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Dubrovnik Dub Bowl, Day 8

Sunday 17th July 2022

It’s Final’s Day!

After a long week of training, competing, learning, fun, a few tears but lots of improvement from the whole team it’s always nice to be involved in the event on Final’s Day (even if it is to play a semi-final first!).

We had a bit more of a lie-in this morning as the finals didn’t start until 9:30am which meant that we could practise for an hour beforehand. With that in mind we left our bags all packed up in the apartment and got down to the courts for just after 8am to make sure we secured a practice court.

Isla had a really good session this morning; she was looking extremely sharp at the net and was serving very well so we finished around 9:15am so we could sweep the courts ready for the finals. We knew there would be a little bit of waiting around today so I left Isla at the club to watch the singles final while I walked back up to the apartment to get the bags and meet the owner to check out.

Isla and Amina went on court at 10:30am to face Mariia Shybanova from Ukraine and Antonia Zielinska from Poland. Isla and Amina broke serve in the first game and were 1-0, 30-0 up serving when their opponent’s levels suddenly went up a few gears and soon they found themselves 1-3 down. A little like in yesterday’s 1/4 final, Isla and Amina then started to play much more aggressive tennis to win the next 2 games and lead 4-1 in the tie-break but Mariia and Antonia were not about to roll over. They won the next 5 points in a row to take a 6-4 lead and have 2 set points but once again Isla and Amina showed great character to fight back at take the breaker 9-7.

It was a big turnaround both at 1-3 down in the set and at 4-6 down in the tie-break and Isla and Amina continued the momentum they had built up to take the second set 4-1. It was their best doubles win of the week so far against a very good pair but we knew that the opponents in the final were going to be even tougher as they would include one of the girls that made the singles final.

After the match we had quite a bit of waiting around to do as the tournament decided to do the singles presentation before the other girl’s doubles semi-final. That meant that the other semi didn’t go on until around 2pm and then the final didn’t start until almost 4pm.

In the final Isla and Amina were set to face Raya Markova from Bulgaria (who Isla beat in the group stages of the singles) and Sakino Miyazawa from Japan (who Amina had lost to yesterday in the semi-final).

Isla and Amina warming up for the final

Isla and Amina started very well, breaking Raya in the opening game but then a sudden death deuce point went against them on Isla’s serve and soon they found themselves 1-3 down. They then broke Raya again to stay in the set but Sakino was becoming more and more dominant both at the baseline and at the net. Isla served at *2-3 but another sudden death deuce game went against them and that led to them losing the first set 4-2.

In the second set Sakino was unbelievable; she not only controlled her territory at the net extremely well but she also covered the majority of Raya’s side of the court too! It was quite something to watch, especially from a 10/11 year old and that really made the difference in the final.

Raya and Sakino went on to win 4-2, 4-1 and, even though I didn’t think Isla and Amina played their best match, it was very difficult to play well against such a good doubles player like Sakino.

All four girls after the final!

So that brings another international tournament trip to an end. Isla and Taylor have had a great week where they’ve played a combined total of 14 matches in 7 days and I know they’ve learnt a huge amount about playing on clay. They’ve also seen some of the best 10/11 year olds in the world compete and so hopefully they can use that knowledge to develop their games when they return home.

 

The next international tournament trip will be after September as we have lots of domestic events over the summer in the UK. As always a huge thank you to everyone that has and continues to support the travelling squad, especially Adidas, Babolat, Soto Tennis Academy, Bromley Sports Club and Jon W Sports Injury Clinic. A special thanks also to Halo Hydration for supporting the players this week with much needed supplements for their drinks.

Dubrovnik Dub Bowl, Day 7

Saturday 16th July 2022

We had another good, although rather long, day at the Dubrovnik Dub Bowl today but, like with most tournament trips, when you get towards semi-final’s and final’s day there’s always a few curve balls that get thrown at you!

Normally when you get towards the end of a tournament week courts open up for practice as there are less players involved in the event. However, today there were 43 matches scheduled with the first ones starting as normal at 8am. That meant that, even though Isla was scheduled in the 9th round of matches, she still needed to practise at 7am if she wanted to get a hit in before she played.

Despite Taylor being out of both of his events he was still very keen to train early in the morning so we all met as normal at 6:45am and were on-court hitting by 7am. Our focus during the practice was obviously doubles specifics so, once both players had warmed up, I mixed in to set up different doubles situations. By 8am Isla was very happy with her level so we finished and swept the court ready for the first round of matches.

As I said earlier, once we get to the end of the week things logistically get a little tricky. Often I will book both accommodation and flights for the evening of semi-final’s day so that:

1) the players /parents save a little money if they have lost earlier in the tournament

and

2) they are not waiting around without matches to play until a flight on final’s day

The downside to this is an example like today; if Isla was to play and lose we could in theory get our scheduled 9:05pm flight back to London. But we would have to check out of the apartment at 10am and then have nowhere to store our bags etc. or have anywhere to relax away from the tournament site. So I decided we would extend the apartment for 1 night and then wait to see what time the players go on for their doubles before I decide if I’ll change the flights – lots to consider!!

It was therefore a long day of trying to relax at the apartment, watching some of the semi-final singles matches and at the same time trying to judge when they would go on for their doubles. At 5:15pm we said goodbye to Taylor and Lex as they got a taxi to the airport and then at just after 6pm Isla and Amina took to the court for their doubles quarter-final match against Korana Barisic & Ana Marija Rebic from Croatia.

Warming up before the 1/4 Final

As expected, the Croatians had lot of vocal support but it was Isla and Amina who got an early break to lead 2-1 in the first set. They were playing some excellent doubles together and both girls were controlling the net which was one of the main differences between the two pairs. Isla and Amina took the first set 4-1 and played superbly well to take a 3-1 lead in the second set but then things started to change!

At 4-1, 3-1 sudden death deuce Isla missed a volley and suddenly the Croatian crowd erupted! The next game also went to sudden death deuce and once again it went the way of Korana and Marija so within a 2-3 minute period the momentum of the match had completely turned.

The tie-break was always going to be a tough one but Isla raised her level from the beginning and Amina followed suit. They got back to the level they played at in the first set where the baseliner was hitting aggressively and setting up their partner at the net which led to them taking 3 points in a row at 3-3 and then securing the match 4-1, 4-3(4).

Both girls were very happy after the match and all the waiting around and making changes to flights / accommodation was worth it!!

After a week of being part of a team it was a much quieter dinner tonight as it was just Isla and I but we were both very happy with Isla’s performance and now our attention turns to Final’s Day (well … semi-final’s first!) tomorrow.

Schedule for tomorrow:

Mariia Shybanova (UKR) & Antonia Zielinska (POL) vs Amina Nurmakhan (KAZ) & Isla Smith (GBR) – not before 10:30am

Winner to play the Final later in the day.

Dubrovnik Dub Bowl, Day 6

Friday 15th July 2022

It was a busy day for the team today as both Isla and Taylor had a singles and a doubles match and we’re now at the stage of the event where if you lose you are eliminated!

For the first time in 5 days of competition we didn’t have to be up at 5:30am … instead we had a lie-in until 6:30am! This was because Taylor was in the first round of matches at Tenis Klub Dubrovnik (which is the second venue they are using for the tournament) and they start at 9am whereas the main site has been starting at 8am each day.

We got all got a taxi over together at 7:30am and then Isla and Taylor were on court warming up by 7:45am.We then hit from 8-8:40am and went through a normal pre-match hit with more of a focus on volume of serves and returns for Taylor as he felt he had been struggling with those areas during the week. After the practice session we went through the player’s pre-match sheets and then at 9am Taylor went on court to face Maksymilian Witek from Poland.

Taylor started extremely well and easily found his best level of the week as he went 3-0 up in the first set but at that stage Maksymilian wasn’t about to roll over and give him the set. The next 3 games all went against Taylor as Maksymilian dominated the rallies from the back of the court, hitting 8 winners to take the set to a tie-break. Taylor dug deep at the start of the breaker and took a 6-2 lead but once again Maksymilian fought back and won the next 6 points in-a-row to take the tie-break 8-6.

Taylor was understandably very disappointed to let a 3-0 lead in the set and a 6-2 lead in the tie-break slip away from him but unfortunately he found it hard to let that go and focus on fighting back in the second set. He went 2-0 down at the start of the second set and despite breaking serve in the next game he went on to lose the set 4-1.

Not long after Taylor had finished, Isla went on court for her Last 16 Consolation Draw match against Melitina Kotlyarova from Latvia. Like Isla, Melitina had a tough qualifying group and, having seen her train a few times next to us, we knew she was a good player. The first two games were very close with some very high level hitting from both girls but it was Melitina who managed to edge both of them on sudden death deuce points. From that stage Melitina’s level increased and Isla got a little frustrated which resulted in the first set going to Melitina 4-0.

The second set was very similar to the first; both girls were trading with each other well from the back of the court but it was Melitina who managed to get a little more weight or a little more width in the rally. Despite going 3-0 down Isla continued to fight hard and managed to hold serve in the next game but Melitina finished the match off with 3 winners in the last game to win 4-0, 4-1.

Both singles matches were a little disappointing but the players tried their best and unfortunately just came up short against good opponents.

After Isla’s singles match, Taylor and Lex got a taxi to the main site as Taylor’s doubles was scheduled there not before 2pm whilst I stayed with Isla to wait for her 2nd round doubles match.

Isla and Amina went on at just after 2pm to face the Maltese pair of Pippa Cutugno & Chloe Kuijt and Isla was very up for it after the disappointment of her singles! From the first game Isla and Amina played some very good doubles and they looked strong both at the back of the court and at the net which resulted in them winning the match convincingly 4-0, 4-0.

It’s always fun to get together with the referee and dispute a mark!!

Once they had finished we jumped straight into a taxi to go to the main site hoping that Taylor hadn’t already finished his doubles!

When we arrived Taylor and Lorenz had just started the warm-up against Vlaho Petkovic from Croatia & Sergej Petrovic from Bosnia and Herzegovina. The first set went by 4-0 in a flash as Taylor and Lorenz couldn’t cope with their physically stronger opponents. However,  an early hold of serve in the second set, followed by an immediate break saw our boys really settle into the match and go 2-0 up. They then managed to hold on despite some very good tennis from their opponents to take the set 4-2 and so it was a short tie-break to 7 to determine the winner.

Unfortunately Taylor and Lorenz did not start the breaker well and soon found themselves 3-0 down. They kept their heads high though and kept trying to find a way back but in the end their opponents were just a little better and they ended up winning 4-0, 2-4, 7-4.

It was a difficult day for Taylor and the loss in the doubles brings his tournament to an end but I think he’s improved massively from playing on the clay and has loved his first experience of competing internationally.

For dinner tonight we headed back to El Toro which is located half way between our apartments and then we finally gave in to Isla and Taylor’s constant requests all week to go down to the beach!

The little beach close to the tennis club (Isla and Taylor are down there somewhere!)

Schedule for tomorrow:

Korana Barisic (CRO) & Ana Marija Rebic (CRO) vs Amina Nurmakhan (KAZ) & Isla Smith (GBR)  – 9th match after 8am

Dubrovnik Dub Bowl, Day 5

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.

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)

Dubrovnik Dub Bowl, Day 4

Wednesday 13th July 2022

It was another great day here in Dubrovnik which saw Isla and Taylor play their last group matches, an excellent post-match training session and a brilliant evening in the Old Town which marks the start of the main draw tomorrow.

It never gets easier when the alarm goes off at 5:30am and, as the week goes on at any international event, the fatigue starts to show for both the players and me! However, the effort and commitment levels remain high each day and we push each other to continue to improve and develop.

We were down at the main tournament site at 6:45am this morning to start our physical warm-up and then we were on court hitting by 7am. Taylor went through his standard 30 minute pre-match hit as he was first on at 8am but Isla continued with me for another 15 minutes afterwards to work on a few specifics. I then confirmed a few match goals with Taylor before he took to the court to face Gustavs Gutans from Latvia.

We had seen Gustavs play earlier in the week and knew that it was going to be a very tough match but we also knew that when Taylor brings his intensity and quality of shot he can compete with any of the players here. Unfortunately for Taylor, Gustavs was very much on his game today and raced through the first 3 games hitting 5 winners and only 2 unforced errors. At 0-3 Taylor dug deep and played some excellent points to take the game to sudden death deuce but he couldn’t quite convert it and lost the set 4-0.

The second set followed almost the same pattern as the first; Taylor was trying to stay in the point and put his opponent under pressure but Gustavs was physically stronger and countered everything Taylor threw at him. There were a few close games and another sudden death deuce point at 0-3 but ultimately Gustavs was too good on the day and ended up winning 4-0, 4-0.

Taylor was obviously disappointed with the outcome and by losing that match it means he will finish 3rd in the group and now move into the Consolation Draw.

We returned to the apartment for a few hours after the match so Isla could get away from the tournament site, have some food and relax before we returned at 11:30am to prepare for her match.

Raya Markova from Bulgaria had won her first two matches in the group including a very convincing 4-1, 4-1 win over Noemi Nogradi (who Isla lost to on the first day) so we knew that we’d have to be on it from the very first point. Isla was up for the challenge though and she also knew that it was a ‘must win’ match if she wanted to qualify for the Main Draw.

The girls went on at 1:30pm and even from the warm-up it was obvious that both girls were up for a good battle! When they started it was Isla that took an early lead following a sudden death deuce game and then a superb hold of serve which included 3 clean winners from the back of the court. Raya raised her level at 2-0 down and held serve but Isla responded brilliantly with some very aggressive tennis to take the next 2 games in a row to win the set 4-1.

The level of tennis in the second set was just as high as the first but this time it was Raya who was controlling things from the back of the court with some huge flat hitting from both corners of the court. Isla was staying with her in the rallies but after winning 3 sudden death deuce points in 5 games it was Raya that took the set 4-1.

The 3rd set out here is a simple tie-break to seven points so it’s very important that you get a good start and do not give away any cheap points early on. Isla did just that; she hit 4 winners in the first 7 points and at 5-2 was in full control but Raya is a tough competitor and hit back with 3 points in a row to level the tie-break. Not fazed but this resurgence, Isla held her service point at 5-5 and then played an excellent last point of the match to take it 4-1, 1-4, 7-5.

It was definitely Isla’s best performance of the week but, like Taylor, she unfortunately also finished 3rd as Noemi won her match without dropping a game. That meant that both Noemi and Isla finish on 2 wins each but Noemi had a better set ratio so she progresses to the Main Draw. Isla was disappointed to find this out but I was so pleased with the way that she played today that I wasn’t really fussed if she qualified or not!

Straight after Isla’s match all three of us headed straight on court for a really good 45 minute training session. Some players do not want to train after matches as they are tired and just want to go back and relax but Isla and Taylor have been up for training as much as possible out here. I love to see this and it motivates me massively to help them develop their games and get as much as they can out of the trip.

After an early dinner we walked to the main square in the Old Town for the Main Draw Opening Ceremony which included some mini tennis in front of the spectacular St. Blaise’s church followed by the draw ceremony in the 15th Century Sponza Palace.

All the players in front of St. Blaise’s church in the Old Town

A bit of mixed doubles and a great volley from Taylor!

We then walked back to the apartments to get a good night’s sleep ready for more singles and doubles tomorrow!

Schedule for tomorrow:

Isla Smith (GBR) vs Nina Dugandzic (CRO) – 4th match on after 9am (2nd site)

Amina Nurmakhan (KAZ) & Isla Smith (GBR) vs Lara Borisova (BUL) & Riko Nakanishi (JPN) – 7th match after 8am (main site)

Dubrovnik Dub Bowl, Day 3

Tuesday 12th July 2022

It was another good day of training and competition in Dubrovnik today and despite it being quite a long one, we did still manage to celebrate my birthday a little bit!

It was another bright and early start for the team as we were at the main tournament site by 6:45am but everything seems to be a little easier at that time in the morning when the sun is shining and it’s already 22°C!

Isla and Taylor went through their individual physical warm-ups and then we did some movement drills in the speed ladder before they got on court at 7am to start hitting. Both of their levels of play have improved hugely in just two days and that is because the clay court teaches them so much. I’ve said in the past that the clay court is like an assistant coach because if the players do not adapt quickly to it then they can really get stuck in the wrong positions playing the wrong types of shots!

Isla and Taylor working through some ladder exercises this morning

As the players were not on until much later in the day we decided to train for a full hour and not only go through a standard warm-up but also work on a few specifics that came from their matches yesterday.

We finished training when the matches started at 8am and then, after a brief trip back to the apartments to get some more breakfast, we headed over to the tournament’s second site (Tenis Klub Dubrovnik) to get ready for their matches.

The view over the 5 courts of the Tenis Klub Dubrovnik

Taylor went on court at just after 11:30am to face Samuil Pironkov from Bulgaria. Taylor had been hitting well over the past couple of days but today he found it quite difficult to maintain a high level of consistency against a good aggressive baseliner. Taylor was broken in the first game and then had a very close second game which he lost on a sudden death deuce point. I was thinking at this stage that the set could be over very quickly but, to his credit, Taylor fought hard in the next game to hold serve (after another sudden death deuce point). Unfortunately Samuil stepped up his level and fired off 4 winners in the next two games to take the set 4-1.

The second set was much more one-sided and even though Taylor was trying to play the right way, he just wasn’t able to execute like he did yesterday and he ended up losing 4-1, 4-0.

It was a tough loss but, in the same way as Isla’s match yesterday, he will definitely learn a huge amount about how to play and more importantly how to respond in certain situations from this match.

We then had a long wait at the club with very little to do until Isla went on court at just before 4pm to face Ageha Ogana from Japan. We had seen Ageha play yesterday and so we had a good gameplan and Isla had specific goals that she wanted to achieve during the match. Isla started off very strong and despite losing the first game on a sudden death deuce point, she responded perfectly to win the next 4 games in a row to win the set 4-1.

Isla warming up with Ageha this afternoon

After the first set Isla was in full control of the match and by being so, I wanted to see her level push on a little more but that was difficult for her to do today. She was a little wary that her Japanese opponent could raise her level and so she played it a little too safe in the second set despite dominating it 4-1.

When Isla was 2-1 up I sent Taylor off to warm up and then as soon as Isla finished we went straight on court to do some training. The three of us had a really good 45 minutes where both Taylor and Isla found much higher levels of hitting than during their matches. By the time we were kicked off the court by the local club programme, they were both much happier and were feeling much more prepared for their final group matches tomorrow.

We celebrated my birthday with a team dinner next door to the club and then we got a taxi back to the apartments at 6:30pm. It was then time for a phone call home to talk to my wife and son before preparations started for tomorrow’s matches!

Schedule for tomorrow:

Taylor Daniel (GBR) vs Gustavs Gutans (LAT) – 1st match on after 8am

Raya Markova (BUL) vs Isla Smith (GBR) – 7th match on after 8am

 

Dubrovnik Dub Bowl, Day 2

Monday 11th July 2022

We had a really good first day at the Dubrovnik Dub Bowl today which started with an early morning practice, ended with the Opening Ceremony and had a couple of matches in-between!

We woke up this morning at 5:45am to the sound of very strong winds but once we walked down to the courts at 6:30am the wind had died down and was replaced by a beautifully clear and calm morning. Isla and Taylor went through their own physical warm up together and then just before 7am we started our practice.

At most international tournaments there is a booking system for practice but here it is just ‘first come, first served’ so it was important that we arrived early to secure a good pre-match warm up before the matches started at 8am.

Isla and Taylor hit for around 45 minutes and it was clear that the hour and a half session yesterday had really helped them to get used to the courts as well as their movement on the surface. Both of them hit well and by the time we came off court they were ready for their first group matches.

Isla serving during the warm-up this morning

Between 8am and when Taylor went on at around 10:30am we went back to the apartments to get some food and then met back up at the club to go through the preparation for their matches. Isla and Taylor have a ‘player pack’ that they need to complete throughout the week which includes pre and post-match analysis sheets, trip goals, morning and evening check lists and also warm-up and cool down routines. This is not just to give them extra work to do but to help them take ownership of their training and assist them when they reflect on their matches.

Taylor’s first match was against Luka Juric from Croatia and, having not seen him play before, we had no idea what to expect! Despite this being Taylor’s very first international match, he looked very confident walking on the court and as soon as the match started he broke Luka’s served comfortably. Taylor then had a bit of a shaky service game of his own but after being broken he responded by winning the next 3 games in a row to take the first set 4-1.

Taylor continued to be aggressive from the back of the court in the second set and kept the momentum going to win the first two games of the second set. At 2-0 with Taylor serving, Luka raised his level and played his best game of the match to break serve. Taylor wasn’t fazed though; he broke straight back and then held serve on a sudden death deuce point to take the match 4-1, 4-1.

Once Taylor had cooled down, stretched out and got some food to eat, he completed his post-match sheet and then we debriefed together.

It wasn’t too long after Taylor had finished that Isla was on for her first match against Noemi Nogradi from Hungary. From the warm-up it was very obviously that Noemi was a good player but it was Isla that started the stronger out of the two players as she broke Noemi in the first game. She then played an excellent service game of her own to hold and take a 2-0 lead. At this stage Noemi changed her gamestyle a little and started to give Isla a little less pace while also moving her a lot more around the court. Because of this the rallies became much longer and, with temperatures reaching almost 30 degrees, it was starting to get very tricky on court for Isla!

The level for the rest of the first set remained high from both players; Isla was dictating play with some heavy hitting from the back of the court but Noemi was very effective in neutralising Isla’s shots and then adding pace when needed. This resulted in Noemi winning 4 games in a row to take the set 4-2.

The pattern continued in the second set and, even though Isla was playing some excellent tennis, she just couldn’t find a way to finish the points off. Noemi took a 2-0 lead in the second set and then really raised her level to fire off 6 winners in the next 2 games to take the match 4-2, 4-0.

Despite the result, it was a very positive performance from Isla and one that she will definitely learn a lot from in terms of playing on clay and also playing a girl who is very solid on the surface.

After the match Isla cooled down and stretched out and then we went back to the apartment to get ready for dinner and then the Opening Ceremony.

All of the players met at the tennis centre at 6:45pm and were introduced to the main court country by country. Sometimes the opening ceremony at these events can be rather long-winded and boring for the players but they did it well here and by 7:15pm we were leaving for an early night.

Isla and Taylor at the opening ceremony

Schedule for tomorrow:

Taylor Daniel (GBR) vs Samuil Pironkov (BUL) – 4th match on after 9am

Ageha Ogawa (JPN) vs Isla Smith (GBR) – 7th match on after 9am

Dubrovnik Dub Bowl, Day 1

Sunday 10th July 2022

I quite like to be up early as it gives you a chance to maximise the time in your day but I must admit when the alarm went off this morning at 2am I did wonder what was going on!

Isla and I left home just before 3am to meet Taylor Daniel and his dad, Lex, at Gatwick airport ready for our 5:55am flight to Dubrovnik for the U11 Dubrovnik Dub Bowl. The event has been running for many years and we were recommended it by one of the players who played in it last year so both Isla and Taylor have been looking forward to it for some time.

After arriving at Dubrovnik airport at 10am we got through customs and collected our bags fairly swiftly and then met our driver who took us to our apartments for the week which are just around the corner from the main tournament site. Everyone was feeling a little tired by this stage so we decided to get some sleep and then meet back up at the site for registration at 3:30pm.

Isla and Taylor flying the GB flag this week

Due to another tournament going on we were only able to get a practice court at 6pm today so we decided to have a very early dinner at 4pm. By the time we ate everyone was pretty hungry and, as we’d been up since 2am, it actually didn’t feel that early to have dinner!

We practiced from 6-7:30pm and, despite both of the players being quite tired from a long day of travel, they both worked very hard and settled in really well to playing on the clay.

Isla and Taylor practicing at the main site

Once we had finished training both Isla and Taylor cooled down and stretched out and then we all headed back to our apartments for a well-deserved early night.

Around 9:30pm the draw and order of play came out:

Isla’s Qualifying group

Taylor’s Qualifying group

Schedule for tomorrow:

Taylor Daniel (GBR) vs Luka Juric (CRO) – 4th match on after 8am

Noemi Nogradi (HUN) vs Isla Smith (GBR) – 7th match on after 8am

Dutch Bowl Ten-Pro, Day 9

Sunday 22nd May 2022

It’s Final’s Day!

The goal of any player at the start of a tournament is to be involved in Final’s Day and, as this was Rhys’s first international event abroad, it was a big achievement for him.

I was up early at 5:30am to string rackets for Isla and Rhys and then get the car packed up so we could check out of the house we’d been renting this week. Everyone else joined me around 6:30am and by 7:15am we were ready to go.

Once we arrived at the club we warmed up outside and then hit from 8-8:45am. Everyone was in good spirits and hitting the ball well when we finished so all that was left to do was have a team photo before we got ready for Isla’s singles match.

At just after 9am Isla went on to face Wiktoria Szychowska from Poland in the U11 3rd / 4th place play-off. Arundhati had played Wiktoria earlier in the week so we knew what to expect and we also knew that she had also only lost a couple of matches all week so it was going to be a tough match. Isla was very up for it though and wanted to make amends after a disappointing match yesterday.

The first 3 games went to sudden death deuce with Wiktoria winning the first one and then Isla winning the next two but, at *2-1 serving, Isla started to get a little frustrated and ended up losing the next 9 points in-a-row. To her credit, she then fought hard to hold serve and break to regain a lead (both on sudden death deuce points!). However, following a very close game she was broken straight back after … another sudden death deuce game! Things were looking extremely close at 4-4* with both girls playing to a very high level but Isla managed to  break and then hold at *5-4 after the 7th sudden death deuce game of the set – people say tennis is about fine margins but 7 sudden death deuce games out of 10 is ridiculous!

The second set was just as close as the first; both girls were raising their levels and making things very difficult for their opponent. There were 3 more sudden death deuce games right at the start of the set but this time is was Wiktoria that one 2 out of the 3! From then on the games went with serve until 4-4* when Isla broke and then played a very good service game to hold to 15 to win the match 6-4, 6-4.

It was a great match and one that Isla was very pleased to come through with the win.

Between Isla and Rhys’s match we had the traditional ‘Trip Quiz’ which was scored over 3 rounds; ‘The Tournament’, ‘Knowing Your Surroundings’ and ‘Tennis Rules’. The parents got involved too which was great and after a close fought contest it was Isla that came out on top and received the first prize of a big bar of Oreo Milka chocolate!

Rhys went on court at 12:30pm to play the very in-form Rafael Pagonis from Greece who had earlier won the U11 event. Rhys was really up for his first international tournament final and showed it by breaking his opponents serve in the opening game but Rafael stuck straight back by winning the next 3 games in a row with some fierce hitting off his forehand side. At 2-3* Rhys played a calm but aggressive game, creating chances to ‘ghost in’ when his opponent was stretching and managed to get the break back. Unfortunately Rafael once again responded brilliantly to win the next 3 games in-a-row to take the set 6-2.

When I came on court at the end of the set Rhys was a little frustrated with the way he was playing but I said most of the set was down to what his opponent was doing rather than any mistakes he was making. We agreed to change a couple of things tactically but most importantly try and accept the opponent’s good shots rather than get frustrated by them.

The first two games were very close but Rafael manged to take both of them and soon Rhys found himself 0-4* down. It was then that something clicked in Rhys’s head and he played a superb 5th game of the set; he was calm, composed, thinking clearly and implementing the tactics that we had talked about and that led to him breaking Rafael’s serve comfortable. At this stage I thought a huge comeback was on the cards but, after Rhys lost the next game on sudden death deuce point, it was going to be extremely difficult. At 1-5* Rhys managed to break serve but Rafael broke straight back once more to win the match 6-2, 6-2.

Full credit has to go to Rafael; he played a superb final and was by far the best player in the draw this week.

After the final we had a little wait before the trophy presentation but then finally the players got their hands on their hard fought silverware!

Emilia, Vanessa & Isla on the U11 podium

Rafael, Rhys & Hugo on the U12 Podium

Smiles all round!

Once everything was finished we packed up the last few things into the car and then got on the road for a long journey home.

Whose idea was it to drive?!

It’s been a great week away at another international tournament and all three players and both parents have been a pleasure to work with. Everyone (including myself) has learnt a lot and hopefully we, as parents, can support the players in implementing what they have learnt over the last 9 days.

A big thanks as always has to go to the companies that support International Travelling Coach; Adidas, Babolat, The Soto Tennis Academy in Spain, The Bromley Cricket Club and The Jon White Sports Injury Clinic.

 

Dutch Bowl Ten-Pro, Day 8

Saturday 21st May 2022

We had a slightly more civilised start to the day today with our first match going on at 10:30am but a rather late finish with Isla’s match not going on until 6:45pm!

After 5 consecutive 5:30am starts I was rather pleased to be able to sleep in until 7am this morning! We were all up and out by 8:15am and on the practice court warming up by 8:45am for our pre-match training session. Throughout the week the players have all trained really well and, rather than just do a standard 30 minute pre-match warm-up, they’ve tended to want to make more of a training session of it which has included some drills and also some point play.

Arundhati was first up today against Marith De Jong from Holland at 10:30am and her challenge was to keep up a high level of hitting against a slightly weaker opponent. During the first set Arundhati played some good tennis but when we talked about it at the end of the first set, she said wanted to raise her level to how it had been against some of her tougher opponents earlier in the week. This is often a challenge for players back in the UK who I’ve seen coast through easy first round matches but then not be at a high enough level to compete with stronger players at semi-final / final stages of events.

After winning the first set 6-1 Arundhati did raise both her intensity and her level of play during the whole of the second set. This resulted in losing more games than she did in the first set but she also hit many more winners including 3 volley winners and 2 drive volleys. In the end she came through her final match of the week 6-1, 6-2 which tops off a great 8 days of competing at a high level.

Once we had debriefed, we all went back to the house for the afternoon to rest and get some lunch. While we were there we saw that a horse riding completion was taking place on the farm so we went to check it out:

Huge horses and these were just the ponies!

At 4:50pm Rhys was next on to face Atharva Batra from Holland and he faced a similar situation to Arundhati; a slightly weaker opponent but an opportunity to not only improve but also be ready for his U12 final tomorrow.

The first set was solid with Rhys doing what he needed to do to take it 6-1. But, after our chat at the end of the set, he really raised his focus and energy in the second set which resulted in a higher level of play, more patterns which enabled him to win points at the net and also more variation which he might need tomorrow in the final. In the end Rhys won 6-1, 6-1 and that match brought his U13 tournament to an end.

After a little confusion as to whether Isla and her Polish opponent, Oliwia Kadzielska, were going to play on the carpet or the hard we eventually went on as the last match of the day onto the indoor hard courts at 6:45pm.

Isla hadn’t hit on the indoor hard all week because it was only being used for the older age groups so initially she expected the ball to be coming through but it actually held up a lot more than the carpet. It took her a good 2-3 games to get used to it and by this stage Oliwia was already well into her stride. At *0-3 down Isla looked like she was struggling but when the girls played each other earlier in the week it was Isla that was 3-0 up in both sets before Oliwia fought back. Isla continued to fight hard but eventually lost the first set 6-2 so it was my job at the end of the set to try to get her to reset and go again in the second set.

To her credit Isla played a much better second set; she was much more positive both in terms of her tennis and her attitude and she pushed her opponent a lot more. Oliwia is a great competitor though and, despite going 3-1 down, she responded superbly to Isla’s change of play and fought back to win the second set 6-3.

Isla attacking her forehand in the second set

Overall Isla was a little disappointed with the match but I think if she had started the match like she did in the second set then we might have been able to push Oliwia into a third!

So, our penultimate day comes to an end and, after 23 matches, we are standing with 12 wins and 11 losses – let’s hope Isla can add to that tomorrow in her 3rd / 4th place play-off and Rhys can come away with the U12 title!

Schedule for tomorrow:

U11 3rd / 4th place play-off:

Isla Smith (GBR) vs Wiktoria Szychowska (POL) – not before 9:30am

U12 Final:

Rafael Pagonis (GRE) vs Rhys Roberts (GBR) – not before 12:30pm

Dutch Bowl Ten-Pro, Day 7

Friday 20th May 2022

Before today the team had played a total of 18 matches and had a positive win / loss ratio of 10:8 but two tough matches today meant that we’re now all square at 10 wins and 10 losses!

I’m not sure if the organisers at Ten-Pro like me yet as for the 5th day in a row I had a 5:30am start! Today it was Arundhati’s turn so, while we left Isla, Rhys and Arwel fast asleep at the house, Arundhati, Deepa and I headed over early to hit at 7am before her 8am match.

Early morning fog at 7am today!

As you can see from the picture above the outdoor courts were covered in mist while we were warming up but within 10 minutes the sun was out and we had a great warm-up. Arundhati has been playing really well all week and, after the massive high of yesterday’s win, it was always going to be hard to recreate the same level again today.

Arundhati was playing Julie Vulsteyke from Belgium (who Isla had played three days ago) and we knew that Julie had a very aggressive game, especially off the backhand side, but she was susceptible to making a lot of errors. Arundhati took a *1-0 lead after a sudden death deuce game but after that she was playing catch-up due to Julie playing some big tennis. There was another sudden death deuce point at 1-3*, another at *2-3 and another at 2-4* but Arundhati eventually lost the set 6-2.

At the end of the set I went on and reassured Arundhati that the match was a lot closer than the score line suggests and she was right in this match if she believed it too. Unfortunately doubts and fatigue from playing 8 matches in 6 days started to creep in and after another 5 sudden death deuce games in the set (of which Arundhati didn’t manage to take any) she ended up losing 6-2, 6-1.

The highs of yesterday were replaced with the disappointment of today but that’s tennis unfortunately and I’m sure there will be another match for her to make amends tomorrow.

After the match we headed back to the house to get some food and then it was a quick turnaround to take Isla, Rhys and Arwel back to the club for Isla’s semi-final against Vanessa Lagerlof from Finland.

Isla and Rhys had a really good pre-match warm-up on the outside courts where we not only got Isla prepared but we were also able to work on some specific tactics for the match. Then, at 12pm Isla and Vanessa went on court 1 for the semi-final.

Isla started very well against an extremely strong opponent; she won the first game on a sudden death deuce point and, even though Vanessa broke back and held, Isla responded brilliantly but holding serve in another sudden death deuce game. From 2-2 Vanessa’s level increased considerably and unfortunately Isla’s level was just a little too up and down which saw the 1st set go against her 6-2.

In a similar way to the earlier match, when I went on court to speak to Isla she felt as though she wasn’t doing well but I explained that actually she was very close to Vanessa’s level. The difference was that Vanessa was able to group sets of good points while Isla might play one good point every two or three points with some unforced errors in-between.

This continued in the second set and, despite Isla trying lots of different things to upset her opponents rhythm or create chances for herself, she eventually went down 6-2, 6-0.

Isla was obviously disappointed to lose a semi-final but she realised as soon as she came off that she needs to make a few small changes in order to compete consistently with these types of player.

Once we had gone through a team debrief, the players went through a really thorough stretching routine:

Rest and recovery is as important as any other aspect of the game

We then headed back to the house at 2:30pm to relax and play some chess before finally being able to get out of our tennis kit for the first time on the trip for dinner. We left home just after 6pm to head over the border to Germany and for once I relaxed the dinner rules a little!

Our team meal (minus Deepa) this evening

Schedule for tomorrow:

Arundhati Ajit (USA) vs Marith de Jong (NED) – not before 11am

Atharva Batra (NED) vs Rhys Roberts (GBR) – not before 5pm

Oliwia Kadzielska (POL) vs Isla Smith (GBR) – not before 6:30pm

 

Dutch Bowl Ten-Pro, Day 6

Thursday 19th May 2022

After 3 days in-a-row of waking up at 5:30am it was nice to have our first match starting at 12:30pm today … but Isla had different plans for me (and it didn’t involve a lie-in!).

As Isla wasn’t playing today she had the option of training later in the day on the outdoor courts or getting up early and hitting from 7-8am on the carpet … and she chose the latter!

So, we were up and out by 6:15am so that we could get to the tennis centre and maximise our time on court before the singles matches started at 8am.

Seems like everyone else opted for the lie-in!

Isla and I had a really good session where we worked on different tactics to play the girl she is meeting in the semi-final tomorrow and by just after 8am we were both very happy with the work we had done.

It was then back to the house to string up one of Rhys’s rackets that he broke yesterday and then back to the centre for 11am to warm up for Rhys’s U12 semi-final which was scheduled for 12:30pm.

Rhys was taking on John Michael Carney from Holland for a place in the final on Sunday and we knew that this was going to be a very tough match against an opponent who had only lost one match all week (and that one was 6-4 in the third!).

Rhys started very well and was *3-0 double break up within 10 minutes but his opponent was not about to rollover. John Michael fought back with some huge forehands and a very aggressive game style to win the next 3 games and level the set at 3-3. As I mentioned yesterday, Rhys’s attitude has been his main goal all week and today he was once again superb; he won a huge sudden death deuce game to break serve at 3-3* and then held and broke once more to take the set 6-3.

As expected, John Michael dug deep at the start of the 2nd set and won 2 sudden death deuce games in the opening 3 games to take a 2-1 lead with a break. Rhys responded brilliantly and, despite all of the remaining games in the set being very close, he won all of them which included 3 more sudden death deuces to take the match 6-3, 6-2 and book his place in the final!

Rhys was delighted with the win and it just goes to show what a difference having a lot of matches in the last 5 days can do for tactical and mental game development.

Arundhati arrived on site just before 3pm today and we were just about to go and hit on the outside courts when an almighty storm came over and completely flooded the courts! So, not to be one to just let her take it easy until the courts dried out, I got her onto the squash courts to do a little movement work:

Arundhati and Isla going through some movement work while Rhys watches on!

At 4:45pm Arundhati went on court to face Zoey Rayer from Holland. All of us had watched Zoey play this week at both venues and each time we had seen her play we were all very impressed with how hard she works and what a great attitude she has. We also knew that it was going to be a very tough match, but what we didn’t expect was Arundhati to play so amazingly well throughout!

Getting your serve broken by an older, physically stronger girl is sometimes to be expected but to break straight back is not, especially 3 times in-a-row! So by *3-3 we’d had 6 breaks, then up until 6-5* we’d had 5 holds so it was about time someone went against the treads and it was Arundhati who stepped up to break and win the first set 7-5.

Arundhati serving during the 1st set today

When I went on court it was so good to see Arundhati absolutely buzzing with excitement. She knew she’d played a great set and had matched her opponent with pace and execution throughout – which made my job very easy … “Just keep doing the same things!”

She did just that and even added in a few drop shots just for fun! There was a little blip at 3-0* when Arundhati lost 4 games in-a-row but that wasn’t going to deter her from owning this match and she immediately broke back, held and broke again to take the match 7-5, 6-4.

Without a doubt it was one of the team’s best performances of the trip and Arundhati now cannot wait to get back on court for her next one tomorrow!

Dinner tonight was pasta bolognaise at the club while we watched the other boy’s U12 semi-final and then at 8pm we headed back to the house for an early night.

Schedule for tomorrow (did anyone say 5:30am start again?!):

Arundhati Ajit (USA) vs Julie Vulsteyke (BEL) – 1st match at 8am

Isla Smith (GBR) vs Vanessa Lagerlof (FIN) – not before 12:30am

Dutch Bowl Ten-Pro, Day 5

Wednesday 18th May 2022

We had another 3 matches today which brings our total to 16 matches played in 4 days with a win / loss ratio of 8:8!

Arundhati was first on at 8am this morning so we were up and out by 6:30am to make our way over to the main tennis centre in Gendringen where all of the remaining matches are now taking place.

We went through our physical warm-up at 7am and then hit from 7:15-7:50am before Arundhati went on for her match against Pihla Jouhten from Finland. For each match, all of the players have been completing both pre and post-match analysis sheets and, even though we were up very early this morning, Arundhati still put down on paper her game plan and goals for her match.

We had seen Pihla play earlier in the week and we knew she was going to be a very tricky opponent but Arundhati played a superb first game to break her opponent’s serve. Unfortunately Pihla broke straight back, held serve and then, after winning two sudden death deuce games in a row, took a 4-1 lead. Arundhati kept fighting and kept trying to implement her goals but unfortunately lost the set 6-1.

Arundhati setting up for a big forehand today

When I came on court at the end of the set I spoke to Arundhati about the areas of her game that she was doing well and also added a couple of tactical areas for her to try but in the end Pihla was too strong and she ended up winning 6-1, 6-1.

After we had debriefed we came back to the house to get some lunch (or late breakfast!), string up one of Isla’s rackets and relax before we all headed back to the club at 2:30pm. We all then trained on the outdoor astro courts from 3-4pm to prepare Isla and Rhys for their evening matches.

Isla was first up at 5pm to face Sterre Peeters from Holland and had some clear goals around trying to dominate a much older and stronger opponent. Isla implemented her goals really well and it was great to see her dictated play from the beginning of the match. The first game of the match was really close and Sterre ended up winning it on a sudden death deuce point but Isla responded perfectly by winning the next 12 games in a row to take the match 6-1,6-0.

Just as Isla was finishing, Rhys was going on to play his final group match in the U13s against Jesse Pijnacker from Holland. All week Rhys has been working on staying calm and positive throughout his matches, no matter the score, and today he had to battle a few demons when he trailed *1-4 in the first set. His response to this was superb; he not only refocussed and stayed positive but he also continued to try to dominate the points despite being a break down. From *1-4, Rhys won the next 5 games in a row to take the opening set and then played some excellent attacking tennis to win the second set 6-3.

All in all it was a good day; Isla and Rhys not only won their matches but played in a way that developed the areas of their games that they’d been working on all week and, despite taking a loss, Arundhati identified what she needs to do better and I’m sure will make amends tomorrow!

Schedule for tomorrow:

Rhys Roberts (GBR) vs John Michael Carney (NED) – not before 12:30pm

Arundhati Ajit (USA) vs Zoey Rayer (NED) – not before 5pm

Dutch Bowl Ten-Pro, Day 4

Tuesday 17th May 2022

It was another good day of learning for the players today at the Ten-Pro event in Holland and we ended up with 2 wins out of 5 matches. That brings our total matches played so far to 13 in 3 days!

It was our second 5:30am start in-a-row this morning and once again we were up and out by 6:30m for the 30 minute drive to Licthenvoorde. The team then warmed up at 7am and hit from 7:15-7:50am. Due to the lack of practice courts after the matches, the only time to train and improve some small areas of their games is in the pre-match warm-up so the players really make the most of this time.

Arundhati and Isla going through their pre-match warm-up

Isla was supposed to be first on at 8am but by 8:30am we were still waiting for her opponent to arrive. Normally in an ITF or Tennis Europe event the player would have been defaulted if they were not ready to play within 15 minutes of their match being called but the Ten-Pros are a little more relaxed. I also would much prefer Isla to have as many matches as possible so I definitely wouldn’t be complaining (not too much anyway!!).

Isla went on court at 8:35am to face Oliwia Kadzielska from Poland and from the beginning we knew it would be testing both in terms of the tennis and also dealing with the emotional outbursts of the opponent!

Overall Isla played some very good tennis against a good quality opponent but, despite leading 3-0 in both sets, she eventually went down 6-4, 6-4.

Next up was Rhys who was all set and raring to go to take on Tomasz Kowalczyk from Poland. Rhys has been working really hard this week on the mental side of his game and in this match he was superb. He raced through the first set 6-1 against a good quality opponent and then took a 5-3 lead in the second before Tomasz started fought back to level the set at 5-5. This didn’t faze Rhys though and he stayed composed to hold and then break to take the match 6-1, 7-5.

After Rhys’s match I debriefed both players and then at around 12:30pm we headed over to the main site in Gendringen. The journey took us on an interesting road:

Not as bad as the horse trail but my poor car!

Isla’s U11 1/4 Final was scheduled for 2pm and she took to the court just before that to face Julie Vulsteyke from Belgium. We watched Julie play yesterday and knew that she is a strong competitor and a big hitter so Isla was fully prepared.

The match started well and both girls were going after the ball but it was Julie that got the first breakthrough to lead 3-1 serving. Isla continued to fight hard and make life difficult for Julie and even though she went 4-2 down she dug deep to win 4 games in-a-row to win the set 6-4.

Isla serving on the far court at the Gendringen Kei-Fit tennis centre

I then came on court to offer a few words of advice and to challenge Isla to change the pace during the rallies in order to make things a little uncomfortable for her opponent. Isla took this on board and to her credit she did it really well which lead to her winning the second set 6-0!

Our 4th and 5th matches involving Arundhati and Rhys went on within about 30 minutes of each other between 3pm and 3:30pm. Arundhati had a very tough match against Emilia Henningsen from Denmark and Rhys had an equally tough match against the only unbeaten player in his U13 group – Bobbi Platenburg from Holland.

Despite playing some good tennis in parts and trying her best to change things in the 2nd set, Arundhati ended up losing 6-1, 6-0. Rhys had a slightly closer match but I think the toll of playing 5 matches in 3 days started to show in his 6-3, 6-1 loss to Bobbi.

After the matches we debriefed together and then headed across the border to Germany for dinner! It was then back to the house for everyone to have a much needed early night.

Schedule for tomorrow:

Pihla Jouhten (FIN) vs Arundhati Ajit (GBR) – 1st match at 8am

Sterre Peeters (NED) vs Isla Smith (GBR) – not before 5pm

Rhys Roberts (GBR) vs Jesse Pijnscker (NED) – not before 6:30pm

Dutch Bowl Ten-Pro, Day 3

Monday 16th May 2022

What a difference a day makes – yesterday we went 0 for 4 and today we went 4 out of 4!

It was a very long day for the team today as we were up at 5:30am, out of the house by 6:30am and on court warming up by 7am.

The sun rising over the farm at 6am this morning

It’s always nice to be the first at the tennis centre and, to be able to get a full court to warm-up on, is essential if you want to feel as though you’re prepared for your match.

After our practice session from 7:15am until 8am, Rhys was straight on for his U12s 1st round match against Ben Weisel from Greece. Rhys was really keen to get off to a good start today after the disappointment of yesterday and he immediately broke and held to take a 2-0* lead. His attitude during the first set was superb and, even though his opponent was a tricky player, Rhys played positive tennis and dictated throughout to take the set 6-2.

Rhys serving during the 1st set

My interventions at the set break were very minimal; keep up the superb attitude, try to use a few cross-line combinations and keep accepting any mistakes you might hit. Rhys did all three really well and ended up winning 6-2, 6-1.

Arundhati was next on court 2 to play Celya Talbi from Morocco and about 15 minutes later Isla took to court 3 to play Sara Kralle from Germany. Just like Rhys, both Arundhati and Isla had a bit of a point to prove after their losses yesterday and I have to say they both went about their matches in a superb fashion.

Arundhati took control of the match within the first 2 games; she was consistent, working her opponent from side to side and giving very little away cheaply. She continued this until the end of the set which she won 6-1. When I came on court I gave her a little challenge to see if she could stay up the court a little more and also increase the number of winners she hit from the back of the court. She did both very well in the second set and ended up winning 6-1, 6-2.

Isla was up against a younger but awkward player who defended well when under pressure and gave you very little pace to play with. In the past this would have been Isla’s worst nightmare but she’s worked very hard in the last couple of months on how to play different game styles and today she played very aggressive but smart tennis to win the match 6-0, 6-0. The score line definitely did not do Sara justice as there were at least 3 or 4 sudden death deuce games and many more that were close.

With 3 wins out of 3 we had a short break of couple of hours which gave the players a chance to fill out some of the work in their Travelling Squad Player Pack before Rhys was back on at 2pm to play Rj Lourenco Da Encarnacao from Holland.

After an early start to the day we were looking forward to Rhys getting on there and getting the job done ‘quick-smart’ but I think Rhys wanted to make us suffer!! He raced to a 3-0 lead playing the best tennis I’ve seen from him so far but then a few loose games combined with Rj raising his level result in Rhys finding himself 3-5* down receiving. To his credit, he stayed very calm and composed and that helped him fight back to win the next 4 games in a row to take the set 7-5.

When I came on at the end of the set it was Rhys that was doing most of the talking and he knew exactly what he needed to do in the next set. Putting into practice the things he wanted to do, he played a much better second set; he was varying his game, being patient from the back and shaping the ball much better which made it much more uncomfortable for his opponent. After winning some big sudden death deuce points at 3-2, 4-3 and 5-3, Rhys went on to win the second set 6-3.

Following Rhys’s match I debriefed all of the players individually and then at around 4:45pm we left to find some dinner. We all decided that we wanted to mix things up from the usual Italian food so we went to a Chinese buffet but after we found out that it was going to cost €35 each we decided to go back to the Italian for pizza, pasta and some salad!

Schedule for tomorrow:

Oliwia Kadzielska (POL) vs Isla Smith (GBR) – 1st match at 8am

Tomasz Kowalczyk (POL) vs Rhys Roberts (GBR) – not before 11am

Julie Vulsteyke (BEL) vs Isla Smith (GBR) – not before 2pm

Rhys Roberts (GBR) vs Bobbi Platenburg (NED) – not before 3:30pm

Emilia Henningsen (NOR) vs Arundhati Ajit (USA) – not before 3:30pm

Dutch Bowl Ten-Pro, Day 2

Sunday 15th May 2022

It was a difficult opening day for the Travelling Squad today as everyone lost their matches but there were lots of positives and learnings which we will take into the rest of the week.

We were up and out of the house by 8:15am this morning for the 25 minute drive to the main Kei-Fit tennis site in Gendringen. The tournament is using 3 sites this week; a 6 court indoor centre in Gendringen, a 4 court indoor centre in Lichtenvoorde and an indoor practice site in Dinperlo. All three are within a 25 minute drive of where we are staying and we also have use of an outdoor club in Gendringen which we used for our pre-match warm-up this morning. We warmed up at 9am, then hit from 9:15am until 10am where all of the players were in good spirits and hitting the ball well.

Me explaining some things during the pre-match warm-up

At 10am we left the main site and drove over to Lichtenvoorde where Rhys was scheduled for an 11am match in the U13 age group.

The Kei-Fit tennis centre in Lichtenvoorde

Rhys went on court just before 11am to face Davin Schoonderbeek from Holland and from the beginning it was obvious it was going to be a tricky match. Davin was quite tall and hit very flat which made things difficult on a fast indoor carpet court. Rhys took a *2-1 lead in the first set but at that point Davin played some good tennis to break back, hold and break again to take a firm 4-2 lead. Rhys was unable to come back from that and ended up losing the first set 6-2.

Despite his best efforts in the second set, Rhys struggled to neutralise his opponent’s aggressive flat game and he ended up going down 6-2, 6-2. It was a tough first match and Rhys was disappointed with the loss but it was in the age group a year up and also they are playing the U13s in a box format so he’ll have another match in that group tomorrow.

At around 12:30pm both Arundhati and Isla went on court to face their first round opponents in the U12 age group. Arundhati faced Danha Castillo from Holland and Isla was up against Loes Vervecken from Belgium.

Arundhati had a really tough first set where her older and stronger opponent dominated her from the back of the court and barely gave her a chance to get into the match. That resulted in her losing the set 6-0 but, like with all of the Ten-Pro events, I can come onto the court at the end of each set and talk to the players for 2 minutes. So with a few words of encouragement and a little tactical switch, Arundhati went back out and competed hard. She tested her opponent a lot more and played much more aggressively but unfortunately went down 7-5.

Isla’s match was very close against another older opponent; she went 3-0 down in the first set but soon found her level and fought back to being on serve at 3-4. Unfortunately she could quite turn the set around and ended up losing it 6-4. The second set was another close one with Isla playing some very aggressive tennis. She led 3-1 before Loes fought back and eventually they were in a tie-break which Isla lost 7-2.

Both Arundhati and Isla played some good tennis and learned a lot in their matches so, despite the losses, they definitely improved their games.

We then had a few hours break to get some food, debrief the players and relax before Arundhati went on for her U11 1st round match at 4:30pm. Being her own age group we were all very positive about her chances but unfortunately she came up against one of the strongest 2011s that we’ve seen so far in Wiktoria Szychowka from Poland. Arundhati once again worked  hard and tried to implement different tactics after the first set but Wiktoria was too strong and ended up winning 6-0, 6-0.

So the day ended with zero wins and four losses but everyone (parents included) learned a lot and enjoyed the challenges they faced.

After leaving the club around 6:15pm we went straight to the Mu Café for a really nice Italian meal before going back to the house to get some rest!

Schedule for tomorrow:

Ben Weisel (ISR) vs Rhys Roberts (GBR) – 1st on at 8am

Sara Kralle (GER) vs Isla Smith (GBR) – not before 9:30am

Arundhati Ajit (USA) vs Celya Talbi (MAR) – not before 9:30am

Rhys Roberts (GBR) vs Rj Lourenco Da Encarnacao (NED) – not before 2pm

Dutch Bowl Ten-Pro, Day 1

Saturday 14th May 2022

It’s been a while since the last Blog at the Gran Canaria U12 TE way back in October 2021 but it was great to be back on the road for our first international event of 2022 … but not at 6am with a drive of over 300 miles ahead of me!

Rhys Roberts and his dad, Arwel, met us bright and early for our journey to the Dutch Bowl Ten-Pro event in Holland where we would meet up with Arundhati Ajit and her mum, Deepa.

Not something you want to see at 5:55am!

People say that bad luck comes in 3s so here’s our three for today:

1) Our 8:20am Eurotunnel gets delayed and we have to wait for the 8:54am train – not a great start to the journey!

2) After driving 300 miles from Dartford to Beek, Google Maps decides that it would take us down a horse riding trail for the last 800m of the journey – I still don’t know how the poor car survived (Isla & Rhys enjoyed it though!)

3) After a long day the German police decide to pull us over to check the car and our passports (I think we were about 25 metres over the German border!).

Despite all of that we arrived at the tennis centre at 4pm and all of the players had a very good 1.5 hour training session to get used to the courts and the surroundings.

At 6pm everyone gathered on the two back courts with their national flags for the opening ceremony:

Rhys, Isla and Arundhati at the Opening Ceremony this evening

And Isla and Rhys were selected to take part in the action!

We left the tennis centre around 7:15pm and picked up some dinner on the way home. I then sat down with the players at our house to go through their goals for the week before everyone went to bed for a well-deserved sleep after a very long day!

Schedule for tomorrow:

Davin Schoonderbeek (NED) vs Rhys Roberts (GBR) – not before 11am

Danha Castillo (NED) vs Arundhati Ajit (USA) – not before 12:30pm

Loes Vervecken (BEL) vs Isla Smith (GBR) – not before 12:30pm

Gran Canaria U12 & U14 TE Cat.2, Day 8

Thursday 22nd October 2021

This week marked Isla’s very first international tournament and, despite the loss in the doubles late this evening, she’s improved as a player and developed as a person hugely over the past 8 days.

Different day, same routine! Isla had the choice last night of having a lie-in and hitting on the hard courts later in the day to warm up or to get up early and train on the clay for 30 minutes … and I was pleased she made the right decision!

Warming up by moonlight!

