Wednesday 5^th December 2012

It was another long hot day today at the Mombasa Sports Club today and after Mason had a disappointing 1^st round loss last week he’s definitely making up for it this week with another good performance against a good player.

As Mason was 2^nd on today after 9am we all met for breakfast at 7am and went over to the club for an early morning warm up. The team was a little split today as I hit with Mason to prepare him for his match from 8.30 – 9am, Holly hit with one of the Russian girls to prepare herself for the consolation event and Mia had a long warm up and stretching session before seeing the physio about her back.

Everyone was done by just after 9am and as I had a feeling that the match scheduled before Mason’s could be over very quickly we immediately sat down after the hit to go through his pre-match talk. Mason was very positive and quite rightly so after how he’s been training and competing in the last week so we reiterated the specific goals to keep him focused before we went on.

The match before Mason’s was over in 50 minutes so at 10am he took to the court to face 8^th seed Frederik Oervad from Denmark. We now know Frederik well after spending the last two weeks with Dave’s Euroelite team so Mason knew he’d have to show the same kind of fight as he did last week and as Mason put it on his pre-match sheet “keep him out there all day”!

The first 5 games all went with serve and both players were looking in control during their own service games but Mason played a loose game at *2-3 to get broken for the first time. He then did well to break back but another service game of only getting 2 / 6 first serves in and not taking control of the point early enough meant that Frederik could serve for the first set at *5-3. Frederik held serve comfortably to love to take the set and then won the next two games to lead 6-3, 2-0 before a big turning point occurred in the match.

Mason had been a little tight with his hitting and wasn’t quite dominating the points like he did yesterday but at *0-2 *0-30 something clicked in his game and suddenly things started to look up. Mason had been fighting hard throughout the first set but now he had more spring in his step after holding serve and then breaking to level the set at 2-2*. Frederik then held but that was the last game that he won in the set as Mason took the next 4 games with some very consistent play that his opponent didn’t have an answer for.

As they started the third I had the sense that all of the momentum was now with Mason and the winners that Frederik had been hitting in the first set were now being dealt with while at the same time Mason was increasing his winner count. Mason won the first 4 games of the 3^rd set and despite a wobble at 4-0 when he was broken and Frederik held Mason managed to get back on track and take the next two games to seal an extremely hard fought 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 win in 2 hours and 40 minutes. Mason was very pleased at the end and I was extremely pleased with how much desire and heart he showed to turn a match around even when he wasn’t playing his best tennis. Hard work should always be a given but when it’s combined with the kind of fight and determination that Mason showed today then in my opinion the player cannot lose whether the scoreline goes their way or not.

After a good cool down and stretch out we went back to the hotel for Mason to relax in an air-conditioned room before we had some lunch.

At 2.30pm we were back at the club for Mia to warm up for her practice session of the day with her doubles partner while Holly went on court a little later for her 1^st round consolation match against Yashvi Radia from Kenya. I was very pleased that Holly chose to do the consolation for extra matches as she could have said that her tournament is over and that there would not be any purpose in playing but she made a very professional decision. Holly played well in the match and even though it was a very comfortable 4-0, 4-1 victory she went about her business with the right attitude and developed her game during the match.

At 4.30pm all of the team (including Mason who had not played this afternoon) went over to the cricket pitch to have a full cool down and stretch out before we headed back to the hotel at just before 5.15pm.

We met the Euroelite girls and Dave for dinner tonight which meant it was a “card-free” meal which, after the forfeits of the last two nights, I’m sure Mia and Holly were very happy about!!

Schedule for tomorrow:

(6) Mia Smith (GBR) (782) vs (2) Elizabeth Kapari (GHA) () – 1^st match at 9am

(12) Mason Recci (GBR) (1017) vs (2) Joshua Luck (RSA) () – 1^st match at 9am

Mia Smith (GBR) & Shannon Wong Hon Chan (MRI) vs Matabe Akoachere (CMR) & Natsumi Okamoto (JPN) – 3^rd match after 9am (not before 12pm)

Felipe Cunha Silva (POR) & Carlos Donat (ESP) vs (5) Sacha Modica (GBR) & Mason Recci (GBR) – 4^th match after 9am

Tuesday 4^th December 2012

It was the hottest day of the trip so far today as temperatures reached close to 40°C and for two of our team it was a successful day while for the other one it was not!

