Thursday 10^th April 2014

It was another good day in the Desert today as Katie fought a tough opponent and intense heat and humidity to take out the 6^th seed and advance to the Quarter-Finals.

Another early start saw us have breakfast at 6.45am before packing up to check out of the house. We arrived on site at the tennis centre at 7.45am and then reviewed some of the analysis of the match yesterday so that we could use it, along with the plan for today, to be ready for the match. After going through her physical warm-up, Katie hit with Mia for about 35 minutes during which time we focussed on some of the pre-match specifics including changing pace and spin to not let her opponent get into a rhythm. Katie was hitting the ball great and by the time we left the court at 9am we were both really happy with the level she had produced.

At 9.40am Katie went on court to face 6^th seed Raquel Pedraza from America and, having watched her play yesterday, we were fully prepared with our game plan to expose her weaknesses. Katie started the match very well; her 1^st serve percentage was high, she was controlling the points from the back of the court and absorbing the pressure when Raquel took the ball on. At 3-0* up Katie was in complete control but Raquel raised her level of consistency to hold serve and then break Katie to leave the set on serve at 3-2*. Katie responded very professionally to this and stepped up more in the next game breaking Raquel for the second time. Katie then stuck to the game plan but kept increased the pressure on her opponent to win 2 out of the next 3 games and finished the set on a big ace!

The second set was a real war of attrition with both girls giving it everything they had for an hour and 40 minutes! Firstly Katie took a 3-1 lead with a combination of solid tennis and a lot of errors from her opponent but then Raquel’s mindset changed and she stopped missing while at the same time hitting 5 winners in 2 games to level the set at 3-3*. Once again this didn’t faze Katie who responded immediately by breaking back with 4 winners of her own in one game! The rollercoaster continued in the next two games but this time it was Raquel who was the one dictating the play with 5 more winners resulting in her taking a *4-5 lead. Katie then showed great determination by holding serve at *4-5 and *5-6 and on both occasions Katie was just 2 points away from losing the set! The tie-break was epic . . . both girls were going toe-to-toe with each other and some of the rallies were very brutal. Katie raced to a 4-0 lead and then led 6-3 before Raquel fought extremely hard to save 3 match points. Katie again maintained the belief in her game and, after getting a mini-break at 6-6*, she stayed disciplined and eventually won another long rally to take the match 6-3, 7-6(6). I was exhausted just watching so I can only imagine how Katie felt!

After the match I went straight up to Katie to congratulate her on a very mentally tough performance and, after a bit of treatment from the physio, we got into the air-conditioned gym to cool down and stretch out. I was really proud of how Katie handled the situation as she was not only fighting her opponent, but also the heat and humidity and she did it all extremely well to record her first victory over a top 75 player.

The afternoon was spent relaxing / recovering and then, as it is my last night before I fly home tomorrow to get ready for the London Marathon on Sunday, we all headed out for a lovely dinner.

There will be no Blog tomorrow but I will be posting the results on the Facebook page so to keep updated please click here and like the page.

Schedule for tomorrow:

(11) Katie Swan (GBR) (112) vs Francesca Di Lorenzo (USA) (UNR) – 2^nd match after 10.30am, not before 12.30pm

Wednesday 9^th April 2014

It was another good match for Katie and a great player’s party / coach’s reception today at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden.

An early start saw us have breakfast at 6.45am this morning and then get to the club to warm up on court at 8am. Katie then hit with Olivia Hauger from 8.30am until matches started at 9am and once again Katie’s level was very good throughout. Even though it was just a match warm-up we still talked about the goals for the match during the session and in particular focussed on service placement to set up the point.

Once we were done we headed back to the house to relax for an hour and get some food before getting back on site for 10.30am. Katie’s match wasn’t scheduled until 11.30am so we had lots of time to talk through the pre-match sheet and go through a good warm–up before she went on court for the match.

After a bit of a delay Katie went on to face Karina Traxler at 12.15pm and, after a solid first game (which saw Katie break Karina), she really upped her level to match the quality of hitting that she found against Kaitlyn last week. Katie dictated almost every point in the first set and hit a total of 14 winners on her way to winning the set 6-0. Her serve was working very well and, even though her 1^st serve percentage wasn’t that high, when it did go in it didn’t often come back!

