Wednesday 7^th May 2014

After 6 days of training hard and competing hard, we had a well-deserved rest day today which saw us go to the fantastic Dusternbrook Farm to see the Cheetahs and Leopards being fed.

Due to the early bus timetable this week we’ve been getting up around 5.45am so I thought it was about time that Toby had a lie-in today! We met for breakfast at 9.30am and then spent a relaxing morning at the hotel before it was time to leave for the farm.

One of the hotel taxi drivers picked us up at 12.45pm and took us on the 30km drive to the entrance to the land where the farm was based. What we didn’t know was that we had a further 18km on gravel roads – not that it made a difference to our driver as he continued to drive at 80km/h!

When we went through the gates to the farm we were immediately met by Springboks, Oryx, Impala and Warthogs roaming free in their natural environment. The farm is the first and oldest guest farm in Namibia and has been at its current location since 1908.

At 2pm we got into the open bus and took a short drive through the farm to where the Cheetahs were. As soon as they heard us coming both the two 7 year old males tracked the bus until we got to an open space where our guide started feeding them. It was brilliant to get so close to these amazing animals and as you can imagine we didn’t stop taking pictures! Here are some of the best ones:

After 30 minutes we left the Cheetahs and drove down the track to see one of the Leopards, but, when we arrived he wasn’t as welcoming as the Cheetahs had been! It took a bit of time for the guide to entice out the 9 year old male and when he did come out he was a lot more aggressive than the Cheetahs had been!

Click here for a video that made us all jump!

Again we got some great pictures of the Leopard feeding including one of him climbing a tree to get the food that the guide had thrown up there:

At 3pm it was time to leave him to his dinner and we headed back to the main farmhouse. We were due to leave straightaway but on our way to trying to find the toilet, Toby and I walked around the back of the main house to this breath-taking view:

As we looked closer we saw more and more wild animals roaming in the reserve and it was really nice to see all of these animals without them being behind cages in a Zoo.

At 4pm we left the farm and, having been looking for different animals all afternoon, we suddenly saw a lot more than we did on the way to the farm! On the drive back I decided to try and edit some of the pictures / videos that I had taken but I didn’t realise that I had taken over 250!

We arrived back at just before 5pm and even though it was nice to get back to our hotel, it was an absolutely fantastic afternoon – I would recommend Dusternbrook Farm (www.duesternbrook.net) to anyone that comes to Windhoek and I hope I get the chance to go back there in the future.

That ends week 1 and we’ll start our preparations for week 2 tomorrow!

Tuesday 6^th May 2014

It was a tough day at the office today as Toby lost a tricky match against the no.2 seed and then in the afternoon Toby and Brandon lost a disappointing 1^st round doubles match.

Our long day started with a 6.20am breakfast and then we were on court warming up at 7.30am for our 8am practice session with Brandon. Toby’s been hitting well all week and the pre-match session this morning was no different – his confidence has been growing with every match / training session and, considering he has only been on one previous ITF trip, he is looking very comfortable at this level.

After the session we had quite a bit of time to kill until Toby went on for his match; I got stuck into a bit of tournament planning while Toby split his time between watching some of the matches and playing Subway Surfers!! As the match before Toby’s was starting it’s second set we went through our pre-match preparations and then went on court to warm-up again which included a little movement work to get Toby sharp.

Toby then went on court at 12.20pm to take on 2^nd seed Kris Van Wyk from South Africa. Toby was looking forward to the challenge of taking on a player ranked inside the top 275 in the world and he made life very tough for Kris to hold serve in the opening game. Unfortunately Toby was broken in the next game and he soon found himself 3-0 down following a strong service game from Kris. He kept fighting hard though and played some good tennis to hold serve 3 times before Kris went on to take the set 6-3.

The second set was almost identical to the first set but this time Toby was broken in the opening game and it was always going to be difficult to break back as Kris’ serve was getting better and better the longer the match went on. Toby held serve at *0-2 and *1-3 with some good tennis during the set but his consistency at a higher level just let him down a little when it really mattered. After breaking Toby at *2-4, Kris went on to hold serve with 3 unreturnable serves to take the match 6-3, 6-2. It was always going to be tough against a good player like Kris but Toby definitely felt that the early breaks in each set really cost him and if he can increase his consistency, then next time he could make it a much closer match.

We only had an hour a 15 minute break before Toby and Brandon were back on court for their 1^st round doubles match. Before they went on I sat both of them down to go through what I expected from them on the doubles court and they had a clear gameplan both when serving and when returning.

They started the match against Tino Dahlem and James Roelofse very well and looked very dynamic in the opening two / three games . . . unfortunately after that the boys stopped moving as much and struggled to impose themselves as much at the net. Despite that, the first set went with serve until *4-5 when Brandon was broken and the boys found themselves a set down.

