see you there!
JJ
Tenacity
In my last 13 matches, I’ve played 9 three set matches. Four of them in my favor. Two of the matches, having a match point in each and eventually losing. One of the matches, down a match point and coming back to win. Two of the matches, being a break down in the 3rd set and coming back, but eventually succumbing to a loss.
I have never experienced so many close matches in a row. And now that I sit here reflecting, I seem to only focus on the close losses I’ve experienced lately. I’m not sure if that’s how we are programmed as human beings. With all these close matches I’ve been asked about them, “What do you think is the difference? What could you have done better? What did your opponent do in order to win?”
The loss at U.S. Open really hurt. I replayed that match point in my head at least a thousand times. Thinking what I could have done differently in that situation. Those next 2 weeks, every time U.S. Open was on TV I had such a bitter feeling. You do your best to get back on the horse when a loss like this happens. In time the feeling passes and you work your ass off to prepare for the next set of tournaments. The next tournament I played after U.S. Open was in Taiwan about 3 weeks later. Taiwan seemed to be a bit of deja vu. I lost in the 2nd round having a match point in the 3rd set tiebreak. I really thought it was a bad dream and that I would wake up from it. Two tournaments in a row going down with a match point.
You know at the end of day as professional tennis players our life is pretty privileged and you try to put some perspective after losses. But it’s hard to put into perspective sometimes when you work your ass off and the outcome is as close as it can get and the results don’t reflect what you’ve put in. And that’s what I’ve been trying to wrestle with the last five losses.
So when people ask me those questions of what I thought the difference was in the match, I have a really hard time answering that because I haven’t fully answered that myself. Of course, there needs to be a review of every match win or lose to see what you can improve. That’s what makes us better. But thinking about it today I think the last 5 matches that I have lost should be looked at from a different perspective. Close losses can go in two directions. One is spiral downhill and the other is an uphill ladder (step by step).
There’s a lot of people out there who support me and I’m very appreciative of it. But I will be my biggest supporter today and will do my best to keep moving forward.
– JJ
Revival
Hello Hello!
It’s been quite some time since sharing with you all. To be honest I haven’t shared too much over the last year because I felt like I started going to the same places/tournaments and some of my experiences and writing started to sound the same. But it’s funny because I met a guy just yesterday at the Taipei Challenger and he asked about my blog. Said he followed my tennis when I was in college at Michigan and my journey from working at the desk to starting my professional tennis career. It was really an awesome feeling. And it got me thinking last night, even though I may be traveling to a lot of the same places now, each experience is different. How we feel this year and last year is totally different. So I would love to share with you all about my journey the last couple months!
Rewinding the tape about 11 weeks ago. I went on a crazy tournament spree, playing NINE tournaments in a row. A record for me. Of course I had some days of rest if I lost early in the tournament, but that was NINE places I traveled to in consecutive weeks. Pretty crazy if you ask me. One thing I’ve tried my best to do in the last 2 years was to schedule my tournaments smarter. To not play so many weeks in a row. And how this NINE week journey happened, the first 3 tournaments started off on a decent note, but not quite what I expected. Then came New York, which was a turning point. Getting my first top 30 win at an ATP 250. This was week 4 and I was already feeling a bit tired from the traveling and competitive matches. It was also a bit different in New York because there were a lot of emotions after that week. After New York I actually was going to take a week off, but I snuck into the main draw of another ATP 250 in Delray Beach so I had to go! The following week at the Indian Wells Challenger, beating a Top 70 player right before the BNP Indian Wells Masters tournament was another confidence boost and I felt great going into Indian Wells. By this time my mental space was a little tired, but was fired up to keep going because I knew I was on a roll. Physically my body was starting to feel some minor aches and pains (a lot of that due to the wear and tear of traveling). Indian Wells was a bit unlucky, losing in the qualifying. It was definitely a gamble playing the next two tournaments. Trying to see if the confidence of playing well in my matches would take over. This time the gamble didn’t pay off. Mentally and physically I was just too exhausted from all the traveling and playing.