We had the best practice of the week from 7:45am until 8:30am and Isla’s highlight (which she said I have to mention!) was getting the ball stuck in the net from hitting it so hard! We’ve worked tirelessly on not hitting the net on clay so I’m not sure why she was so pleased!!

At 8:30am we made way for the GB U12 boys’ team so they could warm up for their matches and then we spent the next hour and a half watching some of the U12 girls play including Isla’s doubles opponents.

We then headed back to the hotel to get some lunch, complete some remaining school work and also get a little bit of rest as we knew the evening was going to be a long one!

At 4:30pm we arrived back at the club to find out that the 2pm match had just gone to 3 sets. Like with most scheduling at TEs / ITFs, the matches normally run late so it’s important that the players are prepared for lots of hanging round and are also aware of not being in the sun for long periods of time.

Isla and Victoria had a good hit for 45 minutes on the hard courts to prepare for their match and then we watched Macy play a really tough 3 set match where she narrowly lost to the 9th seed.

At 8:15pm, under the floodlights and with the moon shining down, Isla and Victoria went on court to face Alexia Paula Bastos-Sousa Betanzos from Spain & Georgiana-Victoria Juchi from Romania.

Competing under the floodlights (and the moonlight!)

From watching the opponents play their singles matches (where they both won their qualifying boxes without dropping a set), we knew that it was going to be a very tricky match.

Victoria and Isla started the match a little nervously and were broken in the first game but they had opportunities in sudden death deuce games at 0-1 and 0-4. Unfortunately they were unable to take them and lost the first set 6-0.

The second set started to follow the same pattern as the first but Isla and Victoria kept fighting throughout. They were playing some good doubles together and most importantly they were trying to adapt to their opponents by changing court positions, moving at the net etc. After another sudden death deuce game that went against them at 0-2, they eventually got a little reward for their hard work by breaking serve at 0-4 but in the end their opponents were just too strong and they won the match 6-0, 6-1.

The girls left the court at 9:40pm and despite feeling disappointed I think both Isla and Victoria have made big improvements on and off the court this week.

That brings our first Tennis Europe trip of the winter to an end and overall it’s been a fantastic week. Matthew and Isla have had both experienced international competition for the first time, they’ve learned a lot about how these types of tournaments work, how to deal with opponents that speak different languages and what they now need to do to move to the next level with their own game development. A big thank you as always to the people that are supporting the Travelling Squad and hopefully I’ll be updating the blog in Bath at the end of October. The plan is then to do the Rafael Nadal Ten-Pro event at the end of November so if you are interested in joining us for this trip please let me know.

Gran Canaria U12 & U14 TE Cat.2, Day 7

Wednesday 20th October 2021

After 7 days of learning, developing, adapting to new environments and playing some of the best tennis I’ve seen him play, unfortunately Matthew’s time in the Gran Canaria U14 TE came to an end with loses in both the singles and the doubles today. 

It was a standard start to the day; up at 6am, leave the hotel at 7:15am, physical warm-up in the dark at 7:30am, start hitting in the dark at 7:45am and be totally warmed up and ready to go by 8:20am. Today, Matthew had a great practice with Arabella Loftus from the Swansea RPDC team while Isla trained with Paula Gatell Pelaez from Spain.

At around 10am Matthew went on court 4 to face 4th seed Zangar Nurlanuly from Kazakhstan. As I said in previous blogs, Matthew has been training with Zangar and they played a practice set on Friday but we both knew that we were going to see a different opponent today than we have done in practice.

Matthew struggled to find his range at the start of the match which led to too many unforced errors and saw him go 3-0 down quite quickly. He then held serve which settled some early nerves but Zangar was finding a very good depth of shot and giving up very few cheap points. At *2-5 down Matthew had a long service game but eventually lost it after the second deuce which gave the first set to Zangar 6-2.

For almost the whole of the first set Matthew was playing tentative tennis (which has been unlike him over the past week) but at the start of the second set he raised his level and started to play a much more aggressive game. He went 2-0 up straight away and, even though Zangar broke Matthew’s serve to level the set at 2-2, Matthew responded once again to break back and regain the lead. The boy’s both exchanged a break and a hold each and at 4-4 I was thinking that Matthew was in control of the set but 3 unforced errors in each of the next two games resulted in Zangar taking the match 6-2, 6-4.   

There’s definitely no shame in losing to a good opponent but speaking after the match both Matthew and I agreed that he didn’t quite get the balance of play right today and that led to a performance that neither of us expected.

Once we had debriefed, Matthew headed back to the hotel to refuel and recover while Isla and I stayed on-site to train individually and then with Victoria Herrera. Isla had another good hour and a half of training which meant that in total she’d been on court for around 3 hours today which is more good experience in the bank!

After returning to the hotel for lunch and to complete some school work it wasn’t long before we were heading back out at 5pm for Matthew’s 2nd round doubles match.

Today the tournament was using a second site for the matches (probably as they didn’t finish last night until 11pm!) and so we drove the short 10 minute journey to the Tamarasit Club where they had 3 clay courts and a really nice ‘club’ atmosphere.

Matthew and Oliver took to the court at just before 7pm to take on No.1 seeds Jamie Mackenzie from New Zealand & Flynn Thomas from Switzerland.

The view over 2 of the 3 clay courts at the Tamarasit Club

During the first set the number 1 seeds played some very good doubles and, after taking a 2-0 lead, they comfortably won the set 6-2. However, being the fighters that Matthew and Oliver are, they weren’t about to roll over and give the match to their opponents. Despite going 2-0 down again in the 2nd set they fought back and started to control the net much better to level the score at 2-2. The next two games both went to sudden death deuce but unfortunately we couldn’t take those crucial points and once the top seeds had a 4-2 lead they didn’t look back and went on to take the match 6-2, 6-2.

Having lost two matches in one day Matthew was understandably disappointed but he should be very proud of what he’s achieved over the past 7 days having never before played an international tournament. He’s learning very fast and has a game that is full of potential so if he can gain more experience and compete in more of these types of events then the future could be very bright for him.

So … now it’s all down to Isla and her first doubles match with Victoria tomorrow!

Schedule for tomorrow:

Maria Victoria Herrera Mena (ESP) & Isla Smith (GBR) vs Alexia Paula Bastos-Sousa Betanzos (ESP) & Georgiana-Victoria Juchi (ROM) – 7th match after 8:30am (not before 5pm)

Gran Canaria U12 & U14 TE Cat.2, Day 6

Tuesday 19th October 2021

Having secured his very first Tennis Europe Junior Tour win yesterday in the doubles, Matthew continued his fine form today as he flew through his first round of the singles!

Having spent 12 and a half hours on-site yesterday we could have really done with a lie-in this morning but it wasn’t to be so we were up and out of the hotel by 7:15am. It was another physical warm-up in the dark on court 6 for us and even when we started to hit the sun still hadn’t quite come up! Matthew had a good warmup with Ollie Page again while Isla trained next to them with Mila Bastianelli from France.

By 8:20am the orders came from the ground staff that we were to sweep and line the courts ready for the first round of matches at 8:30am which was exactly when Matthew took to the court to face Alejandro Padilla Perez from Spain.

Matthew was a little nervous this morning but, having seen him train here for the last week, and being on the receiving end of a 6-4 loss in a set, I knew that he definitely had no reason to be nervous at all. He started the match very well and dictated play from the very first point which resulted in him holding serve, breaking his opponent and then holding again to take a 3-0 lead. From this point there was no stopping Matthew and he stormed through the first set 6-0 clocking up some strong stats; 71% first serves in, 9 winners and only 6 unforced errors.

Matthew serving his way to victory in the U14 Boy’s 1st round

The second set was even more convincing and this was when he started to play his best tennis. Alejandro was a solid clay court player but Matthew’s groundstrokes were heavy, deep and finding the corners of the court in almost every rally. After just under an hour of play Matthew took the win 6-0, 6-0 and was comfortably through to round 2!

We stayed by the side of court 4 for the next hour or so to watch his next round opponent and it happens to be the person Matthew has trained with the most over the past 3 or 4 days; Zangar Nurlanuly from Kazakhstan!

At 10:45am I took to the practice court with Isla and we had a really good hour of training on the hard courts. The experiences Isla is having out here are so beneficial for her game development and it’s also making her very aware of where she wants her game to be at when she is 11 and 12 years old.

Once we had finished we got some lunch and then headed back to the hotel in the afternoon to get some rest and recover ready for the matches tomorrow.

During that time Matthew and Isla went off to the gym to go through a 45 minute pre-hab programme and then stretch out while I cut and edited Matthew’s match video so I could send it over to him without all the breaks in play. This meant that a 55 minute match video which, for some players can be much too long to watch, is now only 13 minutes long and much easier to digest!

For dinner tonight we headed back to Mr Kale for another superb Asian meal and then it was back to the hotel ready for another early morning tomorrow!

Schedule for tomorrow:

Matthew Wilkes (SGP) (UNR) vs (4) Zangar Nurlanuly (KAZ) (82) – 2nd match on after 8:30am (not before. 9:30am)

(1) Jamie Mackenzie (NZL) & Flynn Thomas (CHE) vs Oliver Page (GBR) & Matthew Wilkes (SGP) – After rest, not before 5:30pm

Gran Canaria U12 & U14 TE Cat.2, Day 5

Monday 18th October 2021

It was a good day all round at the El Cortijo Club de Campo today as Isla put in another good day of training while Matthew picked up his first Tennis Europe win!

The day started bright and early as we were the first team to arrive on-site at 7:30am this morning so that Isla could practice on the clay before she signed in as a Lucky Loser. While Isla and I trained on the clay, Matthew practiced with his doubles partner, Oliver Page, who is here with the Swansea Regional Player Development Centre team. There are quite a few British teams out here this week as well as some individual players too which is fantastic to see.

After Matthew and Isla finished their practices, we sat down to watch some of the Brits play their first round U12 matches. We watched some good performances from Megan Knight (2011 yob) who won in 3 sets and also a very tough 7-5, 7-6(0) win for Sevil Parviz (2010 yob).

At around 11am Victoria Herrera from the Soto Academy went on for her first round match so we supported her throughout. Despite losing 6-0, 6-1 she actually played some good tennis and, like with many of the players competing this week, the challenge is not to hit the ball well but to do it consistently enough so that a run of points leads to a run of games and that leads to winning sets. I’m sure Victoria will learn a lot from her match and I know she’ll be ready to fight hard again in her next match on Wednesday.

We then had a big break in the middle of the day where Isla could get a lot of school work done and Matthew could go back to the hotel to relax before his 1st round doubles match. During this time the U12 and U14 doubles draws were released:

Boy’s U14 Tennis Europe Doubles Draw
Girl’s U12 Tennis Europe Doubles Draw

At around 5:30pm Matthew and Oliver went on court to face identical twins Marc & Alex Sala Pagès from Spain. Even though Matthew and Oliver had never played doubles together before they gelled straight away and wasted no time in taking a 4-0 lead before their opponents managed to get a game on the board. They then held serve and broke again to take the first set very convincingly 6-1.

Oliver serving at the start of the second set this evening

The second set was a bit more tricky as Marc and Alex changed tactics and started to become a lot more active at the net. The Spanish pair broke Oliver in the first game and then held serve to lead 2-0 before Matthew managed to hold serve himself to steady the ship. From that stage both Matthew and Oliver started to control the net a lot better and put more pressure on their opponent’s groundstrokes which resulted in them winning 5 of the next 6 games to take the match 6-1, 6-3. Both boys played well but I was particularly impressed with how strong and fearless Oliver was at the net today – he may not be the biggest player in terms of height but he’s got a big heart and gives it everything he’s got!

After the match we found out that Matthew was first on at 8:30am tomorrow so we all ate dinner at the club and then headed back to the hotel via the supermarket to stock up on water and food for tomorrow.

Schedule for tomorrow:

Matthew Wilkes (SGP) vs Alejandro Padilla Perez (ESP) – 1st match at 8:30am

Gran Canaria U12 & U14 TE Cat.2, Day 4

Sunday 17th October 2021

We had another great training day today and Matthew’s preparations are now complete, ready for the start of the Main Draw.

This morning was a little more relaxed than yesterday with us getting up around 7:30am and leaving the hotel for the courts at 9:15am. Isla then warmed up at 9:45am ready for her 10am practice session with Victoria. For the session we were also joined by Macy Denny-Richards from the Soto Tennis Academy and Mariia Goreniuk from Ukraine. All four girls worked very hard individually but also trained well as a team with the older girls supporting the younger ones throughout.

Matthew then came on court at 11am and we had a really good hour of training together. We were fortunate to get a full court for the whole of the session and that meant we could work on a few specific areas of Matthew’s game and then finish with some full court points.

From today the club started serving lunch on-site so we all ate there and relaxed in the shade until it was time to warm up for our afternoon training sessions.

By the time we went on court at 2pm the temperature had really heated up to around 30°C but both Isla and Matthew are quite accustomed to it now having been out here training for the last few days. Matthew had another good hour with Zangar from 2-3pm and, as they are both competing in the Main Draw, they played a lot of points:

Matthew sliding into a backhand against Zangar this afternoon

Isla was then joined by fellow Brit Jess Morrison and they shared the court with Macy and me from 3-4pm. Just like in Matthew’s session, our focus was on point play and adapting our games to both our opponent and the different conditions at either end of the court.

After we were finished we checked that Matthew was signed in with the referee and then headed back to the hotel for another cool down and stretch out in the gym.

Our plans for dinner tonight were to meet up with Gemma and Macy from the Soto Tennis Academy team and go to ‘Positano’ for some good Italian food but, as we discovered when we walked to the restaurant, most of the restaurants are closed on Sundays! Well, that actually was a bit of a blessing in disguise as we stumbled upon a restaurant called Mr. Kale and the food was amazing!

The ITS and STA teams (without Victoria and Alfonso!)

While we were at dinner the draw came out and Matthew found out that he is not playing singles until Tuesday. There might still be doubles tomorrow for Isla and Matthew though so we’ll wait and see!

Boy’s U14 Tennis Europe Main Draw

Gran Canaria U12 & U14 TE Cat.2, Day 3

Saturday 16th October 2021

On paper it looks as though today’s result was a disappointing one but in terms of Isla’s development, both as a player and a person, it was extremely positive.

We started the day with breakfast at 6:30am and then left the hotel at 7:20am for the 15 minute drive to the tennis club. For me as a coach, preparation for any match is extremely important, especially when it’s at an international tournament! But, as a dad, one of the most important things is to get your daughters hair right … I think I’m getting there with it though!

When we arrived it was still dark but within 5 minutes the sun had come up and a few more players started to arrive:

Always a great feeling to be the first onsite!

After going through her physical warm-up, Isla joined the Soto team for her pre-match hit at 8am and, although she was a little nervous, Macy made Isla feel very comfortable. That’s what I love so much about the Soto Tennis Academy; every player works hard for themselves and the other players in the team which creates a real family environment. Macy is 14 years old and Isla is only 10 but Macy worked as hard as if she was hitting with someone her own age. That sets such a good example for the younger players and it is so important in establishing a strong academy culture.

After a very good warm-up Isla took to the court at 9am to take on Marta Crespo De Olano from Spain. The girls were only two years apart in age but the physical difference between them was enormous!

Isla was broken in the first game after Marta hit 3 huge forehand winners but, after an 8 point second game, Isla started to relax and find her range which started to make things a little more difficult for her Spanish opponent. Having gone 0-2 down, Isla fought back to break her opponent and that gave her a really big boost of confidence. From then until the end of the set Isla broke Marta two more times but unfortunately just couldn’t hold serve which resulted in her going down 6-3.

Isla ready to return serve today in the 2nd set

Despite being broken twice at the start of the second set, Isla kept a strong fighting attitude and managed to break her opponent back twice in the second set too. Even though both Isla’s serving and returning games were very close, she just found it too difficult to hold serve! The points were getting closer in each game and the rallies were becoming longer but, after 1 hour and 35 minutes of play, Isla ended up losing 6-3, 6-2.

There were so many positives to take from that match from a tennis perspective but I would have to say there were many more from a personal viewpoint and that is what I was most proud of. Isla dealt with playing her first Tennis Europe event two years young on a surface that she hasn’t had a lot of experience on and maintained a superb attitude throughout. She also played a tactically tough match against a physically much stronger opponent which will benefit her massively in the future. All in all I was pretty pleased (please don’t tell her that though – she’ll think I’m going soft!!).

After the match we had a little debrief and then we were both really happy to hear that Victoria Herrera from the Soto Tennis Academy had won her match and therefore qualified for the Main Draw – great job Victoria!

We left site around 12:30pm and got some food from the supermarket before heading back to the gym in the hotel to do a full recovery session:

Never cut corners with warm ups or cool downs

This afternoon we decided to take a little trip to the other side of Las Palmas to visit the beach and get some dinner at a different restaurant for a change. Both Isla and Matthew will be back on court tomorrow for a full training day before Matthew’s Main Draw campaign starts on Monday.

Gran Canaria U12 & U14 TE Cat.2, Day 2

Friday 15th October 2021

With one day to go until the start of the U12 girl’s qualifying draw it was time to put the final touches to Isla’s preparation while Matthew continued his unbeaten run of practice sets!

We started today with a slightly earlier practice than yesterday and first up from 10-11am was Isla. Having spent the whole of last week training at the Soto Academy in Southern Spain, Isla’s clay court game is really starting to develop and this morning she put in a brilliant session both in terms of working on the specifics in her game and also the resilience to do that in tricky conditions.

Matthew then came on court at 11am and, as always, put in a good shift for the whole hour. He told me he wanted to work on his defensive skills this morning but, after I’d made him chase wide balls for the best part of 40 minutes, I think he wished he hadn’t! His commitment was first class though and his clay court game, like Isla’s, has improved hugely over the past two days.

After a quick visit to the supermarket for lunch we were back at the club at 1:30pm ready to start our preparation for this afternoon’s training.

A view over the 7 clay courts at the El Cortijo Club De Campo in Telde

Isla had another good hour’s training and, like yesterday, the whole of the afternoon session was spent playing points and developing the tactics that we want her to use in her match tomorrow.

Matthew then came on court for his second session of the day and, luckily for me, he took on Zangar Nurlanuly from Kazakhstan in a practice set. Zangar was signing in for Qualies today as he didn’t enter the singles but is ranked 80 in the Tennis Europe rankings.

Matthew returning Zangar’s serve this afternoon during the practice set

Matthew played another great practice set (must have been the preparation I gave him yesterday!) and stormed to a 6-1 win in about 25 minutes. It was not only a great win against a quality opponent but the way he adapted his game to the style of his opponent on quite a bouncy clay court was superb … hopefully he can continue to develop in this way over the next couple of days before he plays his first match on Monday.

For dinner tonight we went to the same place as last night (Isla’s choice as she is playing tomorrow) and while we eating the Qualifying draw came out:

Girl’s U12 Tennis Europe Qualifying Draw

Schedule for tomorrow:

Isla Smith (GBR) vs Marta Crespo De Olano (ESP) – 1st match on at 9am

Gran Canaria U12 & U14 TE Cat. 2, Day 1

Thursday 14th October 2021

And the Travelling Squad is back on the road!

Over the past 21 years I’ve been fortunate to work with some very hard working and committed players who have given me the opportunity to travel the world at all levels of international tennis from U12 Tennis Europe to Grand Slams. However, now things are a little different as I’m not only the travelling coach but also the travelling parent too!

Having spent the best parts of 2016 – 2019 working with pro players and then being extremely restricted with international travel over the past 18 months due to Covid-19 it was brilliant to finally get back on the road yesterday.

This week I am travelling with Matthew Wilkes and his mother, Angeline, from Kent and my daughter, Isla Smith to the U12 & U14 Tennis Europe event in Gran Canaria.

We all travelled out yesterday from Gatwick and arrived at our hotel around 9pm last night. It was then an early night all round so that we were ready for a full training day today.

This week we’ve rented a car as we knew the club is a little tucked away and it also makes it so much easier to go to and from the club whenever we want to and to get food from a supermarket etc. So, after leaving the hotel at 10am and having a quick stop at the local supermarket to get water, we arrived at the club just after 10:30am.

The tennis club is part of a golf course and has 7 pretty good red clay courts as well as 3 hard courts and some padel courts (which we’re yet to find!).

Our training today consisted of 2 x 1hr individual sessions for Matthew and Isla which meant that I could enjoy 4 hours grinding on the clay! We trained from 11-1pm and then got some lunch at the supermarket before going again from 3-5pm.

Both players spent their first hour in the morning getting used to the courts and the windy conditions and then the second hour this afternoon was spent playing points. Matthew and Isla worked very hard in both of their sessions but, as Matthew took me down 6-4 in a set, I’d have to say that he got used to the conditions the fastest out of all of us!

At 5:30pm we headed back to the hotel to get showered and changed before walking into town for a lovely Italian dinner. We have one more day of training tomorrow before Isla’s U12 campaign starts on Saturday. However, Matthew moved into the Main Draw of the U14s a couple of days ago so he won’t compete now until Monday (which hopefully gives me a chance to get some revenge!).

Nottingham U18 ITF Grade 4 (week 2), Day 2

Tuesday 19th April 2016

Toby faced another difficult draw today at the second ITF event here in Nottingham as he took on 7th seed Johan Garpered from Sweden.

As the only available outdoor practice courts were before 9am this morning we were up for breakfast at 6.30am and then were at the tennis centre warming up by 8am. We then got on court at around 8.30am and had a good pre-match warm up for 30 minutes. In yesterday’s Blog I mentioned about how it was always windy in Nottingham but today was almost a perfect day; zero wind and the sun was shining stronger than it has been for the last 3 weeks (the weather gods must have read my Blog!).

After our practice we got a light bite to eat and then went through our pre-match preparation sheets to establish tactics and goals for the match. It was then a case of keeping an eye on the first round match on court 8 to make sure Toby was fully warm before he went on.

At 11.10am Toby and Johan went on court for their 1st round match. We didn’t know anything about Johan before the match but during the warm up you could tell that he was going to be a tricky lefty who had a big forehand and even bigger serve! The first three games all went the way of the Swedish player and due to the level that he was producing he actually restricted Toby to winning just 2 out of the first 16 points. At *0-3 Toby settled into more of a rhythm; he held serve well and then created two break point opportunities only for Johan to hit two unreturnable serves! The *1-4 game was a long one and Toby did well to save break points before holding serve but that would be the last game of the set that he would win as Johan won the next two in-a-row to take the set 6-2.

Johan serving during the opening set this morning

During the second set Toby raised his game to a good level, probably the best level he’s played at over the last 3 weeks, but not only did Johan defend well but he was also able to turn points around very effectively. The first 7 games all went with serve despite both players having a lot of break point chances but, at 3-4 with Toby serving, a couple of double faults crept in to hand Johan the all-important break. Johan then closed out the match with some very accurate serving and took the win 6-2, 6-3.

Normally when I talk to players about their aggressive balance (the difference between winners and unforced errors) in matches I refer to a good level to be between +5 and zero and an average level to be between zero and -5. Today Toby produced a -5 in both sets which is acceptable but Johan produced an impressive +6 in the first set and a zero in the 2nd set. I’m definitely a believer that stats don’t always describe a match but 25 winners and only 19 unforced errors in a match do paint a good picture about Toby’s opponent today.

After the match we debriefed and then watched some of the other first round matches to not only learn from them but also to compare our thoughts on different patterns of play in different situations.

During the afternoon the doubles draw came out:

Boy’s Doubles Draw

We then headed back to the hotel at around 4pm to relax before dinner which tonight was at Prezzo. The plan afterwards was to play some mini-golf but we were both quite tired so we played a few games in the arcade and then headed back to the hotel for an early night.

Schedule for tomorrow:

Guido Marson (ITA) & Andrea Trapani (ITA) vs Brandon Drew (GBR) & Toby Huffer (GBR) – 3rd match after 9am (not before 12.30pm)

Nottingham U18 ITF Grade 4 (week 2), Day 1

Monday 18th April 2016

After 4 days of training down in Kent, Toby Huffer and I drove back up the M1 yesterday to prepare for week 2 of the U18 ITF Grade 4s in Nottingham.

The weather was somewhat better this morning than it was last week so I decided to get up early and have a run along the canal before meeting Toby for breakfast at 7am. We then headed over to the tennis centre at 8am, warmed up from 8.30-9am and had a good training session from 9am until the matches started at 10.30am. It was thankfully dry for the whole of our session but rarely is there a day at the Nottingham Tennis Centre when the wind isn’t blowing! Still … it gave us a good opportunity to do some drilling and point play in similar conditions to which Toby will face tomorrow.

After training we cooled down and then watched some of the last round of Qualifying matches before heading to Sainsbury’s to get some lunch. It was then back to the hotel for a couple of hours to relax and prepare for our second session of the day.

Last Monday Toby had a good practice set with Ewen Lumsden and today he fancied his chances against me! We went through our physical warm-ups from 3-3.30pm and then after a 15 minute hit we went straight into a set. The first game was a bit of an epic but after 4/5 deuces I managed to break Toby’s serve and then I scraped another break at 3-1 to take a 4-1 lead. Toby responded well and dominated the next two games to get the score back to 4-3 but, after the next two games went with serve, I was prevented from serving out the set by the next players who had the court booked at 4.30pm. It was a good quality practice and will set Toby is good stead for his opening match tomorrow.

Once Toby had signed in for both singles and doubles we headed back to the hotel and then had a quick turnaround for dinner as Toby was very keen to be finished by 7.45pm so he could watch Spurs play Stoke.

While we were at dinner the draw came out:

Boy’s Singles Main Draw

All the way up here yesterday I had Toby in my ear describing the Leicester vs West Ham game (and he didn’t hold back on his opinions of the referring decisions!) and now I’m sitting next to him in a pub listening to him nervously cheers Spurs on!! Thankfully we’re only watching the first half!

 Schedule for tomorrow:

(7) Johan Garpered (SWE) (458) vs Toby Huffer (GBR) (1164) – 2nd match after 9am

 

Nottingham U18 ITF Grade 4 (week 1), Day 2

Tuesday 12th April 2016

Even though tennis is an individual sport so much of what happens on the match court can be out of your control; the time of your scheduled match, the conditions during the match, rain delays (being British we get quite used to that!), line calls etc. But often the toughest aspect to deal with is the level of your opponent during the match . . . and that was Toby’s biggest challenge today!

Toby’s match was scheduled for ‘not before 1pm’ today so while he had a bit of a lie-in I was up and off for a run to the tennis centre at 7.30am this morning. I decided to go over early to try and book a practice court in the bubble but on my way over it started to rain and by the time I arrived the courts were soaked. I had a quick chat with the referee who said they would be using all of the indoor courts in the bubble at 9am for the Tennis Europe matches so there wouldn’t be any available for practice. With that I ran back to the hotel to let Toby know the situation and to get some breakfast.

When we arrived back on site at 10.30am the rain had stopped so we decided to warm up in the gym and then go straight on to the outside courts to get a hit in before the matches started. We practiced from 11am until around 11.40am and even-though the courts were still quite wet it was still a very worthwhile practice.

Due to a delay in the first matches getting started and then a very long second match we ended up having over 5 hours between when we finished practising and when Toby went on for his match. However, that gave us a chance to have a good lunch and then go through all of Toby’s match preparation work.

At 5.15pm Toby went on court to face 6th seed Ryan Nijboer from Holland. We knew nothing about Ryan but after the warm up it was obvious that he was a good player with a big serve!

The match started with an unbelievable point that lasted over 30 shots (which Toby won!) and despite the first game being very close, Ryan held serve to take a 1-0 lead. Each game in the first set was relatively tight but each time the score got to 30-30 it was Ryan that was able to raise his level just a little more to close out the games. Ryan took the first set 6-0 in 23 minutes but I wasn’t disappointed at all in Toby’s performance and he kept fighting all the way through.

Ryan continue to dominate the scoreboard in the second set but Toby did have chances to break serve on two occasions and held his own serve well in the second game of the set. Unfortunately Ryan was just too good on the day and ended up winning the match 6-0, 6-1 – if he sustains that level for the rest of the tournament I think he could be a real contender for the title.

Straight after the match I spoke with Toby about the positives from the two sets and, even though we were both disappointed with the result, we knew that Toby had fought hard, produced some very good tennis and, most importantly, maintained a good attitude throughout.

Once Toby had cooled down, showered and changed we left the centre and headed back to the hotel. We then went out for dinner at Prezzo tonight which I think has become Toby’s new favourite restaurant after they had Italian humus as a starter and Chicken and Nduja pasta as a main course!

Tomorrow we will head back down to Kent to prepare for the second ITF next week.

Nottingham U18 ITF Grade 4 (week 1), Day 1

Monday 11th April 2016

Following on from the U18 LTA Grade 2 event in Nottingham last week, Toby Huffer and I travelled back up yesterday to prepare for the first of two weeks of U18 ITFs at the Nottingham Tennis Centre.

We were up bright and early this morning at 5.30am and after a good breakfast we left the hotel at just after 7am. When we arrived at the tennis centre we were the first ones there so we had the pick of any of the 16 outdoor hard courts but, as matches were scheduled on 12 of the courts, we decided to stay out of the way and go on Stadium Court.

A very quiet Nottingham Tennis Centre at 7.30am this morning

It was quite cold this morning so we warmed up for around 30 minutes before getting on the court to start our practice session at 8am. For the first hour of the session we had the whole court and continued to work on things that had been identified last week but at just before 9am some of the Scottish team, led by Toby Smith, joined us for the last half an hour. Even though we were restricted to half the court we were still able to work on what we needed to and after we hit some serves we finished with points for the last 15 minutes.

At 9.30am the Qualifying matches started so we watched some of those and then headed back to the hotel to get some food and relax.

We were back on-site at 1.45pm to warm up for our second session of the day and this time I stepped aside and let Ewen Lumsden battle with Toby for an hour and a half. The boys warmed up on one of the back courts and then moved across to court 9 to get a full court so they could play a practice set together. By this stage the wind had really picked up but despite that the boys played a good set which saw Toby take a 2-0 lead before Ewen fought back to take it 6-3.

Toby and Ewen competing hard this afternoon

Once they had finished the set there was still 15 minutes left before we lost the court so the boys decided to play another couple of service games each.

By this time it was gone 4pm and the sign-in had opened for the Main Draw. As always everyone wants to sign-in at the same time so the queue ended up going right out of the tournament office and across to the indoor courts!

After Toby had signed in we went back to the hotel to change and then headed out early to Zizzi to get some dinner. Last week we had talked about playing mini-golf almost every day but we didn’t have time to get around to playing so we decided yesterday that we’d do it this evening.

Well . . . over dinner Toby was telling me how much he was going to destroy me at mini-golf but after I selected the gold ball from the reception there was only ever going to be one winner! It was looking quite close to begin with but a 6 from Toby and a hole-in-one from me on the 12th hole put to rest any ideas that Toby had of beating me. I’ll save Toby’s pride by not telling you the score but put it this way . . . I could have shot 13 on the last hole and still won!

While we were playing the draw came out:

Boy’s Singles Main Draw

After the golf we headed back to the hotel to prepare for tomorrow and get a good night’s sleep.

Schedule for tomorrow:

(6) Ryan Nijboer (NED) (393) vs Toby Huffer (GBR) (1166) – 4th match after 9am (not before 1pm)

Czech Republic U18 ITF Grade 4, Day 2

Monday 18th January 2016

It was a disappointing day today as Toby not only lost in the first round of Qualifying but he also picked up an injury to his ankle which had a big impact on the way he played.

We met for breakfast this morning at 6.45am and then left for the 15 minute walk to the tennis centre at just after 7am. Since yesterday Toby and I have been having a little bet as to who will be the first one to fall over on the snow / ice on the way to the club and after slipping 3 times I was very lucky to stay on my feet!

When we arrived we went straight to the courts in the main building and warmed up for 30 minutes before getting on court for our scheduled 20 minute practice session. Normally players are allocated 30 minutes for practice but due to 62 players needing to warm up for their matches today, and only 6 courts available, they reduced the time to 20 minutes each. That amount of time was plenty for us though and by the time we finished at 8.15am Toby was feeling good and striking the ball well.

For the next couple of hours we relaxed at the club, watched some of the Australian Open and got Toby ready for his opening match. Then at 11.55am Toby went into the bubble on Centre Court to face Jiri Lehecka from the Czech Republic.

The bubble over the impressive Stadium Court

Toby started the match well and having struggled to hold his serve in his first service game of each set last week, I was pleased to see him come through a tight game at *0-1. Unfortunately he was broken at *1-2 and soon found himself *1-4 down but at that stage he dug deep and started to raise the level of his game. He held a very long 14 point game at *1-4 and then that boost of confidence helped him to assert his own game on his opponent which led to Toby hitting 3 winners in the next game to break back. After another good service game Toby levelled the set at 4-4* and even though Jiri held in the next game Toby’s momentum continued with 2 more games in-a-row to take a *6-5 lead. It was in the next game that Toby landed awkwardly from a first serve and felt something pull in his left Achilles. His serve was subsequently broken and despite leading 6-3 in the tie-break he ended up losing it 8-6.

At the end of the set Toby called the physio to the court and after 15 minutes of treatment and taping he went back out for the 2nd set – it should have only really been 3 minutes but the physio had to run to her car to get some more tape!

It was obvious that Toby was concerned about his ankle in the 2nd set and at *0-4 down things were not looking good. He continued to try his best though and managed to hold serve twice before eventually going down 7-6(6), 6-2.

It was a very disappointing result and I really felt for Toby as I know that, even after losing the 1st set, if he had been fully fit then he would have won that match.

After the match Toby iced his Achilles and then got some treatment from the physio who said that he needs to rest it and see how it is in the morning before making a decision on whether to stay for doubles or not.

We left the club at around 4pm and got some food before returning to the hotel to relax until we were hungry enough for dinner. It was then back to ‘Capua’ at just after 7pm for another nice meal.

We will see the physio again in the morning and then make a decision on whether we are staying to sign-in for the doubles or returning home to get some treatment there.

So if the Blog is not up by tomorrow evening then you know we’re not in Prague anymore!

 

Czech Republic U18 TF Grade 4, Day 1

Sunday 17th January 2016

Following 4 days back in England, Toby Huffer and I were back on the road to Prague in the Czech Republic today for our final tournament in this 3 week block.

I woke up this morning at 5.15am to about a centimetre of snow but by the time I got to Orpington to pick up Toby a lot more snow had settled.

Just getting us prepared for the Czech Republic

We then headed to Gatwick where everything was going smoothly; we checked in without any problems, managed to get some breakfast and were even on the plane ready to go at our scheduled departure time of 8.35am. We were then told that they had to de-ice the plane but that should only take 5-10 minutes. With that I put my headphones on and fell asleep. When I woke up at 10.15am I expected us to almost be in Prague but when I looked out of the window all I could see was another Easyjet plane right next to us!

We eventually got going 2 hours late but once we were in the air the flight went quite quickly and not before long we landed to even more snow in Prague. On the way to the hotel we called the tournament referee to book us a practice court from 4-5pm and after dropping our bags off in our rooms we walked to the club.

I was last out here for this event in 2014 and I absolutely loved everything about Prague; the city is spectacular, the restaurants are excellent and food is very reasonable and best of all is the tennis club which is situated on an island in the middle of the river that surrounds the city.

The Czech Lawn Tennis Club in the middle of the Vltava River

I warmed up with Toby from 3.30-4pm but in the end I wasn’t needed as a hitting partner as we met up with Ondrej Styler who played doubles with Toby in Sri Lanka last year. The club where the tournament is played is Ondrej’s home club and after he finished his own session from 3-4pm he asked if he could hit with Toby for an hour.

Toby and Ondrej training in the main building of the tennis centre

The boys trained really well together for the whole hour and Toby seemed to get used to the courts very quickly. They spent the first 30 minutes warming up and drilling and then spent the last 30 minutes playing points which was exactly what we needed.

At 5pm Toby cooled down, showered, changed and then signed-in for the Qualifying before we made our way back to the hotel.

Due to the delay in our flight this morning we didn’t have a lot of time to eat much for lunch so by the time it came to dinner we were both very hungry! We managed to find a little Italian restaurant just down the road from the hotel called ‘Capua’ and the food was superb. During dinner the draw was released:

**I will post the draw sheet as soon as the referee sends it to me!**

After dinner Toby headed back to the hotel to book practice for tomorrow and have a good stretch out while I headed up the road in the pouring snow to try and find a supermarket!

Schedule for tomorrow:

Jiri Lehecka (CZE) (UNR) vs Toby Huffer (GBR) (1064) – 3rd match after 8.30am

Sweden U18 ITF Grade 4 (week 2), Day 4

Monday 11th January 2016

Having moved into the Main Draw of the singles yesterday via a Lucky Loser spot it was always going to be difficult for Toby today, especially as he was taking on a player that had won two matches last week 6-0, 6-0 & 6-0, 6-0 and eventually lost in the 1/4 Finals. However, after a very quick 1st set Toby showed the fighting spirit that has got him this far in the event but in the end in wasn’t to be and he went down in 3 sets.

As Toby’s match was scheduled for 4th round on today it meant we could have a more relaxed start and actually get to have a full breakfast before having to leave at 7.10am to get the bus to the tennis centre. Toby then went through his physical warm-up and at 8am we went on court with Jake Hersey to go through their pre-match practice session. Both Toby and Jake were hitting well and even though the 30 minute session seemed to go by very quickly they still got everything done and had time to finish with some practice points.

Toby and Jake working hard during their practice points

As soon as we had finished we decided to go back to the hotel for a couple of hours to ensure Toby didn’t get bored sitting around at the club so once he got a ‘not before time’ of 12pm from the referee we headed straight to the bus stop.

At 10.30am I was having a nice little nap in my room when suddenly I heard Toby banging on the door to tell me that the person that he had signed into the doubles with had now let him down and was playing with someone else. Not an ideal situation to be in, especially with only an hour and a half until the sign-in closes but unfortunately it happens all too often at junior tournaments.

We headed straight back to the club and despite having an hour to find a partner I worked out that there were only three specific players that Toby could ask to ensure a place in the top 14 entries (it’s a 16 draw but there are 2 wildcards). One of those players said that he wasn’t playing doubles and Toby couldn’t find the other two which meant that when the clock struck 12pm Toby wasn’t in the draw.

After the farce with the doubles we had a couple of hours to eat and re-focus before Toby went on to face Anton Ornberg from Sweden. Toby played against Anton in doubles in the Luxembourg ITF and, having played him last week in SALK, Jake gave us a bit of background on him too. However, when Toby started the match he found it very difficult to find a consistent level of any kind and 3 double faults in his first service game weren’t the ideal platform to start from!

So the first set went by 6-0 in 21 minutes and at 1-3* down with Anton serving it was looking like it could all be done and dusted in 45 minutes! However, at that stage Toby had a little break-through and managed to break Anton for the first time to get the set back on serve. With that little injection of confidence Toby started to set up more and play like he does in practice; taking the ball on early and looking to move forwards to finish the points at the net. In the first set Toby came to the net 3 times and won 2 out of 3, in the second set Toby came forwards 14 times and won a very impressive 11 out of 14 which helped him to turn the set around and take it 6-4.

The turnaround from 3-1 down was as though someone had actually replaced Toby with a different player and if he could have maintained that level them I’m sure the third set would have been very interesting. Unfortunately once Toby was broken at *1-2 Anton really upped his level and actually only missed 1 ball in the following 3 games whilst hitting 6 winners to take the match 6-0,4-6, 6-1.

The big positives from the match were the way that Toby had dug deep to turn the second set around and that has been something that has impressed me during this week. Every match has been tough and Toby could have gone out in the 1st round of Qualifying like he did last week but his determination saw him come through two close matches over the weekend. If he can develop that attitude further in training over the next 3-4 days then he could do really well in the Czech Republic next week.

Once Toby had seen the physio for a couple of niggles we got the bus back to the hotel and then changed our flights home to tomorrow. We then had a really nice meal with Josh, Jake and parents before getting everything packed up ready to return home in the morning.

Next stop on the ITC schedule is the U18 ITF Grade 4 in Prague which starts on Monday so I’ll be back blogging from Sunday night. In the meantime if you have any questions at all about playing international tournaments or coaching at international events then I’m more than happy to help.

Sweden U18 ITF Grade 4 (week 2), Day 3

Sunday 10th January 2016

It was a very good day at the Fair Play Tennis Centre today and despite Toby not directly qualifying he still made it into the Main Draw by the backdoor!

We were up at 6am this morning and down in the lobby for their ‘early breakfast’ by 6.30am. The ‘early breakfast’ basically consisted of bread, ham, cheese, some yoghurts and some juice but for us it was perfect as we didn’t really want a big breakfast before warming up at 7.30am.

After getting the bus to the tennis centre we warmed up (in the dark!) and then once they eventually turned the lights on we hit from 8-8.40am. It was a good session and once we had warmed up Toby’s groundstrokes and volleys we spent a lot of the time focussing on his serve as he felt it wasn’t quite where it needed to be after the match yesterday.

At 9am Toby went on to face Marko Vejnovic from Sweden who during the warm-up looked very impressive! Both boys started the match well but it was Toby that capitalised on a couple of loose games from Marko and took an early *3-1 lead. Unfortunately Toby lost his serve in the next game and that gave Marko a big boost of confidence that led to the Swede winning the next 4 games in a row to take the set 6-3. The only thing that Toby had really done wrong was miss a little too much in his service games but it was Marko’s high level that ultimately won the set.

The second set went with serve until 2-2* but it was obvious that Toby had really raised his own level from the start of the set and, by the time that he broke to lead *3-2 his stats were an impressive 10 winners and only 5 unforced errors in the 5 games. Toby’s maintained his good form throughout the rest of the set and even though a few unforced errors crept in at the end he still managed to hold on to his serve to take the set 6-4.

Toby and Marko in the middle of their high quality match

The third set mirrored the second with Toby breaking Marko’s serve at 2-2* but the main difference between the second and third sets was the level that both boys were producing was superb. In fact by the time the set got to *4-3 with Toby serving the stats read: Toby: 7 winners and 6 unforced errors, Marko: 11 winners and 10 unforced errors meaning that both players had an aggressive balance of +1. At 5-3* with Marko serving Toby earned 2 match points but failed to convert on either of them and then in the next game Toby was broken after a very inconsistent game. Things were not looking good at *5-6 but Toby held his nerve and his serve to take the match into a final set tie-break and then went on to take it 7-2 to win the match in just short of 2 hours and 45 minutes.

It was a big win for Toby but he very much took it in his stride and as soon as he left the court his attention had already shifted to his last round match.

We had 2 hours rest between matches which gave Toby a chance to get some food, have a stretch and relax before it was time to warm up again for the next match.

At 1.45pm Toby went onto court 2 to play top seed Viktor Thoresson from Sweden in a match that turned out to be quite a strange one! The physical effects of the match this morning on Toby were obvious to see as he struggled with his serve and ended up not holding serve for the whole of the first set. Up until 3-3* that wasn’t really a problem as Viktor couldn’t hold his either but once he did in the next game he went on to take the opening set 6-3.

Viktor then flew through most of the second set with some very good tennis and Toby’s fatigue meant that he couldn’t apply his game like he did this morning. However, at *1-5 down Toby held his serve for the first time in the match and then, out of nowhere, mounted a big comeback to break and hold again to leave him only one break away from levelling the set. Unfortunately Viktor played a very strong service game at 4-5* and went on to take the match 6-3, 6-4.

It was a shame that Toby had played such a long match this morning otherwise I think he would have had a great shot at beating Viktor but full credit has to go to the Swede who played well when it really mattered.

As soon as Toby had come off court the referee told us that there were two Lucky Loser spots in the Main Draw and we would now need to draw them from the 4 players that lost in the last round of Qualifying . . . and who’s name was picked first . . . Toby’s!! There actually turned out to be three Lucky Loser spots so almost everyone got in!

We were both very pleased that he had made it through to the Main Draw even if it was as a Lucky Loser and to be honest I think he deserved it after the way that he fought so hard this morning to come through a really tough match.

Once things had calmed down after the draw Toby showered and changed and then we returned to the hotel to relax before dinner.

Dinner tonight was once again at ‘Epicuré’ but this time we were joined by fellow Brits Jake Hersey & his mum and Josh Rose & his dad. The food was again really good and it was nice to have a group of us there, especially for Toby as he’s probably bored of just having dinner with me!!

During the meal the draw came out:

Boy’s Singles Main Draw

And after dinner I managed to get the picture of the Christmas present tree that I mentioned yesterday:

Toby in awe of the presents in the tree!!

Schedule for tomorrow:

Anton Ornberg (SWE) (701) vs (LL) Toby Huffer (GBR) (1064) – 4th match after 8.30am

 

Sweden U18 ITF Grade 4 (week 2), Day 2

Saturday 9th January 2016

It was a very good day for Toby today as he fought through a tough battle to get his first ITF win of the year here in Malmo.

As the matches didn’t start until 2pm today we had a bit of a lie-in and then met for breakfast at just before 9am. I then spent most of the morning looking up how to get to the tennis centre via public transport as the £12 each way taxi costs was far too much for a 10 minute journey! Once I worked out the best route I told Toby we would meet at 11.15am in the lobby and then head to the supermarket to get some lunch before getting the bus to the tennis centre.

The journey was very straight-forward and probably only took a few minutes longer than if we had taken a taxi – it was also a lot cheaper at SEK105 for both of us for a 24 hour ticket (3 journeys) compared to SEK150 for a single journey in a taxi!

We arrived at the tennis centre at 12.15am and went straight on court to go through our physical warm-ups. We then had a very good hit for 30 minutes to get Toby prepared for his match and even though we had to share the court with another player and her coach we still managed to do everything that we wanted to do in the session.

Before Toby went on court at 2pm we had a short pre-match talk which was based around Toby achieving his own goals rather than anything specific regarding his opponent as we hadn’t seen him play before.

When the match started Toby was broken in the opening game and after Stanimir Petrovic held serve to take a 0-2 lead things were not looking too promising! Toby responded well though and once he had found a more consistent hitting level he won the next 5 games in a row to take a 5-2 lead. Stanimir had some of the local crowd cheering him on and that helped him to mount a comeback which saw Toby get broken twice and soon go 5-6* down with Stanimir serving for the first set. Toby broke back immediately with one of his best games of the opening set but despite leading 5-3 in the tie-break he eventually lost it 9-7.

I expected Toby to come out fighting in the second set but didn’t realise it would take him to be 0-2* down again before he started the comeback! However, when he started fighting back he really meant it and won 6 out of the next 7 games to take the set 6-3. All it took was a few strong service games from Toby to really build his confidence up and after that there was no looking back.

An improvised backhand down the line passing shot from Toby during the 2nd set

I think the second set really knocked the wind out of Stanimir and even before they started the third set they had already been on court for over 2 hours! By the start of the third Toby was in no mood to give his opponent an inch and even though he double faulted on the first point of the set he managed to hold serve – only once they had changed the balls to new ones though – I’m sure he blames the double fault on the old balls!!

Toby flew through the third set 6-0 in 25 minutes and despite being annoyed at himself for not producing a higher level in the first set, he was pleased to get the win against a tricky opponent and move into the next round of Qualifying.

Once Toby had showered and changed we got the bus back to the hotel where we had a quick turnaround for dinner as we were both very hungry! We ate at ‘Epicuré’ again but tonight we changed up the meals from the ones we had last night and Toby went for the salmon pasta while I had a very nice veal and rice. Both portions were definitely enough and we left feeling quite full!

Before we headed back to the hotel we had a walk around Malmo and I have to say it looks like a brilliant little city with a lot of character. The Christmas lights are still up everywhere over here and there’s even a big tree in the square opposite our hotel that has presents hanging from the branches – I’ll take a picture and show you tomorrow!

Schedule for tomorrow:

Marko Vejnovic (SWE) (UNR) vs (5) Toby Huffer (GBR) (1064) – 1st match at 9am

Sweden U18 ITF Grade 4 (week 2), Day 1

Friday 8th January 2016

After a good week of training in the UK, Toby Huffer and I were back on the road early this morning to catch our flight to Copenhagen before heading over to Malmo in Sweden.

We arrived at Gatwick at 6.45am but due to both the plane and the runway being frozen in Copenhagen this morning the plane was delayed by almost an hour. By the time we had boarded and were ready to take off both Toby and I were fast asleep so the 2 hour flight ended up going very quickly!

Once we arrived in Copenhagen we got the train across the Oresund Bridge which links Denmark and Sweden. The bridge is very impressive and not only is it almost 8km long but it also is a ‘double-decker’ bridge with a combined road and rail bridge on two different levels.

We arrived at our hotel in Malmo at 2.15pm and by 3pm we were off to the Fair Play Tennis Club which is about a 10 minute taxi ride away.

When we arrived we met the tournament director and the referee for the week but were told that there wouldn’t be any free practice courts available until 5pm. Each tournament has a requirement to provide practice courts on the day before the tournament starts but they can determine when they are available so, unless we wanted to pay for a court, we would have to wait until 5pm.

By the time it got to 4pm we were getting a little bored so we decided to warm up on one of the free courts and, as no-one came onto the court by the time we had finished, we managed to sneak in a very good 30 minute practice from 4.30-5pm. We then moved over to our scheduled court where we warmed up our serves and played points until we lost the court at 5.30pm. During our hour on court Toby worked very hard and showed a much higher level of hitting than he had this time last week so by the time we had finished we were both very pleased.

After showering and changing at the club we got a taxi back to the hotel and then once we had changed out of our tennis kit we walked down the road to a really nice Italian restaurant called ‘Epicuré’. The portion sizes were a little small but the unlimited bread certainly filled any gaps in our stomachs!

We then walked to the supermarket to stock up on water, fruit and a few snacks before heading back to the hotel which was when we found out the draw had been released.

Boy’s Qualifying Draw

The matches don’t start tomorrow until 2pm and, as there aren’t any practice courts available until 1pm, it looks like we might get a bit of a lie-in.

Schedule for tomorrow:

Stanimir Petrovic (SWE) (UNR) vs (5) Toby Huffer (GBR) (1064) – 1st match at 2pm

 

Sweden U18 ITF Grade 4 (week 1), Day 2

Saturday 2nd January 2016

It was a disappointing opening day here in Stockholm for us today as Toby lost in the 1st round of Qualifying to Linus Lovgren from Sweden.

We were up early this morning and left the hotel before breakfast to make sure we could get a whole hour of training in before the matches started. We warmed up from 7-7.30am and then Toby and I trained together for around 20 minutes on a full court which gave us the opportunity to play some points. Fellow Brit Andrew Rozanov then came on court to hit with Toby and, even though we were reduced to half a court for the majority of the session, both boys trained well together until 8.30am. We even managed to get some full court serving points in with another player which was very beneficial in our preparations for Toby’s match.

Straight after the session we headed back to the hotel to shower and change and then we met up for a well-needed breakfast.

We were back at the club at 11am to see how the matches were going and also give a bit of support to Nils Larsson-Regnstrom who travelled with us to Sri Lanka back in 2014. Unfortunately Nils lost and as Toby was scheduled for the 4th match on the same court we decided to get some food before preparing for his match.

Toby went on court at 1.15pm and even though he started well by breaking serve in the first game, he had a bit of a nightmare in the next game and hit 4 unforced errors including 3 double faults! The rest of the set didn’t get much better as Toby struggled with his timing and ended up losing the set 6-2.

Thankfully Toby found some form at the start of the 2nd set and once he broke Linus and held to take a 3-1 lead his confidence started to return. Linus held serve in the next game but Toby went on to hold and then break again with some very good hitting from the back of the court which was non-existent in the 1st set! Linus put in a good returning game when Toby served for the set at *5-2 but Toby held off a Break Point with his first ace of the match and then went on to take the set 6-2.

Toby chasing down a wide backhand during the 2nd set

Just like in the 2nd set Toby raced to a 3-1* lead in the 3rd but it was at this stage that Linus found his best level of the match to win the next 3 games in a row to take a 3-4 lead. Toby found himself in a very difficult situation at *0-40 in the next game but he fought hard to win 5 points in-a-row to level the set at 4-4*. Linus then continued his run of form into his service game and after holding he went on to break Toby to take the match 6-2, 2-6, 6-4.

It definitely wasn’t the result that we had expected and I think if Toby had started the match playing in the same way that he did in the 2nd set then maybe the result would have been different.

As Toby has lost in the first round of Qualifying it is very unlikely that he will be able to get into the doubles so, after discussing our options after the match, we will now fly home tomorrow to train for 4 days before flying out to Malmo for the next ITF on Friday. If we had decided to stay our training would have been very limited due to the ITF and 2 National events taking up all of the court time during the day so it made sense to save money on hotel and food costs and return home.

We had dinner at the club again tonight before returning to the hotel to pack and prepare for a 5 hour train journey to Copenhagen where we will fly back to London tomorrow afternoon.

Sweden U18 ITF Grade 4 (week 1), Day 1

Friday 1st January 2016

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!

I hope you all have a fantastic and very successful 2016 and hopefully I can help to give you an insight into life of a travelling tennis coach.

So … after a training block in December Toby Huffer and I were back on the road almost as soon as Big Ben chimed midnight! Well … actually, Toby managed a few hours’ sleep before he left home to come down to Kent to pick me up and then we headed around the M25 to Heathrow – funnily enough there was no traffic on the M25 at 6.30am this morning!

We got to Heathrow quite early but it gave us a chance to catch up over some breakfast before we boarded our 10.50am flight to Stockholm. Toby managed to sleep the whole way and I had to try very hard to resist the temptation to take a picture of him catching flies as he slept!!

When we arrived in Stockholm we got a taxi straight to our hotel which is right next door to the SALK tennis club. I’ve been out here on 4 occasions in the past and I have to say I absolutely love the hotel, club and the little town that there are in. It’s a very easy event for the players as the hotel is 50 metres from the club, 100 metres from the supermarket and about a 5 minute walk from a very good Italian restaurant – what more could you ask for?!

After getting a bite to eat we warmed up from 4.30-5pm and then hit from 5-6pm on the top courts which is almost like hitting in the roof! The club boasts 14 indoor courts and not one is at road level – there are 6 under the ground which is great for viewing from the balcony, 2 courts are up a couple of steps and the other 6 are in the roof!

Despite us both struggling to time the ball for the first 5-10 minutes (mainly due to tiredness and the lighting) we eventually found a good level and after around 30-40 minutes of drilling / serve and return work, we played some good points off the ground before finishing with 2 service games each.

By the time we came off court it was just after 6pm so we booked some practice courts for tomorrow morning and then headed back to the hotel to shower and change before dinner.

I was planning on going to the Italian restaurant down the road but when we came back to the club around 7pm to check the draw we saw that the club restaurant was still serving food so we decided to eat there. After we ordered our food we managed to see the draw:

Boy’s Qualifying Draw

We finished dinner around 8pm and after a long day of travelling we decided to have an early night to get the best preparation possible for tomorrow.

