Friday 30^th August 2013

Our event came to an end today as Alex and Stefan went down 6-2, 6-4 in the semi-finals of the doubles to the solid pairing of Gui Gomes (USA) and Pedro Cavalcante (BRA).

Once again we had to go through our physical warm up at the hotel at 7.15am as the 7.45am bus wouldn’t have given us enough time before our practice session at 8am. When we arrived on site we met up with Stefan and then the boys had a good 30 minute hit to warm up everything before their match. There was then just a short break before they took to the court at 9am for the semi-final.

We knew the match today was going to be tough after watching Gui and Pedro take out the number 2 seeds yesterday and the main objective was to control the net and move early in the rally before they got a chance to. Unfortunately Stefan was broken in first game and even though Alex held a tight game at *0-2 you got the feeling that the momentum was still with their opponents. The next two games went with serve and it was clear that Alex and Stefan were trying to raise their energy levels but when Alex was broken to sudden death deuce at *2-4 Pedro then stepped up and held serve to take the first set 6-2.

The start of the second set was not good from Alex and Stefan; they looked quite flat and were quite static at the net which allowed Gui and especially Pedro to dominate. However, at 0-3* the boys got a little breakthrough and broke Gui’s serve which gave them a big boost and suddenly they came to life. Stefan then held and the boys got an even bigger breakthrough when they broke Pedro’s serve in the next game to level the set at 3-3. The momentum had really shifted but the boys couldn’t capitalise on it and Alex’s serve was broken in the next game. The loss of that game really deflated both boys and even though Stefan held serve at *3-5 Pedro served out the set with a tight sudden death deuce game to take the match.

It was a disappointing performance from both boys especially as they only managed 6 crosses in the match and only 8 first volley winners – not the kind of stats you’re looking for when you’re trying to dominate the net and stop your opponent from doing so. The positives were that they came through a tricky ¼ final match and they played some good doubles on the way to the semi-final even though it was their first time playing together.

After the match we got some lunch and watched some of the other semi-final match before we headed back to the hotel. We then met up with Eric, Ryan, Kylie, Kuba and Stefan and drove down to Crown Point beach right next to the airport where we spent the afternoon. Eric, Ryan, Kylie, Kuba and Stefan decided to go on a boat trip for a few hours while Alex and I had a relaxing afternoon with Breana and her family.

We then headed back to the hotel and then met up with Mia, Dawn and everyone else that had played today at Ciao’s for our last meal together.

It’s been a good couple of weeks both on the court and off; Alex has played the best tennis that I’ve ever seen from him and worked hard in training and in his matches. He’s picked up some singles and doubles points but most importantly he has developed as a player and as a person and has met a lot of new friends.

In one of the opening ceremony speeches the president of the club talked about how important it is for the players to “enjoy the journey” as the road can often be a little bumpy with wins and losses. That is something that players, parents and coaches can often forget but it is vital for the development of the player and I know that we’ve definitely enjoyed the journey over these last two weeks.

Tomorrow is going to be a long day of travelling as we leave Tobago on a 6.40am flight and do not arrive back into London until 5.45am on Sunday!

I hope you’ve enjoyed following our journey over the last couple of weeks, next stop will be Sri Lanka at the start of October.

Thursday 29^th August 2013

It was another good day at the Tobago ITF today as Alex and Stefan came through a tough doubles ¼ final against Jesse Ruder-Hook and Jakub Wojcik from America.

After a more relaxed start to the day we met for breakfast at 8.30am and then Alex warmed up at the hotel from 9.30-10am. We then got the bus to the tournament site and had another good 1 hour training session with Stefan to get prepared for the doubles. By 11.30am both boys were looking very sharp and were eager to get on court for their ¼ final match.

At 12pm they went on court and immediately imposed themselves on the match by breaking Jakub in the first game. Stefan then held serve and the boys broke Jesse to take a strong *3-0 lead. The next few games were a bit up and down; Alex was broken at sudden death deuce, then the boys broke Jakub again before Stefan was the next player to give up his serve. At *4-3 the set was looking very close but Alex this time held serve at sudden death deuce and then the boys found good energy to up their levels and break Jesse to take the set 6-3.

