Friday 3rd February 2012

It was our rest day today after 7 days of training and competing but it ended up being a busier day than we’d all expected.

After checking today’s order of play yesterday evening we realised that Jack had been scheduled to play consolation this morning even though he had told the tournament referee that he was going to have a rest day. I still wanted Jack to make sure that the referee knew this but I thought I’d let him have a lie in so I was up early to go over and make sure there were no problems. When I got to the courts the referee said he’d expected Jack not to play so everything was fine and, to my surprise, when I got back to the hotel to have breakfast the whole team were sitting there – nobody fancied a lie in then!

After breakfast Jack wanted to take me on at squash so at 10.30am we took to the court and, along with Dawn, played at least 10 games before we were all exhausted!

On our last game Jack decided to play for a forfeit – the loser had to wear one of Mia’s dresses for 1 lap around the hotel. The deal was that if Jack won 4 or more points I would do the forfeit or if I beat him 9-3 or better he was dressing up. After a few nervous points I came through 9-1 and Jack ended up with his racket in 2!! (It wasn’t actually in anger though as the racket broke while he was trying to play a shot off the wall!).

After the squash the players got stuck into some school work while I went to see the physio to try and fix the problem I’ve been having with my shoulder. I ended up having a very painful massage but hopefully I’ll be feeling the benefits in the morning.

By this time it was about 2pm so we headed over to The Junction to have a look around the Shopping Centre there. It gave everyone a break from the hotel and tennis centre which, after being there almost non-stop for 7 days, was much needed. We ended up having lunch and dinner there and it also gave the players a chance to buy some souvenirs. The best part though had to be having a bit of fun with some wigs in the supermarket!

It was then back to the hotel for an early night ready for a full training day tomorrow (and maybe the sight of Jack going around the hotel in a dress!!)

Thursday 2nd February 2012

Mia was the last player of our team left in the draw today and was competing for a place in the doubles semi-finals.

Due to Tom not feeling well for the last couple of days he decided to make the professional decision of not training with me at 8am but to go back to bed and see if he would feel better later. That gave me some time to catch up on some work before Jack joined me for breakfast at 8.30am. We then made our way over to the tennis courts at 9.30am, warmed up and started our session on Centre Court at 10am.

The ground staff had been working on Centre for the last week so we were expecting it to be one of the best courts but within the first 2 minutes of the session we realised it was actually the worst court in the whole club! We still managed to have a great session for an hour despite both of us miss-hitting a couple of shots out of the court and onto the middle of the hockey pitch!

When we finished Mia warmed up with her doubles partner and then, after a break for some lunch, they took to the court to take on 2nd seeds Nikita Dawda from Kenya and Joanna-Nena Savva from Cyprus. Mia and Anastasija started very slowly and looked from the start as though they were struggling as a team – there was little communication and not much energy coming from either of them. They went 5-0 down before Mia held and then they managed to break before Anastasija lost her serve for the 2nd time resulting in them losing the 1st set 6-2. Not much changed in the 2nd set and Mia and Anastasija looked as though they were going to be beaten in straight sets but after a couple of holds from our girls I think their belief increased a little. They managed to hold serve to get the set level at 5-5 and then kept making their opponents play more balls which resulted in them winning the next two games to take the set 7-5.

At this stage Dawn, Jack and I expected Mia and Anastasija to come out for the match tie-break looking pumped up and ready to destroy their opponents but unfortunately the communication and energy was very much the same as in the first two sets. Their opponents however (as well as Nikita’s vocal mum) were definitely showing they were up for a fight and they raced to a 9-2 lead before finally taking the match 6-2, 5-7, 10-4. It was a match that Mia and Anastasija definitely could have won and it just goes to show that at this level if you’re the one who’s willing to fight harder, chase more balls and work physically & mentally as hard as you can you WILL get results.

After Mia’s match Jack went on court with one of the Polish boys and played a very good practice set with him. He went down 6-3 but served well and despite the very poor state of the court (the practice courts don’t get watered or re-lined at all throughout the day and by this time it was 5pm!) he was happy with the level he was finding from the back of the court.

