Sunday 1st May 2011
It’s been a good final day’s preparation in Daytona Beach today and we’re all set for the start of the main draw tomorrow.
It was more of a relaxed start to the day today and even though we weren’t able to book practise courts we managed to get on a full court at 9am and spent the next two hours drilling and making sure Devan had a really good feel for the ball. It was tough conditions today though as winds were between 10 – 20mph and the temperature was still pushing 30°C. The whole of the morning session was spent drilling groundstrokes and then we played out some points at the end in which Devan really raised her level, she beat be in the first up to 10 but I managed to sneak the second one!!
After the session we picked up some lunch and then it was back to the club to chill out and relax while we watched some of the final round qualifying matches. As we had a break for a couple of hours I took the time to have a chat with Tim Smith; the Assistant Coach for The College of Charleston, about the ins and outs of college tennis. Charleston is one of the colleges that Devan is actually looking at going to but NCAA rules does not permit the coaches to talk to the players until the start of their Senior year at High School so I thought I’d bend his ear and find out everything I could! He was a great guy, very relaxed, very positive and he stayed around to watch our second session of the day.
We went back on court in the afternoon just to hit a few groundstrokes, a few volleys and then thoroughly warm up Devan’s serve and return. The session was just all about making sure she’s happy and confident with all the areas of her game which she was and she continued the high level that she found this morning. Not a long session but we were both really happy and ready to go for tomorrow.
It was then time to sign in, stretch out and get off site to relax. We took the easy option of having dinner at the hotel this evening and then for Devan it was time to watch some TV and wind down and for me it was back to the club to check out the draw and the match time for tomorrow.
Schedule for tomorrow:
Charlotte Thuries (FRA) (1321) vs Devan McCluskey (USA) (958) – Not before 10.30am
Doubles to follow after 2pm
