June 13, 2026

2:50 p.m. EST

Alright, just got off the courts, got the win! First APP gold feels good. I've had a lot of opportunities, so this one meant a lot. Ronan is a tough player. I played him in the U.S. Open, it's probably one of the best matches we've had, where in the quarterfinals, I won 15-13 in the third, so I knew it was gonna be a battle. Now I have a few hours to chill before my flight takes off to go back home, and then Sunday day off, Monday back to work and training.

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9:36 a.m. EST

Had a tough battle against Drake, but got the win, 11-8, 11-8. I was up both games pretty big, and he kept getting closer and closer. He was playing really well. He had a great tournament, had a lot of upsets, so hopefully he gets the bronze. Now. I play Ronan Cameron, who I played for bronze in Sacramento, I also played him in the quarters at the U.S. Open, and had like an hour-and-a-half match, so it'll be a tough final. Hopefully I sneak it out.

While I was in Sacramento, I was on the challenge pro court - JR DeHeart challenged me, he gave me a frying pan to play with, and said if he beats me, I had to buy him a Pokémon card pack. He hustled me for sure. I thought if I could maybe get to the kitchen, I'd be fine, but he hustled me for sure. He was always seeing me, Andre Mick, Naveen Beasley, and a couple others, we'll open up Pokémon cards at some of the tournaments, so we kind of turned it into into a tradition, and then he wanted to be part of it, so he challenged me and got the pack. I paid the bet today.

Now I have to retest my paddles, and I have to figure out when I play again, I don't think they've set the time yet. So I'll see how the matches go, change, rest, get some food and wait to see when I play.

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8:46 a.m. EST

Last night I went with some buddies from the tournament, like Brandon Lane, Kevin Dong, and some others, we went to this local bar/restaurant to watch the USA World Cup game against Paraguay, and they got the win. So it's a good day.

Had a good night's rest. Checked out of the Airbnb this morning. I got out of my Airbnb, mostly because, I mean, I have a little bit confidence in myself, but also you're staying with a couple other buddies, and maybe you don't want to pay for the whole house for yourself if the others leave early. Then for situations like this, where the tournament's done on Saturday, I'll maybe buy a flight to leave Saturday night, and then get back home.

Got here pretty early to warm up. We're gonna have both the semifinals, finals and bronze matches today, as it's gonna rain tomorrow, so they're trying to finish it all today. This will be a little bit different than Thursday, as Thursday you don't really have time to have a big lunch, so the fueling is a little bit different today, regardless of winning or losing. There would probably be a pretty big gap, so just that time in between where you might have a couple hours to eat, to sit down, stretch a little bit, it'll definitely be different than the other days. So hopefully I'll get the win in the semis and play the finals later on.

June 12, 2026

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8:28 p.m. EST

So it was a pretty uneventful day. I had to drop the boys off at the airport that I was staying with in the Airbnb, and then I went straight to Restore Hyper Wellness to do an IV and some compression boots to get my legs ready for tomorrow and be hydrated. I think this is the first time I've been hydrated this whole week. I've drank more water than ever, and it's still tough to hydrate. I had a nice little dinner, some Italian food, and then I've just been doing laundry and chilling at the Airbnb. We have an early morning tomorrow so I'm gonna try to sleep early wake up and grind tomorrow!

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10:33 a.m. EST

Alright, so I just got the win against Jack. I knew it was gonna be battle, and it was big roller coaster match up and down. Ended up getting 11-8 in the third. He's tricky to play in just all conditions - indoors, outside, windy - he just adapts really well. Now I have 12 hours before I go to bed, so we'll shower, might do some cryotherapy and IV.  In a lot of the big cities I have a membership so I have access to those recovery options, so I'll try to go to there, come back and support my buddies in doubles and mixed doubles, and then get some good food, and come back for semis tomorrow.

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9:19 a.m. EST

We had a late, long day yesterday, finished around 6:45 so we went straight to dinner, no time to shower. We got some Mexican food at El Barril, and then me, Naveen, and Tristan just went back to the house around 9 o'clock. We kind of crashed out on the bed, woke up early, tried to loosen up a little bit. Everyone's pretty sore today.