After Mia and Jack had cooled down, stretched out, showered and changed we all had dinner together at the hotel where the normal card games were replaced by the boys taking on the girls at Charades. It wasn’t pretty and I think we all had tears in our eyes at some point during the game – Mia’s horse impression for “The Grand National” and Dawn’s demo of “The Skeleton” (Bobsleigh) were priceless. Here’s me getting pumped up as Jack managed to guess part of the answer:

Rest day tomorrow but no lie in for me!

Wednesday 1st February 2012

It was a tough day at the Nairobi Club today as both Mia and Jack took difficult losses but a win in the doubles meant that Mia’s first week wasn’t quite over yet.

After a 7am breakfast we made our way over to the courts at 8am to complete our physical warm up for 30 minutes. We were expecting Mikey to join us for the on court session at 8.30am but another one of his nosebleed emergencies meant that I was subbed in to warm Mia up for her match! Jack and Tom had a good 45 minute hit to get Jack prepared for his doubles while on the other half court I hit with Mia to get her ready for her singles match against the number 1 seed.

After the session all the players went their separate way; Jack went back to the hotel to change, Tom went off to complete his daily strength and conditioning work and Mia relaxed with a bit of reading before completing her pre-match sheet.

At around 11.30am Mia took to the show court to take on Anastasiya Shetstakova from the Ukraine. I remember Anastasiya from last year when two of the Bath players played her and Devan and Beth also played against her in the semi-finals of the doubles. She was quite a handful last year so Mia was well prepared for some bad calls and gamesmanship but to our surprise she was on her best behaviour!

Mia decided to serve first in the match but some inconsistency with her serve and from the back of the court meant that she was broken immediately. She responded well though and went from 0-1 to 3-1 with some very patient and mature tennis which made the top seed look very ordinary. Unfortunately Mia’s level was not sustained and she was broken straight back. At this stage she was still 3-2 up with the match on serve but that game and the next one actually determined the rest of the match. With Mia limping due to a sore right knee Anastasiya took full advantage and made Mia work for every point which ultimately ended with Mia making an unforced error. The next 9 games followed that same pattern with Anastasiya making every ball back in court and Mia making far too many unforced errors. Those 9 games all went against Mia as she went down 6-3, 6-0.

It was a poor performance from Mia where she had a huge opportunity to take control of the match at 3-1 in the first set but a couple of games ended up costing her a possible ¼ final place.

It wasn’t long after Mia’s match that Jack and Mateusz were on court taking on 7th seeds Nimrod Berman from Israel and Alexandros-Georgios Vakouftsis from Greece. This was the third time that Jack had been in the last 32 of the doubles draw and so the third time that he was playing for his 1st ITF points.

All four players were serving well from the start and it looked like it would be difficult to break anyone of them but at 2-2* Jack and Mateusz made the breakthrough as they came back from 40-0 down to break Berman. From then on the set went with serve until Jack had the chance to hold to take the first set at *5-4. Up until this stage Jack had been serving at 90% first serves but after a double fault on the first point and then a missed high volley he was broken to level the set. From there it went to a very close tie-break which Jack and Mateusz ended up losing 7-5.
Even though they had lost the first set I thought they were the better pair and I really expected them to come back and take the 2nd set. Unfortunately Mateusz seemed to completely lose all of his confidence after the first set which meant that he only made 1 first serve and only made 2 service returns in the whole of the second set. Jack tried hard to pick him up throughout the set and did a good job of holding his serve twice but there’s only so much you can do on your own and the boys ended up losing 7-6(5), 6-2. Jack was very disappointed as it was a good opportunity to pick up some points but, like with his singles, his doubles was much better than in Burundi and I know he’s going to get his first ITF points on the board within the next 2 weeks.

Mia was on court right after Jack’s match and her and Latvian Anastasija Homutova were taking on Kasandra Kozub from Poland and Krystyna Shumlianska from Ukraine. Mia seemed to have put the disappointment of her singles match behind her and her and Anastasija teamed up well to race through the first set 6-1. They were pegged back in the second set but did well in the match tie-break to eventually take the match 6-1, 4-6, 10-6.

