November 9-12th was the 2011 XII Miami Pan Am International down at the Don Shula’s club in Miami Lakes, Miami. This tournament like all the rest I have played since May 2011 counts towards the 2012 Olympic qualification. This being said it was only an International Series graded tournament but still attracted players from all over the world. Players from the Pan Am Region (North, South, Central Americas as well as the Caribbean), also players from Europe (Italy, Greece, etc), and even some players from Sir Lanka attended. Overall the tournament was not bad, had good singles and mixed matches. My doubles partner from Ecuador did not show up so we ended up having to default the match.
I ended up losing to Ilian Perez of USA 2nd round in the men’s singles draw. It was not a bad match but it does suck to lose. He ended up making it to quarter finals where he lost to the Sir Lankan who eventually won the tournament. In the mixed doubles I and my partner lost in round of 16 to Paula Obanana and Philip Chew of the USA they ended up winning the tournament.
The weather was amazing in Miami; it was a nice change from the snow and negative numbers in Calgary. There was a downside though, the whole trip every flight that I took something happened in terms of being delayed. Leaving Calgary there was a mechanical problem and delayed an hour and a half. Arriving into Miami there was a gate issue; delayed 45 minutes. Leaving Miami something happened and the flight was delayed around 40 minutes which ultimately meant that I would and did miss my connecting flight from Toronto to Calgary.
But all that I can deal with, the real downside of the trip was that I injured my right hand during the 2nd last point of last game of the tournament, my mixed match. I played a simple mid court push on my backhand and then felt an extreme pain shoot through my palm on my right hand. I dropped my racquet and clenched my hand that’s how much it hurt. To simply hold my hand still and not move it was a pain that was beyond anything I have ever dealt before, sharp pains radiated through my palm and fingers only to be amplified with any movement or touch. I was unable to use my right hand for anything and it has taken over a week for the pain to subside. I do not currently have any strength in my hand which meant all week at training all I did was footwork and then would do fitness in the gym with some leg work. This coming week sees more of the same and then once strength is restored a gradual progression into training for the Canadian International.
So after this tournament my ranking didn’t change terribly much, it went up 72 spots but I still have a little ways to go to finish off the year in the top 400 in the world. I will play 1 more international this year the 2011 Canadian International Challenge in Moncton. If I get main draw then I will easily meet my goal, if I have to qualify and fail to qualify for main draw well that will be another story. The deadline is November 22nd and we will see how many people sign up then see how many people are ranked higher than me on the world rankings to determine who is put into main draw.
All in all things are coming along as planned; we shall see how the rest of the year plays out. For once I will be able to spend a full Christmas/New Years in Calgary. Not flying over the ocean or in another country for them. Hopefully it is not a lonely holiday season; it would be great and wonderful to spend it with somebody special amongst family and friends as well. Well that is a small update for now and more to come when more happens.
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