Thursday 9^th October 2014

After waiting almost 3 days to play their doubles match the boys finally got on court today but it was just unfortunate that they came up against a very good pair in the opening round.

Due to yet more heavy rain overnight we knew when we woke up this morning that the clay courts would be out of action and that the whole tournament would be moved to the hard courts. We confirmed that with the referee after breakfast and decided that it would be better to stay at the hotel and practice on the hotel court rather than have to fight to get on the one practice court at the club.

With a revised ‘not before’ time of 12pm for their doubles match the boys warmed up in the gym at the hotel and then got on court at 10am for their tennis session. The court at the hotel is surrounded my concrete walls which made an already hot morning even hotter!

We stayed on court for around 45 minutes during which time Toby and Nils warmed up every part of their game and then we worked on a few doubles drills to finish. It was very hot on the court and we all agreed that we didn’t want to do too much and get too tired before the match, so at 10.45am we headed back to the apartment to shower and change. We then headed to the club to get some lunch, go through the goals and tactics for the match and then it was a case of sitting and waiting for our court to become available.

After the match before ours went to a 3^rd set, Toby and Nils eventually got on court at just before 2.30pm to face top seeds Indra Patwardhan and Arjun Ramakrishnan from India. Both boys were really up for the match and, having done a lot of training for it over the last 4 days, they were looking very confident from the start. After Indra held serve in the 1^st game Toby and Nils responded by holding a tight service game on a sudden death deuce point and then, following a strong game, broke Arjun to take a *2-1 lead. The first point of the next game could have been the most important point of the match; Nils put in a good 1^st serve down the ‘T’ and Toby crossed really well on the first shot but somehow their opponents managed to scrape the ball back and win the point. After that point the Indians seemed more confident and they upped their games to break Nils, hold serve and then break Toby to take the first set 4-2 (short sets because of all the rain delays and having to play 2 doubles matches in 1 day).

The 2^nd set was more one-sided than the first as Indra and Arjun raised their games significantly both when serving and returning to take the set 4-0. Toby and Nils were understandably disappointed with the loss but they did create chances in the first set and were up against two good players who had played together a lot in the past.

As the boys had been training and competing for the last 8 days I insisted that they took the afternoon off completely – no schoolwork, no gym work, just relax and unwind a bit before everything starts again tomorrow for the 2^nd tournament.

With that in mind we got back to the apartment at around 3.30pm and then spent the next couple of hours watching the end of “The Inbetweeners 2” and the first half of “Coach Carter” before we headed out to dinner at 6.45pm.

Both boys have been extremely disciplined with what they have been eating all week and so tonight I let them loose on the whole buffet at the Hilton! They didn’t actually go too crazy as they knew they had to train the next day but they did enjoy a dessert . . . or 3!

When we arrived back at our hotel Toby said he needed to go to the cash machine to get some money out but as he put the card in the slot he missed the card reader and dropped his card down a gap in front of it! We could all see the card sitting there but the gap was too small to reach it with our fingers and the hotel staff said we’d have to wait until the bank came along to open the machine. We had no idea how long that would be and I was up for a bit of a challenge so I went to the apartment, got a coat hanger and some physio tap and headed back downstairs. The hotel staff said it was not possible to get it out but after convincing them to let me give it a go I eventually managed to reach the card, stick it to the coat hanger with the physio tape and gentle navigate it back through the gap – a fine achievement if I do say so myself!!

After all that excitement we went back to the apartment to watch the end of Coach Carter and then relax for the rest of the evening.

Wednesday 8^th October 2014

The weather today was a lot better than it was yesterday; we still didn’t get the doubles played but we had a very good training day and the boys studied hard too!

While Nils stayed in the apartment and continued to plough through his school work, Toby and I were up early to get in a really good couple of hours in the gym. Toby continued to follow his strength and conditioning programme which dictates exactly what he needs to do depending on how many days he has until his next singles match. The programme includes 3 strength sessions, 2 conditioning programmes, 2 injury prevention programmes, a pool recovery session and a stretching routine for each day which doesn’t leave him short of something to do on a rainy day!

Sometimes it can be hard to keep motivating yourself as a player, especially when training gets tough in the gym, and that’s why I always try and workout alongside the players . . . after all, I can’t have them beating me too easily can I?!

At 11am we left the gym and went back to the apartment where Nils had lunch waiting for us – he’d only ordered room service for us, not actually cooked it himself! Once we’d finished lunch we watched the start of ‘Bad neighbours’ and then at 12.30pm we went over to the club to have our pre-match training session.