After an 8.30am breakfast we got to the courts at 9.30am and straightaway began the physical warm up for our 10am practice session. Originally Mason was going to warm up with me but as Isaac Stoute needed to also warm up for his match they ended up hitting together – saved me a work out! After half an hour all three of the team were hitting well and ready for their matches, now it was just a case of waiting until the 3^rd round of matches on their courts.

Having finished the practice at 10.30am there was a long wait due to a lot of the matches before ours going to 3 sets. That meant that the players had to plan what time they would eat and also make sure that they stayed hydrated as the temperature was really starting to heat up.

Holly was first on out of the team at around 1.30pm to face top seed Nikita Dawda from Kenya. Nikita is a tricky player and despite not having a huge amount to her game she is very competitive and works hard so Holly knew she’d have to play smart and structure the points well. Holly played a fantastic opening game by stretching Nikita wide in each rally and earning either the short ball or the drive volley which she then put away but after that game the smart tennis dried up. To go from 1-0 up to 6-1 down Holly hit 25 unforced errors in 6 games and Nikita only actually hit 2 winners / forcing shots. It was completely the opposite of how we said we were going to play but to Holly’s credit she fought hard in the second set and started to make some in-roads into the match.

Holly was broken at *1-1 and despite starting to play smarter and more consistent tennis she just couldn’t manage to get the break back. She was then broken again at *2-4 but played her best game of the match to break straight back to *3-5, unfortunately she couldn’t build on the previous game and ended up going down 6-1, 6-3. It was a disappointing match but one that I think Holly will really learn from and it will help her in future events when she comes up against that type of gamestyle.

Mia had started while Holly was in the middle of her 2^nd set and when I occasionally looked over during Holly’s change of ends I witnessed some of the best tennis I’ve ever seen from Mia; she seemed to really be up for the match and looked like there was no way she was ever going to lose it! Mia was 3-0 up in the 1^st set but Vicky Geurinckx from Belgium fought back to 3-2 before Mia twisted on a wide ball and hurt her back. When I moved over to sit behind her court she was in quite a bit of pain but managed to get the lead to 5-3 before she called on the physio. After some treatment she came out and held serve to take the set 6-3 – apparently the physio put some ultra-hot cream on her back but it obviously did the job!

During the 2^nd set Mia continued to really work hard and a few of the games went on for  at least 10 minutes as neither player was willing to give up a single point without a fight. Mia broke in the second game and then again at 3-1* after a 7 deuce game with some exceptional hitting. When Mia wants to she can be very tough to beat and today was one of those days where she wasn’t going to leave the court until she had won the match! She took the next two games to seal a very good 6-3, 6-1 win. After the match she went straight to the physio and then cooled down and changed before joining me to support Mason for his singles match.

All of the games had been overlapping which really kept me on my toes; Holly and Mia where on at the same time, then Holly finished and Mason started and finally when Mia was done Holly went on that court at 4.15pm for her doubles. Somehow I managed to keep track and make notes on each match but Mason did do me a favour by playing superbly well to beat last week’s semi-finalist 6-0, 6-1. I have been saying all week that Mason could do some damage this week and today he got his campaign off to a flyer. He dominated from the start and, unlike last week, he looked very confident all the way through the match. He was serving much better and controlling the baseline with consistently aggressive tennis as he took the first 11 games of the match while Keshav Vellodi from the USA did not know what had hit him. Mason dropped the 12 game of the match but served it out in style and was a very happy boy indeed at the end!

Mason wasn’t done there though and after the match he went straight back on court with Sacha Modica for another 30 minutes of excellent drilling. While Mason did that I moved across 2 courts to watch Holly and Hannah Brett take on top seeds Nikita Dawda and Valentina Kulikova.