Mikey joined us again for dinner this evening before he flies home tomorrow but, due to a loss to Jack at “touch tennis” today, he ended up completing a forfeit of crawling around the restaurant on his hands and knees. The staff had no idea what was going on but we had a great laugh at his expense!

It’s just down to Mia now as she plays the ¼ final of her doubles tomorrow while the boys will be putting in a tough days training before they have a rest day on Friday.

Schedule for tomorrow:

Anastasija Homutova (LAT) & Mia Smith (GBR) vs (2) Nikita Dawda (KEN) & Joanna-Nena Savva (CYP) – 3rd match after 9.30am (not before 12pm)

Tuesday 31st January 2012

Today was doubles day at the East African U18 Junior Circuit and a chance for Jack and Tom to get a main draw win under their belts while Mia had a rest day in singles but was still scheduled to play doubles last match on.

We decided to have an early start today so that we could have a break before lunch to try and buy some internet dongles before Jack went on for his doubles match. We’ve been without internet for 5 days and I think the players were starting to miss the outside world!!

After a light breakfast at 7am Jack, Tom and I warmed up at 7.30am before practising from 8 – 8.50am. Tom trained with his doubles partner while Jack and I worked on his doubles specifics which included his consistency from the back of the court as well as his movement forwards to finish off 1st volleys. While we were training Mia arrived to start her warm up and then we all left site to go to the Public Service Club at 8.50am so that we had a full hour from 9-10am. Mia and I mainly worked on her movement around the ball as she was setting up a little too early during her match yesterday and then moved on to her working on her front court game in preparation for her doubles. While we were doing that Jack and Tom hit a lot of serves and then finished with some doubles points in the half court.

After training we went back to the hotel and then walked the 20 minute journey into Nairobi city centre to go to the Orange shop to get us all connected to the internet. We would have come in earlier on the trip but the tournament kept on telling us that they would have internet at the club but after 5 days everyone had enough of waiting. We were soon all setup and on our way back to the club for some lunch.

Jack was first on just after 1pm and took to the court with Mateuzs Izycki from Poland to play Maxim Dmitriev from Russia and Palash Mishra from India. Jack and Mateuzs started very well and took a commanding 4-1 lead before a lapse of concentration cost them the next 3 games without them hardly winning a point. Jack then settled them both back down with a strong service game and then an easy break handed them the first set 6-4. In the second set they both raised their levels; Jack was much more commanding at the net and Mateuzs served much better as they stormed through to take the match 6-4, 6-1.

Just as that match finished Tom and Aakash Goyal from India were just about to play the first point of their match on the next court against Henry Ayesiga from Uganda and Shabani Kabura from Burundi. The boys started well and despite a few early breaks of serve they managed to hold, break and hold from 3-3 to take the opening set 6-3. It was a bit of a scrappy set where first serve percentages were a little low but both Tom and Aakash returned very well and were just more solid than their opponents. In the second set Tom and Aakash took their foot off the gas and allowed their opponents to build a bit of confidence. They were broken in the second game of the set and never recovered as they then lost 6 games in a row. By this stage the African pairing were really pumped up and hungry for the win whereas Tom and Aakash were struggling to get themselves going.

As the third set Match Tie-Break started it seemed to be heading the same way as the 2nd set but at 0-3* Tom and Aakash fought back and put more pressure on their opponents taking the next 4 points in a row. From then on it was neck and neck until Aakash missed a simple smash at 7-7 and then they didn’t win another point as they went down 3-6, 6-0, 10-7. It was a very disappointing loss especially as Tom and Aakash were in full control of the match after the first set but as always it’s a learning experience and hopefully Tom will use what he’s learnt this week in training for the next 4 days before he competes again on Sunday.

By this time it was around 4pm but Mia’s doubles partner had only just gone on for her singles match. Mia watched the first set while I went through Tom’s match with him but then just after 5pm the referee decided it was too later for Mia to play her doubles so it was postponed until tomorrow. That did us a bit of a favour as Mia’s knee had been a little sore all day so it gives her time to rest it before her singles match against the top seed tomorrow.