I'm playing Jack today in the quarters today. We've played each other a couple times, it's always a battle. We actually ended up tying once, so it should be a good one today.

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June 11, 2026

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6:44 p.m. EST

I had a tough one in the mixed doubles. They played very well, though - didn't really give us any chances to get into rhythm. We struggled a little bit together as a team, so that was kind of tough. We didn't really gel, and felt like our rhythm was just not in sync today. But now I get to focus on singles for tomorrow, so I'm gonna have some good food tonight. I've heard there's a lot of good restaurants here, so gonna go check out something, refuel and get some sleep, and try to go for quarterfinal singles tomorrow.

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5:34 p.m. EST

Alright, we just got off the first round of mixed doubles and got the win. Domi and I are feeling pretty good. She had a little bit of time to rest after her women's doubles matches, so that was good. It's very humid out here. I train in Florida, and here it's, it's feeling kind of the same, even probably a little bit more humid, and it's also overcast. It rained a little bit, we had a little rain delay, and then it even feels more humid now, because it was raining a little bit, so we'll see how the conditions are changing, but I'm expecting it to be slow and a little windy, so we'll see how it plays out.

1:29 p.m. EST

We didn't get the men's doubles result that we wanted, Eduardo and me, we just couldn't really get the groove going. They also played really well, so this was very tough. This was a first time partnership - we've been on the same team before, but this was our first time playing on the court. It was a bit tough, because we both finished our singles matches pretty late. We only got to hit with each other for about 10 minutes before we went to play doubles, which is not easy, especially since we have never played together. I wanted to do pretty well at doubles, but didn't, unfortunately. But now I have a little bit more time for mixed doubles, so hopefully I can get some warm-up with my mixed partner. But now she's playing gender doubles pretty soon, so might be tough, because I think she plays now at 2 o'clock. Then if she does well then we might not have so much time. So the long days are interesting. If you have a little bit of time to warm up with each other, it's nice, but if one of you does well, or you go long in singles, you don't really have time to prepare with your partner.

I'm going to get out of the heat a little bit, get a pretty big lunch now, because it's kind of tough to eat when you're playing singles and then doubles right away, so I have to eat pretty small lunch, and then I guess the good thing is losing early in men's doubles, you have more time to rest and then warm up for mixed, but like last time I had to warm up with a different girl because my partner was still playing, which is kind of the tricky part, but if you both lose right away, then it's fine. But yeah, the timing is tricky to try to find the rhythm with your partner every time. It's a little balance.

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11:10 a.m. EST

I just finished my round of 16 match against Wade. The conditions here are tough. I know he's a good player, and I don't think he liked his conditions too much. He also had a very long match before, so the ball is a lot slower. It's windy, so you have to play a little bit of slower game and move the ball around well. Now, I'll have about an hour break before men's doubles, playing with my buddy Eduardo Irizarry. Last year the format was a little bit different - Thursdays was just singles day, and now it's singles, doubles, and then mixed in the same day, which I kind of like. The first day is a little bit brutal if you go all the way through on all the events, you can play between like six to nine matches, but I like playing the multiple events in the same day.

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9:13 a.m. EST

Just got off the court, winning my second round against Martin Stanchev. I knew it was gonna be a tough one, even though he's a low seed, because I watched him actually beat my buddy Tristan Dussault at the U.S. Open, so he's very underrated. Conditions a little tough today, a little windy, little humid, so the ball's moving slow, but happy to get that one done!

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8:10 a.m. EST

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Good morning, and welcome to the 2026 APP Vlasic Classic Cincinnati. Excited to be on the APP player blog this week!

I came here to this event last year, I think it was my second APP of the year. I flew from Sarasota, Florida and I'm staying with a couple other pros as well, Tristan Dussault and Naveen Beasley. I like the city a lot, it's right by the water and the park, so it's a nice place to warm up, and all the green greenery around is super nice, so glad to be here.

The first event is singles and I have a bye, so I get to watch everyone die in the humidity a little bit. Feeling good about singles. I've been doing well in singles recently, so we'll hopefully do a little bit better in doubles and mixed doubles this week. We have a long day on Thursday, so I'll have a couple mixed doubles matches, hopefully and a couple doubles as well.

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