Holly and Hannah started poorly and immediately went 5-0 down before finally getting a game on the board but that was all they did get in that set as Nikita and Valentina took it 6-1. Holly and Hannah showed good fight though at the start of the 2^nd set and they broke in the second game to take a 2-0 lead. They then held onto the break until *3-2 when Hannah was broken and it was looking like that could spell the end of the match but both girls dug deep and played some good doubles to get a break back when it really counted to take the set 6-4.

By now the WIN Tennis boys were starting to find their voices and we all had a good feeling about the match tie-break. Unfortunately Nikita and Valentina played well in the breaker and once they got a lead they didn’t let up resulting in them taking the match 6-1, 4-6, 10-7.

Holly was very disappointed to lose twice to Nikita in one day but in both matches she fought hard and unfortunately just came up short. Holly is now done for the 2^nd week but she will sign in for consolation tomorrow to get some extra matches in while Mason and Mia are still competing.

We found out just before Holly’s doubles that Mia and Shannon had a walkover against the 4^th seeds due to one of them being injured so once Holly was done we all headed over to the cricket pitch for a long cool down and stretch out to end the day.

Dinner tonight was just as eventful as last night with some trolley service for Holly and some interesting pictures for Mia!!

Schedule for tomorrow:

(8) Frederik Oervad (DEN) (860) vs (12) Mason Recci (GBR) (1017) – 2^nd match after 9am

Monday 3^rd December 2012

We had 2 good wins on the board today as Holly picked up her first ITF singles points and Mia also took a comfortable win to start her week 2 campaign.

Holly was scheduled 3^rd match on and Mia was 4^th match on after 9am so we met for breakfast at 8.30am and then were over at the club going through the player’s physical warm ups by 9.30am. The practice court situation hasn’t improved much since last week but now the players and coaches have an understanding that if someone is next match on then they can take priority. Holly and Mia hit together from 10 – 10.30am and then they prepared for their matches by completing their pre-match sheets.

As Mia and Holly were both scheduled to play in the middle of the day Mason arranged to practice in the morning with Philip Hellstrand from Sweden and then in the afternoon we arranged for him to join all of the boys in the Euroelite team for a lot of point play to prepare him for his main draw match tomorrow. Mason also had a scouting job to do as he plays the winner of a 1^st round match so he spent some time today watching and analysing both players.

Even though Mia was scheduled 4^th on and Holly was 3^rd on, Mia’s court had two 6-0, 6-0 wins so she went on before Holly at 12.45pm to play wildcard Diana Wamwene Munyasya from Kenya. We knew it was going to be a very comfortable match but I was very pleased that Mia went about her job professionally and did what she could to improve throughout the match. Mia made it three out of four 6-0, 6-0 wins on court 2 today and she was very pleased with how she played.

There was a little bit more of a wait on court 3 for Holly’s match as fellow Brit Alex Hagon had a long 6-4 in the third win against another Kenyan. Alex fought hard and had to deal with his opponent’s local support but eventually took the match for his first ever singles main draw win – he definitely deserved the two bottles of Coke he had afterwards!!

Holly finally went on around 1.45pm against Sunita Verma from Norway who is one of Dave’s Euroelite players. Holly had played Sunita in a practice set last week and had won 6-3 so she knew exactly what she had to do. Holly was a little nervous at the start of the match but after holding serve in the opening game she relaxed, slowed down between points and started to play some excellent tennis. Holly found a great level and it was obvious she learnt a lot from her matches and training in the last week as the targets she was finding were much more realistic and she was much more patient in the rally. The score line doesn’t reflect how close some of the games were but Holly ended up taking the match 6-0, 6-0.

After Holly was finished I gave both of the girls the option to either train more on court if they felt they needed to improve their level for their next match or go through one of their strength and conditioning programmes. Both girls were happy with their tennis so we headed straight over to the cricket pitch were Mia went through a pre-hab session while Holly completed her own specific fitness session.

 

After cooling down and stretching out we headed back to the hotel to shower, change and get some food.