Toby and Brandon raced to a 3-0 lead at the start of the second set and kept hold of one of those breaks to take the set 6-4. Even though they were back on level terms I felt that it wasn’t a convincing set; 6 out of the 10 games were decided by a Sudden Death Deuce point and the amount that the boys were moving at the net and finishing first volleys was lower than during the first set. That meant that there was still a lot of work to do but it was Tino and James that started the match tie-break better and they quickly took a 4-1 lead. Toby and Brandon continued to work hard but a few poor shot selections at crucial times costs them a lot and their opponents went on to take the match 6-4, 4-6, 10-6.

Both boys were very disappointed with the result but it was their first match together and hopefully we can work a lot on their doubles before next week.

As we’re having a day off tomorrow Toby decided that he would like to have a change for dinner so, predictably, we headed off to Nando’s at 6pm. The food was actually pretty good but while Toby went for the hot sauce I decided that I would play it a bit safer and stick to the medium one!

We’re still undecided as to what we’re going to do tomorrow but we do have the options of a couple of game drives so we’ll see what happens!

Monday 5^th May 2014

A straightforward match for Toby today saw him through to the 2^nd round of the Main Draw where he’ll face the no.2 seed tomorrow.

I woke this morning at 5.30am to the heart-breaking news that Elena Baltacha had died of liver cancer yesterday. I have known Bally for many years and had been at many of the same tournaments that she played while she was on her way up the rankings to the top 50 in the world. One of my favourite memories of Bally was when I came on court after the first set of a doubles match that her and Naomi Cavaday were playing on centre court at the Eastbourne WTA event. In WTA events you are allowed to call your coach on at either a chance of ends or the end of the set and, after losing the first set 7-6, the girls called me on. As I was explaining to them what they needed to adjust in the match, Bally’s passion and willingness to listen was so intense that it actually made me laugh out loud and I completely forgot what I was going to say! She was an amazing person, a true fighter and a perfect role model for any up and coming player – she will be missed by everyone that ever had the fortune to have met her.

Toby and I had breakfast at 6.20am and then got the 7am shuttle bus to the club. Like yesterday, we were at the club very early but we would have missed our practice session if we had got the later 9.30am bus. After warming up, Toby had a good hit with his doubles partner, Brandon Levendale, from 8 – 8.30am before the first matches went on court.

We knew we would have a bit of waiting around today, but after going through all of our preparations for the match we saw that the first match on Toby’s court was almost finished. The next match was over pretty quickly too and even though Toby’s match had a ‘not before 11am’ time, both him and his opponent agreed to go on early at 10.45am.

We knew nothing about Clemens Roeber apart from the fact that he was from Namibia and he was unranked. As is the case with many events in Africa, the qualifying draw can often be tougher to get through compared to many of the opening matches in the Main Draw and that was definitely true of Toby’s match today. Toby started a little slowly and even though he broke in the 1^st game, he gave up his serve cheaply in the very next game with 2 double faults and 2 unforced errors. It’s often tough to raise your own level when you’re not getting into much of a rhythm in a match but to his credit Toby stayed focussed and won the next 11 games in a row to take the match 6-1, 6-0.

Following the match I took toby through a long cool down and stretching session before we got a lift back to the hotel from the president of the Namibian Tennis Association. Over lunch we discussed the match and both agreed on the positives and the areas that we wanted to work on before the next round.

Our regular routine this week has been to get back on court in the afternoon after Toby’s matches and today he wanted to do the same to work on a few specific areas. So, at 3pm we got the bus back to the club and went straight on court to warm up with Brandon. Before the boys hit, I decided that we would do a quick 5 ball fan sprint to get them nice and sharp. I explained that 15.5 seconds was very quick, 15.5-16.5 seconds was good and anything over 16.5 seconds wasn’t quite good enough! Toby went first and put in a 16.77s and Brandon was all over the place on his sprint missing one of the pick-ups and ending up with 18.22s. The boys then challenged me to do better and were convinced that I would be slower because I hadn’t warmed up and was in my running shoes! I then put in a steady 15.89s . . . not bad for someone almost 20 years older than them!!

The boys managed to get over their disappointment of me beating them and put in a good training session for an hour. We covered the areas that Toby wanted to work on, then worked on some doubles specifics before their 1^st round match tomorrow and finished with some open point play.

Once we had cooled down and stretched out we got the bus back to the hotel via the supermarket to stock up on some water . . . just the 25 litres worth – should do us for a few days!!

We had another good dinner at the hotel tonight where Toby finally got the chicken pasta that he’d wanted for the last few days. There was then just a enough time for Toby, Sophie, Brendon and I to discuss who had the best taste in music (definitely me!) before it was time for an early night.