We’d planned on training for an hour and a half before the boys had their doubles match but due to the amount of rain we had yesterday the clay courts were still extremely soft. That meant that we had to train on the hard courts and we knew that if there was another downpour while we were training then the doubles would again be cancelled.

After warming up Toby and Nils pushed themselves very hard this afternoon and it showed in the quality of their ball striking throughout the session. Both boys had struggled with their consistency at the start of the trip but since then they have both improved a lot and it’s obvious that their confidence has improved more each day. As the session went on we worked more specifically on their doubles tactics and in particular their hand speed around the net. Unfortunately just as we were about to move into serve and return the rain started and within minutes the court was completely soaked!

With that we left the court and were immediately told by the referee that the doubles was cancelled for the day so the boys changed and then we headed straight back to the hotel.

Much to the boy’s disappointment I decided that they could get stuck into their school work from 3.30-5.30pm and then we headed out for an early dinner at TGIs near the Old Dutch Hospital.

Dinner was pretty good but the entertainment was even better! For those of you that read the Blogs from Namibia in May you’ll remember some forfeits involving a hair net – well this time Nils was on the receiving end of that one while I had to eat my dinner with a balloon on the back of my head – I’m not sure how Toby got away with not doing one this evening – he must be hooking the game somehow!!

When we got back to the apartment we watched the end of ‘Bad neighbours’ and then much to Nils’ delight we watched the start of ‘The Inbetweeners 2’.

Schedule for tomorrow:

(1) Indra Patwardhan (IND) & Arjun Ramakrishnan (IND) vs (WC) Toby Huffer (GBR) & Nils Larsson Regnstrom (SWE) – 3^rd match after 8.30am (not before 11.15pm)

Tuesday 7^th October 2014

Today was a bit of a non-event really as almost as soon as we arrived at the tennis club this morning the heavens opened and it poured down with rain for the whole day!

I was up early this morning and had a good run in the gym before I met the boys at 8am for breakfast. We had planned on leaving the hotel at 9am and even though it seemed like it was going to rain at any moment we called the referee and to our surprise he said that the singles matches were on court so we made our way over to the club. As soon as we arrived Toby and Nils started there warm-ups but within 5 minutes the rain started! It only lasted a few minutes so the boys got back out to warm up and complete their daily sprints before we went down to the back clay courts to hit. Toby and Nils were both hitting very well from the back of the court but just as we were about to go into some cross court hitting the rain came down . . . and didn’t stop!

Check out this video on the Facebook page: www.facebook.com/itctennis1

We stayed at the club to have some lunch and were hoping that the rain would ease so that we could get a Tuk Tuk back to the hotel without getting soaked . . . but it only got harder!

Eventually we got back to the hotel and relaxed for half an hour while we watched the end of The Inbetweeners movie (which Nils loved!) before the boys got stuck into their school work from 1-3pm.

It was then time to hit the gym and all three of us went through our own training programmes for around an hour and a half. It was great to see Toby and Nils getting on with their programmes in a very professional way without having to rely on a coach to guide them through it.

After the gym session we went back to the apartment, showered and changed and then headed out early to try and find somewhere to get some DVDs before we went to dinner. Last year I visited a video shop and ended up buying 6 of the latest DVDs for around £5 but I couldn’t remember the name of the shopping centre – all I knew was that it was either Liberty Plaza or Majestic City! We tried Liberty Plaza first but typically it was the wrong one and after driving around in the rain for 30 minutes we got to Majestic City and picked up 10 DVDs for £7!

From there we headed straight to the other Hilton for dinner and then it was back to the apartment to watch the first half of ‘Non-stop’ before the boys turned in for an early night.

Schedule for tomorrow (weather dependant!):

(1) Indra Patwardhan (IND) & Arjun Ramakrishnan (IND) vs (WC) Toby Huffer (GBR) & Nils Larsson Regnstrom (SWE) – 5^th match after 12pm (not before 4.45pm)

Monday 6^th October 2014

We had another very good training day today and following almost 4 hours of on-court doubles work, the boys are ready and raring to go for their 1^st round match tomorrow.

In order to get a full court to train on this morning we got up early and were at breakfast for when it opened at 6.30am. We then headed over to the club at 7am but, following a short spell of rain while we were at breakfast, the clay courts were out of action so we went straight onto the hard courts to warm up. We then managed to stay on the hard court (despite the security officer trying to kick us off, or make us pay, again!) for almost two hours and during that time we worked hard on Toby and Nils’ doubles game which included their consistency in the cross court rally, their court positioning and their volleys and movement forwards to finish points at the net. It was a tough session but both boys worked well and we were all surprised by how quickly the session went!

