Bolton U14 TE Grade 1, Day 2

Friday 13th January 2012

It was a very positive day for both players in Bolton today as they started their campaign at the Grade 1 Tennis Europe event.

It was a very cold start to the day and when Mia and I left the hotel at 7.10am I had to scrape the ice from the car windows – it was lucky I’ve got my wife’s car this week as she’s organised and has a Scraper in the car, if it’d been my car I probably would have been doing it with a tennis marker!!

As Milo wasn’t playing until 4th on we decided to give him a lie in but Mia wanted to train early to get a full court for an hour with fellow Brit Alex Herd. The level of the session was very high and the superb physical and mental level that Mia has been working at this week was really showing. After an hour both girls were happy with their level so they stopped and Mia then went through her daily core and band work while I went back to the hotel to collect Milo at 9.15am.

Milo warmed up from 9.30-10am and then went on court for his pre-match hit with Bailey Robbins from the Riverside Academy in Chiswick. Again the session was very good and it was great to see how much Milo has improved his attitude and work rate since I was last with him the start of July.

Both players then had a long break from 10.30am until around 3pm when they both went on court at almost the same time. There is a lot of time to kill when you’re at tournaments and one of the worst things you can do as a player is to stand on the balcony all day watching the other matches. Mia and Milo both had the right idea of getting on with some school work or just relaxing in the café on the computer.

Mia had already seen her opponent play in the morning so she knew exactly what to expect and from the start of her match she was in full control breaking her opponent in her first service game and going on to take a 3-0 lead. She then played a couple of inconsistent games at 3-0 and at 4-1 but got back on track at 4-2 to win the next 8 games in a row to take the match 6-2, 6-0. She was happy with her performance when she first came off court but as she started to analyse her pre-match goals she realised she could have done better. It was still a very positive match but I was glad she reviewed it in the way that she did and that’s one of the main reasons why all of the players on the ITC trips do pre and post match sheets so they can learn and improve. Mia’s now qualified for the main draw of her first Grade 1 TE and gets a whole 5 points for doing so!!

Milo went on just after Mia and was taking on 2nd seed Mathieu Rajaonah from France. He started very well and the level he played the first 6 games was the best I’ve ever seen from him; his attitude, work rate and quality of hitting was superb. Milo broke at 2-2* and was *3-2, *40-30 when he double faulted which not only cost him the game but due to a significant drop in his level it actually cost him the next 7 games. His attitude reverted to how it has been in the past but to his credit he played 2 good games at the end of the match to finish on a high. Unfortunately he went down 6-3, 6-1 but again the positives definitely outweighed the negatives and Milo now needs to work on finding that mental and physical level more often that he had until 3-3 in the first set.

Milo’s dad had driven up from Kent to watch him play and after Milo had cooled down, showered, changed and eaten we all went through the post match analysis before they were back on the road to Kent.

Due to all of the courts being used for the matches Mia and I weren’t able to get back on court so she stretched out and then we headed back to the hotel before having an early dinner at ASK. After dinner we went across the road to the arcade in the bowling alley where Mia gave me a beating on the motorbikes but wasn’t brave enough to compete with me on the dance mat!

For some strange reason Teen Tennis always plays the whole of the qualifying on one day and then has a rest day on the Saturday so tomorrow is just a training day before main draw starts on Monday.

Oh, remember the girl I talked about yesterday who I thought could do well? She took out the 5th seed in the first round and then won 6-0, 4-6, 6-0 to qualify and gain her first TE points – 2 matches and being in the main draw by right is definitely better than taking a wildcard – well done Serena!

Please see the ITC Facebook page for completed qualifying draws (www.facebook.com/itctennis1)