Schedule for tomorrow:

Linus Lovgren (SWE) (2240) vs (8) Toby Huffer (GBR) (1415) – 4th match after 9am

Bahamas U18 ITF Grade 5, Day 3

Tuesday 24th November 2015

It was a good day at the National Tennis Centre here in Nassau today and after a couple of close doubles matches in the last few weeks, Toby got a well-deserved win on the board.

As Toby and Lee Sadler were scheduled for first match at 9am today we followed the same routine as yesterday which saw us at breakfast at 6.20am and then in a taxi to the tennis centre at 7.10am. Toby and I then warmed up and had a good session for around 45 minutes which included our normal warm-up as well as lots of cross court hitting, specific work on half-volleys and first volleys and also specific doubles serving points.

After the session Toby had just under 15 minutes to get changed and have a brief chat with Lee about their tactics for the match before they went on at 9am to face Pedro Batistella from Brazil and Zaharlije-Zak Talic from Australia.

Toby served first at the start of the match and after a tight game he held serve on a Sudden Death Deuce point. Toby and Lee broke in the next game with some very good doubles play and then Lee held serve well to secure at strong 3-0* lead. The next few games went with serve and neither pair struggled to hold but at *4-2 Lee had to dig very deep on his own serve to save break points before holding to Deuce. At 5-2 our boys were looking very confident and even though they hadn’t played together before, they looked very much like they had. Zak held at 5-2 but Toby produced his best service game of the set to hold to Love to take the first set 6-3.

Having been a little flat during the first set Pedro and Zak got themselves fired up from the very first point of the second set and that resulted in them controlling the net a lot more. At *1-2 the set was still on-serve but Lee struggled during his service game and, despite saving a break point, he double faulted on the Deuce point to hand Pedro and Zak the break. Toby and Lee continued to play some good doubles in the second set and actually posted better stats than in the first set but they weren’t able to get the break back and eventually lost the set 6-3.

As I’ve said many times in my Blogs the Match Tie-break is a bit of a lottery and a lot depends on which pair takes their opportunities first. Toby and Lee came out from the change of ends at the end of the second set and showed good energy from the start of the breaker. They took a 2-0* lead but Pedro and Zak fought back to level the tie-break at 2-2. Unfazed by the mini-break back, Toby and Lee responded by winning the next 5 points in a row to take a 7-2* lead and at this stage they looked by far the better team. The 7-2* lead was extended to *9-3 and even though Pedro and Zak managed to win the next two points, Toby and Lee finished the match in style with a good cross at the net to take the win 6-3, 3-6, 10-5.

Both boys were very pleased with the win especially after they both had difficult losses yesterday in the singles.

After the match we headed back to the hotel to get some lunch but a couple of hours later we were back in a taxi heading over to the tennis centre for a practice session from 2-3pm. By this time the wind had really picked up which made the training even more challenging. It was still a good session and gave us another opportunity to develop Toby’s doubles game.

For dinner tonight we headed to the Cilantro – the Mexican restaurant at the hotel but after waiting for an hour for a couple of small burritos and a thimble full of rice we went downstairs to the buffet at The Market Place for a second course!

The hotel had a Caribbean evening on tonight in the lobby so after stretching out in the gym we got involved in the evenings entertainment!

Caribbean night at the hotel!

Schedule for tomorrow:

Toby Huffer (GBR) & Lee Sadler (CAN) vs (3) Ryan Goetz (USA) & Adam Neff (USA) – 5th match after 9am

Bahamas U18 ITF Grade 5, Day 2

Monday 23rd November 2015

It wasn’t the result we were hoping for today as Toby went down to 3rd seen Ryan Goetz from America in straight sets.

We were up early and at breakfast this morning by 6.20am and even though they didn’t officially open until 6.30am we managed to slip in without too much fuss. We were then packed up and ready to leave the hotel at 7.10am but we had to get a taxi to the tennis centre as the first shuttle bus wasn’t scheduled until 7.30am.

When we arrived the courts were still a little wet from the overnight rain but the tournament staff did a good job of clearing most of the water so that we could hit from 8-8.30am. Toby was looking very focussed during the session and was hitting well so by the time we finished I was feeling confident about his chances today.

Between 8.30am and 9am we prepared for the match but while the other matches went on court on-time, Toby and Ryan had to wait until 9.30am before the whole court was dry enough for the match to start. When the match did get underway Ryan flew out of the blocks with 3 winners in the first game but Toby remained calm and saved a break point in the next game on his way to holding serve. Toby then played two very good games to break Ryan and then hold his serve again to take a strong 3-1* lead. I always think that playing a seed in the opening round is a good thing as even though they’re seen as better than you on paper, they’re also the ones with the pressure on them and if you can get passed them then your draw can really open up. At *3-2 Toby started to become a little more inconsistent than he had been in the opening 5 games and 11 unforced errors in 2 games completely changed the set resulting in him going *3-4 down. However, despite Ryan breaking Toby’s serve, the set was still ‘on serve’ so there was no reason to panic. Toby had to fight very hard to again fend off 2 break points in the next game but held serve to level the set at 4-4* after a 16 point service game. By this stage Ryan had found a higher level than at the start of the match and after a strong hold of serve he broke Toby to take the first set 6-4.

Toby serving during the opening set

The first two games of the second set were very close and could have gone either way but after losing both of them Toby began to struggle to stay close to his opponent who by now was full of confidence. From *2-0 up Ryan didn’t miss a single ball for the rest of the set and posted stats of 11 winners and only 5 unforced errors in the whole set to take the match 6-4, 6-0.

Despite the loss there were positives to take from it, especially how Toby played in the first 4 games, but against players of Ryan’s level you have to be on them for the whole duration of the match as once they get into a rhythm they can be tough to beat.

After the match we headed back to the hotel for lunch and then the afternoon was spent going through the video of the match. It’s not often that you’re able to video matches at outdoor tournaments but luckily Toby’s match was on a court close to the clubhouse so I could set the camera up on the balcony. Video analysis is so important at any level of tennis and many players respond better to seeing themselves play rather than just getting verbal feedback from a coach.

For dinner this evening we once again had a reservation at Aqua and during the meal the doubles draw came out:

Boy’s Doubles Draw

Unusually the doubles match tomorrow is on at 9am so after having a stretch out in the gym this evening we headed back to the rooms to get an early night.

Schedule for tomorrow:

Pedro Batistella (BRA) & Zaharlije-Zak Talic (AUS) vs Toby Huffer (GBR) & Lee Sadler (CAN) – 1st match at 9am

Bahamas U18 ITF Grade 5, Day 1

Sunday 22nd November 2015

Toby Huffer and I had a long day of travel yesterday as we made our way from London to the small island of the Bahamas in the Caribbean. After the 10 hour flight we got to the hotel at around 4pm and then managed to use one of the tennis courts in a neighbouring hotel to hit on for a little while before it got dark!

This morning when we woke up at 6am the weather was looking nice and we were looking forward to a full day of training but when we arrived at the National Tennis Centre the sky suddenly turned rather dark! We managed to go through our full physical warm up and hit for around 30 minutes before a big storm hit us.

The rain pouring down on Stadium court this morning

Rather than wait 2 hours for the next shuttle bus we decided to call a taxi with four other players and head back to the hotel. When we arrived we went straight into the gym to go through Toby’s travelling programme and despite not being able to do as much as we wanted on court this morning we still felt as though we’d put in a good mornings training.

At 11am we walked out of the gym and much to Toby’s delight he was able to watch the whole of the Tottenham vs West Ham game before we met up again for lunch.

When I first looked into booking the hotel the tournament were quoting a rate that was for room only but for just $3 more I managed to get a deal direct with the hotel to include all of our meals and drinks – sometimes it is worth spending the extra time to see if any special deals are available!

Breakfast and lunch at the hotel are in the Market Place restaurant which is a buffet but for dinner you can either book one of the other 6 restaurants or you can go for the buffet again. Last night we had the buffet (as all of the restaurants were fully booked) which was very average so today I booked up all the restaurants we thought we might use for the whole week.

At 3.15pm we got the second shuttle bus of the day over to the club and then had a rain-free training session from 4.15 – 5.30pm. The courts out here are quite bouncy but as we’re at sea level we don’t have any altitude to deal with which makes it much easier to adjust to the conditions. Out here in the Caribbean they also tend to use Penn tennis balls which are a little lighter than the normal Wilson US Open or Head ATP balls that are often used in ITF events. That is something else that takes a little adjustment but after an hour or two you soon get used to them.

At 5.30pm Toby was asked by the referee to be a player representative for the draw which was good as we got to see who he was playing straight after the draw was made rather than have to wait all evening for the draw to be released!

Boy’s Singles Main Draw

We then got a taxi back to the hotel and got ready for a superb dinner in Aqua – the Italian restaurant at the hotel that we couldn’t get into last night!

Schedule for tomorrow:

Toby Huffer (GBR) (1588) vs (3) Ryan Goetz (USA) (618) – 1st match at 9am

Norway U18 ITF Grade 5, Day 3

Wednesday 18th November 2015

It was a disappointing end to our time here in Norway as Toby went down in both singles and doubles today.

We were up very early this morning and in the lobby of the hotel warming up at 6.30am as the tennis centre doesn’t open until 7am. We then walked over to the courts and were let in my Carl Maes who had been entrusted with the key today – it was a good job that he did have it too otherwise our 30 minute warm up would have been undone within minutes in the cold outside!

Toby and I had a good training session for an hour and were able to go through all of the things that we wanted to work on yesterday evening but weren’t able to due to the matches overrunning. We warmed up as normal and then did some drilling, point play out of the hand and then finished the session with some serving points. We then headed back to the hotel and went straight up to the 21st floor for some well-earned breakfast.

At just before 9.15am we went back over to the tennis centre to have a brief warm-up to prepare for Toby’s 9.30am match against 6th seed Marcus Sulen from Norway. Even though the first 4 games of the match went with serve they were quite flat from both players and it was Marcus that raised his game first and broke Toby to take a 2-4* lead. Toby tried hard to stay with his opponent but by this stage Marcus was full of confidence and reeled off the next two games with 6 winners and only 2 unforced errors to take the first set 6-2.

At the start of the second set Toby raised his hitting level and his intensity which took him from *1-2 down to *3-2 up with a very important break of serve. It was at this stage that I felt as though the momentum was shifting in the match but Marcus kept his frustrations in check and fought hard to break back and hold to regain a lead in the set. The *3-4 game was crucial to the match and unfortunately 4 unforced errors from Toby handed Marcus another break and he took advantage by holding serve in the next game to take the match 6-2, 6-3.

Credit as always has to go to Marcus for the win but Toby and I were left reflecting on a match that was definitely winnable.

We headed back to the hotel so that Toby could shower and change and then we walked down the road to the supermarket to get some lunch. We only had just over an hour and a half to have lunch and rest before we needed to be back over to the tennis centre to warm up for the doubles.

Normally when a match is scheduled for ‘not before 2pm’ it usually goes on around 2.30/3pm but court 6 was racing through the matches today and Toby went on exactly on time. The main focus for the doubles was to work on finishing more first volleys and also hit the targets when serving to set up Toby’s partner at the net.

Having trained with Gilbert Jaeger and Axel Oljons on Monday we knew that they were both good players and in particular Axel had a big serve and Gilbert was sharp around the net. When the match began Toby and Neil Oberleitner from Austria started poorly and were broken in three of their first four service games. Some of that was due to Toby and Neil not having played together but the majority of it was just down to their Swedish opponents being very switched on. At *1-5 Toby played a very good game to hold for the first time with 5 out of 6 first serves but Gilbert held in the next game to take the opening set 6-2.

The second set was completely the opposite of the first set; Toby and Neil started very well and it was Axel and Gilbert that struggled on their own serves. Despite losing a sudden death deuce game at 2-1* on Gilbert’s serve, Toby and Neil continued to apply the pressure on the number 2 seeds and after holding all 5 of their service games they eventually got a set point at 5-4* sudden death deuce with Alex serving. Unfortunately the Swedes held their nerve and their serve to level the set and then went on to break Neil to take a 5-6* lead. Gilbert then served well to take the match 6-2, 7-5.

Despite the loss (and the performance in the first set!) both Toby and I were very pleased with how the boys responded after the first set and the quality of doubles that they produced in the second set. If Toby can continue to develop his doubles like he did in the second set then I know that these matches will go his way in the near future.

For dinner tonight we once again headed to AMFI shopping centre to go to PastaPasta and then it was back to the hotel to pack everything up ready for our flight back to London tomorrow.

The last international trip of the year starts on Saturday and is to the Grade 5 ITF in the Bahamas. Join us then to see how it’s all going in (hopefully!) some much warmer weather than we’ve had here!

 

Norway U18 ITF Grade 5, Day 2

Tuesday 17th November 2015

Toby got the show on the road today with a solid first round win over tricky Qualifier Gustaf Navarp from Sweden to move him into the Last 16.

As we weren’t able to get in a huge amount of hitting yesterday we decided to get up early and train before our allotted practice time of 7.30am so that we could have almost an hour on court. That meant that we were up and warming up in the lobby of the hotel at 6.45am before going over to the club at 7am. When we arrived we finished off the last 15 minutes of our warm-ups and then started hitting at 7.15am. As always we played a quick game of ‘bounce’ to get us both moving and get the heart-rate up … and it definitely did that!

From 7.15am until 8am we went through an extended pre-match hit and within a few minutes we both realised that Hall 1 was quite a bit quicker than Hall 2 which we hit in yesterday – which made the decision to hit for longer this morning even more worthwhile. By 8am Toby had gone through everything and was feeling good so we went straight back to the hotel and up to the 21st floor for breakfast.

The view over Stavanger from the breakfast restaurant

It was then back to the courts at 9.15am to keep an eye on the match before Toby’s and also make sure that we had everything ready for the match.

At 10.45am Toby went on court for his match and despite not knowing anything about his opponent we knew that he had won 3 matches in Qualifying so he obviously knew his way around these courts. Our focus recently has been on what Toby is doing on the court rather than worrying too much about specific tactics against opponents and I was pleased to see that from the start Toby was very much focussed on himself.

Toby raced to a 3-0* lead in the first set by playing some smart tennis and, whereas in the past where he might have got distracted when his opponent started to get games on the board, he maintained a good focus throughout the set to take it 6-2.

The second set followed the same scoreline as the first and at 6-2, 3-0 it seemed that Toby had the match in the bag . . . unfortunately Gustaf didn’t agree! The Swede held serve at 3-0* and then at 4-1* down he started pumping himself up which really raised the level of his game. Gustaf held serve to make it *4-2 and then for the first time in 8 service games Toby was broken following an erratic game. Once again he didn’t let the fact that Gustaf was closing the gap put him off and he broke straight back to take a *5-3 lead and serve for the match. The next two games went against Toby and even though he managed to get back on track and take the set to a tie-break he had amounted 10 unforced errors in the 4 games from 5-3 to 6-6 – compared to 11 unforced errors in the whole of the 8 game first set!

The first 7 points of the tie-break went against serve (which is very unusual for a boy’s match) but Toby held his two service points at *4-3 and went on to take the tie-break 7-3. It was a good win overall and even though Toby was disappointed with letting his opponent back into the match from 6-2, 4-1 up I looked at it from the other angle of Toby being able to re-set and flight hard when his opponent raised his level. Either way there was lots to learn from the match and we now have the chance to work on it tomorrow in the next round.

As the match schedule was packed out today with ITF and Tennis Europe matches we weren’t able to book a practice court until 8pm this evening which meant that the whole afternoon was spent at the hotel. It did give Toby a great opportunity to review the whole match though as I had filmed it from the balcony.

While we were at the hotel this afternoon the doubles draw came out:

Boy’s Doubles Draw

We decided to go to PastaPasta for an early dinner at 5pm so that we had enough time to let the food digest before we needed to warm-up at 7.30pm but when we arrived at the tennis club the referee said that due to the matches running late there wouldn’t be any practice courts this evening. That was very annoying but the good news was that play doesn’t start tomorrow until 9.30am so we can go in early again and hit for an hour from7-8am to work on specifics from today’s match.

Schedule for tomorrow:

(8) Marcus Sulen (SWE) (839) vs Toby Huffer (GBR) (1585) – 1st match at 9.30am

Toby Huffer (GBR) & Neil Oberleitner (AUT) vs (2) Gilbert Jaeger (SWE) & Axel Oljons (SWE) – 4th match after 9.30am (not before 2pm)

Norway U18 ITF Grade 5, Day 1

Monday 16th November 2015

Following the Luxembourg ITF last week, Toby Huffer and I were on the road once again for the second of our three ITFs in November and the destination this week is Stavanger in Norway.

Last night we stayed in a hotel at Heathrow airport as we needed to check-in this morning at 6am and we didn’t fancy lugging our bags across London at that time in the morning! The flight then left on time and it was all going very smoothly until we came into land when the high winds and heavy rain caused a bit of a hair-raising landing!

We got the airport bus to the hotel and then once we had checked-in we went next door to the tennis centre to get a feel for the place and book some practice for later in the day but all the referee could offer was half an hour at 7.30pm!

Hall 1 (courts 1-4) at the Stavanger Tennis Club

It was then time to get some lunch at the local supermarket and relax for a few hours at the hotel before going back to the tennis centre at 4pm.

I’ve got a feeling that the practice situation at the club is going to be very tight this week as there’s not only a Tennis Europe and ITF event taking place but also a Norwegian National event later in the week! However, after getting to know the referee a little he managed to get us on a court this afternoon between matches from 5-6pm which gave Toby a great opportunity to get used to the courts. I started training with him and then after 10 minutes he was joined by 3 Swedish boys and they all had a good session together. Toby hit for around 20 minutes from the back of the court to get a good feel for the speed (which was actually pretty quick, especially off the lines!) and then he went through his normal routine of warming up his volleys, smashes and serves. All four players then mixed in and played some full-court points for the last 15 minutes to round off a very good training session.

Once we were finished we headed back to the hotel and even though it’s only about a 1 minute walk away we needed to make sure we wrapped up warm before leaving as the wind out here is really biting!

We then showered and changed before heading back out for the 10-15 minute walk down the road to the shopping centre where we found our perfect restaurant for the week – ‘PastaPasta’!

Whilst we were at dinner the draw came out:

Boy’s Singles Main Draw

When then headed back to the hotel via an unintentional detour (basically got a bit lost!) and had an early night ready for Toby’s first match tomorrow.

Schedule for tomorrow:

Toby Huffer (GBR) (1585) vs (Q) Gustaf Navarp (SWE) (2171) – 2nd match after 9am

Luxembourg U18 ITF Grade 5, Day 3

Sunday 8th November 2015

It was a disappointing day at the National Tennis Centre here in Luxembourg today as Toby went out in the 2nd round of Qualifying to 7th seed Martins Rocens from Latvia.

We had an early breakfast at 6.30am and then drove over to the tennis centre at 7.30am to make sure that we guaranteed ourselves a practice court before the matches started at 9am. When we arrived we thought there was something a little strange going on as 4 players were warming up outside the centre! As it turned out nobody had arrived to open the doors so those that were hitting at 8am had to warm up outside which wasn’t ideal in the cold weather!

We got inside at 8am and went straight onto court 4 to warm up and then had a good 30 minute practice session from 8.30-9am. As we had watched Martins play his 1st round match yesterday we knew a little bit about him so I made sure that Toby worked on some specific points as well as generally warming up all of his shots.

For the next few hours we watched some of the other matches, got some food and made sure that Toby had everything prepared for his match.

Then, at just before 1pm, Toby went on court and from the first few rallies of the warm up it was obvious that it was going to be a real battle today. Martins was striking the ball bigger than he did yesterday and even when Toby did managed to put him under pressure he still was able to find a good quality response. The first few games were very tight and in total lasted 26 points but it was Martins that won all 3. Toby raised the level of his serving at *0-3 to get his first game on the board but Martins quickly responded by holding to Love in the next game. Toby then held his next two service games and even though he was doing very well behind his own serve he found it difficult to make inroads during Martins’ service games which led to him losing the 1st set 6-3.

Toby setting up for a forehand return during the 1st set today

 

The 2nd set was just as difficult as the first set and despite going 30-0 up a couple of times on Martins’ serve Toby just wasn’t able to convert that into breaking serve. Toby tried to put his opponent under more pressure by moving forwards and taking his time away but each time Martins seemed to find an answer. Toby kept fighting though and managed to finally break Martins at 0-5* but unfortunately he was broken in the next game to lose the match 6-3, 6-1.

As always it’s disappointing to lose in Qualifying but a lot of credit has to go to Martins who produced 30 winners and only 17 unforced errors in the two sets.

After the match Toby went off to see the physio to get his back loosened off and then we headed back to the hotel to relax before dinner.

At 12pm tomorrow it is the sign-in deadline for doubles so our attention now shifts to asking everyone in Main Draw if they are looking for a partner. If we manage to get a partner and get into the doubles then Toby will have a match tomorrow afternoon but if I don’t Blog tomorrow then it’s because we didn’t get in!

Fingers and everything else crossed that we manage to get someone then!

Luxembourg U18 ITF Grade 5, Day 2

Saturday 7th November 2015

It was a good start to the campaign here in Luxembourg today as Toby had a solid win in the first round of Qualifying.

Due to Toby’s match being scheduled for 6th round on we knew that realistically he wouldn’t go on court until at least 4pm. That meant that we could train at the tennis centre in Petange next to the hotel before having to drive over to the National Tennis Centre later in the day.

With all that in mind we had breakfast at 8am and then went next door to the tennis centre at 9.30am to warm up for our 10-11am practice court. The speed of the courts were a little quicker that at the NTC but it was still a very good surface to train on and it gave us the opportunity to work on a full court for an hour which we wouldn’t have got at the NTC. During the session we warmed up, played some open points off the ground and moved onto playing some points with both of us moving forwards to work on Toby’s volleys. We then finished the session with some serve and return points to ensure that Toby had covered everything before his match this afternoon.

We then walked across the road to the hotel and went back to our rooms to shower and change before relaxing for a couple of hours. Then at 1.30pm we headed over to the NTC via the supermarket to pick up some food for lunch.

When we arrived at the NTC Toby’s potential 2nd round opponents were just starting their match on the stadium court so, armed with our lunch, we sat down and watched them play while tucking into our baguettes!

Just as that match was coming to a conclusion the match before Toby’s had just started on court 3 so we began our preparations.

Then at just after 4.45pm Toby went on court to play Alexandre Smith from France. The first 5 games of the match were a bit of a battle as both players were trying to out hit each other from the back of the court but Toby ended up getting a break and took a *3-2 lead. Then from there Toby started to play a lot smarter by taking some pace off the ball and making Alexandre think more rather than just react to Toby’s shots. That led to Toby winning the next 3 games in a row to take the first set 6-3.

Players at this level often love a ball that is hit hard to them as they can feed off the pace but most of the time it’s a lot harder for them to produce the power themselves. Once Toby worked that out it actually saved him a lot of energy and unforced errors but he still had the bigger shots there if he needed them.

During the second set Toby raced to a *3-0 lead and even though he was broken in a tight 20-point game he remained focussed and won the next 3 games in a row to take the match 6-2, 6-1 in just under 1 hour 20 minutes.

It was a good match from Toby and gives him a solid platform to build on over the next couple of rounds.

After the match Toby showered and changed and then we headed back to Petange to the Verzino restaurant where we ate last night – this time we passed on the £5 bottle of water though!!

By 8.30pm we were back in our rooms preparing for an early start and hopefully two matches tomorrow.

Schedule for tomorrow:

(WC) Toby Huffer (GBR) (1572) vs (7) Martins Rocens (LAT) (1322) – 3rd match after 9am

Winner to play Alexandre Doan Van (FRA) (1766) OR Karlo Cubelic (GER) (1978) – TBC after rest

Luxembourg U18 ITF Grade 5, Day 1

Friday 6th November 2015

It was an early start for Toby Huffer and me this morning as we left London at 6am for the 6 hour journey to Luxembourg.

The last week has been a bit of a rollercoaster as originally we were planning to go to Russia for the Main Draw of the U18 ITF Grade 5 but due to numerous issues with obtaining a visa (despite spending most of the week on the phone to the Embassies in London and in Moscow) we were eventually granted a wildcard into the Qualifying draw of Luxembourg by the ITF and the tournament.

After a quick 30 minute train ride on the Eurotunnel we drove through France then Belgium before entering Luxembourg. The drive from Calais was only 4 hours and despite a lot of typically British drizzle it was actually a nice alternative to the normal flights that we get to tournaments.

When we arrived it took us a while to find where the tournament site actually was as the National Tennis Centre is tucked away down a small road but once we found it we were pleasantly surprised by the centre. It is laid out well with 4 courts on one side and a stadium court on the other with a café in the middle. The tournament staff seemed to be on the ball too which was always nice to see!

We drove over to the supermarket at around 2pm to get some lunch and then headed back to the tennis centre to get warmed up for our 4.30-5.30pm practice session. Toby trained with Tommaso Rossin from Italy and they had a very good session on the stadium court.

Toby serving against Tommaso this afternoon on Stadium court

The first 15-20 minutes were spent just getting used to the indoor court, the balls and the fairly hot conditions and then after that we did a couple of drills before finishing with some serve and return points. The practice schedule at indoor tournaments is always packed so it was definitely worth getting there early today to book the court for an hour before the crowds arrived!

At 5.30pm we left the court to sign-in and then drove to the official hotel for the week which is about 15 minutes away in Petange. We then got changed and headed out for dinner at a small Italian restaurant called ‘Verzino’.

The food was excellent at the restaurant and good value for money but I almost fell off my chair when I saw that we were charged €6.80 (about £5) for a 750ml bottle of water – definitely would have been cheaper to buy a glass of wine or a beer! Last time I paid that much for water I was in Nobu in Mayfair!

While we were at dinner the draw came out:

Boy’s Singles Qualifying Draw

It was then back to the hotel for an early night having woken up this morning at 4.45am!

Schedule for tomorrow:

Alexandre Smith (FRA) vs (WC) Toby Huffer (GBR) (1572) – 6th match after 9am

Sri Lanka U18 ITF Grade 5 (week 2), Day 5

Thursday 15th October 2015

It was a disappointing end to the trip today as, after waiting 3 days to play their doubles, Toby and Ondrej ended up going down 12-10 in the 3rd set.

We started the day a little earlier than the last few days and were both up and at breakfast by 8am. We then headed over to SLTA to join the rest of the players in a scrum down for the practice courts! We managed to get on one of the courts at 9.30am and after going through our physical warm-up for around 30 minutes we spent the next hour and a half working hard on Toby’s doubles game to get him ready for the match. Like yesterday most of the session was spent training in half a court but we still managed to get everything done that we wanted to and even had a full court to ourselves at the end of the session to play some points.

At 11.30am we had lunch in Santoré and then waited for Toby’s match court to become available. The match was originally scheduled for ‘not before’ 1.30pm but, like all of the matches in the last two weeks, it was never going to be on-time! We first warmed up at around 3pm as were told that we were going to move and go on a different court, then that got changed and it went back to the original schedule which saw Toby and Ondrej finally go on court at 4.30pm.

Having played Christian Cummings and Rishi Reddy last week in doubles (and winning) and both Toby and Ondrej playing one of them in singles last week (and winning), plus the fact that Ondrej had beaten Rishi yesterday in singles too, meant that the boys were going in reasonably confident! That confidence showed all the way through the first set as Toby and Ondrej played very well and took it comfortably 6-2.

Toby serving during a very good 1st set

Towards the end of the first set some light rain began to fall and even though it continued through most of the second set it wasn’t hard enough to cause the match to be suspended.

Having served very well in the first set, which saw Toby and Ondrej only lose 3 points on their serves, it was a big surprise when Ondrej was broken in the second set at 2-3*. That break gave Christian and Rishi a massive lift and after Christian held serve to make it *2-5 they looked like a completely different pair to the first set. Toby’s serve was under pressure straight away in the next game and that led to Christian and Rishi getting the break to take the second set 6-2.

At the end of the second set Toby and Ondrej took a toilet break and when they came back it looked as though they’d worked out exactly what had gone wrong in the last set. They were fired up for the Match Tie-Break and raced to a 4-1 lead by displaying the same level that they produced in the first set. The next two points on Toby’s serve were split but at 5-2* it was Christian and Rishi’s turn to raise their games. They went on to win the next 6 points in a row to take a 5-8 lead but Toby and Ondrej kept the points close and ended up levelling the breaker at *9-9 after saving two Match Points. They saved another Match Point at 9-10* with a superb volley from Toby but they couldn’t make it ‘third time lucky’ and eventually went down 12-10.

After the match Toby and I had a debrief to identify the positives and learning points from the match and even though we were both very disappointed to lose in the opening round of the doubles we both agreed that overall the trip has been a success. Before these two events Toby had never picked up any ITF singles points and was ranked around 2300 but after making the 1/4 finals of the singles and semi-finals of the doubles last week he’s now going to be ranked around 1500. He’s also learned a lot about his game and the areas he needs to develop before his next tournament.

For dinner tonight we stayed at the hotel and had the buffet which once again was superb value for around £10. As it’s our last night and as we’ve been very disciplined with what we’ve been eating for the last 17 days we decided to give the desserts a try . . . and I must say they were pretty good!

Thanks to everyone that’s been reading the Blogs over the past 2 weeks and for the messages of support on Facebook. Until next time . . .

Sri Lanka U18 ITF Grade 5 (week 2), Day 4

Wednesday 14th October 2015

It was almost Déjà vu today but this time it wasn’t the rain that prevented Toby’s doubles match from going on, it was all the other matches going on too long!

Our day basically followed the same timetable as yesterday; an early morning gym session followed by breakfast and then we headed to SLTA at 11.15am to train on the hard courts.

We starting warming up on court as soon as we arrived as we were told that there wasn’t actually a practice schedule, all you could do was jump on a court when it was free! As we were warming up Ondrej arrived to prepare for his singles match and asked if Toby could warm him up so they trained together for around 25 minutes. I then took over from Ondrej and trained with Toby for the next hour with our focus again being on doubles tactics and specific volley work. As we were sharing the court we were often restricted to doing drills in the half court but that wasn’t a problem and actually made it more specific to doubles.

By 1.45pm we had gone through everything that we both wanted to work on so we finished the session with some points and then headed to the restaurant for lunch.

Over lunch we managed to get Muffi to give us a ‘not before’ time of 5pm which gave us enough time to head back to the hotel for a couple of hours rather than get tired hanging around at the club.

At 4.30pm we called Muffi to get an update on how things were going and he said that as Ondrej was still on court playing his singles match (which started at 2pm!) the doubles would be cancelled for the day.

As frustrated as we were that it was cancelled yet again we decided to go over to the club to give Ondrej some support in his match and then watch some of the other matches before it got dark. We then stayed on site and had dinner at Santoré before heading back to the hotel to relax for the evening.

Whilst we were watching the matches today I realised that I hadn’t taken any pictures and then looked up and thought this one would be good to add to the collection!

As the sun was setting the bats came out to play!

Schedule for tomorrow

Toby Huffer (GBR) & Ondrej Styler (CZE) vs Christian Cummings (IND) & Rishi Reddy (IND) – 5th match after 8.30am (not before 1.30pm)

Sri Lanka U18 ITF Grade 5 (week 2), Day 3

Tuesday 13th October 2015

It was another frustrating day in Colombo today as a big storm hit the city and suspended play for the day just as we were preparing to go over to SSC for Toby’s first round doubles match.

It was an early morning gym session for me this morning before meeting Toby for breakfast at 9.30am. We then headed over to SLTA to practice on their clay courts from 11.30am until just after 1.30pm and even though we had to pay to use the courts it was much better than using the bottom courts. During the session our focus was entirely on preparing Toby for his doubles 1st round match so we worked a lot of his 1st volley, closing down the net and then towards the end of the session we worked on his serve and return. The weather while we were training was fantastic and once again we both walked off the court soaking wet!!

We stayed on site at SLTA for lunch at Santoré and the plan was to head from there straight to SSC to prepare for the match. However, after speaking to the referee we found out that the first round match on Toby’s court was going very slowly and he said it would be best to call him later to get an update. With that we decided to go back to the hotel to relax there rather than spend too long outside in the heat.

Over the next few hours we kept getting updates from the referee but just as we decided to get everything ready to go over to the tournament site a huge black cloud came over us and it starting pouring down with rain. Another call to Muffi confirmed that play had been suspended for the day which left both Toby and I very frustrated.

We decided to go over to the other Hilton hotel this evening to check out their dinner buffet but after seeing what was being prepared we agreed that it was not worth spending 3100 Rupees so headed across the road to TGI Fridays again!

Once we got back to the apartment the order of play for tomorrow was released and unsurprisingly the tournament has now moved to the hard courts at SLTA. Hopefully we’ll have more chance of getting on tomorrow but currently it is still raining and lightening is flashing all around us!!

We got a great view of the lightening storm from our balcony!

Schedule for tomorrow:

Toby Huffer (GBR) & Ondrej Styler (CZE) vs Christian Cummings (IND) & Rishi Reddy (IND) – 7th match after 9am (not before 3.30pm)

Sri Lanka U18 ITF Grade 5 (week 2), Day 2

Monday 12th October 2015

After 10 straight days of training and competing we decided that we would have a rest day today so that Toby was fresh for the doubles tomorrow.

I got up early and hit the gym while Toby had a good lie-in and then we had breakfast around 9am. The the rest of the morning was spent sorting out some laundry and generally chilling out in the apartment.

Then at about 1.30pm we headed over to SSC to check the sign-in for doubles and was surprised to see that matches still hadn’t started over there due to rain this morning. At sign-in we were assured by Muffi, the referee this week, that Toby and Ondrej’s priority of 2A would be enough to get into the doubles draw but when I asked him if he was 100% sure he looked a bit sheepish!!

From there we headed over to SLTA to get some lunch and then jumped in a Tuk Tuk to go to Majestic City to watch ‘Everest’ at the Cinema. When we arrived we saw these guys putting up a new Samsung advertising board with very little safety equipment!!

Not sure this would pass Health and Safety in the UK!!

When we got to the cinema my ticket was £2.80, Toby’s was £1.60 and Toby’s popcorn was a massive 45 pence – not bad compared to Bluewater prices!!

Looking good in our 3D glasses!!

The film was superb; it really gripped you from start to finish and being based on a true story it made it even more intense – definitely one I would recommend for anyone.

From Majestic City we headed to TGI Fridays for dinner and then back to the hotel to sit and wait to see if Toby and Ondrej had got into the doubles. At 8.30pm we had had enough of waiting so phoned Muffi who confirmed they were in the draw. It was good news after a tough day yesterday so now, after a good rest day, we’re both very up for getting stuck into the doubles tomorrow!

Boy’s Doubles Draw

Schedule for tomorrow:

Toby Huffer (GBR) & Ondrej Styler (CZE) vs Christian Cummings (IND) & Rishi Reddy (IND) – 7th match after 9am (not before 4.30pm)

Sri Lanka U18 ITF Grade 5 (week 2), Day 1

Sunday 11th October 2015

After a successful tournament last week Toby suffered a first round loss in Qualifying today against an opponent who was much more used to intense heat and humidity that we had this afternoon.

We were up early this morning and at breakfast by 7.15am before getting a Tuk Tuk over to SLTA at just after 8.30am. Even though the tournament this week is at SSC we decided to warm up at SLTA because there are more courts there and also if it had rained over-night we could have hit on the hard courts. Luckily there wasn’t any rain and at 9.15am we managed to get on one of the bottom practice courts to go through Toby’s pre-match hit. Even at that time in the morning the temperature was pushing 30°C so it was important to make sure that we did exactly what we needed to do to prepare for the match without wasting any energy.

After the practice session we headed over to SSC and found the courts still a little wet from the rain yesterday evening but play finally got underway on Toby’s court at around 10.30am. Toby’s match followed fellow Brit Jonea Bach’s match and as she was 4-1 up in the first set when play resumed we knew it wasn’t going to be long before he was on.

At 11.30am Toby went on court to take on Gaurang Gaurang from India and even though we didn’t know anything about his opponent we knew that there aren’t any easy matches out here so it was important that Toby got a good start.

The first game didn’t go to plan as Toby was broken but then he raised his level and won the next 3 games in a row with some good tennis from the back of the court. At this stage Toby was in full control of the match but a series of cheap points in the next two games not only allowed his opponent to get back into the match but also gave him a bit of confidence. Toby held serve to take a 4-3* lead and then played a very solid game to break Gaurang and at this stage it was looking like Toby would go on to hold serve and take the set. Unfortunately he was broken at *5-3 but remained positive and broke straight back to win the set 6-4 in a couple of minutes short of an hour.

The length of the first set combined with the increase in confidence in his opponents game led to Toby struggling at the start of the second set. He was broken in the first game and even though he played a very good game at *0-2 to hold serve, he found it difficult to maintain his level and the set quickly went against him 6-1.

Toby serving during his 1st round match today at SSC

Toby took a toilet break at the end of the set to try to give himself a little more time to recover but by this stage the intense heat and humidity had taken a lot out of him and when the third set started he soon found himself 0-3 down. To his credit he continued to fight as hard as he could and tried hard to pump himself up throughout the set but his opponent played a very well to take the match 4-6, 6-1, 6-1 in 2 hours and 40 minutes.

As disappointing as it was to lose the match today we have to remember that last week Toby made his first ever ITF singles 1/4 final and doubles semi-final and in doing so probably took a lot out of him. We have either trained or competed for the last 10 days in a row and on some of those days Toby had both a singles and a doubles match whereas his opponent today was coming in completely fresh having not competed last week.

Once the match had finished it was important to get Toby into some air-conditioning to try and cool him down so, as there wasn’t an air-conditioned room anywhere at SSC, we headed back over to SLTA. We then had some lunch there before heading back to the hotel.

Before dinner this evening we headed over to Majestic City to get a few DVDs but weren’t happy that the main two that we went for (Everest and Straight Outta Compton) haven’t been imported yet!

From there we got a Tuk Tuk to The Dutch Hospital where we had dinner at TGI Fridays. It was then back to the hotel to relax for the evening while watching “Get Hard” with Will Farrell which, after a tough day, managed to get a couple of laughs out of both of us!

Tomorrow we’ll go over to SSC to sign-in for the doubles with Ondrej and hope for a bit of luck in getting in as today’s loss will put the boys a little lower down the priority order.

Sri Lanka U18 ITF Grade 5 (week 1), Day 7

Saturday 10th October 2015

It was a disappointing end to the first week as Toby and Ondrej lost in the semis of the doubles in the morning and then we waited 5 hours for Toby to go on for his first round Qualifying match but a storm came over just before he went on and play was suspended for the day!

We started the day with breakfast at 8am and then headed over to SLTA at 9am to watch Ondrej play his semi-final of the singles against Rishi Reddy (who beat Toby in Qualifying last year). After Ondrej took the first set convincingly we decided to warm up and get on court so that we had enough time to go through Toby’s pre-match hit as well as work on some doubles specifics that we identified from the 1/4 final yesterday. We trained for just over 30 minutes which gave us enough time to have a break and get prepared before the semi-final went on court at 11am.

Toby and Ondrej’s opponents were only confirmed this morning as they had to finish their 1/4 final match from yesterday. The match was suspended due to bad light at 6-3, 6-6 but when it restarted today Hung Minh Huynh from Vietnam & David Nguyen from America took the tie-break to seal the win.

When the match started I felt as though Toby and Ondrej had a slight edge over their opponents but after two Sudden Death Deuce games in the opening two games it was obvious that it was going to be a very tight match. At *1-2 Toby’s serve was broken despite him making 5 out of 6 first serves and from there Hung and David won the next 3 games in a row to take the set 6-1. The scoreline suggests that it was a very comfortable set but in reality 3 of the 7 games went to Sudden Death Deuce and another 3 games were decided by just 2 points.

At the end of the set Toby and Ondrej took a toilet break and when they returned they seemed to have a bit more of a spring in their step. At *1-1 Toby once again found himself in trouble on his serve but pulled out a couple of big first serves to come back from *15-40 down and then they took the game on a Sudden Death Deuce point. Hung then held serve to level the set again but in the next game Ondrej was broken and once David held to make it *2-4 it looked as though it was going to be a massive ask for our boys to fight back. In the next game Toby served the best game that he had in the whole tournament and suddenly it seemed as though the momentum was starting to shift a little. At 3-4* with Hung serving, Toby and Ondrej played some good returning points and raised the energy they were showing on the court which started to put pressure on their opponents. That led to Hung’s serve being broken and the set was once again levelled. The next two games were very close and both actually went to Sudden Death Deuce points but unfortunately they didn’t go our way and Hung and David ended up taking the set 6-4.

It was disappointing to lose a close match but it was still a very positive week for Toby who made his first ITF singles 1/4 final and first ITF doubles semi-final. Our attention had to quickly turn to the next tournament as Toby only had 4 hours from when the doubles finished to when he was scheduled to play his first round qualifying match!

We got some lunch in the Italian restaurant at the club and then spoke to the referee over at SSC who said there was a delay in some of the matches and that Toby would now not go on until at least 5pm.

At around 2.30pm we headed over to SSC and even though the cricket club is one of the best in Sri Lanka the facilities in the tennis club aren’t as good as at SLTA. There isn’t a restaurant or a player’s room and there also isn’t anywhere that’s air-conditioned so we might find ourselves heading back to SLTA between matches next week.

After waiting at the club for 3 hours in bright sunshine we were suddenly engulfed by thick dark cloud and it looked as though a storm was about to hit us. The cloud passed over the club and even though it looked dark enough to need the floodlights on the rain seemed to be holding off. That was until Toby said “I think it’s missed us” and 10 seconds later the rain came pouring down!!

The view over the courts at SSC

From bright sunshine to flooded courts!!

Play was soon suspended for the day and we headed back to the hotel in a Tuk Tuk whilst trying not to get soaked!

More banter with the Tuk Tuk drivers!!

Whilst Toby relaxed in the apartment I hit the gym for an hour and then it was time to get stuck into the buffet again for dinner. The quality of the food at the hotel is very high and now that we’ve made friends with all the chefs they are happy to make us pretty much anything we want! Just a shame we have to avoid the desserts!!

Schedule for tomorrow:

(3) Toby Huffer (GBR) (2306) vs Gaurang Gaurang (IND) (UNR) – 2nd match after 10am

Winner to play again in the afternoon not before 2.30pm

Sri Lanka U18 ITF Grade 5 (week 1), Day 6

Friday 9th October 2015

It wasn’t to be for Toby today in the 1/4 finals of the singles as he went down to Ondrej but later in the day the boys teamed up and both put in very good performances to knock out the number 2 seeds to secure their place in the semi-finals of the doubles.

It was an early start this morning with breakfast at 6.30am and then we got a Tuk Tuk to the tennis club at 7.45am. When we arrived the weather did not look too good and just as we started to warm-up it started to rain lightly so we went inside the clubhouse to finish everything off. By 8.30am the rain had stopped and the court was dry enough for us to train so we went through Toby’s normal pre-match hit which lasted around 35 minutes.

Once we had finished we headed into the air-conditioned referee’s office to try and stop sweating but what we didn’t realise was that outside the rain was absolutely pouring down! Eventually we got the message as all of the first round matches came off court but luckily the delay didn’t last too long and as soon as the sun came out the courts dried pretty quickly.

The match before Toby’s was a very quick 6-1, 6-0 so at 12.15pm he went on court to face his doubles partner and number 3 seed Ondrej Styler from Czech Republic. Having trained with and played doubles alongside Ondrej we knew that he was a strong player who had a big serve and big forehand so it was always going to be a tough match. Toby won the coin toss and elected to serve but was a little inconsistent from the back of the court and soon found himself 0-1* down. He responded well though and immediately broke back with a much better level of hitting but once again he struggled to do enough in his own serve game to hold serve. From 1-2* down Toby found it difficult to find the balance between being aggressive and maintaining a consistency whilst his opponent continued to serve well and use his forehand to control most of the points. At *1-3 Toby had a long service game and had game points but he ended up losing that game, and then the next 2, to lose the first set 6-1.

Seems like Ondrej knew where Toby was serving before he even hit the ball!!

During the second set Ondrej played very well and took complete control of the match; his serve seemed to get bigger and bigger and during Toby’s service games he always seemed to have an answer for everything that Toby threw at him. In the end Ondrej took the set 6-0 in 25 minutes to take a well-deserved win and advance to the semi-finals.

Toby was obviously disappointed with his performance but sometimes you come up against an opponent that is just much better than you on the day and when that happens you just need to learn from it and identify the areas of your game that need to improve to compete at that level.

After the match we got some lunch and debriefed before heading over to the Singhalese Sports Club where the 2nd ITF tournament is being held. Toby was 5th on the qualifying list and unfortunately because he lost in the singles today he didn’t get a Special Exempt for the Main Draw. Luckily the clubs are only a 5 minute drive apart so once Toby signed in we headed back to the SLTA to prepare for his doubles 1/4 Final against Christian Cummings and Rishi Reddy which was scheduled for a 5pm start.

From the start I didn’t think there would be any way that the match would get completed as it gets dark by 6.15pm but Toby and Ondrej had other ideas! After a very close first 6 games Toby and Ondrej broke Christian’s serve and then played two very good games to hold and break to take the set 6-3 in 25 minutes!

The boys celebrating taking the 1st set

Toby seemed like a completely different player to this morning and having played a very good first set where he served 100% first serves in and controlled the net well, he was in no mood to let his opponents back in the match during the second set. Toby and Ondrej played very well to break Christian’s serve at 2-1* and then continued to hold serve all the way until they took the second set 6-3. I was really pleased that Toby played one of the best doubles matches that I have ever seen him play against two good players but I was even more impressed that he only lost 1 point on his serve and only missed 1 return in the entire match!

Once we got back to the hotel we relaxed in the apartment until 7pm when the buffet for dinner opened. Whilst at dinner the draw for the 2nd week came out:

Boy’s Qualifying Draw

We’ve now got an interesting day lined up for tomorrow where Toby will be playing a doubles semi-final on the hard courts at SLTA followed by a 1st round Qualifying match on clay at SSC!

Schedule for tomorrow:

Week 1 Doubles Semi-Final:

Toby Huffer (GBR) & Ondrej Styler (CZE) vs Hung Minh Huynh (VIE) & David Nguyen (USA) OR Kabir Manrai (IND) & Muzammil Murtaza (PAK) – 3rd match after 8.30am

Week 2 Singles Qualifying:

(3) Toby Huffer (GBR) (2306) vs Gaurang Gaurang (IND) (UNR) – 7th match after 8.30am (not before 4pm)

Sri Lanka U18 ITF Grade 5 (week 1), Day 5

Thursday 8th October 2015

It was another good day here in Colombo which saw Toby win both his singles and doubles matches to progress into the 1/4 Finals of both events.

We’ve now been here for one week and even though Toby has only completed 3 matches due to the rain, we both feel as though he’s dealing with the heat and humidity better than a lot of the other players. This time last year Toby struggled in the conditions and his inexperience in this type of environment really showed in qualifying, but a year on he’s a completely different player who has learnt to accept things outside of his control.

We had a bit of a lie in this morning which should have meant more sleep but I was rudely awoken at 1.30am by my 21 month old son who somehow managed to call me from my wife’s phone . . . twice! It’s not actually the first time that he’s done that so I didn’t panic too much but it was the first time when I’ve been away on a trip! So . . . after a broken night’s sleep I met Toby for breakfast at 8.30am and then at 9.45am we headed to the club to warm up for our practice court at 10.30am. The last two days have been very hot and now that we’re on the hard courts the heat is even more intense. It’s therefore important to make sure that each minute on court is valued and that we’re not wasting any time discussing things that can be talked about off the court or sitting resting in the sun too much. Toby’s pre-match hit lasted around 35 minutes and included him warming up everything he needed to plus a few specific drills based on the opponent he was about to play.

Once we were finished we went straight into the restaurant to be in the air conditioning and also to get some lunch. The next few hours were spent eating, drinking, watching Ondrej in his singles match (as if Toby won then he would play the winner) and also checking the score on Toby’s court continuously so he knew when to warm up!

At just after 2pm Toby went on to play Vishnu Puyalraj from India who had won through 3 rounds of Qualifying and also won his first round match yesterday. We watched a lot of the match yesterday so knew what we were up against but when Toby started the match he got his tactics a bit back to front! The plan was to dictate the points but also stay solid for the first 3 games to see if Vishnu would raise his level. However, Toby went out like a man possessed and tried to blow his opponent off the court with hard flat hitting down the middle of the court which Vishnu found comfortable to deal with! After 13 unforced errors in the first 3 games Toby found himself 1-2* down but to his credit (and with a little encouragement from me) he worked out what was going wrong and changed his hitting from hard and flat down the middle of the court to heavier and wider to push his opponent off the court more. That tactical change led to Toby breaking his opponent straight back and then winning the next 4 games to take the first set 6-2 in 55 minutes.

Toby serving at the start of the 2nd set

Toby maintained his discipline in the second set and broke his opponent 3 times whilst not facing a single break point on his own serve to take the set 6-0. It was another good performance from Toby and even more satisfying that he was mentally switched on to change his tactics when needed – if he hadn’t made those changes early on then his opponent might have grown in confidence and gone on to make life very difficult.

As the conditions were very hot and humid it was imperative that Toby ate and drunk enough in the hour and 25 minutes between when his singles match finished and when he needed to go onto court to finish his doubles match. The only problem was that nobody likes eating or drinking a lot when they’ve just been running around a court for the last hour and a half! He was very professional though and had a good plate of pasta as well as a litre of electrolyte drink before he needed to start warming up again.

At 5pm Toby and Ondrej resumed their match with Avindra Perera and Vibudha Wijebandara from Sri Lanka at *1-1 in the second set with Ondrej serving. The boys started well and held and broke to take a *3-1 lead but the Sri Lankans then played a very good game to break Toby’s serve to put the match back on-serve. Players can often let their heads drop at that stage as it’s a big game when serving with a 3-1 lead, but to their credit Toby and Ondrej responded well to break straight back after a Sudden Death Deuce point and then go on to win the next two games to take the match 6-1, 6-2.

After the match we checked the schedule for tomorrow and then headed back to the hotel to have a recovery session in the pool. We then had about 45 minutes to relax in the apartment before it was the time we’d been waiting for all week – the return of the buffet dinner!!

After dinner our attention returned to the tournament and preparing to take on Toby’s doubles partner in the singles 1/4 Final and the number 2 seeds in the doubles 1/4 Final.

Schedule for tomorrow:

Toby Huffer (GBR) (2265) vs (3) Ondrej Styler (CZE) (965) – 2nd match after 8.30am

Toby Huffer (GBR) & Ondrej Styler (CZE) vs (2) Christian Cummings (IND) & Rishi Reddy (IND) – 4th match after 8.30am

Sri Lanka U18 ITF Grade 5 (week 1), Day 4

Wednesday 7th October 2015

It was another positive day today at the Sri Lanka Lawn Tennis Association even though we didn’t actually get to complete a whole match!

The day started with a thorough debrief of yesterday’s singles match in the apartment before we headed down to breakfast at around 9.30am. Toby was feeling much better this morning and having not eaten much for the last two days he set about destroying the buffet breakfast!

Once we returned to the apartment we got an update from the tournament to say that due to rain overnight the schedule for the day had completely changed and from today onwards the tournament would now be on the hard courts. That was a little disappointing but for the last three years they have struggled to get the tournament completed on the clay courts due to it being the rainy season so it was probably a wise decision to do it today before there was a backlog of matches.

As the tournament was now on the hard courts we could use the court at the hotel rather than have to fight for a practice court at the club, but the only problem was that the court at the hotel gets booked up quickly. We went down to the court at about 11am but after going through our warm-ups we were told that it was booked from 11.30am until 2pm. We then headed straight to the club and managed to get on a court there for an just over hour which gave Toby some very valuable time on a surface that he hasn’t hit on yet this trip. It was definitely the hottest training session so far and even though we spent most of the time on a half court, due to sharing with two other players, we still managed to work on specific areas of Toby’s game to prepare him for his doubles match.

Toby and me completely soaked through after our training session this morning

After the session we went over to court 4 to watch Toby’s next round singles opponent and then went to the on-site Italian restaurant for a well-deserved lunch.

During the next couple of hours we watched some tennis and tried to stay out of the sun while keeping an eye on how the match was going on court 3 as that was the match court for Toby’s doubles. At around 4.30pm Toby and Ondrej had a light hit for 25 minutes to warm up for their match and then at just after 5.15pm they took to the court to take on Avindra Perera and Vibudha Wijebandara from Sri Lanka.

We didn’t know a huge amount about the Sri Lankan pair but unlike many Wildcard pairs we knew that these guys were going to be anything but a pushover! The Sri Lankan’s held serve to love in the opening game before Ondrej served very well to level the set at 1-1. Our boys then found a good level in their returning game to break Vibudha and with that they relaxed a little more and started playing some very good doubles. At *2-1 Toby struggled a little with his serve but focused well to hold to ‘Sudden Death Deuce’ and from there they won the next 3 games in a row to take the opening set 6-1.

Toby serving with Ondrej at the net during the first set

By this time it was around 6pm and it was already starting to get quite dark but the boys played on and soon found themselves in a bit of trouble! Toby was broken in the opening game and at the change of ends at 0-1* the umpire said that there would only be one more game played before it was suspended for the day. Toby and Ondrej played a much tighter game and after saving a game point they played a very good ‘Sudden Death Deuce’ point where Ondrej hit a great return and Toby crossed sharply to finish the volley – and with that the match was suspended at *1-1.

After the match Ondrej’s coach and I had a quick chat with both boys and then we headed straight into the restaurant for dinner. We had another good meal and then at around 7.30pm we got a Tuk Tuk to take us back to the hotel.

Schedule for tomorrow:

Toby Huffer (GBR) (2265) vs (Q) Vishnu Puyalraj (IND) (UNR) – 4th match after 8.30am

Toby Huffer (GBR) & Ondrej Styler (CZE) vs (WC) Avindra Perera (SRI) & Vibudha Wijebandera (SRI) – TO FINISH – 6th match after 8.30am

Sri Lanka U18 ITF Grade 5 (week 1), Day 3

Tuesday 6th October 2015

We had the same start to the day as yesterday but a very different outcome which saw Toby not only get on court but also beat the 5th seed from India.

I woke up at 6am this morning to a very wet and overcast Colombo (no change from yesterday then!) and, as there was no way we were going to get on the clay courts, plus the fact that Toby’s not been feeling very well for the last 24 hours, I sent him straight back to bed while I headed to breakfast. I then got a Tuk Tuk over to the club at 7.15am hoping that the referee would be there by 7.30am and give us a decision on what would be happening with the matches. Much to mine and all of the other player’s and coach’s frustrations the referee didn’t actually get on site until 9am when he immediately said the next update would be at 12.30pm.

With that I headed back to the hotel where Toby was still asleep in the apartment so I left him there and hit the gym. As he was still feeling quite rough I let him sleep until about 10.45am but needed to wake him in the end so that he could get some breakfast before it closed. He wasn’t very hungry but managed to get some breadsticks and cereal in him which was much better than nothing!

