Day 4

Our fourth day in Traralgon was a tough one. We woke up and went to eat breakfast at Chaci's and while Vinh didn't get his usual iced coffee, we both ordered the scrambled eggs. They lived up to their hype and it turned out to be a good way to start the day. Once we arrived at the courts we scouted players who will be major contenders at the Australian Open, including Henri Laaksonen, Liang Chi Huang, Justin Eleveld, Kevin Krawietz and Dominik Shulz. The seeds here at the Loy yang tournament continued to struggle as only four remain in the round of 16! That is basically unheard of at any tournament. I warmed up for doubles with a Russian player named Valdimir Dubinsky who I believe is ranked about 55 in the world. He barely spoke english which was a bit problematic for figuring out what he wanted to do to get ready for his doubles match. Following the warm up, I went and ate lunch which consisted of lots of potatoes and some pasta. It wasn't the best food, but it was free and thats quite a relief for down here! I played doubles with the other American Nick Chappell against two Czech players by the names of Jiri Vessely and Robert Rumler. Vessely is just as awkward as his name sounds, and his game also is awkward as well. Although Nick and I started off well, we lost the first set 7-5, but quickly regained our focus and won the second 6-2. The momentum had shifted in our favor only to be taken completely out of play due to the third set 10 point tiebreaker. Before we knew it we had fallen down 9-4 facing numerous match points. We saved two on our serve to make it 9-6 and then broke them twice to make it 9-8. At 9-9, Rumler had a volley but got a bit tight and gave Nick a second chance at the pass. He ripped a forehand passing shot to tie it up at 9, giving up hope. Luck would not prove to be on our side as on the following point, the Czech team received a volley net cord and while we saved two more match points, at 11-12, Nick's forehand tipped the net and fell on our side. It was still a great comeback though and I'm looking forward to playing doubles at the Australian with a Finnish player by the name of Micke Kontinen. Our day was far from over as we later went to practice with an Irish player by the name of John Morrissey who is ranked about 30 or so in the world. He is a very solid player and the practice session was made difficult by the strong winds that ripped across the courts. Since I am out of the tournament, Vinh and I went to eat Thai food (my favorite) and while it wasn't as good as Tara Thai back home, it was pretty good except for the fact that they didn't serve Thai Iced Tea! It was very disappointing to be at a Thai restaurant and not to see Thai Iced Tea on the menu. Now we are back at the hotel and trying to figure out what we will do in regards to when we will head to Melbourne. Just to give everyone an idea of how ridiculous prices are down under, we learned that not do nail clippers cost $9, but that Australian drinks that are imported to the United States cost more down here than in the US! I have no idea how this is possible but apparently Australia is just quite weird in their prices.