Thursday 7^th April 2011

It was a big day today for Nicole and Anouska as they were playing for their first ITF points but they had a tough challenge against the number 1 seeds.

We started the day in the gym as normal for a 30 minute warm up and then went on court between 10am and 11.30am to work on specifics from the matches yesterday. The players all identified the areas they struggled with yesterday and we tried to resolve the issues that had come up in both matches. There was a lot of drilling on first volleys, committing to crossing and covering the court as a team rather than two singles players. The players often found it difficult and very challenging but as they started to grow in confidence they bought into the tactics more and more and all of them started to play very sharp doubles.

After the session we had some lunch and went over to court 7 to support Artur who had a tough task of taking on Josh Sapwell. It was the first time I’ve ever seen Josh play but obviously I’d heard a lot about him following his Orange Bowl win last year. I liked the way that Josh played and also liked the confident presence that he showed on the court, he looked a lot older than 15 but as with a lot of British teenage boys his attitude often fluctuated and often didn’t help him. I saw Bernard Tomic at his first two U18 ITFs at 13 years old where he qualified and won the first one in Christchurch and then got a Special Exempt and won the second event in Wellington and while his game might not have been as good as Josh’s today his attitude was much more professional. The first set was very tight today with each player breaking each other 3 times and eventually Artur took the tie-break 7-5. The second set continued at a high level, Artur got on top early taking a 5-1 lead but Josh showed he was prepared to fight breaking Artur when he was serving for the match and commenting “I’m not done yet”. Artur then broke back to take the match 7-6(5), 6-2. I thought it was very interesting how Josh’s response at the end of the first set could have summed up the problems with British tennis while Artur’s response on winning the match could sum up the fighting spirit that is shown across most of Europe (translation was required though and there was something about oranges in there somewhere!!).

Nicole and Anouska took to the court just before 2pm and despite going 2-0 down they were playing good doubles and were implementing the tactics we had been working on for the last 3 days. It wasn’t a surprise then when they held, broke and held again to lead 3-2. Unfortunately the momentum didn’t continue as they lost a couple of sudden death deuce games in a row and it wasn’t until 6-3, 5-0 down when they won their next game. Claudia and Mayya played solid together but Nicole and Anouska’s inexperience showed a little as they made too many unforced errors and didn’t test their opponents enough. They both worked hard though and continued to fight taking the next two games at 5-0 down but went down in the end 6-3, 6-2. It’s been a great week for both of them even though they didn’t pick up any points and hopefully they can take a lot of confidence from their matches into their next week.

After spending a long time working out how all three girls were going to get home we eventually got it sorted and were able to join Artur, Pedro and Bruno for dinner in Zizzi’s. Frankie and Nicole impressed the boys with their dance moves (!!) and Pedro finally worked out the numbers trick with the knives and forks!! Something that has been bugging him since Kenya!

I’m going to stay up tonight to support Artur tomorrow so this is my last Blog of the week but I’ll be back up here on Sunday for Week 2. Apologies for the lack of photo’s this week but my camera has been broken but I’ll make up for it next week!

Wednesday 6^th April 2011

The sun finally came out today in Nottingham and with it came a first main draw win for Nicole and Anouska.

We started the day with a warm up in the gym for 30 minutes followed by a very solid hour and a half’s doubles practise which again took the girls outside their comfort zones but also gave them a clear understanding of what was expected from their matches today. We were indoors in the bubble for the whole session and as the time went on it started to heat up like a Greenhouse! The girls didn’t seem to mind though and they worked very hard for the whole session.

After training we had lunch and then at 1pm Nicole and Anouska’s match was moved to an empty court and they began their first ever U18 ITF main draw match. They started very positively breaking twice to lead 4-0 before their opponents held and then broke Nicole. The girls responded very well by breaking straight back and despite being broken again at 5-2 they broke back to take the set 6-3. They really looked as though they were enjoying the match and were combining well as a team. That’s one of the most important things and why it’s so important to choose a partner that you can actually communicate with. Many players choose doubles partners just on ranking but that’s no use if they can’t understand you and you can’t understand them! In the second set Nicole and Anouska raced to a 3-0 lead which then extended to 4-1 and despite getting broken serving for the match they broke straight back to take the win 6-3, 6-2. Top seeds tomorrow and a shot at their first ITF points.

