It was a short week in Cambodia, because of the two Future Tournaments taking place in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. We are here trying to get some practice and match play in before heading to Doha for the Davis Cup. After training three days in Cambodia, we left Thursday morning to Ho Chi Minh City by bus. The bus ride took a little over 5 hours, which was not as bad as it sounds when you got an iPhone full of music and Temple Run. For those who don’t know what Temple Run is, it’s a game app for smart phones with a character that runs and collects coins while jumping over trees, sliding under trees, and running away from monkey like creatures. Our coach is really good at it but I am starting to catch up to his record. My highest score so far is 3.3 million! I can’t figure out how to take a picture of my record using my iPhone, so I found a picture online to give you a better picture of the game that has taken up a lot of our time on this trip when we are not practicing.
After passing the border to Vietnam you can already notice more motos on the road than in Cambodia. When we got to Ho Chi Minh City you can really notice the difference. Also the quality in drivers on the road is noticeable as well. I’m pretty sure we almost get into a car wreck everyday on our way to the practice courts. Other than traffic and no access to Facebook, Vietnam is not as bad as people have been telling me.
So the first week of the Future Tournament I was 7th on the waiting list to get into qualifying and Pun was 2nd on the list. The 1st and 3rd on the waiting list got into the qualifying draw and the 4th and 5th on the list didn’t sign in so I got bumped up to 2nd on the list the day before qualifying, but still no one else pulled out so I did not get in. A little disappointed because it would have been nice to get some tournament experience but the players that did not make it to qualifying or lost first round, hang out at these tournaments to keep practicing so it will still be a good opportunity for me to get some good match play in still. Our Federation traded wild cards with Vietnams Federation so Pun made it automatically to the main draw. This is pretty exciting for him because he went to Brazil after college for multiple Future Tournaments trying to make into the main draw and sometimes would not be able to get into the tournaments for qualifying rounds. So he has a good chance to get ATP points here which will make it easier to get into other tournaments in the future. He’s got a tough first round, playing a guy ranked 710 in the world, but he should be okay because he’s been hitting extremely well lately.
If you would like to keep up with how Pun is doing this week I have posted the link to the tournament draw sheet at the bottom of this page. Next week’s tournament Pun is 7th on the waiting list and I am 10th. Again, I think it’s a pretty slim chance to get in because more ranked players are coming in for the second week than the first, but I am still thinking positive that I will get my shot in qualifying. Our main focus is Davis Cup right now, so this is just a bonus to be here. I am still practicing while in Vietnam and playing well, so things are looking good for Doha. Even though we have a camera now, we still forget to snap a few pics for everyone to see. I apologize! We both miss family and friends a lot, hope everything is going well back home!
Link to Vietnam Future 1 Draw:
Niiiiicccceeeee! We are rootin for you two and praying everyday....Stay confident and know you two are loved!
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