Dutch Bowl Ten-Pro, Day 5

Wednesday 18th May 2022

We had another 3 matches today which brings our total to 16 matches played in 4 days with a win / loss ratio of 8:8!

Arundhati was first on at 8am this morning so we were up and out by 6:30am to make our way over to the main tennis centre in Gendringen where all of the remaining matches are now taking place.

We went through our physical warm-up at 7am and then hit from 7:15-7:50am before Arundhati went on for her match against Pihla Jouhten from Finland. For each match, all of the players have been completing both pre and post-match analysis sheets and, even though we were up very early this morning, Arundhati still put down on paper her game plan and goals for her match.

We had seen Pihla play earlier in the week and we knew she was going to be a very tricky opponent but Arundhati played a superb first game to break her opponent’s serve. Unfortunately Pihla broke straight back, held serve and then, after winning two sudden death deuce games in a row, took a 4-1 lead. Arundhati kept fighting and kept trying to implement her goals but unfortunately lost the set 6-1.

When I came on court at the end of the set I spoke to Arundhati about the areas of her game that she was doing well and also added a couple of tactical areas for her to try but in the end Pihla was too strong and she ended up winning 6-1, 6-1.

After we had debriefed we came back to the house to get some lunch (or late breakfast!), string up one of Isla’s rackets and relax before we all headed back to the club at 2:30pm. We all then trained on the outdoor astro courts from 3-4pm to prepare Isla and Rhys for their evening matches.

Isla was first up at 5pm to face Sterre Peeters from Holland and had some clear goals around trying to dominate a much older and stronger opponent. Isla implemented her goals really well and it was great to see her dictated play from the beginning of the match. The first game of the match was really close and Sterre ended up winning it on a sudden death deuce point but Isla responded perfectly by winning the next 12 games in a row to take the match 6-1,6-0.

Just as Isla was finishing, Rhys was going on to play his final group match in the U13s against Jesse Pijnacker from Holland. All week Rhys has been working on staying calm and positive throughout his matches, no matter the score, and today he had to battle a few demons when he trailed *1-4 in the first set. His response to this was superb; he not only refocussed and stayed positive but he also continued to try to dominate the points despite being a break down. From *1-4, Rhys won the next 5 games in a row to take the opening set and then played some excellent attacking tennis to win the second set 6-3.

All in all it was a good day; Isla and Rhys not only won their matches but played in a way that developed the areas of their games that they’d been working on all week and, despite taking a loss, Arundhati identified what she needs to do better and I’m sure will make amends tomorrow!

Schedule for tomorrow:

Rhys Roberts (GBR) vs John Michael Carney (NED) – not before 12:30pm

Arundhati Ajit (USA) vs Zoey Rayer (NED) – not before 5pm