After showering and changing we walked down to the Fairview Hotel for a lovely dinner and met up with fellow Brit Mikey Puttick who had lost in the 2nd round of main draw today. As always the meal was great but half way through we were very rudely interrupted by a huge Cricket which flew in through the window and tried to take out Dawn and Mia (well . . . that’s how they reacted anyway!). Jack also got a little scared and almost ran out of the restaurant as; in his own words “it tried to get me too!”

After dinner I went through Tom and Mia’s singles with them from yesterday and then it was off to bed for the players for an early night as Jack looks to get his first ITF points tomorrow.

Schedule for tomorrow:

(1) Anastasia Shestakova (UKR) (368) vs Mia Smith (GBR) (1330) – 2nd match after 9.30am

Mateuzs Izycki (POL) & Jack Large (GBR) vs (7) Nimrod Berman (ISR) & A Vakouftsis (GRE) – 3rd match after 9.30am (not before 12pm)

Kasandra Kozub (POL) & Krystyna Shumlianska (UKR) vs Anastasjia Homutova (LAT) & Mia Smith (GBR) – TBC

Monday 30th January 2012

It was a good day both on the training court and the match court today as Mia played her first round main draw while the boys worked hard in preparation for their doubles tomorrow.

Like usual when the players are out of the singles it’s difficult to book practice courts so I decided last night that Jack, Tom and I would start early today before the main draw players turned up. Therefore we were at breakfast when it opened at 7am and then we made our way over to the courts to warm up at 7.30am. At this stage the courts weren’t lined and the nets weren’t up on any of the courts but by the time we’d warmed up at 8am all the courts were ready and looking good – it’s amazing how the ground staff do it but they manage to get the courts in a pretty good condition.

We had planned on training for an hour but because people didn’t turn up for their bookings we actually managed to stay on the court for an hour and a half which gave both boys a great opportunity to work specifically on their serves without having other players on court. Both the boys worked very hard and were happy with their levels by the time we finished at 9.30am. As we were leaving the court Mia and Dawn arrived so, while the boys went through their strength and conditioning work I left site with Mia to warm her up for her singles match at the Public Service Club around the corner. It was quite busy over there as they are much better than the practice courts on site but I managed to sweet talk the grounds man into letting us use a member’s court! We had a good practice and Mia found the best level she’s played at since we arrived so by the time we finished around 11.15am she was definitely ready for her 1st round match.

Mia was due to be on 4th match after 9.30am but the first 2 rounds on court 1 went to 3 long sets so the 3rd round of matches didn’t actually start until after 2pm. This gave Jack and Tom a chance to talk with me in detail about their matches before Tom was back on court for his second session of the day from 1.30 – 3pm. Today was also doubles sign in day and Jack and Tom made the wise decision to find separate partners to give them more of a chance to get into the draw. Their good thinking paid off as they both found main draw partners with rankings which meant they were inside the cut-off for the draw – if they had decided to play together or if they had signed in with a main draw player without a ranking they wouldn’t have got in.

Mia took to the court just before 4.30pm against Sarah Schaerer from Switzerland. She knew that this was a good opportunity to earn some good points in her first Grade 4 main draw and she went into the match looking very focused and up for a tough match. She started well by breaking in the first game and then took a 2-0 lead before the feisty Swiss girl won the next 3 games in a row to go ahead 3-2. In the past this would have really got to Mia but she remained calm and fought very hard in tough conditions to win the next 4 games in a row to take the first set 6-3.

Mia started the 2nd set where she left off from in the 1st and it wasn’t long before her consistency and quality from the back of the court really had a negative effect on her opponent – so much so that Sarah ended up firing a tennis balls at her mum who was sitting in the stands! This was a great time for Mia to step up and finish off her opponent and she did that with great professionalism taking 5 games in row from 1-1 to take the match 6-3, 6-1.

Even though it was a very good performance from Mia we still went back on the practice court for another 10-15 minutes just to tighten up a few areas on her serve before she had a good cool down and stretch out.

We all then went back to our rooms to shower and change before having dinner at the hotel tonight. It wasn’t as good as the Fairview Hotel and we did have a little trouble working out exactly what part of the cow Jack’s steak had come from (!!) but we’d all had a long day so it was the easier option. It also gave us a chance to play some more cards and have some good banter before having an early night.

