Tuesday 5^th May 2015

After securing two wins out of two matches yesterday, today was unfortunately the complete opposite and so our time here in Windhoek comes to an end.

We started the day with exactly the same timetable as yesterday; breakfast at 7.30am, drive to the club at 8.40am and start our warm-up at 9am. Normally when Toby and I start hitting it’s very consistent but this morning Toby was a little more erratic and that could have been down to the practice courts being a little faster than the match courts, or the fact that the practice balls were quite worn. After four or five minutes Toby started to find his range and the rest of the pre-match hit went according to plan.

Yesterday the matches went quite quickly and Toby’s ‘not before’ 10.30am match went on at 10.40am but today he had the same match time and he didn’t end up going on until 1.15pm! That did mean that he could get some food before the match but it also meant we had quite a bit of time to kill before he eventually went on.

When Toby got on court to face 15^th seed William Grant from America he started a little erratically (like in our warm-up) and that was always going to make life difficult against a good player like William. The first two games of the match were quite straightforward for the America as he took a *0-2 lead but Toby managed to settle down in the third game and held serve. After that William played a very solid next four games and made it very difficult for Toby to break him down in the rallies which resulted in him taking the opening set 6-1.

Toby immediately went 0-2* down in the second but at that stage he dug deep and found probably the best level that he has played on the trip to break William and hold to level the set at 2-2*. Toby was being more aggressive which was actually helping him to control the ball more while at the same time putting his opponent under more pressure to dictate the points. William held in the next game but then Toby responded with a hold and a break to take a *4-3 lead and more importantly take control of the set. The American was starting to get frustrated but he used that frustration in a positive way to raise his game and play a very good three games in a row where he hit 6 winners and only 1 error to take the match 6-1, 6-4.

Unlike last week Toby showed great fight, determination and a very good attitude to try and turn the match around after losing a very one-sided first set. It was always going to be a tough challenge to play William, who made the semi-final last week, but Toby pushed him hard in the second set and I was proud of the way he competed.

Toby only had 45 minutes once the match had finished to cool down, eat and change kit before he was on again for his doubles where he faced his doubles partner from last week.

Toby and Leon were very up for the match as it was another chance to secure some ranking points and at 2-1* up and Sudden Death Deuce on Goni’s serve they looked like they were in control. However, after Goni held serve, the boys from Zimbabwe broke Toby’s serve and then won another two consecutive Sudden Death Deuce games on their way to taking the set 6-2.

Once Goni and Mark had that set under their belts they started to play with a lot of confidence and it seemed as though all the luck was going their way! They won another three Sudden Death Deuce games in the second set (6 out of 6 in total!) and despite Toby and Leon trying to do the right things they eventually lost the second set by the same scoreline as the first.

It was a tough day and for the second year in a row Toby has won matches in the singles and doubles Main Draws here in Namibia but unfortunately goes away without any ranking points.

Once we returned to the hotel I got in touch with South African Airways to change our flights to return to London tomorrow and then it was time for our traditional final meal of the trip at the famous Joe’s Beerhouse!

Last year I had an Oryx fillet and Toby went for a plain steak but this year we decided to raise the bar a little and go for the ‘Bushman Sosatie’ (pronounced Bushman’s Society!) which was basically a Kebab of Springbok, Oryx, Zebra, Crocodile and Kudu:

The Crocodile was a bit tough but everything else was absolutely amazing! I’m not usually a fan of meat being cooked too rare but check out the Kudu – I almost had to kill it before I could eat it!

After a fantastic meal we headed outside to get a car back to the hotel but before we left we had a chance to haggle with a street seller to get a couple of mementos of the trip.

Overall it’s been a good two weeks in Botswana and Namibia – Toby may have only picked up points in the doubles last week but he’s learnt a lot and has showed a big improvement in attitude, determination and willingness to fight when things aren’t going his way.

It’s now back to the UK to get some training in before the next trip away.

Monday 4^th May 2015

It was a hard fought day at the Central Tennis Club today as Toby spent almost 4 hours 30 minutes on court, but it makes it all worth it when you come away with 2 wins out of 2!

