Thursday 22^nd August 2013

We had a good day’s training today which started our preparation for next week’s event and marked our last day in St. Vincent.

In order to get a full training day in we were up early for breakfast at 7.45am and then at the courts warming up at 9am. Alex then trained with Stefan for just over an hour before Stefan stopped to prepare for his doubles semi-final. The main focus this morning was on maintaining the quality of the ball strike that Alex was producing so that he can be consistently aggressive for longer in matches. After Stefan stopped we continued for another 30 minutes to work on Alex’s serve and even though that was one of the best parts of Alex’s game during the week it’s important to keep developing it.

Following the on court session we went straight into Alex’s lower body strength and conditioning programme. The programme took around 45-50 minutes and due to the lack of weights available to lift we had to improvise and use Alex’s tennis bag! He wasn’t too impressed with that but it worked and was much more beneficial than just lifting a 3kg medicine ball.

During the middle of the day we had some lunch back at the hotel and relaxed before it was back to the club at 2pm for the afternoon session. The plan was for me to play a practice set with Alex but after warming up for 30 minutes (and being covered in sweat!!) Victor Gurevich asked if he could play the set with Alex. It was obviously more beneficial for Alex to play a set with someone of a similar age so I stepped down and the boys got stuck into quite a competitive set. From the start I explained to Alex that the score today was irrelevant and all I wanted him to focus on was his performance. Even though Alex took a 5-3 lead he wasn’t quite finding the high level that he produced in the first sets of his two matches. Victor then came back and took a 6-5 lead which was when Alex finally stepped up and produced a much better performance to hold serve and then take the tie-break 7-1.

After the session we headed back to the hotel and stretched out before he boys relaxed in the pool before dinner. There was then just enough time to watch the end of ‘Coach Carter’ before we had to pack and get ready to leave for Tobago tomorrow.

It’s been a good 1^st week and hopefully Alex can improve on his performance in our last event of the trip next week.

Wednesday 21^st August 2013

After training, travelling and competing for the last 10 days Alex decided he wanted to rest today and then start his preparation for the event in Tobago on Thursday.

While Alex had a lie in I woke early and started to get stuck into emailing and updating the website with new pictures, a revised schedule and planning next year. We then met for breakfast at 9am and following that we headed over to the courts to watch some of the singles ¼ finals.

Alex stayed at the club for most of the day while I returned to soak my foot in vinegar for another 2 hours while continuing with admin work for our upcoming training block in September and the trip to Sri Lanka in October.

After having lunch together at the hotel Alex and Stefan went back to the club for the continuation of Stefan’s rain interrupted singles match. Stefan was 5-2 up in the first set but a shoulder injury during the opening games meant that he had to serve underarm and that played a big part in his 7-5, 6-1 loss.

Late in the afternoon I took to the road for another 6.5 mile run and even though my foot was still painful from the sea urchin spines, I managed to knock a minute off my time from Monday so I was rather pleased with that. At the moment I’m stuck on £150 raised for Make-A-Wish Foundation so if anyone can sponsor me and help some very sick children I would be very grateful (www.justgiving.com/robsGNR2013).

We had dinner this evening at the hotel and my lemon chicken skewers with jasmine rice was extremely nice! After dinner we watched the end of ‘The Impossible’ and then Mia joined us for the start of ‘Coach Carter’. It was then an early night for everyone to get ready for a full training day tomorrow.

Tuesday 20^th August 2013

Despite a close loss today in the 2^nd round of the singles, Alex produced another good performance and those kinds of matches help enormously to build confidence.

Alex’s request yesterday to play first on today was granted so we were up early for breakfast at 6.30am and then walked over to the club just after 7am. Yesterday, during Alex’s first round match, we noticed that there was a cow very close to the back of the court and today while we were warming up it was back again. Stefan decided to name her Daisy and also help her with a bit of breakfast!

 

 

Alex and Stefan had a good warm up for 30 minutes and even at 8am in the morning the temperature was really starting to heat up!

After half an hour break, during which Alex completed his pre-match sheet and we talked through tactics for the match, he stepped back on court to face 6^th seed Jesse Ruder-Hook from America. We had watched Jesse play yesterday so knew exactly what to expect and during the first 5 games Alex stuck to his game plan and executed very well. He raced to a 5-0* lead and it looked as though the tall American didn’t know what had hit him! The next two games were much closer as Alex started to make a few more errors but after a 24 point game at *5-1 Alex held serve to take the first set.

The first two games of the second set went with serve but I got the feeling that Jesse was starting to find his range a little more. After Alex then  hit 3 unforced errors at 1-1* it gave his opponent a big boost and Jesse went on to take control of the set winning the next 4 games in a row including hitting 4 unreturnable serves while serving for the set at 5-1.

