CiCi Bellis blog: My lucky fourth year at the Open

Seventeen-year-old CiCi Bellis played in her first US Open women's singles draw in 2014 and upset No. 12 seed and Australian Open finalist Dominika Cibulkova in the first round for her first Grand Slam win. Last year, Bellis fell in the third round of qualifying, and in 2016, she returns to New York again to compete for a spot in the women's main draw by playing in this week's US Open Qualifying Tournament. Bellis is blogging for USOpen.org while she is in New York. In her first entry, she talks about training for the Open, her favorite places to eat in New York and more.

Monday, Aug. 22

After three, tough weeks training six hours or more a day in extremely hot Boca Raton, Fla., NYC seems cool and refreshing to me. I never thought I'd say that. I had always come to NYC from California, and a good four or more days was needed to get used to the heat and humidity. Not this year!

Day 1 on Saturday, I was able to go all out in both practices – morning drilling with Asia Muhammad and afternoon match play with Julia Boserup. Same on Sunday with my favorite Southern California hitting partner Chris Tontz in the morning and Veronica Cepede Royg for points in the afternoon.

The best thing about being on tour is all the amazing players my coach Anibal Aranda arranges for me to practice with, both when we are training at home in Boca and when we are on the road at tournaments. I never had that before, and I think it's one of the reasons why I have improved so much this past year while training at the USTA. It's so much fun, and I love it.

I am staying in NYC and look forward to getting back to my hotel at the end of my long practice days. It can sometimes be a struggle to eat perfectly on the road. Not here, where there are healthy options on every corner. My favorite snack after practice has been a piece of avocado toast from Le Pain Quotidien. I order it during the Uber ride back, so it's ready to pick up upon arrival. Dinner is always a steakhouse or Italian, and once the tournament starts, I will choose one spot near my hotel and either go there or order from there every night. I am super superstitious. This is my fourth year at the US Open, and four is my lucky number because I was born in April!

More later,
CiCi