Friday 24th May 2013
It was another rain affected day today but at least all of the first round matches were played even though that meant that we were at the club until after 11pm!
The plan that Alex and I have had all week to get up at 6am to train from 7-8am was once again interrupted but the rain. That meant it was a morning of more schoolwork for the team – at least one positive comes out of it raining so much (but I don’t think the players see it that way!!).
After lunch we decided to go for a walk to get out of the hotel and while we were checking out he shops in Bar the sun finally came out. On the way back we walked via the tennis club and despite most of the courts still having a pool of water on them the referee was adamant that play would start at 3pm with sets up to 4 games and the third set being a tie-break to 7 points. So with that in mind we headed back to the hotel to get everything ready for the matches.
When we returned to the club at about 3.30pm almost every first round match was on which was a tremendous effort from the ground staff. The players then warmed up for 30 minutes and, after I put together a practice sheet for the hard court, they got on court from 4-4.30pm to go through their pre-match hit.
Over the next 5 hours the players had to juggle eating, completing their pre-match sheets, keeping track of the score on their court, not getting bored or tired and keeping warm – hard to do when you don’t bring a jumper or tracksuit bottoms so I had to freeze while some of them wore mine!!
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Alex training with Jay Clarke before the girl’s matches
Holly Hutchinson went on court at 9.20pm to face qualifier Andrada Surdeanu from Romania. We didn’t know much about her and hadn’t seen her play in qualifying but after a 30+ shot rally on first point of the match we knew she was going to be a tough competitor. Holly had 2 or 3 chances to win that first point but after failing to finish it off Andrada eventually hit a backhand passing shot winner and that started a run of 7 points in a row to the Romanian. At 0-2* Holly managed to get a break back but unfortunately too many unforced errors cost her the first set 4-1.
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Alex practising his serve on the hard while Holly serves during her 1st set
With the shortened sets up to 4 games you really need to start fast and stay focused throughout otherwise the set could be over very quickly. During the second set Holly just couldn’t find the level or consistency that she needed to break down her opponent and she eventually went down 4-1, 4-0. It was a disappointing match after Holly had been striking the ball so well in training at the start of the week. Maybe the first point of the match really was the key and if she’d be able to finish it off then she might have been able to build on it throughout the match.
Georgie and Holly Horsfall were the next match on at 10.15pm and again they had a huge first point where both players were stepping up and trying to dictate the play. Holly was broken in a tight first game and even though Georgie went on to win the next 3 games in a row to take the set 4-0 the quality of tennis was of a very high level. Holly was striking the ball the best that I’d ever seen her play while Georgie was countering and then turning the points around with excellent aggression – something that won her the final in Guadeloupe last month.
The second set score line was the same as the first with Georgie taking it 4-0 but by no means did that reflect the closeness of the games – 3 out of 4 games went to deuce. Both players were trying to dominate the point with some strong hitting from the back of the court but it was Georgie that was hitting at least 1 winner per game (a big goal in Guadeloupe) while keeping her unforced error count low. Overall it was a good performance from both players with the main difference being Georgie’s consistent aggression and experience on the bigger points.
Their match finished just after 11pm and as soon as they were finished we left site to get some food at a local restaurant before walking back to the hotel at midnight!
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Our midnight stroll in Montenegro!
Schedule for tomorrow:
Marija Curnic (CRO) (622) vs (6) Georgie Axon (GBR) (378) – 3rd match after 8am
(3) Georgina Axon (GBR) & Holly Hutchinson (GBR) vs Holly Horsfall (GBR) & Elyse Lavender (USA) – 7th match after 8am
Girl’s Singles Quarter-Finals – 10th round after 8am
Girl’s Doubles Quarter-Finals – 12th round after 8am