No singles for Mia tomorrow so it’s just down to the doubles.

Schedule for tomorrow:

Mateuzs Izycki (POL) & Jack Large (GBR) vs Maxim Dmitriev (RUS) & Palash Mishra (IND) – 3rd match after 9.30am (not before 12pm)

Aakash Goyal (IND) & Tom Hulme (GBR) vs Henry Ayesiga (UGA) & Shabani Kabura (BDI) – 4th match after 9.30am

Kasandra Kozub (POL) & Krystyna Shumlianska (UKR) vs Anastasjia Homutova (LAT) & Mia Smith (GBR) – 6th match after 9.30am

Sunday 29th January 2012

After two days of preparation the boy’s kicked off their qualifying campaign today while Mia had another day before main draw starts tomorrow.

As Mia wasn’t competing she had a lie in while Jack, Tom and I all met for breakfast at 7.20am. We then headed across the cricket pitch at 8.30am to warm up before going on court at 9am for the boy’s pre-match hit. Both of them were hitting the ball well, especially Tom who was a little nervous last night and by 9.30am they were ready for their first round qualifying matches.

Jack was first on at 10am against a tricky American opponent in Victor Gurevich but from the start it was very obvious that this wasn’t the same Jack Large that was out in Burundi with me. His confidence in his game has improved hugely and the hard work and professional approach that Jack has each day has resulted in big improvements in the last 2 months.

Jack started well breaking in the first game and then holding to take a 2-0 lead but lost his concentration a little to give away the next game with 3 unforced errors. He regained his focus to then take a 4-1 lead and despite the next 3 games being very close Jack ended up coming through to take the set 6-2. That was a big difference to the player I watched in Burundi where a couple of close games would have caused Jack’s head to drop a little resulting in a complete turn around in the set. Not now though and Jack then went on to race through the 2nd set 6-1. Victor made Jack work hard for it and as I said to him at the end the score line didn’t reflect how close the match was or how tricky his opponent made the match for Jack – a good win and a great start to the tournament.

While Jack was in the middle of his 2nd set Tom went onto court 2 for his 1st round match against Oskar Michalek from Poland. This was Tom’s first ITF event and even though he was feeling nervous last night he didn’t look it and was hitting the ball very well. Unfortunately Michalek was a tough opponent and looked very comfortable with both the altitude and the bouncy courts. Tom lost the first 4 games but fought back to 2-4* before going losing the 1st set 6-2. There wasn’t a lot between the two players; Tom was hitting well from the back and forcing his opponent to earn each point but it was Oskar who just seemed to have the edge when it came to the important points.

Tom continued to work very hard and apply himself mentally very well but the difference between the two players was 1) consistency and 2) the amount of winners that were hit. Tom finished the set with 2 winners and 15 unforced errors whereas Oskar ended up with 6 winners and 6 unforced errors. I like to call the difference between the two statistics the “aggressive balance” therefore Tom finished the set with -12 and Oskar finished the set with 0. Looking at those results you can tell that Oskar would have taken the set and he did take it 6-1. I was pleased with how Tom played the match and I believe the training over the next week will get him prepared to win this type of match when he plays qualifying for the next event next Sunday. Tom was also not too disappointed with his performance and, to my pleasure, knew exactly what he wanted to work on later in the day.

There was then only about 30 minutes left before Jack went back on for his last round qualifying match which just gave me time to eat some lunch and talk Jack through his pre-match briefing.

Jack was up against Tommaso Evangelisti from Italy who was the top seed in qualifying and had received a bye in the 1st round. Jack again started well and it was obviously that the match he had played earlier in the day had prepared him well to play against a higher ranked opponent. After 2 good service games Jack let the 3rd one slip too easily which gave the big serving lefty from Italy a 2-3* lead. At this stage Jack’s level dropped off – he’d only made 1 unforced error in the first 4 games while hitting 2 winners but in the next 5 games he hit 17 unforced errors and only managed 8 winners. It wasn’t easy as the Italian was hitting well from the back of the court, he was also serving very well and made Jack work very hard to hold his own serve. After being broken at *2-2 Jack was also broken at *3-5 to go down 6-3 in the 1st set.

