Tuesday 14th February 2012

It was a day of opportunities for Jack and Mia today as they played both singles and doubles but unfortunately we only managed one win out of three despite being in full control of one of the other matches.

As Tom is out of the tournament it’s important that he still makes the most of the training time available which means we’re training each morning from 7.30am until 9am when the matches start. Jack and his doubles partner joined us for the session and it was a really solid hour of practice. Tom’s improved a huge amount since the first week and now he has to keep making sure that he’s pushing himself outside his comfort zone in every training session.

Between 9 – 10am I went through Tom’s 1st round qualifying match from Sunday with him and then it was Jack’s turn to go through his singles win from yesterday which helped him prepare for his singles match today. At 10.15am I went over to the Public Service Club with Mia to warm her up for her singles match and then it was just a matter of them getting everything ready before they played.

Jack went on as scheduled at 12pm to play Guy Iradukunda from Burundi and from the very beginning it was obvious that Jack would need to produce his best tennis to compete with the level of his opponent. The Burundian was very used to the bouncy courts and, where as most of the players are holding back a little to maintain their consistency he was playing flat out whilst hardly missing. Jack went 3-0 down before holding and breaking to make it *2-3 but then his opponent upped his level again to take 3 out of the next 4 games to take the set 6-3.

In the second set Jack started to dominate the points more and used his backhand down the line to great effect as his opponent was expecting it to go cross court. He also moved forwards and finished a lot more points at the net than in the first set which his opponent struggled to deal with. This time it was Jack who took a commanding 4-0 lead and then went on to serve out the set 6-1.

While Jack was in the middle of his second set Mia went onto court 4 to play tricky Russian Victoria Voinova. The Russian had lost in qualies but, like Jack, had got a Lucky Loser and was determined to make the most of it. Mia started poorly and went 2-0 down before she took a little pace off the ball and started to think more about what she was doing. She went from 0-2* to *3-2 and despite being broken straight away she took the following 7 games of the match to lead 6-3, 4-0.

From the end of Mia’s first set I was back over next to Jack’s court to support him through his third set. Tom had been keeping track of what had been happening for me and told me that Jack broke serve in the first game but his opponent broken straight back to level the set. I return at 2-2* to find the Burundian playing at a similar level to the first set while Jack wasn’t quite committing as much as he did in the 2nd. From 2-2* Iradukunda played some exceptional tennis and, while Jack was still playing some of the best I’ve seen from him, it wasn’t quite enough to get on top. Jack held at *2-5 but the Burundian deservedly took the next game and the match 6-3, 1-6, 6-3. Both Jack and I were very pleased with his performance and it was great to see him end the singles component of his trip with such a good performance.
I was then straight back to Mia’s court and arrived when the score was 6-3, 3-0. At this stage Mia played a really tentative game and I could tell that she was starting to get a little nervous while trying to close out the match. She held serve but it gave the Russian a bit of belief and that lead to Mia losing the next 4 games in a row. She managed to get back into the lead at 5-4* but by this stage her hitting level had dropped significantly while her opponents level was on the way up. It was then Voinova’s turn to win 7 games in a row to go from 5-4 down in the second set to 4-0 up in the third. Mia then managed to get two games on the board but the Russian came through in the end 3-6, 7-5, 6-2. It was a match that Mia was in full control of and a match where her actions caused the turnaround in the match rather than her opponent changing what she was doing.

After a quick chat with Mia I then moved straight onto Centre Court to watch Jack and Alexandros Vakouftsis take on Wiktor Bielawski from Poland and Anatole Bizimana from Rwanda. The whole match was rather flat and while Jack was trying as hard as he could it was obvious that he was very tired after his tough singles match. Jack and Alexandros came through it though with a 6-2, 6-3 win which lifted the spirits of the team after two three set singles losses.

By the time Jack had finished I had been courtside for over four and a half hours trying to keep track of 3 different matches and I was mentally completely fried!!