At 12pm we went back over to the club and were told that the clay was drying well and his match would be first on court at 2pm. Straight after getting that updated we both went through our own 30 minute warm-up routines and then hit the (very soft) practice courts. Despite the fact that the courts didn’t have any lines, the net probably wasn’t the right height and the court was so soft that our serves left big divots in the court, we actually had a very productive 30 minute pre-match hit and even though Toby still felt rough he hit very well.

At 2pm Toby went on court to face 5th seed Christian Cummings with the clear plan to give it everything he had, even if it meant he had to be carried off the court at the end!! And to his credit he did just that …

From the first game to the last Toby worked very hard and maintained a discipline and focus that 12 months ago would have been non-existent. I knew it was going to be a real mental battle for him today as he wasn’t feeling well but we spoke before the match about playing one game at a time and not thinking about if he would have the energy to compete for the whole match.

The first six games went with serve but, like in a lot of tennis matches, one player can often be building momentum despite the scoreline being even. At 3-3* Toby had won all three of his service games without losing a point and had created breakpoints in 2 out of 3 of his returning games. That led to him raising his level just slightly in the seventh game to break his opponent for the first time and then hold serve with the loss of just one point to take a commanding 5-3* lead. The break and hold gave Toby a big confidence boost and he went on to break Christian’s serve to Love to take the set 6-3 after 27 minutes.

We know that none of the players out here are going to just roll over after losing the first set, especially a seed, so it was really important that Toby maintained his hitting level and mental application at the start of the second set. There were a total of 26 points played in the first two games of the set and I was very pleased to see Toby fight off break points and game points to win 15 of the 26 to take a 2-0 lead. He then served very well to hold to love before Christian was able to get a game on the board. At *3-1 with Toby serving I was a little concerned that the heat and humidity was starting to get to him but he fought very hard and played some smart tennis, especially at Break Point down, to hold serve and take a 4-1* lead. Winning that game was even more important as it meant he now had the end with a lot of shade at the back of the court to try and close out the match. Toby took his time and used the shade well between points to take the next two games (with the loss of only one point!) and the match 6-3, 6-1.

A jump and fist pump from Toby to celebrate the win!

Winning that match was a big achievement for Toby as not only did it give him his first ITF singles points, but it was the first time that he had won through to the Last 16 of an ITF and also the first time he had beaten a seed in the Main Draw – all of that on a day when he probably felt less than 50% fit!

After the match we cooled down and had a little stretch at the club before heading back to the hotel to go through a pool recovery session to make sure Toby recovers well for his doubles match tomorrow.

We then ordered room service for dinner and relaxed for the rest of the evening.

Schedule for tomorrow:

Toby Huffer (GBR) & Ondrej Styler (CZE) vs (WC) Avindra Perera (SRI) & Vibudha Wijebandera (SRI) – 5th match after 9am

Sri Lanka U18 ITF Grade 5 (week 1), Day 2

Monday 5th October 2015

It was another rain interrupted day here in Colombo but despite not getting to play a match Toby still managed to have a good session on the clay with his doubles partner.

Our original plan for today was to go over to the club around 11am, hit from 12-1pm, have lunch and then get ready for Toby’s singles match which was scheduled for ‘not before’ 2.30pm. However, just as we were about to leave the hotel we saw an update to the schedule which said that play would not start until 12pm due to the courts not drying from the rain yesterday.

I decided to still head over to the club while Toby stayed in the apartment and shortly after the referee told me that, apart from the last round qualifying matches, play would not start on the other courts until 2pm and Toby’s match would be rescheduled for tomorrow. I decided to stay onsite until 12pm to check that Toby’s doubles partner, Ondrej Styler from Czech Republic, signed in and then I headed back to the hotel to meet up with Toby.

Toby and I returned to the club at around 1pm to get some lunch and then, as his match was also cancelled, we trained with Ondrej from 3-4pm on the bottom clay courts. Despite the courts still being quite wet the boys had a good session and it gave them a chance to get to know each other before their first round doubles match tomorrow.

Toby serving again Ondrej this afternnoon

After the session Toby and I debriefed to prepare for his match tomorrow and then we headed straight back to the hotel to relax before dinner. While we were getting ready for dinner the doubles draw came out:

Boy’s Doubles Draw

Once again we thought that the buffet was open in the hotel restaurant but someone finally explained to us that it’s only open on a Thursday, Friday and Saturday!! With that we headed up to the pool restaurant and had a good meal under cover while the rained poured down again!

Schedule for tomorrow:

(5) Christian Cummings (IND) (1108) vs Toby Huffer (GBR) (2265) – 1st match at 9am

Toby Huffer (GBR) & Ondrej Styler (CZE) vs (WC) Avindra Perera (SRI) & Vibudha Wijebandera (SRI) – 5th match after 9am

Sri Lanka U18 ITF Grade 5 (week 1), Day 1

Sunday 4th October 2015

After a busy summer at British tournaments and then a good 5 week training block at the start of September it’s been a while since my last international event but it’s always good to come out to Sri Lanka for my first event of the winter. This is the third time that I’ve travelled to these events and they always turn out to be very well organised tournaments even if the weather causes a few problems!

Toby Huffer and I left London on Wednesday evening and have spent the last 4 days working hard on and off the court and getting used to the heat and humidity. The clay courts have been looking in very good condition (despite being more like sand than clay!) until today when we had rain overnight then a heavy storm at lunchtime.

We got up at 6am this morning and after breakfast at 6.30am we headed to the club to warm up for our scheduled 8am practice court. Unfortunately when we arrived at the club all of the hard and clay courts were out of action due to rain overnight so we jumped back in a Tuk Tuk and went back to the hotel. The plan was then to train from 12-1pm and then again with Toby’s doubles partner from 3-4.30pm but just as we were having lunch a big storm hit Colombo.

The view of the Lotus Tower from our apartment . . .

. . . and then the storm started to come in . . .

. . . going . . .

. . . gone!

That meant that the courts were completely out of action for the day so we decided to go back to the tennis centre to sign-in and then return to the hotel to go through a good gym session. Whenever I travel to tournaments I always try to find good deals on hotels to try and save the players and parents money but sometimes it’s worth paying a little more to have facilities like a gym, swimming pool and on-site tennis court so that we can train even if the weather is bad.

We had planned on having dinner at the hotel this evening but that changed when we realised the buffet wasn’t being served on a Sunday! It was then straight into a Tuk Tuk to head the short journey across the city to eat at TGIs where we had dinner while watching the Everton vs Liverpool game.

While we were at dinner the draw came out:

Boy’s U18 ITF Main Draw

After dinner we headed to the supermarket to stock up on water and supplies for tomorrow’s match and then went back to the apartment to relax for the evening.

Schedule for tomorrow:

(5) Christian Cummings (IND) (1108) vs Toby Huffer (GBR) (2265) – 5th match on after 9am (not before 2.30pm)

Queenswood U18 ITF Grade 4, Day 2

Sunday 12th July 2015

I had a pretty good Birthday today as Toby took out the number 8 seed in the 1st round of Qualifying and is now still locked in battle in his 2nd round match as they had to stop for bad light this evening.

As Toby was scheduled for 1st match on at 9.30am we were up and at breakfast at 6.45am this morning having managed to convince the Travelodge to open breakfast for us an hour and 15 minutes early! When we arrived at Queenswood School the courts were still very wet from the overnight rain but we were told that they should be fit for a 10am start. With that we headed straight to the AstroTurf courts behind the pavilion to warm up. Toby then had a good 30 minute hit with Cameron Price and even though the court was much faster than the clay would be, at least it gave Toby a chance to hit some balls and loosen up before he played his match.

Toby and Cameron warming up on the AstroTurf courts / Hockey Pitch this morning!

At 10am Toby went on court to face 8th seed Miguel Romanello from Italy and after a disappointing match in Edinburgh last week he was ready to make amends this week. The first couple of games were quite tight with both players trying to work each other out but at *1-1 Toby suddenly stepped up a gear and dictated play in each of the next 5 games to take the set 6-1.

Having only missed 3 balls in the entire set I was expecting a few more unforced errors to creep into Toby’s game and when he gave away his serve cheaply at *1-0 I did start to get a little concerned. However, after exchanging a couple of breaks of serve, Toby raised his intensity level at *2-3 and hit 7 winners and only 3 unforced errors in 4 games to take the second set 6-3. It’s sometimes hard to continue to reproduce a high level of tennis when the 1st set is so comprehensive but Toby did well to refocus and get back on track to finish the match well.

The match was finished by 11.15am but as Toby’s next round opponents were still on court we decided to watch the whole of their second set before getting some lunch and debriefing. At that stage the weather turned and the rain that had been forecast for the afternoon started to come down.

Another heavy downpour this afternoon

After a couple of heavy downpours we got a ‘not before’ time from the referee and decided to head back to the hotel so that we didn’t get tired or bored just sitting around waiting for matches to go back on.

After watching the conclusion of the Men’s singles final at Wimbledon on TV we headed back to Queenswood to prepare Toby for his match and even though the skies were looking very dark we were told that the match would get started tonight!

At just after 7pm Toby and Jack Gibbens went on court for their 2nd round Qualifying match and Toby started exactly where he left off after his first set this morning! He broke Jack in the opening game and then produced some high quality tennis to race through the first set 6-0 in 25 minutes.

Toby and Jack battling the fading light as well as each other!

Having seen Jack fight back from a set down this morning we knew that he wasn’t about to roll over and give Toby the match but with Toby leading 3-1* in the 2nd set I thought he’d control the set all the way through to the end of the match. Jack had other ideas though and after he held serve for the first time in the match he broke Toby to level the set at 3-3*. Toby responded well and immediately broke to take a *4-3 lead but Jack got the break straight back to level things up once again. At that stage both players upped their games and that led to the rest of the set going with serve until the tie-break. Jack took an early 2-0 lead and then extended it to 4-1 before Toby started a mini fight-back. It wasn’t to be however and Jack played some of his best tennis of the match to eventually take it 7-4.

Once the 2nd set was completed it was 8.40pm and the referee decided it was too dark to continue so play was suspended for the day.

Toby went straight off court to cool down and have a shower before we left site and drove into Borehamwood to have a very late dinner –and there wasn’t even a birthday cake for me!!

We had a debrief over dinner and talked about the positives of the 1st set as well as the areas of the 2nd set that we need to avoid when they start the deciding set tomorrow.

Schedule for Monday 13th July 2015

Toby Huffer (GBR) (2087) vs Jack Gibbens (GBR) (UNR) – TO FINISH 6-0, 6-7(4)

WINNER to play Rohan Sikka (GBR) (UNR) – After rest

Queenswood U18 ITF Grade 4, Day 1

Saturday 11th July 2015

After being eliminated from the doubles at the Edinburgh ITF on Tuesday we didn’t have long before the next event was due to start in Queenswood which is just north of London.

The beauty of playing tennis is that there’s always a chance to improve when you play your next event and as there’s a tournament every week of the year you don’t’ have to wait too long to do it. In other sports you might have to wait weeks or months, or in terms of the Olympics it could be every 4 years, but with tennis you can put the disappointment of one tournament behind you pretty quickly.

I met Toby this morning and we made our way to Queenswood School for 9.30am so that we could get two good sessions in on the clay before he plays his 1st round Qualifying match tomorrow. The U14 Tennis Europe event started yesterday so 8 out of the 12 courts were being used for that but 4 were reserved just for practice. After warming up we got on court at 10.15am and despite having to move courts a couple of times we managed to train for an hour and 45 minutes. During the session we talked a lot about the matches last week and based all of our drills on areas that Toby really wanted to sharpen up before his first match. By 12pm we were both pretty tired so we headed into the pavilion to get a good lunch from “Racquets” café and then chilled out until our second practice of the day at 2.30pm.

As I’ve said many times before, I believe that it’s the player that should control exactly what they do on and off the court the day before a tournament starts so that they feel 100% comfortable and confident going into the match. With that in mind Toby set up the afternoon session and constructed a really good hour and a half of drilling, conditioned points and then finished with a few service games each. We both pushed each other in everything that we did and that led to some very competitive point play which is exactly what he’s going to get tomorrow.

At 4pm Toby signed in for Qualifying and after cooling down, showering and changing we headed 15 minutes down the road to our hotel for the week. Despite only being just over an hour away from home we decided it would be best to stay locally this week so that 1) we don’t have to spend too long in the car each day and 2) so that we avoid the M25 traffic!!

Whilst at dinner this evening the draw came out:

Schedule for Sunday 12th July 2015:

Toby Huffer (GBR) (2087) vs (8) Miguel Romanello (ITA) (1956) – 1st match at 9.30am

Edinburgh U18 ITF Grade 5, Day 3

Tuesday 7th July 2015

The rain has continued on and off over the last 24 hours here in Edinburgh and unfortunately the results for Toby have been as grim as the weather!

Due to the heavy rain overnight we knew that play would be delayed this morning but when we arrived at the tennis centre at 10am we were very surprised to see that none of the first round matches were even close to going on. The rain had completely saturated the clay courts and even though the ground staff had been working on them since 7am we were told that there wouldn’t be any play on them until at least 11.30am. That meant that the indoor courts were again being used by the Tennis Europe event and our scheduled indoor practice court of 11am had been cancelled!

That left us with two options; either we didn’t hit before Toby’s doubles match or we trekked across Edinburgh to one of the parks and try and get on a court there. Well there was no way we weren’t going to practice before his match so we got back on the bus and then walked for 15-20minutes across Meadow Park before we came to 16 pretty good hard courts:

The excellent 16 hard courts in Meadow Park

It was really good to see at least half of the courts being used including 2 courts which had a kids coaching camp on them. I know the LTA are very keen to grow tennis in the Parks and if we can get more facilities like the one in Meadow Park then I think we’ve got a chance of getting children interested in playing from a young age.

Toby and I warmed up from 11.15 – 11.45am and then hit for 45 minutes where we went through a standard warm-up plus a few specific drills to get Toby prepared for his doubles match. Being in a Park it was very windy and I was taking the brunt of it from my end but at least we managed to get some good time in on court which was probably a lot more than a lot of the players at the centre that took the option of not training before their matches. While we were training we noticed some of the foreign U14 Tennis Europe players had made their way to the park and it did dawn on me that often it’s the foreign players that seem to go the extra mile in terms of time on court, extra sessions in the gym etc. during tournaments whereas often it’s the Brits that take the easy option. Hopefully that mentality can be changed and the coaches can guide the players to train like the professionals would so that we can produce more world class players in the future.

After getting some lunch we headed back to the centre at about 1.30pm and then had to enter into the lottery of would it rain and we’d be indoors or would the rain hold off and we could get on the clay? Eventually the rain came down too heavily and it was decided that all play would go indoors for the rest of the day. That meant that we had 2 different age groups with 2 events in each age group (singles and doubles) to get completed on 6 indoor courts!

Luckily Toby’s doubles with Andrew Rozanov against top seeds Vincent Gillespie and Calum McGeoch was the first ITF doubles match on the schedule so they ended up going on at 5pm (some matches didn’t go on until closer to 9pm!).

We knew from the outset that Vincent and Calum were going to be a tough pair to play; Vincent had played in the Qualifying of Junior Wimbledon last week and they are both good doubles players but I don’t think Toby or Andrew were quite prepared for the level that their opponents brought to the match!

After Calum held serve in the opening game, Andrew had game points on his serve in the next game but unfortunately the boys lost it to a sudden death deuce point. From there Vincent and Calum raced through the first set 6-0 in 19 minutes and even though Toby held serve at the start of the second set it wasn’t enough to stop their opponents flying through the match 6-0, 6-1 – at least it helped Gill and her team out with the scheduling by being on and off court quickly!

There’s never any shame in losing to a better team and as much as no player likes to take a heavy loss it happens at all levels of tennis – even at Grand Slams. The important thing is to always learn from the matches and take away specific points to work on which I know we definitely did.

The loss in the doubles brings our week in Edinburgh to a close; we’ll head back to London tomorrow and start our preparations for Queenswood which starts on my Birthday this Sunday!

Edinburgh U18 ITF Grade 5, Day 2

Monday 6th July 2015

It wasn’t the result we’d been hoping for today as Toby lost in the first round of the singles to one of the new kids on the block; Jack Draper.

As Toby wasn’t scheduled until 5th round of matches on today he decided to have a bit of a lie in while I got up early to continue with my training for the Great North Run in September. I had a really nice run along Union Canal before joining the main road up to the tennis centre and then when I got there my plan was to book practice for this morning. We’d not been allowed to book any practice yesterday because the weather forecast wasn’t good and they wanted to keep the indoor courts reserved for the first couple of rounds of matches – and when I asked again at 8am I got the same response!!

With that I headed back to the B&B to meet up with Toby, have breakfast and then we got a bus at just after 10am back to the tennis centre. When we arrived Toby went straight to the practice desk to see what could be done and after a little persuading we managed to get the first indoor court available after the U14 Tennis Europe first round of matches had finished. That gave us around 25 minutes to warm up before we got on court to hit from 11-11.30am. Toby was hitting really well on the indoor courts and once we’d gone through some specific tactical work he felt ready for his first round match.

Due to the weather everything had been delayed and Toby and Jack didn’t end up going on court until 4.45pm. When they started it was Jack that settled into the match the quicker of the two and broke Toby’s serve in the opening game. Toby responded well to break straight back and then followed-up with a hold to take a 2-1* lead. At this stage I felt as though Toby had found his range and I fully expected him to use his physical advantage to push on and extend his lead but Jack fought hard in his next service game to level the set at *2-2. From that stage Jack raised his level hitting 4 winners and only 2 unforced errors in the next 4 games while Toby became more erratic and posted stats of 1 winner and 11 unforced errors which resulted in Jack taking the set 6-2.

The start of the second set was extremely tight and even though Toby found a high level of hitting at times, they were mainly in Jack’s service games which didn’t help him hold his own serve! The boys exchanged 3 service breaks each until 3-3* when Jack held and then went on to win the next two games in a row to take the match 6-2, 6-3.

It was a disappointing performance from Toby and even though Jack produced some good tennis during the match, Toby produced too many errors and only held serve once out of 9 service games which is not good enough to compete at this level.

The match finished at 6.15pm and after Toby had cooled down, showered and changed we got the bus back to the hotel. It was then out to Zizzi’s for dinner and then back to the B&B to go through the details of the match and prepare for the doubles tomorrow.

Boy’s Doubles Draw

Schedule for tomorrow:

(1) Vincent Gillespie (GBR) & Calum McGoech (GBR) vs Toby Huffer (GBR) & Andrew Rozanov (GBR) – 4th match after 9am (not before 2.30pm)

Edinburgh U18 ITF Grade 5, Day 1

Sunday 5th July 2015

Following an excellent week of training and competing in La Manga, which saw Toby Huffer reach the final of the Men’s singles and the Men’s doubles (with me!) we left Murcia on Friday afternoon and headed straight to Edinburgh for the U18 ITF event. As we boarded the plane in Spain Toby was 3rd / 4th on the Qualifying list but by the time we landed at Gatwick he had moved up into the Main Draw which meant that he could have a well-deserved rest day yesterday after playing 10 matches in 5 days.

I’ve been coming to the ITF and Tennis Europe events in Edinburgh since 2004 and you can almost guarantee that it will rain at some point during each day of the tournament!! It rained yesterday, which caused the majority of the play to go indoors, but when we woke this morning the weather was looking brilliant.

So that we could get a long training session in this morning we got the 6.36am bus from outside our Bed & Breakfast and starting warming up at the Craiglockhart Tennis Centre at 6.45am. We then trained on one court from 7.15am to 8am and then went over to the back courts to continue until matches started at 9am. I think the training and matches on the red clay last week have really helped to develop Toby’s game and if he can continue to improve over the next couple of weeks on clay then it’ll be a great start to the summer.

After training we booked practice for this afternoon and then headed back to the B&B for breakfast.

There wasn’t much to do between the morning session and our afternoon session so we just mainly relaxed at the B&B and got some lunch from the local Zizzi’s – check out how cheap it was for both of us!!

I’m always trying to get a good deal but this is ridiculous!!

Once we had told the waitress there was a mistake we ended up paying just over £10 which wasn’t bad for two big meals and our drinks!

Our training session this afternoon was indoors from 3.15pm until 4.45pm – we decided to go indoors rather than wait to see if a clay court would become available after matches so that Toby was used to both surfaces in case it rained. We drilled for around 45 minutes until Toby was comfortable on the surface and then we went into a short set to 4 which saw Toby take me apart 4-2!

Following the training session Toby signed in and then, just as the rain started to fall, we got on the bus back to the B&B.

The rain continued on and off for the rest of the evening but it didn’t stop us walking into Edinburgh City centre to have dinner at ASK. We tried to get a bus on the way back but due to it being a Sunday the service was very sporadic so we walked almost the whole way and tried as hard as we could to avoid the rain!

Boy’s Singles Main Draw

Schedule for tomorrow:

Toby Huffer (GBR) (2053) vs Jack Draper (GBR) (1446) – 5th match after 9am

 

Namibia U18 ITF Grade 4, Day 5

Tuesday 5th May 2015

After securing two wins out of two matches yesterday, today was unfortunately the complete opposite and so our time here in Windhoek comes to an end.

We started the day with exactly the same timetable as yesterday; breakfast at 7.30am, drive to the club at 8.40am and start our warm-up at 9am. Normally when Toby and I start hitting it’s very consistent but this morning Toby was a little more erratic and that could have been down to the practice courts being a little faster than the match courts, or the fact that the practice balls were quite worn. After four or five minutes Toby started to find his range and the rest of the pre-match hit went according to plan.

Yesterday the matches went quite quickly and Toby’s ‘not before’ 10.30am match went on at 10.40am but today he had the same match time and he didn’t end up going on until 1.15pm! That did mean that he could get some food before the match but it also meant we had quite a bit of time to kill before he eventually went on.

When Toby got on court to face 15th seed William Grant from America he started a little erratically (like in our warm-up) and that was always going to make life difficult against a good player like William. The first two games of the match were quite straightforward for the America as he took a *0-2 lead but Toby managed to settle down in the third game and held serve. After that William played a very solid next four games and made it very difficult for Toby to break him down in the rallies which resulted in him taking the opening set 6-1.

Toby immediately went 0-2* down in the second but at that stage he dug deep and found probably the best level that he has played on the trip to break William and hold to level the set at 2-2*. Toby was being more aggressive which was actually helping him to control the ball more while at the same time putting his opponent under more pressure to dictate the points. William held in the next game but then Toby responded with a hold and a break to take a *4-3 lead and more importantly take control of the set. The American was starting to get frustrated but he used that frustration in a positive way to raise his game and play a very good three games in a row where he hit 6 winners and only 1 error to take the match 6-1, 6-4.

Unlike last week Toby showed great fight, determination and a very good attitude to try and turn the match around after losing a very one-sided first set. It was always going to be a tough challenge to play William, who made the semi-final last week, but Toby pushed him hard in the second set and I was proud of the way he competed.

Toby only had 45 minutes once the match had finished to cool down, eat and change kit before he was on again for his doubles where he faced his doubles partner from last week.

Toby and Leon were very up for the match as it was another chance to secure some ranking points and at 2-1* up and Sudden Death Deuce on Goni’s serve they looked like they were in control. However, after Goni held serve, the boys from Zimbabwe broke Toby’s serve and then won another two consecutive Sudden Death Deuce games on their way to taking the set 6-2.

Once Goni and Mark had that set under their belts they started to play with a lot of confidence and it seemed as though all the luck was going their way! They won another three Sudden Death Deuce games in the second set (6 out of 6 in total!) and despite Toby and Leon trying to do the right things they eventually lost the second set by the same scoreline as the first.

It was a tough day and for the second year in a row Toby has won matches in the singles and doubles Main Draws here in Namibia but unfortunately goes away without any ranking points.

Once we returned to the hotel I got in touch with South African Airways to change our flights to return to London tomorrow and then it was time for our traditional final meal of the trip at the famous Joe’s Beerhouse!

Last year I had an Oryx fillet and Toby went for a plain steak but this year we decided to raise the bar a little and go for the ‘Bushman Sosatie’ (pronounced Bushman’s Society!) which was basically a Kebab of Springbok, Oryx, Zebra, Crocodile and Kudu:

The Bushman Sosatie in all it’s glory!

The Crocodile was a bit tough but everything else was absolutely amazing! I’m not usually a fan of meat being cooked too rare but check out the Kudu – I almost had to kill it before I could eat it!

After a fantastic meal we headed outside to get a car back to the hotel but before we left we had a chance to haggle with a street seller to get a couple of mementos of the trip.

Overall it’s been a good two weeks in Botswana and Namibia – Toby may have only picked up points in the doubles last week but he’s learnt a lot and has showed a big improvement in attitude, determination and willingness to fight when things aren’t going his way.

It’s now back to the UK to get some training in before the next trip away.

Namibia U18 ITF Grade 4, Day 4

Monday 4th May 2015

It was a hard fought day at the Central Tennis Club today as Toby spent almost 4 hours 30 minutes on court, but it makes it all worth it when you come away with 2 wins out of 2!

It was an earlier start today as we had breakfast at 7.30am and then got a car to the club at 8.30am. Being the first day of Main Draw there are a lot of players looking to practice before their matches and it can often be difficult to get a practice court but luckily I was the first to put our names down for a court at 9.30am. So, once we had gone through a good physical warm up, we got on court and had a solid practice for just over 30 minutes. Even at 9.30am it was getting very hot and our session ended up going on a little longer than planned as Toby broke a string right at the end so we had to hit for another 5-10 minutes to make sure Toby was comfortable with the new racket.

Once we had finished Toby checked his match court to see how long it would be until he was on and for once the court was pretty much running to time. Toby had a ‘not before’ time of 10.30am and he actually took to the court at 10.40am – that’s good planning from the referee right there!

We didn’t know anything about Hugh Morgan before Toby went on court to warm up with him but as the match started it seemed as though Toby had the measure of him. After Toby took the opening two games I was expecting him to go through his opponent quite comfortably but Hugh showed that he was a tough competitor and immediately fought back to win the next three games. Toby continued to stick to his gameplan and once he had worked out that he needed to play in different ways from different ends (due to the wind blowing down the court) he won three out of the next four games to take a *5-4 lead. At that stage Toby got a little tight on key points which resulted in him being broken when he served for the set at *5-4 and again at *6-5. He didn’t let it bother him though and played a very good tie-break to take the 1st set 7-6(4).

Toby then raced to a 3-0 lead in the 2nd set and was looking full of confidence but when he was broken at *3-1 it gave Hugh a big lift and he went on to completely turn the set around and take a *3-5 lead. Toby managed to hold serve after losing five games in a row but Hugh served well to hold and take the 2nd set 6-4.

By this stage the boys had been on court for 2 hours 20 minutes in quite intense heat but once again it was Toby that showed an excellent attitude and real inner strength to race to a 3-0 lead in the 3rd set. Unfortunately Hugh once again fought back and started to put some doubts in Toby’s head by winning the next three games in a row. A lot of those games had been down to Toby making too many unforced errors and once he realised he needed to change what he was doing, he held, broke and then served out the match well to eventually win 7-6(4),4-6, 6-3 in 3 hours and 5 minutes.

The quality of the match, a lot like the scoreline, was very up and down but the most important qualities that Toby showed were his attitude, fight and determination in tough conditions.

As soon as the match had finished Toby gave the score to the referee and then checked out the recently completed doubles draw:

Boy’s Doubles Draw

Toby then had a very cold shower (there isn’t any hot water at the club – not that Toby would have wanted any to be honest!) and once he was finished we walked up the road to a little Italian restaurant to get lunch. It was then back to the club to prepare for Toby’s doubles match with Leon Olivier which was scheduled for ‘not before’ 3.30pm.

The boys took to the court at just after 3.45pm to face Taine Bernhard and Jamie Davis from South Africa. Jamie is a good 14 year old that is based in Potchefstroom (where I was last year for the two Grade 2s) and following his first ever Main Draw singles win this morning he was buzzing with confidence. Toby and Leon started a little slowly and soon found themselves 2-4* down with Jamie serving. Fortunately at this stage of the set the boys woke up and actually starting playing some very good doubles; they both started moving a lot more and controlled the net much better. That completely changed the momentum of the match and it saw Toby and Leon win five out of the net 6 games to take the opening set 7-5.

Toby stretching for a return of serve in the opening set

I could completely understand that it would take Toby and Leon a little while to gel as they’d not even spoken much before the match, let alone played together, but as they 2nd set started it was obvious that something had clicked! They broke Taine in the first game of the set and then flew through the set 6-0 while trying out different tactics that they might need in the next round.

Both boys were really pleased with their performance and if they can add to the level that they produced today then I can see them doing really well in the tournament.

After the match we got a lift back to the hotel with Jeremy, Leon’s coach, and had an hour and a half to chill out before dinner.

As our lunch had been quite big neither of us really wanted a big meal at the hotel restaurant for dinner so we got a lift up the road to Nandos! We then got a local taxi back to the hotel and having been quoted N$70 by some of the hotel taxis we ended up paying the local taxi N$20 (and I think he over charged us too!!).

Schedule for tomorrow:

(15) William Grant (USA) (1630) vs (Q) Toby Huffer (GBR) (UNR) – 3rd match after 8.30am (not before 10.30am)

(4) Mark Chigaazira (ZIM) & Ngonidzashe Makambwa (ZIM) vs Toby Huffer (GBR) & Leon Olivier (RSA) – 4th match after 8.30am (after rest)

Namibia U18 ITF Grade 4, Day 3

Sunday 3rd May 2015

We had a good start to the week here in Windhoek today as Toby played a solid match to get through his first round and qualify for the Main Draw.

Due to the later start time of matches today, Toby had a bit of a lie-in while I was up early at 5am to watch the Mayweather vs Pacquiao fight. When we talk about tactics in tennis it comes as second nature but I find it so interesting to analyse the tactics used in other sports and the fight this morning was unbelievably tactical. It was brilliant to watch and even though many people have said the fight was “boring” I think that’s because they don’t appreciate how big a part tactics played in it – they just wanted big punches and a knockout which was never going to happen with these two phenomenal fighters.

Back to business out here and we met for breakfast at 8.30am and then got a car to the club at 9.45am. Even though Toby’s match was scheduled for 1pm we had to warm-up, hit and also have time to digest lunch before he had to warm-up again for the match. With that in mind we hit for 30 minutes from 10.30-11am and then walked up the road to the supermarket to get some lunch.

Once we returned to the club we had around 30 minutes to relax and then at 12.30pm we headed down to Centre Court to warm-up and most importantly go through the goals and game plan for the match.

As Toby went onto court at 1pm he was in a relaxed mood and was keen to improve on the level that he produced in the early rounds of last week’s tournament. We knew very little about Alex Van Der Westhuizen but as soon as the warm-up started I felt confident that Toby could impose his game on his opponent and also use it as a good opportunity to continue to work on some specifics that we’ve been developing in training.

Toby broke Alex’s serve in the first game of the match and from there he settled into the match very well racing to a 4-0* lead. Alex then held serve with a series of good first serves but Toby responded with 3 winners in the next game and then broke serve to take the first set 6-1.

During the second set Toby raised his level again and even though the set score was the same as the first he produced a higher first serve percentage, almost three times the amount of service winners and twice the amount of winners from the back of the court.

Toby moving forwards to finish the point at the net during the 2nd set

All in all it was a good performance from Toby and compared to his first round match last week it was much much better. Toby was also pleased with his performance especially as the conditions were very hot and humid and he did well to get the job done without wasting energy by playing more games than necessary.

After the match we had over an hour to wait until the shuttle back to the hotel so we decided to watch some of the other Qualifying matches and also have a few games of table tennis as a ‘cool down’ – for me it was more of a warm-up as not before long I was sweating and getting rather competitive!

Once the car arrived we went to the supermarket to stock up on some supplies and then headed back to the hotel. Toby then decided he was going to have a swim in the pool so I joined him but it turn out to be more of an ice bath recovery session rather than a relaxing swim!

During dinner tonight the draw came out and we were both surprised to see two ‘lucky losers’ playing each other in the opening round tomorrow:

Boy’s Singles Main Draw

Schedule for tomorrow:

Toby Huffer (GBR) (UNR) vs Hugo Morgan (RSA) (UNR) – 3rd match after 8.30am (not before 10.30am)

Doubles with Leon Olivier (RSA) to follow in the afternoon

Namibia U18 ITF Grade 4, Day 2

Saturday 2nd May 2015

A good final day of preparation today and now we’re all set for Toby’s 1st round match tomorrow.

The day before any player competes in a tournament is very important and wherever possible I like the player to dictate when they want to train, how long they want to train for and also the content of the session(s). That is so that the player feels happy and works on exactly what they feel they need to in order to feel ready for their match. Toby had the option of a lie-in this morning but instead he chose to follow the same routine as we did yesterday. That meant we were up for breakfast at 8am and then at the club warming up at 9.30am. We then had a really good training session for just over an hour which saw us do a lot of ‘trading’ from the back of the court to find a good consistency and then go into a lot of point play. While we were warming up some serves, Leon Olivier, who is in the Main Draw this week, asked if Toby wanted to play some points and so Toby finished the session with a very solid 10-2 win in a Match Tie-break.

For lunch today we decided to eat at the club and we were very pleased with a great spaghetti bolognaise that the tournament director’s wife had made for the players – hopefully she’ll keep that quality of lunches up all week! Toby also wanted to get a few snacks from the supermarket so we headed up there after we’d eaten to get some nuts, fruit and the all-important chewing gum!

When we returned to the club Toby chilled out while I had a good catch-up with Pieter Hoeksma who is the tournament referee this week. I first met Pieter at this tournament last year and he’s a great guy; he reminds me a lot of British referee Andy Fyfe and is the kind of guy that’s very honest, a strict referee who gets respect from all the players but is also very fair.

At 1.30pm Toby and I started warming up for our second session of the day and at 2pm we got on court to prepare to finish the set we started yesterday. Despite feeling pretty exhausted I managed to win the first point which saw me break Toby to take a *2-1 lead and from there the set went with serve until 5-3*. Toby was actually playing the better tennis and I was struggling to control the ball having just got my racket back from the stringer but I think a bit of dogged determination managed to get me through the set 6-3.

Once we were done Toby had a thorough stretch out at the club and then at 3.30pm we headed back to the hotel to relax for the afternoon. We then met back up at 6.30pm for dinner and had a brief chat about preparations for the match tomorrow before relaxing for the rest of the evening.

Schedule for tomorrow:

Toby Huffer (GBR) (UNR) vs Alex Van Der Westhuizen (RSA) (UNR) – 1st match at 1pm

Namibia U18 ITF Grade 4, Day 1

Friday 1st May 2015

After a long day of travelling from Botswana to Jo’burg and then on to Namibia yesterday, we had a good training day today to get ready for Qualifying which starts tomorrow.

As the altitude here in Windhoek is around 700 metres higher than in Botswana we decided to have two training sessions today; one to do a lot of drilling to get used to how the ball reacts and one to play a practice set to get fully prepared for Toby’s first Qualifying match.

In order to get both sessions in we had breakfast at 8am and then, after a quick stop at the supermarket to stock up on water, we got to the club at 9.30am. We then had a really good first training session which involved a lot of repetition drills, a lot of changing ends to get used to the wind and then finished with a lot of work on serve and return. We had planned on training for around an hour and 30 minutes but by the time we finished it ended up being almost two hours. While we were training fellow Brit Olivia Elliott and her coach David Felgate came on to the court next to us for their first training session since arriving yesterday. It was great to see someone as young as Olivia getting out there and competing in ITFs as soon as possible. I’m a big believer in players competing abroad as early as they can to gain valuable experience and also get used to playing in different environments so I really hope Olivia does well this week.

Once we had finished our session we walked up the road to get some lunch and then headed back to the club to relax . . . well . . . that was the plan but no sooner had I sat down than Toby had me up competing against him at table tennis – good job I beat him then!!

We went back on court at 2pm to warm up again for our second training session of the day but as we started we noticed a few very dark clouds drifting over from behind the club house. We managed to go through our whole physical warm up but while we started hitting it started to spit a little with rain. We came off court briefly but then the rain stopped so we went back on and managed to start a set. However, at 1-1 and with Toby serving at *15-40 it started to rain too hard to continue (I think the rain did Toby a favour to be honest as I was just about to break serve!!).

A complete washout this afternoon!

We waited until 4pm but the rain didn’t let up so Toby had a really good stretch out and then signed in for Qualifying. We then got picked up by our hotel driver at 4.30pm and headed back to our rooms to relax for an hour before dinner.

The food at the hotel is generally very good and I think there were only a couple of occasions last year when we actually ate away from the hotel. While we were at dinner the draw came out:

Boy’s Qualifying Draw

As Toby has a Bye he doesn’t play until Sunday so tomorrow will be another training day and maybe we might get a full set in!

Botswana U18 ITF Grade 5, Day 7

Wednesday 29th April 2015

It’s been a good week in Botswana but unfortunately it came to an end this afternoon as Toby and Goni went down to number 1 seeds Calvin Jordaan and Timothy Dollman in the ¼ Final of the doubles.

We had a slightly more relaxed morning today which saw us meet for breakfast at 8am and then head over to the club at 9am with Benny. Toby and Goni’s doubles match had a not before time of 2.30pm but because we needed to leave the tournament site to get lunch we had to make sure that we could get our training completed and then get over to Airport Junction and back again by the latest 1.45pm.

As soon as we arrived at the club we started warming up on one of the older back courts before moving to court 9 to start the session. We had planned on training for an hour but by the time we had worked on some groundstrokes, drilled a lot of volleys including doing some doubles specific points and then work on serve and return we actually didn’t finish until just before 11.30am. We then had a quick shower and met up with Benny who took us over to Rhapsody’s for lunch.

When we returned to the club at about 1.30pm the referee was keen to get us on court as soon as possible but as he had stated ‘not before 2.30pm’ we knew that we had plenty of time to mentally and physically prepare for the match. Unfortunately when it got to 2.30pm Toby and the two South African’s were on court ready to play but no-one could find Goni! After looking for him for 10 minutes we were starting to get a little nervous as they could get defaulted if they weren’t on court 15 minutes after being called but luckily we found him fast asleep at the back of one of the stands!

Despite Goni still looking half asleep when the match started the boys settled in well for the first three games but after a tight forth game Goni was broken and they fell 1-3* behind. Toby and Goni responded well and broke Calvin Jordaan in the very next game but after that the number 1 seeds raised their game and went on to take the set 6-3.

Toby and Goni ready to return serve in the opening game of the match

Toby and Goni were a little more static at the net during the first set than they were yesterday and despite trying to do different things in the second set, they just couldn’t string enough good points together to really hurt Calvin and Timothy. The South African pair broke Toby in the first game of the second set and then never really looked back as they went on to take the set 6-0.

It was a big ask for Toby and Goni to take down a solid pair like Calvin and Timothy but at the same time they could have been more effective with their net games and, if they had kept closer during the opening stages of the first set, maybe it might have been a different story.

After the match we returned to the guesthouse to start to pack up our things and get ready for our flights to Namibia tomorrow.  We then headed out to Riverwalk Mall at 6.15pm for dinner and while we were driving over Benny told us that the government had switched off the electricity in the houses in the local area as part of an energy saving plan. The restaurants still had power as they had generators but apart from that all of the houses and neighbourhoods that we passed were in complete darkness.

When we returned to the guesthouse at 8pm the electricity was still off but it did give us a chance to have a proper conversation with Shirley (the owner) and one of her friends who lives across the street. Sometimes we’re so busy during the day that we just go from doing one thing to another but tonight we were able to stand out in front of the house with no light pollution and thousands of stars shinning above our heads and actually learn a bit about each other’s lives.

We spent a really nice hour talking about all kinds of things and it really made me realise how lucky we are to travel so much and see so many amazing places around the world. Shirley and Benny have only ever been to South Africa and Botswana and had never heard of many of the countries that we’d visited. They’d also never seen snow before and thought it was hilarious when I showed them a video of my daughter skiing and sledging! It was a really nice feeling to be able to share things with them and I hope to keep in touch with them in the future.

It was a lovely end to our time here in Botswana and now we’ll have a day off tomorrow while we travel to Namibia for the next event which starts of Saturday.

Botswana U18 ITF Grade 5, Day 6

Tuesday 28th April 2015

We had a big high today and also a pretty low low but we got through the day in one piece and are still fighting hard in one of our two events.

Even though Toby’s singles match had a ‘not before’ time of 12pm we needed to be up early so that we had time to practice, get some lunch and then get back to the club with enough time to warm up before 12pm. Rarely do matches go on court around their ‘not before’ times but we had to make sure we were back on site in case other matches had gone quicker than expected!

That meant it was a 7am breakfast, a 8am taxi ride to the club so that we could warm up at 8.30am ready for our practice court booking of 9am – military precision as always! We actually ended up hitting for 45 minutes during which time we warmed everything up and then did some specific drills based on what we knew about Toby’s opponent. These included making sure Toby’s first volley was sharp (as he’d be looking to move forwards as much as possible to take his opponent’s time away) and also feeding Toby a lot of ‘heavy’ balls as we knew that Michael Copeland has a pretty spinny forehand.

Once we were happy with the level Toby had found we showered and changed and then made our way over to Airport Junction Mall for an early lunch.

We arrived back on site at around 11.30am and realised straight away that we had quite a bit of time before Toby would go on. That wasn’t a problem though as it gave us enough time to watch some of the other 2nd round matches before making sure we were fully prepared for Toby’s match.

At just before 2pm Toby went on to face 5th seed Michael Copeland from South Africa. It can be a little tricky for seeds to face Qualifiers in a 48 draw as in the back of their minds they know that, while it’s their first match in the tournament, the Qualifier might have already had a few matches to get used to the surface / balls / conditions etc. That was slightly the case today as Michael started a little nervously while Toby looked a lot more confident than in his previous two matches.

After each player held their first service game Toby struggled in his next one and ended up being broken. However, in the very next game he produced some of his best tennis on the trip to take control of Michael’s service game but when it came to the final ball of the rally he struggled to execute the winning shot. That gave Michael a bit of confidence which he used to race to a *1-5 lead. Toby managed to hold his next service game and again had chances to break back but unfortunately he lost the set 6-2.

The first set was actually a lot closer than the scoreline suggests but at the time Toby didn’t realise it and, by the time the second set started, Toby felt as though he had a massive mountain to climb. At the same time Michael had relaxed, found his rhythm and had a lot of confidence which he once again used to control the set. Toby fought hard despite going 3-0 down early on but was unable to turn the set around and eventually lost the match 6-2, 6-0.

As Toby had another match later in the day it was important that he understood what had happened in his singles match and what he needed to do in the next match to turn things around. We had a good honest debrief and Toby realised that he could have been a lot more positive in his singles match so it was up to him to make things right in the doubles.

At 5.15pm (just as the sun was starting to go down) Toby and Goni went on to face Steele Greyling and Danrich Kruger from South Africa. The match started on one of the back courts but at 1-1* they were told that they needed to move courts to a floodlit one at the next change of ends. Toby and Goni managed to break Danrich’s serve in that game (after being 40-15 down when they were told they needed to change courts!) and when they went under lights they extended their lead to 3-1*. Unfortunately Toby was broken at *3-2 and then the set went closely with serve until *4-5 when Toby served well to win a ‘Sudden Death Deuce’ point which was also a set point for Steele and Danrich. After that the set went into a tie-break and, after Toby and Goni got a break-through to lead 5-3*, they went on to take the tie-break 7-5.

Toby and Goni on their way to victory in the doubles this evening

Taking that first set really quietened down the South African’s while at the same time Toby and Goni found more energy. From *1-1 Toby and Goni won 3 games in a row to Sudden Death Deuce points and even though they lost the next game to another Sudden Death Deuce point they held Goni’s serve and then broke Danrich to take the match 7-6(5), 6-2. Toby got a little nervous on a big smash in second to last game and also a simple 2nd serve return on Match Point but it was understandable as he was playing for his first ITF points!

After the match Toby and I were both really pleased that he’s managed to secure his first ranking points but we also both know that his singles performance was not as good as we want it to be. We’ve still got the doubles ¼ final to look forward tomorrow and also more training to work on Toby’s singles game to prepare him for next week.

Schedule for tomorrow:

(1) Timothy Dollman (RSA) & Calvin Jordaan (RSA) vs (8) Toby Huffer (GBR) & Ngonidzashe Makambwa (ZIM) – 4th match after 9am (not before 2.30pm)

Botswana U18 ITF Grade 5, Day 5

Monday 27th April 2015

It was another good day at the Botswana National Tennis Centre today as Toby won his 1st round Main Draw match and also secured a good partner for the doubles.

Due to Toby being the 1st match on at 9am we were up early and at breakfast by 6.30am and then left with Benny for the club at 7am. We’ve been used to it being pretty warm out here but when we stepped out of the front door of the guesthouse this morning we both wondered whether it might have been a bit cold for shorts and t-shirt! – especially when Benny was wrapped up like he was going to the Artic!

Once we’d both gone through our physical warm up we had a quick game of ‘Bounce’ then hit from 8-8.30am. Toby was looking much more confident from the back of the court and I think yesterday evening’s session had a lot to do with that. He was also serving a lot more consistently and by the time we’d finished we were both happy with the level that he was playing at.

In the half an hour break between when we finished and when Toby went on for his match we went through the game plan & goals and also made sure that Toby had signed in for the doubles with Ngonidzashe (“Goni”) Makambwa from Zimbabwe. He then went on court at 9am to face Mpho Mbizo from Botswana.

From the beginning of the match it was clear that Toby was a lot more comfortable on the court than he was yesterday and despite his early service percentage being a little low, he was able to dominate the points from the back of the court. Toby raced to a 4-0* lead but after Mpho held in the next game his confidence increased considerably and he went on to break Toby to make the score 4-2*. Toby responded well and hit 5 winners in the next two games to break and hold serve to take the opening set 6-2.

The second set was the best set of tennis that Toby has played since we arrived here; he was looking very confident, hitting aggressively from the baseline and also creating a lot of opportunities to come in and finish points from the net. Toby took a 2-0* lead before Mpho managed to get a game on the board but it was the last one he won in the match as Toby went on to take the next 4 games in a row to win the match 6-2, 6-1.

It was a much more confident, composed and focussed match than yesterday which will give Toby a big boost before he takes on the 5th seed tomorrow in the 2nd round.

After the match we headed over to Airport Junction Mall to have some lunch and then returned to the club to check out the doubles draw. Unfortunately the referee has had a few problems with the draws over the past couple of days and had to re-do the boy’s doubles draw after using the wrong ranking! Eventually he got it right and it saw Toby and Goni get a bye in the opening round:

Boy’s Doubles Draw

As Toby didn’t have a doubles match today we decided to return to the guesthouse for a couple of hours this afternoon before returning to the club to have a good training session from 4.30-6pm. Toby was keen just to find his rhythm again and also play a few service and returning games to prepare himself for the match tomorrow.

Once we were finished we showered and changed before going back over to Airport Junction for dinner at Rhapsody’s. Toby had a great meal but unfortunately I think they forgot to cook my chicken! They got it right in the end though and I’m sure it’s not going to put us off going back there for lunch and dinner tomorrow!

Schedule for tomorrow:

(Q) Toby Huffer (GBR) (UNR) vs (5) Michael Copeland (RSA) (763) – 4th match after 8.30am (not before 12pm)

Steele Greyling (RSA) & Danrich Kruger (RSA) vs (8) Toby Huffer (GBR) & Ngonidzashe Makambwa (ZIM) – 6th match after 8.30am

Botswana U18 ITF Grade 5, Day 4

Sunday 26th April 2015

Toby had a very tough match today but despite not playing his best, he managed to fight through it and into the Main Draw.

Our day started a little early than the last couple of days and we were up and at breakfast by 7am. Benny then drove us to the club at 8am so that we had plenty of time to warm up before our 9am pre-match hit. During the session I was really pleased with how well Toby was timing the ball and I think in the first 10 minutes he only missed 2 or 3 balls! We needed to move courts during the 30 minute hit but that did us a bit of a favour as it meant that Toby could hit on his match court and it also gave him a chance to get used to the position of the sun.

From 9.30 – 10am we relaxed and then went through a pre-match briefing so that we were both on the same page with tactics and goals for the match. Then at 10am Toby went on to face Da-niel Kotze from South Africa.

Toby started with a solid first game and held serve to take a 1-0 lead but Da-niel responded with a good hold of his own to level the set. Then at 1-1 with Toby serving things started to do downhill pretty quickly. His serving percentage was a little lower than normal but the big difficulty that Toby had was maintaining a consistency from the back of the court. Da-niel wasn’t really doing much with the ball and in fact he only hit 2 winners in the next 4 games but at the same time Toby made 13 unforced errors and found himself *1-5 down. Over the past couple of months Toby has been working hard on analysing problems on the court and fighting hard to turn things around when they’re not going his way. I’m very pleased that he did just that today! From *1-5 he went back to basics; he made a lot more first serves and made sure that Da-niel had to work harder to win points. After holding serve he broke immediately and with that boost of confidence he suddenly found more of the game that he had been executing in practice over the last few days. Toby went on to win 6 games in a row from *1-5 down and despite some tight moments when Da-niel made a couple of bad calls, Toby kept his nerve and took the set on his 5th set point after 1 hour 10 minutes.

Once that set was under his belt Toby relaxed a little more while at the same time Da-niel’s game started to deteriorate and his unforced error count started to climb considerably. Toby went on to take the set 6-0 in just over 20 minutes and I would say that the second set was as much to do with Toby breaking Dan-niel’s spirits after the first set as it was to do with the actual tennis played!

Toby attacking a 2nd serve return on Match Point

After the match Toby was disappointed with the level he had produced but we agreed that the most important thing was that he had fought very hard through some very tough times and now he’s still alive to fight another day. He’s also through to the Main Draw of an ITF for the first time since he competed in Namibia last May so there are always positives to take from any match. Toby also said he wanted to get back on court later in the day to improve his level which is great to hear from a player, especially after a tough match and when the easy option would be just to rest and say “I’ll work on my game tomorrow”.

For lunch Benny took us over to the ‘Airport Junction’ Mall where we had a couple of superb pasta dishes at Rhapsody’s before returning to the guesthouse to chill out for a couple of hours.

Benny then picked us up at 4pm to take us back to the club where we had a good 30 minutes of working on specifics from the match this morning before having around 25 minutes of points with Luis Pita from Portugal.

Toby and Luis playing points this afternoon

We then headed over to Rodizio’s for dinner and to watch the second half of the Chelsea vs Arsenal game before going back to the club to check out the Main Draw:

Boy’s U18 Main Draw

It was then finally back to the guesthouse to wind down and get everything ready for Toby’s 1st round tomorrow.

Schedule for tomorrow:

Mpho Mbizo (BOT) (UNR) vs (Q) Toby Huffer (GBR) (UNR) – 1st match at 9am

Botswana U18 ITF Grade 5, Day 3

Saturday 25th April 2015

It was a good final day of training today and after a relaxing afternoon we’re now all set for Toby’s first match tomorrow.

We decided to follow the same routine as yesterday so we were up for breakfast at 8am and then got to the club just before 9.30am. There were a lot more players on site this morning and so it was a little more difficult to get a full court to practice on but after going through a thorough warm-up we managed to secure half a court from 10-10.30am and then a full court from 10.30-12pm. We were also able to get some tournament balls to practice with as there haven’t been any available for the last two day and they actually made quite a difference at this altitude.

During the session we worked on a few specific areas of Toby’s game to make sure he was sharp and ready to compete tomorrow and then put everything together with a lot of points at the end. While we were training the Botswana Defence Force were marking 38 years of service with a display at the National Stadium which is situated behind the tennis centre:

The view of the National Stadium from the tennis centre

The display also included a military fly over:

The start of the Military display . . .

Check out the two guys on top of the floodlights – not a bad view from there!

As well as a very fast fly-by from Botswana’s answer to the British Red Arrows (yesterday they scared the life out of us but this time we were ready for them!):

Fast and very loud!

Check out the video on the Facebook page – www.Facebook.com/itctennis1

After training we cooled down, showered and changed and got Benny to drive us to Riverwalk Mall where we had lunch and then went to the cinema to see ‘Run All Night’ with Liam Neeson – good film and definitely worth a watch but very much a typical Liam Neeson film!

We decided to have an early dinner after the film but as Rodizio wasn’t open until 6pm we had to settle for ‘Mug and Bean’ which was definitely not up to the level we were looking for – it was still ok but only once you had got past the layers of cheese on everything!!

It was then back to the guesthouse to relax for the evening and get prepared for Toby’s match tomorrow.

Schedule for tomorrow:

Toby Huffer (GBR) (UNR) vs Da-niel Kotze (RSA) (UNR) – 1st match at 10am

Botswana U18 ITF Grade 5, Day 2

Friday 24th April 2015

We had our first full training day at the National Tennis Centre in Gaborone today but at one stage we thought some fighter jets were going to put a stop to it!

We were up for breakfast at the guesthouse at 8am this morning and then Benny arrived shortly before 9am to take us to the club. We were expecting more players to be there but apart from some junior coaching that was on a couple of the courts the rest were free for practice.

Once we had gone through our own warm-up routines we played our regular couple of games of ‘bounce’ to get moving and then went to the back of the court to warm up our groundstrokes. The majority of this morning’s session was focussed around getting used to the altitude again – it’s not as high here as it will be in Windhoek next week but it’s still just over 1,000m above sea level which does have an effect on the ball. Yesterday when we started practicing we had brand new balls which meant the courts felt a lot more bouncy but now they have worn a little it’s much easier to control the ball. Toby and I trained for just over an hour and a half and managed to get a lot of points played too which definitely helped to get used to the altitude in match conditions.

After the session we showered and changed (pretty much in the dark as they have to limit the amount of electricity used!) and then Benny drove us to Riverwalk Mall so we could get some lunch. We went back to the Brazilian restaurant where we had dinner last night and had the same pasta dishes too! Benny then drove us back to the club for our second practice of the day.

As we walked onto court this afternoon I thought I recognised the guy hitting on the court next to us and as we got closer it turned out to be Mark Petchey who was having a break away from his Sky Sports commentary role to spend the week with his daughter who is playing the ITF. I’ve met Mark a couple of times before and we had a quick chat before we both carried on with our own sessions.

It was another really good practice from Toby and when we went into points he was making life very difficult for me! During the session we noticed that there were a lot of military planes flying around the tennis centre and later found out that they were just practicing for a big show that’s happening tomorrow. At one stage, just as we were in the middle of a point, 3 fighter jets shot directly above our heads. The noise was so loud that it felt as though they were right on top of us and it actually made us both duck!! I’m sure I won that point but we decided to play a let as I think we both closed our eyes! It would have been great to get some pictures but hopefully I’ll get some tomorrow.

We finished around 4.15pm and then Toby signed-in for Qualifying but it still seemed as though there weren’t many players around. We knew that there would not be a girl’s Qualifying draw but we still expected at least 15-20 boys to be signing in.