It was an earlier start today as we had breakfast at 7.30am and then got a car to the club at 8.30am. Being the first day of Main Draw there are a lot of players looking to practice before their matches and it can often be difficult to get a practice court but luckily I was the first to put our names down for a court at 9.30am. So, once we had gone through a good physical warm up, we got on court and had a solid practice for just over 30 minutes. Even at 9.30am it was getting very hot and our session ended up going on a little longer than planned as Toby broke a string right at the end so we had to hit for another 5-10 minutes to make sure Toby was comfortable with the new racket.

Once we had finished Toby checked his match court to see how long it would be until he was on and for once the court was pretty much running to time. Toby had a ‘not before’ time of 10.30am and he actually took to the court at 10.40am – that’s good planning from the referee right there!

We didn’t know anything about Hugh Morgan before Toby went on court to warm up with him but as the match started it seemed as though Toby had the measure of him. After Toby took the opening two games I was expecting him to go through his opponent quite comfortably but Hugh showed that he was a tough competitor and immediately fought back to win the next three games. Toby continued to stick to his gameplan and once he had worked out that he needed to play in different ways from different ends (due to the wind blowing down the court) he won three out of the next four games to take a *5-4 lead. At that stage Toby got a little tight on key points which resulted in him being broken when he served for the set at *5-4 and again at *6-5. He didn’t let it bother him though and played a very good tie-break to take the 1^st set 7-6(4).

Toby then raced to a 3-0 lead in the 2^nd set and was looking full of confidence but when he was broken at *3-1 it gave Hugh a big lift and he went on to completely turn the set around and take a *3-5 lead. Toby managed to hold serve after losing five games in a row but Hugh served well to hold and take the 2^nd set 6-4.

By this stage the boys had been on court for 2 hours 20 minutes in quite intense heat but once again it was Toby that showed an excellent attitude and real inner strength to race to a 3-0 lead in the 3^rd set. Unfortunately Hugh once again fought back and started to put some doubts in Toby’s head by winning the next three games in a row. A lot of those games had been down to Toby making too many unforced errors and once he realised he needed to change what he was doing, he held, broke and then served out the match well to eventually win 7-6(4),4-6, 6-3 in 3 hours and 5 minutes.

The quality of the match, a lot like the scoreline, was very up and down but the most important qualities that Toby showed were his attitude, fight and determination in tough conditions.

As soon as the match had finished Toby gave the score to the referee and then checked out the recently completed doubles draw:

Toby then had a very cold shower (there isn’t any hot water at the club – not that Toby would have wanted any to be honest!) and once he was finished we walked up the road to a little Italian restaurant to get lunch. It was then back to the club to prepare for Toby’s doubles match with Leon Olivier which was scheduled for ‘not before’ 3.30pm.

The boys took to the court at just after 3.45pm to face Taine Bernhard and Jamie Davis from South Africa. Jamie is a good 14 year old that is based in Potchefstroom (where I was last year for the two Grade 2s) and following his first ever Main Draw singles win this morning he was buzzing with confidence. Toby and Leon started a little slowly and soon found themselves 2-4* down with Jamie serving. Fortunately at this stage of the set the boys woke up and actually starting playing some very good doubles; they both started moving a lot more and controlled the net much better. That completely changed the momentum of the match and it saw Toby and Leon win five out of the net 6 games to take the opening set 7-5.

I could completely understand that it would take Toby and Leon a little while to gel as they’d not even spoken much before the match, let alone played together, but as they 2^nd set started it was obvious that something had clicked! They broke Taine in the first game of the set and then flew through the set 6-0 while trying out different tactics that they might need in the next round.

Both boys were really pleased with their performance and if they can add to the level that they produced today then I can see them doing really well in the tournament.

After the match we got a lift back to the hotel with Jeremy, Leon’s coach, and had an hour and a half to chill out before dinner.