At 10.15am Toby and Nils signed in for the doubles and then we headed back to the hotel to get some lunch and relax before it was time for both of them to get stuck into their schoolwork. As much as the players always dislike having to keep up with their school work while they’re on the road, it’s still a very important part of their lives and I always make time for it during every tournament.

At 2pm we got a Tuk Tuk back to the tennis club and for the second time today the boys went through their very thorough warm ups:

Once we had all warmed up I challenged the boys to a couple of court sprints and I’m pleased to say that I can still keep up with them … just! We then walked down to the back clay courts and had one of the best training sessions of the trip. The session was just over 2 hours long and all of us were pushing each other to compete harder while maintaining a high level of focus on what we had worked on this morning. We ended with a short doubles set up to 4 games where Toby and Nils could only play back to the half court that I either served or returned from. It gave them an ideal opportunity to work on their doubles tactics in a matchplay situation and, just like this morning, I was really pleased with how hard they worked and how they tried to execute the game plans that he had discussed.

By the time we finished at 5pm the doubles draw was out:

We then went back to the hotel and, while Toby went straight into the gym to complete his strength programme, Nils hit the books again to do some more school work.

For dinner this evening we went back over to the other Hilton hotel and once again we all had the buffet which this evening had a ‘Thai’ theme. Toby and Nils loved the food but also loved the fact that they got me back for the forfeits they had to do yesterday! So here’s me walking around the restaurant holding our table candle above my head!!

Schedule for tomorrow:

(1) Indra Patwardhan (IND) & Arjun Ramakrishnan (IND) vs (WC) Toby Huffer (GBR) & Nils Larsson Regnstrom (SWE) – 4^th match after 8.30am (not before 12.45pm)

Sunday 5^th October 2014

It was a much more positive day today as not only did Toby and Nils put in a very good day of training but they also received a Wildcard into the doubles!

Yesterday we wanted to book an early practice court for this morning but we were convinced by the referee that it was going to rain overnight and he said it was best to book after 10am. So with that in mind we had a bit of a lie-in but when we did meet for breakfast at 8am the weather was amazing! – I’m sure Toby and Nils appreciated the extra sleep though!

We warmed up at the club at 9.30am and then managed to get a full court to practice on from 10am until 11.15am. During the session we focussed on the areas that Toby and Nils had struggled with in their singles matches yesterday – namely consistency at their personal ‘higher levels’ and also depth of shot both when under pressure and when attacking. Despite the conditions being hotter and more humid this morning than before on the trip, both boys worked very hard and were feeling much more positive by the end of the session.

Another thing that made both boys even happier was when I told them after the session that I had spoken to the referee and the tournament director, and they had agreed to give them a Wildcard into the doubles draw. Whenever I travel to events I always try to build good relationships with referees and the personnel who organise the events as you never know when you might need a favour – luckily for us the tournament committee here like us and we were all very grateful for the Wildcard.

After lunch Toby and I went through the details of his match from yesterday and compiled a list of the things we wanted to work on over the next 6 days before Qualifying starts next Saturday. One task that I had set both Toby and Nils after their matches yesterday was to ask other players to hit with them during the week so that they were getting more variety and I was very pleased that both of them arranged to play practice sets this afternoon.

Nils was first up at 1pm and he was taking on Hyung Sung Choi from Korea. Nils’ specific goals were to increase the consistency of his good level of hitting (his 8/10 shots) and also reduce the number of unforced errors that he missed over the baseline during the set. Nils did both of them very well and even though he lost the set 6-3 he stayed at his 8/10 level for around 80% of the session and only missed 4 balls long in the whole set.

Toby was next on court at 3pm and he was playing Saitejas Mopuri from India who is in the main draw this week. Toby’s main goals were to find a better depth off his backhand side and also have a specific focus for each point that he played depending on the score in the game. The set was very close from start to finish and even though Toby lost it 6-2 he had game points in 6 of the 8 games and every game apart from 1 went to Deuce – that just goes to show how close sets can be in tennis even though the score line might not reflect it.

At 4.15pm we headed back to the hotel with both players feeling a lot more confident and looking forward to working at their doubles tomorrow before their 1^st round match on Tuesday.

