Sunday 6th October 2013
It was a very good final day of training today before the main draw kicks off tomorrow.
Due to the courts at the tennis club being very busy this morning we decided to have a bit of a lie-in and get down to breakfast at 8.30am. I was pleased to see Holly Horsfall have a more “standard” breakfast today but the Samosa jokes will be continuing for the whole trip I think!!
At 10.15am (after driving around every Hilton hotel in Colombo) Holly Hutchinson finally arrived at our hotel and we all went into the gym to go through our physical warm-ups. We then got on court for a really good hour and 15 minutes of drilling and point play. It was quite a bit hotter this morning but after some tough 3 minute training in 3s the players quickly got used to it. We then played some singles points for the last 20 minutes and I was very pleased with how all three players were playing.
After training we went back to our apartment to shower and change before meeting Holly’s driver who took us back to her house for lunch. Once again we all had a great meal; this time it was spaghetti with chicken & tomato sauce and the food just kept coming – each time we finished some chicken or pasta there was more laid out straight away. With that for lunch and the buffet at dinner I could seriously put on some weight on this trip!
At 2pm we headed over to the club and managed to book a full court from 3-4pm. The temperature had cooled a little since this morning but the humidity was still quite high. It didn’t really affect anyone this afternoon though and after more point play we finally finished the session just before 4.30pm when all three players felt as though they were ready for their matches tomorrow. The players then signed in and we got a lift back to the hotel with Holly and her driver before she headed back to her house.
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Alex lining up for a huge backhand winner down the line against me this afternoon
Once we arrived back, Holly Horsfall and Alex went down to the gym to cool down, stretch out and do a bit of a pool recovery session while I got some treatment on my very sore back and shoulders.
We headed outside the hotel this evening for dinner to a local Pizza Hut but pizzas were definitely not on the menu! Instead we all opted for the chicken bolognaise which, for under £3, was great value. Of course there was the standard game of cards for dares and for the first time in a long while both Alex and I lost. I had to show my (over) excitement when receiving my pasta while Alex had to give Chelsea some loud encouragement in front of the TV! After crawling back from the restaurant to the room last night Holly was a very pleased spectator this evening.
By the time we finished dinner the draw and order of play was out:
Boy’s Singles Main Draw
Girl’s Singles Main Draw
Schedule for tomorrow:
Alex Hagon (GBR) (1319) vs (5) Phillip De Bruyn (RSA) (863) – 1st match at 8.30am
Holly Horsfall (GBR) (1441) vs (7) Sharlee Deshmukh (IND) (868) – 2nd match after 8.30am
