Bjorn Fratangelo, the reigning USTA National Clay Court and Easter Bowl champion, is currently ranked No. 1 in the USTA Boys' 18s and No. 17 in the ITF World Junior Rankings. The 17-year-old right-hander from Pittsburgh is the top seed in this year's International Spring Championships in Carson, Calif., where he will be writing a daily blog for USTA.com during his time in the tournament. Check back often for updates!

Hey everyone,

This is Bjorn Fratangelo, and I will be blogging this week during the International Spring Championships in Carson, Calif. Today the tournament started, but since they split the draw up, I play tomorrow, so I had another day to get used to the weather and the conditions, which I was pretty happy about.

I'm still not totally adjusted to the time change coming from the East Coast, so I woke up around 6am. It was so early, and I didn't know what to do, so I figured it would be a great time to do some school. I worked on my homework for about 3 straight hours. That may be a record for me while I'm at a tournament. That only took me to about 9am, and then I got some breakfast at the Bagel Factory, which is right next to the hotel. They went heavy on the cream cheese, but overall it was a very good bagel.

At 10:30, I headed to the site. I had a practice set up with Mitchell Krueger at 11. We hit for an hour, and we both played pretty well. We grooved for awhile and played some points, nothing too strenuous since it's the day before we play. After we hit, we grabbed lunch at the site, and I watched some matches and caught up with some friends. I had a rest for a couple of hours and was back on the practice court with my good buddy and doubles partner Alexios Halebian. We hit for another hour, mostly playing points.

After the second practice, I went back to the hotel, showered and just chilled in my room for awhile. I had dinner downstairs with some people, and the food was good. They had pasta, salad, steak and other stuff. It's a buffet for all the players, and it's free, so I'll take it. After the dinner, I just hung out and watched one of my favorite shows, "Family Guy," and as usual, it was hilarious.

Well, that about sums up Day 1 here out in Carson. It's getting kind of late, so I better get going. I play not before 10:30 tomorrow, and I'm going to go get some sleep. Wish me luck!