Jack responded well and fought hard throughout the second set but the Italian raised his game which caused Jack to try to do more with the ball resulting in more errors. While Jack struggled with his serve Tommaso was serving at 64% and hit at least 1 ace per game. In the end it was just one break of serve at *3-4 which decided the set and Jack ended up going down 6-3, 6-3. Like Tom, Jack was quite pleased with his performance and I agreed with him when he said it was a much better performance than any he had had in Burundi.

While Jack cooled down and stretched I was back on court with Tom and Mia from 4-5.15pm. Mia had already played in the morning but wanted to play a few more points to prepare her for her match tomorrow so she hit with a girl from Ukraine while Tom trained with a Canadian boy who is in the main draw. Both of the players worked well; Tom worked on the areas that we had identified from his match while Mia just made sure she was feeling the ball well to gain confidence before tomorrow.

After the session Tom and Mia stretched out while the draw was being made and then we all showered and changed before we went back to the Fairview Hotel for another round of the buffet pasta! Jack and Tom definitely got value for their money as they piled up the food but it turned out that my plate ended up the biggest as I didn’t really take into account how much extra volume the vegetables would add to the meal!! When the food arrived I was reminded by the players my rule of “you’ve got to finish everything on your plate” but as the food was so nice I was quite happy to take my time and plough through it slowly.

We returned to the hotel for a quick game of cards but Tom decided to teach us a new game which ended up taking almost an hour to play!! I’m glad to say that I didn’t finish last but it was very close between me and Jack!

Schedule for tomorrow:

Sarah Schaerer (SUI) (UNR) vs Mia Smith (GBR) (1330) – 4th round after 9.30am

Saturday 28th January 2012

There were a lot of unhappy faces at breakfast this morning as everyone had endured a terrible night’s sleep (apart from Jack who slept like a baby!) and almost everyone (not me though!) were covered in mosquito bites!

Nonetheless it was training as normal and we had a good practice from 9-10.30am where once again the main focus was getting used to the altitude and the bouncy courts. We also mixed in a few points to end the session and much to my surprise everyone was finding a good range and execution on their shots. After practice the players all got out their strength and conditioning programmes and very professionally went through their scheduled fitness for the day.

After lunch we headed back to the hotel and were told that 2 twin rooms were available in the “new wing” which meant that Dawn & Mia and Jack & Tom had the chance to move into a much better room where they’d hopefully have a better night’s sleep!! Dawn & Mia jumped at the chance and were all packed up and in the room before you could know it but the boys took a little bit of convincing that the £4 extra per night for a much better room, better bathroom and shower and a fridge was worth it!! In the end I think the fridge sold it for them and they then moved their stuff into the new room. I on the other hand was still stuck in my old room but I did later managed to move to a similar “old wing” room but this time in was in the main building which hopefully will be much quieter with less bugs!!

We were back on court from 3-4.30pm for our final session of the day which mainly consisted of point play in preparation for the boy’s qualifying matches tomorrow. The session was again good but the players soon realised that the clay got very slippery as the day went on and Jack in particular took a superb fall.

Funnily enough almost exactly 1 year ago at almost the same time of day on the same court one of the group from last year ended up in the same state:

The boy’s then signed in for qualifying before we all had a good cool down and stretch out. After going back to the hotel to shower and change we headed out early to the Fairview Hotel for dinner which was where we spent almost every dinner last year with the Bath IHPC team. We were slightly early for dinner so we killed a bit of time playing some chess before heading into the restaurant and straight up to the buffet pasta bar. At the pasta bar you can basically choose however much pasta you want and then add vegetables / meat to it and the chef will cook it all up in front of you, add a sauce of your choice and then that’s your dinner – all for £8 which we thought was great value.

After dinner we walked the short 10 minute journey back to the hotel and then all had an early night in preparation for the big qualifying matches tomorrow.

