Riki McLachlan (above) sent a blog from Europe where he and his brother Ben McLachlan compete at six ITF junior tournaments, including the French Open Juniors.
Riki is currently ranked 55 at ITF Juniors.
"Hey, this is Riki McLachlan blogging from Paris.
The last two weeks, my brother Ben and myself have been competing in International Junior Tennis events in Milan, Italy and Charleroi, Belgium.
Here is an update of how we have been going and some of the memorable moments.
In Milan, we competed in the Trofeo Bongfiglio Grade A ITF, one of the eight biggest junior events in the world.
The venue and the tournament were amazing, set near the centre of Milan at a beautiful private tennis club.
Ben won through two qualifying rounds, beating an Italian wildcard in three tight sets, then an American 7-5 6-1 to qualify for the prestigious event.
Ben then backed this up by playing really well and beating another Italian in the first round, 6-2 6-3 before falling to a Czech player.
Week one did not go so well for me, losing to a Croatian player in the first round comfortably in straight sets.
In doubles, Ben and I fell in a tight match 7-5 7-5 to an Australian and Italian combination.
It was a great experience playing in such a huge international event and a great chance to get matches on clay courts to prepare for the Junior French Open.
Some of the highlights in Milan were the food, the crazy shuttle drivers and the beautiful women. By the end of the week we had had enough pasta and it was time to head to Belgium.
We arrived in Charleroi, Belgium to meet our coach, Lan and to prepare for the Astrid Bowl Grade 1 ITF.
The Astrid Bowl is the last major clay court tournament before the Junior French Open, so the tournament always has a very strong field.
For a change, the doubles started before the singles on the Sunday.
Ben and I beat a Belgium and Russian pair 6-3 7-5 to move into the second round.
On Monday the singles started, and I beat a Belgium wildcard 6-3 6-0, while Ben fell to a Japanese player 7-5 6-3.
Later that day Ben and I played two top 20 ranked Argentine players in doubles and went down 6-3 6-3.
Tuesday was a long day. In the second round I lost to the 6th seed from Chinese Taipei (the same player I lost to at the Aussie Open) 7-6 7-6.
It was a long match made even longer by the two rain breaks during the second set.
To finish off the day we took a short train trip to Paris.
It is amazing how easy it is to get around Europe.
The highlight of Belgium was definitely the waffles.
Yesterday was an exciting day, as we also learned that with our Junior World Rankings, Ben was the last accepted player into the qualifying draw and I was the last directly accepted player in the main draw of the Junior French Open.
Ben will play his first round qualifying match tomorrow."
To follow the Kiwis go to the ITF Juniors website.
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