When we were finished we headed back to the guesthouse to relax for an hour before heading back to the Mall for dinner. We did look at a couple of the other restaurants but Toby decided to go back to Rodizio … I had to change up my dinner as I didn’t fancy pasta again but Toby went for the same dish for the third meal in a row!

Once we got back to the guesthouse the draw was out:

Toby doesn’t play tomorrow as he has a Bye so we’re going to have a light training day so that he’s 100% fresh for Sunday.

Botswana U18 ITF Grade 5, Day 1

Thursday 23rd April 2015

With the sun now shining in England (well … at least some of the time!) we can officially say summer is on its way and that leads us into one of my best periods of the year – the transition between indoor and outdoor tennis. It’s great for the players to be finally training outdoors after such a long period indoors and this is the time when some really good game development can occur. Gone are the training sessions or matches where points are won or lost after 2 or 3 shots and now we move into having to work harder, fight harder and be more disciplined to win points, games, sets and matches.

Having returned from Barbados a few weeks ago, Toby Huffer and I have been to LTA tournaments in Nottingham, Cambridge and North London and after training at the start of this week we are now in Botswana for the Grade 5 U18 ITF.

We travelled across London together (during rush hour but that was mainly because Toby missed a train!) yesterday afternoon and arrived at Heathrow Terminal 2 at about 5.30pm. We then checked-in, got some dinner and relaxed before our 10 hour 45 minute flight to Johannesburg. After doing some detective work before we boarded I managed to find the only 2 rows on the plane that had 4 empty seats so Toby and I positioned ourselves there and both had a solid 9 hours sleep!

Once we arrived in Johannesburg we had a short stopover of just over 2 hours before our next flight to Gaborone in Botswana. We were only on a very small plane and often the plane was bouncing around a bit in the turbulence but I don’t remember any of it as I was asleep again!

After clearing immigration and collecting our bags we were met by our driver for the week called Benny. Originally we were supposed to be staying at the Athletes Village but a few days ago the tournament director called me to say they’ve moved us to a guesthouse and given us a personal driver for the week – couldn’t really argue with that could we?!

Benny drove us to the guesthouse which is about 15-20 minutes from the club but he told us the driving time does depend on how many goats there are on the road – any we thought he was joking!!

Goats in the road . . . that’s a new one!

After some lunch at the local Mall we headed to the club where it was great to see all of the courts packed with young junior players training / competing together. I’m not sure what format they were following but they were all getting very pumped up during the points and, by the looks of things, having a great time too!

The National Tennis Centre in Gaborone

Toby and I warmed up from 4.30-5pm then had a good first practice from 5-6pm where we were joined by UK based but Canadian national, Lee Sadler. We met Lee in Barbados when he was there with Dukes Meadows coach Harry Skinner and even though he’s not on the entry list for this week he’s decided to come out anyway and sign in.

Once we were done on court we showered and changed before Benny took us back to the Mall where we had dinner in Rodizio – a Brazilian restaurant famous in Gaborone for its meat platters but we had two very good pasta dishes instead.

From there it was back to ‘Mamas Guesthouse’ to unpack and get ready for training and signing in for Qualifying tomorrow.

Barbados U18 ITF Grade 4, Day 4

Monday 30th March 2015

Unfortunately today ended up being the last day of our trip as Toby didn’t manage to get into the doubles but it wasn’t without its highs, lows and in-betweens!

We knew that it was going to be a tough ask for Toby to get into the doubles as he lost in qualifying but there’s always a chance if you manage to find the right partner. With that in mind we were up early, had breakfast and got the 7.30am shuttle to the club. We then warmed up and got on court to train before the Main Draw singles matches started. Despite the gusting winds we still managed to have a good hit and then at 9am when the matches started it was time to find Toby a doubles partner.

After two and a half hours of asking around and checking who had already signed in, Toby found an American who didn’t have a partner, the only problem was that he lost in qualifying too! Under normal circumstances there would have been no way that the boys would have got in as their ‘doubles priority’ would have been too low but as Toby’s partner had spent the last month training in Barbados there was the possibility of a wildcard.

We waited until just after 1pm for the doubles list to be complied by the referee but we were then told that due to the number of players from Barbados that had signed in we were not awarded a wildcard. It was disappointing not to get in but I think we both knew there was only a very slim chance of getting the wildcard.

As soon as we found out that Toby wasn’t in the draw we said our goodbyes and headed back to the hotel to pack up and make our way to the airport.  Our flights were originally booked for later in the week but to try and save a bit of money we thought we’d try our hand at getting on today’s flight – the only problem was that because Easter is this weekend all the British Airways flights are full for the next 4 days!

After a few hours of negotiating, smiling nicely and a little bit of begging (!!) we managed to get a flight home for tomorrow … from Trinidad! It wasn’t a problem though as we got a late flight from Barbados to Trinidad and then we’re on the British Airways flight from Trinidad to London tomorrow afternoon – all that and we didn’t have to pay a penny in change fees – thank you British Airways!

So that brings our trip to an end, in terms of results for Toby it was disappointing but the guy that beat him was very good and there’s no harm in losing to a better player on the day.

Now we’ll go back home and get prepared for the next trip which is in 3 weeks to Botswana and Namibia. Toby did well out in Namibia last year and was close to picking up ITF points in both weeks so let’s hope that this week he can go one step further.

Barbados U18 ITF Grade 4, Day 3

Sunday 29th March 2015

After Toby lost in the 2nd round of Qualifying yesterday our attention turned to preparing for the doubles but the weather wasn’t agreeing with our training plan for today!

We were up for breakfast at 8am but even by then there had been two heavy downpours in the morning and the messages coming from the tournament site informed us that the courts were soaked. We decided to go to the supermarket at 10am to get some water and lunch but just before we were about to leave there was another storm and this time it lasted for almost half an hour.

Eventually we got out of the hotel and made our way into Oistins to the supermarket but as it was a Sunday they had closed the sandwich bar and the other options for lunch didn’t seem very appetising. So after picking up a few supplies we took a bus into Hastings and got some lunch before heading back to the hotel. On our way back we managed to book the tennis court at the Bougainvillea Beach Resort which is just down the road from our hotel – officially only residents can book but we smiled nicely and they let us book it from 3-4pm.

At 2pm the sun was finally shining so we walked down to a local court that we used last year and had a good physical warm up. We then hit for around 30 minutes before moving to the other court for a good doubles specific training session for an hour. The emphasis for the session was on first volleys and closing the net down in order to get Toby as sharp as possible in case he gets into the doubles tomorrow. The court was great to train on; there were houses either side so there was less wind and there was also a little bit of shade which always helps!

After the session we headed back to the hotel to shower, change and relax before heading out to dinner just before 6pm. We decided to go back to Mama Mia’s tonight and it didn’t disappoint; we both had a bit of a change from pasta and rice and went for a pizza instead and that definitely hit the spot!

On the way back to our hotel we visited Mia Smith and her mum who were staying just down the road. It was great to catch up with them both and I look forward to watching Mia play in the main Draw tomorrow.

Fingers crossed for Toby getting into the doubles or we might be heading home early!

Barbados U18 ITF Grade 4, Day 2

Saturday 28th March 2015

It was long day today with numerous rain delays but unfortunately, after winning his first round match, Toby came up against a very good player in the second round.

We were up and at breakfast this morning at 7.15am before getting the 8am shuttle bus to the National Tennis Centre. Practice this morning was only on the match courts until 9am when the matches started but there are two courts across the road that are available for practice all day … the only problem is they are rather shiny and quick!

Despite the speed of the courts and the hurricane winds that were blowing diagonally across the courts, we had a good 30 minutes practice and Toby felt ready for his first round match.

There was a short rain delay during the match before Toby’s but at 10am he went on to face Romani Mayers from Barbados. The wind was very strong throughout the match which probably favoured Romani being a local player but Toby started well and raced to a 4-0 lead. Toby was broken in the next game but got back on track straight away and went on to take the set 6-1.

Toby and Romani warming up for their 1st round match

The second set was a little tighter as Romani found a good consistency in the opening few games but Toby stepped up his level at 1-1* to break, hold and break again to take a *4-1 lead. By this stage of the match the temperature had started to rise and even though it was still very windy it was also quite humid – not the ideal conditions for the Europeans that have been playing indoors all winter! Toby was broken again towards the end of the set but broke back immediately to take the match 6-1, 6-2.

After the match we debriefed and then got some lunch while we watched Luke Purser come through his opening match. Luke was also playing a local player and had to not only deal with the heat, humidity, gusting winds, rain breaks but also his opponents supporters who started to find their voice as the second set got closer. Luke kept his focus though and managed to come through in straight sets.

Toby’s second round match was scheduled for ‘not before 2pm’ but because of the amount of heavy downpours he didn’t end up going on until 5.30pm which was just as it was starting to get dark!

One of the many rain delays today!

Toby was up against 5th seed Zummy Bauer from America and having watched some of Zummy’s 1st round match we knew that he was solid from the back of the court and took any chance possible to slice both forehands and backhands before coming into the net. Toby dealt with his opponents net rushing well for the first 4 games but at *2-2 Zummy raised his level and hit 3 winners in the next game to break Toby’s serve and take a 2-3* lead. After Zummy held serve there was a brief rain break at *2-4 which gave me a chance to discuss the match with Toby but despite holding serve when they restarted, Toby eventually lost the first set 6-3.

During the second set Toby tried to come forwards more and take the net away from Zummy but the America played a very good set and ended up hitting 16 winners and only 8 unforced errors on his way to taking it 6-1. Toby had actually played a pretty good match but unfortunately he came up against a very good player who, if he carries on playing the way he did today, is going to be very tough to beat.

The match finished at just after 7pm and after Toby had cooled down and changed we got the 7.30pm shuttle bus back to the hotel. We then met up with Luke, Alastair Grey and his coach Paul Fischer for dinner at Luigi’s. We had some good banter over dinner and Luke entertained all of us with his premature celebrations when he thought he’d worked out the answer to the riddles!!

Back to training tomorrow before doubles sign-in on Monday.

 

Barbados U18 ITF Grade 4, Day 1

Friday 27th March 2015

Sometimes fortune favours the brave and it turned out to be a very brave call to come all the way out to the Caribbean with a player who was originally 175th alternate on the first acceptance list!

On Tuesday Toby Huffer and I flew out to Barbados to start our preparation for the U18 ITF Grade 4 that starts tomorrow. As I said earlier Toby was 175th alternate when the first acceptance list came out 3 and a half weeks ago and since then we’ve kept a very close eye on it each day. When we left London Toby was 65th alternate and this morning he was 54th alternate but it just goes to show how many players enter these types of events and don’t bother turning up. Personally I think the ITF should find a way of punishing the players that do not withdraw from tournaments but if that was the case then maybe Toby wouldn’t have got in today!

For the last 3 days we’ve been working hard to get used to the heat & humidity and also getting used to playing outdoors as we haven’t been able to do that in a while in England! We’ve also had to overcome a little sunburn (I wish players would listen when I tell them to put cream on!), some crazy mini-bus drivers and being attacked by some waves!!

On Wednesday Toby and I trained together in both the morning and afternoon, then yesterday Luke Purser joined us for another 2 good training sessions and today we just decided to have one session on court so that Toby was fresh for his matches tomorrow.

Most of this morning was spent going through the entry list for this week and next week in Trinidad to try and predict who would turn up and what chance we’d have of getting in. We both knew that it was going to be very tight and I think I said to Toby earlier that I thought he’d either just scrape into the draw or he’d be a couple of places out – as it turned out he was number 29 of 30 players that were in the 32 draw.

So … it’s great to be back in Barbados after coming out here in 2013 with Mia Smith, Georgie Axon and Alex Hagon and I’m looking forward to Toby getting stuck into the qualifying tomorrow morning.

Schedule for tomorrow:

Romani Mayers (BAR) (UNR) vs Toby Huffer (GBR) (UNR) – 2nd match after 9am (not before 10am)

The winner to play Robert Hayden (BAR) (UNR) OR (5) Zummy Bauer (USA) (1729) – 6th match after 9am (not before 2pm)

Liverpool U18 ITF Grade 5, Day 3

Monday 17th November 2014

After two difficult matches in Qualifying, Toby and Alex caught a break today and the decision to stay an extra night to try to get into the doubles paid off.

I got a sense this morning that neither of the boys were that impressed with my training schedule for the day as we were up and out of the hotel by just after 6.30am!! We needed to get an early start because we didn’t have any booking priority on the practice courts due to neither of the boys playing today. That meant that we arrived at the tennis centre just before 7am but as the centre didn’t open to 7.30am we went across to the gym to warm up there.

Originally I thought that we’d only be able to get on a court from 7.30-8am as after that time all of the players with matches today should have needed the courts but we were very fortunate to be able to stay on the same court for an hour and a half. For the first 30 minutes we had the full court and were able to do a lot of specific work around Toby and Alex’s groundstrokes then from 8-9am our attention moved to their volleys and specific doubles work – we even managed to get a few full court serving points in at the end of the session!

It was a good training session where both boys worked hard but at 9am the really hard work began! As Toby and Alex lost in the Qualifying they both knew that their best bet for getting into the doubles would be to sign-in with a main draw player and they had 3 hours to make that happen!

After an hour Alex had 2 options for a partner; a Belgium and a Czech player but they would only stay for doubles if they won their opening singles match. Toby on the other hand had nobody! To be honest I felt as though Toby could had done more to find a partner so at 10.15am I bet him that I could find a partner for him before he does! Feeling extremely confident Toby took the bet and the challenge was on but, like my most coaches, I had a trick up my sleeve!

Once I had finished some work on the computer I went outside and called Matt Summers (who lost in qualifying yesterday) to see if he wanted to come back up to Liverpool to play doubles with Toby. His answer was a very firm “Yes” so job done! Even though Toby had lost the bet he was very grateful that he now had a partner but the twist to the tale is that by this stage Alex’s two options had both lost and so he was left with nobody!

After more asking around trying to find a partner I eventually came up with the idea of asking Anders (the tournament director) if there were any players he knew of that were looking for a partner and, with 5 minutes to go until the sign-in deadline, Alex partnered up with Thomas Kyle from Lancashire.

Boy’s Doubles Draw

With the stress of the morning over and both boys into the doubles we had some lunch and then I beat the pair of them at table tennis!!

Then at 1.30pm the three of us and Nell Millar went over to the Wirral Indoor Tennis Centre for our second training session of the day. The courts over there were excellent and at just £9 per hour it was a much better option than fighting for 30 minutes of training on half a court at the tournament site.

The session was mainly doubles specifics and all of us worked very hard to get into positions to finish as many points at the net as possible. That led to all of us getting ‘pinned’ at some point in the session but ‘pin of the day’ has to go to Toby who managed to get Nell ‘I’ve never been hit before’ Millar right on the top of the head!

After an hour and 15 minutes of very good training we had a little ‘Bounce’ tournament to cool down and then it was back to Liverpool to drop Nell off before Toby, Alex and I went to the train station to pick up Matt.

In was then off to our 3rd hotel of the trip which is right in the centre of Liverpool before heading out to dinner at 6.30pm.

Schedule for tomorrow:

(4) Jake Hersey (GBR) & Luke Oakley (GBR) vs Toby Huffer (GBR) & Matt Summers (GBR) – 3rd match after 9am

Alex Hagon (GBR) & Thomas Kyle (GBR) vs (3) Vuk Budic (USA) & Simon Carr (IRL) – 4th match after 9am

Liverpool U18 ITF Grade 5, Day 2

Sunday 16th November 2014

It was another difficult day for the team at the Liverpool Junior International today as Alex faced an inform George Hutchings from Lancashire.

As Alex was 3rd match on after 9am we met for breakfast at 6.45am and then packed up all our things as we’re moving hotels today. We then got over to the tennis centre for just before 8am so that both boys could have a full warm-up in preparation for their practice session from 8.30-9am.

Even though Alex has been training on clay in Spain for the last couple of months he’s adjusted to the pace of the indoor hard courts well and he found a very good level during the 30 minute pre-match session this morning. By 9am Alex had gone through everything that he needed to and we left the court to make way for the first round of matches of the day.

Before Alex went on for his match we got some food, went through his pre-match tactics and goals and then watched some of the other qualifying matches. While we did that Toby took himself off to the gym and went through his daily strength and conditioning programme. He then returned in time to watch and analyse his opponent from yesterday in his 2nd round match against Matt Summers.

As the 2nd match on Alex’s court was coming to an end we left Toby watching Aidan vs Matt to do some further warm-up and movement work to sharpen Alex up before he went on court for his match at 12pm.

We’d seen George play last week in Loughborough and also in his 1st round match yesterday so we knew that we needed to be aggressive and look to take his time away whenever possible. In the first game Alex pressed a little too hard during the rallies and ended up getting broken but after a 20-point second game, where Alex had numerous game points, he found his range and looked to be clear on exactly how he needed to play to beat George. Unfortunately George took that game and with it his confidence and level of playing increased which led to him taking the 1st set 6-0.

Even though Alex didn’t get a game on the board in the first set it was still very competitive and the set lasted 41 minutes. The second set continued to be close in terms of the score in each game but whenever Alex got into a winning position he either over-pressed and missed or George would step up and play very good tennis to win the point. Alex continued to fight hard throughout the set and managed to hold serve at *0-4 but George was just too good on the day and went on to win the match 6-0, 6-1 in 1 hour and 25 minutes.

Straight after the match Alex and I sat down to debrief and we both came to the same conclusion that tactically Alex had played the match pretty well but he just needed to play the big points a little better.

Once we’d eaten some lunch we went to our new hotel to check in and then returned to the club at 4pm to warm up for our second training session of the day. Due to the main draw players having the priority on the indoors bookings we were relegated to the outdoor courts but that didn’t stop Toby and Alex from working very hard and putting in an excellent hour of training.

Toby and Alex battling the cold conditions on the outdoor courts this evening

After the session the boys showered and changed at the club and then we headed straight into Liverpool for dinner at ASK. It was then back to the hotel to watch the start of ‘I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here!’ and then get an early night because it’ll be and early start for practice tomorrow.

Liverpool U18 ITF Grade 5, Day 2

Saturday 15th November 2014

As Alex had a Bye in his opening singles match it was down to Toby today to join him in round 2 but first he had to get passed a tough opponent in Aidan McHugh from Scotland.

We all met for breakfast this morning at 6.45am and then left the hotel at 7.30am to take the relatively short 20 minute across Liverpool to the tennis centre. We were one of the first to arrive this morning but as it got closer to 8am the courts started to fill up and so the boys were relegated to the side of court 2 to finish their physical warm-ups. At just before 8.20am Toby and Alex took to court 4 to go through a very good pre-match practice session where both of them found a good level and by 9am Toby felt well prepared for this match.

Between when we finished the practice and when Toby went on for his match we got some food, relaxed and played a little table tennis before going through Toby’s pre-match preparations and warm-up.

Then at 11.50am Toby went on court to face Aidan McHugh from Scotland. We didn’t know anything about Aidan before the match but as the match progressed it was obvious that the 14 year old was a very good player and during the match I was told that he’d won almost everything there was to win at a British U14 level!

Toby and Aidan warming up for their 1st round match

As the 1st set started to develop Toby matched anything that Aidan threw at him and raised his level on numerous occasions when the games started to get close. Both boys were playing at a very high level throughout the set and apart from a very close game at *4-4 neither of them looked as though they were ever going to lose their serves. As the set moved into a tie-break it was very hard to find anything between either player but it was Toby that got a mini-break on the second point and then managed to extend his advantage to take a 5-2 lead. Aidan managed to claw back a couple of points but Toby stayed strong and continued to play some very aggressive tennis to eventually take the first set 7-6(4) after an hour and 15 minutes.

Both boys had a toilet break at the end of the set and when they returned it was Aidan that got out of the blocks the fastest while Toby seemed to struggle to find his first set form. Aidan broke in the second game and went on to hit 8 winners and only 6 unforced errors in the set to take it 6-0 despite Toby having game points in the first two games.

The start of the third set was more like the first set with both boys matching each other from the back of the court; Toby was 40-15* up on Aidan’s serve in the opening game but Aidan then reeled off 5 winners in a row before Toby responded well with a good service game of his own. Toby was broken when serving at *1-2 but each game was still very close and if Toby could have converted his game point at *1-4, *40-30 then the score line might have been a lot closer. Unfortunately Toby lost the advantage in that game and Aidan played a very good service game to hold and take the match 6-7(4), 6-0, 6-1.

Toby was obviously disappointed with the result but he competed hard throughout and there’s never any shame in losing to a player who maintains a high level like Aidan did over a match lasting just over 2 hours and 40 minutes.

After Toby and I debriefed the match I was back on court with Alex for his second training session of the day from 3.30pm until around 4.15pm.

It was great to see all the courts busy with players practicing after the matches this afternoon

Alex trained this afternoon with Sam Ferguson and the session was mainly point based to prepare both boys for their 2nd round matches tomorrow. By the time Alex finished he was striking the ball great and looking forward to getting stuck into the tournament tomorrow!

Once both Toby and Alex had cooled down we headed back to the hotel to change and relax for an hour before dinner. We then headed into Liverpool at 6pm for dinner at Nandos and then it was straight back to the hotel for an early night.

Schedule for tomorrow:

(3) Alex Hagon (GBR) (1771) vs George Hutchings (GBR) (UNR) – 3rd match after 9am

Winner to play a 2nd match after rest.

Liverpool U18 ITF Grade 5, Day 1

Friday 14th November 2014

As International Travelling Coach approaches its 4th Birthday at the end of next week it is once again time for the last trip of the year and I couldn’t think of a better place to have it than in Liverpool! This tournament will be the 69th international tournament that I have been to since starting International Travelling Coach at the end of 2010 and it will be the 180th international event that I have coached players at – hopefully next year will see my 200th international tournament!

Following a very good two days at the Loughborough British Tour event with Toby Huffer and Alex Hagon, we left Loughborough early this afternoon for the two hour journey to Liverpool. Alex joined Toby and I in training on Wednesday before we left for the British Tour event and it was great to have him back on a trip after spending the last couple of months training in Spain.

Despite the relatively short journey to Liverpool it didn’t stop Alex dozing off shortly after we left:

Doesn’t he look so peaceful?!!

… Or Toby taking selfies!

It’s much better when they’re sleeping!!

At least Toby did manage to take a good one of the Silver Jubilee Bridge over the River Mersey:

At 3.30pm we arrived at the tennis centre in Wavertree and the boys went straight into their physical warm-ups before having a very good training session for an hour. The boys spent the first 30-40 minutes getting used to the courts, drilling and warming up each part of their games and then finished the session with some point play.

Alex and Toby playing some points at the end of the session this afternoon

After cooling down and stretching out we left the centre at just after 5.30pm and went back to the hotel to shower and change before meeting up with the My Tennis team for dinner.

Coming to the event was a little bit of a gamble for Toby as he was 11th Alternate this morning but when the sign-in closed at 6pm he was easily inside the cut-off and there were in fact 5 byes in Qualifying!

I always say it but it does surprise me when the British ITF events do not have full draws, in this case however, it actually helped us out!

Boy’s Qualifying Draw

Schedule for tomorrow:

Aidan McHugh (GBR) (UNR) vs Toby Huffer (GBR) (UNR) – 3rd match after 9am

Sri Lanka U18 ITF Grade 5 (week 2), Day 3

Sunday 12th October 2014

It was a good day of training today ahead of finding out if the boys have got into the doubles draw tomorrow.

We were up and at breakfast this morning at 8am as the plan for the day was to do two good sessions on court and a gym session too. However, when we arrived at the club at 9.15am we were surprised to see that there had been a huge downpour of rain directly over the club but there was no sign of it on the way to the club which is less than 1.5km! The referee told us that the courts would be out for the next 2-3 hours so we got straight back into a Tuk Tuk and went back to the hotel.

When we got back we hit the gym for a good hour and a half session where Toby went through a strength session followed by some intervals while Nils did some core work and finished with some intervals of his own.

We then had some lunch in the room and went over the details from the matches yesterday to prepare the boys for their on-court session in the afternoon.

Luckily for us the sun had been out since the big downpour this morning and when we arrived back at the club at 1.30pm the courts had dried out completely. The boys went through their physical warm-up on court and then hit for around 20 minutes before going straight into playing two sets.

Nils played very well in the opening set, it was probably the best I had seen him play on the whole trip and the issues that he had been having with his consistency were non-existent! Nils took a lead early on in the set and then maintained his focus until 4-0 when he threw in a random game of four unforced errors. He did well to get back on track in the next two games and won both of them to take the set 6-1. Toby’s level during the set had been a little erratic but the result of the set was mainly down to the level that Nils was playing at rather than mistakes that Toby was making.

At the end of the set I brought both boys together to go through some of the notes and stats that I had taken and then we re-set some goals before the boys went into their second set.

Toby and Nils competing hard during their sets this afternoon

Toby found a much better level at the start of the second set and was able to dictate more of the points which resulted in him taking a 2-0 lead. Nils responded well and raised his level to break Toby and then hold himself to level the set at 2-2 but Toby fought back to hold serve in the next game which kept the set on serve. Despite some tight service games (especially Toby’s service game at 4-4 which lasted 10 points) the rest of the set went with serve until 5-4 when Toby managed to tough out another long game and take the set 6-4. By this stage the boys had been playing for over 2 hours and were both quite exhausted but they managed to sum up enough energy to finish the session with a match tie-break which Nils eventually won 10-8.

It was a good session where both boys worked hard on developing their games and also dealing with some difficult situations during the sets. Once we were finished we played a few games of ‘bounce’ as a cool down and then the boys consulted the referee about the possibilities of getting into the doubles tomorrow before we headed back to the hotel.

Nils joined his family for dinner this evening while Toby and I decided to have a change of scenery and go to the tennis club to eat at the Italian restaurant. We didn’t realise that it was movie night there though and they had a big screen set up right outside the restaurant:

Movie night at Santore’s Italian restaurant

After dinner we headed back to the hotel to relax and ended up watching the end of Die Hard 3 followed by almost the whole of Die Hard 4!!

Sri Lanka U18 ITF Grade 5 (week 2), Day 2

Saturday 11th October 2014

It was another very difficult start to Qualifying again this week as both Toby and Nils came up against stronger opponents in their opening rounds.

Due to the sheer volume of rain we’ve had over the last few days here in Colombo the referee had decided to make the start times this morning much later than he normally would have so that the clay courts had time to dry out. That meant that the boys had a lie-in and we met for breakfast at 8.30am. We then headed over to the club at 9.30am with the plan being to hit from 10.30-11am and then have some lunch before Nils was first on at 12.30pm. However, when we arrived we were told that there were no practice courts available as the club coaching programme was using all of the bottom clay courts and the hard courts were being used for matches!

I eventually managed to convince one of the coaches to let us use his court for 30 minutes until his next lesson turned up and, after warming up thoroughly, Toby and Nils had a good practice on the clay for the first time in 3 days! We got almost everything warmed up on the clay apart from serves and returns and after the lesson had turned up we moved to one of the hard courts to finish our practice.

At 12.15pm (a little earlier than scheduled) Nils went on court to face Devanand Mohan from India and following a very good week of practice Nils was going into the match full of confidence. Unfortunately after a couple of long games at the start of the match Nils found himself 0-2* down and with that his frustration started to build while his opponent grew in confidence. Nils was playing some points at a high level but just couldn’t find the consistency to do it enough to get games on and board. Despite getting frustrated with how he was playing Nils kept battling away and even at 6-0, 4-0 down he continued to fight has hard as he could to get his first game. He was rewarded by breaking his opponent at that stage of the match and after taking at *40-0 lead in the next game I thought he was going to start a comeback but it wasn’t to be and he eventually went down 6-0, 6-1. Nils was not so much disappointed with losing that match as much as he was with not being about to produce the level of tennis that he had in training over the last 6 days – but that’s tennis and if it was easy to reproduce our training level in matches then we’d all be much better players!

Toby started to warm up for his match just as Nils was finishing so after I had a quick debrief with Nils I went straight to Toby’s court to watch him play Rishi Reddy from India.

Toby and Rishi warming up for their match

Toby started well and raced to a 2-0 lead by playing some solid tennis but then Rishi really raised his level and hit 10 winners in the next four games to completely turn the set around. Toby managed to hold on to his next service game to keep the score close but Rishi held and broke Toby for the 3rd time and went on to take the set 6-4.

After the 1st set Toby took a toilet break and when he returned he seemed to have a clearer plan of what he needed to do to stop Rishi from dominating the points. He stepped up from the very first game of the set and starting controlling his opponent a lot more from the back of the court which in turn prevented Rishi from hitting winners. Toby played his best game of the match at 3-2* and although he didn’t win the game he created lots of opportunities for himself and made Rishi hit 3 winners to win the game. That game took quite a lot out of Toby and when Rishi hit a dead net cord on the first point of the next game and then Toby double faulted it seemed as though the momentum shifted in Rishi’s favour. Toby was broken at *3-3 and even though he was *40-15 up at *3-5 he couldn’t convert that game and eventually went down 6-4, 6-3.

Overall it was a good match but what was really interesting was that both Toby and I agreed that the 2nd set was much better than the 1st set, however, the stats don’t see it that way! – 1st set Toby hit 8 winners and 15 unforced errors which equals an aggressive balance of -7 whereas the 2nd set was 4 winners and 19 unforced errors which equals an aggressive balance of -15. So, why was the 2nd set better? Because Toby controlled more points, increased his intensity during the rallies and created more opportunities. Unfortunately he couldn’t convert those opportunities but his game will develop more playing that way and next time hopefully he will take more of those chances.

After the match Toby and I had good debrief by the side of the court and we both agreed that as much as it was disappointing to lose, there were a lot of positives to come out of it, especially in the 2nd set.

We returned to the hotel at around 5pm and had a couple of hours to relax before we went out at 7pm to meet Nils’ family and friend for dinner at the Gallery Café. It was a bit of a hard task to find the restaurant but the long journey was definitely worth it as the food was amazing! We all had the fillet steak which was recommended by Nils’ dad and then the boys had a ‘chocolate nemesis’ for dessert which was as good as it sounds!

A fantastic meal and great company at The Gallery Cafe

Our attention now turns to trying to get into the doubles on Monday and getting back into training starting first thing in the morning.

Sri Lanka U18 ITF Grade 5 (week 2), Day 1

Friday 10th October 2014

As week 2 starts here in Colombo it was another very wet day but we made the most of it and ended up getting in a good session on court this afternoon.

The plan for today was always to have a lighter morning and let the players have a lie-in as they’d been getting up between 6-7am for the last week, and then have a longer training session this afternoon. As the morning went on it seemed as though everything was going to plan; the boys didn’t set an alarm and just let themselves wake up naturally and then after breakfast they both got stuck into some school work.

Two very focussed students!

We then all had lunch in the apartment at 12pm and had planned on going over to the club at 1pm but almost as soon as we finished eating a huge thunderstorm came over Colombo:

A little different to the view yesterday

We knew the courts would be flooded so we decided to stay at the hotel for a while and eventually went over to the club at 3pm. Even at that time the match courts were still very wet so we went down to the bottom two hard courts and, while the boys went through their warm-up routines, I swept the puddles off the court!

Once we had completed some good sprints Toby and Nils began hitting and despite the court still being quite wet we had a good session for an hour and a half. We did a lot of work on depth and consistency of shots and then moved on to warming up their volleys before the boys decided to finish with some points.

Nils stretching for a backhand volley during the points

By the end of the session both boys felt good and ready for their match tomorrow.

Once Toby and Nils had signed in we went back to the hotel to change and then headed out to dinner at the other Hilton again. During the meal the draw was posted and to our surprise there were only 15 players in Qualifying!

Boy’s Qualifying Draw

After dinner we headed back to the hotel and started watching the next DVD in the pile which was “A million ways to die in the West”. We’re currently about half way through and it’s actually not bad!

Schedule for tomorrow:

Nils Larsson Regnstrom (SWE) (UNR) vs Devanand Mohan (IND) (UNR) – 1st match at 12.30pm

Rishi Reddy (IND) vs Toby Huffer (GBR) (UNR) – 2nd match after 12pm

Sri Lanka U18 ITF Grade 5 (week 1), Day 8

Thursday 9th October 2014

After waiting almost 3 days to play their doubles match the boys finally got on court today but it was just unfortunate that they came up against a very good pair in the opening round.

Due to yet more heavy rain overnight we knew when we woke up this morning that the clay courts would be out of action and that the whole tournament would be moved to the hard courts. We confirmed that with the referee after breakfast and decided that it would be better to stay at the hotel and practice on the hotel court rather than have to fight to get on the one practice court at the club.

With a revised ‘not before’ time of 12pm for their doubles match the boys warmed up in the gym at the hotel and then got on court at 10am for their tennis session. The court at the hotel is surrounded my concrete walls which made an already hot morning even hotter!

It was a hot one down there this morning!

We stayed on court for around 45 minutes during which time Toby and Nils warmed up every part of their game and then we worked on a few doubles drills to finish. It was very hot on the court and we all agreed that we didn’t want to do too much and get too tired before the match, so at 10.45am we headed back to the apartment to shower and change. We then headed to the club to get some lunch, go through the goals and tactics for the match and then it was a case of sitting and waiting for our court to become available.

After the match before ours went to a 3rd set, Toby and Nils eventually got on court at just before 2.30pm to face top seeds Indra Patwardhan and Arjun Ramakrishnan from India. Both boys were really up for the match and, having done a lot of training for it over the last 4 days, they were looking very confident from the start. After Indra held serve in the 1st game Toby and Nils responded by holding a tight service game on a sudden death deuce point and then, following a strong game, broke Arjun to take a *2-1 lead. The first point of the next game could have been the most important point of the match; Nils put in a good 1st serve down the ‘T’ and Toby crossed really well on the first shot but somehow their opponents managed to scrape the ball back and win the point. After that point the Indians seemed more confident and they upped their games to break Nils, hold serve and then break Toby to take the first set 4-2 (short sets because of all the rain delays and having to play 2 doubles matches in 1 day).

The 2nd set was more one-sided than the first as Indra and Arjun raised their games significantly both when serving and returning to take the set 4-0. Toby and Nils were understandably disappointed with the loss but they did create chances in the first set and were up against two good players who had played together a lot in the past.

As the boys had been training and competing for the last 8 days I insisted that they took the afternoon off completely – no schoolwork, no gym work, just relax and unwind a bit before everything starts again tomorrow for the 2nd tournament.

With that in mind we got back to the apartment at around 3.30pm and then spent the next couple of hours watching the end of “The Inbetweeners 2” and the first half of “Coach Carter” before we headed out to dinner at 6.45pm.

Both boys have been extremely disciplined with what they have been eating all week and so tonight I let them loose on the whole buffet at the Hilton! They didn’t actually go too crazy as they knew they had to train the next day but they did enjoy a dessert . . . or 3!

When we arrived back at our hotel Toby said he needed to go to the cash machine to get some money out but as he put the card in the slot he missed the card reader and dropped his card down a gap in front of it! We could all see the card sitting there but the gap was too small to reach it with our fingers and the hotel staff said we’d have to wait until the bank came along to open the machine. We had no idea how long that would be and I was up for a bit of a challenge so I went to the apartment, got a coat hanger and some physio tap and headed back downstairs. The hotel staff said it was not possible to get it out but after convincing them to let me give it a go I eventually managed to reach the card, stick it to the coat hanger with the physio tape and gentle navigate it back through the gap – a fine achievement if I do say so myself!!

After all that excitement we went back to the apartment to watch the end of Coach Carter and then relax for the rest of the evening.

Sri Lanka U18 ITF Grade 5 (week 1), Day 7

Wednesday 8th October 2014

The weather today was a lot better than it was yesterday; we still didn’t get the doubles played but we had a very good training day and the boys studied hard too!

While Nils stayed in the apartment and continued to plough through his school work, Toby and I were up early to get in a really good couple of hours in the gym. Toby continued to follow his strength and conditioning programme which dictates exactly what he needs to do depending on how many days he has until his next singles match. The programme includes 3 strength sessions, 2 conditioning programmes, 2 injury prevention programmes, a pool recovery session and a stretching routine for each day which doesn’t leave him short of something to do on a rainy day!

Toby starting his 3rd set of ‘Sumo Deadlifts’ this morning

Sometimes it can be hard to keep motivating yourself as a player, especially when training gets tough in the gym, and that’s why I always try and workout alongside the players . . . after all, I can’t have them beating me too easily can I?!

At 11am we left the gym and went back to the apartment where Nils had lunch waiting for us – he’d only ordered room service for us, not actually cooked it himself! Once we’d finished lunch we watched the start of ‘Bad neighbours’ and then at 12.30pm we went over to the club to have our pre-match training session.

We’d planned on training for an hour and a half before the boys had their doubles match but due to the amount of rain we had yesterday the clay courts were still extremely soft. That meant that we had to train on the hard courts and we knew that if there was another downpour while we were training then the doubles would again be cancelled.

After warming up Toby and Nils pushed themselves very hard this afternoon and it showed in the quality of their ball striking throughout the session. Both boys had struggled with their consistency at the start of the trip but since then they have both improved a lot and it’s obvious that their confidence has improved more each day. As the session went on we worked more specifically on their doubles tactics and in particular their hand speed around the net. Unfortunately just as we were about to move into serve and return the rain started and within minutes the court was completely soaked!

With that we left the court and were immediately told by the referee that the doubles was cancelled for the day so the boys changed and then we headed straight back to the hotel.

Much to the boy’s disappointment I decided that they could get stuck into their school work from 3.30-5.30pm and then we headed out for an early dinner at TGIs near the Old Dutch Hospital.

Dinner was pretty good but the entertainment was even better! For those of you that read the Blogs from Namibia in May you’ll remember some forfeits involving a hair net – well this time Nils was on the receiving end of that one while I had to eat my dinner with a balloon on the back of my head – I’m not sure how Toby got away with not doing one this evening – he must be hooking the game somehow!!

When we got back to the apartment we watched the end of ‘Bad neighbours’ and then much to Nils’ delight we watched the start of ‘The Inbetweeners 2’.

Schedule for tomorrow:

(1) Indra Patwardhan (IND) & Arjun Ramakrishnan (IND) vs (WC) Toby Huffer (GBR) & Nils Larsson Regnstrom (SWE) – 3rd match after 8.30am (not before 11.15pm)

Sri Lanka U18 ITF Grade 5 (week 1), Day 6

Tuesday 7th October 2014

Today was a bit of a non-event really as almost as soon as we arrived at the tennis club this morning the heavens opened and it poured down with rain for the whole day!

I was up early this morning and had a good run in the gym before I met the boys at 8am for breakfast. We had planned on leaving the hotel at 9am and even though it seemed like it was going to rain at any moment we called the referee and to our surprise he said that the singles matches were on court so we made our way over to the club. As soon as we arrived Toby and Nils started there warm-ups but within 5 minutes the rain started! It only lasted a few minutes so the boys got back out to warm up and complete their daily sprints before we went down to the back clay courts to hit. Toby and Nils were both hitting very well from the back of the court but just as we were about to go into some cross court hitting the rain came down . . . and didn’t stop!

Check out this video on the Facebook page: www.facebook.com/itctennis1

We stayed at the club to have some lunch and were hoping that the rain would ease so that we could get a Tuk Tuk back to the hotel without getting soaked . . . but it only got harder!

The highlight of our day – another crazy Tuk Tuk journey!

Eventually we got back to the hotel and relaxed for half an hour while we watched the end of The Inbetweeners movie (which Nils loved!) before the boys got stuck into their school work from 1-3pm.

It was then time to hit the gym and all three of us went through our own training programmes for around an hour and a half. It was great to see Toby and Nils getting on with their programmes in a very professional way without having to rely on a coach to guide them through it.

After the gym session we went back to the apartment, showered and changed and then headed out early to try and find somewhere to get some DVDs before we went to dinner. Last year I visited a video shop and ended up buying 6 of the latest DVDs for around £5 but I couldn’t remember the name of the shopping centre – all I knew was that it was either Liberty Plaza or Majestic City! We tried Liberty Plaza first but typically it was the wrong one and after driving around in the rain for 30 minutes we got to Majestic City and picked up 10 DVDs for £7!

From there we headed straight to the other Hilton for dinner and then it was back to the apartment to watch the first half of ‘Non-stop’ before the boys turned in for an early night.

Schedule for tomorrow (weather dependant!):

(1) Indra Patwardhan (IND) & Arjun Ramakrishnan (IND) vs (WC) Toby Huffer (GBR) & Nils Larsson Regnstrom (SWE) – 5th match after 12pm (not before 4.45pm)

Sri Lanka U18 ITF Grade 5 (week 1), Day 5

Monday 6th October 2014

We had another very good training day today and following almost 4 hours of on-court doubles work, the boys are ready and raring to go for their 1st round match tomorrow.

In order to get a full court to train on this morning we got up early and were at breakfast for when it opened at 6.30am. We then headed over to the club at 7am but, following a short spell of rain while we were at breakfast, the clay courts were out of action so we went straight onto the hard courts to warm up. We then managed to stay on the hard court (despite the security officer trying to kick us off, or make us pay, again!) for almost two hours and during that time we worked hard on Toby and Nils’ doubles game which included their consistency in the cross court rally, their court positioning and their volleys and movement forwards to finish points at the net. It was a tough session but both boys worked well and we were all surprised by how quickly the session went!

At 10.15am Toby and Nils signed in for the doubles and then we headed back to the hotel to get some lunch and relax before it was time for both of them to get stuck into their schoolwork. As much as the players always dislike having to keep up with their school work while they’re on the road, it’s still a very important part of their lives and I always make time for it during every tournament.

At 2pm we got a Tuk Tuk back to the tennis club and for the second time today the boys went through their very thorough warm ups:

Toby and Nils rolling during their warm up

Once we had all warmed up I challenged the boys to a couple of court sprints and I’m pleased to say that I can still keep up with them … just! We then walked down to the back clay courts and had one of the best training sessions of the trip. The session was just over 2 hours long and all of us were pushing each other to compete harder while maintaining a high level of focus on what we had worked on this morning. We ended with a short doubles set up to 4 games where Toby and Nils could only play back to the half court that I either served or returned from. It gave them an ideal opportunity to work on their doubles tactics in a matchplay situation and, just like this morning, I was really pleased with how hard they worked and how they tried to execute the game plans that he had discussed.

By the time we finished at 5pm the doubles draw was out:

We then went back to the hotel and, while Toby went straight into the gym to complete his strength programme, Nils hit the books again to do some more school work.

For dinner this evening we went back over to the other Hilton hotel and once again we all had the buffet which this evening had a ‘Thai’ theme. Toby and Nils loved the food but also loved the fact that they got me back for the forfeits they had to do yesterday! So here’s me walking around the restaurant holding our table candle above my head!!

Never one to be left out of doing the forfeits!!

Schedule for tomorrow:

(1) Indra Patwardhan (IND) & Arjun Ramakrishnan (IND) vs (WC) Toby Huffer (GBR) & Nils Larsson Regnstrom (SWE) – 4th match after 8.30am (not before 12.45pm)

Sri Lanka U18 ITF Grade 5 (week 1), Day 4

Sunday 5th October 2014

It was a much more positive day today as not only did Toby and Nils put in a very good day of training but they also received a Wildcard into the doubles!

Yesterday we wanted to book an early practice court for this morning but we were convinced by the referee that it was going to rain overnight and he said it was best to book after 10am. So with that in mind we had a bit of a lie-in but when we did meet for breakfast at 8am the weather was amazing! – I’m sure Toby and Nils appreciated the extra sleep though!

We warmed up at the club at 9.30am and then managed to get a full court to practice on from 10am until 11.15am. During the session we focussed on the areas that Toby and Nils had struggled with in their singles matches yesterday – namely consistency at their personal ‘higher levels’ and also depth of shot both when under pressure and when attacking. Despite the conditions being hotter and more humid this morning than before on the trip, both boys worked very hard and were feeling much more positive by the end of the session.

Another thing that made both boys even happier was when I told them after the session that I had spoken to the referee and the tournament director, and they had agreed to give them a Wildcard into the doubles draw. Whenever I travel to events I always try to build good relationships with referees and the personnel who organise the events as you never know when you might need a favour – luckily for us the tournament committee here like us and we were all very grateful for the Wildcard.

After lunch Toby and I went through the details of his match from yesterday and compiled a list of the things we wanted to work on over the next 6 days before Qualifying starts next Saturday. One task that I had set both Toby and Nils after their matches yesterday was to ask other players to hit with them during the week so that they were getting more variety and I was very pleased that both of them arranged to play practice sets this afternoon.

Nils was first up at 1pm and he was taking on Hyung Sung Choi from Korea. Nils’ specific goals were to increase the consistency of his good level of hitting (his 8/10 shots) and also reduce the number of unforced errors that he missed over the baseline during the set. Nils did both of them very well and even though he lost the set 6-3 he stayed at his 8/10 level for around 80% of the session and only missed 4 balls long in the whole set.

Nils competing hard against Hyung Sung Choi in their practice set this afternoon

Toby was next on court at 3pm and he was playing Saitejas Mopuri from India who is in the main draw this week. Toby’s main goals were to find a better depth off his backhand side and also have a specific focus for each point that he played depending on the score in the game. The set was very close from start to finish and even though Toby lost it 6-2 he had game points in 6 of the 8 games and every game apart from 1 went to Deuce – that just goes to show how close sets can be in tennis even though the score line might not reflect it.

Toby chasing a wide forehand against Saitejas Mopuri (IND)

At 4.15pm we headed back to the hotel with both players feeling a lot more confident and looking forward to working at their doubles tomorrow before their 1st round match on Tuesday.

Once we got back to the hotel Toby went down to the pool to complete a recovery session while Nils went through some injury prevention work. We then all got ready and headed out for dinner at 6.30pm to TGI Fridays by the Dutch Hospital.

The boys were in good spirits again over dinner; Nils was loving his rack of Ribs . . .

. . . while Toby was not so impressed with having to eat his dinner through a Cricket helmet after losing at Subway Surfers . . .

. . . and I was just happy that Chelsea beat Arsenal!!

..

It’s going to be an early start tomorrow so we can get a full court to practise our doubles specifics so hopefully the weather will be kind to us again!

 

Sri Lanka U18 ITF Grade 5 (week 1), Day 3

Saturday 4th October 2014

It was a tough start to the first tournament for Toby and Nils here in Colombo as they both came up against good opponents in their first matches and played in difficult conditions.

As Toby was scheduled for a 9am match we were all up early and at breakfast for when it opened at 6.30am before heading over to the club at 7am. The original plan was to warm up from 7.30-8am and then go through our on-court session for 30 minutes but due to the overnight rain all of the clay courts were out of action. We waited until 8.30am before warming up and then managed to get on one of the hard courts for just over 30 minutes to loosen up before the matches. Toby and Nils were both hitting well and by the end of the session they were feeling confident going into their matches.

Between when we hit and when Toby went on court for his match we had a couple of hours so both players completed their pre-match sheets and set themselves goals that they would like to achieve in their matches. We then had an early lunch before Toby went on court at 11.45am to face Siddharth Anand from Indian.

Toby had a slow start to the match and lost his serve to Love in the first game but broke straight back to level the set at *1-1. From those first two games it was obvious that it was going to be a close match as both boys were hitting well from the back of the court and there was no obvious weakness in either of their games. At *3-3 Toby was broken for the 2nd time and soon found himself 5-3 down after some strong attacking tennis from his opponent but Toby responded well and played some very smart tennis to hold and break to level the set at *5-5. Unfortunately, after taking the first point of the game, Toby double faulted twice and ended up losing four points in a row to get broken before Siddharth held serve to take the opening set 7-5.

The first set had been very close and it was a tough one to lose especially as it was very hot and humid on court. At the start of the 2nd set Siddharth had a bit more of a spring in his step while Toby found it difficult to recover from losing the tight 1st set and from the opening game I knew Toby was going to find it difficult to turn the match around. Toby ended up going down 6-0 in the 2nd set but it was a lot closer than the score line suggests and Toby had many chances to get games on the board in a set that lasted 40 minutes.

As soon as Toby had finished Nils went straight on the same court to take on Adil Kalyanpur from India and at the start of the first set I thought I was watching Toby’s match again! Nils was broken in the first game and then broke straight back to level the score at *1-1 but straight away Adil upped his level to race to a 5-1 lead. Nils was playing some good tennis against a strong opponent but he just couldn’t find his best level consistently enough. Nils kept fighting though and played a good game to hold serve at *1-5 before Adil served out the 1st set 6-2.

Nils ripping into a forehand during the 1st set

Even though the temperature had dropped slightly since Toby had finished it was still very humid on court so it was good to see Nils taking on some food at the end of the set and also changing his shirt for a fresh start to the 2nd set. Nils came out for the start of the 2nd set with a good intensity and even though he went 3-0 down he showed good fighting spirit to win the next two games to stay close to his opponent. The 2-3* game was crucial though and unfortunately Nils hit 4 unforced errors to give his opponent a 4-2 lead and also a bit of confidence. Adil then stepped up to play his best tennis of the match and take the next two games and the match 6-2, 6-2.

As soon as Nils had finished I asked both boys if they wanted to get back on court later in the afternoon to work on their games following their matches – Toby wanted to rest but Nils wanted to train as soon as possible so, after showering and getting some lunch, we warmed up again just after 3.30pm. It was a good opportunity to practice again on the match courts and Nils and I had a very good session for just over an hour. Our main focus was helping Nils to find a consistency at his higher level of hitting and after identifying that too many errors were coming from him missing long we set up some drills to address those types of mistakes. The drills seemed to work as one of our rallies saw Nils hit 53 shots in a row at a very high level!

After the session we went back to the hotel to change before heading out to the other Hilton hotel for dinner. I went there last year for dinner but we were surprised to see that even though it’s a more expensive hotel than where we are staying, the buffet dinner is actually cheaper! That meant that we all went for the buffet and all had a very good dinner for just over £12!

It’s back to training now tomorrow and then sign-in for the doubles is on Monday.

Sri Lanka U18 ITF Grade 5 (week 1), Day 2

Friday 3rd October 2014

It was a good final day of practice today and even though the weather forecast said it was going to rain all day, we managed to get two very good sessions in on the clay courts.

The boys had a lie-in this morning after a very long day yesterday and were up at 7.30am for breakfast. The breakfasts at the hotel are probably the best meal of the day and all three of us had a big meal to set us up for our first full training day.

After Toby negotiated the price with a Tuk Tuk driver we headed over to the club at 9am and then warmed up from 9.30-10am before getting straight on the back clay courts. As there was a lot of rain yesterday all of the clay courts were quite soft and damp but it was still much better preparation than training on the hard courts. Toby and Nils worked well for the whole of the session which lasted just over an hour and our main focus was consistency and point play. I joined in with the boys for a bit of variety and it was great to see both of them hitting at a higher level than yesterday even though it was still very humid today.

Nils and Toby playing some points during training this morning

After cooling down and showering we ate lunch at the Italian restaurant that opened on the day that we left last year. The food was very good and it’s going to be great to have a decent place to eat when we’re at the tournament site for the next couple of weeks.

Boys and their mobile phones … nothing changes!

At 1.30pm all three of us went through our individual warm up routines again and then at 2pm we got onto the match courts for our 2nd session of the day. The match courts were just as soft as the back courts but probably played a little better as they were a little more like clay rather than sand! We all hit for around 20 minutes to warm up groundstrokes, volleys, smashes and serves and then it was straight into match play for the rest of the session. Both Toby and Nils had specific aspects of their game that they were looking to sharpen up before tomorrow and by the time we finished at 3.45pm both boys felt good (maybe a little tired though!) and ready for their matches tomorrow.

Toby and Nils signed in for Qualifying at 4pm and then we headed back to the hotel to go through some recovery work. Toby and I hit the gym for 45 mins and then Toby completed a swimming pool recovery session while Nils stretched out in the apartment and then got on with some school work.

There was just the 3 of us for dinner this evening as Nils’ family have gone to the south of the island but Toby and Nils were kept entertained by Tom and Jerry on ‘The Cartoon Network’ which was on TV in the restaurant! After a good dinner we headed back up to the apartment to relax and get ready for the matches tomorrow.

Schedule for tomorrow:

Siddharth Anand (IND) (UNR) vs Toby Huffer (GBR) (UNR) – 1st match at 9am

Adil Kalyanpur (IND) (UNR) vs Nils Larsson Regnstrom (SWE) (UNR) – 2nd match after 9am

(WC) Thevan Perera (SRI) (UNR) vs Siddharth Anand (IND) (UNR) OR Toby Huffer (GBR) (UNR) – 3rd match after 9am (not before 1pm)

Sri Lanka U18 ITF Grade 5 (week 1), Day 1

Thursday 2nd October 2014

Following the British grass court events over the summer and the British junior ITFs it has actually been 4 months since I last travelled abroad for an international event so I was very much looking forward to getting back out to Sri Lanka again this year.

I met Toby Huffer at Heathrow airport yesterday evening and after battling hard not to pay excess baggage we eventually had to give in and pay the £55 fee before they would let us check in!! We boarded the plane just before 9.30pm and just after take-off we were both asleep. We actually only woke up briefly to eat dinner last night and breakfast this morning so I think in total we slept for around 8 hours of the 10 hour flight.

We arrived in a very humid Colombo at 12.45pm and, after we collected our baggage, we were met by our driver who took us straight to our hotel. We then had some lunch and just as we were finishing we were joined by Nils Larsson Regnstrom from Sweden who will be part of the team for the 2 tournaments.

We got Nils settled into our 3 bedroom apartment and then headed next door to the supermarket to stock up on water before heading to the tennis club. For Toby and Nils it was their first experience of riding in a Tuk Tuk – and they both loved it even though it was a bit squashed in the back!

As all of us had flown to Colombo overnight it was important for the boys to have a lengthy physical warm up before hitting. So, from 4.30-5pm, both of them went through some foam rolling, dynamic stretches, mobility work and sprints before we got on court. We then had a good hour of training on the hard courts (because the clay were still wet from rain during the day) and despite the humidity being very different from Sweden and England both boys worked hard throughout. We probably would have stayed on court for longer but by 6pm the sun had set and the huge bats were out so we decided to call it a day!

Toby and Nils getting used to the conditions at the tournament site

After the session we headed back to the hotel to stretch, unpack, relax and get ready for dinner.

We were joined at dinner by Nils’ mother, father and sister and even though there was a bit of a delay in the food arriving, when it did it was very good! Then at 9pm we had another short trip to the supermarket to get some fruit and some snacks before heading back up to the apartment to relax.

Last year the two events here were really good and I think it’s going to be a lot of fun working with Toby and Nils over the next couple of weeks.

Edinburgh U18 ITF Grade 5, Day 3

Sunday 6th July 2014

Toby had another close 3 set singles match today but even though he put in a good performance, he unfortunately came off second best!

As it was Sunday the breakfast at the B&B didn’t officially start until 8.30am so we helped ourselves to cereal, toast, yoghurts and juice and then left to get the bus at 7.45am. That gave us enough time to get over to Craiglockhart and warm up ready for our 8.30am practice.