As our lunch had been quite big neither of us really wanted a big meal at the hotel restaurant for dinner so we got a lift up the road to Nandos! We then got a local taxi back to the hotel and having been quoted N$70 by some of the hotel taxis we ended up paying the local taxi N$20 (and I think he over charged us too!!).

Schedule for tomorrow:

(15) William Grant (USA) (1630) vs (Q) Toby Huffer (GBR) (UNR) – 3^rd match after 8.30am (not before 10.30am)

(4) Mark Chigaazira (ZIM) & Ngonidzashe Makambwa (ZIM) vs Toby Huffer (GBR) & Leon Olivier (RSA) – 4^th match after 8.30am (after rest)

Sunday 3^rd May 2015

We had a good start to the week here in Windhoek today as Toby played a solid match to get through his first round and qualify for the Main Draw.

Due to the later start time of matches today, Toby had a bit of a lie-in while I was up early at 5am to watch the Mayweather vs Pacquiao fight. When we talk about tactics in tennis it comes as second nature but I find it so interesting to analyse the tactics used in other sports and the fight this morning was unbelievably tactical. It was brilliant to watch and even though many people have said the fight was “boring” I think that’s because they don’t appreciate how big a part tactics played in it – they just wanted big punches and a knockout which was never going to happen with these two phenomenal fighters.

Back to business out here and we met for breakfast at 8.30am and then got a car to the club at 9.45am. Even though Toby’s match was scheduled for 1pm we had to warm-up, hit and also have time to digest lunch before he had to warm-up again for the match. With that in mind we hit for 30 minutes from 10.30-11am and then walked up the road to the supermarket to get some lunch.

Once we returned to the club we had around 30 minutes to relax and then at 12.30pm we headed down to Centre Court to warm-up and most importantly go through the goals and game plan for the match.

As Toby went onto court at 1pm he was in a relaxed mood and was keen to improve on the level that he produced in the early rounds of last week’s tournament. We knew very little about Alex Van Der Westhuizen but as soon as the warm-up started I felt confident that Toby could impose his game on his opponent and also use it as a good opportunity to continue to work on some specifics that we’ve been developing in training.

Toby broke Alex’s serve in the first game of the match and from there he settled into the match very well racing to a 4-0* lead. Alex then held serve with a series of good first serves but Toby responded with 3 winners in the next game and then broke serve to take the first set 6-1.

During the second set Toby raised his level again and even though the set score was the same as the first he produced a higher first serve percentage, almost three times the amount of service winners and twice the amount of winners from the back of the court.

All in all it was a good performance from Toby and compared to his first round match last week it was much much better. Toby was also pleased with his performance especially as the conditions were very hot and humid and he did well to get the job done without wasting energy by playing more games than necessary.

After the match we had over an hour to wait until the shuttle back to the hotel so we decided to watch some of the other Qualifying matches and also have a few games of table tennis as a ‘cool down’ – for me it was more of a warm-up as not before long I was sweating and getting rather competitive!

Once the car arrived we went to the supermarket to stock up on some supplies and then headed back to the hotel. Toby then decided he was going to have a swim in the pool so I joined him but it turn out to be more of an ice bath recovery session rather than a relaxing swim!

During dinner tonight the draw came out and we were both surprised to see two ‘lucky losers’ playing each other in the opening round tomorrow:

Schedule for tomorrow:

Toby Huffer (GBR) (UNR) vs Hugo Morgan (RSA) (UNR) – 3^rd match after 8.30am (not before 10.30am)

Doubles with Leon Olivier (RSA) to follow in the afternoon

Saturday 2^nd May 2015

A good final day of preparation today and now we’re all set for Toby’s 1^st round match tomorrow.

The day before any player competes in a tournament is very important and wherever possible I like the player to dictate when they want to train, how long they want to train for and also the content of the session(s). That is so that the player feels happy and works on exactly what they feel they need to in order to feel ready for their match. Toby had the option of a lie-in this morning but instead he chose to follow the same routine as we did yesterday. That meant we were up for breakfast at 8am and then at the club warming up at 9.30am. We then had a really good training session for just over an hour which saw us do a lot of ‘trading’ from the back of the court to find a good consistency and then go into a lot of point play. While we were warming up some serves, Leon Olivier, who is in the Main Draw this week, asked if Toby wanted to play some points and so Toby finished the session with a very solid 10-2 win in a Match Tie-break.