The second set started in the opposite way to the first; Alex and Stefan went 0-3* down having both been broken and even though they managed to get one break back it wasn’t enough as Jesse and Jakub went on to take the set 6-2. In terms of doubles performance the second set was actually better than the first for Alex and Stefan as they moved more and finished more first volleys but Jesse and Jakub played well and deserved the set.

During the second set Alex and Stefan had been quite flat but at the start of the match tie-break they raised their energy levels and became a team once again. That made a massive difference to the quality of their play and they raced to a 6-0 lead. Jesse and Jakub managed to get back into the set and at 8-6 in was starting to look like it could go either way but some sharp play at the net and a good serve at the end from Stefan wrapped up the match 6-3, 2-6, 10-6.

Even though it wasn’t the best of doubles matches in terms of executing their plays, the boys responded very well at the start of the 3^rd set and definitely deserved to take the win.

After the match we had some lunch and then watched the other ¼ final match as we did think that we’d play the semi-final later in the day. However, by the time that Pedro and Gui had won their match it was almost 4pm and they felt too tired to play the semi-final. The decision was always going to be theirs as the match wasn’t on the schedule for today but yesterday they did say they’d want to play it if they won. Instead there will be the semi and final tomorrow.

When we returned to the hotel Alex and I went through his upper body strength and conditioning programme and then he stretched out to end a successful day.

I’m sure the staff at Ciao Café love the fact that we’re spending a lot of money there each evening but tonight we took over the whole restaurant and I’m sure it’s much busier than it normally would be! It was still another great meal and the fact that all of the players and coaches are getting on so well together is definitely a highlight of this trip.

After dinner a few of us walked back to the hotel and then we had an early night to get ready for the semi-final (and hopefully the final too!) tomorrow.

Schedule for tomorrow:

(3) Stefan Cooper (GBR) & Alex Hagon (GBR) vs Gui Gomes (USA) & Pedro Cavalcante (BRA) – 1^st match at 9am

Wednesday 28^th August 2013

It was another wet day at the tennis centre today but the boys eventually got on court at around 4pm for their 1^st round doubles match . . . and by 4.50pm they were off court with a win!

When Alex went to bed last night we had decided to meet for breakfast at 7am and then get the 7.45am bus to the courts, but that was before the order of play came out at 11pm!! Once I found out the boys were scheduled to play ‘not before 12pm’ I decided that we’d get the bus over at 10am but, as didn’t want to wake Alex to let him know, he only found that out at 7am this morning!

While Alex tried to get back to sleep I took to the road for a long and exhausting 7 mile run. It wasn’t the most pleasant run that I’ve ever done due to the high humidity and the exhaust fumes from the lorries on the highway but I’m glad I managed to get through it. Please donate if you can to help an amazing charity who helps very sick children – www.justgiving.com/robsGNR2013.

Once we arrived at the tennis centre we watched some of Mia’s ¼ final match before Alex and Stefan warmed up and then had a really good training session for an hour. They warmed up as normal for 20 minutes and then went through a series of doubles specific drills to get them sharp at the net and also work on their movement forwards. They then served and finished the session with some cross court points.

We had lunch today from the small hut next to the tennis centre and even though it wasn’t as good as the pasta from Ciao Café, it was definitely better than having a Subway sandwich! As we were eating our chicken and rice back at the court the Heavens opened and it poured with rain.

During the rain delay Alex got stuck into his strength and conditioning programme and then at 4pm the boys went on for their 1^st round doubles match. They were due to play Matthew Foster-Estwick & Simon Lewis from Barbados but Matthew had a bad injury to his knee yesterday so they were replaced by the alternate pairing of Timothy Davis & Ryan Thomas from Trinidad and Tobago.

Our pre-match talk was mainly about getting the job done in a professional manner and improving throughout the match so that they would be prepared for a tougher match tomorrow. As always the boys had 3 specific goals for the doubles; hit 10 first volley winners per set, cross the centre line of the court 10 times per set to poach the volley and aim to approach off every second serve return to put pressure on their opponents.

Alex and Stefan performed well together and stayed focussed on their goals as they stormed through the match 6-0, 6-0. Even though it was very comfortable victory I was pleased with how both players conducted themselves and how they developed their doubles throughout the match.

After Alex had showered and changed we got a taxi back to the hotel but as there were 6 of us travelling back, 3 of us were in the back of the pick-up with the wind in our hair!!

We had a big group of us at dinner tonight which included the Advantage Tennis team, Pedro Cavalcante and during the meal Mia and her mum joined us too.