Originally Toby was going to hit with me for the session but Main Draw number 2 seed Tom Wright was available and looking to train so I got bumped! Toby and Tom had a very good pre-match hit and after Toby had warmed up everything there was still 5 minutes left so the boys played some points. That gave Toby a chance to work on the things we had discussed after his match late last night but weren’t able to get back on court until this morning.

At 9am the 1st round of matches went on court so we relaxed and got some food while making sure we kept track of the scores on Toby’s court.

As the first match on court 5 finished we went back over the details from Toby’s match yesterday and then put together our game plan for today. We had watched Angus Bradshaw play the whole of his 1st round match so we knew what to expect and also knew that Toby needed to raise his level from yesterday.

At 12pm Toby and Angus went on court and, like the 3rd set yesterday, the first 5 games all went against serve! Toby was the first to hold and in doing so he took a 4-2* lead by playing some aggressive tennis from the back of the court. Unfortunately Angus responded well and raised his level while Toby became a little more passive which resulted in Angus winning the next 4 games in a row to take the 1st set 6-4.

Apart from a period of a lot of unforced errors in the last few games of the set, Toby hadn’t done a lot wrong and once he realised that he couldn’t afford to give Angus cheap points he suddenly took control of the 2nd set. At 3-3* Toby broke serve, held with 4 out of 4 first serves and then broke again to take the set 6-3 and leave him with stats of 9 winners and only 8 unforced errors in the whole set – a big improvement from 8 winners and 25 unforced errors in the 1st set!

I knew the 3rd set was going to be a real battle and Angus came out firing in the first game after a toilet break. Toby matched him for the first couple of games but then Angus’ strength showed as his winner count increased significantly and he raced to a 5-1 lead. Toby kept fighting though and held and then broke for the first time in the set but Angus broke straight back with 3 winners in the final game to take the match 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 in just over 2 hours.

Despite the disappointment of the loss Toby was pleased that he had raised his level from yesterday and knows exactly what he needs to do now to be ready for the Queenswood ITF which starts next Saturday.

Once Toby had cooled down and stretched out he got some food and we headed back to the B&B. While Toby watched the tennis I went for an hour long run in the pouring rain to keep up with my training for the Great North Run. I only managed to get lost twice (!!) but eventually found my way back to the Canal by the tennis centre and then back to the B&B in time to watch the end rest of the Men’s final from 5-5 in the 4th set.

We’ll head back to London tomorrow morning and then get straight back on court on Tuesday to prepare for Queenswood next weekend.

Edinburgh U18 ITF Grade 5, Day 2

Saturday 5th July 2014

We were the first at the tennis centre this morning and the last to leave tonight but it was all worth it as Toby fought very hard to come through his Qualifying 1st round match.

To secure a practice court this morning we got up early and got the 6.48m bus from outside our Bed and Breakfast which got us to the tennis centre at just before 7am. As we started to warm up on the court the Groundsman shouted across from Centre Court to tell us that we were too early to be using the courts! In 15 years of travelling to international tournaments I’ve never been told that before!

We were eventually allowed to use the court at 7.30am and Toby and I had a very good 30 minute practice session to get him prepared for his match. We then left the site at just after 8am to get the bus back to the B&B and have a well-deserved breakfast.

Most of the morning and early afternoon was spent at the B&B as we had a ‘not before’ time of 3pm for Toby’s match. At 12.30pm had lunch at Zizzi’s and then made our way back to the tennis centre at around 2.15pm so that we would have enough time to go through our pre-match preparations before Toby went on court.

After a bit of a delay Toby eventually went on court at 4.45pm to face fellow Brit William Barrett. Toby started very well hitting 6 winners and 0 unforced errors in the first 3 games to take a 3-0 lead but then a lapse of concentration and an increased level from William saw the set levelled at *3-3. Toby then played a good 2 games to hold and break to take a 5-3 lead and even though he was broken while serving for the set, he broke straight back to take it 6-4.

Toby and William warming up on Centre Court

Toby raced to a 2-0 lead at the start of the 2nd set and it looked as though he was going to go on to take the set 6-0 but William fought back to win the next 3 games in a row. From that stage the set became very scrappy; both boys were struggling to find a consistent enough level from the back of the court and both were finding it difficult to hold serve. William eventually took a 5-3 lead but Toby worked hard to save a set point a 4-5* and despite levelling the set at 5-5, he went on to lose the next 2 games and the set 7-5.

The 3rd set was much the same as the 2nd but this time the first 8 games of the set went against serve!! Both Toby and William were returning well but just couldn’t find enough first serves when it really mattered and the number of double faults from both players increased significantly as the set went on. As the match time reached 2 hours 30 minutes Toby decided enough was enough and at *4-4 he played one of the best games of the match to hold serve for the first time in the set. He continued to find a good level in the next game and on his first match point he made no mistake taking the match 6-4, 5-7, 6-4 after 2 hours 40 minutes.

It wasn’t a great match from either player but Toby managed to dig deep and get through it which gives him another chance to improve tomorrow in the next round.

After sweeping the court and collecting the balls Toby left the court just after 7.30pm! We then cooled down and had a very good stretch out while debriefing the match before getting the bus back to the B&B.

We needed a quick dinner tonight so we headed to Nandos for some chicken and rice and then went back to the B&B for an early (ish!) night.

Schedule for tomorrow:

Angus Bradshaw (GBR) (UNR) vs Toby Huffer (GBR) (UNR) – 3rd match after 9am

Winner to play in the Last Round of Qualifying after rest.

 

Edinburgh U18 ITF Grade 5, Day 1

Friday 4th July 2014

Happy Independence Day to all of my America friends / followers!

After spending the last 5 weeks working with a senior player over the grass court season it was back to the ITC schedule and the first stop of the summer is the Edinburgh ITF.

Toby Huffer and I got the train from Bexley to Edinburgh yesterday so that we could have a full day training on the clay today before the Qualifying of the ITF starts tomorrow. When we left home Toby was 35th Alternate but I always say to players and parents that it’s worth going and signing in for the British events as even Edinburgh is only 4-5 hours away by train.

Toby and I had a good breakfast at 8am this morning and then headed over to the Craiglockhart Tennis Centre at 9am to try and get a morning practice in before the rain came down that was forecast for midday.

After a good warm up we worked hard for an hour and 15 minutes through the drizzling rain that always seems to be apparent at this tournament! I hadn’t been on court with Toby since the two ITFs in Namibia back in May but it was good to see that his hitting level and his work rate has improved over the past six weeks. The morning session was very general so that Toby could get a feel for the ball and get used to the Green Clay courts. Once he had found a good level with all of his shots we ended the session and went to the gym to cool down and stretch out.

While we had lunch we sat by the courts watching some of the LTA Grade 2 tournament finals and then at 2.30pm we headed over to the other side of the tournament site to warm up for our 2nd session of the day.

Toby decided that he wanted to play a lot of points so that he felt sharp for tomorrow and he said there’s no better way than playing a practice set with me (I think he really wanted to get some revenge for our set in Namibia!!). After a tight first 3 games where Toby had both game and break points I ended up sneaking a 2-1 lead, but then I managed to break and hold to move 4-1 ahead. Toby continued to play some aggressive tennis and won the next two games to get the set back on serve but as the rain got heavier I somehow broke back and then held to take the set 6-3! The level of the set was good and I was happy with the way Toby played throughout.

We headed to the gym again after the session so that Toby could cool down and stretch out while I got stuck into some very tough intervals on the running machine to keep up with my training for the Great North Run in September.

Just before we left the club we checked to see how many players had signed in for Qualifying and were told that it would Toby would be very close to the cut off but if more players signed in then he might miss out.

Over dinner we found out that exactly 32 players had signed in so everyone that signed in got in which made it well worth taking the gamble to come! Here’s the draw:

Boy’s Qualifying Draw

After dinner we headed to the Games Arcade at the Bowling Alley in Fountain Park for a couple of games at Air Hockey and some very competitive racing car games – despite losing at Nascar I was pleased to take Toby down at Outrun!

Schedule for tomorrow:

Toby Huffer (GBR) (UNR) vs William Barrett (GBR) (UNR) – 6th match after 9am

Montenegro U18 ITF Grade 5, Final’s Day!

Saturday 31st May 2014

It was a fantastic end to a great week here in Podgorica as Holly and Lauryn won the doubles title which we were defending from last year when Holly Hutchinson and Georgie Axon won it.

We had an early start this morning as we had to make sure everything was packed up and ready to check out by the time our taxi came at 7.15am. I had asked on numerous occasions yesterday for a large taxi to the club as we had quite a lot of baggage but for some reason they decided to bring a small one – much to Holly and Camille’s delight:

Holly and Camille are under there somewhere!

We arrived at the club at 7.30am and went straight on court to warm up. Lauryn joined us shortly afterwards and then at 8am we went into our training session to prepare the girls for their doubles final. Just like yesterday, Camille and I hit with the girls to warm them up and then we went into some cross-court drills with the main focus moving forwards and controlling the net. That was something that Holly and Lauryn did very well yesterday and I knew that they would need to do the same today if they were to take the title. At just before 9am we warmed up some serves and then went into some points so ensure the girls were planning points both on serve and return.

After the session we got some food and then waited for Oana Gavrila to finish her singles so that we knew what time the doubles final would go on. To keep themselves busy Holly and Lauryn decided to have a game of Chess . . . I couldn’t help but hope that their doubles tactics would be better than their Chess tactics!!

The focussed pair before their Final

At 12pm the girls went on to face Oana Gavrila and Nina Marjanovic and, following their opponents winning the title last week, we knew it was going to be a tough match. Holly and Lauryn started well and from the first game they put their opponent’s serve under a lot of pressure. After losing a very tight sudden death deuce point in the opening game, Lauryn held serve at *0-1 and then they broke Oana’s serve to take a *2-1 lead. From this point both girls relaxed more and started to play some very good doubles which saw them hold and break again to be in control of the set at *4-1. Lauryn was then broken after a bit of a loose game but the girls responded very professionally to break back in the very next game and then they went on to take the set 6-3.

Lauryn was broken again at the start of the second set following a few too many unforced errors from both girls, but from 0-1* down they refocused and won the next 3 games in a row to secure a strong 3-1* lead. Oana and Nina were hanging on though and kept fighting in every game like you would expect of a Romanian and Serbian. The next game went against our girls on another sudden death deuce point but from *3-2 they fought back the nerves to win the next 3 games in a row to take the match and the title, 6-3, 6-2.

It was a great match to watch and I was really pleased for Holly as not only did she take her first ITF title but she also played well all week and deserved the win today. After the match they had the trophy presentation – here are the Champions!

Montenegro U18 ITF Doubles Champions

Once Holly had cooled down and showered we went to the restaurant next door to get some lunch and then at 2.30pm we said our goodbyes and got in the taxi to take us to Dubrovnik airport.

The 3 hour drive was absolutely stunning; one thing I can never get over when I’m travelling is the amount of amazing places around the world that are tucked away in the corner of a country and are not well known. I would have never thought of going to Montenegro for a summer holiday but the places we passed this afternoon were beautiful:

Just one of the amazing views on the coastal road between Montenegro and Croatia

We also had a little boat trip thrown in; it was only about 5 minutes but we were all very impressed!

The view from the boat on the way to Croatia

At 5.30pm we arrived at Dubrovnik airport, checked in and then waited for our 8pm flight back to London.

It’s been another fantastic trip to Montenegro and I look forward to coming back next year. My attention now moves to the grass court season which, for me, starts tomorrow morning with a 6am drive to Nottingham for the women’s $75k.

Montenegro U18 ITF Grade 5, Day 7

Friday 30th May 2014

We had another good day at the Eminent Tennis Club today as Holly and Lauryn beat the number 1 seeds to advance to the Final of the doubles.

After having early starts for the last 4-5 days the team decided that they needed a lie-in this morning and so we met for breakfast at 8am and then got over to the club to warm up at 9.30am. The plan was to warm up on the indoor court and then train on there for an hour but once we’d completed our warm-up we lost the court to some private coaching! That gave Camille and I a chance to talk through her singles and doubles matches from yesterday before we managed to get on the clay to train at 11.30am.

We managed to get a full court to train on so on one half court Camille hit with Lauryn while on the other half court I hit with Holly. Once we’d warmed up everything we went into some doubles specific drills to work on a few areas that had been highlighted from yesterday’s ¼ final match and then we played a tie-break to finish off.

The girls then had a bite to eat and at just before 1pm they went on court to face number 1 seeds Wiktoria Kulik and Karolina Silwanowicz from Poland. Lauryn had lost to Wiktoria yesterday in a very close three sets and so today she was looking for revenge, while Holly was aiming for her first ever ITF Final.

Our girls started well and played a solid first 4 games, all of which went to sudden death deuce but went with serve. Then at 2-2* Holly and Lauryn took advantage of a poor service game from Wiktoria and got the very important break of serve. They then continued to play well and once Lauryn held (to another sudden death deuce) they took a 4-2 lead and ended up taking the set 6-4.

When the second set started both Holly and Lauryn looked very confident on the court and they both moved very well at the net to control most of the points in the opening 3 games. That resulted in them taking a 3-0 lead but at the start of the very next game the heavens opened and the first real rain of the week came down. During the rain delay we had a quick chat but the main message was to just keep doing what they were doing and dominate the points at the net. After a 15 minute break the rain stopped and the players went straight back on court. Lauryn was broken in the next game but our girls responded well to win the next 3 games convincingly to take the match 6-4, 6-1.

Both girls were pleased with the result as well as how they played but I think Holly was the most pleased as she finally broke her run of losing in semi-finals!!

Once Holly had cooled down and showered we headed back to the hotel to relax for the afternoon while the rain kept pouring down outside.

Dinner tonight was a rather long affair as one game of cards lasted almost an hour and a half! It was then time to pack up and get ready to leave the hotel in the morning as we have a flight home booked in the evening from Dubrovnik! Hopefully we’ll have the difficult task of trying to take a winner’s trophy on an easyJet flight!!

Schedule for tomorrow:

(4) Holly Horsfall (GBR) & Lauryn John-Baptiste (GBR) vs Oana Gavrila (ROU) & Nina Marjanovic (SRB) – 2nd match, time To Be Confirmed

Montenegro U18 ITF Grade 5, Day 6

Thursday 29th May 2014

Camille’s tournament came to an end today after a tough battle with the 4th seed, but Holly and Lauryn are through to the semi-final of the doubles after knocking out Camille and Itana this afternoon.

After having an early breakfast we made our way to the club to warm up and get ready for our 8.30am practice court. Holly and Camille hit for around 30 minutes and both girls were hitting the ball well throughout the session. Then at 9am we came off the court and I sat down with each of the girls individually to go through their singles and doubles matches from yesterday. It took around an hour to go through all four matches but both girls gave some very accurate feedback and their post-match sheets made very interesting reading!

Once we were finished going through yesterday’s matches, Camille and I talked through the goals for her match today and then at 11am she went on court to face 4th seed Patrycja Polanska from Poland.

Camille started a little nervously and after a poor service she went 0-2 down but she then responded well and won the next 5 games in a row to take a 5-2 lead. By this stage Camille was playing very confidently and dictating most of the points from the back of the court while her opponent was getting more and more frustrated! Camille was broken while serving for the set at 5-2 but again responded professionally and broke straight back to take the first set 6-3.

At the end of the set Patrycja went for a toilet break and when she returned she was a completely different player; she was much more aggressive while at the same time making sure that she limited the amount of free points that she gave Camille. That led to her racing through the second set 6-1 in 30 minutes and even though the set seems very one sided, Camille’s winner count was the same as in the first set and her unforced error count was actually 5 better! Unfortunately her opponent had completely switched her stats and, after hitting 3 winners and 20 unforced errors in the first set, Patrycja hit 13 winners and only 10 unforced errors in the second.

Once that set was finished it was obvious that Patrycja was well into her stride and it was going to be very difficult to break the rhythm she had found. Camille continued to work hard and tried to dictate the points like she had done in the first set but her opponent was not going to give up the lead and went on to take the third set 6-0 while posting impressive stats of 8 winners and only 3 unforced errors.

Camille was very disappointed at the end of the match but to be fair to her opponent she did play very well, especially in the third set.

Once Camille had cooled down, showered and stretched we headed to the restaurant next door to get some lunch and relax before the showdown in the doubles between Camille & Itana and Holly & Lauryn!

The girls took to court 1 after a bit of a delay at around 3.45pm and from the first couple of games I knew it was going to be a big ask for Camille and Itana to come through the match with a win. I knew that Camille was more than capable of competing at the level that Holly and Lauryn were playing at, but unfortunately for Itana it was just too difficult. Holly and Lauryn raced through the first set 6-0 and even though Camille and Itana took a 1-0 lead in the second set after breaking Holly, it only lasted 1 game before they were broken back. Holly and Lauryn played some sharp doubles and once they took a 3-2 lead in the second set there was no looking back for them. They finished off the match 6-0, 6-2 to advance to the semi-finals tomorrow where they’ll face the top seeds from Poland.

Holly, Lauryn, Camille and Itana shaking hands at the end of the match

Once Holly and Camille had cooled down and had a good 20 minute stretching session, we got a taxi back to the hotel. We then met for dinner at 6.30pm and after a few very long games of cards we decided that it would be best to have an early night!

Schedule for tomorrow:

(1) Wiktoria Kulik (POL) & Karolina Silwanowicz (POL) vs (4) Holly Horsfall (GBR) & Lauryn John-Baptiste (GBR) – Time ‘To Be Confirmed’

Montenegro U18 ITF Grade 5, Day 5

Wednesday 28th May 2014

This is going to be a shorter Blog than normal as it’s now 11.15pm and we’ve just got back to the hotel after being at the club for almost 14 hours today.

We arrived at the club just after 7.15am this morning and, as we had no priority on the court (because they were only reserved for 1st and 2nd round matches), it was a case of jumping on one as soon as it became available. The girls warmed up and then managed to have a good 30 minute hit from 8-8.30am before the 1st round matches started.

The rest of the morning was spent trying to find a doubles partner for Camille and then at 12pm the draw came out:

Girl’s Doubles Draw

We then got lunch at the restaurant next door and then the early part of the afternoon was spent watching fellow Brits Mohamed Abdel-Aziz and Lauryn John-Baptiste come through their 1st round matches. A big well done has to go to Mohamed who had a very difficult but rewarding win over the 7th seed from Israel who tried every trick in the book to get under Mohamed’s skin.

Camille then went on at 4.30pm to face Jasmin Buchta from Austria and she produced a very high level of tennis from the start of the match. Over the last few days her training has been going well but there have often been fluctuations in her concentration but today she was spot on from start to finish. Camille broke serve for the first time at 2-2* and then after taking the first set 6-3 she upped her level to win the next 6 games in a row to take the match 6-3, 6-0. It was a convincing win and we were both pleased with her performance.

Camille setting up for a backhand winner on match point

Holly then went on court at 5.30pm to play Milica Cubranovic from Serbia and from the warm up it was obvious that it was going to be difficult as her game did not match up well with her opponent’s. Milica changed the pace a lot and didn’t allow Holly to get into any rhythm which saw her take a 6-2, 4-1 lead. Holly wasn’t about to give up though and she dug really deep to win the next 3 games in a row to level the set at 4-4. Despite being broken at 4-4 and 5-5, Holly broke straight back each time and when the set went to a tie-break I really thought Holly would take it. Unfortunately Holly didn’t play well until she was 1-6 down and even though she got it back to 5-6 a double fault cost her the match 6-2, 7-6(5).

Holly finishing a point was a very good backhand volley

The next match of the day was Camille’s doubles with Itana Pejovic from Montenegro against Ivon Mihaleva (BUL) and Beata Swiatlon (POL). The girls went on at 7.30pm and I have to say it was one of the worst doubles matches I’ve seen in a long time! Luckily Camille and Itana pulled through the match 6-2, 2-6, 12-10 (after saving a match point at 9-10 down) which meant that even though the debrief wasn’t too positive, they live to fight another day and can work on all the things we talked about tomorrow in the next round!

Our final match of the day was Holly and Lauryn against Lisa and Jana Friess from Austria which went on at 9.20pm! I was really proud of Holly this evening as, after she was so disappointed with her singles performance earlier, she came onto the doubles court and played the best doubles match I’ve ever seen her play. The Austrian sisters were a good pair but Holly and Lauryn played a very high quality match and came through 6-2, 6-4 – it did get a bit tight in the 2nd set though as Holly and Lauryn lost 3 sudden death deuce games in a row from 6-2, 5-1 up but they remained positive and broke serve to take the match!

After the match Holly had some food that Camille managed to get from the restaurant next door and then we had to wait 20 minutes for a taxi that in the end didn’t turn up at all! Thankfully the coach of Camille’s doubles partner gave us a lift back to the hotel at 11pm and now it’s time to get ready to go again tomorrow morning at 7am!!

Schedule for tomorrow:

(4) Patrycja Polanska (POL) (510) vs Camille Verden-Anderson (GBR) (1246) – 2nd match after 9am

Holly Horsfall (GBR) & Lauryn John-Baptiste (GBR) vs Itana Pejovic (MNE) & Camille Verden-Anderson (GBR) – After Rest

Montenegro U18 ITF Grade 5, Day 4

Tuesday 27th May 2014

It was a very good final day of preparation today and now Holly and Camille are all set for their first round matches tomorrow.

Another early start saw us get over to the club at 7am this morning to ensure that we got a full court to train on for the whole session. Following Camille losing at cards last night she had to wear my match kit to warm-up in, but I can’t help but think it was a lot easier for her than it would have been had I lost!!

Camille looking good in my match kit!

After a thorough warm-up Camille changed into her training kit and we all had a very good session for over an hour and a half. At the start of the session we trained in a 3 so that Holly and Camille could work on hitting through the corners of the court without the rallies breaking own too early. Then, as the session went on, we developed the drill into open point play and for the last 30-40 minutes we played points with serve to ensure both girls were happy with all parts of their games.

At 9am we came off the court to allow the players in qualifying to warm up and prepare for their matches while we cooled down and stretched out. We then got a taxi at 9.30am to go back to the hotel and have breakfast before relaxing for the rest of the morning.

After lunch and a few more games of cards, we headed back to the club at 2.45pm and met up with fellow Brit Lauryn John-Baptiste who had travelled out with her mum this morning. Lauryn joined us for our afternoon session which started at the top of the club on court 5 before we had to move onto court 2 due to members wanting to use the other court. Our afternoon session was just to make sure Holly and Camille were feeling confident about their games and so once again it was mainly point based. After a solid hour on court both players were happy with their levels and so at 4.45pm we called it a day and headed off court to cool down and stretch out.

Before leaving the club for the day both girls signed in for the Main Draw and then after a bit of confusion with our taxi, we eventually got back to the hotel at around 5.30pm.

Dinner tonight was a bit of a quieter affair without any major forfeits! We still played a couple of games but our focus was more on watching the French Open on TV before the draw came out:

Girl’s Singles Main Draw

Schedule for tomorrow:

Jasmin Buchta (AUT) (889) vs Camille Verden-Anderson (GBR) (1246) – 5th match after 8.30am

Milica Cubranovic (SRB) (1380) vs Holly Horsfall (GBR) (841) – 6th match after 8.30am

Doubles to follow after rest

Montenegro U18 ITF Grade 5, Day 3

Monday 26th May 2014

It was another very good day of training today and now there’s just one more day left before the Main Draw starts on Wednesday.

It was an early start this morning so that we could guarantee a full court for practice before all of the Qualifying matches started at 9am. We met for a small breakfast at 6.50am and then got a taxi to the tennis club at 7am before going straight on court to warm-up. Holly and Camille then trained together until 9am and, like yesterday, our morning session was based around consistency from the back of the court. Both girls were hitting very well and even though we had to share the court from 8.15am until 9am they still worked very hard and got a lot out of the session.

At 9am the Qualifying matches went on so we all left the court for Holly and Camille to cool down and stretch out while I saw the physio to try and loosen the tightness in my neck that I’ve had for the last couple of days. We then got a taxi back to the hotel at 9.30am and tucked into a well-deserved breakfast.

The rest of the morning was spent at the hotel relaxing and then at 12.30pm we met back at the restaurant for lunch. At 2pm we got another taxi back to the club and, as the Qualifying matches were still going in, we decided to go into the indoor tennis court (which was more like a sauna!) to warm up and then go through some strength and conditioning work. I was pleased to see both Holly and Camille have brought their own S&C programmes with them and I was even more pleased to see that they knew all of the exercises in the programmes!

At 3.30pm the first court of the afternoon became available and we were waiting court side to go on as the boys shook hands. This afternoon was another point based session so I joined in with the girls to add a bit of a competitive edge as I know that players hate to lose to the coach! As the session went on both girls started to feel a little tired and the level often fluctuated but it was still the best hour and a half of points that either of them have played since we all arrived on Saturday – and, much to the girl’s delight, Camille stopped me from winning overall by beating me in the last point of the session!!

Once we were done I went straight to see the physio again while the girls had another good stretch out on the balcony overlooking the river at the back of the club:

A nice relaxing place to stretch out after a long day of training

Our taxi driver collected us at 5.30pm and took us back to the hotel where we all showered and changed ready for dinner.

The girls are really starting to up the stakes with the forfeits and tonight’s ‘big one’ would see the loser having to warm up tomorrow in the kit of one of the other members of the team. Obviously that meant that if I lost I’d be in a dress or a ridiculously small skirt & ball shorts and if either of the girls lost then they’d be in my kit!! I had visions of Alex Hagon wearing Holly Hutchinson’s match kit while we were in Austria last year and to be completely honest when the game came down to either me or Camille I did start to feel a little nervous! Lucky Camille chocked first and I managed to pull through so I now need to sort out the biggest shirt and shorts that I can find for her!

After dinner we watched the end of the Bennateau vs Bagnis match which saw Bagnis, the Argentinian qualifier ranked 144 in the world, come through 18–16 in the 5th set after almost 4 and a half hours! It was a great match and a good example for the juniors that once you step on the court the ranking of your opponent means nothing. Another example of that today was 3rd seed Stan Wawrinka going out to 39th ranked Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 6-0 in the 4th set.

Tomorrow will be a lighter day so that both girls are fresh for Wednesday but we’ll still have an early start to make sure we get a full court to play points on before everyone else turns up!

Montenegro U18 ITF Grade 5, Day 2

Sunday 25th May 2014

It was another good day of preparation today and, after Camille moved into Main Draw after the qualifying sign-in, she’ll have another two days of training before her first match!

I met the girls at breakfast this morning at 8am and then at 9.15am we got a lift with Sasha to the club. As we were there before most of the other players we had a choice of the courts and so we decided to go on the top courts which were newly built for the tournament last year.

After having a long physical warm-up we got on court just before 10am and then had a very good training session for an hour and 45 minutes. We had already decided that the main focus of the morning session would be a lot of consistency and drilling from the back of the court and with that in mind we once again worked 2 on 1. For over an hour both girls put in a really good session and just as I thought a little tiredness was starting to kick in, I changed up the session and we went into some points from the back of the court. We all won our up to 7 point game on our own but the girls weren’t happy that I won mine 7-0 so they challenged me to a re-match before we stopped . . . and they made sure I didn’t win for a second time!!

Once we had cooled down, showered and changed, we went next door to the restaurant for a very nice lunch with a beautiful view of the river (I’ll make sure I get a picture next time).

At 2pm we went back on court for our second session of the day which was totally point based just in case Camille did have to play qualifying tomorrow. We started with some conditioned points for around an hour and then towards the end of the session we went into some open points with serve. It had been a hot day and even though both girls were feeling a little tired they still put in another quality session from start to finish.

Camille serving against Holly during the points this afternoon

At just after 4pm we cooled down and stretched out to end our first full day of training. Camille then signed in and the referee said that she would easily move up into Main Draw which means both girls will spend the next 2 days training before their first matches on Wednesday.

Dinner tonight was at the hotel restaurant and without any delay the girls were both keen on getting me to do some forfeits! Tonight Holly managed to escape but Camille had to endure crawling from the restaurant back to her room while I had to hop next to her – the stairs were not pleasant for either of us!!

Montenegro U18 ITF Grade 5, Day 1

Saturday 24th May 2014

After a successful week in Podgorica last year where we ended up winning the doubles title, it was great to be back again and to prepare for U18 ITF Grade 5 at the Eminent tennis club.

I met Holly Horsfall and Camille Verden-Anderson at Stansted airport this morning at the ridiculously early hour of 5am and, after successfully negotiating the Ryanair check-in desk (not an easy task with so much baggage!) we ended up clearing security just before 6am. We then got some breakfast and boarded the packed plane ready for our 3 hour direct flight to Podgorica. For me the flight went very quick but then I did sleep for probably 2 ½ hours of it!

When we arrived in Podgorica we collected our bags and then were met at the airport by Sasha, the hotel manager, who I had got to know last year. He took us straight to the official tournament hotel and then after checking in we unpacked and met at the hotel restaurant for lunch. Holly Horsfall’s memory of what was on the menu and what we ate last year was phenomenal, I just wish I’d listened to her and asked for tomato sauce with my chicken tagliatelle as there was way too much of the creamy sauce!

After a quick trip down the road to the supermarket to stock up on water, we got a taxi to the tennis club at 2.30pm and then got on court to start our warm-up by 2.45pm. Even though everyone was still tired from the early start and the long morning of travel we had a really good hour and a half of training.

Holly (left) and Camille (right) working hard on their volleys this afternoon

We practised this afternoon in a 3 so that the player on their own always got a quality ball coming back and both Holly and Camille worked really hard throughout the session. Some players find it easy to get used to playing on red clay but others find it more difficult and that is why we made the decision to come out here early to get a lot of training in before the girls have to play their first match.

When we came off court we had a good stretch out and then were picked up by Sasha at 5pm to go back to the hotel.

Like last year, we will probably end up having dinner most evenings at the hotel as the food is of a good quality and is pretty cheap – tonight I had a very nice (and big!) Mexican chicken and rice and it came to €7.50! During dinner Holly got the ball rolling on the forfeits and we introduced Camille to our daily games of ‘Chase the Ace’ – I’ve got a funny feeling that the forfeits are going to get a lot worse as the week goes on!!

Once we had finished dinner Holly and Camille went back to their room to complete some school work and then relax while I went to see a physio to try and alleviate some tightness in my neck that I’ve had for a couple of days.

We’ve got a full day of training planned for tomorrow and then we’ll wait to see if Camille will be in qualifying or if she has (more than likely) moved up into the main draw.

Namibia U18 ITF Grade 5, Day 6

Tuesday 13th May 2014

We had another ‘Tricky Tuesday’ today as Toby suffered a 2nd round loss in the singles and a 1st round loss in the doubles.

We were up early this morning and at breakfast by 6.20am before getting the 7am bus to the club. Toby and Brandon then went through their physical warm-up exercises and then hit from 8-8.30am on centre court to prepare Toby for his singles match. Toby was hitting well and, despite the distraction of around 10 people warming up on the side of the court, he felt good about his game by the time we had finished.

The match before Toby’s lasted around 1 hour 45 minutes and in that time we completed a pre-match sheet, talked though our tactics for the match and watched some of the other first round matches. Then, at 10.15am, Toby went on court to face 14th seed Damon Kesaris from South Africa.

Toby and Damon warming up for their 2nd round match

As you know if you’ve been following the Blogs, Toby has been working hard on finding a consistently aggressive level but from the start of the match today it was apparent that Damon could match him shot for shot and then increase his level when he needed to. That led to Toby going for a little more than normal and, as he’s not used to doing that, it resulted in a high number of unforced errors. At *0-3 down Toby tried to raise his level and his consistency but he often struggled to find the 2-3 quality strikes in a row that he needed to put Damon under enough pressure to make him break down.

The first set lasted just under 30 minutes and even though the scoreline read 6-0, the games were much closer than the score suggested. Toby continued to battle hard at the start of the second set and after holding serve to level the set at 1-1 his confidence started to grow. By that stage Toby was finding some very good combinations of shots but it was just the final ball that was letting him down and Damon took full advantage to break and hold to lead 4-1. The last two games of the 2nd set were probably the best of the match, but it was Damon that won the important points and went on to take the match 6-0, 6-1.

After the match Toby expressed his disappointment with the scoreline but he also said he was pleased with the way that he had approached the match and the level he had found throughout. The goal now is to increase his consistency at his higher level and if he can do that then matches like this one will be much closer.

Between when Toby came off for his singles and when he started to warm up for his doubles, he just about had enough time to shower, stretch, eat and relax for around 30 minutes. Following Toby and Brandon’s doubles last week they knew exactly what they needed to do today and also knew that if they did not get outside their comfort zones then they would struggle to win the match.

Unfortunately they both started slowly and immediately went 0-3 down. They fought back though and played some good doubles to get back on serve at *3-4 but a poor service game ended up costing them the first set.

The boys started the 2nd set much better and from the first game they started to move more at the net and finish a lot more first volleys. Toby was broken at *1-1 and then 3 more breaks followed which resulted in the set being all-square at *3-3. At this stage I really thought the momentum was with Toby & Brandon and, after Toby played a very good service game to lead 4-3, I thought they had really turned the match around. Shabani held serve in the next game and then another poor service game at a crucial time lead to Toby and Brandon being broken to a sudden death deuce point. It was always going to be tough to break Muzingaye’s serve as Shabani was extremely sharp at the net and, after a few very tight points, Toby and Brandon went down 6-3, 6-4.

The performance was much much better than last week but Toby pointed out straight after the match that if they had played like that in their previous doubles match they would have won. They then would have had more matches under their belts and could have been in a much better position to win this match today – which I agreed with 100%!

The loss in the doubles ended our 2nd week here in Windhoek but I believe Toby has improved a lot over the trip and most importantly he feels much more comfortable competing at this level. He’s played 8 matches in total; won 4 and lost 4 and even though he hasn’t picked up any ITF points this time I am very confident that he will in the next ITF he plays.

For dinner tonight we decided to go to ‘Joe’s Beerhouse’ which has been highly recommended by a lot of people . . . and it was definitely worth it. I decided to go for the Game meat and had an Oryx fillet while Toby had a peppered steak. Both meals were superb and the atmosphere in the restaurant was great with everyone sitting together on long benches and eating under a big thatched roof.

Joe’s Beerhouse featuring it’s own mini which has travelled across Africa!

When we got back to the hotel it was time to pack up and get ready to return back to England tomorrow.

The next trip is a return to Montenegro for the Grade 5 ITF at the end of May . . . let’s hope we don’t come across any snakes this year!!

Namibia U18 ITF Grade 5, Day 5

Monday 12th May 2014

It was an excellent start to the second week here in Windhoek, as Toby produced his best match of the trip to advance to the 2nd round.

My day started a little earlier than Toby’s today as I got the 7am shuttle bus to make sure we got the timeslot we wanted on the only practice court available at the club. I then made my way back to the hotel and met Toby for breakfast at 8.30am. The plan was then to get the 9.30am shuttle to the club but once again it didn’t turn up! Luckily the hotel driver was available so he took us to the club and then at 10am we started to warm up for our practice session.

Our pre-match hit lasted just over 30 minutes and Toby was both hitting well and feeling positive by the time we finished. Between 11am and when Toby went on at 12.30am we spent the time preparing for the match by going through Toby’s pre-match sheet, keeping updated on the score on his court and staying relaxed by once again setting forfeits based on achieving a certain score on Subway Surfers!

I’m not sure whether it was the specific pre-match preparations that we went through or taking Toby’s mind off the match by competing with me on iPhone games, but whatever it was it definitely worked as Toby produced a very good performance!

Toby (right) warming up against Pieter Theron (NAM)

He started the match against Pieter Theron from Namibia very well and raced to a 4-0 lead. Over the past 4 days we’ve worked hard on him dictating points and playing at a consistently aggressive level and throughout the first 4 games he did that very well. Pieter then held serve twice in the next 4 games but in response Toby also held serve to take the set 6-2.

During the second set Pieter upped his game but by this stage Toby was feeling confident and continued to take the set to his opponent. One of Toby’s main goals was to maintain a 60-40 balance during each point and, even though Pieter increased his winner count from the first set, Toby made sure that his opponent had to work very hard for every point he won. Even at break point and game points down Toby continued to play aggressive tennis which ultimately saw him come through the second set 6-0.

It was a very good performance from Toby but, rather than us just take it easy after the match, we went straight onto the practice court to work on a few areas of his game for about 10 minutes before he cooled down and stretched out. By the time we got up to the referee’s office the doubles draw had been released:

Boy’s Doubles Draw

We then headed to Nando’s again for lunch where once again Toby’s attention turned to getting his own back on me for the forfeits he’d been doing all weekend! After losing the first battle I had to ask the waitress for a hairnet and then proceed to wear it during my meal and the plan was to wear it on the way back to the club too:

I thought it was rather fetching myself . . .

However, the tables soon turned on Toby as he lost the second game and he had to take over the wearing of it both on the way back to the club and also at dinner this evening!

. . . but Toby didn’t share that opinion!!

After lunch we went back to the club (for Toby to show off his new hair accessory to everyone there!) and then got on court with Brandon from 4-5pm for some specific doubles training. Toby and Brandon’s match last week had not been of the level that any of us had expected but this afternoon they worked very hard on their movement and placement of their volleys. We all wanted to stay on court longer as the session was of a superb level but the last bus back to the hotel was at 5pm so we had to take that one.

Once we got back Toby stretched out by the swimming pool and then we went back to our rooms to relax before dinner.

As we walked into the restaurant this evening everyone caught the sight of Toby with his hairnet on and even though his face went rather red I think he loved the attention from the girls!!

It’s growing on him though!!

Throughout the whole meal he kept bugging me to play again so that he could win his way out of the forfeit and eventually he won which saw me do 20 press-ups in the middle of the restaurant with the hairnet on!!

It was a good, hard-working day on the court and a fun day off the court today – hopefully tomorrow will be more of the same!

Schedule for tomorrow:

(14) Damon Kesaris (RSA) (1497) vs (wc) Toby Huffer (GBR) (UNR) – 2nd match after 8.30am

Toby Huffer (GBR) & Brandon Levendale (ZIM) vs Shabani Kabura (BDI) & Muzingaye Sibanda (ZIM) – 4th match after 8.30am (not before 12.30pm)

Namibia U18 ITF Grade 5, Day 4

Sunday 11th May 2014

It was a happy Mother’s Day today here in Namibia as we put the final touches to our preparation for week 2.

As I said yesterday, the schedule for today was much lighter than our other training days as it is very important that Toby is fresh and ready to go for his first round match tomorrow. With that in mind we had a lie-in and met for breakfast at 8am and then got the 9.30am bus to the club.

Once we arrived we warmed up straight away and then managed to get on court for an excellent 2 hour session from 10 – 12pm. The first hour was spent focussing on Toby’s groundstrokes and making sure that he had a really good feel for the ball from the back of the court. Then at 11am we managed to get a whole court to ourselves so we went straight into open points with the focus again being on finding a good aggressive balance. Even though we’ve been here well over a week, the altitude is still a little difficult to deal with and so we have to make sure that there is a complete commitment to every shot. It is fairly easy to be consistent in the rally but it is a lot more difficult to find a consistency with a high hitting level and that is what is required to compete with the best players in the tournament. After playing a few sets of conditioned points we finished the session with around 20 minutes of serving points and by the time we were finished Toby was feeling confident about his game. Just to finish off we decided to play a best of 3 set game of ‘Bounce’ and, as Toby was feeling very confident, he decided the loser would have the forfeit of jumping into the swimming pool at the hotel fully clothed! At 1 set all Toby thought he had a chance but I upped my game to take the deciding set 5-2!

The shuttle was waiting for us when we finished so we went straight back to the hotel where Toby went straight to the pool to do his forfeit. However, we didn’t realise that there would be loads of the tournament players around the pool to watch him do it!

Toby casually preparing for his forfeit … good form …

… and splashdown!

After Toby’s ‘cooling off’ we stretched out and got a well-deserved shower before it was time for lunch. Last Sunday we had to have the buffet lunch at the hotel because there was nothing else available but it ended up being a lot more expensive than our normal pasta lunch. So today we headed to Nando’s to get some chicken and rice and when we arrived we saw that most of the other players had the same idea!

After lunch we headed back to the club as we were told by the tournament director that Toby still needed to sign in for Main Draw. Originally we were told that sign-in would open at 3pm but in the end it opened at 4pm and then the referee said we actually didn’t need to sign-in as Toby had officially been awarded a Wildcard! We weren’t too bothered about having to hang around until 4pm as it gave Toby a chance to get his own back on me with some of his own forfeits as he challenged me to Subway Surfers. I ended up doing some star-jumps on one of the stands by the side of the courts but Toby’s ones were much more special!

On our way to dinner in the evening Toby had to crawl into the restaurant and then ask the waiter his thoughts on a couple of meals while reading the menu upside down! Toby did both very well and just about managed to keep it together without bursting out laughing!

Toby crawling into dinner – not that anyone was taking any notice!!

Susan casually asking “Why don’t you read it the other way round?!”

Over dinner the draw came out and here it is:

Boy’s Singles Main Draw

Schedule for tomorrow:

Pieter Theron (NAM) (UNR) vs (wc) Toby Huffer (GBR) (UNR) – 4th match after 8.30am

Namibia U18 ITF Grade 5, Day 3

Saturday 10th May 2014

It was another good day of training today as we close in on the Main Draw which starts on Monday.

Last night I asked Toby to plan the next two days of training both on and off the court so that he was in control of what and how much he did on both days. He decided that we’d have an early start this morning to have a full training day and then reduce everything tomorrow so that he is fresh for his first match on Monday. We were therefore up and at breakfast by 6.20am this morning before getting the first bus to the club at 7am.

Toby and I then warmed up and had a good session on the match courts from 7.30 – 8.30am before the qualifying matches started. Toby hit well throughout the hour and it is obvious that the amount of training he has done in the last week has really helped him to increase the confidence in his game. He is looking strong from the back of the court and his volleys are improving each day – if he can keep trusting his game on the match court then I think he can do really well this week.

Even though we lost the court at 8.30am, we went straight down onto centre court to work on serve and return for another half an hour before heading into the clubhouse to go through a strength and conditioning session. Toby followed his own S&C programme while I went through my own and I think both of us managed to keep each other motivated without saying a word!

After stretching out, we got a lift back to the hotel with one of the tennis coaches and then spent an hour relaxing before it was time for lunch. Toby then got stuck into some school work for a couple of hours until 3pm when it was time to go back over to the club for our second session of the day.

As this morning was spent working on specific areas of Toby’s game we decided that the afternoon session would be mainly point based. Like yesterday afternoon, Brandon joined us and both boys competed hard for almost an hour and a half. Even though we played a lot of points during the session we set them up based around finding a good aggressive balance to ensure the level of both players remained high.

Toby and Brandon during the points this afternoon

At 5pm we got the shuttle bus back to the hotel where Toby and I debriefed today’s on and off court sessions and then came up with a good plan for our final training day tomorrow.

Earlier today we did discuss having a change of plan for dinner and going somewhere different but in the end Toby decided to have it at the hotel restaurant. He decided to go for the chicken curry again which last week proved to be a little difficult to get out of the red hot cauldron that it came in. Tonight however he was ready for his ‘Bush Tucker Trial’ as he called it:

Ready for the challenge . . .

. . . but then it gets too hot to handle!!

Namibia U18 ITF Grade 5, Day 2

Friday 9th May 2014

It was a good final day of preparation today . . . or so we thought until 6.30pm this evening!

We were up early again this morning to have breakfast at 6.30am and then get the 7am shuttle to the club. Like yesterday we went straight on court when we arrived to warm up for half an hour and then we had a really good hour of drilling and point play. We spent the first half an hour working on specific areas of Toby’s groundstrokes before warming up volleys and serves. We then finished the session with a couple of tie-breaks where Toby played at a superb level to take the first one 10-5. Lucky (for me!) I managed to sneak the second one before we lost the court to the main draw matches.

Straight after the session we went upstairs into the clubhouse to go through a good 25 minute core session and then finished our morning’s training with a thorough stretch out.

For the whole of last week the shuttle bus that takes us to and from the club had been on time but this week the drive has been slacking a bit! So, instead of getting the bus back at 9.30am, we had to get a lift with one of the parents as the bus didn’t turn up at all! Once we got back to the hotel we showered and changed and then headed to the restaurant at around 11.30am to get some lunch.

The early part of the afternoon was spent with Toby doing a good couple of hours of school work and me planning the tournaments over the summer. Then at 3pm we went to reception to get the shuttle to take us back to the club but guess what? It didn’t show up again! Lucky the hotel receptionist was able to give us a lift but as there were 6 of us we had to do it in 2 trips.

Brandon Levendale joined us for our afternoon session and, after warming up, the boys went straight into a practice set. Brandon had an excellent start to the set and took a 3-0 lead but Toby fought back to win the next two games and stay within touching distance of his doubles partner. The next two games were very tight with both boys playing at a high level but it was Brandon that won both games. Even though Toby was 2-5 down he remained positive and competed hard on each point to break and then hold his serve to get within one game of levelling the set at 4-5. However, after another tight game, it was Brandon who went on to take the set 6-4. The boys finished the session with a tie-break to 10 points and again it was Brandon that came out on top despite another close battle.

After cooling down and stretching out Toby signed in for Qualifying and then we got the bus back to the hotel. It was only at 6.30pm when the Qualifying draw came out that we realised that Toby had moved up into the main draw so we have another couple of days of training before he’ll play his first match on Monday. The positive is that we’ve got another two days to prepare for the Main Draw but the downside is that Toby was really looking forward to competing tomorrow!

Here’s the (rather empty) Qualifying draw:

Namibia U18 ITF Grade 5, Day 1

Thursday 8th May 2014

The rest day yesterday saw the end of the first ITF here in Windhoek, and so today our preparations for the second week (a Grade 5 ITF) began before qualifying starts on Saturday.

At 5.30am this morning my alarm went off but I’m not sure I actually needed it as minutes later a huge rainstorm came down on the tin roof above my room! By the time we met at 6.20am for breakfast the rain had stopped but we had a feeling that the courts at the club would be completely out of action.

When we got there at 7am all of the courts were soaked and at first Toby didn’t think I was serious when I said we were going to warm up straight away, but then he soon realised that a wet court wasn’t about to stop us training! After the warm-up we went through a really good speed and movement session for an hour and even though the court was still wet, we managed to get through everything without falling over once!

A wet court never stops us Brits!

Once we had finished, Toby had a 15 minute break to have a small snack and then, as the courts had dried out, we went back on for our tennis session. Toby was really keen to play after having the day off yesterday and from the start of the session his intensity was very good. We warmed up groundstrokes and volleys and then we managed to get the whole court to ourselves so we decided to go straight into some points. During the second ‘up to 11’ it started to rain and within 30 seconds it was coming down very hard. It was disappointing to stop but at least we managed to get a good 45 minutes in and it was still worth getting up early for.

We got a lift back to the hotel with Courtney Lock and his mum but even the short walk from where they dropped us off to our rooms was enough for us both to get completely soaked! We then stayed at the hotel for a few hours to relax and get some lunch before we got the shuttle back to the tennis club at 2pm.

Once again we went straight on court to warm up and then started hitting at around 2.30pm. We had already planned to play a practice set this afternoon with the main focus being finding the level that Toby had played against Kris, but increasing the consistency at that level. The first few games were quite tight but I managed to take the important points and took a 3-0 lead. Toby immediately raised his game and served and returned much better to hold and break me in the next game. At 3-2 I felt as though Toby was right back in the set but a couple of inconsistent games from him gave me at 5-2 lead. Toby then produced his best service game to keep the pressure on but, after another close game, I managed to serve it out to take the set 6-3. One of the best things about travelling individually with a coach is that you’ve always got a lot of time to review matches / training and get back on court to make improvements. After discussing the set Toby wanted to go straight into another one but this time we decided to play a short set up to 4 games. The level was much better and the games were a lot closer than the first set but I just managed to scrape through 4-2!

By the time we finished playing it was 4pm and so we decided to go straight into a strength and condition session for 40 minutes and then have a good stretch out before the shuttle left at 5pm.

Overall it was a really good day and even though it rained a lot this morning we still managed to get 2 conditioning sessions in as well as 2 on-court sessions.

Once we left the club we stopped at the supermarket to stock up on more supplies and then it was straight back to the hotel to shower and change before dinner.

Tomorrow will be a lighter day as qualifying starts on Saturday but, because of the lack of practice courts during the day, we’re still going to have to get up early to guarantee a court.

Namibia U18 ITF Grade 4, Day 7

Wednesday 7th May 2014

After 6 days of training hard and competing hard, we had a well-deserved rest day today which saw us go to the fantastic Dusternbrook Farm to see the Cheetahs and Leopards being fed.

Due to the early bus timetable this week we’ve been getting up around 5.45am so I thought it was about time that Toby had a lie-in today! We met for breakfast at 9.30am and then spent a relaxing morning at the hotel before it was time to leave for the farm.

One of the hotel taxi drivers picked us up at 12.45pm and took us on the 30km drive to the entrance to the land where the farm was based. What we didn’t know was that we had a further 18km on gravel roads – not that it made a difference to our driver as he continued to drive at 80km/h!

Not too bumpy, even at 80km/h!

When we went through the gates to the farm we were immediately met by Springboks, Oryx, Impala and Warthogs roaming free in their natural environment. The farm is the first and oldest guest farm in Namibia and has been at its current location since 1908.

The reception at Dusternbrook Farm

At 2pm we got into the open bus and took a short drive through the farm to where the Cheetahs were. As soon as they heard us coming both the two 7 year old males tracked the bus until we got to an open space where our guide started feeding them. It was brilliant to get so close to these amazing animals and as you can imagine we didn’t stop taking pictures! Here are some of the best ones:

Up close with the Cheethas!

Feeding time!

After 30 minutes we left the Cheetahs and drove down the track to see one of the Leopards, but, when we arrived he wasn’t as welcoming as the Cheetahs had been! It took a bit of time for the guide to entice out the 9 year old male and when he did come out he was a lot more aggressive than the Cheetahs had been!

Click here for a video that made us all jump!

Again we got some great pictures of the Leopard feeding including one of him climbing a tree to get the food that the guide had thrown up there:

Wherever the food is I’ll find it!

Eyes on the Prize … Got it!

Getting close … but not too close!

At 3pm it was time to leave him to his dinner and we headed back to the main farmhouse. We were due to leave straightaway but on our way to trying to find the toilet, Toby and I walked around the back of the main house to this breath-taking view:

Amazing views from the top of the farm

As we looked closer we saw more and more wild animals roaming in the reserve and it was really nice to see all of these animals without them being behind cages in a Zoo.

At 4pm we left the farm and, having been looking for different animals all afternoon, we suddenly saw a lot more than we did on the way to the farm! On the drive back I decided to try and edit some of the pictures / videos that I had taken but I didn’t realise that I had taken over 250!

We arrived back at just before 5pm and even though it was nice to get back to our hotel, it was an absolutely fantastic afternoon – I would recommend Dusternbrook Farm (www.duesternbrook.net) to anyone that comes to Windhoek and I hope I get the chance to go back there in the future.

That ends week 1 and we’ll start our preparations for week 2 tomorrow!

Namibia U18 ITF Grade 4, Day 6

Tuesday 6th May 2014

It was a tough day at the office today as Toby lost a tricky match against the no.2 seed and then in the afternoon Toby and Brandon lost a disappointing 1st round doubles match.

Our long day started with a 6.20am breakfast and then we were on court warming up at 7.30am for our 8am practice session with Brandon. Toby’s been hitting well all week and the pre-match session this morning was no different – his confidence has been growing with every match / training session and, considering he has only been on one previous ITF trip, he is looking very comfortable at this level.

After the session we had quite a bit of time to kill until Toby went on for his match; I got stuck into a bit of tournament planning while Toby split his time between watching some of the matches and playing Subway Surfers!! As the match before Toby’s was starting it’s second set we went through our pre-match preparations and then went on court to warm-up again which included a little movement work to get Toby sharp.

Toby then went on court at 12.20pm to take on 2nd seed Kris Van Wyk from South Africa. Toby was looking forward to the challenge of taking on a player ranked inside the top 275 in the world and he made life very tough for Kris to hold serve in the opening game. Unfortunately Toby was broken in the next game and he soon found himself 3-0 down following a strong service game from Kris. He kept fighting hard though and played some good tennis to hold serve 3 times before Kris went on to take the set 6-3.

The second set was almost identical to the first set but this time Toby was broken in the opening game and it was always going to be difficult to break back as Kris’ serve was getting better and better the longer the match went on. Toby held serve at *0-2 and *1-3 with some good tennis during the set but his consistency at a higher level just let him down a little when it really mattered. After breaking Toby at *2-4, Kris went on to hold serve with 3 unreturnable serves to take the match 6-3, 6-2. It was always going to be tough against a good player like Kris but Toby definitely felt that the early breaks in each set really cost him and if he can increase his consistency, then next time he could make it a much closer match.

We only had an hour a 15 minute break before Toby and Brandon were back on court for their 1st round doubles match. Before they went on I sat both of them down to go through what I expected from them on the doubles court and they had a clear gameplan both when serving and when returning.

Toby and Brandon warming up for their 1st round doubles match

They started the match against Tino Dahlem and James Roelofse very well and looked very dynamic in the opening two / three games . . . unfortunately after that the boys stopped moving as much and struggled to impose themselves as much at the net. Despite that, the first set went with serve until *4-5 when Brandon was broken and the boys found themselves a set down.

Toby and Brandon raced to a 3-0 lead at the start of the second set and kept hold of one of those breaks to take the set 6-4. Even though they were back on level terms I felt that it wasn’t a convincing set; 6 out of the 10 games were decided by a Sudden Death Deuce point and the amount that the boys were moving at the net and finishing first volleys was lower than during the first set. That meant that there was still a lot of work to do but it was Tino and James that started the match tie-break better and they quickly took a 4-1 lead. Toby and Brandon continued to work hard but a few poor shot selections at crucial times costs them a lot and their opponents went on to take the match 6-4, 4-6, 10-6.

Both boys were very disappointed with the result but it was their first match together and hopefully we can work a lot on their doubles before next week.

As we’re having a day off tomorrow Toby decided that he would like to have a change for dinner so, predictably, we headed off to Nando’s at 6pm. The food was actually pretty good but while Toby went for the hot sauce I decided that I would play it a bit safer and stick to the medium one!

We’re still undecided as to what we’re going to do tomorrow but we do have the options of a couple of game drives so we’ll see what happens!

Namibia U18 ITF Grade 4, Day 5

Monday 5th May 2014

A straightforward match for Toby today saw him through to the 2nd round of the Main Draw where he’ll face the no.2 seed tomorrow.

