Sunday 31st March 2013
We had another good day at the National Tennis Centre in Barbados today but, after coming through a very tough 2nd round qualifying match, Alex didn’t quite have enough to qualify for the main draw.
We were at breakfast at 7am this morning where we met up with Georgie Axon and her dad who had arrived from Trinidad last night. Georgie is joining the team for the next two weeks and I’m really looking forward to helping her achieve some good results.
We took the 7.30am shuttle bus and, because of the free-for-all court booking system, when we arrived at the club we headed straight onto the court to warm up and then fight for a court. Alex warmed up for 30 minutes with another player while Mia and Georgie managed to stay on court for a full hour to prepare well for their main draw matches tomorrow.
After the session I sat down with Alex to go through his pre-match sheet and set some goals before he went on court to play Ethan Ammon from Trinidad. Alex started very slowly today and didn’t look comfortable on the court; he was quiet on line calls and very passive in the rally which resulted in him falling *1-4 behind despite breaking in the first game. Alex then held serve for the first time and it was obvious that he was suddenly filled with some confidence. He went on to win the next 3 games in a row with some aggressive and consistent play to serve for the set at *5-4. Unfortunately a very poor game followed but Alex didn’t dwell on it; he broke straight back and then held serve well to take the first set 7-5.
Alex fought very hard in tough conditions in the first set and after he took the first set his opponent looked completely broken. Alex isn’t the biggest of players and I think a lot of opponents think that he’s going to be a pushover but he’s got a big heart and works very hard which is why he can turn sets around like today. Despite the second set having a lot of close games, the momentum was definitely with Alex and after breaking Ethan’s serve at 1-1 there was no looking back as Alex went on to take the match 7-5, 6-1.
I was really pleased with Alex’s performance against a difficult lefty opponent and I was especially pleased with how he turned around a poor start to the match to finish with 11 winners and only 7 unforced errors in the second set.
Following the match we all got some lunch and then Mia and Georgie headed off site to the Hilton Hotel to hit with a couple of the American girls while Alex had a long wait for his last round qualifying match.
Eventually Alex went on court at 4pm to face Jeremie Euphrasie from Martinique. Jeremie had qualified last week and went on to lose in the ¼ finals so we knew it was going to be a tough match. We’d also watched Jeremie play his previous match so Alex was prepared for some heavy hitting from his opponent.
Alex held serve in the second game of the match but that was to be the only game that he could get on the board in the set as Jeremie dominated almost every rally. Alex had some opportunities to dictate the points but if he didn’t take them first time then his opponent would step up and take control.
After a very one-sided first set, and a talking to from me(!), Alex upped his game in the second set and started to play with a lot more commitment and belief. Alex was broken in the first game of the set but didn’t let his opponent get too much of a lead and continued to fight hard for every point. The set then went with serve but Alex had chances to make inroads on Jeremie’s serve at 1-2* and 2-3* but couldn’t quite get to a break back point. After a very tight game Alex then had a chance to break back at 3-4* but a very cheap error let Jeremie back in that game and then he went on to hold and break Alex to take the match 6-1, 6-3.
It was disappointing to lose in the last round of qualifying but Alex’s opponent did play well and was just too strong on the day. It is another great experience for Alex to learn from and I know it will definitely make him a better player in the long run. After the match Alex signed in for a Lucky Loser and there were actually 2 available but unfortunately he didn’t get either of them!
Once the girls had signed in for the main draw, we got the bus back to the hotel at 6.30pm and then headed straight out to dinner with Georgie and Jeremy. It was Georgie and Jeremy’s first experience of the local mini-buses and even though the journey to the restaurant was quite tame, the journey back was more like normal!
Girl’s Main Draw
Schedule for tomorrow:
(LL) Mary Meredith (USA) (UNR) vs Georgie Axon (GBR) (690) – 2nd match after 9am
(Q) Madison Harrison (USA) (UNR) vs Mia Smith (GBR) (751) – 4th match after 9am (not before 12pm)