Frankie and Grace went on just as Nicole and Anouska were finishing their match so it was straight over to court 14 to watch them. They started slowly and were broken twice to go 4-1 down but fought back and looked in complete control at 4-4 but a poor sudden death deuce point and then a poor service game gave the Dutch the first set 6-4. After a rather long toilet break (court 14 is probably the furthest from the centre!) Frankie and Grace started the second set much better breaking at 1-1 and held the break until they served for the set at 5-4. Unfortunately Grace struggled with her serve and the Dutch fought hard to take the next three games and the match 6-4, 7-5. It was a disappointing loss in a match that Frankie and Grace really should have won. I think a massive difference today was that Nicole and Anouska had spent three days training together before they played their match where as Frankie hadn’t been able to train at all with Grace so the understanding wasn’t quite there.

Following the matches we trained for an hour on court working on Anouska’s serve and Nicole’s return getting them ready do battle in the last 16 tomorrow.

Yesterday the girls set themselves a reward of eating at Wagamama’s tonight if they won their first round doubles match so we joined up with the Portuguese team of Artur, his coach Pedro and Bruno and introduced them to the delights of Chicken Katsu Curry (Spicy Pedro?!).

Unfortunately the day ended on a low when Manchester United beat Chelsea in the first leg of the Champions League quarter-final but next Tuesday it’s going to be a different story (I hope!!).

Schedule for tomorrow:

(1) Mayya Katsitadze (RUS) & Claudia Williams vs Nicole Daisley (GBR) & Anouska Newman (GBR) – 3^rd round, N.B. 12.30pm

Tuesday 5^th April 2011

Tough day at the office today as all three main draw players took tough losses and all felt as though they should have come out on top.

We started the day with pre-match warm ups for the main draw players so I warmed up with Sam from 8.15am until just after 9am and by this time Clint had arrived on site with the girls. While Nicole and Anouska took advantage of the indoor courts I took Frankie outside on Centre Court to get used to the windy conditions. We trained for around 40 mins and then went indoors to work on her serve alongside Clint and Claudia. By 10.30am everyone had gone through their warm ups and it was just a case of waiting for matches to finish. Normally in ITFs there are quite a few first round matches that are over very quickly but today that was not the case and it seemed as though every court was going to three sets. 

Eventually Sam got on and he was followed almost straight away by Frankie. They were on the same block of courts so I could watch and stat Frankie’s match while still keeping an eye on what was happening with Sam. Frankie had a solid start to her match and exchanged early breaks with her opponent but at 4-4 Keolliker stepped up her game to break Frankie and serve for the set. Frankie responded well to break straight back but it was taking a lot out of her to win each point as she was hitting quite straight and not moving her Swiss opponent that wide. Frankie was then broken again and Koelliker held to take the first set 7-5. Once that set was over Koelliker grew in confidence and raced to a 4-1 lead. Frankie then reduced her unforced errors and increased her winners to take the next 3 games in a row (7 winners and only 4 unforced in the three games!). Unfortunately Frankie’s consistency decreased and Koelliker upped her game again to take the next two games and the match 7-5, 6-4.

While this was going on Sam was in a right battle with Tommy Bennett. From a distance it looked like a great game with both players giving it their all and fighting very hard throughout. Sam struggled with his serve today and despite hitting better than he had in practise he still found it hard to finish off his opponent once he had built the point well. Sam lost the first set 6-2, responded very professionally to take the second 6-1 but was broken at 4-5 in the third to eventually go down 6-2, 1-6, 6-4.

Claudia was last up and found it very difficult to impose her game on her opponent who always made her play one extra ball and made life very difficult. Claudia worked hard and maintained her professionalism throughout but went down 7-5, 6-4.

