Here I am in Shanghai for the year end championships. Its a long flight to get here, and I'm feeling a bit jet lagged today. That's nothing new in our line of work, and I think that I deal with it better than most people, mainly due to my job. Since I'm so used to getting up early or staying up late to work, I'm not usually on a "normal" time schedule, so hopping to different time zones isn't so rough.
Shanghai is an amazing city. The amount of construction going on here is almost unreal, and unfortunately, they have the pollution that goes along with that incredible urban growth. I normally have a mild headache and sore throat for my whole time here, and I don't expect it to be different this year. One of the funny things about coming to China each year is that everyone assumes that I speak chinese. I don't. I'm of Korean descent, and I don't even speak that language. Heck, I have trouble sometimes finding the right words to say in English! Anyway, I probably have to tell people at least 20 times a day here that I don't speak chinese.
I came here to work with 3 players, and just found out yesterday that I may be working with a 4th. That 4th player isn't a current client, but is interested in seeing what our service is all about. I'll do my best to impress! The draw was made yesterday, and it looks good from a working standpoint. I'm working with 2 players in each group. That spreads my workload out evenly which means I don't think I'll have any really late nights or any really early mornings. Nice.
A few of you have asked where we set up our equipment. We work out of our hotel rooms, and the first thing I try to figure out when getting into my room is where my stringing machine will go. This hotel room has a nice desk with good lighting for my night stringing. Its also got one of the nicest showers I've ever been in which doesn't have anything to do about my work, but certainly is good for me!
Well, I'm heading out to deliver some racquets, but I'll be sure to update you all sometime during the tournament.