Schedule for tomorrow:

(q) Toby Huffer (GBR) (UNR) vs (2) Kris Van Wyk (RSA) (268) – 3^rd match after 8.30am (not before 11am)

Toby Huffer (GBR) & Brandon Levendale (ZIM) vs Tino Yannick Dahlem (GER) & James Roelofse (RSA) – 5th match after 8.30am (not before 1pm)

Sunday 4^th May 2014

It was another good day at the Central Tennis Club today as Toby came through a potentially tricky match to secure his place in the Main Draw.

We met for breakfast this morning at 7am and then took the 7.30am bus to the club. We again had the option of the getting the 8.30am bus but if it had been late then we wouldn’t have had enough time to warm up before our 9 o’clock practice session.

Once we had gone through our physical warm-up we took to the court and had a good 30 minute match warm-up session which today, as we knew a little about Toby’s opponent, was based around the tactics he was going to use. We also knew that the Sun could be a factor in the match as it was directly behind the court and by the time Toby would go on for his match it would be in a very difficult position. With that in mind we changed ends a few times during the session so that Toby was fully prepared for his match.

At 9.30am the first round of matches went on so Toby and I went off to start to prepare his game plan and goals for his match. The match before Toby’s was very close and lasted almost two hours but eventually it was time for Toby to take to the court to face Alosha Chikanda from Zimbabwe.

Toby started the match very well and even though we knew that Alosha had a good heavy forehand, Toby dealt with it with ease. Toby quickly took a 2-0* lead and was dominating the points from the back of the court with very good accuracy. During the break before Toby’s match we had watched some of the other last round matches and we both agreed that the best players are managing to control the ball at this altitude by really committing to every ball they hit – and that was exactly what Toby did at the start of the match! Alosha held serve at 2-0* but Toby continued to keep the pressure on with some very good serving and good hitting from the back of the court to take the next 4 games in a row.

Toby didn’t start the second set well and 4 unforced errors in his first service game saw him fall 0-1* behind. He responded professionally though and won the next 4 games in a row to take a commanding 6-1, 4-1 lead. At this stage it was looking as though the match was done and dusted but Toby took his foot off the gas a little and at the same time Alosha decided he would produce his best tennis of the match! The following two games went against Toby and at 4-3* he started to play without the same freedom that he had in the first set and a half. The next game was very important and to his credit Toby managed to settle himself well to break straight back to go *5-3 up. Toby then played a solid service game and, despite not being able to convert on his first 2 match points, he took the 3^rd and let out a big “Come on!” as he secured his place in his first U18 ITF Main Draw.

After the match we had a brief chat and then Toby cooled down and stretched out before the bus came to take us back to the hotel for lunch.

At 3pm we headed back to the club and had another very good hour on court to work on some specific points that had come up from the match. We were joined on court by Courtney Lock who is the number 1 seed this week and has just returned from playing Grade 1 events in France and Italy. It was great for Toby to train with Courtney and it gave him an excellent opportunity to gage the level of someone who is close to the top 200 in the world.

After the boys were finished they both cooled down and had a good stretch out before we got the bus back to the hotel.

At dinner tonight we were joined by Sophie, Luke (her father) and Brandon Levendale from Zimbabwe. We had a good meal despite the waiter struggling with every order that we placed and it was great to share stories about places and tournaments that we had all been to.

Once we were finished Toby and I went through today’s match in detail and started to prepare for his next match tomorrow.

Schedule for tomorrow:

(q) Toby Huffer (GBR) (UNR) vs Clemens Roeber (NAM) (UNR) – 3^rd match after 8.30am (not before 11am)

Saturday 3^rd May 2014

It was a good start to the first tournament today as Toby came through his opening match in qualifying to move one match away from the Main Draw.

It was a very early start this morning with Toby and I meeting for breakfast at 6.20am and then getting the first bus to the club at 7am. Even though Toby was scheduled for the second match on court, we had to get the earlier bus in order to make our 8am practice session.

We went through our physical warm-up from 7.30-8am and then had a good practice session for half an hour. The time that we’ve spent on court over the last 3 days has really enabled Toby to become well acclimatised to the conditions and our hit this morning was one of the best that we’d had since we arrived. By the time Toby had warmed up everything he was feeling very confident and ready for his match.

While the first round of matches were on court Toby and I went through his pre-match sheet so that he had a clear game plan and also had specific goals for the match. At 10am the referee told us that Toby’s match was going to be moved to another court so we had 15 minutes to warm up before he went on court to take on Sam Bencheghib from France.

The first game of the match was a little edgy from both players but as soon as Toby broke Sam’s serve and then held to take a 2-0 lead he looked much more confident. Sam then played a good game to hold serve but Toby upped his level and started to dictate the points from the back of the court which lead to him holding and breaking to take a 4-1 lead. By this stage Toby was in full control of the match and he kept the pressure on his opponent to take the next two games and the first set, 6-1.

