ATP Challenger

Cory Parr Pro Transition Blog #10 – Decisions

Posted on by bigtimetennis

More year-end stats for Cory Parr, plus a new blog entry below.

Cory played 10 tournaments as a professional this year, beginning in June: 8 ITF Futures events and 2 ATP Challenger Tour events. In singles, he won 11 matches and lost 8, earning $2,416 in prize money.

In doubles, he made the semi-finals or better in all 8 Futures events he played, winning 6 of them, earning $2,807 in prize money.

Here is Cory’s latest blog entry from GEM Tennis:

Hey everyone. I just got home to New York after a few weeks of traveling to Virginia and Tennessee. My last tournament in Tennessee did not go so well. I had to play my doubles partner Todd in the first round of qualifying. Obviously, just like last time, it was very weird playing your best friend and someone you always travel with. This time however unlike in Mexico, I was able to focus on my game and what I needed to do, and was able to pull out the win 7-5 in the third set. It was not fun playing Todd, but I was happy that I played a pretty good match. In the second round of qualifying, I lost 7-6 in the third set after having a chance to serve out the match being up 5-3 in the third set. It was definitely disappointing not to be able to close out that match, but there are so many matches to be played that I cannot let this one bother me too much. It was a little upsetting of a tournament, but overall, I thought it was a successful trip being able to see that level of tennis on the Challenger tour. Everything is still a learning experience for me, so I am happy to take in as much knowledge and experience everything that I can in order to help me succeed on tour.

This time of the year on tour is the off season. There really are not many tournaments going on, so it is a good time to relax from tennis for a little while, and then start seriously training to get ready for next year. Currently I am debating whether I will be traveling for two tournaments in the Dominican Republic right after thanksgiving. It is going to be a tough decision for me, because one side of me wants to go pick up more points, so that I have a higher ranking starting next year. While the other side of me thinks that I have played enough and it is a good time now to reflect on the year, set new goals for next year, and start training and working on my game. I think a really important thing that I have learned, is that you cannot keep playing tournaments every week. Making sure that you set up a schedule where you get good training in with a coach is really important in the development of your game. Traveling to a lot of tournaments and picking up points is great, but if your not working on and developing your game, then its kind of a waste. There are definitely some important things I need to work on, and it is important that I set aside time to develop and get better.

I have been working with a coach in North Carolina who has really began to help me understand the importance of setting goals, and having a plan to achieve those goals. So from now until the end of the year I will be in the gym a lot to try and put on some weight and work on some things with my game that need to improve in order for me to achieve my goals. Being in New York is also a difficult place to train because of the weather. So in December I am going to Arizona with a few friends on tour to train in some nicer weather. That is all for now.

CP

Cory Parr Pro Transition Blog #9 – Charlottesville Challenger

Posted on by bigtimetennis

Wrapping up his first calendar year of professional tennis, Cory Parr played in his first two Challenger level events, in Charlottesville, Virginia and Knoxville, Tennessee.

Below is a blog entry Cory wrote while in Charlottesville. He and Todd Paul ended up losing to Donald Young and Kevin Anderson (a top-150 doubles player), 6-3, 6-4.

After Charlottesville, it was on to Knoxville. In the first round of singles qualifying in Knoxville, Cory beat his former Wake Forest teammate and doubles partner for the event, Todd Paul (#590), in a very close match: 6-7 (6), 7-6 (3), 7-5. He lost in the second round of qualifying to Sweden’s Marcus Sarstrand (who had been ranked as high as #240 in the world in 2005), in another close match, 7-6(1), 3-6, 6-7(5).

Cory and Todd got a wildcard into the doubles main draw in Knoxville, but unfortunately lost to Purav Raja and Somdev Devvarman in the first round.

All-in-all, it was a solid first few months of professional tennis for Cory. He is currently at career high rankings of #822 in singles and #397 in doubles. In a forthcoming blog entry, Cory reflects on some decisions he will be making going into next year.

Here is Cory’s Charlottesville blog post from GEM Tennis:

Hey everyone. It’s been a while since my last blog entry. Right now, I’m in Charlottesville, Virginia for a $50,000 Challenger event. This tournament is a step up from what I’ve been competing in the past couple of months. This is a really tough tournament with a lot of great players, including two top 100 world ranked players. I traveled to Virginia with my doubles partner Todd Paul. Since our rankings aren’t high enough we had both had to play the qualifying tournament to get into the main draw of the event. I played three really tough matches to qualify, fighting hard to win all in three sets and even saving a match point in my qualifying match against a tough player from Romania, Catalin Gard. In Challengers, it’s really nice because you gets ATP points when you qualify, as in futures you dont get any points when you qualify and only get 1 point for winning your first round. Also, Todd and I were fortunate to get a Wildcard into the main draw of doubles because of the success we’ve been having together.

In the first round of singles I played Scoville Jenkins. It was a really tough match that I lost 6-1, 5-7, 6-3. It was definitely a huge adjustment playing a guy like Scoville because he hits the ball so hard, and to be honest I was not used to the pace. That really showed in the first set where I lost 6-1. However, in the second set I started getting used to the pace of his ball and I started to feel more comftroable stepping up on the baseline to dictate more. That was a match where I had to focus extremely hard because any opening that you gave him he would step in and take advantage of his opportunity. It was definitely a different match than I am used to playing, but it was good for me to show myself that I am able to play with these guys. So much about playing with these guys is fighting hard and believing that you belong on the court with them. You can really tell the difference being at a challenger than at a future by how these players act both on and off the court. You can just sense this serious confidence that everyone here has about themselves and their tennis. Being here you can tell that these guys are on a mission to do whatever it takes to be successful. I think that this is something that is very good for me to see and understand this early in my career.

In doubles, Todd and I had a really good win taking out the number one seeds Treat Huey and Harsh Mankad. I thought that Todd and I played a really good and solid match. The team that we played has been having a lot of sucess together, winning a few challenger events in the past. This was also a good match for us to see how good we are together as a team. Treat Huey is ranked 160 in the world in doubles and Harsh Mankad is 103. So it is nice to see that we are able to play with and even beat players at this level. Our next doubles match is tonight against Donald Young and Kevin Anderson. Hopefully, we’ll be able to play well and pull out another win. That is all for now.

CP