After both boys went for a toilet break it was Alex that came out firing at the start of the third set; his energy level were high, he showed great fight and determination and found the same form that he had in the first set. Alex held then broke to lead *2-0 but then a poor service game allowed Jesse to get back into the match. That break of serve increased Jesse’s confidence a lot; he stepped up more and took the ball on hitting 11 winners in the next 5 games whilst serving very well. Despite a great first set and patches of very good tennis in the third set Alex eventually went down 1-6, 6-1, 6-2 in just under 2 and a half hours.

Like yesterday the big positives were that Alex is producing his high training level in matches against players that are much bigger and older than he is. Now our goal is to work to maintain that level throughout the duration of each match and if he can do that then there is no reason why he can’t be making the later stages of these events.

Once Alex had cooled down and stretched out we went back over to court 4 to watch Mia take on Ryan Peus from America. Mia fought hard throughout but Ryan played a very smart match and went on to win 6-2, 6-3. After the match Alex and I went back to the hotel to have some lunch and then together we planned the next few days of training before we fly out to Tobago on Friday.

This afternoon Alex went through his upper body strength and conditioning programme and then we decided to have a recovery swim over to Young Island. It was a really nice swim over but unfortunately just as we were within metres of the sandy beach I put my left foot down and stood on a Sea Urchin who didn’t take too kindly to it and left dozens of its spines in my toes and heel!! After getting some treatment on the island we took the water taxi back and then I spent the next hour with my foot in a bucket of vinegar!

After dinner I was back in the vinegar again much to the disapproval of Stefan and Alex who were sat next to me holding their noses while we watched ‘The Impossible’ on DVD. It was an astonishing film which is based on the true story of a family caught up in the Tsunami in Thailand in 2004 and it really put into perspective the pain I was going through with some spines in my foot!

Monday 19^th August 2013

It was a very good start to the tournament here in St. Vincent today as Alex produced a fine performance to take down Elliott Thornton from America in the first round.

We were all up early this morning but some heavy downpours meant that we were left waiting at the hotel for the rain to clear until about 8.45am. Alex, Mia, Stefan and I then walked to the club and even though the courts were still covered in water we decided to go through our warm-ups so that we were ready to start as soon as they were dry. Due to the heat and a little bit of wind the courts here seem to dry out pretty quickly and by 10am Alex and Stefan were on court going through their pre-match hit. After a quick game of Bounce, which saw Stefan finally get his first points on the board (!), the boys had a good 30 minutes of uninterrupted hitting. Alex was hitting very confidently from the back of the court but the mostly pleasing aspect of his game was the way his serve has really come together this week after working on it for the last month.

After the session the rain came down again so at 11am we got a ‘not before 1pm’ match time for Alex which enabled us to leave site and go back to the hotel for some lunch.

We returned at 12.30pm to find that the first round matches were only just starting but the match on Alex’s court went quite quickly and at 1.45pm it was game time!

Alex was taking on Elliott Thornton today and as Elliott hadn’t played last week in St. Lucia we weren’t able to get much information about him before Alex went on court. Therefore the game plan was to concentrate on the way Alex wanted to play and make sure that he brought a high level to the court. During the first set Alex did just that; his serving was fantastic which lead to him only losing 1 point of his first 2 service games and from the back of the court he was consistently aggressive. At 2-2* Alex increased his hitting level from the back of the court to brake Elliott’s serve and even though he struggled a bit in his next service game he eventually managed to hold which gave him a big boast of confidence. Elliott then held to make it *4-3 but Alex raised his focus again to hold (from *0-30 down) and break to take the first set 6-3. It was a very good performance from Alex in the first set, probably the best I’d seen from him this year, but now he needed to maintain that level to get the job done.

The second set was a little more scrappy; Alex was still in full control but took his foot off the gas a little at 4-1* and allowed Elliott to get back into the set. Elliott held and broke Alex to make the score 4-3* but Alex responded professionally, didn’t panic and in fact raised his level immediately to play his best two games of the set hitting only 1 unforced error to break and hold to take the match 6-3, 6-3. The win saw Alex pick up his first singles ITF points but most importantly it will give the belief that he can produce his high training level in matches when it really matters.

After the match we had a quick debrief and were both happy with the way he had not only played but also conducted himself on the court. We then sat down and watched Alex’s next round opponent play his opening match to prepare for tomorrow.

At around 4.30pm we headed back to the hotel so that Alex could stretch out and relax while I once again took to the mountainous roads of St. Vincent for a 6.5 mile run. The temperature during the day had been quite pleasant but by 5pm the humidity had really increased and from the start I found it tough going – still, more miles in the bank and more preparation for the Great North Run in September.

For dinner tonight Dawn, Mia, Alex, Stefan and I walked down to the Mariner’s hotel to join fellow Brits Megan Rogers and her dad. The food was superb (even though it was slightly difficult to see what you were eating due to the candle light) and it was great to have a big team around the table.

Schedule for tomorrow:

Alex Hagon (GBR) (1861) vs (6) Jesse Ruder-Hook (USA) (1115) – 1^st match at 9am

Sunday 18^th August 2013

It was a good final day of preparation today as we managed to get two good practices in between very heavy downpours.

