It has been fairly ”full on” for the past 2 months so I thought I would take this opportunity to fill you in on my progress.

I’ve played seven tournaments in the past 8 weeks (Bolzano Italy €15,000+H*, Este Padova €15,000+H, Como Italy  €30,000+H, Alphen Holland €42,500, Istanbul Turkey $75,000, Izmir €64,000, Nevers, France €15,000+H)

*The ”H” stands for hospitality

I got off to a tough start at the beginning of the trip and didn’t pick up any points until my fourth week on the road. I didn’t feel like I was playing poorly but I was given some tough draws and ran into some players who were on a great run at the time. I felt I had chances to win most of the matches I had lost in the first few weeks so I was feeling optimistic about my game but frustrated not to get some more wins under my belt.

I managed to earn some points at a Challenger in Holland by winning 3 matches to qualify in and from there, I started playing better and better. I qualified into Istanbul $75,000 Challenger the following week before losing a tight 3 set match to the veteran Michael Russell. I knew I was playing at a high level so I took that form into the next Challenger in Izmir, winning 5 matches in a row before losing to the eventual runner-up Ilya Marchenko in another close quarter-final match.

That had been 6 long weeks on the road in a row so I took a few days off to recover before playing the €15,000+H in France last week. I had a decent week by beating 3 tough players before being knocked out in the semi-finals.

I’m catching up on some rest now and I’ll head back out soon!

Thanks for the support,

James