Ni Hao,

I heard from a friend once who said that he couldn’t decide between two girls. After talking a bit about them both I asked him what their names were, “Milli and Molly” was the reply. I said no wonder he can’t choose between them! It seems as if he didn’t notice the similarity in the names as his response was just, “oh yeah!” Anyway, it can be a little like that when choosing to play tournaments. This past week I chose to play in Beijing for the first time instead of going to Tokyo where I have been many times before. We lost in a close match in the first round so maybe I should have gone with Molly…..

I’m now on my way to Shanghai from Beijing. I’m certainly hoping for a better result in Shanghai. I must say that I am sometimes a little nervous walking around some cities, especially in ones where it is really (REALLY!) obvious that you are a foreigner. A 1.96 metre South African somehow does not blend in too well in China. Generally I have no reason to be nervous though. Speaking of nerves though, it reminds me of someone who said that once they went to watch a movie in Johannesburg and there were gun shots, car-jackings, sirens and car chases – and that was just on the way to the movies! (No seriously, it’s a great country – please come support the 2010 World Cup soccer/football – it’s going to be a great success!)

Hello again

If you read my last blog then you know that I promised to write about the birthday present my brother gave to me, after I have done it. Well that day finally came and I have done it today. Yeah sorry I still havent told you what it was!:-) I could fly a plane for 40min with an instructor next to me:-) It was absolutely amazing!!!The instructor first explained everything to me, showed me what they had to do before they could fly and then we were ready to go. It was a small plane for two people.

As you probably know I am injured at the moment with my shoulder, so I am at home doing rehab. I have had this injury on and off for four years. This time it got really bad and I just couldnt and didnt want to play anymore matches with pain. It took a while to know what it was but I have a great doctor and physio and they are doing an excellent job. I have seen big improvments in the last two weeks. I have looked at this injury different as I have on others before. It's the first time in my career that I am out for this long, but still I am positive and just trying to take out the positives from this injury, whereas before I always got angry at my injuries. I have learned that this attitude doesnt help me get better any quicker.

Hi All,

I’m busy typing this on my flight from Dayton, OH to White Plains, NY. (via Philladelphia) We lost to the Bryans last night. We lost the first set and were 5-1 up in the 2^nd set breaker and it felt as if we lost 6 coin tosses in a row (now that’s unlucky?!?!) to end up losing 13-11 in the 2^nd set breaker. A tie-breaker: Also commonly know as a heart-breaker….

The Bryans, no doubt, were sound asleep and were probably looking forward to playing the semi’s, while I was in my hotel room at midnight trying to plot my next movements across the USA. At 1am I finally decided on a flight and had to go through 3 different websites because they didn’t like the billing address I was using. After that it was on to a car rental, which was a little easier and then I made preparations for arrival with the tournament in New Haven. (Hotel booking, airport pickup etc) I’m arriving Sat afternoon in White Plains and on Sun I’m off to JFK to pick up my wife and daughter (and friend) and then hopefully will make the quick trip back to New Haven, CT.