Bahamas U18 ITF Grade 5, Day 2

Monday 23rd November 2015

It wasn’t the result we were hoping for today as Toby went down to 3rd seen Ryan Goetz from America in straight sets.

We were up early and at breakfast this morning by 6.20am and even though they didn’t officially open until 6.30am we managed to slip in without too much fuss. We were then packed up and ready to leave the hotel at 7.10am but we had to get a taxi to the tennis centre as the first shuttle bus wasn’t scheduled until 7.30am.

When we arrived the courts were still a little wet from the overnight rain but the tournament staff did a good job of clearing most of the water so that we could hit from 8-8.30am. Toby was looking very focussed during the session and was hitting well so by the time we finished I was feeling confident about his chances today.

Between 8.30am and 9am we prepared for the match but while the other matches went on court on-time, Toby and Ryan had to wait until 9.30am before the whole court was dry enough for the match to start. When the match did get underway Ryan flew out of the blocks with 3 winners in the first game but Toby remained calm and saved a break point in the next game on his way to holding serve. Toby then played two very good games to break Ryan and then hold his serve again to take a strong 3-1* lead. I always think that playing a seed in the opening round is a good thing as even though they’re seen as better than you on paper, they’re also the ones with the pressure on them and if you can get passed them then your draw can really open up. At *3-2 Toby started to become a little more inconsistent than he had been in the opening 5 games and 11 unforced errors in 2 games completely changed the set resulting in him going *3-4 down. However, despite Ryan breaking Toby’s serve, the set was still ‘on serve’ so there was no reason to panic. Toby had to fight very hard to again fend off 2 break points in the next game but held serve to level the set at 4-4* after a 16 point service game. By this stage Ryan had found a higher level than at the start of the match and after a strong hold of serve he broke Toby to take the first set 6-4.

The first two games of the second set were very close and could have gone either way but after losing both of them Toby began to struggle to stay close to his opponent who by now was full of confidence. From *2-0 up Ryan didn’t miss a single ball for the rest of the set and posted stats of 11 winners and only 5 unforced errors in the whole set to take the match 6-4, 6-0.

Despite the loss there were positives to take from it, especially how Toby played in the first 4 games, but against players of Ryan’s level you have to be on them for the whole duration of the match as once they get into a rhythm they can be tough to beat.

After the match we headed back to the hotel for lunch and then the afternoon was spent going through the video of the match. It’s not often that you’re able to video matches at outdoor tournaments but luckily Toby’s match was on a court close to the clubhouse so I could set the camera up on the balcony. Video analysis is so important at any level of tennis and many players respond better to seeing themselves play rather than just getting verbal feedback from a coach.

For dinner this evening we once again had a reservation at Aqua and during the meal the doubles draw came out:

Unusually the doubles match tomorrow is on at 9am so after having a stretch out in the gym this evening we headed back to the rooms to get an early night.

Schedule for tomorrow:

Pedro Batistella (BRA) & Zaharlije-Zak Talic (AUS) vs Toby Huffer (GBR) & Lee Sadler (CAN) – 1st match at 9am