IMG Academy International Tennis Championships, formerly known as Eddie Herr, is a huge tournament, hosted by IMG Tennis Academy each year in Florida. Because of eligibility, Mark pretty much only has a chance to play tournaments like Eddie Herr (most people will keep calling it that) and Orange Bowl once in each category. So this year, a month before he was turning 16, we decided to spend Thanksgiving Day in Florida and let Mark play qualifying rounds for this big competition.
The main draw is 64 kids (from all over the world but a lot of American kids come). The qualifying draw is 128 kids and only 8 of these kids get into the main draw (they keep 8 spots available for them).
Mark and I flew direct to Tampa on Tuesday before Thanksgiving as the check in for QF draw was that afternoon.
The first opponent Mark played the next day was a boy from Mexico. His level on paper was kind of low, but he actually played quite well. Nevertheless, Mark beat him easily. Later in the afternoon, we picked Robert up from the airport as he had to work on Wednesday still.
We had only one match per day so the following day, late in the afternoon, Mark played another match against a boy from France. Qualifying draw is pretty brutal--one loss and you are out--just like in the professional circuit. It was not an easy match, but Mark did really well and beat the opponent as well!
That was on Thursday, the day we are supposed to be all eating turkey and gather as families:)). We had reservations at a local place for a Thanksgiving dinner and because of the match delays, we had to reschedule it and barely made it before their closing time. We had a fantastic dinner--Mark and I had fish with our Thanksgiving trimmings and Robert had traditional turkey. We all had delicious pie...although key lime pie was sold out.
This is where you eat a Thanksgiving Dinner when you are in Florida--at a seafood place.
On Friday, Mark played his hardest match so far against a seeded player from Trinidad and Tobago.
In fact, the kid was number one player of his country. Mark played on clay, played so well, and managed to pull off a win!
Stretching in the hotel...Sometimes he uses extra towels, sometimes the bed. When we drive, we bring our yoga mat with us.
On Saturday, Mark had another tough match against a kids from Florida. He played a game similar to Mark, so it was a battle. Lots of deuce points, lots of momentum changes, but Mark lost. It was still a good match! The thing is you have to win all 4 matches to get into the main draw but IF you lose in the last round, like Mark did, you get a chance to be a "lucky loser" (yes, it's a thing). A lucky loser gets a chance to be put in the main draw if someone pulls out, depending on the number they drew after the last match.
Miraculously, Mark got to be the lucky loser, one of the three, and on Sunday, when the draws came out, we learned that he would be playing on Monday morning.
After Mark's match, we enjoyed some together time in Bradenton. We drove to the beach, walked around there, walked around the cute town had a lobster roll (I did, that is) and just enjoyed the festive feel of this Florida corner. This place was hit pretty badly by the hurricane that had destroyed so much of the beach just two months prior. We could see the clean up was actively happening and many buildings were still completely destroyed.
We also found a park nearby to go disc golfing (and I went walking). Robert was leaving that Saturday evening to beat the holiday rush and prices.
Oh wait, he didn't leave that evening actually. I dropped him off at the airport, he got through security and by the time I almost got back to the hotel, he said that the flight is so delayed that he would not make his connection in Charlotte so that they would postpone his flight till early morning out of Charlotte. Instead, I told him to get on chat with American Airlines and ask them to just change his flight to next morning out of Tampa so that he doesn't get stuck in Charlotte for the night. So basically, then I drove back to the airport (25 min) and picked him up so he could stay with us and then fly out on Sunday morning-haha.
Mark played one more match at Eddie Herr against a great player from Spain. He was number 3 seed in the whole tournament, who had participated in the Davis Cup tournament representing Spain (that's a team event made up of the best players of each country). It was extremely windy too! Mark managed to win only one game, so he lost 6:0, 6:1. It was quite an experience though--it was definitely playing someone with a different level.
This is Mark and his friend from Arizona Adnrej. In case they are famous someday.
And so our magical run at this international tournament came to an end... It was a great experience, learned a lot about the tennis atmosphere in Florida and the level to aspire to be. It was definitely a very unique way to spend the holiday!
Lyana.
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