During the second set Katie continued to dominate the points and put into practice all of the work we had done over the past couple of weeks on patterns of play. Karina held serve in the first game of the set but that was to be the only game that she would win as Katie won the next 6 games in a row to take the match 6-0, 6-1 in just over an hour.

After a quick debrief Katie went into the gym to cool down and stretch out while I headed to stadium court 3 to watch her next round opponent. Just as I arrived at the court the girls were finishing the second set and, as they ended up splitting sets, I was able to watch the whole of the third set which saw 6^th seed Raquel Pedraza come through 6-3, 1-6, 6-1.

From 3pm until 3.30pm Katie and I were back on court for a light hit with Mia Horvitt and then it was time to go back to the house to get some food and get ready for the player’s party.

The evening was very well organised and had two objectives; 1) get the players together to have dinner and unwind after a tough day’s competition and 2) get the coaches together for the USTA coaches reception and award ceremony. It was only really open to USTA coaches but when I was in Carson last week I asked if I could join in and I’m very pleased that they let me! Firstly we all had dinner together and then Patrick McEnroe took to the microphone to talk about the tournament and also introduce some of the legendary award winners. Then, one by one Jerry Baskin, Nick Bollettieri, Robert Lansdorp and Jack Sharp were presented with a Team USA Coaching Legend Award. They then individually gave a 5 minute speech on their coaching philosophy and told some stories about their own coaching careers. Nick and Robert were absolutely brilliant and gave very motivating speeches and then, just as I thought the evening would finish, Patrick McEnroe got all four of them up to do a question and answer session with the audience:

I felt very privileged to attend the evening and afterwards had a good chat with Patrick and Nick. It would be great if other federations would do the same at some of their higher grade ITF events as it really does help the coaches to develop and learn from the very best.

The evening finished at 8pm and then Katie and I headed back to the house to relax and pack up as we must check out tomorrow.

Schedule for tomorrow:

(6) Raquel Pedraza (USA) (72) vs (11) Katie Swan (GBR) (112) – 1^st match at 9.30am

Tuesday 8^th April 2014

We had a mixed day today as, on one hand the training that Katie put in was of a very high quality, while on the other hand, Katie and Usue were knocked out in the doubles against a very good pair.

As the tournament split the draw Katie only had doubles today so we took advantage of having a free morning to get some good quality training in. The first round of matches were scheduled for 10am this morning so we got to the site at 8.30am and then warmed up to get ready to hit with Mia Horvitt from 9-10am. While Mia was warming up, Katie and I did some reaction ball work and then the girls had a really good hour’s practice which involved some specific drilling and some point play. Mia was happy for me to lead the session so we went through everything we needed to so that Katie’s was fully prepared for her next singles match.

At 10am the matches started so I headed straight to court 8 to watch Katie’s next round opponent play her first round match. On that court Karina Traxler played qualifier Rebekah Anderson and, after a close first four games, Karina took the first set 6-2. I made a lot of notes on both players during that first set and, once it was completed I was confident that Karina would go on to win the match, so Katie and I headed back to the house to get some lunch.

When we returned at 12.15pm we were informed that the girl’s doubles would not be before 2.30pm so we relaxed for a while in the player’s lounge and then went on court with Usue Arconada to get the girls ready for their doubles match. Both Katie and Usue were hitting the ball very well during the 30-40 minute session and Katie looked much more confident in the areas we had worked on this morning.

At 3pm Katie and Usue went on to face Francesca Di Lorenzo and Sofia Kenin and, even though Katie and Usue were the number 1 seeds, we knew that it was going to be a tough 1^st round match.

During the first 5 games Katie and Usue played some good doubles and moved well but just struggled to finish first volleys whereas Francesca and Sofia were very consistent at the back of the court and very sharp at the net. Even though each game was close, Katie and Usue found themselves 0-5 down but continued to work hard and, after breaking Sofia and Katie holding serve, they started to build some momentum. Unfortunately Francesca then held serve to take the first set 6-2 but I was confident that our girls would be able to turn the match around in the second set.

At *1-3 in the second set it wasn’t looking too good but Katie and Usue managed to raise their games and found some really good energy to win the next 3 games in a row and take a 4-3 lead. Usue was broken at *4-4 but we broke Sofia straight back to level the set and then it went with serve until the tie-break. By this stage it the set could have easily gone either way but it was Francesca and Sofia that played the better breaker and went on to take it 7-2.