Following Baijul’s tour of Mombasa last night we decided to go and see Fort Jesus in the daylight just before dinner so, along with Dave and his team, we stopped 4 Tuk Tuks to take us all up there. The Fort was built in 1593 by the Portuguese for defence but later turned into a prison before it was more recently turned into a Museum and it has some great views over the India Ocean.

From there we had a quick stop at the hotel before we headed back out to the Royal Court Hotel for a brilliant dinner which saw Holly, Mason and myself having to complete embarrassing dares for losing at “Chase the Ace!”

Schedule for tomorrow:

(6) Mia Smith (GBR) (782) vs (q) Vicky Geurinckx (BEL) (UNR) – 3^rd match after 9am

Keshav Vellodi (USA) (1764) vs (12) Mason Recci (GBR) (1017) – 3^rd match after 9am

(1) Nikita Dawda (KEN) (259) vs (q) Holly Hutchinson (GBR) (UNR) – 3^rd match after 9am

(1) Nikita Dawda (KEN) & Valentina Kulikova (RUS) vs Hannah Brett (GBR) & Holly Hutchinson (GBR) – 4^th match after 9am

(4) Claudia Cianci (POR) & Sofia Sualehe (POR) vs Mia Smith (GBR) & Shannon Wong Hon Chan (MRI) – 5^th match after 9am

Sunday 2^nd December 2012

It was a great day’s preparation for all of the players today as we build up to the 1^st round main draw matches tomorrow.

The players determined how much they wanted to do today as it’s important for them to take ownership of what they are doing so they develop not only as tennis players but also as responsible, mature people. After having a day off yesterday Holly wanted to do 2 sessions; 1 with me individually and 1 point play session with another player in the afternoon. Mia only wanted one session so that she is fresh for tomorrow and Mason also just wanted one session as he knows he’s got the whole of tomorrow to prepare before he plays on Tuesday.

I was down at breakfast at 8.30am this morning to meet Holly while Mia and Mason had a bit of a lie in. From there we went to the Mombasa Sports Club just before 9.30am to book practice courts but once again every court was full on site so it was over to the Mvita Club to warm up and then train for an hour. We had a good session where we focused mainly on Holly’s consistency level from the back of the court and, despite the tremendously hot conditions, Holly worked very hard and said she’d never sweated that much in her life!

We left the Mvita Club around 11.30am and went straight back to the hotel to shower and change before meeting up with Mia and Mason for lunch. Sizzling Chicken was once again on the cards for Mason and I while the girls went for a very dodgy looking chicken and rice!

At 1.30pm we were back over at the club warming up for the next session of the day. Mason teamed up with Jonas, Holly with Arezo and Mia with me for an hour and 15 minutes of drilling and point play. Mason has been hitting the ball better each session and is looking very capable of doing some damage in the draw this week while Holly and Mia are improving their consistency from the back of the court and, with a couple of early wins to build their confidence they could also do very well.

Everyone was happy with their levels by 3.30pm so we headed over to the cricket pitch where I took them all through my stretching routine. Junior players are generally poor at stretching; many don’t see the point in doing it until they get an injury while most are just too lazy to do it properly so I thought I’d show them how thoroughly it should be done. The whole session took just under 25 minutes and even though the players didn’t say it once we had finished I think they could all feel a difference between how they normally stretch and how we did it today.

From there the players signed in for the main draw and then it was back to the hotel to have a couple of hours to do school work, catch up with friends on Facebook or just relax after a good days training – I did ask all of them to contact their own individual coaches to update them on how things have been out here so it’ll be interesting to see if any of them actually did that!

Dinner tonight was back at the Royal Court Hotel but the highlight of the evening had to be having a tour around Mombasa with Baijul (a good friend of Holly’s dad who lives and works out here). We saw Fort Jesus, the Lighthouse, the Port and the beach which we would never of had the chance to do normally so we were all very grateful for Baijul’s time in showing us the sights!

Schedule for tomorrow:

Holly Hutchinson (GBR) (UNR) vs Sunita Verma (NOR) (UNR) – 3^rd match after 9am

(6) Mia Smith (GBR) (782) vs (WC) Diana Wamwene Munyasya (KEN)(UNR) – 4^th match after 9am