After Miami I was finally able to get two full weeks off of tournaments. The first couple days were amazing, I put my feet up and did not move. In these last 2 months if there’s anything I’ve learned it’s really important to find the right balance between pushing yourself and relaxing. Even if you are feeling confident with tournament play it’s important to listen to your body. I’m still learning every day with that. Sometimes the best weapon is knowing when to push and when to relax.
I’m back at it this week in Taiwan!
-JJ
Not an Overnight Success
Hi Everyone,
It’s been a whirlwind of emotions and new experiences for me the last two months. It’s crazy because I feel like I haven’t really sat down and let all the emotions settle in and feel them. I’ve just been on the go constantly, moving on from one tournament to the next. One airport to the next. One hotel to the next. And just pushing my body to prepare physically and mentally for the next tournament. I’ve been getting a lot of messages from friends congratulating me, I am truly thankful for all the wonderful messages.
After my win in San Francisco earlier this year there have been some ups and downs. A lot of times when you win a tournament and have so much momentum rolling you feel like you should be able to win everything and that things should be easier. The mind is funny sometimes when you have certain expectations. I was still putting in hard work. But there were times when I would doubt because I felt like the effort I was putting in wasn’t exactly matching the outcome I was getting. And that’s a tough part, not just in tennis. Your outlook starts to get a little blurry, sometimes you second guess your work ethic. Maybe the work I’m putting in is not enough.
Before leaving to England to play on the grass I was feeling really good. I had put in some good work and was ready to do some damage. I didn’t quite get the results I had hoped for the first 2 weeks. I thought it would be tough for me at Wimbledon Qualifying because I didn’t get as many matches on the grass as I would have liked. I did my best to keep pushing and I gave myself a chance at qualifying for the main draw, just came up a little short. With all the injuries that happened at the French Open it only made sense for me to stick around and see if I had any luck with a lucky loser spot.
I was really bummed not qualifying. Qualifying meant I would get to play my first Grand Slam. The days leading up the main draw I was just kicking myself and hoping that I could just get another chance. I was asking other players/coaches if they knew anyone that might be pulling out or if they had heard anything. Two days before the tournament one of the supervisors asked me to come to his office. I remember walking to the office with butterflies in my stomach. The supervisor said, “You are in. But we can’t make it official yet because there is going to be a press conference with this withdrawal.” I’m just in shock at this point. Probably one of the craziest feelings I have ever felt. You just have flashbacks of all the work you put in. All the sacrifices and all the struggles. Finally you get the chance to play on one of the biggest stages. The feeling was truly unbelievable. I definitely have to thank Andy Murray though. You never want to see players injured, but in this case it gave me the chance to play my first Grand Slam!!
Playing my first round at Wimbledon was something I will never forget. There were so many people behind me and supporting me. The atmosphere was just so fun to play in. After great points you could hear the roar of the crowds, the ooooh and ahhhs. I had my chances in the first two sets, but my opponent played well.
I landed in Chicago five days later to play a Challenger. Moving from grass to hard was going to be a little bit of an adjustment, but I was excited to be back on the hard. The only thing with this tournament was that it was a Saturday final, which meant if you made it to the finals you would have to play 4 consecutive matches with no rest day. The other thing I had to think about was my next tournament was going to be back on grass in Newport, Rhode Island. I was in the qualifying though. Qualifying usually starts on a Saturday, but for Newport it started on Sunday. My final for the Chicago tournament was scheduled for Saturday night. So the plan was to play the finals, pack up my things, and catch an early morning flight to get to Newport in time to hopefully play in the afternoon.
