Day 2-Traralgon

Our second day in Traralgon went pretty well as we geared up for the warm up tournament, the Loy Yang Tennis Classic. We woke up at about 8 am to go about town in search of a "go-to" restaurant for breakfast. After a couple of minutes we had hit the jackpot in finding Chachi's Cafe! In fact, it turned out to be our best meal since arriving here in Australia. The bacon here is exceptional and the eggs were as light as clouds. The combination, along with some toast, turned out to look and taste amazing. After finishing our delicious breakfast we made our way over to the tennis center to practice. The morning was a bit cool for an Australian summer and sweatshirts and sweatpants were necessary to stay warm. At 11 am I practiced with a very good Filipino player by the name of Francis Alcantara who is ranked around 30 in the world. It was a pretty good session as we warmed up then played points virtually the rest of the time. While the game has become more of power battle, Francis is unique in that he plays with more finesse and volleys better than just about any other junior. Following the hitting session, I went to sign in for the tournament and pay the entry fee. After finishing with that Vinh and I walked into town for lunch before we had to venture back to the courts by 3 pm to hit with the other American player here, Nick Chappell. That session was definitely my best session so far and I felt pretty good by the end. Of course, the training was far from over as I had to do some fitness. Today's workout included a two mile run around a grass track. I mean this is like nowheresville so the grass track is to be expected. For dinner, we ate at a Vietnamese restuarant which had pretty good food as well. Searching for a dinner restaurant was tough because all the restaurants in town open at around 8 pm, which is absurd!! Thus, we were left with the Vietnamese place. We then proceeded to go back to the hotel and prepare all the gear for tomorrow before Vinh allowed me to write my blog. The draws just came out and I play an Australian wildcard who was formerly around 20 in the world in juniors. It is going to be a really tough match but I'm not too nervous as every match can go either way. Lets hope that tomorrow I can pull out it! I will let you all know how it goes tomorrow!