly gained momentum and I hesitated, losing the set 6–4. But I fought back and won the second set 7–6.

Another third-set tiebreaker.

And another loss.

I fell behind early and ended up losing the breaker 10–4. It was frustrating because I had opportunities in the match, but my opponent played solid and deserved the win.

In my fourth and final week, I won my first-round qualifying match again but lost in the second round in a tight match. This was also my first experience being badly cheated on tour. There are usually chair umpires only in the main draw and the final round of qualifying, otherwise they watch from outside the court. After I made a tight call against my opponent — one similar to a few I had already given him — he returned the favor on a huge point, calling a ball out that landed nearly two feet inside the line. I asked the referee to come onto the court and watch the match, but he refused and said he would observe from outside the fence.

It was frustrating, but I had to remind myself that one point doesn’t decide a match. I still needed to play better to win.

This was a very tough trip mentally for me. But it also ended with some positives. I got my first qualifying wins and earned my first ITF point, which will help me move up the acceptance lists for future tournaments.

After four weeks in Tunisia, I was more than ready to go back home to Portland. It had been the longest stretch I had spent away from home, and without many friends around, I had reached my limit. At the same time, I learned a lot about myself on this trip — especially about being comfortable spending long stretches of time alone.

I left Tunisia feeling grateful for the opportunity to travel and compete, and motivated to keep pushing toward my next goals on tour.