Once we got back to the hotel Toby went down to the pool to complete a recovery session while Nils went through some injury prevention work. We then all got ready and headed out for dinner at 6.30pm to TGI Fridays by the Dutch Hospital.

The boys were in good spirits again over dinner; Nils was loving his rack of Ribs . . .

. . . while Toby was not so impressed with having to eat his dinner through a Cricket helmet after losing at Subway Surfers . . .

. . . and I was just happy that Chelsea beat Arsenal!!

..

It’s going to be an early start tomorrow so we can get a full court to practise our doubles specifics so hopefully the weather will be kind to us again!

 

Saturday 4^th October 2014

It was a tough start to the first tournament for Toby and Nils here in Colombo as they both came up against good opponents in their first matches and played in difficult conditions.

As Toby was scheduled for a 9am match we were all up early and at breakfast for when it opened at 6.30am before heading over to the club at 7am. The original plan was to warm up from 7.30-8am and then go through our on-court session for 30 minutes but due to the overnight rain all of the clay courts were out of action. We waited until 8.30am before warming up and then managed to get on one of the hard courts for just over 30 minutes to loosen up before the matches. Toby and Nils were both hitting well and by the end of the session they were feeling confident going into their matches.

Between when we hit and when Toby went on court for his match we had a couple of hours so both players completed their pre-match sheets and set themselves goals that they would like to achieve in their matches. We then had an early lunch before Toby went on court at 11.45am to face Siddharth Anand from Indian.

Toby had a slow start to the match and lost his serve to Love in the first game but broke straight back to level the set at *1-1. From those first two games it was obvious that it was going to be a close match as both boys were hitting well from the back of the court and there was no obvious weakness in either of their games. At *3-3 Toby was broken for the 2^nd time and soon found himself 5-3 down after some strong attacking tennis from his opponent but Toby responded well and played some very smart tennis to hold and break to level the set at *5-5. Unfortunately, after taking the first point of the game, Toby double faulted twice and ended up losing four points in a row to get broken before Siddharth held serve to take the opening set 7-5.

The first set had been very close and it was a tough one to lose especially as it was very hot and humid on court. At the start of the 2^nd set Siddharth had a bit more of a spring in his step while Toby found it difficult to recover from losing the tight 1^st set and from the opening game I knew Toby was going to find it difficult to turn the match around. Toby ended up going down 6-0 in the 2^nd set but it was a lot closer than the score line suggests and Toby had many chances to get games on the board in a set that lasted 40 minutes.

As soon as Toby had finished Nils went straight on the same court to take on Adil Kalyanpur from India and at the start of the first set I thought I was watching Toby’s match again! Nils was broken in the first game and then broke straight back to level the score at *1-1 but straight away Adil upped his level to race to a 5-1 lead. Nils was playing some good tennis against a strong opponent but he just couldn’t find his best level consistently enough. Nils kept fighting though and played a good game to hold serve at *1-5 before Adil served out the 1^st set 6-2.

Even though the temperature had dropped slightly since Toby had finished it was still very humid on court so it was good to see Nils taking on some food at the end of the set and also changing his shirt for a fresh start to the 2^nd set. Nils came out for the start of the 2^nd set with a good intensity and even though he went 3-0 down he showed good fighting spirit to win the next two games to stay close to his opponent. The 2-3* game was crucial though and unfortunately Nils hit 4 unforced errors to give his opponent a 4-2 lead and also a bit of confidence. Adil then stepped up to play his best tennis of the match and take the next two games and the match 6-2, 6-2.

As soon as Nils had finished I asked both boys if they wanted to get back on court later in the afternoon to work on their games following their matches – Toby wanted to rest but Nils wanted to train as soon as possible so, after showering and getting some lunch, we warmed up again just after 3.30pm. It was a good opportunity to practice again on the match courts and Nils and I had a very good session for just over an hour. Our main focus was helping Nils to find a consistency at his higher level of hitting and after identifying that too many errors were coming from him missing long we set up some drills to address those types of mistakes. The drills seemed to work as one of our rallies saw Nils hit 53 shots in a row at a very high level!

After the session we went back to the hotel to change before heading out to the other Hilton hotel for dinner. I went there last year for dinner but we were surprised to see that even though it’s a more expensive hotel than where we are staying, the buffet dinner is actually cheaper! That meant that we all went for the buffet and all had a very good dinner for just over £12!

It’s back to training now tomorrow and then sign-in for the doubles is on Monday.

Friday 3^rd October 2014

It was a good final day of practice today and even though the weather forecast said it was going to rain all day, we managed to get two very good sessions in on the clay courts.

