Tuesday 25^th June 2013

It was a tough end to the event here in Bermuda today as Alex and Harry lost in the first round of their doubles.

Following Alex’s defeat in the singles yesterday we decided to go straight into a normal training week from today which includes a full on court session in the morning, a strength and conditioning session and his doubles this afternoon. Watching the juniors over the years it is obvious that very few of them train as they should do when they are knocked out of the singles whereas the senior players make sure that keep up to date with their physical training even when they are still in the singles and doubles.

My day started today with some tough hill sprints on the road going down to the beach – the first 5 hurt but the next 15 hurt even more!! I then met Alex for breakfast at 8am and we got the 9am shuttle to the club. Once we arrived it was straight onto court to warm up before we had a good session from 10-11.15am. We had two main focuses for the session; firstly we wanted to address issues that Alex had on his groundstrokes following his singles match and then for the second half of the session we focussed on Alex’s volleys and doubles tactics. By the end of the session we were both soaked in sweat but instead of taking the easy option and having a break we went straight into Alex’s lower body strength and conditioning programme. It was quite a tough session but Alex completed it well and at 12pm it was time for some well-deserved lunch – unfortunately I had to wait for all of the players to have theirs before I could get my free lunch!

After lunch we chilled out watching Wimbledon in the player’s lounge and also some of the main draw matches before it was time to warm up again for our pre-match session with Harry Copley. We were supposed to hit from 2-2.30pm but it appeared that a court booking today wasn’t really valid and according to the referee the priority went to anyone who was playing next match on – an interesting concept and the first I’d ever experienced!! The boys however managed to get on court at around 2.45pm and had a good session which included some doubles specific work with me at the end.

At 4.15pm Alex and Harry went on to play Courtney Murphy & Myles Schalet from America. Alex and Harry started well and played some good doubles but their opponents were looking very sharp at the net and at *1-2 they broke Alex to take control of the set. Harry held serve at *1-4 and then the boys saved a set point at sudden death deuce on Alex’s serve but Courtney and Myles stepped up their level to close out the set 6-3.

In the second set Alex and Harry looked more confident and made less cheap errors but Courtney and Myles played some very tight doubles as they broke Harry at 2-2 and then Alex at 2-4 on their way to taking the match 6-3, 6-2.

Another tough loss but like with the singles yesterday there were lots of positives to take from the match as well as lots of areas to develop and improve before Alex’s next event.

Tomorrow we will train at the club during the day before trying to get on an earlier flight home in the evening (hopefully without having to pay a huge change fee!). It’s been a good week in terms of Alex developing and also identifying areas of his game that need to improve and if he can continue to work hard in the way that he has been, then the results will come very soon.

Monday 24^th June 2013

It was a disappointing day today as Alex lost his first round singles match despite starting both sets very well.

As Alex was scheduled for second match after 1pm we decided to have a more relaxed start to the day so that he wasn’t on site for too long before his match. After breakfast at 8.30am we headed over to the club at 10.30am and watched some of the main draw matches until it was time to warm up at 11.30am. Alex then hit with Jody Maginley from Antigua for 30 minutes to prepare for his match and during the session Alex once again found an excellent level. By 12.30pm we were both very pleased with how he was hitting so we finished the session and got some lunch.

Over the next hour and a half we discussed Alex’s tactics and goals for the match and then chilled out in the player’s lounge while watching the first round matches from Wimbledon. As the match before Alex’s got to a set and 3-0 we went out and warmed up. Then at 2.15pm Alex went on to face Ernesto Telles Schmidt from El Salvador.

For the first game and a half Alex played at a very high level and didn’t allow his opponent to get into the match but then a few cheap points gave Ernesto a bit of belief. Alex was then broken at *1-1 and ended up trailing 1-4* before he managed to get a break back but Ernesto broke straight back and held to take the opening set 6-2. Despite losing the set Alex was playing well in parts but was finding it very difficult to break down his very consistent opponent.

After a toilet break at the end of the set Alex started the second set in the same way as he started the first; hitting extremely well from the back of the court and controlling every rally. Unfortunately Alex was broken again at *1-1 but fought hard to break back and level the set at 2-2. The next two games went against serve but when Alex held to take a 4-3 lead I really thought he had the set in the bag as he had come through a very tough 14 point game to hold serve at 3-3. Alex was still struggling with his consistency but was fighting hard during each point to try and stay on top in the set. Unfortunately 9 unforced errors from *5-5 cost him the next two games and after 2 hours 15 minutes he went down 6-2, 7-5.

It was a disappointing match overall as it was an good opportunity to get through the first round but the stats don’t lie and 69 unforced errors at this level is just too many, especially when his opponent only hit 28 in total.

After the match Alex cooled down and showered before we got the shuttle bus back to the barracks. The journey normally takes 10-15 minutes but due to an accident on the single lane road that runs through the middle of the island it ended up taking an hour! When we eventually got back to the barracks we changed and then spent some time going through the match. Alex’s observations from the match were very accurate and he responded well to the notes and feedback that I made – he knew that he had a good opportunity today but just couldn’t quite execute his shots the way he wanted to. However, I know he’s going to work hard now to make the necessary changes to his game and get prepared for the doubles tomorrow.