Toby continued to play well in the second set and even though he ended up taking it 6-0 there were some tight games with Sam competing hard throughout the match. Overall it was a good performance from Toby and, after having difficult qualifying matches in the three ITFs in Nairobi in February, it was great to see him get his first ITF singles win on the board!

After Toby had cooled down and stretched out we headed back to the hotel to get some lunch and watch Tottenham lose – sorry Toby!!

Many players might have decided to take the afternoon off after a first round match but Toby shared the same opinion as me that; an opportunity to practice is an opportunity to improve. We went back over to the club at 3pm and then had a very good session on court for just over an hour. The whole session was point based to get Toby ready for his final round of qualifying match tomorrow and he once again raised his level from this morning. After losing the match tie-break on Friday I had to get some revenge (which I did!) but I had a feeling that Toby was saving his best level for our final tie-break and he took me down 7-5. Many coaches might say that they wanted to boost their player’s confidence and so let them win but in this case Toby just played too well!!

Dinner tonight was again a recommendation from Toby but I’m very pleased to say that the Lasagne was nowhere near as spicy as the curry yesterday! During dinner we talked through the specifics from Toby’s match and went through his post-match sheet before setting up the game plan for his next match tomorrow.

We were then finally able to get on the internet (as it’s been down all day) which gave us a chance to catch up on everything Facebook / Twitter / Snapchat related!

Schedule for tomorrow:

Alosha Chikanda (ZIM) (UNR) vs Toby Huffer (GBR) (UNR) – 2^nd match after 9.30am

Friday 2^nd May 2014

Today was our first full day of training here in Namibia and Toby put in two great sessions which has prepared him very well for his first round qualifying match tomorrow.

There wasn’t a practice court booking system in place this morning so we decided to get up early and get to the club just after 9am to try to get a court before all the other players turned up! After warming up on court I took Toby through a footwork session which included some specific movement exercises, some medicine ball work and finally some speed work.

Toby and I then trained for just over an hour with the focus again being on adjusting to the altitude and getting more of a feel for the ball at a match level. Toby was hitting the ball well and as the session went on he became more confident to commit to the shot without the worry of the ball flying through the air took quickly and going long. Towards the end of the session we spent some time working on Toby’s serve and return as we knew that they would be fundamental in his match tomorrow and then we ended the session with a match tie-break. I’ve been instructed to make sure I state the result of the tie-break so here it is … Toby won 10-5 – but I’m going to make sure I get revenge later in the week!!

Once we had cooled down and stretched we got the shuttle bus back to the hotel to get some lunch and relax.

At 2.30pm we headed back over to the club to warm up for our second session of the day. Toby had another very good hour on court and, after warming up with Matthew Astell from South Africa, they played a lot of points to make sure they were both ready for their matches tomorrow.

At 4.15pm we headed off court to cool down, stretch out and sign-in for qualifying. The shuttle bus was then supposed to pick us up at 5pm to take us back to the hotel but, because it got delayed coming back from the airport, we had to persuade one of the tournament staff to give us a lift back!!

Dinner tonight was again at the hotel restaurant and on Toby’s recommendation I decided to go for the chicken curry – what he didn’t tell me was that it was pretty spicy!! Once we were finished (and I had put the flames out!) I checked my emails to find the draw and order of play had been sent through from the referee:

Schedule for tomorrow:

Toby Huffer (GBR) (UNR) vs Sam Bencheghib (FRA) (UNR) – 2^nd match after 8.30am

Thursday 1^st May 2014

It’s was a long 20 hours of travel but we finally arrived in Windhoek, Namibia today for the next stop on the ITC calendar.

After negotiating the London Underground on day 2 of the strikes I finally got to Heathrow to meet Toby Huffer at around 6pm. I spent last Friday on court with Toby and his coach, Marten Renstrom, at Dukes Meadows high performance centre which gave me the chance to get to know Toby and also speak with Marten about the areas he would like me to focus on with Toby at the two tournaments.

After we checked in we got some dinner and then boarded the 11 hour flight to Johannesburg. Luckily we managed to get some exit seats which meant we were both able to get some sleep – I think I managed to get a little more than Toby though as I was passed out for almost the whole flight!!

Once we arrived in Johannesburg we had a 4 hour stopover before our final 2 hour flight to Namibia. It then took us almost 45 minutes to clear a very busy Customs but once we finally got through we were met by the tournament bus driver who took us, and Sophie Gerits and her father from Belgium, to the tournament hotel.

As the altitude here in Windhoek is around 1,600 metres it is important that we get as much time as possible on court before qualifying starts on Saturday. So, with that in mind we checked in at the hotel at 4pm and then went straight to the club to get a good hour of practice with Sophie before the sun went down.

While we were on court we had a few visitors including a mean looking wasp, a huge centipede and this:

After training Toby cooled down and stretched out before we headed back to the hotel to get some dinner and relax after a very long day!