Tuesday 24th April 2012

We finally got on the clay today after a couple of days of heavy rain but unfortunately we came up against a very tough opponent who made life very difficult for Dave throughout the match.

It was nice to wake this morning to see the sun shining and even nicer when we found out that it had been dry overnight so the matches would be outdoors on the clay. After a good breakfast we headed over to the West Hants Club at 8.30am and then we both warmed up for half an hour in preparation for Dave’s pre-match warm up from 9.15 – 9.45am. I always believe that it’s up to the player if they want to hit with another player or with me before their match and both have their advantages – if Dave was to hit with another player it means I can be there right next to him throughout the session and answer any questions he might have. But if he hits with me then we can do exactly what we want to do and not have to worry about going along with what the other player might want to do. The pre-match hit is always very personal; some players like to do an hour including lots of specific drills and some players like to do 15-20 minutes just to get a feel for the ball. The player should always make the decision themselves of how long they want to hit for so that they’re happy before they compete.

After the session Dave got some food and then we relaxed while watching some of the Women’s $10k first round of qualifying matches. The matches were quite quick and not before long Dave was back in the gym warming up for his match. We then went through our pre-match talk an then it was time for business!

Dave has started a little slow in matches this week so we had talked about electing to receive if he won the toss today but when it came time to choose he was feeling confident so he decided to serve – unfortunately that was the wrong choice!! After being broken in the first game Dave had 4 chances to break straight back but couldn’t convert on any of them and when Hewitt eventually held it gave him a big confidence boost. Hewitt then went on to win the next 4 games in a row with some very solid hitting combined with accurate aggressive play as soon as he got the opportunity to attack. Despite Dave losing the first set 6-0 he actually played much better than the last 2 days but obviously he was up against a player who was striking the ball very well.

Dave held his serve in the opening game of the second set and then forced Hewitt to save another couple of break points in the next game before the set was levelled at 1-1. Dave was then broken in the next game after some inconsistent serving combined with Hewitt stepping up more on his returns. Hewitt then took a 5-1 lead but Dave increased his serving level to make sure Hewitt would have to serve it out at 5-2 to take the match – which he ended up doing very well.

The score line reads as though it was a very one sided match but in reality the games within the match were very close and had Dave taken some of the early opportunities to break the score line might have been much closer. There were lots and lots of positives to take away from the match and credit has to go to Ashley Hewitt for playing very well throughout.

After cooling down and having some lunch we were back on court at 3pm with Tom Allen for another hour and 15 minutes to reinforce the level that we want to achieve consistently by next weekend for the Edinburgh $10k. Many players would not want to get back on court after a tough loss or they might complain about having to do so but Dave was completely the opposite. He wanted to get out there and work on his game as he knows that’s the only way he’s going to achieve the goals that he’s set for himself.

After the session Dave went off for some treatment on his back while I watched fellow Kent boy Matt Short fight hard to take a very close match 7-6 in the third set against Belgian 4th seed Arthur De Greef – great effort Matt.

Once Dave was finished we got some food before leaving the centre to return home. We’ve now got a few days to train back in Chiswick before heading up to Edinburgh for the qualifying of the Futures event on Sunday.

Monday 23rd April 2012

As we predicted, today was a complete washout on the clay but thanks to the bubble at the Bournemouth Gardens Tennis Centre the tournament managed to get all of the 2nd round matches played.

I met Dave at breakfast this morning and straight away we knew that the clay courts would be out of action for at least the whole of the morning due to a huge amount of overnight rain. We therefore made the decision to head straight to the Bournemouth Gardens to train indoors in their 3 court bubble. At 8.30am we were the only ones in there and had a good half an hour warm up followed by a 45 minute hit to get used to the pace of the courts and also warm Dave up for his match.

Originally Dave was scheduled for the 1st round of matches at 10am but we found out shortly after we’d finished practising that the referee had decided than any matches that hadn’t already started would go on first followed by the matches that had been suspended from yesterday. That meant that no-one really knew when they’d be playing so it was just a case of going back to the West Hants Club to find out if an actual order of play had been established! When we arrived we were told Dave would be not before 1pm with the hope that it would stop raining and they could go on the clay – there was no way that was going to happen!!

We decided to go back to the hotel and relax while calling the referee each hour to see if there was an update to the schedule. Eventually at 2pm we were told that Dave would be 6th match on in the bubble so we made our way back to the Club to warm up in the gym before heading back down to the Bournemouth Gardens.

Dave and Nick Jones eventually got on court just before 4.30pm to resume the match with Nick serving at *3-4, *40-30. The initial plan was to really attack the first point but when Nick stepped up and boomed an ace straight down the T that plan went out the window!! Dave held serve well though despite going 30-0 down and then broke Nick in quite a nervy game from both players to take the set 6-4.

Dave’s level improved hugely in the next 2 games as he stepped up and dominated the points more which saw him hold and break to go 2-0 up. He was then broken in a bit of a sloppy game after making 3 unforced errors but got back on track at 2-2 with a good hold. The set then went with serve until Dave made the breakthrough at 4-3* when he broke Nick’s serve and followed that by holding well with some big first serves to take the match 6-4, 6-3.

Overall it was a good performance and Dave adapted well to the change of surface from the clay to the indoor hard. There were spells in the second set where Dave really imposed his game on the match which is the kind of level he’ll need against 3rd seed Ashley Hewitt tomorrow.