This was the plan. The day before the final, the supervisor asked me what my plans were. If I was still planning to go to Newport to play the qualifying. I told him, yes. He said he would still need to check with the supervisor at Newport to see if I was allowed to play under the rules. He got back to me and said I wasn’t allowed to play qualifying at Newport as it had something to do with the withdrawal deadline and that it cut too close with the time I was supposed to play the final. At first I thought it was a bit unfair for them to not let me play because I was in the finals of a tournament and there was still time for me to travel and play in Newport on time. But it was also okay because I could just rest after the finals and prepare for the following week. About 30 minutes later the supervisor called me again and told me they changed their mind, I could play Newport.
The next 48 hours was going to be a tough one, but I was ready to take it on. The morning of the finals in Chicago I got an unexpected call from Todd Martin (tournament director for Newport). He called to tell me that he was giving me a WildCard into the Newport ATP. I didn’t know what to say. Todd told me, “You earned it.” I couldn’t believe it. I have never received any type of WildCard into a singles event of any tournament since I started the pro tour and here I was receiving one from Todd Martin. Thank you again Todd! Being straight into the main draw helped me out big time as I had more time to travel and adjust.
And sure enough that WildCard helped me reach my first ATP 250 quarterfinals. After my 2nd round win the ATP reporter asked me if there was anything I wanted people to know that they didn’t already. I want people to know that I’m not an overnight success. A lot of times people see the result and say, “Wow, where did he/she come from?” The results come from a lot of hard work, sacrifice, and dedication. I have been faced with a lot of opportunities throughout my career, some I have capitalized on and some I haven’t. But if there’s one thing I’ve learned from my coach, it is, showing up. You keep creating opportunities for yourself and you keep showing up, the results will happen.
After I lost on Thursday in Newport, I flew straight to Atlanta the next day to prepare for qualifying on Saturday. I won my match Saturday, but caught some sort of virus and haven’t been 100%. It’s been a crazy eight weeks with a lot of physical fatigue and an emotional roller coaster of new experiences. I’ve been pushing my body too much. So I’m sitting here in the Atlanta hotel kicking my feet up and talking to y’all! Hoping to recover in time to prepare for Washington D.C.
-JJ
The Journey 2018
What a start it’s been to 2018. At the end of 2017 there were actually a few more tournaments I could have played to see if I could push the ranking up just a bit more. With the help of my coaches we made the strategic decision to end the season early and start training my body to be ready for 2018.
The start of this year was a bit unlucky to say the least. After playing my first tournament in Thailand, the day I was to depart to Melbourne, Australia some weird flu like bug struck me hard. At first I thought it was something I ate because I was going to the bathroom every minute until everything, and I mean everything including all the liquids was out of my system. It didn’t help that I was flying out the same day. When I got to the airport I started to feel the onset of something more than food poisoning. As soon as I got on the plane my body suddenly started to feel weak and sore. I was very cold. Luckily I had a face mask with me, hoping that I wouldn’t give my sickness to anyone else. The feeling I had on that plane was probably one of the worst experiences I’ve ever had. That feeling of sitting 10 hours next to people you don’t know, cramped up, and going through hot and cold body temperatures constantly. I was literally counting down the seconds.
It was going to take something miraculous for me to be at my best for Australian Open Qualifying. Background story on Australian Open is I actually waited two years to play it. The first time I got in I decided to play a different tournament in the hopes of gaining more points for my ranking. The second time I got in I was just coming back from surgery so I wasn’t ready to play. It was quite a sad moment for me during that week in Australia because I felt like I had worked so hard to prepare my body to be in the best condition it could be in and I couldn’t even put it to use. I had to cancel practices leading up to the 1st round. The day of the match I was going in for warm up and I just felt out of it. My equilibrium seemed to be off, I was tired after hitting a few shots. I ended up playing my match and put up a good fight losing in three sets, but my body was just not able to fight through.
