Thursday 14th July 2022
It was another glorious day here in Dubrovnik and after another two matches for Isla today it brings the total for the team to 8 matches in 4 days.
The day started early as per usual with a 6:45am meet at the Dubrovnik Tennis Centre and after a very good 15 minute physical warm-up, Isla and Taylor took to the court at 7am. We spent the first 30 minutes going through a standard match warm-up which roughly includes 10 minutes trading from the back of the court, 5 minutes each of volleys, smashes and drive-volleys and then 10 minutes of serve and return. This can vary depending on if the player is in the first round of matches but it generally follows that structure. Isla then only wanted to do an extra 10 minutes where she worked on coming forwards towards the net and placing her first volley as she wanted to focus on that as a goal for her match. Once she was happy I then spent the remaining 20 minutes working on specifics with Taylor so that he was feeling prepared for his singles and doubles matches tomorrow.
After the session we went back to the apartment to relax for an hour and a half before getting a taxi over to Tenis Klub Dubrovnik where Isla was due to play her first round of the consolation draw.
At around 11:30am she went on court to face Nina Dugandzic from Croatia on one of the more exposed courts at the club which meant it was going to be very hot on court! Having trained at the Soto Tennis Academy in Spain during August where the temperatures can hit 40°C, Isla was ok with the heat but things didn’t quite go to plan at the start of the match!
Nina was quite a tricky opponent and her consistency, combined with her good ability to defend well when put under pressure, made life very difficult for Isla at the start of the match. Isla went 0-2 down after losing two very close sudden death deuce games but then found her consistency and range of shot to win the next 3 games in a row. She then had a set point at 3-2 but was unable to convert it so it went to a tie-break. Isla played the breaker very well and after taking a comfortable 5-2 lead, she eventually won it 7-3.
Isla then continued that level through the second set and, despite having a match point at 3-0 sudden death deuce, she eventually took it 4-1.
After the match we had a quick debrief but then it was straight into a taxi to take us back to the main site where Isla and Amina Nurmakhan from Kazakhstan were due to play their 1st round doubles match.
Even though Anima doesn’t speak a lot of English, the girls managed to communicate well together and they even had a few smiles on the court which was great to see. They were up against Lara Borisova from Bulgaria and Riko Nakanishi from Japan but Isla and Amina played a great match as a team and ended up with a 4-0, 4-1 victory.
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Isla and Amina on the doubles court this afternoon
Poor Taylor had been Isla’s cheerleader for the day as he didn’t have any matches scheduled so as soon as the doubles was finished he was straight on court for some extra training. Isla joined us too and all three of us had a great hour on court which included work on their singles and doubles in preparation for their matches tomorrow.
For dinner tonight we walked into the Old Town and had a very nice (but a little pricey!) Italian meal. We then all treated ourselves to an ice cream and a walk around the historic city walls before heading home.
The Old Town of Dubrovnik with it’s amazing narrow streets
Schedule for tomorrow:
Taylor Daniel (GBR) vs Maksymilian Witek (POL) – 1st match at 9am (2nd site)
Isla Smith (GBR) vs Melitina Kotlyarova (LAT) – 3rd match on after 9am (2nd site)
Amina Nurmakhan (KAZ) & Isla Smith (GBR) vs Pippa Cutugno (MLT) & Chloe Kuijt (MLT) – 6th match after 9am (2nd site)
Taylor Daniel (GBR) & Lorenz Dietl (AUT) vs Vlaho Petkovic (CRO) & Sergej Petrovic (BIH) – 6th match after 8am (main site)