While Mia was warming up for her doubles match with Alessandra Gisonna I had to quickly go back to the hotel to buy a sandwich and when I returned the first words Alessandra’s coach said to me was “Are you sure you want to watch this?!”. That was at 0-3 and despite Mia and Alessandra trying their best they just weren’t up to the level they needed to be at to compete with their opponents. In the end they went down 6-1, 6-0 and that ended Mia’s 3 ITFs here at the Nairobi Club.

Mia and Dawn will fly home tomorrow; Tom will stay to train and learn from the other main draw matches while Jack will compete tomorrow in the 2nd round of the doubles for his first ITF points.

Schedule for tomorrow:

Jack Large (GBR) & Alexandros Vakouftsis (GRE) vs (7) Dominik Domazet (AUT) & Aswin Lizen (GBR) – 4th round after 9am (not before 2pm)

Monday 13th February 2012

The boy’s and girl’s main draws were under way today which meant a chance for Jack to get his first main draw win and also his first win against an ITF ranked player while a win for Mia would move her into the top 1000 in the world U18.

Even though Tom is out of singles he still needed to sign in for a Lucky Loser place for the main draw and he also had to sign in for doubles today so he joined Jack, Mia and me in our warm ups at 7.40am. As it turned out I didn’t need to warm up as Jack’s 1st round qualifying opponent asked if he could hit with Jack this morning so while they practised on one half court Tom and Mia warmed up on the other. As Jack and Mia were not scheduled to play until later in the day they decided to train for an hour this morning so after their normal pre-match hit for 30 minutes they then went on to play points for the next 30 minutes – I came in to play points with Jack while Tom and Mia played together on the next court.

After the session we walked the short distance to the supermarket to get some water and food before returning to the club to prepare for the matches.

Jack was 3rd match after 9am on Centre Court and ended up going on just before 11.45am to play his doubles partner from the 1st week; Mateusz Izycki from Poland. Jack got off to a great start thanks to some very erratic play from Mateusz which included 6 doubles faults in his first 2 service games!! Mateusz held while 4-0 down but that was to be the last game of the set that he won as Jack stormed to a 6-1 lead playing some very smart and consistent tennis.

During the second set Jack’s serve started to let him down and he was broken early at 1-1 but managed to break back immediately to level the set again at 2-2. By this stage Mateusz had changed his play and had become a lot more patient in the rally, he wasn’t hitting many more winners from the back of the court but he was making Jack miss more. At 2-2 Jack was broken again and never managed to get the break back as he went down 6-4 in the 2nd set.

After a brief delay while the court was swept and re-lined Jack opened the 3rd set with a good hold of serve but at 1-1 he again struggled with his service consistency and was comfortably broken whilst only making 1 out of 6 1st serves. He was then down in the 1-2* game but fought hard to break and then won the next 3 games in a row to take a 5-2 lead. Normally I would say that at this stage the match would be in the bag but Jack’s never won a singles main draw match and I think this played on his mind a little. Mateusz held at 2-5 which meant that Jack would have to serve the match out. The nerves however got the better of him and he played a very poor game gifting his opponent the break. Jack responded very professionally and after some strong encouragement from Dawn and I Jack managed to break back to take the match 6-1, 4-6, 6-4 in just under 2 hours and 20 minutes. We were all absolutely thrilled with his win especially as he had to fight so hard to come through it – now just one more win tomorrow to get some points on the board!

There was about an hours break between when Jack came off and when Mia went on to face Waitherero Memba from Kenya so we used the time to go through Mia’s pre-match sheet and set her some goals. We’d not seen her opponent play before but some of her results suggested she was quite a weak player so our goals were all based around what Mia could do to make sure she improved a lot from the match.

During the first 4 games Mia performed very well and stuck to all of the pre-match goals that we had set which meant that she was not only 4-0 up but also improving a huge amount while winning. However she then struggled with her own service game and reacted badly to losing it which resulted in a complete turnaround in her performance. She took the first set 6-1 and then went on to win the 2nd set 6-0 but failed to really improve much after the first 4 games of the match. It was obvious at the end that she wasn’t happy with her performance so she stayed on court with Dawn to work on her serve and then completed some fitness work while I took Jack and Tom off for an early dinner in preparation for Jack’s 2nd round match tomorrow.