It was another fantastic meal at Ciao Café and after a tough run this morning there was only going to be one thing that I was going to order!

Schedule for tomorrow:

Jesse Ruder-Hook (USA) & Jakub Wojcik (USA) vs (3) Stefan Cooper (GBR) & Alex Hagon (GBR) – 3^rd match after 9am, not before 11am

Tuesday 27^th August 2013

It was a tough day for Alex today as he came up against a good player in top seed Jean Thirouin and, despite a good performance for the majority of the match, he went down in straight sets.

As Alex was scheduled for 2^nd match on it meant that we could have breakfast at 7.15am before we headed over to the courts on the 7.45am bus. Alex and Stefan then went through their physical warm-ups between 8.30-9am and then had a solid 30 minute practice session. We knew that a big part of our tactics today would be using variation to keep Jean uncomfortable so Alex focused on that during his pre-match hit and ended the session feeling confident.

We had just under an hour before Alex went on for his match and in this time he completed his pre-match sheet and we discussed again the tactics we would need to implement to be effective today. Alex then went on court at 10.15am to face the American number 1 seed.

After 2 very long games, in which a total of 24 points were played, Alex found himself *0-2 down. He had started well and was competing hard against a tough opponent but he just couldn’t convert the game points that he had. Alex was then broken to Love to trail *0-3 but the score definitely didn’t reflect just how close the set was. It was therefore no surprise when Alex held serve in the next game and then broke Jean to get the match back to 2-3*. Alex continued to get opportunities to get more games on the board but Jean played the big points better and ended up taking 3 out of the next 4 games to take the set 6-3. Alex and I always talk about the winning the important points (notably the 30-30 points and Game / Break points) in games at the first opportunity and in total Alex had 8 of these in the first set and only managed to win 1 of them.

The first 3 games of the second set continued to be just as competitive as the whole of the first set; Alex was fighting hard and producing tennis of a very high level but he just couldn’t get the breakthroughs to get games on the board. Then at 6-3, 3-0 down his head dropped a little and he looked as though his belief was starting to go. As this happened his quality dropped, more cheap unforced errors started to creep into his play and subsequently the final three game of the match went against him very quickly.

Despite going down 6-3, 6-0 Alex produced a high level of tennis for 11 out of the 14 games played and it was only in the middle of the second set that his focus and energy levels started to drop. There were definitely a lot more positives than negatives in the match and it was a great experience for Alex to play a player ranked in the 300s. He now knows what he needs to work on to get up to that kind of level by the end of next year.

We had lunch at the club after the match and then we decided to get the 12.30pm bus back to the hotel so that it gave Alex and Stefan a break from being on site all day before their doubles match. Unfortunately while we were back at the hotel the weather changed and the rain started to fall. It then continued for a few hours and in the end the tournament decided to cancel the doubles for the day.

For dinner tonight we were joined by the Advantage Tennis team from California and due to Ciao Café being closed on Tuesdays we went next door to the Havana restaurant. The quality of the food was pretty good but the portions were small and expensive so I don’t think we’ll be going back there again!!

Due to matches still going on late into the evening the schedule didn’t end up coming out until after 11pm but here it is!!

Schedule for tomorrow:

Matthew Foster-Estwick (BAR) & Simon Lewis (BAR) vs (3) Stefan Cooper (GBR) & Alex Hagon (GBR) – 4^th match after 9am, not before 12pm

Monday 26^th August 2013

It was a good birthday for Alex today as he got a first round win under his belt and also had a great slice of chocolate birthday cake!

It was an early start for us today as we met for breakfast at 6.15am but it did give Alex a chance to open his birthday card and present from me before he warmed up at the hotel at 7.15am. We then got the 7.45am shuttle bus to the courts and as soon as we arrived Alex went straight on court to hit with Stefan from 8-8.30am. Both players were hitting well and Alex looked very strong from the back of the court and also when volleying.

Once we had finished we had a short break before the opening ceremony of the tournament got underway just after 9am. Much to the player’s delight the speeches were short and after a quick photo call we managed to get away to warm up for 10 minutes before Alex was called for his match.

We knew that Alex was playing against a player that was a little weaker than him, so the main focus was to find a good level of hitting throughout the match and most importantly work on maintaining his concentration. After a poor first game Alex settled down and then started to produce the kind of level that he’d been finding in practice. He raced through the next 6 games with some very aggressive tennis and never let his opponent get into the set.