For lunch today we decided to eat at the club and we were very pleased with a great spaghetti bolognaise that the tournament director’s wife had made for the players – hopefully she’ll keep that quality of lunches up all week! Toby also wanted to get a few snacks from the supermarket so we headed up there after we’d eaten to get some nuts, fruit and the all-important chewing gum!

When we returned to the club Toby chilled out while I had a good catch-up with Pieter Hoeksma who is the tournament referee this week. I first met Pieter at this tournament last year and he’s a great guy; he reminds me a lot of British referee Andy Fyfe and is the kind of guy that’s very honest, a strict referee who gets respect from all the players but is also very fair.

At 1.30pm Toby and I started warming up for our second session of the day and at 2pm we got on court to prepare to finish the set we started yesterday. Despite feeling pretty exhausted I managed to win the first point which saw me break Toby to take a *2-1 lead and from there the set went with serve until 5-3*. Toby was actually playing the better tennis and I was struggling to control the ball having just got my racket back from the stringer but I think a bit of dogged determination managed to get me through the set 6-3.

Once we were done Toby had a thorough stretch out at the club and then at 3.30pm we headed back to the hotel to relax for the afternoon. We then met back up at 6.30pm for dinner and had a brief chat about preparations for the match tomorrow before relaxing for the rest of the evening.

Schedule for tomorrow:

Toby Huffer (GBR) (UNR) vs Alex Van Der Westhuizen (RSA) (UNR) – 1^st match at 1pm

Friday 1^st May 2015

After a long day of travelling from Botswana to Jo’burg and then on to Namibia yesterday, we had a good training day today to get ready for Qualifying which starts tomorrow.

As the altitude here in Windhoek is around 700 metres higher than in Botswana we decided to have two training sessions today; one to do a lot of drilling to get used to how the ball reacts and one to play a practice set to get fully prepared for Toby’s first Qualifying match.

In order to get both sessions in we had breakfast at 8am and then, after a quick stop at the supermarket to stock up on water, we got to the club at 9.30am. We then had a really good first training session which involved a lot of repetition drills, a lot of changing ends to get used to the wind and then finished with a lot of work on serve and return. We had planned on training for around an hour and 30 minutes but by the time we finished it ended up being almost two hours. While we were training fellow Brit Olivia Elliott and her coach David Felgate came on to the court next to us for their first training session since arriving yesterday. It was great to see someone as young as Olivia getting out there and competing in ITFs as soon as possible. I’m a big believer in players competing abroad as early as they can to gain valuable experience and also get used to playing in different environments so I really hope Olivia does well this week.

Once we had finished our session we walked up the road to get some lunch and then headed back to the club to relax . . . well . . . that was the plan but no sooner had I sat down than Toby had me up competing against him at table tennis – good job I beat him then!!

We went back on court at 2pm to warm up again for our second training session of the day but as we started we noticed a few very dark clouds drifting over from behind the club house. We managed to go through our whole physical warm up but while we started hitting it started to spit a little with rain. We came off court briefly but then the rain stopped so we went back on and managed to start a set. However, at 1-1 and with Toby serving at *15-40 it started to rain too hard to continue (I think the rain did Toby a favour to be honest as I was just about to break serve!!).

We waited until 4pm but the rain didn’t let up so Toby had a really good stretch out and then signed in for Qualifying. We then got picked up by our hotel driver at 4.30pm and headed back to our rooms to relax for an hour before dinner.

The food at the hotel is generally very good and I think there were only a couple of occasions last year when we actually ate away from the hotel. While we were at dinner the draw came out:

As Toby has a Bye he doesn’t play until Sunday so tomorrow will be another training day and maybe we might get a full set in!