Schedule for tomorrow:

Victor Gurevich (USA) (UNR) vs Jack Large (GBR) (UNR) – 1st match at 10am

Oskar Michalek (POL) (UNR) vs Tom Hulme (GBR) (UNR) – 2nd match after 10am
 Winners to play final round of qualifying later in the day

Friday 27th January 2012

It was a long day today which actually just seemed like an extension of yesterday rather than a new day (if that makes sense!!) as we were flying throughout the night.

We arrived on schedule at Nairobi international airport at 9am local time (6am UK time!) and all of us were feeling ok as we’d managed to get some sleep on the flight apart from Dawn who didn’t manage to get a wink! We all got our Visas and then made our way down to pick up our bags. After the problems in Burundi in November I was glad to see everyone’s bags arrive and we were soon out of the airport and in our pre-arranged taxis to the Nairobi Club. Dawn, Jack, Tom and Mia were all in one taxi and I was in the other with everyone’s bags – gave me a chance to get a bit of extra sleep though!

By 11.30am we arrived at the hotel and checked in, unfortunately we only had rooms in the “old wing” which weren’t great but everyone was quite happy just to get rid of the bags and have a bit of time to relax. I then gave everyone a tour of the local area which included the bank to change some money and the small supermarket up the road where we got food and water. It was then back to the hotel for lunch – Jack and I made the solid choice of Spaghetti Bolognaise while Mia and Tom made the huge unforced error of going for the Spaghetti Carbonara (neither of them finished it!!).

To try and get used to the altitude and also to try and get the long journey out of our systems I decided we’d do a long warm up followed by an hour on court from 4.30 – 5.30pm this afternoon. I think it did everyone good to hit some balls but it was very different from hitting at normal sea level and it took a little while for everyone to get used to the ball flying through the air so quickly. The courts here are exactly the same as last year so I knew that they get very slippery the longer you play on it and also the lines are marked out in chalk so when you slide across them they get erased!! That was just something everyone had to get used to and accept before they go into their matches on Sunday / Monday.

After the session we all cooled down and had a very thorough stretch out before walking the short distance across the cricket pitch to the hotel. We then showered and changed and headed down to the hotel restaurant for their traditional Friday night BBQ which was superb – not that we would have that if they had been competing the next day!

Everyone then had an early night ready for a full training day tomorrow.

Thursday 26th January 2012

It was a long day today as we had two training sessions at the National Tennis Centre in London on clay before leaving Heathrow on a 9.20pm flight.

The team for this week is Mia Smith, Jack Large (who came out to Burundi in November) and Tom Hulme (who is back from Sanchez Casal’s and training at the Bath International High Performance Centre).

We had two sessions booked on the clay at the LTA Headquarters in Roehampton, London but Jack was unable to attend either as he had to be at school in Bath and Tom was travelling down from Manchester so he could only make the afternoon session. Mia and I got the train across London and were at the NTC by 10am which gave us a chance to watch some of the other full time players who are based there go through their normal training before we warmed up at 10.30am. We then had a good hour and a half outside on the covered red clay to get used to the different bounce compared to the faster indoor courts where we train and also get used to sliding again. Just as we were finishing Tom and his dad arrived so, after cooling down and showering, we had lunch with them and got to know each other.

We were then back on court from 2.30 – 4pm for our afternoon session where I spent almost the whole time with Tom getting to know his game and how he likes to play while Mia played a set with one of the other girls who was training there. Both players had a good session and, despite the rain coming in horizontally throughout the afternoon, they were both feeling good back on the clay. After cooling down, stretching and showering we left the centre at 5.30pm and made the tricky journey across London in the middle of rush hour with all of our bags.

We finally got to Heathrow just after 7pm and met up with Dawn (Mia’s mum) and Jack before we checked in for the flight. Originally we weren’t all sitting together but, after smiling nicely at the check in staff(!), I managed to get us closer together and even got us upgraded to seats with extra leg room without having to pay! As it turned out the flight was quite empty so Mia was able to get 4 seats to herself, Tom had 2 and Jack, Dawn and I were all on the emergency exit row.

We then went through security where all of us managed to set the alarms off but I think Jack gets “unforced error of the day” by leaving a Swiss Army knife in his hand luggage – fortunately the blade was just under 6cms so he was able to take it with him. We then got some dinner before settling down for the 8 and a half hour flight to Nairobi.