Despite the loss there were some very positive parts of the match; Katie moved well during the first set and served very well throughout but Francesca and Sofia played a very high quality match throughout.

After the match Katie went into the gym to cool down and stretch out while I completed one of my last 3 training runs before the London Marathon on Sunday. We then headed back to the house for dinner and a relaxing evening to prepare for Katie’s 2^nd round single match tomorrow.

Schedule for tomorrow:

Karina Traxler (USA) (896) vs (11) Katie Swan (USA) (112) – not before 11.30am

Monday 7^th April 2014

It was a good start to the Easterbowl in Indian Wells today as Katie overcame a tricky opponent to win through to the 2^nd round of the singles.

We started the day with an early breakfast before heading over to the club at around 8.30am. Even though Katie’s match wasn’t scheduled until 1pm we only had the opportunity to practice until 10am when the matches started so we decided to warm up at around 8.45am and then hit with Mia Horvitt from around 9.10 – 9.45am. Katie was looking very good in the practice and has continued to build on the work that we did in Carson last week.

After the session Katie and I headed back to the house to have lunch, relax and most importantly get out of the heat while the first round matches started. We then made our way back to the club at 12pm to prepare for Katie’s match and as we got into the car we were greeted by this:

As soon as we got on site I went straight to the referee’s office to check the situation with the Heat Rule and was immediately told that it had been in since 10am this morning! The Heat Rule is not just based on temperature (but that is a major factor) but it does mean that players can have a 10 minute break between 2^nd and 3^rd sets where they can leave the court, see the trainer etc. but cannot speak to their coach.

At 12.30pm Katie and I sat down and went through the plan for the match and set specific goals before she went through a thorough warm up. Then at 1pm she went on stadium court 3 to face Alexandra Letzt from California.

The match started with 5 breaks of serve; Katie took the lead three times but on the first two occasions she was broken straight back in the next game until at *3-2 she played a very good service game to hold and take a commanding 4-2* lead. She then backed up her hold by breaking Alexandra and then hit 3 winners in her next service game to take the set 6-2.

Katie built on the momentum that she had created in the first set by braking Alexandra in the first game of the 2^nd set and then went on to take a 5-1 lead with some very smart play. Just when it looked as though the match was almost over Alexandra raised her level; she held serve at 5-1* and then after breaking Katie her confidence increased significantly. Katie continued to fight hard and earned a match point at 5-3* but Alexandra played some impressive tennis to peg Katie back to *5-4. Katie responded very professionally to Alexandra’s fight back and, after a close service game, she held to take the match 6-2, 6-4. It was a good win for Katie and she showed a lot of character in that 2^nd set, especially as it was very hot on court.

After the match we went straight back on court to work on a few specific areas of Katie game for 10-15 minutes and then it was straight into the gym to cool down and stretch out in nice air-conditioned comfort!

We left site at 4.45pm and went back to the house where Katie went through a good recovery session in the swimming pool. We then had another great meal thanks to Nicki, before settling in for the NCAA basketball Finals followed by watching The Blind Side.

Schedule for tomorrow:

(1) Usue Arconada (USA) & Katie Swan (GBR) vs Francesca Di Lorenzo (USA) & Sofia Kenin (USA) – Time TBC

Sunday 6^th April 2014

It was another very good day of practice today as we put the final touches to our preparations before main draw starts tomorrow.

As qualifying was still going on at the club we decided to head back over to The Vintage Club this morning to guarantee a practice court for our session. We arrived there at just before 9am and, after warming up, Katie went through a short 10 minute ladder footwork session to sharpen her up before we hit. Katie and I then had a very good hit for 30 minutes before we moved courts to hit with Carol Finke from 10 – 10.45am. Even though Carol lost in qualifying yesterday, she was really good to train with and it gave Katie a chance to drill and play some practice points against another girl.

After the session we headed back to the house for some lunch and to relax before going over to the tournament site at just before 2pm for our afternoon session. By the time we left the temperature had really started to rise and as we started to warm up on court was around 90°F (about 32°C).