After a very convincing 6-1 first set Alex continued to stay in control and won the first 4 games of the second set. Even though he was broken in the next game by hitting 4 unforced errors, I wasn’t too disappointed as each mistake was made by Alex trying to either develop his serve or try something different from the back of the court. However, Alex’s focus dropped at 4-1* and the rest of the set became very scrappy. His unforced error count started to increase very fast and the quality of hitting that he had in the first set was no longer there. In the end Alex closed out the match 6-1, 6-3 but as soon as he came off I knew he was not happy with his second set performance. His first words to me were “Can we go straight onto the practice court?” which showed great professionalism and I know that a month or two ago he would have never asked to do that. All it took was 10 quality minutes of hitting before Alex once again found the level that he wanted and we both finished the session happy.

Many players see a win as their overall goal but if you don’t improve or play at a level that you are happy with then it is very important to get back on court so that you do feel ready to play the next round. Alex made a very mature decision to train straight after the match and I believe that shows how much he has developed as a player and a person since he started playing ITF events.

After Alex had cooled down and showered we headed off site to the local shopping mall to get some lunch and, as it was his birthday, we decided to rest this afternoon and go to the cinema. We had hoped to see ‘Wolverine’ but that showing wasn’t until 8pm and as we just missed the start of ‘Red 2’ we had to settle for our 3^rd choice which was ‘The Mortal Instrument’. Neither of us had heard of it before, and to be honest it wasn’t really my cup of tea, but it wasn’t too bad and I’m sure it was better than watching ‘The Smurfs’!!

We got back to the hotel just before 5pm and while Alex went online I decided to have a quick run followed by some very tough hill sprints. We then headed out to Ciao Café for dinner with Stefan and Danielle at 6pm and no birthday would be the same without some quality birthday cake (I just couldn’t believe Alex couldn’t finish his!!).

 

Schedule for tomorrow:

(1) Jean Thirouin (USA) (379) vs Alex Hagon (GBR) (1880) – 2^nd match after 9am

Matthew Foster-Estwick (BAR) & Simon Lewis (BAR) vs (3) Stefan Cooper (GBR) & Alex Hagon (GBR) – 5^th match after 9am (not before 1pm)

Sunday 25^th August 2013

It was another good training day today as we prepared for Alex’s 1^st round main draw match tomorrow.

We met for breakfast this morning at 8.15am and, due to the tournament bus schedule, we ended up warming up at the hotel before getting the 10am bus to the tennis centre. The plan was then for Alex to train with Stefan from 10.30 – 11.30am but Stefan had a bit of a mix up with where he was staying last night and didn’t end up getting to bed until after 2am! Just before we were due to start we managed to get Allen Thornes to join us which was great as it gave me the chance to be down Alex’s end of the court for the whole session. Alex and Allen had a good hour on court together and with just one day to go before the main draw starts the majority of the session was point based.

The plan for lunch today was to go to Ciao Café and get a good portion of pasta but after going all the way to the restaurant it turned out that it was closed for lunch on Sundays! Therefore it was back to Subway to get a sandwich but hopefully that will be the last time this week! The food there is okay but the service is diabolical (we were waiting 35 minutes today!) and it’s just a bit too heavy when we haven’t got a lot of time between sessions.

This afternoon we went back on court at 2.30pm and, as Stefan was still not at the club, we asked Andrew Symmonds from Barbados if he wanted to warm up and play a practice set. He was happy to do so and the boys ended up having a close set; Alex couldn’t quite find the level he had been hitting at over the weekend and he struggled to maintain his focus but in the end he held serve at *5-6 down and played a solid tie-break to take the set 7-6. The set took a little longer than I would have liked but it was good practice for Alex and identified areas that he needs to focus on for tomorrow’s match.

After the set Alex and I had a debrief and then he went off to sign in. He then got a lift back to the hotel with Kylie McKenzie, Ryan Peus and Ryan’s dad while I decided to run the 2.5 miles – a short distance but it was very hot and humid!

Once I got back, Alex and I had a recovery session in the swimming pool and then at 6.30pm it was back to the Ciao Café with Kylie, Ryan and Eric. We had another fantastic meal and I think I’m spreading the word quite well about the restaurant as, just as we were finishing, half of the tournament seemed to turn up for dinner!