Three difficult matches today where each player had their chances but failed to capitalise and in not doing so they allowed their opponents to either work their way into the match or increase their belief that they could win. 

To end the day I teamed up with Frankie and we drilled against Nicole and Anouska to get them ready for their doubles first round match tomorrow. We worked for around an hour on setting up plays, making sure they worked as a team and making sure they had an understanding of what they needed to do when applying their serve and return tactics. It was a great session and all three girls were very positive so let’s hope for some Ws on the board tomorrow.

We’ve now moved hotels and are right in the middle of Nottingham which was ideal for a great dinner tonight at ASK!

Schedule for tomorrow:

(6) Filip Karlsson (SWE) & Sam Matheson (NZL) vs Harry Burley (GBR) & Ravi Patel (GBR) – 3^rd round, N.B. 12pm

Nicole Daisley (GBR) & Anouska Newman (GBR) vs Anna Brogan (GBR) & Alessandra Gisonna (ITA) – 4^th round, N.B. 1pm

Inge Hendrikz (NED) & Roos Van Der Zwaan (NED) vs Francesca Faulkes (GBR) & Grace Lymer-Sullivan (GBR)  – 4^th round, N.B. 1pm

Monday 4^th April 2011

I drove up from Kent yesterday evening to Nottingham to meet up with the Bromley Academy Team of Anouska Newman and Nicole Daisley. Clint Harris, the director of the Academy, was also with them and I drove straight to the restaurant to have dinner with them and discuss the days play. Unfortunately Anouska and Nicole both lost in the first round of qualifying but Nicole had a tricky three set match in which she played well and Anouska had specific goals to achieve this week which she managed to from the start to the end of the match.

The qualifying draws for both boys and girls was very weak this year and I was very disappointed to see 2 byes in the boys and 9 byes in the girls. So far this year all of the junior international events in Great Britain (U14 TE in Bolton, U16 TE in Roehampton and U18 ITF in Nottingham) have had byes in either the boys or the girls qualifying, or in some cases both. If the standard in this country is to improve we really need to be filling our international draws and I think questions have to be asked to the IHPCs and HPCs why their up and coming players aren’t signing in. There were enough players on the entry list but they’re not making the commitment to play in a Grade 4 ITF when it’s on their doorstep. 

As none of the girls were competing today it was a day of training to get them ready for the doubles and then their events next week. We arrived at a very overcast Nottingham Tennis Centre early this morning and watched some of the last round of qualifying matches before the girls warmed up in the gym and then got on court to train. We were joined this morning by Sam Matheson and Claudia Williams from New Zealand who Clint spoke to yesterday and invited them to train with us today. I think it’s very important to train with lots of different players from around the world whenever you can but some players tend to take the easy option of staying in a comfortable bubble and training solely with their friends. It was great for Anouska and Nicole to train with a player ranked 400 in the world and hopefully it will give them confidence knowing that they can live with and compete with a player of that level. We spent an hour and a half training together in very difficult cold, windy conditions (which the Kiwi’s hated J) before the rain came down.

After lunch, and after we had dried the courts, we were back on court for another couple of hours to work on Anouska and Nicole’s doubles. I would have ended up the overall winner if it hadn’t been for some disgraceful cheating from Anouska and Clint!!

Frankie Faulkes came up today to sign in for the main draw and will train with us for the week so we’re all looking forward to cheering her on in her first round match tomorrow.

Dinner tonight was Anouska’s choice so we went Italian (definitely no objections from me!) and ended up at Prezzo.

Early start tomorrow but I think the rain could cause a few problems, not ideal when there are 64 matches to be played!!

Schedule for tomorrow:

(10) Sam Matheson (NZL) (461) vs Tommy Bennett (GBR) (785) – 2^nd round after 9am

 Samantha Koelliker (SUI) (925) vs Francesca Faulkes (GBR) (1777) – 3^rd round N.B. 11.30am

(5) Claudia Williams (NZL) (443) vs (q) Athena Chrysanthou (GBR) (UNR) – 4^th round N.B. 12.30pm