I came back home to Los Angeles determined to get my body back on track. Only one last setback. I had been dealing with tooth pain for over 2 years (root canal gone bad), I figured I was going to be home and wanted to check with the dentist again. I was referred to a specialist and he said the best option for me was to operate on my tooth. So I asked him, “Operate??” I don’t know anyone who likes going to the dentist, but getting work done on your teeth can probably be one of the most scary feelings. My only concern was that I had a tournament over the weekend and it was Thursday. The procedure had to be done though. The smarter thing to do was to probably not play the tournament in Newport Beach. My only thing was that the tournament was so close to home and I wanted to give it a shot. The tournament didn’t go so well to say the very least.
As a tennis player and athlete many times we play our best when we are confident. The year had just started and I haven’t played too many tournaments yet, but after that Newport Beach tournament I started to question myself. It was tough because I really put in hard work in the off-season to be ready for this year and I just wasn’t able to showcase that work. I’ve been fortunate enough to have great friends and great coaches that really tell me the truth when I need it most. I never like making excuses on losses, but I really was too hard on myself. From getting the flu to getting surgery it was hard to be at my best.
After that Newport Beach tournament I really changed the way I approached tennis and myself. I started to forgive myself more for things out of my control. There were so many things outside of my control and I would beat myself up over it. I was determined to be nicer to myself and I think that has made all the difference in the last couple weeks.
All about the journey..
Obstacles
I’ve never written a post before a match, but I had quite the experience in my second round in Ho Chi Minh. Even though it’s October and the world is ready for Fall weather, Southeast Asia likes to stay nice and warm. One of the toughest things at this week’s tournament has been the rain. Since it is so humid here, clouds usually form in the afternoon for an afternoon shower. Sometimes the rain doesn’t last long and sometimes it does. Enough to make courts wet and unplayable for a few hours. My first round was scheduled for Tuesday, but didn’t play until Wednesday because of the rain.
Yesterday, my second round match was probably one of the most difficult match I’ve played that was outside of my control. To set the stage: So the center court at this tournament is pretty nice, the stadium is actually quite old with a lot of old seats and big fans that surround the the stadium. What’s really strange about this center court is that is has a retractable roof. Kind of like Australian Open and Wimbledon where if it rains they can close the roof and resume play. Surprisingly the roof opens and closes quite fast considering how old the stadium is. About the big fans I was talking about, since the stadium doesn’t have air conditioning they use these big fans, but since it is still so hot in Ho Chi Minh and when the roof is closed it seems as if the hot air just keeps circling around the court. Okay now that the stage is set…
Before my match there were huge clouds already starting to form and a few sprinkles here and there. I wasn’t sure what to expect playing on center court since this was going to be my first match on that court. Also since it was getting dark I wasn’t sure how good the lighting was going to be. My opponent and I started warming up and there were little drops of rain, not enough to make the court wet though. And since this is an outdoor tournament the supervisor wants to try his best to play this match with the roof open as much as possible.
Two points into the match, the rain started to fall, making the court slick and not safe to play. So the umpire deciding to close the roof. We waited about a minute for the roof to close and then resumed play. Now we were playing an indoor match. With the lighting a bit different now due to the closed roof and the hot air circling the court I had to adjust quickly. This was now an indoor match. A few games later the rain stopped and the umpire decided to open the roof again. Now the lighting was better and it felt like you could breathe a bit better. But not long after, the rain decided it was not done with us and made the court wet enough for the umpire to close the roof again. Every time the roof closed we had to wait a bit longer because the ball kids needed to dry the court. The roof open and close happened about 3 times yesterday, 3 times too much.
I don’t think I’ve ever dealt with such tough conditions that were outside of my control. It was a constant battle to adjust to lighting and the waiting and the hot hot air. I got frustrated during the match because it was difficult to concentrate. I wasn’t playing as well as I thought I could. But I’m happy I hung in there and just battled. I knew my opponent was going through the same thing I just had to be that much tougher. I’ve been in many situations where outside influences have affected me and I didn’t respond well. I’m happy I stuck with it yesterday and fought hard till the end!
Quarterfinals tonight! Ready for battle!
love,
JJ
jasonjungtennis 