It was quite a contrasting day as Jack had to fight really hard for his win while Mia’s was quite straightforward but out of the two players I think Jack made the most of his opportunities today. If Mia had kept up the level she had found in the first 4 games of the match I’m sure she would have been just as happy as Jack even though the match was much easier. They’re both through to the next round though and have another chance to pick up points and improve the level of their games tomorrow. The win also takes Mia inside the top 1000 for the first time which is a great effort for a 13 year old!

Schedule for tomorrow:

(LL) Victoria Voinova (RUS) (1156) vs Mia Smith (GBR) (1031) – 3rd match after 9am (not before 12pm)

(WC) Gut Orly Iradukunda (BDI) (555) vs (LL) Jack Large (GBR) (UNR) – 3rd match on after 9am (not before 12pm)

To follow after rest:

Alessandra Gisonna (ITA) & Mia Smith (GBR) vs Liliana Araucz (POL) & Michelle Onyancha (KEN)

Wiktor Bielawski (POL) & Anatole Bizimana (RWA) vs Jack Large (GBR) & Alexandros-Georgios Vakouftsis (GRE)

Sunday 12th February 2012

After just scraping into the qualifying draw it was now down to Jack and Tom to make the most of their opportunity and perform well in their matches today.

Both of the boys were scheduled to be 1st on at 9am so we all had breakfast at 6.45am, warmed up off court from 7.40 – 8am and then were on court for our pre-match hit from 8 – 8.30am. I hit with Jack while Mia warmed Tom up and by the end of our time on court both boys were feeling good and ready for their matches. During the next 30 minutes both players went through their pre-match talk with me and filled out their goal sheets before they took to the court at 9am.

Our pre-arranged plan was for me to watch Jack on court 4 for his first set and then move over to watch Tom on court 1 for his second set. After that we decided that I would stay with whoever was having the toughest match until it was completed.

Jack started nervously against Daniel Kirsch from Austria but he broke at 1-1 and despite playing a little erratically throughout the set he managed to stay on top after the early break and took the set 6-2. Jack wasn’t playing as confidently as he has in the past two weeks but, as always, he was working hard and fighting for each point making life difficult for his opponent. As soon as Jack took the first set I left him in his dad’s capable hands and moved over to court 1 to see how Tom was getting on.

Tom had been nervous last night but it certainly wasn’t showing during the first set. I’d looked over a few times while I was behind Jack’s court and saw Tom hitting extremely well from the back of the court and really taking the game to his opponent. Tom was taking on Akram El Sallaly from Egypt who he’d played a couple of practice sets with yesterday but today his level was much higher. When I arrived Tom was 5-1 down in the 1st set but Dawn told me that he was playing very well and on 3 separate occasions in the set had game points.

After losing the first set 6-1 Tom dug deep to keep in touch with his opponent and on 2 occasions he was a break up but struggled to hold on to his own serve. When he was 4-2 up serving it looked as though he was going to take the set comfortably but the Egyptian fought back to level the set at 4-4 and then it went with serve until the tie-break. The tie-break was very tight all the way through; Tom lead 6-4 but was pegged back to 6-6 before he eventually took it 9-7 with a huge running forehand down the line winner on set point. It was a huge effort from Tom and he thoroughly deserved taking that set as he really stepped up and took the game to his opponent throughout.

Tom continued his high level at the start of the third but at 2-2 you could tell that his energy levels started to drop while at the same time his opponent became even more solid. All of the physical and mentally effort that Tom had put into the 2nd set had left him exhausted and he lost the next 4 games in a row to go down 6-1, 6-7(7), 6-2 in just over 3 hours. It was an extremely positive match from Tom and, according to him, was one of his best performances ever.

While Tom was in the tie-break Jack had won his match 6-2, 6-3 and so was courtside supporting Tom throughout his 3rd set.
After Tom had finished we all headed back to the hotel for some lunch before Jack and I started his pre-match preparations for his last round qualifying match against Oskar Michalek from Poland.

