Hey guys, hectic first day here at the open, and I didn’t even play! I have a lot of friends and family in town and they are all getting settled in. This morning I woke up bright and early to ring the opening  bell for NASDAQ with Melanie Oudine. That was an exciting event that not everyone gets the chance to do. Hopefully the market does well this week and I get asked back!

At the courts I practiced with Robby Ginepri, before a little trip to the American Express tent to check out this cool project I have been working on with them. If you are at the open or checking out their website online you should take a look. It’s a lot of fun and involves myself and some other young faces of tennis.

Then I spent some time with Olympus, who has provided Dan the Intern with a camera to take pictures all this week, so check out my website soon! All of the pictures on this blog will be from the Olympus Stylus Tough Dan will be using this week. I then was presented with my award for winning the Olympus US Open Series. It’s an accomplishment I’ll treasure and never forget. Hopefully I make a run here at the Open starting tomorrow so that accomplishment can be worth even more!

Sam

Hey guys, I have a second in between my semifinal and final here in New

Me and Elena Dementieva were the winners of th 2009 Olympus US Open Series

Haven so I thought I’d send out a blog entry. New Haven has been a blast, and knowing that I had a chance to capture the Olympus US Open Series heightened my anticipation for the tournament. I had bye first round before facing Marc Gicquel and Bjorn Phau in the second and third rounds. Both gave me tough battles and proved to be worthy opponents, making me sweat out several crucial battles in each match. When I finally won match point against Bjorn I knew I had accomplished something I never thought I could this soon; I had won the Olympus US Open Series!

Knowing I had already clinched my goal at the tournament had eased the pressure one would normally feel against the top seed at a tournament, in this case, world number 8 Nikolay Davydenko. In what turned out to be one of the more back and forth matches of my summer, I notched my third top 10 win of 2009 with a 6-3 3-6 6-4 victory.

The rains came and cancelled play on Friday, so I got to go see Taylor Swift in concert with Dan, it was an incredible performance. This morning the tournament shifted us indoors where I defeated Argentine Jose Acasuso in a clean battle. Now I await the winner of Igor Andreev and Fernando Verdasco, before heading to Flushing for the much anticipated US Open!

Sam

After a nice few days at home in Southern California to rest and regroup, I set out for Cincinnati for the second Masters Series event of the US Open Series. My week started out with the second part of a really fun project I’ve been doing with American Express that will be prominent at the Open. I shot the first part in Washington DC that including some footage of me that will be used in the Challenge a Pro tent, where you will be able to take a racquet and look at a screen and actually play a point against me! It is a innovative idea and I’m looking forward to seeing how it turns out. In Cincinnati, I got to do a personal one on one interview with another young rising star, Gael Monfils of France. Gael is hilarious, and put the pressure on me by churning out great answer after great answer even though English is a second language for him. I think I did well in my own right, and it should be a fun session to watch. It even ended with the gauntlet being thrown on the ping pong table, you’ll have to see the clip to find out if my offense was enough to over power Gael’s defensive game on the table. It’s an exciting ad campaign, and American Express was a pleasure to work with the entire time.

As for the tennis, I came into the week second in the US Open Series, knowing that the leader, Juan Martin Del Potro, was done for the summer before the Open. Sensing I had an opportunity to seize, I started off with a tough night match against Yen-Hsun Lu. Despite going down a break in the first, I rebounded to complete a 6-3 6-4 against Lu’s clean game.

This set-up a second match-up of the summer against the top American on tour, Andy Roddick. I had played him tough in Washington, and was confident that I had learned enough from that match to have a great shot to pull out the upset. In a tight first set that had enough momentum swings to make the fans dizzy, I pulled out the set in a tiebreaker 13-11. I stayed the course in the second set and won that one, again in a tiebreak, this time 7-4. I had beaten one of the players I had looked up to my entire career. It was a huge moment for me in my career, and Andy could not have been nicer or more humble even though I know how hard it is to play a long tough match after going deep in the previous couple of tournaments. I wish him the best of luck in the Open, I would love an All-American final on our home turf.

Following one of the biggest wins of my life, I had to come out again and face former number one Lleyton Hewitt. Lleyton’s game is a large contrast to Andy’s, and the winds were gusting, making the day’s conditions completely different than the night before. I was sort of ambushed in the first set, getting broken 4 times on the way to a 6-1 spanking. I battled back and won the second set before falling in the third on a late break by Lleyton. It was a tough match and I took solace in knowing that I had been beaten by one of the game’s greats on one of his best days.

Despite the loss, it was a tremendously successful week for me. I wrapped up a terrific ad campaign with American Express, recorded a victory over the highest ranked opponent of my career, and I closed in a little closer to a possible US Open Series championship. I move on to New Haven, where I can finish no worse than third in the Series and a tournament victory gives me the title (a share of the title if Andy Murray wins Cincinnati). I’m looking forward to the home stretch of summer and will keep you informed along the way. Thanks for reading guys!

Until next time,

Sam

Hey guys, sorry for the long delay between updates. I’ve been so busy the past couple of weeks since the Samurai have been by my side in both Indianapolis and now back home in Los Angeles. They must have brought some tremendous luck with them. In Indy we got to hang out in the player’s lounge a lot, each of us became pros at both golden tee and trivia. The 

Sam & Dan with young Samurai fans in Indy.

Samurai that made the trip were Dan “the Intern” Farrugia, Wes Burrows, Ethan Lacoe, Ellis Bertschi and Sean Henson. They had a t-shirt gun and were in high demand with the fans all week. I thrived off of their enthusiasm and made it all the way to my second consecutive final before falling to Robby Ginepri. Robby played well and I left disappointed after coming so close two tournaments in a row. However, I was hopeful for a breakthrough in Los Angeles.

After resettling back in the comfort of Southern California, I was ready to set out and accomplish what has been one of my goals since turning pro, winning the LA Open. My family and friends came out in the hundreds, and the Samurai were in rare form.  I took care of business against Denis Istomin and Ryan Sweeting early before a matchup with the talented and highly ranked Israeli Dudi Sela. I played some of my best tennis and the Samurai out dueled the Hebrew Hammer to get me into the semi’s for a matchup with top ranked Tommy Haas. I played probably the best tennis I’ve played all summer under the lights and in front of the electric atmosphere that was an LA Open Semifinal night match. I was feeling all of my shots and got over some endurance issues I had in earlier rounds to take care of Tommy. There were some harsh words for the Samurai following the match, but I defend them, claiming that they remain respectful while injecting some excitement into the game of tennis. If there were more fans that kept it respectful while still rooting raucously then the sport would be better off. In the finals I met Carsten Ball, a big swinging lefty playing some great tennis for Australia. I was determined to not fall flat in a third straight final and, although Carsten played terrific and took the second set, I found success in my hometown tournament and won the LA Open! I want to thank all my friends and family as I head out to Washington DC to continue what has been an unbelievable summer thus far! I’ll keep you updated as I travel from DC to Montreal, Cincinatti and New Haven. So long!

Sam