US Open 2019

I won my first round match against Adrian Kemp yesterday 6/1 6/0 6/1. Even though I was expected to win, I was still happy with how I played and how I was reading the court. The big test will be taking on most likely Ben Taylor Matthews on Tuesday at 3pm in the QF.

It wasn't the result I was hoping for going down in 4 sets. 6/2 2/6 1/6 4/6. I played a great first set. I served well and I returned the serve superbly. Second set I started off in the same fashion as the first set going 2/0 up. The next 2 games were tight but Ben took them both to make it 2/2. While Ben's play got better, all of sudden my level dropped quite significantly. My form deserted me for the next set and a half. I didnt panic but after losing the 3rd set I took a toilet break to try and break Ben's momentum and to rediscover my form. It worked as I came out playing some great tennis and went 4/1 and 40/15 up with a great chance to go 5/1 up. I didnt convert. I had points to go 5/3 up and didn't take it. I suddenly found my self 5/4 down fighting to keep the match alive. The final game of the match went for ages. So many deuce and add games. I think I had at least 5 game points. The last 2 points at deuce serving, defending 2 second gallery chases,I ripped down a good railroad that almost nicked but Ben managed to scraped it back at float a main wall dedan which was a sucker blow as it was very unlucky. The next point I served another tightish railroad but Ben nailed a main wall dedan to win the match.

It was disappointing to lose but there are definitely plenty of positives to take out of it. I know that when my games is on I am very hard to beat and feel I can beat anyone. I just need to be able to keep that high standard for longer than a set and a half.

I now will focus on the doubles, partnering with Rob Fahey. I can't wait to have a real good crack at the doubles

We won our QF match against Josh Dodgson & Mike Gooding/. They played well and gave us a good match but we won in straight 6/2 6/3 6/2,

Rob and I just got over the line against Chris Chapman/ Matthieu Sarlangue in 5 sets. 6/2 1/6 2/6 6/3 6/1. The match turned out to be a lot tougher than we thought it would be.

The first set went according to plan but then things became a lot harder. I don't feel we played that much worse than the first set .Chappy and Mathieu were brilliant. They could hardly do anything wrong. At 5/1 down Rob said to bin the set because we were on receivers side and we could change who we could receive to. We had game points in all the early games of the 3rd set but could not catch a break. Before we knew it were 2 sets to 1 down. 4th set we were up against it again by going 3/1 down. We were in a lot of trouble but Rob and I both lifted our intensity and aggression and started to force some errors out of chappy and Mathieu. We won the next 10 games to find ourselves at 5/0 in the 5th set with a match point but did not convert, fortunately we converted the match point in the next game to close out the 5th set 6/1. It was a really good and gutsy win considering the predicament we found ourselves in. Looking forward to playing the doubles final at 12pm tomorrow. You can watch it live on the USCTA YouTube channel

The final against Tim Chisholm and Camden Riviere was a re-match of the world doubles championship final

This being my 7th final in all major competitions I found myself comfortable being in this situaton . There was a large crowd which added to the buzz. We decided Rob would play back and I would play up for the match. I am lot better at the net than I ever used to be. Rob & I started well and found ourselves 5/3 up. We were not able to close. Camden & Tim came up some awesome shots just at the wrong time for Ron and I. We were so close to taking that set but it was a sucke blow. the 2nd se was tight but we lost it 6/4. in the 3rs set we found ourselves 4/4 and 40 love up but Cam & Tim played some great shots when they needed them and were not able to take that game. The next game we had plenty of game points and saved some match points before finally Tim & Cam closed out the match.

we lost 5/6 4/6 4/6

I was disappointed to lose because I felt we were in every set but on the plus side it was a very tight match against and really pushed the World Champions.