Once we were finished we met up with the other players and coaches in the ‘Mess Hall’ for dinner and then relaxed before it was time for bed!

Schedule for tomorrow:

Harry Copley (GBR) & Alex Hagon (GBR) vs Courtney Murphy (USA) & Myles Schalet (USA) – 5^th match after 10am

Sunday 23^rd June 2013

We had a very good final day of preparation today but once again we were interrupted by a big rain storm in the afternoon.

While Alex had a bit of a lie in this morning I was up early to hit the roads for a 4 mile run. I’ve got less than 3 months to go until my 12^th Great North Run half marathon so I need to keep up with my training even though it was very hot and humid (even at 6.30am!). When I got back I met Alex for breakfast at 8am and then we headed over to the courts on the 9am shuttle bus.

For our first session of the day we were joined by Robert Levine from America and within the first five minutes Alex had found a very high level of hitting from the back of the court. It was hotter and more humid than yesterday and it was physically quite draining to keep up a high training intensity but Alex worked hard throughout the 45 minute session. The boys played a match tie-break to end the session and even though Alex went down 10-7 he showed that he could maintain his high level during the points.

Over the next couple of hours we had some lunch, watched the final round of qualifying matches and tried to stay out of the heat / occasional downpour of rain! Alex and fellow Brit Harry Copley then warmed up and got on court at 1.30pm for our second session of the day. The boys warmed up for around 20 minutes and then went into a set to make sure they were both ready to compete in their matches tomorrow.

The start of the set was very close with both players serving well at key times but just as the boys were starting to really get their teeth into it the rain came down again. It was a similar time to the storm that hit yesterday and even though the sky didn’t look that dark the rain just kept getting heavier and heavier. In the end (after sheltering under the court umbrellas for 15 minutes!) we came off court at around 2.45pm and then just waited until 4pm for the opening ceremony.

Just as the ceremony was due to start the rain cleared and the players were paraded around the court:

 

We were then treated to a dance performance by a local group and then a skipping performance by some local kids before the tournament was officially opened (much to the delight of the players who had been waiting around all day!).

Dinner tonight was at the club (to make sure everyone stayed for the opening ceremony!!) and then we had to wait around for an hour and a half before the shuttle bus came to take us back to the barracks.

Schedule for tomorrow:

(WC) Ernesto Telles Schmidt (ESA) (UNR) vs Alex Hagon (GBR) (1705) – 2^nd match after 1pm

Saturday 22^nd June 2013

After a long day of travel yesterday, Alex had his first day of preparation today before main draw starts on Monday.

I met Alex Hagon at London Bridge train station yesterday before we started our journey to Gatwick for our 3pm flight to Bermuda. The flight was quite smooth, the movies were quite average but I did enjoy a couple of hours of sleep! We landed in Bermuda just after 6.30pm and once we cleared customs we were met by the tournament transport who drove us straight to Warwick Camp barracks which will be our home for this tournament.

The barracks are still in use by the military in Bermuda but for this week the players and coaches will be taking it over as part of the full hospitality offered by the tournament. When we were choosing which event to do this week we had two options; either the Grade 4 ITF in Tunisia or this one in Bermuda and because of the full hospitality offered here it actually worked out the much cheaper option.

This morning we were both up early due to the jet lag and met for breakfast around 7.30am. Alex had struggled to get a lot of sleep in the 30 bed boy’s dorm but I slept like a baby in the coach’s dorm which only had two of us in it last night!

We headed to the courts at 9am and, after a long physical warm up to loosen up after the long flight yesterday, we got on court to train from 10-11.15am. The courts at the club are excellent and we had a good session which focussed mainly on consistency from the back of the court while trying to acclimatise to the heat. We were both still a little tired but we knew we would be and that’s why we decided to come out a couple of days early.

After the session we walked into Hamilton to go to the supermarket and stock up on water and food. When we returned to the club the first round of the boy’s qualifying was still going on so we got some lunch and watched some of the matches.

Then at 2.15pm it was time for our second session of the day so we warmed up and then managed to get on one of the match courts as the qualifying only needed 2 courts.

Our second session was very good and Alex looked a lot more comfortable in the conditions. The match courts were quicker than the practice courts and more like the surface we’d been training on at home for this event. After warming up and going through some drills, Alex decided he wanted to play some points to finish the session but despite him leading 9-8 in the tie-break he just couldn’t finish me off before a big storm came over which ended our session!

We tried to shelter from the rain in the covered stands next to the courts but the storm was quite aggressive and the rain ended up coming in sideways!! We managed to find a room under the stands to stretch out and then at 4.30pm we got the shuttle back to the camp.

After a good dinner of sweet and sour chicken and rice in the ‘Corporal’s Mess’, we headed across the road from the barracks to check out the local beach and ended up coming across a beach party!

We’ve got one more day of preparation tomorrow which will hopefully involve two more on court sessions as well as the opening ceremony for the event.