As i am writing this, I am currently about 37,000 FT above the central USA on my way to Tampa, FL.  Yet another tennis calendar year has been completed and its time to start getting ready for 2011.   Not sure if its just me, but 2011 sounds like something out of Sci-FI movies.  It might take a while to get used to saying "2011."  

Has it been almost a years since i wrote my last post? Longer? Its very possible.  I have been slacking to say the least.  Unfortunately, I was laid off and to be honest, there wasn't much to write on.  My daily thoughts were posted on my Twitter account (www.twitter.com/AmerDelic), but that was about it... There is only so much you can write about daily rehab process... It was getting old in a hurry. That is for sure.
However, I was back in the swing of things (no pun intended) just in time for the US Open.  I was getting impatient driving up to Saddlebrook every day, hitting tennis balls and strengthening my knee.  It was time to go out there and test it out. No better place than the slick courts at the Flushing Meadows, home of the US Open.  

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get through any of the matches.  However, the good news was that my knee held up just fine and that it was time to go out and keep playing.  Shortly following the US Open, i was already boarding a plane to Lisbon, Portugal to play my first ever Davis Cup match.  Most of you were surprised to hear that I was on my way to Portugal to play Davis Cup match, when US was actually playing their match in Columbia.  Reason I was on a completely different continent to play my match was because I switched to play under the Bosnian flag.  As many of you may know, I was born and raised in Tuzla, Bosnia.  I moved to Jacksonville, FL in 1996 when I was turning 14.  Since then, Ricardo Acuna, on behalf of USTA has done an unbelievable job raising me as a tennis player and as a person.  Following those 4 years with Ricardo, I found my way in Champaign, IL experiencing college tennis.  Three years later, Team and Single's National Championship later, once again I was taken under the wings of USTA to develop and play professional tennis.  In return for their favors, I was asked to help out the US Davis Cup team whenever I could.  It was my absolute honor to play with such people as Andre Agassi, Andy Roddick, Bryan Brothers, Taylor Dent, Mardy Fish,... Such experience will never be forgotten by me.  It was something I only dreamed of coming from the red clay courts of Bosnia.  

After many years of wear and tear on the tennis courts, many of you know that I was forced to take significant time off to heal and re-evaluate my life as a tennis player.  During that time, I was approached by the Bosnian Tennis Federation asking if I can help out with the next Davis Cup, vs. Portugal.  This is wasn't the first time I was approached by the Bosnian Federation.  In 2006-2007, when I was playing some of my best tennis, I could have turned my back on the USTA to go and play for Bosnia.  However, i didn't.  I couldn't turn my back on someone that helped me all those years.  I couldn't do it because of Ricardo.  I couldn't do it because of the USTA. 

In September of 2010, after 14 months of being laid of because of a knee surgery, I had time to re-evaluate my situation.  Priorities have changed.  As a tennis player there aren't too many things that I haven't done.  I have played every Grand Slam, played on every big court and played against most of the top players in the World.  However, there were two things I never got to do.  Davis Cup and the Olympics.  I was a practice partner for the US Davis Cup, but I never got to play the full match.  As far as the Olympics, I got as close as being an alternate to going to Beijing.  
Sitting on a couch those 14 months, many things go through your mind.  These were some of the thoughts...I felt like this was the RIGHT time to play again for the country that I was born and raised in.  Was I going to get some "crap" about switching? Maybe by a common spectator, but as far as all the other players, everyone understood.  I am 28, coming off of a knee surgery, not knowing how much longer I will get to even play; chances were thinning out in a hurry.  No one blamed me.  I knew it was the right thing to do.