It was an early start for me this morning as jet lag once again kicked in and I was wide awake at 4.30am! After breakfast Stefan, Alex and I headed to the courts at just after 8am to try and get on court from 9-10am before all of the other main draw players turned up. It had rained overnight and so while Alex and Stefan warmed up I swept the puddles off the court but just as the boys started to hit at 9am the rain came hammering down again! In the rain break Alex went through his pre-hab programme and then just before 10am we managed to get back on court for a very good 1 hour session.

It was then back to the hotel to relax, get some lunch and watch some of the Chelsea vs Hull game. After Alex and Stefan moved rooms so they could share, we headed to the supermarket on one of the local buses to stock up on water and supplies before going straight to the club for the second session of the day.

We were joined by Victor Gurevich from America from 3-4pm and, as it was the last session before everyone would play their main draw match tomorrow, we decided to make it all point based. The boys all worked well together and it was good variation to have 3 players on the court even if it did mean that they weren’t on court for every point.

By the end of the session Alex was happy with his level and felt well prepared for tomorrow so he went and signed in and then, just as the rain started to pour down again, we went back to the hotel.

We had dinner tonight at the hotel and were joined by Mia Smith who had just arrived after a horrendous 36 hours of travelling from St. Lucia – Liat Airlines is definitely not the player’s favourite on this trip!! It was great to catch up with Mia having not seen her for a couple of months and after narrowly losing in the final of the doubles last week she’s hoping to go one better this week.

The draw came out while we were at dinner and here it is!

Schedule for tomorrow:

Elliott Thornton (USA) (2094) vs Alex Hagon (GBR) (1861) – 2nd match after 9am

Saturday 17^th August 2013

After a very long day of travel yesterday, which included a high of getting upgraded on the British Airways flight from Gatwick to Barbados to the low of sleeping on a tiled floor at Barbados airport waiting for the delayed Liat flight, Alex Hagon and I eventually got to St Vincent at just before midnight. Alex is on his own on this trip but we’ll be meeting up with Mia Smith and Stefan Cooper so hopefully they’ll be a lot of support for the Brits!

The plan for today was to have a relaxing start to get over the flight but both of us were up early due to the jet lag so we met for breakfast at 8am. This week we’re staying at the Beachcombers Hotel which is located right on the beach and has a great view of Young Island from the restaurant and pool area – not a bad sight while having breakfast.

Once we had finished we decided to have a walk to the tennis club rather than pay the EC$15 taxi fare! The walk took us out of the back of the hotel and along the beach to a boardwalk which ran along to the main road. It was then just a short 7-8 minute walk from there to the tennis club. When we arrived we said hi to Anthony and Colleen who were the same referees when we were last in the Caribbean in April and then booked some practice courts for later this afternoon.

After that we left the club and had a quick look around the local shops before deciding to take one of the Island busses to the main supermarket near the airport. We stocked up on water, fruit and snacks and then headed back to the hotel to get some lunch and watch the start of the Premier League season!

This afternoon we got to the club at 2pm and then went through a good 30 minute warm up before our scheduled practice time of 2.30pm. By the time we stepped on the court my shirt was already soaked due to the high humidity here but it didn’t stop me from taking the opening game of “Bounce” against Alex! Bounce (or what we call Bounce!) is a game that we play at the start of each session and it basically involves the player hitting the ball down into the ground before it goes over the net (a bit like a table tennis serve). It’s just played in the service boxes and is great for footwork and establishing a high intensity at the start of the session. After that we spent the next hour and a half getting used to the heat, humidity and court surface by drilling from the back of the court and playing lots of points. There was a brief downpour of very warm rain towards the end of the session but after a quick break we got back on court to work on Alex’s serve for the last 30 minutes of the session.

Once we were finished on court we booked practice for tomorrow and then headed back to the hotel. While Alex stretched out I headed out for a 6 mile run to keep up with my training programme for my 12^th Great North Run half marathon in Newcastle on the 15^th September. It seems that every road out here goes uphill and some of the hills are massive! On the way back the heavens opened and a big storm came down but I really didn’t mind as by that stage I needed to cool off!

This year (like the last two years) I am running the Great North Run for Make-A-Wish Foundation which is an amazing charity that grants wishes to children with life-threatening illnesses. The charity does not receive any government support and needs to raise at least £7 million this year so if anyone reading this Blog is able to donate absolutely anything please do so via my JustGiving page:

www.justgiving.com/robsGNR2013

When I got back Stefan Cooper had arrived from St. Lucia so after a quick shower and change we all headed out along the beach to ‘High Tide’ for dinner. The restaurant at our hotel was closed this evening due to a big function with the President of Taiwan but it was also nice to check out some different restaurants early in the week.

More training tomorrow before main draw sign-in in the evening and then game time on Monday – Bring It On!!