From 3-4pm Katie had a really good session with Mia Horvit; both girls found a very high level from the back of the court and then transferred that level into points for the last 25 minutes of the session. It was an ideal session to have before the tournament starts tomorrow and gave us some more very valuable time on the slower match courts at the Tennis Garden.

Once we finished the session we went straight into the gym to cool down and stretch out and then we had a bit of time to check out the rest of the tournament site. As we walked around we didn’t realise just how big it was – there are a total of 29 courts with 2 of them being huge stadium courts and even though the centre was built in 2000 specifically for the BNP Paribas Open, it is also a members club. There was also a big art festival on site over the weekend; some of the work was absolutely amazing (in particular some photos by Ian Ely) and some things were a little strange!

By 5.30pm we left site and headed back to the house to relax before dinner. We then had a long evening of waiting for the draw to come out – in the end I headed back to the club only to find out that one of the qualifying matches was still going on at 8.15pm! Eventually the draw came out at around 9pm and here it is:

Schedule for tomorrow:

Alexandra Letzt (USA) (1126) vs (11) Katie Swan (GBR) (112) – Not before 1pm

Saturday 5^th April 2014

It was another good training day today as we spent the morning at the prestigious Vintage Club and the afternoon back on site at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden.

Due to the qualifying of the Easter Bowl starting today, all of the courts had matches scheduled on them this morning so at 9am we headed a few miles down the road to The Vintage Club. The club is very exclusive and the views are absolutely stunning:

Katie and I warmed up at around 9.30am and then went through a movement and speed session for 10-15 minutes before finishing with a little medicine ball work. We then had a great session for around an hour and a half where we continued with the work we started yesterday evening. We added in some points towards the end of the session where Katie made me work extremely hard to just stay with her in the rally!!

After the session we headed back to the house to get some lunch and then at 2pm (just when the temperature was really starting to heat up!) we headed over to the tournament site for our second session of the day.

Katie trained with one of her friends from Wichita, Sam Beren, on one of the smaller stadium courts this afternoon which meant she had another opportunity to practice on the tournament surface before she plays on Monday. Katie and Sam warmed up and then played some points which gave us a great chance to work specifically on Katie’s serve and return.

Once they had finished Katie and I did some specific on court work for around 20-25 minutes to reinforce the work we did this morning and then we headed straight to the gym to go through her tournament fitness programme. By 5pm we had finished the programme, cooled down and stretched out which ended another very good training day.

We had just over an hour before dinner, so, while Katie got stuck into some school work, I hit the roads for a pretty tough 7.5 mile run. The programme I’m following should be tapering down now as there is only 8 days to go until the marathon but it still seems to be hard work!

I still need more sponsorship so please donate – www.justgiving.com/robslondonmarathon2014 – THANK YOU!

After another excellent dinner from Nicki, we all chilled out while watching the NCAA Final Four basketball and then it was an early night all round to make sure we’re ready for a final day’s preparation tomorrow.

Friday 4^th April 2014

It was a day of learning, driving and training today as our attention shifts to getting ready for the Easter Bowl U18 ITF Grade B1 which starts on Monday.

This morning we had breakfast, packed up and left the hotel at 8.30am to go to the tournament site so that we could watch some of the ¼ final matches. We wanted to watch Kaitlyn McCarthy play Kelly Chen so that we could learn from yesterday’s match and also check out some of the other girls who might be playing next week in Indian Wells.

At around 12pm we left Carson for the 2 and a half hour drive through the mountains to Indian Wells and even though everyone talks about Indian Wells being in the middle of the desert I didn’t quite realise that it actually would be!! We saw some amazing scenery as we drove from the city, through the mountains, past a huge wind farm, along some sand blown roads and into a town surrounded by mountains!

When we arrived we met up with Katie’s mum, Nicki, who is joining us for the week so we’re really looking forward to some home cooked meals!

At 5pm we headed over to the Indian Wells Tennis Garden which is less than a mile from where we are staying, but we were told straight away that there were no courts available for practice this evening. I’m not one to easily take no for an answer so we went into the gym to warm up and then at 5.45pm I managed to sweet talk a member into letting us use one of the courts he had booked! I did say that we were only looking to practice for 20-30 minutes but an hour and a half later, with the sun setting behind the mountains, we were still on the court training!

After the session we went back into the gym to cool down and stretch out before heading back to the house at just before 8pm for a lovely home cooked dinner.