Following the tournament in Winnipeg, Greg returned to Los Angeles, where the plan was to train for a week then go back to Canada for two more Futures tournaments. Greg however reassessed the situation and as the tournaments where on clay and indoor hard court, two surfaces he had not played on for well over a year and seeing as he has been training on hard court since February, he decided to change his schedule. He pulled out of the Canadian Futures and will now contest three $10k Futures, all in California, near Los Angeles, on hard court, in a sunny climate, where hopefully he won't be forced to play more than one match a day, with no rain delays.
Unfortunately due to his late decision to compete in the USA tournaments, Greg was not entered in this weeks tournament, so will have to contest the qualifying, and with a 128 player draw, that means winning four matches to qualifying. The entry level of the pro-circuit is brutal, as you then have to win the first round before getting any ATP points.
Still, Greg is seeded No.1 in qualifying, and is the highest ranked player, but will be under a ton of pressure to qualify against much younger players, hungry for success or to gain their first ranking point. His first round opponent was 18 year-old Greek Chris Mikravos, unranked as yet.
Greg said he was never under any pressure in the match, winning the match pretty comfortably 6-1, 6-1. He said he had served well and that he had no adverse feeling in his troubled right shoulder, so hopefully the shoulder is now ready for the tougher challenges which lay ahead. One down three to go to Main Draw.
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