The boys had a lie-in this morning after a very long day yesterday and were up at 7.30am for breakfast. The breakfasts at the hotel are probably the best meal of the day and all three of us had a big meal to set us up for our first full training day.

After Toby negotiated the price with a Tuk Tuk driver we headed over to the club at 9am and then warmed up from 9.30-10am before getting straight on the back clay courts. As there was a lot of rain yesterday all of the clay courts were quite soft and damp but it was still much better preparation than training on the hard courts. Toby and Nils worked well for the whole of the session which lasted just over an hour and our main focus was consistency and point play. I joined in with the boys for a bit of variety and it was great to see both of them hitting at a higher level than yesterday even though it was still very humid today.

After cooling down and showering we ate lunch at the Italian restaurant that opened on the day that we left last year. The food was very good and it’s going to be great to have a decent place to eat when we’re at the tournament site for the next couple of weeks.

At 1.30pm all three of us went through our individual warm up routines again and then at 2pm we got onto the match courts for our 2^nd session of the day. The match courts were just as soft as the back courts but probably played a little better as they were a little more like clay rather than sand! We all hit for around 20 minutes to warm up groundstrokes, volleys, smashes and serves and then it was straight into match play for the rest of the session. Both Toby and Nils had specific aspects of their game that they were looking to sharpen up before tomorrow and by the time we finished at 3.45pm both boys felt good (maybe a little tired though!) and ready for their matches tomorrow.

Toby and Nils signed in for Qualifying at 4pm and then we headed back to the hotel to go through some recovery work. Toby and I hit the gym for 45 mins and then Toby completed a swimming pool recovery session while Nils stretched out in the apartment and then got on with some school work.

There was just the 3 of us for dinner this evening as Nils’ family have gone to the south of the island but Toby and Nils were kept entertained by Tom and Jerry on ‘The Cartoon Network’ which was on TV in the restaurant! After a good dinner we headed back up to the apartment to relax and get ready for the matches tomorrow.

Schedule for tomorrow:

Siddharth Anand (IND) (UNR) vs Toby Huffer (GBR) (UNR) – 1^st match at 9am

Adil Kalyanpur (IND) (UNR) vs Nils Larsson Regnstrom (SWE) (UNR) – 2^nd match after 9am

(WC) Thevan Perera (SRI) (UNR) vs Siddharth Anand (IND) (UNR) OR Toby Huffer (GBR) (UNR) – 3^rd match after 9am (not before 1pm)

Thursday 2^nd October 2014

Following the British grass court events over the summer and the British junior ITFs it has actually been 4 months since I last travelled abroad for an international event so I was very much looking forward to getting back out to Sri Lanka again this year.

I met Toby Huffer at Heathrow airport yesterday evening and after battling hard not to pay excess baggage we eventually had to give in and pay the £55 fee before they would let us check in!! We boarded the plane just before 9.30pm and just after take-off we were both asleep. We actually only woke up briefly to eat dinner last night and breakfast this morning so I think in total we slept for around 8 hours of the 10 hour flight.

We arrived in a very humid Colombo at 12.45pm and, after we collected our baggage, we were met by our driver who took us straight to our hotel. We then had some lunch and just as we were finishing we were joined by Nils Larsson Regnstrom from Sweden who will be part of the team for the 2 tournaments.

We got Nils settled into our 3 bedroom apartment and then headed next door to the supermarket to stock up on water before heading to the tennis club. For Toby and Nils it was their first experience of riding in a Tuk Tuk – and they both loved it even though it was a bit squashed in the back!

As all of us had flown to Colombo overnight it was important for the boys to have a lengthy physical warm up before hitting. So, from 4.30-5pm, both of them went through some foam rolling, dynamic stretches, mobility work and sprints before we got on court. We then had a good hour of training on the hard courts (because the clay were still wet from rain during the day) and despite the humidity being very different from Sweden and England both boys worked hard throughout. We probably would have stayed on court for longer but by 6pm the sun had set and the huge bats were out so we decided to call it a day!

After the session we headed back to the hotel to stretch, unpack, relax and get ready for dinner.

We were joined at dinner by Nils’ mother, father and sister and even though there was a bit of a delay in the food arriving, when it did it was very good! Then at 9pm we had another short trip to the supermarket to get some fruit and some snacks before heading back up to the apartment to relax.

Last year the two events here were really good and I think it’s going to be a lot of fun working with Toby and Nils over the next couple of weeks.