I woke this morning at 5.30am to the heart-breaking news that Elena Baltacha had died of liver cancer yesterday. I have known Bally for many years and had been at many of the same tournaments that she played while she was on her way up the rankings to the top 50 in the world. One of my favourite memories of Bally was when I came on court after the first set of a doubles match that her and Naomi Cavaday were playing on centre court at the Eastbourne WTA event. In WTA events you are allowed to call your coach on at either a chance of ends or the end of the set and, after losing the first set 7-6, the girls called me on. As I was explaining to them what they needed to adjust in the match, Bally’s passion and willingness to listen was so intense that it actually made me laugh out loud and I completely forgot what I was going to say! She was an amazing person, a true fighter and a perfect role model for any up and coming player – she will be missed by everyone that ever had the fortune to have met her.

Toby and I had breakfast at 6.20am and then got the 7am shuttle bus to the club. Like yesterday, we were at the club very early but we would have missed our practice session if we had got the later 9.30am bus. After warming up, Toby had a good hit with his doubles partner, Brandon Levendale, from 8 – 8.30am before the first matches went on court.

We knew we would have a bit of waiting around today, but after going through all of our preparations for the match we saw that the first match on Toby’s court was almost finished. The next match was over pretty quickly too and even though Toby’s match had a ‘not before 11am’ time, both him and his opponent agreed to go on early at 10.45am.

We knew nothing about Clemens Roeber apart from the fact that he was from Namibia and he was unranked. As is the case with many events in Africa, the qualifying draw can often be tougher to get through compared to many of the opening matches in the Main Draw and that was definitely true of Toby’s match today. Toby started a little slowly and even though he broke in the 1st game, he gave up his serve cheaply in the very next game with 2 double faults and 2 unforced errors. It’s often tough to raise your own level when you’re not getting into much of a rhythm in a match but to his credit Toby stayed focussed and won the next 11 games in a row to take the match 6-1, 6-0.

Following the match I took toby through a long cool down and stretching session before we got a lift back to the hotel from the president of the Namibian Tennis Association. Over lunch we discussed the match and both agreed on the positives and the areas that we wanted to work on before the next round.

Our regular routine this week has been to get back on court in the afternoon after Toby’s matches and today he wanted to do the same to work on a few specific areas. So, at 3pm we got the bus back to the club and went straight on court to warm up with Brandon. Before the boys hit, I decided that we would do a quick 5 ball fan sprint to get them nice and sharp. I explained that 15.5 seconds was very quick, 15.5-16.5 seconds was good and anything over 16.5 seconds wasn’t quite good enough! Toby went first and put in a 16.77s and Brandon was all over the place on his sprint missing one of the pick-ups and ending up with 18.22s. The boys then challenged me to do better and were convinced that I would be slower because I hadn’t warmed up and was in my running shoes! I then put in a steady 15.89s . . . not bad for someone almost 20 years older than them!!

Toby and Brandon working on their doubles specifics this afternoon

The boys managed to get over their disappointment of me beating them and put in a good training session for an hour. We covered the areas that Toby wanted to work on, then worked on some doubles specifics before their 1st round match tomorrow and finished with some open point play.

Once we had cooled down and stretched out we got the bus back to the hotel via the supermarket to stock up on some water . . . just the 25 litres worth – should do us for a few days!!

We had another good dinner at the hotel tonight where Toby finally got the chicken pasta that he’d wanted for the last few days. There was then just a enough time for Toby, Sophie, Brendon and I to discuss who had the best taste in music (definitely me!) before it was time for an early night.

Boy’s Doubles Draw

Schedule for tomorrow:

(q) Toby Huffer (GBR) (UNR) vs (2) Kris Van Wyk (RSA) (268) – 3rd match after 8.30am (not before 11am)

Toby Huffer (GBR) & Brandon Levendale (ZIM) vs Tino Yannick Dahlem (GER) & James Roelofse (RSA) – 5th match after 8.30am (not before 1pm)

Namibia U18 ITF Grade 4, Day 4

Sunday 4th May 2014

It was another good day at the Central Tennis Club today as Toby came through a potentially tricky match to secure his place in the Main Draw.

We met for breakfast this morning at 7am and then took the 7.30am bus to the club. We again had the option of the getting the 8.30am bus but if it had been late then we wouldn’t have had enough time to warm up before our 9 o’clock practice session.

Once we had gone through our physical warm-up we took to the court and had a good 30 minute match warm-up session which today, as we knew a little about Toby’s opponent, was based around the tactics he was going to use. We also knew that the Sun could be a factor in the match as it was directly behind the court and by the time Toby would go on for his match it would be in a very difficult position. With that in mind we changed ends a few times during the session so that Toby was fully prepared for his match.

At 9.30am the first round of matches went on so Toby and I went off to start to prepare his game plan and goals for his match. The match before Toby’s was very close and lasted almost two hours but eventually it was time for Toby to take to the court to face Alosha Chikanda from Zimbabwe.

Toby started the match very well and even though we knew that Alosha had a good heavy forehand, Toby dealt with it with ease. Toby quickly took a 2-0* lead and was dominating the points from the back of the court with very good accuracy. During the break before Toby’s match we had watched some of the other last round matches and we both agreed that the best players are managing to control the ball at this altitude by really committing to every ball they hit – and that was exactly what Toby did at the start of the match! Alosha held serve at 2-0* but Toby continued to keep the pressure on with some very good serving and good hitting from the back of the court to take the next 4 games in a row.

Toby stretching to return Alosha’s serve during the 1st set

Toby didn’t start the second set well and 4 unforced errors in his first service game saw him fall 0-1* behind. He responded professionally though and won the next 4 games in a row to take a commanding 6-1, 4-1 lead. At this stage it was looking as though the match was done and dusted but Toby took his foot off the gas a little and at the same time Alosha decided he would produce his best tennis of the match! The following two games went against Toby and at 4-3* he started to play without the same freedom that he had in the first set and a half. The next game was very important and to his credit Toby managed to settle himself well to break straight back to go *5-3 up. Toby then played a solid service game and, despite not being able to convert on his first 2 match points, he took the 3rd and let out a big “Come on!” as he secured his place in his first U18 ITF Main Draw.

After the match we had a brief chat and then Toby cooled down and stretched out before the bus came to take us back to the hotel for lunch.

At 3pm we headed back to the club and had another very good hour on court to work on some specific points that had come up from the match. We were joined on court by Courtney Lock who is the number 1 seed this week and has just returned from playing Grade 1 events in France and Italy. It was great for Toby to train with Courtney and it gave him an excellent opportunity to gage the level of someone who is close to the top 200 in the world.

Toby and Courtney training together this afternoon

After the boys were finished they both cooled down and had a good stretch out before we got the bus back to the hotel.

At dinner tonight we were joined by Sophie, Luke (her father) and Brandon Levendale from Zimbabwe. We had a good meal despite the waiter struggling with every order that we placed and it was great to share stories about places and tournaments that we had all been to.

Once we were finished Toby and I went through today’s match in detail and started to prepare for his next match tomorrow.

Boy’s Singles Main Draw

Schedule for tomorrow:

(q) Toby Huffer (GBR) (UNR) vs Clemens Roeber (NAM) (UNR) – 3rd match after 8.30am (not before 11am)

Namibia U18 ITF Grade 4, Day 3

Saturday 3rd May 2014

It was a good start to the first tournament today as Toby came through his opening match in qualifying to move one match away from the Main Draw.

It was a very early start this morning with Toby and I meeting for breakfast at 6.20am and then getting the first bus to the club at 7am. Even though Toby was scheduled for the second match on court, we had to get the earlier bus in order to make our 8am practice session.

We went through our physical warm-up from 7.30-8am and then had a good practice session for half an hour. The time that we’ve spent on court over the last 3 days has really enabled Toby to become well acclimatised to the conditions and our hit this morning was one of the best that we’d had since we arrived. By the time Toby had warmed up everything he was feeling very confident and ready for his match.

While the first round of matches were on court Toby and I went through his pre-match sheet so that he had a clear game plan and also had specific goals for the match. At 10am the referee told us that Toby’s match was going to be moved to another court so we had 15 minutes to warm up before he went on court to take on Sam Bencheghib from France.

The first game of the match was a little edgy from both players but as soon as Toby broke Sam’s serve and then held to take a 2-0 lead he looked much more confident. Sam then played a good game to hold serve but Toby upped his level and started to dictate the points from the back of the court which lead to him holding and breaking to take a 4-1 lead. By this stage Toby was in full control of the match and he kept the pressure on his opponent to take the next two games and the first set, 6-1.

Toby continued to play well in the second set and even though he ended up taking it 6-0 there were some tight games with Sam competing hard throughout the match. Overall it was a good performance from Toby and, after having difficult qualifying matches in the three ITFs in Nairobi in February, it was great to see him get his first ITF singles win on the board!

After Toby had cooled down and stretched out we headed back to the hotel to get some lunch and watch Tottenham lose – sorry Toby!!

Many players might have decided to take the afternoon off after a first round match but Toby shared the same opinion as me that; an opportunity to practice is an opportunity to improve. We went back over to the club at 3pm and then had a very good session on court for just over an hour. The whole session was point based to get Toby ready for his final round of qualifying match tomorrow and he once again raised his level from this morning. After losing the match tie-break on Friday I had to get some revenge (which I did!) but I had a feeling that Toby was saving his best level for our final tie-break and he took me down 7-5. Many coaches might say that they wanted to boost their player’s confidence and so let them win but in this case Toby just played too well!!

Dinner tonight was again a recommendation from Toby but I’m very pleased to say that the Lasagne was nowhere near as spicy as the curry yesterday! During dinner we talked through the specifics from Toby’s match and went through his post-match sheet before setting up the game plan for his next match tomorrow.

We were then finally able to get on the internet (as it’s been down all day) which gave us a chance to catch up on everything Facebook / Twitter / Snapchat related!

Schedule for tomorrow:

Alosha Chikanda (ZIM) (UNR) vs Toby Huffer (GBR) (UNR) – 2nd match after 9.30am

Namibia U18 ITF Grade 4, Day 2

Friday 2nd May 2014

Today was our first full day of training here in Namibia and Toby put in two great sessions which has prepared him very well for his first round qualifying match tomorrow.

There wasn’t a practice court booking system in place this morning so we decided to get up early and get to the club just after 9am to try to get a court before all the other players turned up! After warming up on court I took Toby through a footwork session which included some specific movement exercises, some medicine ball work and finally some speed work.

Toby working hard in the footwork session this morning

Toby and I then trained for just over an hour with the focus again being on adjusting to the altitude and getting more of a feel for the ball at a match level. Toby was hitting the ball well and as the session went on he became more confident to commit to the shot without the worry of the ball flying through the air took quickly and going long. Towards the end of the session we spent some time working on Toby’s serve and return as we knew that they would be fundamental in his match tomorrow and then we ended the session with a match tie-break. I’ve been instructed to make sure I state the result of the tie-break so here it is … Toby won 10-5 – but I’m going to make sure I get revenge later in the week!!

Once we had cooled down and stretched we got the shuttle bus back to the hotel to get some lunch and relax.

At 2.30pm we headed back over to the club to warm up for our second session of the day. Toby had another very good hour on court and, after warming up with Matthew Astell from South Africa, they played a lot of points to make sure they were both ready for their matches tomorrow.

Toby serving against Matthew during the points this afternoon

At 4.15pm we headed off court to cool down, stretch out and sign-in for qualifying. The shuttle bus was then supposed to pick us up at 5pm to take us back to the hotel but, because it got delayed coming back from the airport, we had to persuade one of the tournament staff to give us a lift back!!

Dinner tonight was again at the hotel restaurant and on Toby’s recommendation I decided to go for the chicken curry – what he didn’t tell me was that it was pretty spicy!! Once we were finished (and I had put the flames out!) I checked my emails to find the draw and order of play had been sent through from the referee:

Boy’s Qualifying Draw

Schedule for tomorrow:

Toby Huffer (GBR) (UNR) vs Sam Bencheghib (FRA) (UNR) – 2nd match after 8.30am

Namibia U18 ITF Grade 4, Day 1

Thursday 1st May 2014

It’s was a long 20 hours of travel but we finally arrived in Windhoek, Namibia today for the next stop on the ITC calendar.

After negotiating the London Underground on day 2 of the strikes I finally got to Heathrow to meet Toby Huffer at around 6pm. I spent last Friday on court with Toby and his coach, Marten Renstrom, at Dukes Meadows high performance centre which gave me the chance to get to know Toby and also speak with Marten about the areas he would like me to focus on with Toby at the two tournaments.

After we checked in we got some dinner and then boarded the 11 hour flight to Johannesburg. Luckily we managed to get some exit seats which meant we were both able to get some sleep – I think I managed to get a little more than Toby though as I was passed out for almost the whole flight!!

Once we arrived in Johannesburg we had a 4 hour stopover before our final 2 hour flight to Namibia. It then took us almost 45 minutes to clear a very busy Customs but once we finally got through we were met by the tournament bus driver who took us, and Sophie Gerits and her father from Belgium, to the tournament hotel.

As the altitude here in Windhoek is around 1,600 metres it is important that we get as much time as possible on court before qualifying starts on Saturday. So, with that in mind we checked in at the hotel at 4pm and then went straight to the club to get a good hour of practice with Sophie before the sun went down.

Toby and Sophie training this evening on centre court

While we were on court we had a few visitors including a mean looking wasp, a huge centipede and this:

An Armoured Cricket (apparently!)

After training Toby cooled down and stretched out before we headed back to the hotel to get some dinner and relax after a very long day!

USA U18 ITF Grade B1, Day 7

Thursday 10th April 2014

It was another good day in the Desert today as Katie fought a tough opponent and intense heat and humidity to take out the 6th seed and advance to the Quarter-Finals.

Another early start saw us have breakfast at 6.45am before packing up to check out of the house. We arrived on site at the tennis centre at 7.45am and then reviewed some of the analysis of the match yesterday so that we could use it, along with the plan for today, to be ready for the match. After going through her physical warm-up, Katie hit with Mia for about 35 minutes during which time we focussed on some of the pre-match specifics including changing pace and spin to not let her opponent get into a rhythm. Katie was hitting the ball great and by the time we left the court at 9am we were both really happy with the level she had produced.

At 9.40am Katie went on court to face 6th seed Raquel Pedraza from America and, having watched her play yesterday, we were fully prepared with our game plan to expose her weaknesses. Katie started the match very well; her 1st serve percentage was high, she was controlling the points from the back of the court and absorbing the pressure when Raquel took the ball on. At 3-0* up Katie was in complete control but Raquel raised her level of consistency to hold serve and then break Katie to leave the set on serve at 3-2*. Katie responded very professionally to this and stepped up more in the next game breaking Raquel for the second time. Katie then stuck to the game plan but kept increased the pressure on her opponent to win 2 out of the next 3 games and finished the set on a big ace!

Katie serving over the mountains!

The second set was a real war of attrition with both girls giving it everything they had for an hour and 40 minutes! Firstly Katie took a 3-1 lead with a combination of solid tennis and a lot of errors from her opponent but then Raquel’s mindset changed and she stopped missing while at the same time hitting 5 winners in 2 games to level the set at 3-3*. Once again this didn’t faze Katie who responded immediately by breaking back with 4 winners of her own in one game! The rollercoaster continued in the next two games but this time it was Raquel who was the one dictating the play with 5 more winners resulting in her taking a *4-5 lead. Katie then showed great determination by holding serve at *4-5 and *5-6 and on both occasions Katie was just 2 points away from losing the set! The tie-break was epic . . . both girls were going toe-to-toe with each other and some of the rallies were very brutal. Katie raced to a 4-0 lead and then led 6-3 before Raquel fought extremely hard to save 3 match points. Katie again maintained the belief in her game and, after getting a mini-break at 6-6*, she stayed disciplined and eventually won another long rally to take the match 6-3, 7-6(6). I was exhausted just watching so I can only imagine how Katie felt!

After the match I went straight up to Katie to congratulate her on a very mentally tough performance and, after a bit of treatment from the physio, we got into the air-conditioned gym to cool down and stretch out. I was really proud of how Katie handled the situation as she was not only fighting her opponent, but also the heat and humidity and she did it all extremely well to record her first victory over a top 75 player.

The afternoon was spent relaxing / recovering and then, as it is my last night before I fly home tomorrow to get ready for the London Marathon on Sunday, we all headed out for a lovely dinner.

There will be no Blog tomorrow but I will be posting the results on the Facebook page so to keep updated please click here and like the page.

Schedule for tomorrow:

(11) Katie Swan (GBR) (112) vs Francesca Di Lorenzo (USA) (UNR) – 2nd match after 10.30am, not before 12.30pm

USA U18 ITF Grade B1, Day 6

Wednesday 9th April 2014

It was another good match for Katie and a great player’s party / coach’s reception today at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden.

An early start saw us have breakfast at 6.45am this morning and then get to the club to warm up on court at 8am. Katie then hit with Olivia Hauger from 8.30am until matches started at 9am and once again Katie’s level was very good throughout. Even though it was just a match warm-up we still talked about the goals for the match during the session and in particular focussed on service placement to set up the point.

Once we were done we headed back to the house to relax for an hour and get some food before getting back on site for 10.30am. Katie’s match wasn’t scheduled until 11.30am so we had lots of time to talk through the pre-match sheet and go through a good warm–up before she went on court for the match.

After a bit of a delay Katie went on to face Karina Traxler at 12.15pm and, after a solid first game (which saw Katie break Karina), she really upped her level to match the quality of hitting that she found against Kaitlyn last week. Katie dictated almost every point in the first set and hit a total of 14 winners on her way to winning the set 6-0. Her serve was working very well and, even though her 1st serve percentage wasn’t that high, when it did go in it didn’t often come back!

Katie attacking Karina’s 2nd serve during the 1st set

During the second set Katie continued to dominate the points and put into practice all of the work we had done over the past couple of weeks on patterns of play. Karina held serve in the first game of the set but that was to be the only game that she would win as Katie won the next 6 games in a row to take the match 6-0, 6-1 in just over an hour.

After a quick debrief Katie went into the gym to cool down and stretch out while I headed to stadium court 3 to watch her next round opponent. Just as I arrived at the court the girls were finishing the second set and, as they ended up splitting sets, I was able to watch the whole of the third set which saw 6th seed Raquel Pedraza come through 6-3, 1-6, 6-1.

From 3pm until 3.30pm Katie and I were back on court for a light hit with Mia Horvitt and then it was time to go back to the house to get some food and get ready for the player’s party.

The evening was very well organised and had two objectives; 1) get the players together to have dinner and unwind after a tough day’s competition and 2) get the coaches together for the USTA coaches reception and award ceremony. It was only really open to USTA coaches but when I was in Carson last week I asked if I could join in and I’m very pleased that they let me! Firstly we all had dinner together and then Patrick McEnroe took to the microphone to talk about the tournament and also introduce some of the legendary award winners. Then, one by one Jerry Baskin, Nick Bollettieri, Robert Lansdorp and Jack Sharp were presented with a Team USA Coaching Legend Award. They then individually gave a 5 minute speech on their coaching philosophy and told some stories about their own coaching careers. Nick and Robert were absolutely brilliant and gave very motivating speeches and then, just as I thought the evening would finish, Patrick McEnroe got all four of them up to do a question and answer session with the audience:

Jerry Baskin, Nick Bollettieri, Partick McEnroe, Robert Lansdorp and Jack Sharpe before the Q&A session

I felt very privileged to attend the evening and afterwards had a good chat with Patrick and Nick. It would be great if other federations would do the same at some of their higher grade ITF events as it really does help the coaches to develop and learn from the very best.

The evening finished at 8pm and then Katie and I headed back to the house to relax and pack up as we must check out tomorrow.

Schedule for tomorrow:

(6) Raquel Pedraza (USA) (72) vs (11) Katie Swan (GBR) (112) – 1st match at 9.30am

USA U18 ITF Grade B1, Day 5

Tuesday 8th April 2014

We had a mixed day today as, on one hand the training that Katie put in was of a very high quality, while on the other hand, Katie and Usue were knocked out in the doubles against a very good pair.

As the tournament split the draw Katie only had doubles today so we took advantage of having a free morning to get some good quality training in. The first round of matches were scheduled for 10am this morning so we got to the site at 8.30am and then warmed up to get ready to hit with Mia Horvitt from 9-10am. While Mia was warming up, Katie and I did some reaction ball work and then the girls had a really good hour’s practice which involved some specific drilling and some point play. Mia was happy for me to lead the session so we went through everything we needed to so that Katie’s was fully prepared for her next singles match.

At 10am the matches started so I headed straight to court 8 to watch Katie’s next round opponent play her first round match. On that court Karina Traxler played qualifier Rebekah Anderson and, after a close first four games, Karina took the first set 6-2. I made a lot of notes on both players during that first set and, once it was completed I was confident that Karina would go on to win the match, so Katie and I headed back to the house to get some lunch.

When we returned at 12.15pm we were informed that the girl’s doubles would not be before 2.30pm so we relaxed for a while in the player’s lounge and then went on court with Usue Arconada to get the girls ready for their doubles match. Both Katie and Usue were hitting the ball very well during the 30-40 minute session and Katie looked much more confident in the areas we had worked on this morning.

At 3pm Katie and Usue went on to face Francesca Di Lorenzo and Sofia Kenin and, even though Katie and Usue were the number 1 seeds, we knew that it was going to be a tough 1st round match.

During the first 5 games Katie and Usue played some good doubles and moved well but just struggled to finish first volleys whereas Francesca and Sofia were very consistent at the back of the court and very sharp at the net. Even though each game was close, Katie and Usue found themselves 0-5 down but continued to work hard and, after breaking Sofia and Katie holding serve, they started to build some momentum. Unfortunately Francesca then held serve to take the first set 6-2 but I was confident that our girls would be able to turn the match around in the second set.

Katie serving during the 1st set

At *1-3 in the second set it wasn’t looking too good but Katie and Usue managed to raise their games and found some really good energy to win the next 3 games in a row and take a 4-3 lead. Usue was broken at *4-4 but we broke Sofia straight back to level the set and then it went with serve until the tie-break. By this stage it the set could have easily gone either way but it was Francesca and Sofia that played the better breaker and went on to take it 7-2.

Despite the loss there were some very positive parts of the match; Katie moved well during the first set and served very well throughout but Francesca and Sofia played a very high quality match throughout.

After the match Katie went into the gym to cool down and stretch out while I completed one of my last 3 training runs before the London Marathon on Sunday. We then headed back to the house for dinner and a relaxing evening to prepare for Katie’s 2nd round single match tomorrow.

Schedule for tomorrow:

Karina Traxler (USA) (896) vs (11) Katie Swan (USA) (112) – not before 11.30am

USA U18 ITF Grade B1, Day 4

Monday 7th April 2014

It was a good start to the Easterbowl in Indian Wells today as Katie overcame a tricky opponent to win through to the 2nd round of the singles.

We started the day with an early breakfast before heading over to the club at around 8.30am. Even though Katie’s match wasn’t scheduled until 1pm we only had the opportunity to practice until 10am when the matches started so we decided to warm up at around 8.45am and then hit with Mia Horvitt from around 9.10 – 9.45am. Katie was looking very good in the practice and has continued to build on the work that we did in Carson last week.

After the session Katie and I headed back to the house to have lunch, relax and most importantly get out of the heat while the first round matches started. We then made our way back to the club at 12pm to prepare for Katie’s match and as we got into the car we were greeted by this:

Hot, hot, hot!!

As soon as we got on site I went straight to the referee’s office to check the situation with the Heat Rule and was immediately told that it had been in since 10am this morning! The Heat Rule is not just based on temperature (but that is a major factor) but it does mean that players can have a 10 minute break between 2nd and 3rd sets where they can leave the court, see the trainer etc. but cannot speak to their coach.

At 12.30pm Katie and I sat down and went through the plan for the match and set specific goals before she went through a thorough warm up. Then at 1pm she went on stadium court 3 to face Alexandra Letzt from California.

The match started with 5 breaks of serve; Katie took the lead three times but on the first two occasions she was broken straight back in the next game until at *3-2 she played a very good service game to hold and take a commanding 4-2* lead. She then backed up her hold by breaking Alexandra and then hit 3 winners in her next service game to take the set 6-2.

Katie built on the momentum that she had created in the first set by braking Alexandra in the first game of the 2nd set and then went on to take a 5-1 lead with some very smart play. Just when it looked as though the match was almost over Alexandra raised her level; she held serve at 5-1* and then after breaking Katie her confidence increased significantly. Katie continued to fight hard and earned a match point at 5-3* but Alexandra played some impressive tennis to peg Katie back to *5-4. Katie responded very professionally to Alexandra’s fight back and, after a close service game, she held to take the match 6-2, 6-4. It was a good win for Katie and she showed a lot of character in that 2nd set, especially as it was very hot on court.

After the match we went straight back on court to work on a few specific areas of Katie game for 10-15 minutes and then it was straight into the gym to cool down and stretch out in nice air-conditioned comfort!

We left site at 4.45pm and went back to the house where Katie went through a good recovery session in the swimming pool. We then had another great meal thanks to Nicki, before settling in for the NCAA basketball Finals followed by watching The Blind Side.

Girl’s Doubles Draw

Schedule for tomorrow:

(1) Usue Arconada (USA) & Katie Swan (GBR) vs Francesca Di Lorenzo (USA) & Sofia Kenin (USA) – Time TBC

USA U18 ITF Grade B1, Day 3

Sunday 6th April 2014

It was another very good day of practice today as we put the final touches to our preparations before main draw starts tomorrow.

As qualifying was still going on at the club we decided to head back over to The Vintage Club this morning to guarantee a practice court for our session. We arrived there at just before 9am and, after warming up, Katie went through a short 10 minute ladder footwork session to sharpen her up before we hit. Katie and I then had a very good hit for 30 minutes before we moved courts to hit with Carol Finke from 10 – 10.45am. Even though Carol lost in qualifying yesterday, she was really good to train with and it gave Katie a chance to drill and play some practice points against another girl.

Katie lunging for a volley against Carol this morning

After the session we headed back to the house for some lunch and to relax before going over to the tournament site at just before 2pm for our afternoon session. By the time we left the temperature had really started to rise and as we started to warm up on court was around 90°F (about 32°C).

From 3-4pm Katie had a really good session with Mia Horvit; both girls found a very high level from the back of the court and then transferred that level into points for the last 25 minutes of the session. It was an ideal session to have before the tournament starts tomorrow and gave us some more very valuable time on the slower match courts at the Tennis Garden.

Once we finished the session we went straight into the gym to cool down and stretch out and then we had a bit of time to check out the rest of the tournament site. As we walked around we didn’t realise just how big it was – there are a total of 29 courts with 2 of them being huge stadium courts and even though the centre was built in 2000 specifically for the BNP Paribas Open, it is also a members club. There was also a big art festival on site over the weekend; some of the work was absolutely amazing (in particular some photos by Ian Ely) and some things were a little strange!

By 5.30pm we left site and headed back to the house to relax before dinner. We then had a long evening of waiting for the draw to come out – in the end I headed back to the club only to find out that one of the qualifying matches was still going on at 8.15pm! Eventually the draw came out at around 9pm and here it is:

Girl’s Singles Main Draw

Schedule for tomorrow:

Alexandra Letzt (USA) (1126) vs (11) Katie Swan (GBR) (112) – Not before 1pm

USA U18 ITF Grade B1, Day 2

Saturday 5th April 2014

It was another good training day today as we spent the morning at the prestigious Vintage Club and the afternoon back on site at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden.

Due to the qualifying of the Easter Bowl starting today, all of the courts had matches scheduled on them this morning so at 9am we headed a few miles down the road to The Vintage Club. The club is very exclusive and the views are absolutely stunning:

The view from the entrance of The Vintage Club

Another stunning view looking out towards the mountains

Katie and I warmed up at around 9.30am and then went through a movement and speed session for 10-15 minutes before finishing with a little medicine ball work. We then had a great session for around an hour and a half where we continued with the work we started yesterday evening. We added in some points towards the end of the session where Katie made me work extremely hard to just stay with her in the rally!!

After the session we headed back to the house to get some lunch and then at 2pm (just when the temperature was really starting to heat up!) we headed over to the tournament site for our second session of the day.

Katie trained with one of her friends from Wichita, Sam Beren, on one of the smaller stadium courts this afternoon which meant she had another opportunity to practice on the tournament surface before she plays on Monday. Katie and Sam warmed up and then played some points which gave us a great chance to work specifically on Katie’s serve and return.

The pros were here a few weeks ago … now it’s time for the next generation.

Once they had finished Katie and I did some specific on court work for around 20-25 minutes to reinforce the work we did this morning and then we headed straight to the gym to go through her tournament fitness programme. By 5pm we had finished the programme, cooled down and stretched out which ended another very good training day.

We had just over an hour before dinner, so, while Katie got stuck into some school work, I hit the roads for a pretty tough 7.5 mile run. The programme I’m following should be tapering down now as there is only 8 days to go until the marathon but it still seems to be hard work!

I still need more sponsorship so please donate – www.justgiving.com/robslondonmarathon2014 – THANK YOU!

After another excellent dinner from Nicki, we all chilled out while watching the NCAA Final Four basketball and then it was an early night all round to make sure we’re ready for a final day’s preparation tomorrow.

USA U18 ITF Grade B1, Day 1

Friday 4th April 2014

It was a day of learning, driving and training today as our attention shifts to getting ready for the Easter Bowl U18 ITF Grade B1 which starts on Monday.

This morning we had breakfast, packed up and left the hotel at 8.30am to go to the tournament site so that we could watch some of the ¼ final matches. We wanted to watch Kaitlyn McCarthy play Kelly Chen so that we could learn from yesterday’s match and also check out some of the other girls who might be playing next week in Indian Wells.

At around 12pm we left Carson for the 2 and a half hour drive through the mountains to Indian Wells and even though everyone talks about Indian Wells being in the middle of the desert I didn’t quite realise that it actually would be!! We saw some amazing scenery as we drove from the city, through the mountains, past a huge wind farm, along some sand blown roads and into a town surrounded by mountains!

The drive from LA to Indian Wells

When we arrived we met up with Katie’s mum, Nicki, who is joining us for the week so we’re really looking forward to some home cooked meals!

At 5pm we headed over to the Indian Wells Tennis Garden which is less than a mile from where we are staying, but we were told straight away that there were no courts available for practice this evening. I’m not one to easily take no for an answer so we went into the gym to warm up and then at 5.45pm I managed to sweet talk a member into letting us use one of the courts he had booked! I did say that we were only looking to practice for 20-30 minutes but an hour and a half later, with the sun setting behind the mountains, we were still on the court training!

Not a bad view from court 1

After the session we went back into the gym to cool down and stretch out before heading back to the house at just before 8pm for a lovely home cooked dinner.

USA U18 ITF Grade 1, Day 6

Thursday 3rd April 2014

It was a good performance from Katie today in her Last 16 match against 8th seed Kaitlyn McCarthy but unfortunately for us the America played at a very high level throughout and went on to win 6-2, 6-1.

As Katie was scheduled to play in the 2nd round of matches today we were up early to have breakfast at 6.45am and then got over to the site to warm-up just before 8am. Today was the first time we were actually able to practice on the match courts as earlier in the week all the matches had been starting at 8am which meant that any training after that time had to be on the college courts. Katie once again hit very well during our warm-up session and we’ve now got into a very solid routine of what we go through in practice before she plays matches.

Once the match before Katie’s had finished a long 1st set we sat down to talk through the tactics for her match and also set some goals. Then at 11am Katie went on court to face 8th seed Kaitlyn McCarthy from America.

We knew a little about Kaitlyn and knew that Katie would have to be on her game and dictate the points in order to go through a good opponent, but I don’t think either of us were expecting such a close first game of the match! It lasted over 15 minutes and saw both girls play at a very high level – it actually took 7 winners from Katie in that game alone to break Kaitlyn’s serve and take a *1-0 lead. In the next five games Kaitlyn really increased the pressure on Katie with some very accurate hitting despite Katie continuing to play at a very high level. Unfortunately those 5 games went against us and even though Katie kept fighting and competing hard, she eventually lost the first set 6-2 after 1 hour and 5 minutes. The set was probably the best I’ve seen Katie play in a match but Kaitlyn just played the big points better.

Kaitlyn serving against Katie in their Last 16 match today

In the 2nd set Katie maintained her aggressive play and produced some great tennis in the first two games but from 1-1* Kaitlyn stepped up the pressure again. She went on to win another 5 games in a row with probably the best level of tennis I’ve seen from any of the girls this week to take the match 6-2, 6-1 in 1 hour and 45 minutes – normally you’d expect a 2 & 1 scoreline to be over in 50-60 minutes which just goes to show that the match was a lot closer than the score suggests.

Katie was obviously disappointed to lose the match but we both agreed afterwards that she had played some of her best tennis and now if we can increased her consistency at that level in the next few days then she’s going to be a real threat next week in Indian Wells.

After cooling down and stretching out in the gym we got some lunch and then watched some of the other Last 16 matches. Sofia Kenin against Claire Liu was a very close match which Sofia ended up winning 6-4 in the third, but 13 year old Claire is definitely one to keep an eye on over the next few years.

After the matches we headed back to the hotel to relax and pack our bags ready to move on tomorrow. I also managed to get a 30 minute interval session in and it suddenly dawned on me that there is now only 10 days to go until the London Marathon – please support the amazing charity that I’m running for by donating here – www.justgiving.com/robslondonmarathon2014 – THANK YOU!

This evening we had an early dinner and then went through the analysis of the match before heading to Yogurtland for frozen yoghurt – as I’m in training I managed to resist getting one but I was very jealous of everyone’s yoghurt and topping masterpieces!!

Tomorrow we head to Indian Wells to start preparing for the USTA Easter Bowl U18 ITF B1 which starts for Katie on Monday.

USA U18 ITF Grade 1, Day 5

Wednesday 2nd April 2014

It was another good day here in California as Katie stormed through to the Last 16 in the USTA International Spring Championships.

I think I’ve finally (after 5 days) got over my jet lag and this morning, for the first time, it was my alarm that woke me up at 6.30am rather than my body! After finalising the preparations for Katie’s match today, I met her downstairs for breakfast at 8am where she decided to go for the hotel’s buffet breakfast while I tucked into the tournament breakfast box.

Once we arrived at the tournament site we found out that some overnight rain had delayed the start of play but we still decided to warm up at 9.30am before getting on court at 10am for our pre-match hit. Katie’s level in the session this morning was probably the best I’ve seen her hit the ball all week; she was very focussed and the intent she had on each ball was excellent – I had to work very hard just to keep up with her!!

After the session we went to the main stadium to shower and change and I was able to sneak out onto the main football pitch to get a quick picture of the LA Galaxy home ground:

Pitch side at the home of the LA Galaxy

After lunch we watched some of the other 2nd round matches before it was time to prepare Katie for her match. We discussed the tactics for the match based on how we had seen her opponent play on Monday but a big factor that we needed to take into consideration was the strong wind that was blowing across the whole site. Katie then went through her physical warm up and, after a few movement drills to get her sharp, it was time to play!

At 3pm Katie went on court 6 to face Elysse Graci from America and from the very first game it was obvious that Katie had adjusted to the windy conditions better than her opponent. Katie held serve well and then played some very solid tennis to win the next 5 games in a row to win the set 6-0 with the loss of just 3 points. In her previous match Elysse had played well in the wind but today she really struggled and it didn’t help her that Katie was ready to take on anything that dropped a little short.

Katie taking on her forehand during the 1st set

The second set was a closer affair even though the score line doesn’t show it. At *2-0 Katie’s serve was under pressure following 2 big forehand winners from Elysse but after Katie managed to hold serve she raised her level in the very next game to stay on top. By this stage Katie was 6-0, 4-0 up and even though Elysse continued to work hard, Katie closed out the next two games to take the win 6-0, 6-0 in just under 50 minutes.

Once Katie had finished we had a quick debrief and then it was straight down to the gym to cool down on the bike and then stretch out. By the time we had finished it was around 5.30pm so we decided to head straight back to the hotel to have a well-earned dinner at 6pm.

After dinner we sat down to go through the match in detail and also start our preparations for the next match tomorrow.

Schedule for tomorrow:

(11) Katie Swan (GBR) (109) vs (8) Kaitlyn McCarthy (USA) (83) – 2nd match after 9am (not before 10am)

USA U18 ITF Grade 1, Day 4

Tuesday 1st April 2014

Katie and Chloe had a tough doubles match today as they came up against a strong team in the first round.

Having not quite got over the jet lag yet, I was wide awake at 5.45am this morning so I decided to hit the gym for one of my last 7 runs before the London Marathon on the 13th April. I then met Katie at 8am for our ‘boxed breakfast’ which consisted of a carton of milk, a carton of orange juice, a box of cereal and a bagel – not really an ideal breakfast for the players (or the coaches!!).

Shortly after we had finished breakfast we headed over to the tournament site to watch some of the other first round matches and then at 10am we walked over to the college courts to get ready for our morning session. After going through a thorough physical warm-up I took Katie through a footwork and movement session for about 20 minutes to keep her sharp and maintain her fitness while she’s on the road. We then had a very good training session from 11-12.15pm where we focused on the learning points from yesterday’s match and also the tactics that we want to implement in her 2nd round singles match tomorrow.

Katie working hard during the footwork session

Once we were finished we were both pretty hungry (the breakfast this morning hadn’t really done the job!) so we went straight back to the tournament tent for some lunch. The lunch that the tournament are providing is better than breakfast but it just consists of a sandwich and either some potato or pasta salad – luckily it’s self-service so you can have as much potato or pasta salad as you can fit on your plate!

Most of the afternoon was then spent waiting for the matches before Katie and Chloe’s to finish – they were scheduled for 6th match on but 5 out of the 6 matches went to 3 sets!! Before Katie went on court we went through the goals and tactics for the match and then at just after 5pm it was game time.

The wind had been picking up all day and by the time Katie and Chloe Ouellet-Pizer (USA) went on court to face wildcards Francesca Di Lorenzo (USA) & Caroline Dolehide (USA) the conditions were very difficult.

The first 6 games went with serve and even though Francesca and Caroline were playing some strong doubles, Katie and Chloe were holding their own and working hard to stay in the set. At *3-3 Chloe was broken following a sudden death deuce game, Francesca held well and then Katie was broken, again to sudden death deuce, which saw the girls lose the first set 6-3. There wasn’t a lot between both teams during the first set but when it came to the big points Francesca and Caroline just managed to edge them.

The start of the second set was a little flat; the strong wind meant that it had got quite cold and that made it even more difficult to get going. At *1-2 Katie and Chloe upped their levels and, after Chloe held serve well, they broke Caroline for the first time. At that stage I really thought that it was going to be a big turning point in the match but unfortunately Francesca and Caroline played a very good game on Katie’s serve to break her to love. Once they had that break back they increased their play again and won the next three games (two to sudden death deuce) to take the match 6-3, 6-3. Overall there were 5 sudden death deuce games in the match which shows how close it was – unfortunately Katie and Chloe only won 1 of those games!

Despite the loss there were lots of positives from the match including Katie raising her doubles level in the second set to move across the centre line 13 times (10 / set was our goal) and also finish 8 first volleys (8-10 was our goal). It was just a shame for our girls that they came up against a strong pair today who played good doubles throughout.

The match finished at 6pm and after a quick debrief with Katie we headed straight to the gym so that Katie could cool down and stretch out to maximise her recovery before tomorrow’s singles match.

We then went straight back to the hotel and straight into dinner which was thankfully the best meal of the day – chicken, mash potato and fresh vegetables – finally a hot meal!!

Schedule for tomorrow:

(11) Katie Swan (GBR) (109) vs Elysse Graci (USA) (275) – 4th match after 8am

USA U18 ITF Grade 1, Day 3

Monday 31st March 2014

It was a very good start to Katie’s tournament today as she fought very tough conditions to win her 1st round match.

We started the day with breakfast at 7.30am and, following the problems with dinner last night, we managed to get a full buffet breakfast rather than just the normal ‘boxed’ breakfast due to the tournament supplying us with the wrong tickets!!

We then headed over to the site at 8.15am and started our physical warm-up on court at 9am. As always, it is the player that should dictate the pre-match tennis warm-up before their match so that they feel comfortable and ready to compete. That meant that my role this morning was mainly just a hitter but Katie and I did talk about specific tactics that we wanted to implement in the match as the session went on. Katie looked very good on the practice court and after about 35 minutes she felt ready to go.

As the two matches before Katie’s dragged on a little (the first match, which was finished in straight sets, took 2 and a half hours!) she didn’t end up going on until just before 12.45pm to face Jenna Friedel and by that time the wind had really started to pick up.

As I said yesterday, I’ve known Jenna since she played against Mia Smith and Georgie Axon in Guadeloupe last April but when she started the match it was obvious she’d improved a lot since then. The first two games went with serve as both girls played some very solid tennis but then it was Katie that raised her level first to hold well and take a 2-1 lead. Jenna responded straight away to level the set and then the next game ended up being the most important game of the set. Katie raised her game once again to start to produce the same level that we’d seen on the practice court over the last two days and, even though she was broken to love, it was only because she missed the final shot of the rally 4 times by a matter of centimetres. Because she knew that she was playing the right way she responded very professionally and that led her to break back in the next game, hold and then go 40-15 up on Jenna’s serve at 4-3*. Jenna fought back with some big hitting of her own to hold serve but the momentum was definitely with Katie who went on to hold serve to love and then break to love to take the first set 6-4 in an hour.

Katie’s ‘Good Year’ continues!

That set from Jenna was the best I had ever seen her play and as the second set began I got the feeling that while Katie’s confidence increased, Jenna’s dropped a little. The second set ended up being quite one sided and saw Katie win 5 games in a row from *1-1 to take the set 6-1. During that set Katie only lost 3 points on serve and one of those was a random miss-hit to double fault on match point!

It was a very good start to the tournament and both Katie and I were very pleased with the level she played at against a very tricky opponent in very windy conditions. After the match Katie went off to shower and change while I headed to court 10 on the other side of the site to watch Katie’s next round opponent.

Following that match we both headed to the gym so that Katie could have a good cool down and stretch out. By the time we had finished in the gym it was around 4pm and the doubles draw had been released:

Girl’s Doubles Draw

At 5.30pm Katie and I met in the lobby of the hotel to go through her match in detail and then at 6.15pm we headed to the hotel restaurant for a well-deserved dinner – thankfully the hotel was ready for us tonight!

After dinner Katie got stuck into some Algebra while I updated the website with new pictures and the doubles draw – check out the Facebook page and give it a ‘Like’ – only 6 more needed to hit 600! www.facebook.com/itctennis1.

Schedule for tomorrow:

(WC) Francesca Di Lorenzo (USA) & Caroline Dolehide (USA) vs (8) Chloe Ouellet-Pizer (USA) & Katie Swan (GBR) – 6th match after 8am (not before 3pm)

USA U18 ITF Grade 1, Day 2

Sunday 30th March 2014

Happy Mother’s Day to all the British Mum’s out there!

We had another very good training day today as we put the final touches to our preparation before main draw starts tomorrow.

As Katie had a long 19 hour day yesterday we decided that she would have a bit of a lie in today and so we met at breakfast at 8am. We then headed over to the tournament site and went through our physical warms up and a few footwork drills before getting on court at 10am. Once again Katie produced a very high level of training and she really built on the areas of her game that we had discussed yesterday. We spent the first 45 minutes hitting together where she warmed up and then went through some specific work based around her aggressive gamestyle before finishing the session by playing some points with Emilie Francati from Denmark.

Once we were done we headed over to the main football stadium to shower and change and then headed off site for lunch at Panera Bread – the food was pretty good but the portions were a little small for us!!

For our afternoon session we were once again joined by CiCi Bellis and, like yesterday, we knew that we were going to have a very good hour of practice with her. Katie and CiCi worked very hard together and it was great to see two girls putting everything into their training for the whole of the session. The format of the training today was almost identical to yesterday; the girls drilled for around 30-40 minutes at a very high level and then we finished the session with a service game each from either end of the court to get used to the windy conditions.

Katie looking strong behind her return of serve today against CiCi

Once we had finished Katie and I sat down on the grass behind the practice courts to discuss the session in detail and also talk through the main areas we want to focus on tomorrow in her first round match. We then headed to the Velodrome to go through a light fitness session that is part of Katie’s fitness programme when she is on the road. I always find that a major difference between the juniors and the pros is the amount of physical training they do when on the road a tournaments – juniors tend to view their training as just on court hitting balls and the stretching whereas the pros know that they need to keep maintaining their strength and conditioning even when playing high level events. Even though the session for today was reasonably light it was still a very beneficial session and was an important part of Katie’s preparations for this week.

After the session we cooled down and went through a thorough stretching session to make sure that Katie would recover well for tomorrow. By the time we had finished in the gym it was around 5pm and, after checking that sign-in and everything had been completed, we headed back to the hotel.

We were both pretty hungry tonight and were looking forward to the hospitality buffet dinner but due to a mix up with the hotel and the tournament there wasn’t any meals arranged!! Rather than wait two hours until they sorted something out we headed across the road to Chipotle (along with half the players!) to have a very good meal there! During dinner the draw came out and Katie plays Jenna Friedel from America who I know well from the events in the Caribbean last year.

Girls Singles Main Draw

Schedule for tomorrow:

(11) Katie Swan (GBR) (109) vs Jenna Friedel (USA) (193) – 3rd match after 8am (not before 10.30am)

USA U18 ITF Grade 1, Day 1

Saturday 29th March 2014

It was an excellent first day of preparation here in Carson, USA today and despite Katie having to wake up at 2am local time to get a flight to LA, she worked extremely hard on and off the court.

My trip began yesterday as I left London for the 11 hour flight to Los Angeles but Katie Swan, who lives in Wichita, Kansas, had a very early start this morning to get a 6.30am (4.30am Los Angeles time!) flight out here.

I met Katie at the airport at just after 7.30am and then we headed straight back to the hotel so she could check in and get some breakfast! We then headed over to the USTA training centre for western USA which is also the tournament site for the week. The site is huge and includes the StubHub Centre which is where the LA Galaxy plays their football (not soccer!!) games.

At just after 10.30am we headed into the USTA gym which is located at one end of the cycling track in the Velodrome – very impressive:

One of our offices for the next week!

We went through an extended warm up to try and get the 3 hour flight out of Katie’s system and then spent the next hour going through firstly a footwork session, and then finished with some speed work to get Katie really sharp.

Katie going through some footwork exercises in the gym

Katie worked really hard in the session and it’s obvious that her hard work and excellent attitude are two of the main reasons why in the last 12 months she’s gone from having no ranking to now being a few places outside the top 100.

After lunch it was time for our first on court session and because all of the 19 USTA courts were being used for matches we have to use the college courts which are around a 7-8 minute walk away. It might seem like a short distance but a sign like this one makes it a little more difficult!!

Err . . .

From 2-3pm Katie and I had a really good session; she adjusted well to the conditions and even though the first session at a new tournament venue should be spent just getting used to the surface, balls, environment etc. Katie did all that within about 10 minutes! That left us a good 45-50 minutes to go through a lot of the areas that we had talked about over lunch which were based on notes I had made from watching her play in South Africa recently. Katie worked very hard throughout the session and found a superb intensity which in turn transferred into a very high level of hitting.

Shortly after our session we were back on court from 3.30 – 4.45pm with CiCi Bellis from San Francisco. CiCi is currently the 2nd highest ranked 1999 year of birth player in the U18 ITF rankings (Katie is currently 8th!) and so I was really looking forward to another high level session. The girls didn’t disappoint; after warming up we went through some drills and the level the girls produced would have easily been comfortable at a $10k / $25k tournament. After around 40 minutes of drilling the girls decided to play a couple of service games each to finish the session. Once again the standard was very high and at 2-2 the players could not be separated (I think Katie edged it though … but I am biased!!!).

Katie serving against CiCi during the points this afternoon

When we were finished we headed back to the gym to cool down and then I took Katie through some stretching and injury prevention work to make sure she recovers well from all of the training. While we were doing that the cyclist were training on the track and it was amazing to see not only the abled-bodied athletes train but also some of the Paralympic team – one athlete only had one leg and I’m sure he was going twice as fast as I would have been able to go with two!

After a quick shower and change at the hotel we went off to dinner at Benihana’s where the food was very good. We weren’t able to get a table where the chef cooks everything in front of you as it was very busy on a Saturday night but it was still a fantastic meal.

My day wasn’t quite finished there though and after talking through the plan for tomorrow with Katie I headed to the gym at 9.45pm for a 7.5 mile run! There are now just 2 weeks to go before the London Marathon and this year I’m running for the amazing Make-A-Wish UK. If you are able to support me and help to put a smile on the face of a child with a life-threatening illness please click on the link below – THANK YOU!

South Africa U18 ITF Grade 2 (week 2), Day 5

Wednesday 12th March 2014

One win and one loss today saw the end of our tournament here in South Africa but there have been lots of learning points and Ben has developed well over the two weeks.

Under normal circumstances, as soon as one of the players has lost in the singles on one of my trips they treat the rest of the week as a training week alongside their doubles matches. That means that if they just had one doubles match in the day, they would train for at least an hour and a half on the court and also go through their normal strength and conditioning programme off the court. However, due to the injury that Ben has sustained to his arm it has not been possible for him to do a lot of training and it was important that he saved his arm for his doubles matches.

With that in mind Ben had a lie-in this morning while I got up early again to get another run completed at the gym. It was a hard one today; 15 miles on a running machine can never be classed as enjoyable but raising money to help very sick children helps to motivate me every day – please sponsor me – www.justgiving.com/robslondonmarathon2014.

I met Ben at 10.30am at the club and, as he had missed breakfast at the hotel, he wanted to have an early lunch to make up for it. We therefore headed over to Beef Boys Grill at 11.30am and had a good lunch of chicken breasts and baked potato before walking back to the club. We then warmed up at 1pm and went through some movement and speed work before we started hitting.

Ben working hard during a fan drill (not hard enough though as I beat him!)

We then hit for around 25 minutes but due to the tightness and pain in Ben’s right forearm we had to make sure that the session remained light. When we were done Ben released the muscles in his forearm again and then iced it to try and reduce the inflammation. Up until that time in the day the weather had been really nice . . . but then the rain came down for the next 45 minutes!

Luckily there was quite a bit of wind today and the sun came out immediately after it stopped raining so by 4.30pm the courts were completely dry.

After warming up, Ben and David went on court at 4.45pm to conclude the match that they started on Monday and they didn’t waste any time in finishing the match off! They broke Michael straight away and then David held serve well to win the match 6-4, 6-1. Ben’s arm was a little sore on returning but fortunately he didn’t have to serve.

As Ben and David were already warm they decided to go straight into the next match which, like last week, had been changed to short sets up to 4 games due to the weather. This week in the ¼ finals they faced 3rd seeds Lloyd Harris and Brandon Laubser from South Africa and before the match I was very confident that Ben and David would come through it with a win. However, from the opening game the South African’s played very well and Ben and David didn’t quite find the form they did last week. To all of our surprise in the second game of the match Brandon walked to the back of the court and then was violently sick all over the court! Due to the mess the boys had to change courts and when they restarted Ben and David broke back to level the set. Ben served in the next game and was also broken but Lloyd finally held serve first to give them a 3-1* lead. David then held serve after another close game and then Brandon, who had recovered extremely well from being sick, held to take the first set 4-2.

Ben and David in their 1/4 final vs Lloyd and Brandon – how many tennis balls can you see??

In the second set the South African’s continued to dominate and even though the first two games went against serve they went on to take the second set 4-1. Both Ben and David were very disappointed when they finished but Ben said that he was really struggling with his arm and that really affected his serve.

Once Ben had iced his arm, he cooled down and stretched out in the gym and then, as it was almost 7pm, we walked over to the restaurant for dinner.

After dinner we headed back to the hotel to change our flights and get ready to leave tomorrow.

It’s been a good two weeks of competing, learning, improving and dealing with difficult situations both in terms of the altitude / conditions and dealing with injuries. Overall Ben has worked hard and despite some difficult draws he has remained positive and got some good results in the doubles.

My next trip will be to the U18 ITF Grade 1 in Carson, USA at the end of March, so until then . . .

South Africa U18 ITF Grade 2 (week 2), Day 4

Tuesday 11th March 2014

It was a hard fought match for Ben today and despite being a break up in both sets he unfortunately couldn’t convert his chances.

The later start time today meant that we could get the shuttle bus at 6.45am and have breakfast at the restaurant at 7am. We then walked over to the club and at 7.30am started to go through our own physical warm up so that we were ready to hit from 8 – 8.30am. As we watched Isa play yesterday, and played a practice set with him on Sunday, our warm up was based around what Ben would need to do to beat him. I mixed in a lot of higher balls as Isa has a very spinny forehand and also sliced a lot to Ben’s forehand as we knew that Isa rarely drives his backhand. After also warming up volleys, serves and returns Ben felt good and was ready for the match.

Due to  the courts being a little wet the match didn’t start until 9.45am but as soon as it did Ben played a good game to break Isa’s serve to take a *1-0 lead. Ben was broken straight back in the next game and even though the next 3 games went with serve I felt as though the tactics Ben was using were excellent. He was much more aggressive than in his previous 2 singles matches; hitting 5 winners in the first 4 games and he was also prepared to move up the court whenever he got the chance. However, at *2-3 Isa raised his level considerably and started to produce a lot more winners from the back of the court. In response to that, Ben tried to hit a little more aggressively but it lead to too many unforced errors and at the next change of ends Ben was 5-2* down.

The rain then started and play was suspended which gave me a chance to talk to Ben. I explained that tactically he was doing the right things and his hitting level was very good so neither of those things needed to change. What did need to change was his consistency at the level he was playing at and Ben totally agreed.

At just after 11am the courts started to dry out so Ben and I went on court to hit a few balls so that he was completely warm when the match restarted and then at 11.30am play resumed. Ben lost his serve in the next game to lose the first set 6-2 but we both knew that the score line didn’t reflect how close the set actually was.

In the second set Ben again had an early advantage when he broke Isa at 1-1* and at 2-2* but on both occasions he couldn’t hold on to his serve in the next game. From 3-3* until *5-6 the set went with serve and despite Ben having numerous break point opportunities we wasn’t able to convert any of them due to the high level that Isa produced on the big points. Ben showed a lot of character throughout that period and not only did he deal well with not being able to convert his break points but he also saved a match point when he was serving at *4-5. At *5-6 Ben had a service game that he will want to forget; first an unforced error from the back of the court and then 3 double faults in a row handed Isa the match 6-2, 7-5.

Even though it was the best match that Ben had played on the trip, both of us know that he has got a higher level within him and maybe the determining factor with all of Ben’s matches has been how well he has been able to deal with the balls and the altitude. Most of the other players have found it difficult to play their games but Ben has really struggled with his serve and also his forehand following his forearm injury.

Once we had eaten lunch we walked back to the club and literally as we entered the clubhouse a heavy downpour started. After about 30 minutes of continual heavy rain the referee decided that the courts would not dry out and so he cancelled play for the day at 3pm.

While most of the players raced to try and get the 3pm shuttle bus back to the hotel, Ben and I went straight into the gym to make the most of the time we had this afternoon. Ben went through a good strength session and then had a long stretch out while I did some intervals on the running machine to keep my marathon training up to date. We both then got the 5pm bus back to the hotel to relax before dinner.

