R2: [7] Tarek Momen (EGY) 3-1 Leonel Cardenas (MEX)

Tarek : “Of course it’s first match of the season as well but it’s good as it gets you sharp from the very beginning and I’m getting used to being handed tough draws! This has been the norm for quite some time now; I’m having to get used to it and it’s not easy obviously with how I’m ageing. The older you get the easier you want the draws to be but it never gets easy.

Leo is obviously a quality player, he’s a top player. We’ve had some really tough matches in the past and this one was no different. I’m just glad that I managed to get through okay.

[On the birth of his second child Murad] Oh absolutely, he’s a monster gift. Yeah we had our son born he was born in June right before the World Tour finals and then I had the whole summer I spent with the family and training and it was fun, you know, our family is growing and we are enjoying it.

It has been a bit challenging this summer but thankfully I have a very supportive wife in the form of Raneem. She helps me out a lot and takes care of the younger ones.

The change for me was I was doing a bit more for the older one Shahir in the mornings which was good actually for me I was waking up early sleeping early to drop him off to the nursery and then go to my practice I had a different routine this summer but I thought it was for the best because it just helped me adjust my whole schedule to the better.

I need to be more clever because I can’t just keep pressing the gas the whole time. I don’t think I did that today I had to dig deep today because it was tough. But yeah overall I obviously would love to be able to read my opponents better and try to you know enforce my game plan better and be more conservative with the energy I spend on court to play more matches…