Following a court change they went on at 3.30pm and it was looking as though it was going to be a really close match after there were 4 breaks of serve in the first 4 games. Unfortunately for Jack the inconsistency that he showed this morning was still apparent in his game and the next 4 games went against him to give Oskar the 1st set 6-2. At the start of the 2nd set Jack broke in the first game and then held to lead 2-0* but Oskar then produced some very smart tennis to take the next 4 games in a row to lead 4-2. Jack kept his head up and immediately broke back to get the set back on serve but that was to be the last game he won in the match as he went down 6-2, 6-3.

It wasn’t a good day for Jack and he was disappointed with his level in both matches; he knew that he was capable of a much higher level but today it just wasn’t happening for him. After the match he went straight up to the referee to see if he could get a Lucky Loser and was told that there were 2 spaces available. There were no tactics involved this week in pulling his number out of the hat but, after Jack had pulled another player out of the hat first, his number was picked second and so he moved into the main draw – what a lucky boy!!

After the draw was done at 6pm we went out for dinner to the Fairview Hotel and were joined by Tony for the last time before he flies back to Cairo this evening.

Schedule for tomorrow:

Mateusz Izycki (POL) (1560) vs (LL) Jack Large (GBR) (UNR) – 3rd match after 9am

Waitherero Memba (KEN) (UNR) vs Mia Smith (GBR) (1031) – 4th match after 9am

Saturday 11th February 2012

It was celebrations all round today as not only was it Jack’s 17th birthday but also both Jack and Tom got into qualifying after being 14th and 15th alternate before sign in.

There was no lie in for the birthday boy this morning as we all met for breakfast at 7am and then were over at the tennis centre warming up by 8am. We then had a good hour and a half on court from 8.30 – 10am where the goal was for the players to just get back into a good rhythm after having yesterday off. The practice courts always play their best early in the morning after they’ve just been watered and rolled so we took full advantage and did a lot of drilling from the back of the court before finishing with some serve and return practise.

At 10am it was time for everyone to go through their strength and conditioning programmes which for the boys included a lot of mobilisation work to make sure they ready for their qualifying matches tomorrow. Mia follows a programme which indicates what she has to do depending on how many days there are to go until her next singles match so today’s programme was 2 sets of Plyometrics training.

At 11am we went back to the hotel to shower and then all met up out on the terrace overlooking the cricket pitch to finally celebrate Jack’s birthday. He had a lot of cards to open including one from me and the other players but I think the cards he valued the most were the ones from his family in England which had chocolate bars inside!! There’s a strict rule on all the ITC trips that no-one (including myself) is allowed any junk food on the trip but the only exception is when it’s your birthday! I tried to bring out a “Colin the Caterpillar” cake from M&S but it would have past it’s “eat by date” by the end of January so instead I brought some M&S mini chocolate treats. The players were delighted when I brought them out and we all enjoyed them along with our lunch.

We were then back on court from 1.30 – 3pm where the players had all arranged to play practice sets / points with other players so I spent the hour and a half going between 3 different courts making sure they were happy with everything in their games. Everyone performed well and the boys felt in great shape so now it was down to whether they would get in or not!

After the boys had signed in they were still 8 and 9 out of qualifying so it was then just a bit of a waiting game to see if anyone didn’t turn up to sign in. We decided to go back to the hotel to get ready to go out for dinner before returning to the courts just before 6pm to see if they’d get in. By this stage the referee could have just told us there and then if the boys were in or not but he spent ages messing us around before finally letting both of them know that they had just scraped in – out of 24 players Jack was number 22 and Tom was number 23.

With huge smiles on the boy’s faces we left the club and walked down to the Fairview Hotel to celebrate Jack’s birthday in style. We all had a fantastic dinner and Tony had organised a huge birthday cake for Jack (with even more chocolate in it!!) which we all enjoyed immensely!

Schedule for tomorrow:

Akram El Sallaly (EGY) (UNR) vs Tom Hulme (GBR) (UNR) – 1st match at 9am

Jack Large (GBR) (UNR) vs Daniel Kirsch (AUT) (UNR) – 1st match at 9am

Last round qualifying matches to be scheduled later in the day.