Monday 2nd July 2012

It was a tough day at the Northern Club today; we had a set and a half on the outdoor clay, then a long rain delay and then we went indoors to finish the match. There were lots of momentum shifts both on and off the court but Dave managed to keep his nerve and perform very well to take a difficult 3 set win.

Yesterday we moved to the official hotel which meant we are now only 10 minutes away for the tournament site. That also meant that we could get up a little later and have a more relaxed start to the day so this morning we had breakfast at 7.30am and then we left for the club at 8.15am. After a good warm up in the gym I hit with Dave to prepare him up for his match from 9-9.30am and then the first round of matches went on immediately after we were finished. Dave hit well and was feeling good so it was then just a case of getting something light to eat before he went on for his match.

We knew that it was going to be tough against 10th seed Harry Meehan as he’s got a big lefty serve and will take any opportunity to move forwards and put you under a lot of pressure. It helped a little to be on the wet outdoor clay but that didn’t stop him hitting at least 1 or 2 aces a game.

The first 12 games all went with serve with the returner not really making any inroads which meant the set would have to be decided by a tie-break. Both Dave and Harry were serving well and also backing up their serves with confident groundstrokes so going into the breaker it could have gone either way. Dave got the first mini-break at 3-3*and then held his 2 service points to give him a 6-3* lead and three set points. However he only needed one and after a strong 1st serve return Harry missed a volley long to hand the set to Dave.

The second set followed the same pattern as the first set but the balls were getting a little heavier so the returner had a bit more of a chance to swing at the serves. After Harry held to lead 3-2 the match was stopped due to heavy rain which gave me a chance to talk through the match with Dave but it also meant that after a long delay the referee decided that the match would be moved indoors onto the hard courts.

The move indoors probably favoured Harry more than Dave but it didn’t make a huge difference as the match was being dominated by serve anyway. Once they restarted Dave held well to level the score at 3-3* but Harry now looked even more confident on his serve and from the back of the court and went on to hold, break and then hold again to take the second set 6-3.

The third set was a real battle and included 5 breaks; the first one came when Dave gave up his serve with some poor decision making at *1-1 but he managed to break back at 2-3* after finally starting to read Harry’s serve and move up to take it earlier before it reached the side curtain!! Dave was broken straight back but, after saving a match point and Harry missing one of the easiest smashed I’ve ever seen at 4-5* 40-40* Dave finally got the set level at *5-5. He then held and managed to take his first match point to take the match 7-6(3), 3-6, 7-5. It was a really mentally tough performance from Dave and after losing a few close 3 setters recently it was great that he came through this one against strong, big hitting opponent.

The match almost had to be stopped prematurely as some other members had booked the court at 5.30pm but it was all completed not long afterwards and after a cool down and a good stretch out we left the club by 6.15pm.

We joined up with Lewis Burton and Ed Corrie for dinner in Zizzi’s this evening and then it was back to the hotel to go through the match in detail before preparing for tomorrows last round of qualifying match.

Schedule for tomorrow:

Imran Aswat (GBR) (UNR) vs (WC) Dave Hodgetts (GBR) (UNR) – 2nd match after 9.30am

Sunday 1st July 2012

A solid performance today saw Dave win his opening matching in qualifying against Angus McCaul despite some difficult conditions and a tricky court surface.

Normally in qualifying the matches start quite early so everyone has to be on site beforehand to warm up on court but today was different as the tournament only had a few courts at 9.30am and it wasn’t worth getting there before if Dave wasn’t playing until closer to 3pm. We therefore decided to have a relaxed start to the day which included a fantastic farm cooked breakfast at 9am before we left for the club at 10am. On the way Dave decided he was going to wash his car at the petrol station and check the air in his tyres before we got to the club which also helped to kill a bit of time!

After a quick bite to eat we warmed up in the gym and then hit on the indoor courts from 1-1.30pm as all of the outdoor clay courts were either being used by the tournament matches or by the members. Dave then had some more food to make sure he was well fuelled before we sat down to discuss the tactics for the match. I’ve known Angus for many years and travelled with him when he was younger to Tennis Europe and ITF events so it’s fair to say I know his game pretty well – so you could say there was pressure on me to get the tactics right!!

Dave and Angus went on just after 2.30pm and from the start Dave took control of the match. He broke Angus’ serve in the first game and then again at 3-1* to take a solid lead in the match. Dave was working the ball well and making sure that Angus couldn’t get into a comfortable position to hit the ball during the rally. Dave held serve at 4-1 and then again at 5-2 to take the first set. A similar pattern occurred in the second set; Dave played well from the back of the court while Angus found it difficult to really get a strong strike on the ball resulting in Dave again taking a 5-2 lead. At this stage Angus played his best two games of the match to break and then hold while Dave’s level dropped a little. However Dave got his game back on track and served well to hold serve (despite being break point down) to take the match 6-2, 6-4. It was a good first round performance from Dave who made sure he pushed himself outside his comfort zone throughout the match which will hopefully help in his next round match tomorrow.

After the match we went straight up to the gym for Dave to cool down for 20 minutes on the bike before having a thorough stretch out. While he was doing that it was my turn for a workout so I jumped on the running machine for an hour to keep up with my own training for the Great North Run in September. We then went back to the hotel to shower and change before heading out to dinner with the other Chiswick boys.

Once we got back from dinner we sat down with some of the other players to watch a superb performance from the Spanish team to win Euro 2012 and then had an early night to prepare to a tough match tomorrow.

Schedule for tomorrow:

(WC) Dave Hodgetts (GBR) (UNR) vs (10) Harry Meehan (GBR) (1896) – 2nd match on after 9.30am

Saturday 30th June 2012

After spending the last 2 weeks training with Dave Hodgetts at the Riverside Tennis Academy in Chiswick, London we’ve now got the next 2 weeks on the road in Manchester and Ilkley at men’s $10k Futures events.

I left home this morning at 8.30am to get the train from Bexley to London and then after a brief journey through London on the Underground I boarded the 10.20am train to Manchester. The journey was delayed a little due to the heavy rain but I finally met up with Dave, who had driven from his home in Worcester, at around 1.45pm.

We then headed to The Northern Club where the event is being held this week and managed to get a practice session on the artificial clay for an hour and a half with Jathan Malik. The grass courts at the club look extremely nice but due to the heavy rain (and the heavy rain forecast for this week) we could be on the clay for the whole tournament – everyone was very surprised that a club with grass courts as nice as this one hasn’t invested in some court covers!