After dinner we had a bit of a debrief of the match while Dave went through his daily stretching routine and then it was time for an early night ready for the last round of qualifying tomorrow.

Schedule for tomorrow:

(3) Ashley Hewitt (GBR) (1120) vs Dave Hodgetts (GBR) (UNR) – 2nd match after 10am (not before 11am)

Sunday 22nd April 2012

It was a good day at the West Hants Club today but it had to end a little prematurely due to heavy rain during the 2nd round of matches.

I met Dave for breakfast this morning at 7.30am and then we left the hotel at 8.15am to head over to the tennis centre to warm up in the gym. The weather had been good all morning and the clay was fit to play on by the time Dave and Tom Allen went on court at 9am for their pre-match warm up. It was a solid 30 minute session; Dave and Tom were both hitting well and after a couple of service games at the end of the session both players were ready to go. It was just left for Dave and I to go through his pre-match chat and set some goals for the match before he went on at 10am against Patrick Ogier from the Channel Islands.

Dave started slowly and after being broken in the first game soon found himself 2-0 down. He responded well though and upped his serving level to hold comfortably before breaking back to get the match back on serve. The next 3 games went with serve but the momentum was starting to shift in Dave’s direction and he finally got the breakthrough when he broke Patrick’s serve to lead 5-3 and serve for the first set. Unfortunately a cheap game saw Dave get broken but, after collecting his thoughts at the change of ends, he came out and broke Patrick’s serve to take the first set 6-4. Having got the first set under his belt Dave got on top early in the second set breaking at 1-0* up and from there on he never looked back breaking again at 2-1 and 4-1 to take the match 6-4, 6-1.

It was a pretty good first round match; the conditions were difficult as it was quite cold and a little windy but Dave was mentally strong throughout and deserved the win. After cooling down in the gym we went through some light dynamic stretches before we got some lunch and relaxed before the second round of matches.

Since Dave had come off court the weather had started to turn and it looked as if it was going to rain before his scheduled match time of 2pm – in fact the first time it actually rained was just when Dave and Nick Jones walked on to the court. After a brief delay the boys were back on court but it was Nick that started faster breaking Dave immediately and going on to take a 2-0*, 30-0* lead. Dave then fought back to hold, break and hold again to completely turn the set around and lead 3-2*. By this stage the rain was coming down again but it wasn’t quite enough to stop play so they managed to get another couple of games in before play was eventually suspended with Dave leading 4-3*, 30-40*. After a slow start it was actually a great effort from Dave to turn the set around and actually come off court leading. As soon as Dave came off court we had a good chat about what was happening and what he will need to do when he goes back on but after another hour of heavy rain play was suspended for the day at 4.45pm.

We then went straight back into the gym to have a long cool down and a thorough stretch out before leaving the centre just before 6pm. We were both really pleased with the day and Dave’s in a great position going into the match tomorrow.

For dinner tonight we were joined by Dave’s brother Andy who had been down all day to watch Dave’s matches and it was just a short walk down the road to Prezzo where we managed to order a huge amount of food without it costing us much thanks to my Tastecard and another voucher we’d downloaded!!

Schedule for tomorrow:

Dave Hodgetts (GBR) (UNR) vs (13) Nick Jones (GBR) (1722) – 1st match at 10am – to finish 4-3*, 30-40*

Winner to play either (3) Ashley Hewitt (GBR) (1120) or Nikki Roenn (GBR) (UNR) – 4th match after 10am (not before 2pm)

Saturday 21st April 2012

After arriving back from the Nottingham U18 ITF late on Thursday evening I was back on the road early this morning to get the train to Bournemouth to meet up with Dave Hodgetts for the Men’s $10k Futures event.

After leaving home at 6am I got a train to London and then changed to get on a South West train to Bournemouth where Dave met me just before 10am. It was then straight to the West Hants Club where the tournament will be held this week on their American Clay courts. Dave had already been in Bournemouth for the last week playing in the British Tour event but due to the bad weather he’d been unable to train much on the clay so, as the weather was much better today, it was a good chance to get some valuable court time in.

Dave trained this morning with fellow Riverside Academy player Oliver Hudson from 10.30 – 11.45am where, despite the windy conditions, the boys had a good session and managed to go through some drills as well as play some points out. Dave’s level has improved a lot since I last saw him in the middle of March and he’s now got a good 5 week tournament block coming up which I know he’s going to do well in.

After the session Dave cooled down, showered and changed before we headed into the local village of Winton to get some lunch from Waitrose. It was then a short journey to our hotel for the week to check in and get everything sorted before heading back to the club for our afternoon session.

Due to a bit of a mix-up with who Dave was going to practise with in the afternoon he ended up not having anyone to train with so it was down to me to put him through his paces! We were on court between 3.30 – 4.30pm and as it was Dave’s last session before he competes tomorrow the content was all points based. Between some heavy rain showers we managed to play points off the ground as well as with serve and Dave really increased his level and actually played better than this morning (must have been hitting with me!!). It was then straight into the gym for a long stretch out and by 5.45pm Dave had signed in and was all done for the day.

For dinner we decided to go to Valentino’s – it’s a great little Italian restaurant that I’ve been to many times before and it’s owned by one of the club members so he always gives us a bit of a discount – always a bonus! During dinner we managed to see the draw:

Schedule for tomorrow:

Dave Hodgetts (GBR) vs Patrick Ogier (GBR) – 1st match on at 10am

Winner to play (13) Nick Jones (GBR) (1722) – 3rd match after 10am (not before 2pm)