Blogs
May 24, 2008: "31,000 Feet"
At the moment I am on the flight form Minsk to Frankfurt where I will connect to a flight to Paris. Considering that this would be my 12th French Open and overall, probably, the 22th visit to Paris with the Berci tournament showing, I am not expecting a whole lot from this very pretty and a historical place. Most of my site seeing there was done in the earlier years on Tour when things and places seemed much brighter than they are now.
However, my professional interest for Paris remains the same or may be even greater now that it was in the past. Growing older in the sport it makes me realize that special event like the Grand Slams and in particular the French Open, event at which I have been able to be a Champion twice are what stand out the most at the end of any one's professional career.
With my new partner in doubles this year it has been a fun and challenging road so far. We certainly have a lot of room to improve as a team and we spent a lot of time on and off the court trying to get better and for that reason every tournament that comes our way we approach with the great sense of an opportunity to make these improvements work.
This year for the first time in my career I will not play in the singles draw at the French open. In the recent 6-8 months it has become very difficult to manage both singles and doubles at the high level and for that reason I shift my focus now to the doubles game. The game that I've always liked and enjoyed playing.
Besides my adjustment of focus to doubles game, I spend most of my free time this year making the final push towards the completion of my degree. I plan to finish my 5 year program at the BSU ( Belarus State University) this October, majoring in International Law.
Along with UNICEF, as a good will ambassador in Belarus, I will have my first professional tournament in Pinsk, Belarus during the 1st week of August. It will be a men's USD 15 000 Future where most kids from the area are going to take part in various children's activities on and off the court as well as have the chance to visit the tournament during the whole week at no coast.
Over all I like the fact that my family and I staying very busy. I feel that my life is developing gradually and well balanced.
The captain asked for all electronic devices to be switched of at this time, we are landing shortly. Take care for now my friends and I will keep you posted from time to time on how things go from here.
Max.