JOOLA USA

The most important thing I think I took away from these trials was the ability to deal with adversity and to maintain a postiive mentality during and after matches. In the past, confidence has sometimes been an issue, especially when I do not get to train as much as I would like This tournament, I lost the first match to Freddie Gabriel. I played shaky, not very confident, not really awake, and even though Freddie played well I still feel like I should have won. After the first match, I woke up a bit and played with much more confidence than I usually do. I felt like I was the best at the tournament and that I could beat anyone I faced. That got me a long way, and I played much more relaxed. It really showed me that having confidence and a positive mentality directly benefits execution in all aspects of the game. I was rarely tight this tournament after the first match, and it's a good lesson that I learned for the future, to not doubt my own abilities.

I was also able to overcome adversity fairly well this tournament. One example was losing the first match. I could have given up or lost focus but I felt that I was able to rebound quickly. I was confident that I could get back in the running, and during a relatively manageable stretch of matches I won 6 in a row. Later, I had leads against Mark Hazinski and Eric Owens but lost both matches, but I felt that I was able to quickly put those losses behind me as well. This was key in a tournament where every match mattered. Finally, the last day of the tournament, my knuckle was pretty swollen and in pain. It was affecting my topspin a great deal, but I was able to fight through the pain and adjusted my style a little to be more deceptive rather than overpowering with speed and spin. Although I was down 2-0 in the last match of the tourney against Viktor Subonj, I had the mentality that it was a 7 game match, and pulled it out in the end in a close match.

All in all, I felt like I learned a lot of lessons this trip, especially in terms of my mental game. I think I'll be able to take this experience and use it to improve my play in the future, and it's something everyone can benefit from. An improved mentality and a dose of confidence, almost to the point of arrogance, can affect performance in a match more than one may expect, and I experienced this firsthand in San Diego.