By the time we got back to the hotel the draw was out:

Schedule for tomorrow (oh, and it’s Alex’s birthday!):

Alex Hagon (GBR) (1880) vs Kristen Anthony (TRI) (UNR) – 1^st match on at 10am after the Opening Ceremony

Saturday 24^th August 2013

We had an excellent training day today which saw Alex produce the highest level of hitting that I’ve seen from him ever!

We had a bit of a lie-in this morning as we met for breakfast at 8.30am and then got the tournament bus to the club at 10am. Due to the ‘Drinks Festival’ yesterday and the ‘Boat Race’ today the whole of Scarborough was packed, so it ended up taking us almost 40 minutes to do a journey that would normally take 5-10 minutes.

Alex warmed up as soon as we arrived at the club and then at 11am he went on court with Gui Gomes from America who qualified and lost in the semi-finals last week. Over the past couple of weeks Alex’s game has really started to come together and the level that he produced this morning was the highest I have seen from him. That resulted in a really good training session for just over an hour where both players were pushing each other hard in hot and very humid conditions.

After the session Alex showered and changed and then we headed to ‘Subway’ for lunch. I’m normally a fan of Subway sandwiches but as I’m training for the Great North Run and trying to lose a couple of kilos I could have really done without having a big baguette for lunch – unfortunately it was the only option though!

We were back on court at 2pm this afternoon to train with Victor Gurevich and once again Alex produced another session of high quality. The only difficulty for Alex was trying to maintain his focus when he took a big lead in the points but it was something we discussed and hopefully he can continue to work on it tomorrow. At 3pm we finished the session and we should have got the tournament bus straight back to the hotel but as it was running a bit late Alex started is power session at the club. We then finished it on the veranda at the hotel and by 4pm Alex had finished a very good training day.

Mine hadn’t quite finished though and I took to the streets for a very draining 6 mile run. The roads weren’t as hilly as in St. Vincent but the humidity at 5pm was very high and it really took it out of my legs. Like before though, the thoughts of helping very sick children kept me motivated to finish the run. I’ve now raised £195 for Make-A-Wish Foundation which is just over ¼ of the way to my target amount – if you can help me get closer please donate via my JustGiving page – www.justgiving.com/robsGNR2013.

At 6pm Alex, Stefan, Danielle and I walked into Scarborough to once again have a fantastic meal at Ciao Café – we all went for the pasta again but I think I’m going to have to have a ‘cheat day’ this week so that I can try one of their amazing looking pizzas!!!

Friday 23^rd August 2013

It was a full day of travelling today as we said goodbye to St. Vincent and hello to Tobago which will be our home for the next week.

We had an early start this morning and were at the airport checking in at 7.30am but as we were travelling with Liat Airlines we should have known there was going to be a delay! Even at 7.30am the flight had been delayed from 9.30am to 11am so we made the decision to check in and then get a local bus back to the hotel to relax there in our air-conditioned rooms! Leaving the airport after checking in reminded me of when I was travelling with my wife in the Cook Islands – you could check-in and then go across the road to the pub to wait until you saw the plane land, then go through security and board straight away!

We eventually got on the flight at about 11am and enjoyed a very scenic view over the Grenadines on the way to Trinidad.

We were scheduled to fly to Tobago on the 5.45pm flight but the national coach for Tobago (who has some very good contacts at the airport!) managed to get us on his flight at 3pm which saved us a good couple of hours of waiting around.

We arrived at the Blue Haven hotel at around 5pm and were pretty impressed by the view from the reception:

The restaurant at the hotel looked a little pricey so we decided to take the 15 minute walk into Scarborough to go to Ciao Cafe – a family run Italian restaurant that had been recommended by a couple of people. After going into the café first (and almost getting our heads blown off by the crazy music) we were told that the pizza and pasta restaurant was next door. Alex and I both opted for the pasta and we weren’t disappointed. The food was amazing and I think we’ll be coming back each evening this week.

After dinner we had a walk further into town to get some food from the supermarket and some fruit from the local street vendors. We then looked for a taxi back to the hotel but because the town was so packed tonight every driver was busy. The restaurant owner then tried his contacts and after he couldn’t find anyone he did us a massive favour and took us back to the hotel himself.

It was then an early night to get ready for a full training day tomorrow.