I’d been looking forward to tonight’s dinner all day as I remembered how good the chicken pie was last week and we weren’t disappointed even though the pasta that accompanied the chicken pie was not the best!

Once we got back to the hotel both Ben and I tried to get some work done but once again the internet is not working! Normally it’s ok once all of the players have gone to bed so hopefully I’ll be able to get the Blog online then.

Schedule for tomorrow:

Ben Stride (GBR) & David Volfson (CAN) vs Hubert Badenhorst (RSA) & Michael Copeland (RSA) – To Finish (6-4, 4-1*), Not Before 1pm

Due the possibility of David having 2 singles matches tomorrow there is only 1 doubles match scheduled.

South Africa U18 ITF Grade 2 (week 2), Day 3

Monday 10th March 2014

It was a very good day today as Ben won his first round singles and is currently a set and 4-1 up in the doubles when rain stopped play.

We had our earliest start of the trip this morning when Ben and I met for breakfast at 6.15am. Due to the early start we had to have breakfast at the hotel rather than at the restaurant as breakfast only started there at 7am and that wouldn’t have given us enough time to warm up. The hotel breakfast was still good and it meant that by 7am we were at the club warming up for our 7.30am practice session.

We only had a short training session on court as we didn’t want to aggravate Ben’s arm before he played his match. We still went through everything that Ben needed to and included some specific work on Ben’s groundstrokes. The only thing we really cut short was the amount of serving and returning we did as that was the area that caused Ben the most discomfort.

After talking through Ben’s goals and tactics for the match, he went on court at just after 8.30am to play lucky loser Hubert Badenhorst from South Africa. Ben’s tall opponent looked a little dangerous in the warm up but after the first 3 games went with serve, Ben got a break and then took control of the set. Ben was hitting well from the back of the court and anytime that Hubert came into the net Ben passed him with excellent accuracy. The only bad game that Ben played in the set was when he served for the match at *5-1 but he responded professionally and broke straight back to take the set 6-2.

The second set was a little closer but I always felt that Ben was in full control of the match. At *1-1 a few too many unforced errors cost Ben his serve again but he again responded well and took the next 4 games in a row to lead 5-2*. The games up until that stage had been quite close so it was no surprise when Hubert held serve and then went break point up on Ben’s serve in the next game. Having worked on Ben taking his time between points and ‘re-setting’ after unforced errors over the past week, I was really pleased to see him do that in a match and I think that helped him to save the break points and close out the match 6-2, 6-3.

Having only had 1 singles match last week it was good to get through the first round this week and I’m sure as the tournament progresses Ben’s performances will get better and better.

Following his singles match I did want to get Ben straight on the practice court to work on a few specific areas but his arm was a little sore so we thought it was best to see the physio instead. We then watched the majority of his next round opponent’s match which saw Isa Mammetgulyyev come through a very close match with 7th seed Xander Veys from Belgium. We trained with Isa yesterday and the boys had a very close practice set so we’re feeling confident going into the match tomorrow.

After a good lunch of chicken wraps and salad, we went back to the tennis centre to get ready for Ben and David’s first round doubles match. Ben saw the physio again to get his arm warmed up and strapped and then we hit for about 10 minutes just to test it out – Ben was actually hitting a great ball and he said his arm felt much better.

Boy’s Doubles Draw

At 1.30pm Ben and David went on to face Hubert Badenhorst (again!) and Michael Copeland from South Africa. Ben and David started unbelievably well and won the first 14 points in a row with some very good returning and very sharp volleying. They were in full control at *5-1 up but all of a sudden Ben was broken and then their opponents started to gain a bit of momentum. At 5-4* it looked as though Hubert and Michael were going to level the set but, for a third consecutive time, Ben and David won the sudden death deuce point to take the first set 6-4.

At the start of the second set the rain started to fall lightly but all four players were happy to continue so Ben and David didn’t waste any time in taking a 4-1 lead. They were back to playing like they did in the first five games of the first set but then the rain go a lot heavier and the referee stopped play.

As soon as the rain came down the referee announced that there would be no play before 4.30pm but soon after that the rain continued to get heavier so play was cancelled for the day. Rather than waste the afternoon, Ben and I went straight into the gym; I had a good run on the running machine while Ben did some light weights and then both of us had a long stretch out.

The rain was still pouring down as we waited for the 5pm bus back to the hotel but luckily we managed to get on the first bus back – it’s becoming a bit of a scrum-down to get on the shuttle buses this week but we seem to have our tactics sorted now!

At 6.15pm we headed off to dinner and even though neither of us was looking forward to chicken thighs and drumsticks, it was actually much nicer than last week – especially as we had some roast potatoes with it!

Schedule for tomorrow:

Isa Mammetgulyyev (TKM) (285) vs Ben Stride (GBR) (251) – 1st match at 9am

Ben Stride (GBR) & David Volfson (CAN) vs Hubert Badenhorst (RSA) & Michael Copeland (RSA) – To Finish (6-4, 4-1*), Not Before 1pm

Winner of the Doubles to play either (3) Lloyd Harris (RSA) & Brandon Laubser (RSA) OR Tiago Cacao (POR) & Alessandro Ricci (CZE)

South Africa U18 ITF Grade 2 (week 2), Day 2

Sunday 9th March 2014

It was the last day of training today before the main draw starts tomorrow and once again the hard work that Ben has been putting in on the practice court is showing in his performances.

To make sure Ben was fresh for tomorrow he had a lie-in this morning while I got up early to make sure we could book practice courts for the morning and the afternoon. Ben then met me at the club at 10.15am and after he had warmed up we went through a movement session for 15 minutes to make sure he was feeling sharp and ready to go for the training session. Jd Malan then joined us for the session which lasted just under an hour.

Ben carving into a slice backhand during the morning session

I always think that the player should dictate exactly what he / she does on the day before their match and after warming up, playing some points out of the hand and then finishing with a couple of service games each, Ben felt as though each area of his game was at the level he wanted it to be at.

Ben cooled down and stretched out after the session and then we headed over to Beef Boys Grill for our lunch. As hospitality didn’t start until this evening we were able to choose our lunch from the menu which we were both very happy about!

Our afternoon session started with a warm up at 2.40pm and then a very good point play session with Isa Mammetgulyyev from Turkmenistan at 3pm. Once the boys had warmed up they went straight into a set and even though Ben lost it 6-4 it was a very good throughout. His arm was a still feeling a slightly tight and so he was holding back on his serve a little bit but from the back of the court he was hitting very aggressively.

Ben and Isa mid-way through their set this afternoon

Once we were finished Ben saw the physio and then iced his arm before signing in for the main draw. We then cooled down and stretched out and, rather than waiting another hour for the next shuttle bus, we managed to get a lift back to the hotel with Dylan and his coach.

During the time we were at the hotel there was a massive thunderstorm that actually ended with huge hailstones coming down which set off car alarms in the car park! By the time we were ready to leave for dinner the car park outside the hotel and the main road was almost completely submerged in water!

Now that hospitality has started we’re back to not knowing what we will be served for dinner – tonight was beef stroganoff, I thought it was good but Ben wasn’t too keen!

When we arrived back at the hotel the draw had been done and the order of play was out but unfortunately the referee hasn’t sent it to me yet so I can’t upload it – here’s an unofficial copy!

Boy’s Singles Main Draw

Schedule for tomorrow:

Ben Stride (GBR) (251) vs (LL) Hubert Badenhorst (RSA) (895) – 1st match at 8.30am

Doubles to follow in the afternoon after the draw has been made.

South Africa U18 ITF Grade 2 (week 2), Day 1

Saturday 8th March 2014

It was a very good day of preparation today as Ben continues to improve and work hard on and off the court.

Over the last few days we’ve been up early each morning so, with the main draw only 2 days away, it was very important that Ben feels fresh and is well rested before he plays on Monday. With that in mind we decided that Ben would have a lie-in and would meet me at the courts after breakfast while I got up early and got in a good run for 1 hour 10 minutes.

At 10.30am we headed over to the school courts as all of the courts at the club were being used for qualifying. Ben then went through his physical warm up and then at 11am he went on court with his doubles partner, David Volfson, for a very good training session. The boys warmed up and then drilled for the first 25 minutes before going into a practice set to work on their games while playing under a bit of pressure.

Ben and David training today at the school courts

Ben’s serving was very impressive throughout the set this morning; his 1st serve averaged 71% while the double faults that haunted him last week were reduced to just 1 in 5 service games. Ben was also much more aggressive from the back of the court and was only 1 winner short of our target of 10. After the set was finished David’s coach, Bruno, and I took on Ben and David in a match tie-break for the forfeit of ‘butts-up’. Bruno and I dominated the tie-break but somehow David and Ben managed to squeeze out an 11-9 victory – luckily their serves were off target on the ‘butts-up’!

Just as we were about to leave for lunch the French team decided to challenge us at some tennis football but it was anything but easy as the ball that Ben bought was more like a beach ball rather than a football!

While walking to the restaurant for lunch the Heavens opened and a huge thunderstorm came down but luckily by the time we had finished lunch and returned to the club the courts were almost dry.

At 3.30pm Ben warmed up again and then went on court with Jd Malan from South Africa for his second on court session of the day. The aim of the session was to again work on the quality of Ben’s groundstrokes as well as focus a lot on his return of serve and he did exactly that. The boys drilled for around 15 minutes before going into some points from the back of the court. They then warmed up some serves and finished the session with 2 service games each which again helped both of them to work on all of the areas of their games under a bit of pressure.

By 4.30pm we were finished so Ben went off to see the physio to loosen up his arm while I had a good stretch out on court. We then headed back to the hotel to shower and change before it was back to Beef Boy’s Grill for a good steak dinner!

South Africa U18 ITF Grade 2 (week 1), Day 8

Friday 7th March 2014

Today was supposed to be our rest day and we had planned to spend most of the time at a lion farm but due to a mix-up with the tour company and the tournament, the tour only lasted about 2 hours!

Due to the tour leaving the hotel at 9.15am we had to be up reasonably early (much to Ben’s disappointment!) at 8am to get over to the restaurant for breakfast and then back in time to leave. The journey to the lion farm was only about 30 minutes and at the time we thought that was a bit quick as the itinerary had said over an hour.

When we arrived we met one of the owners on the family run farm and he started off by handing each of us one of the 8 week old cubs to hold. He then showed us around the site and fed some of the older cubs some chickens that had been donated from other local farms. The guide told us that the adult lions will either eat one chicken per day or if they have a dead cow or horse donated then that will last them around a week!

Some of our pictures from the lion farm today

 

Next we saw the two cheetahs that they had and we were very impressed at how fast the female sprinted off with her chicken while the male tried to catch her! Lastly we were taken across one of the pens to where the male lions were kept and again were treated to watching them devour their food for the day.

Once we got back to the entrance we thought that we had more things planned for the day but our driver said that was it and that he would now take us back to the hotel . . . at 10.45am!! It later turned out that the tour that was advertised was to another farm that was much further away so now we’re waiting for most of our money back!

Ben and I decided to have lunch at 12.30pm and then as his arm was feeling much better we would have a light hit in the afternoon. Well, as it turned out our session at 3pm lasted all the way through until just after 5.30pm! Ben’s arm was feeling good and so we just kept working on his goals until he felt as though he was happy with all parts of his game. We worked a lot on keeping his arm loose on his groundstrokes as well as finding a better balance of pace and spin on his second serve before going into a lot of points with only second serves. We then finished off with some work on attacking short forehands to end a really good afternoon’s training.

After a reasonably quick turnaround at the hotel, Ben, Jazz and I headed to the restaurant for a well deserve dinner of curried chicken pasta – sounds a bit strange but it was actually pretty good.

After a hard week of training and competing we visited the local gelato shop after dinner where Ben and Jazz had a well-deserved scoop of ice cream . . . or 3!

Jazz and Ben not wasting anytime with their ice creams!

That brings our first week here in Potchefstroom to an end and now our attention firmly shifts to the next two days of preparation before the main draw of the 2nd week starts on Monday.

South Africa U18 ITF Grade 2 (week 1), Day 7

Thursday 6th March 2014

Due to the tightness in Ben’s arm we didn’t get to train at all on court today but we watched some good tennis and had a good workout in the gym this afternoon.

After a little bit of a lie in we got the 8.30am shuttle to the restaurant for breakfast before walking to the courts so that Ben could see the physio again and we could also watch Katie Swan play her semi-final against Hana Mraz from Slovenia.

Both players fought hard and had to come back from being down in both sets but Hana eventually came through the match 6-4, 6-4. It was looking as though Katie was going to level the second set after fighting back from 5-2 down but Hana played a good service game to close out the match.

Ben and I had lunch at 12pm and then the plan was to see how Ben felt with a racket in his hand to see whether we could train at 2pm but, as we expected, his arm was still very sore so we decided to hit the gym.

While I had a long run on the running machine, Ben completed 15 sets of interval sprints, did some lower body strength work and finished with a core and stretching session. When I was finished I joined Georgie Axon and Anastasia Mikheeva in the ice bath; the girls decided to go for 10 minutes straight while I decided to do some contrast bathing which involved 6 sets of 1 minute in the ice bath followed by 3 minutes in the warm swimming pool. I’m not sure whose was more difficult; the girls with the constant cold or me contracting the muscles and then getting pins and needles every time the fresh blood flowed back in once I entered the warm water!!

After showering and changing at the gym, we returned to the hotel and then headed next door to the supermarket to get some fruit and some chocolate milk to help our recovery.  It was then back off to Beef Boys Grill at 6.15pm for a very nice lasagne dinner before relaxing at the hotel for the rest of the evening.

We’re going to see how Ben’s arm is in the morning before deciding whether he can train or whether he needs a complete rest day. If he rests we have the option of going to a local Lion Farm in the morning . . . but that is weather dependant!!

South Africa U18 ITF Grade 2 (week 1), Day 6

Wednesday 5th March 2014

Despite winning one round of doubles and then losing in the ¼ Finals, it was a good day and Ben produced some of his best tennis since we arrived.

We were up early this morning to try to get a good practice session in before the forecasted rain came down and our timing could not have been much better! We warmed up just after 8.30am and then from 9-10.30am Ben had a really good training session with Dylan Foo-Kune. Ben found a much more relaxed swing from the back of the court and by doing so he increased his racket speed which resulted in him being able to control the more aggressive shots much better. Ben’s serve was also much more consistent which is just what we wanted before his 1st round doubles match.

Just as the boys were finishing the session the rain started . . . and it just kept getting heavier and heavier!

At 11am we decided to have an early lunch and then head back to the hotel rather than just sit at the club watching the rain come down! It also gave Ben a chance to complete some school work rather than having to do it in the evening when he’s got less time and is probably more tired!

At 3pm we headed back to the club to watch some of the singles matches including Katie, Maia and Anastasia’s ¼ finals. Maia and Anastasia had tight 3 set loses but Katie played very well and blew the number 3 seed away with a 6-1, 6-1 win.

Once Ben’s doubles partner had finished his singles match he had a short break to get some food before both boys got on court to warm up for their doubles match. Once again Ben was hitting well and we felt very positive going into the match against the 4th seeds.

At 6pm Ben and David Volfson from Canada went on court to face Courtney Lock from Zimbabwe and David Pichler from Austria. The first and the second set went by very quickly even though they were short sets up to 4. Ben served really well in the first set and after breaking serve at 2-1*, Ben served the set out to take it 4-1. However, in the second set the energy that Ben and David had in the first set dropped a little while their opponents were really fired up which lead to Courtney and David taking the set 4-1.

It wasn’t looking good at 0-2 down in the match tie-break but an unbelievable pass down the line from David following Courtney’s 1st serve really turned things around. From that point Ben and David won the next 5 points in a row to take a 6-2 lead and eventually they closed the set out 10-6. It was a good match to watch and I was really pleased that Ben put in a good performance against a good doubles team.

30 minutes later the boys were back on court for their ¼ final match against Ben Fatael from Israel and Jd Malan from South Africa. The first set was a little flat from both teams but it was Ben and Jd that managed to hold serve first after 5 breaks in a row to take the set 4-2. Ben and David then raised their levels both on return of serve and also when moving and finishing at the net which resulted in them taking the second set 4-1 . . . on to another match tie-break!

During the 2nd set Ben hit a big first serve at 1-1 and suddenly is right arm tightened up. He initially thought that he had been stung by an insect and as the set went on it got tighter and tighter. During the match tie-break Ben struggled with both his serve and his smash but despite taking a 7-5 lead the boys then lost 5 points in a row to go down 4-2, 1-4, 10-7. It was a tough loss and I thought Ben and David played the better tennis but, like always in tennis, it’s not over until the last point and Ben and Jd kept fighting until the end.

Straight after Ben finished the match he headed over to see the physio who said that he was very tight through his shoulders and forearm which was probably due to trying to hit more spin on the ball to control it at this altitude. After about 20 minutes of treatment we walked over to the restaurant to get some dinner at just after 9pm.

It was a long day today but both Ben and I were pleased with the level of tennis he produced in training and in his two matches. Hopefully his arm will be ok in the morning so that we can build on the good work he has been doing and get him fully prepared for his next match on Monday.

South Africa U18 ITF Grade 2 (week 1), Day 5

Tuesday 4th March 2014

It was a long day of watching the rain come down and fitting in some training between the rain showers before once again the doubles got cancelled.

Whilst Ben had a lie in this morning I was up at 6am to get the first shuttle bus over to the university so that I could run before breakfast. Despite the running machine switching off after only 30 minutes I eventually managed to complete a full hour and cover just over 7.5 miles with the help of watching the Karate Kid on my phone!

Once I had stretched, showered and changed I walked over to meet Ben at the restaurant for a well-deserved breakfast at 8.45am. As the rain was still pouring down we took our time over breakfast and then headed back to the club to find that it wasn’t raining there and the courts were starting to dry out!

By 11am the matches were on and, after watching some of Ben’s first round opponent play his next match, we got on court at 11.30am to warm up for our 12pm practice session. We only had the court booked for half an hour but in the end we trained for just over an hour and a half and managed to work on all of the specific areas that we had talked about from Ben’s match yesterday. We worked specifically on developing more controlled aggression on Ben’s groundstrokes before moving on to focus on him moving forwards and then ended the session by working on his 2nd serve. It was a really good training session and hopefully gave Ben a lot more confidence playing aggressively at this altitude.

When we left the court the rain started again and so we decided to head to Beef boys to get some lunch. The lunch, like the dinner, changes every day and today it was fish and chips but because neither Ben nor I are a fan of fish we arranged at breakfast this morning to get chicken instead!

The rest of the afternoon was spent wondering if the courts would dry out before the next rain shower came along, but at 3.45pm it poured down again so play was cancelled for the day.

Click here to see the video of what we get up to during the rain breaks!

That gave us a chance to get into the gym at the university and have a good workout for an hour before the last shuttle back to the hotel at 5pm. Ben went through some band work before joining me (and the Loughborough university cricket squad who are touring in South Africa) on the lifting platform to complete some lower body work. We both then had a good stretch out before going back to the hotel.

It was a fairly quick turnaround before we were back out for dinner which tonight was chicken pie, spaghetti and another mountain of salad! We then returned to the hotel and Ben got stuck into some of his college work while I sat down to update the website and reply to some emails.

Schedule for tomorrow:

Ben Stride (GBR) & David Volfson (CAN) vs (4) Courtney Lock (ZIM) & David Pichler (AUT) – 4th match, not before 1.30pm

South Africa U18 ITF Grade 2 (week 1), Day 4

Monday 3rd March 2014

It was a rollercoaster of a first round match today for Ben against the number 3 seed and, after over 2 and a half hours in hot and windy conditions, the result unfortunately didn’t go his way.

As Ben was scheduled for 4th match on we had breakfast just after 8.30am and then walked the short distance from the restaurant to the club at around 9am. We then supported the four British girls that were all scheduled first on until 10.30am when it was time for Ben to get warmed up for his practice session. Ben and I hit from 11 – 11.40am and went through the normal pre-match routine of warming up groundstrokes, volleys, smashes, serves and returns whilst reinforcing the tactics that would be needed for Ben’s match. Ben was striking the ball well during the session and has been looking good since the first day we arrived here so we had high expectations for his first round match.

Before we left site to get some lunch we secured a ‘not before time’ from the referee to make sure that Ben wasn’t called for his match while we were away and then,  after a good buffet lunch of either chicken or steak wraps, it was time to go back to the courts to get ready for the match.

At 1pm Ben took to the court to face number 3 seed David Poljak from Czech Republic. Even though we had trained with David yesterday and knew exactly what to expect, the first few games didn’t go as planned!

Ben (left) and David (right) warming up for their match on the 2nd court

Ben was 40-15 up in the first two games of the first set but couldn’t take his chances and eventually went *0-3 down. Ben then settled down, increased his first serve percentage and fought hard to hold, break and hold again to level the set at 3-3*. Ben then broke David at 4-4* and, whilst serving for the set at *5-4, he was*30-0 up but a few double faults cost him the chance to close out the set. The boys eventually went into a tie-break and again it was Ben that looked in control at 5-3* but David came back to win the next 4 points in a row to take it 7-5.

Ben was obviously disappointed with the result of the first set, especially as he felt he should have closed it out whilst serving at 5-4, but at the start of the second set he reset and straightaway raced to a 4-0 lead. A lapse of concentration leading to 3 unforced errors cost Ben his serve in the next game but after saving break points at *4-2 he eventually held on to lead 5-2*. David continued to make life difficult for Ben and after holding and breaking at 5-3 it was left to Ben to break his opponent again to take the set … which he did to Love!

Both boys took a break at the end of the second set either to get some cold drinks or to use the toilet and when they returned they had to deal with the introduction of new balls. There is a massive difference out here between using new balls and ones that are 10-15 minutes old but Ben played a good service game to take a 1-0* lead. David then held to level the set and then two changes had a massive impact on the outcome of the rest of the match. Firstly the wind picked up out of nowhere and secondly David completely changed his game plan and started to stay in the rally from the back of the court rather than look to finish points at the net. Both changes caused Ben to suddenly become a lot more erratic and after 17 unforced errors in 4 games he found himself 1-4* down. Ben tried to increase his level but by this stage David had rediscovered his confidence and started to take the ball on again which resulted in him finally taking the match 7-6(5), 4-6, 6-2.

Ben was obviously disappointed with the loss and felt as though he should have won the match after being up in the first set but credit has to go to David who fought very hard throughout and his first serve percentage and winner count were the real difference in the match.

Once Ben had cooled down, stretched out and eaten some food we started to prepare for his doubles match but at 4.45pm the rain that had been threatening for a couple of hours suddenly started. That saw the end of play for the day and once again it was a scrum down to get the shuttle busses back to the hotel – luckily Ben and Jazz managed to squeeze into one while I ended up getting a lift back to the hotel in the back of a pick-up truck!

By 6pm we were all very hungry so decide to get to the restaurant early for dinner but unfortunately it wasn’t the best meal tonight both in terms of size and quality! We can’t complain too much as it is free hospitality but hopefully it will improve as the week goes on!

Boy’s Doubles Draw

Schedule for tomorrow:

Ben Stride (GBR) & David Volfson (CAN) vs (4) Courtney Lock (ZIM) & David Pichler (AUT) – 4th match after 8.30am

South Africa U18 ITF Grade 2 (week 1), Day 3

Sunday 2nd March 2014

Today was a very good final day of preparation which actually saw Ben train with his first round opponent tomorrow – at least we know a lot about him now!

After an early start yesterday, today was more relaxed and we headed over to breakfast on the last shuttle bus at about 8.30am. The breakfast was pretty similar to yesterday; the Rice Krispies were still a bit strange and the scrambled egg was very yellow but all in all it wasn’t bad!

While Ben warmed up at around 10am I decided to have a good stretch out to try and loosen up some tight quads and hamstrings from the run yesterday. We then headed onto court to train with David Poljak from Czech Republic and the introduction of some new balls had both players struggling from the start. Around 15 minutes into the session the boys found their range and the quality of the drilling remained high throughout the session. For the last 25 minutes the boys played a couple of match tie-breaks; Ben won the first one with some excellent serving and returning but David managed to take the second one despite it still being close.

Ben returning David’s serve during the points this morning

As the tie-breaks were very serve dominated we decided to finish the session with some points off the ground which gave Ben more of a chance to get into a rhythm from the back of the court.

At 11.45am we headed over to the gym to cool down and have a stretch out and then soon after we walked to ‘Beef boys’ for lunch. Ben didn’t fancy the pork chops again after yesterday and I wasn’t too keen on the creamy pasta so we opted for one of the best meals we’ve had since we arrived which was just two grilled chicken breasts and a couple of baked potatoes  – happy days!

This afternoon Ben decided that he wanted to work on some specific areas of his game and as that’s not always possible when you are hitting with another player, I stepped up to train with him. We ended up being on court for just over an hour and by the time we finished the session with some points Ben was hitting very well – I’m still annoyed though that I didn’t close out our up to 11 when I was leading 5-1!!

Jasmine Asghar arrived this morning from London and after a short hit with another girl she came on court to hit with Ben for 20-25 minutes. It gave Ben a chance to hit a few more balls and also gave Jazz a bit more time on court to get used to the conditions before her first round tomorrow.

Ben & Jazz helping each other prepare for tomorrow’s 1st round matches

Once Ben had signed in and we’d both registered for our meals for the week we got a lift back to the hotel with Huibre and Louise Botes which did us a massive favour as otherwise we would have been waiting for ages for the shuttles to go backwards and forwards.

Dinner tonight was the first time that the restaurant had laid on a buffet and Ben, Jazz and I thought that the food was good. Others however, did not which meant that they made the shuttle driver stop at McDonald’s on the way back to the hotel – I won’t name names but I have no idea how players can eat that kind of food the day before their first round match!

Boy’s Singles Main Draw

 

Schedule for tomorrow:

Ben Stride (GBR) (247) vs (3) David Poljak (CZE) (93) – 4th match after 8.30am

Doubles 1st round not before 3pm (the draw will be released after the sign-in at 12pm tomorrow)

South Africa U18 ITF Grade 2 (week 1), Day 2

Saturday 1st March 2014

It was another good training day today despite the heavens opening at lunchtime and qualifying having to be suspended for the rest of the day.

As qualifying started today we had to be up early to make sure we were guaranteed a full court to practice on this morning. That meant a 7.15am meet in reception and then breakfast at 7.30am at ‘Fine Things’ restaurant. Some of the other players had told us that on previous mornings the breakfast had taken ages but I think now that the tournament has started the people at both the restaurants know what’s expected! Ours was pretty quick and after some scrambled egg on toast and some strange Rice Krispies we were feeling reasonable satisfied!

By 8.30am we were at the tennis centre warming up and preparing for our 9-10am practice session with Dylan Foo-Kune from Mauritius. Ben once again hit the ball well throughout the session and it gave him another chance to get used to the altitude both in terms of the bounce of the ball and also in terms of dealing with a higher intensity training session. Ben and Dylan warmed up for 30 minutes before going into some point play to get some match practice. They each played a couple of service games and after some strong serving and solid returning Ben took a 4-0 lead before the players for the 10am session arrived and took the court.

Ben taking on a forehand during the points

After cooling down and stretching out we had planned to get over to lunch for 11.30am but all of a sudden the rain came pouring down! While we waited for it to pass I decided to check out the North-West University gym which is just by the running track behind the courts. The gym was very impressive and, once we can register to use the facility on Monday, we’ll be making the most of it both for Ben’s maintenance programme and also for his recovery between matches – I’m not sure Ben’s going to be keen on ice bath though!

The gym at North-West University here in Potchefstroom – very impressive (and this is about 1/4 of it!)

Lunch wasn’t the best today; Ben had pork chops which were more bone than Pork and I had a very creamy chicken tagliatelle! Once we were done it was back to the court to prepare for our afternoon session with Jay Clarke but just after the boys had finished warming up the wind suddenly picked up and once again the courts got flooded by the rain.

We stayed at the club for a while to see if the rain would ease up but at around 3pm the tournament director cancelled play for the rest of the day and arranged for the mini-buses to take the players back to the hotel. While Ben got the bus back to catch up on a little sleep I decided to go for a little run to keep up with my marathon training. Do you remember those sports fields I told you about yesterday? Well one lap of the fields is 1.15 miles so after 5 of those and the distance from the club to the hotel I ended up doing just over 7.5 miles in 55 minutes – not the quickest average minute / mile but after training in England in the cold I was quite pleased to get through it at this altitude!

The rest of the afternoon was spent relaxing at the hotel and getting more supplies at the supermarket before going off to dinner at ‘Beef boys’ at 7pm. Dinner was much better than lunch and by the time we’d both finished both we felt rather full!

When we got back to the hotel Ben got stuck into some A-Level PE coursework while I replied to some emails and updated the website.

Final day of preparation tomorrow and hopefully the weather will be kinder to us – the week ahead isn’t looking good though!

South Africa U18 ITF Grade 2 (Week 1), Day 1

Friday 28th February 2014

We had a very long 28 hours of travelling and training but now we have finally settled in to our hotel for the next two weeks in Potchefstroom, South Africa.

After travelling across London during Rush Hour (much to the annoyance of the other underground users who had to squeeze in next to my two big bags!), I eventually got to Heathrow Terminal 3 at 6.45pm and met up with Ben Stride. Ben is based at the WIN Tennis Academy at Bisham Abbey and even though I’ve been to many international tournaments that Ben has competed in, this will be the first time that I will be working with him.

Once we had checked-in, we got some food and not before long it was time to board our flight to Johannesburg. The flight didn’t start well as we were stuck at the gate waiting for someone to move a broken down trolley cart but as soon as we got in the air everything went smoothly. I managed to stay awake to watch ‘Captain Phillips’ and ‘Prisoners’ which were both very good films before settling down to get a few hours sleep.

We arrived in Johannesburg just after 10am but after clearing passport control and collecting our bags we had to wait just over an hour before we could get on our shuttle bus as we had to wait for some of the other players to arrive.

A nice welcoming sign at Johannesburg airport!

I was actually looking forward to the 2 hour journey from J’burg to Potchefstroom as I wanted to check out some of the local scenery … unfortunately I slept the whole way!

When we arrived at the hotel we checked-in, got showered and changed and then walked to the supermarket next door to stock up on water and supplies. Then at 3.30pm we got a lift with another player to the North-West University where the tournament is being held.

The facility is very nice and I was really pleased to see a couple of big sports fields next to the tennis courts which will hopefully come in handy as I continue my marathon training (I’m sure the altitude will help too!).

At 4pm Ben and I warmed up and then had a really good training session for almost an hour and a half. Playing tennis at altitude is very different to playing at sea-level; for a start the balls are pressureless (Ben was very impressed with the cardboard box they came in!) and they move through the air much faster than normal. Players can also find breathing a little more difficult and can get more tired during training but Ben actually found it quite easy to adjust. He was striking the ball well and after the first 5 minutes of hitting a lot long he found his range both while hitting a heavy ball and also while hitting much flatter. We spent around 45 minutes drilling from the back of the court before moving onto volleys and smashes and finally finished the session with a lot of serving and returning.

We left the court at 5.45pm and straight away saw the familiar faces of Lucie Ahl and the GB girls’ team who had just finished training for the day. It was good to catch up with Lucie, Katie Swan, Georgie Axon, Maia Lumsden and Anastasia Mikheeva in the mini-bus on the way back to the hotel and after a quick shower and change we went out to dinner with the girls.

Being a Grade 2 ITF event, the tournament offer full hospitality for main draw players and even though the tournament hasn’t started yet, we still have all of our meals included in the hotel room rate. Dinner tonight was at ‘Beef Boys’ restaurant and the food was good – hopefully breakfast tomorrow will be better than the girls said today’s was!

It’s been a long 28 hours but it’s good to be settled in and feel comfortable with all of our surroundings … bring on training for the next two days!

Prague U18 ITF Grade 4, Day 5

Thursday 23rd January 2014

It was a disappointing final day of competition today in the Safina Cup as Holly and Sean Lodzki from Israel lost a very close 1st round doubles match.

We had another early start so that we could get to the club to practice but luckily the tournament director took my advice and scheduled the practice sessions in 20 minute slots. That meant there was plenty of space for everyone to warm up for their matches and less pressure to get a court before the matches started at 9am.

Holly hit with Anastasia from 8.20 – 8.40am and both girls hit well throughout the session. Marcel, Anastasia’s coach, had to leave at 8.30am to get a flight back to Edinburgh but it’s been good to spend the week with a coach who shares similar philosophies and beliefs to me.

After the session it was time for some school work for the players while watching some of the tennis from the Australian Open. I also had lots to do as my mobile phone decided to die last night and also my email account decided that it didn’t want to receive any emails people had sent me!!

During the day we tried to get on a practice court a few times but the club members had booked all of the hard courts so it was just a case of watching some of the singles matches and making sure we were well prepared for the doubles.

Holly and Sean went on court at 2.45pm to face Karolayne Alexandre Da Rosa from Brazil and Emilija Kravtaite from Lithuania. Despite the match starting quite slowly, and the energy level on the court being quite low from all 4 players, Holly and Sean broke in the first game and went on to take a 2-0 lead. Holly’s serve was then broken at *2-1and it looked as though the match was about to get a lot tougher. However, our girls responded well and won the next 4 games in a row to take the first set 6-2.

Holly lining up for a big forehand during the 1st set

During the 2nd set Holly and Sean upped their levels and started to talk a lot more which helped them to play the best 2 games of the match to go from *2-1 up to *4-1 up. Unfortunately, when it looked as though they were in full control of the match, they took their feet of the gas and started to play a lot more within themselves. There was less movement at the net and as the cross court rallies became more frequent it was obviously that their opponent’s confidence was growing. Holly and Sean were broken 3 times in a row and ended up losing 5 games in a row to go down 6-4.

Even though our girls had lost the second set I always felt as though if they could try and find a more aggressive level again then they would take the match tie-break. By this stage though Karolayne and Emilija were much more animated and were making most the balls that they had missed in the first set and a half of the match. With the score at *5-5 in the tie-break everything was looking close but then Holly and Sean fell *5-9 behind. They continued to fight and managed to claw the score back to *8-9 but a good point from their opponents saw them lose the match 2-6, 6-4, 10-8.

It was a really disappointing end to the week as Holly and Sean were in full control of the match at 6-2, 4-1 up but as always there were lots of things to learn from the match and I know the loss will make Holly even more determined to improve her game.

After dinner we said goodbye to Alex who flew back home tonight and Holly and I will return to England tomorrow evening. We won’t be taking it easy tomorrow though as we’ll be up at 6am again to get to the club and train from 7.30-9.30am before the matches start.

Overall the week has been tough in terms of results but very positive in terms of the players learning, developing and understanding what they now need to go home and work on before their next tournaments.

Until next time . . .

Prague U18 ITF Grade 4, Day 4

Wednesday 22nd January 2014

After Alex’s tough match yesterday, Holly had an even tougher one today as she faced number 1 seed Vendula Zovincova from Czech Republic.

Due to the referee deciding yesterday he would release the practice sheet before he released the order of play, it meant that all the courts were booked out within 10 minutes. The crazy thing was that there were actually only 40 spaces available for 64 players to book for practice – same old story at these lower grade ITFs!! Tomorrow they’ve taken my advice and just allowed 20 minutes for practice – not ideal but at least everyone gets a court.

Even though everyone had booked the courts we knew that some players wouldn’t turn up so we arrived at the club at 7.40am and warmed up until just after 8am. Alex managed to jump on court with one of the Czech boys but Holly and I waited until 8.30am when a court became free. Just as we started to hit Anastasia arrived so she took my place which meant that I could be at Holly’s end of the court for the whole practice session. Holly had been hitting great all week and again she had a really good 30 minute warm up to prepare herself for her match.

The next 3-4 hours followed the same pattern as yesterday morning; I got on with some work on the computer while Holly and Alex either watched some of the matches or watched Murray vs Federer. As soon as the match before Holly’s went on court we sat down to discuss tactics and then kept a close eye on the score so Holly knew when to start her physical warm up.

Holly went on at 1.45pm and even from the warm up we knew it was going to be a really tough match. I had watched Vendula train with Anastasia on Monday but in the match she was even more focused and determined and it was no surprise that she is ranked 159 ITF and in the 800s WTA. Holly knew she would need to step up to the baseline in every rally and keep her opponent under pressure, but that was very tough against a good player. Vendula broke Holly 3 times in the first set to take it 6-0 and even though many of the games were close it was always the Czech who played the big points better.

Holly fought hard throughout and in the second set she started to take a few more risks which gave her more opportunities to win games. Unfortunately she couldn’t capitalise on those chances until she was 0-4* down when she broke her opponent for the first time. A combination of a higher level of hitting and moving forwards to take Vendula’s time away worked really well. At *1-4 Vendula raised her level again to break Holly and then hold serve to take the match 6-0, 6-1. It was similar to Alex’s match yesterday in terms of they both played opponents who played a better version of their own games. Both were tough results to take but hopefully Holly and Alex have a clear understanding of what they now need to work on in their games to move up to the next level.

After Holly had some time to herself, we talked through the match and then I was really pleased that Holly asked if we could get back on court to do some more training to find the level needed. Holly trained with Anastasia (who was still waiting to go on for her match!) for 20 minutes and then with me for a further 20-25 minutes before it got too dark in the bubble – and there was no way the club would turn the lights on for us as we weren’t allowed on the court in the first place!!

Once Holly had cooled down and stretched out we went back to the hotel and then it was a quick turnaround so we could get out to dinner early.

At 7pm we walked into the Old Town to finally see the real Prague and we were all really impressed by the medieval buildings and narrow lanes that lead down to the river. We then walked across Charles Bridge and took some photos before heading back to the hotel at around 8pm.

The Prague Astronomical Clock (left) & The Church Of Our Lady Before Tyn (right) in the Old Square

 

Holly & Alex by the Charles Bridge (left) & the view of the bridge from the riverside (right)

 

Prague Castle from Charles Bridge

Alex fly’s home tomorrow so he won’t be competing in the doubles but here’s Holly’s draw:

Girl’s Doubles Draw

Schedule for tomorrow:

Karolayne Alexandre Da Rosa (BRA) & Emilija Kravtaite (LTU) vs Holly Horsfall (GBR) & Sean Lodzki (ISR) – 4th match after 9am, not before 2.30pm

Prague U18 ITF Grade 4, Day 3

Tuesday 21st January 2014

It was a very difficult opening match for Alex today as he came up against a player who had an almost identical game to his own, but just executed it better.

Holly Horsfall always takes a great deal of pride in the fact that trip after trip she never gets any forfeits for either misbehaving on court or being late when we arrange a time to meet. In fact she’s only ever been late once and that was on the very first day of her first trip in Austria last January . . . until today!

Alex and I were at breakfast this morning at 6.45am but after 5 or so minutes there was no sign of Holly. I thought it was very unlike her to be late so maybe she thought we were meeting at 7am for breakfast. However when she turned up at 6.56am barely able to open her eyes and hair like a bird’s nest we knew she’s overslept!!

We left the hotel at 7.20am and, after a quick stop at the local shop to get some water, we made our way via the Metro to the club. Alex and I then warmed up together until we got on our scheduled practice court at 8.30am while Holly hit with Frederica Sema. Alex had a really good 30 minute practice session and was feeling very positive by the time we finished our time on court.

Over the next 4 hours I got stuck into some planning for some upcoming trips while Alex and Holly relaxed, got some lunch and watched most of the Djokovic vs Wawrinka match.

At 12.45pm Alex warmed up and we discussed tactics for the match before he went on court at just after 1.15pm to face Czech wildcard Daniel Velek. During the warm up it was obvious that both players were hitting well and had similar gamestyles, so it was looking like it could be a close match. However, after a tight opening game that was 12 points long, Daniel seemed to settle into his rhythm first and after holding his opening service game, broke Alex to take a *2-0 lead. Alex continued to stick to his game plan as he was hitting the ball well but he just needed a little bit more on each shot to keep his opponent from getting a big strike in during the rally. At *0-5 Alex managed to raise his game and held serve but Daniel served well in the next game to take the set 6-1.

At the start of the second set I was hoping that Alex would take a few more risks in the rally to try and get on top but after losing his opening service game it was always going to be tough. The second set overall was better than the first and Alex managed to hit 5 times more winners, but in doing so his unforced error count also increased. In the end Alex went down 6-1, 6-1 to a player who was just physically stronger and hit at a higher level more consistently than Alex could. There were still a lot of positives to take from the match and I think it was great for Alex to come up against a player who plays in a very similar way to how he does – the goal now is for Alex to raise his level in every match / training session he has from now on.

After the match I had some lunch and talked through the match with Alex. His analysis was excellent and we shared exactly the same thoughts on how he played and how he needs to now develop his game.

As soon as I had finished eating Holly was chomping at the bit to get on court so, even though I could still feel my chicken pasta, we took to the court! We played in one of the bubbles for around 25 minutes and to be honest Holly was giving me an absolute lesson! Her level was superb throughout and in the points there wasn’t much I could do! We then moved over to the other bubble which has 3 courts in it and is being used for the tournament but this time it was my turn to dominate the points! Overall we had a really good session and Holly was feeling great about competing tomorrow.

We left the tennis centre at 5pm and after showering and changing at the hotel we left for dinner at 6.30pm. Dinner was once again at Coloseum; Holly stuck with her standard meatball pasta while Alex went for the Ecuadorian prawns and I had a really nice chicken breast with rosemary potatoes – everyone was a winner!

After the meal I decided we should have a little walk to explore the local area and we came across The Church of St Ludmila in Peace Square:

Holly and Alex in Peace Square

*Interesting fact* – the church houses the tomb of St. Wenceslaus (as in the carol “Good King Wenceslas”)

By the time we got back to the hotel the draw was out:

Girl’s Singles Main Draw

Schedule for tomorrow:

(1) Vendula Zovincova (CZE) (159) vs Holly Horsfall (GBR) (799) – 4th match after 9am, not before 12.30pm

Prague U18 ITF Grade 4, Day 2

Monday 20th January 2014

It was another good day of preparation today and Alex had the benefit of watching the whole of his opponents match before they play each other tomorrow.

The only practice courts available at the club were between 8-9am this morning so instead of getting up unnecessarily early we decided to join Anastasia Mikheeva and her coach, Marcel, at the Sparta Club for training this morning.

After negotiating the Metro and avoiding getting ripped off by an overpriced taxi, we arrived at the Sparta Club at about 9.15am. The club is a National Training centre and the court that we warmed up on had huge posters of the victorious Davis Cup and Fed Cup teams from 2011 and 2012 – not a bad motivator for Holly and Alex. Once we had warmed up we went into another tennis hall where we met Anastasia and Marcel. We then had a really good hour of drilling and point play where both Holly and Alex found really good levels throughout the session.

At 11am we were finished and so got a taxi back to the tournament site where we had some lunch and caught up on the action from the Australian Open. Due to there not being any practice courts available until 7pm we spent the rest of the afternoon watching different matches until Alex’s opponents went on court.

The match was won by wildcard Daniel Velek from the Czech Republic and throughout the match Alex and I talked and made notes on how we would play against him in the next round. After the match Holly and Alex went into the gym to go through their injury prevention programmes and then stretched out to end their training day.

Alex completing his band work while Holly goes through her core programme in the background

Dinner tonight was once again at Coloseum and it was another excellent meal; Holly and Alex stuck with the pasta while I gave the chicken pizza a try!

When we had finished dinner we went to the supermarket to stock up on some supplies for tomorrow and then headed back to the hotel to relax before having an early night.

Schedule for tomorrow:

(2) Alex Hagon (GBR) (821) vs (WC) Daniel Velek (CZE) (UNR) – 4th match after 9am

Prague U18 ITF Grade 4, Day 1

Sunday 19th January 2014

Welcome to the first Blog of 2014!

Last year was fantastic and hopefully this year will be even better as I try to help more players develop their games, gain more experience and increase their rankings.

For the first trip of the year I am joined by Alex Hagon and Holly Horsfall but the 7am meet at Gatwick airport this morning wasn’t necessarily something either of them had been looking forward to! Anastasia Mikheeva will also be joining the team on Wednesday but for now it is just the three of us!

Everything went smoothly as we left Gatwick and an hour and forty minutes later we arrived in Prague. For most of the flight I had my head down reading Court Confidential by Neil Harman which is a brilliant insight to the things you don’t necessarily read about on the Pro Tour – thanks Holly Hutchinson for a great Christmas present! However, as we started our descent I closed my eyes for a quick 10 minute nap and when I woke I had both Alex and Holly giggling at the pictures they had taken of me while I was asleep – cheers guys!

We were met at the airport and taken on a little tour of Prague before arriving at our hotel for the week. 15 minutes later we had all changed and were out the door walking to the Metro station to get a train to the club.

The I.Ceský Lawn Tennis Club is one of the most prestigious clubs in Prague and is situated on a little island in the middle of the city:

Unfortunately in 2002 a huge flood hit the city and the tennis club took the brunt of it:

After we arrived and had a look around the club, Holly and Alex warmed up and then had a really good training session for one hour on the permanent indoor courts. Holly has a few days to get used to the courts and the environment but as Alex is playing in Qualifying it was important that he found a good level as soon as possible. Within 10 minutes Alex was striking the ball very well and he maintained a high level all the way up until we played points at the end of the session … when he played even better!

Alex serving during our first training session today

At 5pm Holly had a 30 minute break before she was back on court for her last session of the day with Frederica Sema from Italy. While Holly trained, Alex signed in, cooled down and stretched out before joining us on court until the end of the session.

When Holly had cooled down and changed we headed back to the hotel to shower before it was time for dinner – I was very impressed with Holly getting ready in 20 minutes, normally the girls take forever!!

We had dinner tonight at Coloseum which is an Italian pizza and pasta restaurant just down the road from our hotel. The food was superb and so I think we could be going back there a few times this week!!

Just after we had finished dinner the draw was released; Alex is seeded 2 in qualifying and due to a bye in the first round he will now play his first match on Tuesday.

Boy’s Qualifying Draw

Liverpool U18 ITF Grade 5, Day 3

Tuesday 19th November 2013

It was a tough day for us in Liverpool today as Alex went down against big serving Harry Simpson and then had a very close loss in the first round of the doubles.

After packing up and checking out of our Travelodge we arrived at the tennis centre at 7.30am this morning to go through our physical warm-up before we got on our practice court at 8am. Normally at ITF events the practice time is 30 minutes but as this event is indoors, and only has 5 available courts, the tournament has to reduce it to 20 minutes. We still had a good practice session and by the time we finished Alex was all set for his first round match.

In the time before Alex went on court, we talked through his tactics and made sure that he was clear on his goals and then at 9am it was game time!

We had watched Harry in his final qualifying match on Sunday but the level he produced in the first set was much higher than we had expected. Alex started the match a little defensively whereas Harry flew out of the blocks and took control from the very first game. After holding serve, Harry broke Alex and then held serve again with some huge swinging serves and big groundstrokes to take a 3-0 lead. Alex wasn’t doing much wrong apart from not taking some chances that he had and the set was mainly down to the level that Harry produced – which was just too good! Harry took the first set 6-0 in about 20 minutes and his stats read 12 winners and 3 unforced errors – not bad!!

At the start of the second set Alex increased his intensity and broke Harry for the first time but unfortunately he couldn’t hold onto his serve. Then at 1-1* Harry took advantage of some cheap points from Alex and went on to take a 4-1* lead. At this stage things looked very bleak for Alex but he kept fighting and produced some of his best tennis over the next 4 games but he just couldn’t string enough quality points together to get a break back. In the end, after holding twice in the second set, Alex went down 6-0, 6-3. He was obviously disappointed with the result as he had chances in the second set but a lot of credit has to go to Harry who hit 28 winners in the 15 games played.

After a long break where we got some lunch and went through the details of the match, Alex and Polish partner Maksymilian Raupuk went on court at 3.45pm for their first round match with Jonathan Gray and Jack MacFarlane.

The first set was an extremely close affair; there were a total of 3 breaks and Alex was the only player on the court who held serve throughout. Alex was also returning well (didn’t miss a 1st serve return in the whole set) and moving well at the net but despite taking a *5-3 lead our boys couldn’t close it out. In the end the set went to a tie-break and after going 6-4 down it was looking like Alex and Maks were in a bit of trouble. However, they played some of their best tennis to win the next 4 points in a row and take the set 7-6(6).

The second set was also very close and in total there were 6 sudden death deuce games of which Alex and Maks only managed to win 2 of them. After going 4-1* down Alex and Maks fought back to level the set at 4-4* and then had two break points but failed to convert on either of them. It was looking like another tie-break was on the cards but at *5-6, with Alex serving, there was another sudden death deuce point and a poor decision to go line off a tough ball cost our boys the set.

Going into the match tie-break I would have said that Alex and Maks were the favourites to take the match but Jonathan and Jack really upped their games at the start of the set and raced to a 5-0 lead. Alex then held his two service points but Jonathan and Jack responded by winning 5 out of the next 6 points to take the match tie-break 10-3.

Out of the two matches the doubles was definitely the hardest loss to take as Alex and Maks were definitely capable of winning the match but as always there are lots of positives to take from both matches.

After cooling down and stretching out Alex and I got back on the road for a long drive back to Kent.

 

2013 has been a good year of international events for the ITC team; we had our first ITF singles and doubles champions and saw numerous players increase their ITF rankings. Holly Hutchinson deserves a particular mention as in the last 12 months she has gone from playing her first ever event (Mombasa 2012) with no ranking to now being ranked 362 in the world – keep up the hard work Holly and good luck for 2014!

The first event of 2014 will be to Czech Republic for the Grade 4 U18 ITF, for more information please click here – www.itc-tennis.com/tournament-information/trip-factsheets

Liverpool U18 ITF Grade 5, Day 2

Monday 18th November 2013

It was another good day of preparation today and we also managed to have a tour around one of the two Premier League football clubs here on Merseyside.

As we knew that Alex would play his singles match first on tomorrow we decided to have a more relaxed start to the day. After an 8am breakfast we got to the tennis centre at around 9am and then I spent some time watching the matches while Alex arranged a doubles partner. Alex then warmed up at 10am for his practice session with Tom Wright from 10.40 – 11am.

Alex hitting with Tom during his first training session

As there is only one practice court at the centre, each session is limited to 20 minutes but despite that Alex found a good level early on and maintained it throughout his time on court. He then had a little break before he was back on court with Luke Simeone to go through a bit of drilling and then play some points to make sure he was ready for his match tomorrow.

We had planned to train again in the afternoon but because some of the courts were moving slowly the referee decided to use court 6 as a match court from 1pm. As soon as we found that out we decided to sign up to one of the three Everton FC stadium tours that the tournament was giving the players / coaches free of charge.

It was a great opportunity to get away from the tennis centre for a couple of hours and see something different so we went for the 12.30pm tour and we weren’t disappointed! We started by having a chat Harry (one of the guides) who told the players about the Everton football academy and the type of training that players from 7 years old to 16 years old go through each day. He then showed us the rest of the club while talking through the club’s history . . .

Alex in the Director’s Box

Before ending the tour with a visit to the Home dressing room . . .

And finally walking down the tunnel and out to the side of the pitch.

When we returned to the tennis centre there were still no practice courts available so we decided to get some lunch and then watch some more of the first round matches. Alex then completed his injury prevention programme and we ended our day onsite by watching an exhibition doubles match with Ken and Neal Skupski.

Ken and Neal are from Liverpool and have been one of the most successful British doubles teams this year. Ken is currently ranked 77 in the world but has been as high as 44 and Neal (who only last year finished college in America) is ranked 87. The exhibition was great for the players to see and hopefully Alex will move like the brothers did when he plays his doubles tomorrow!

For dinner tonight Alex and I were joined by Holly Horsfall, her sister Debbie and fellow Kent boys Craig Allen, Tom Wright and James Davis. It was another good meal at ASK and as always the cards were out which meant forfeits all round!

Schedule for tomorrow:

(Q) Harry Simpson (GBR) (UNR) vs Alex Hagon (GBR) (1096) – 1st match at 9am

Jonathan Gray (GBR) & Jack MacFarlane (GBR) vs (4) Alex Hagon (GBR) & Maksymilian Raupuk (POL) – 5th match after 9am

Liverpool U18 ITF Grade 5, Day 1

Sunday 17th November 2013

Today marks the start of the last ITC trip of 2013 and for once I do not have to get on an aeroplane to go to the tournament!!

I picked Alex Hagon up from Orpington this morning at 9am and we started the 250 mile journey to Liverpool. Luckily for us the motorways were clear and after a quick stop to get some lunch at 11am we ended up arriving at the tennis centre in Liverpool just before 1pm.

When we arrived we were told by the referee that the practice court had to be used for matches as they were running behind so we decided to head to the hotel via the supermarket to stock up on food.

After speaking to the referee a few times during the afternoon we realised that it would be difficult to get an indoor court to practice on until much later in the day. I contacted another local indoor tennis centre to see if we could use a court there but the earliest court they had available was at 7pm! Therefore, we decided to go back over to the tennis centre to sign in, get some food and then wait until a court became free.

Space at the tennis centre is a little tight this week but to make a little more room for the players they have decided to use one of the courts as a player lounge / restaurant – a very good decision in my opinion. Due to the lack of space, Alex and I warmed up outdoors and then it was a bit of a scrum down to get on a court! Luckily Alex and Tom Wright raced onto court 2 after the last match had finished so they had a really good 40 minute practice session.

After the session Alex cooled down and stretched out and while he was doing that the main draw was released:

Boy’s Main Draw

We ended up leaving the tennis centre just before 8pm and made our way straight into the centre of the city to get some dinner at ASK. It was then back to the hotel for a bit of “I’m A Celebrity” before it was time for bed.

As Alex is playing a qualifier he will play on Tuesday so tomorrow will be another day of preparation.

Stabekk U18 ITF Grade 5, Day 5

Tuesday 5th November 2013

After the disappointment of not getting into the doubles yesterday, Zeki had some good news today while 2nd seeds Alex and Antonio came back from a set down to move into the ¼ finals.

In order to get a good practice session in this morning we had to be up early and get the first bus of the day to the tennis centre at 6.49am. Alex and Zeki were a bit weary eyed but once we warmed up we had a good session from 7.45 – 9am where we worked specifically on doubles drills.

When we came off court Zeki heard that one of the doubles pairs might be pulling out and, as him and his partner were the only team that signed in as Alternates, they would be the first to take their place. After confirming the withdrawal with the referee, Zeki and Francisco were placed in the draw and their match was scheduled for 6th match on court 5. It just goes to show that it’s always worth staying that extra day just in case someone pulls out of the singles or the doubles.

Over the next few hours we watched some of the main draw matches and I went through Alex’s singles match with him before it was time to warm up for his doubles match.

Alex and Antonio went on court at 1.15pm to face the British pair of Troy Dixon and Peter O’Donovan and despite a slow start which saw Antonio get broken at *1-1, they fought back to break, hold and break again to take a *4-2 lead. The first 6 games had been quite scrappy and the inconsistency continued as Antonio was once again broken after being *40-0 up. Despite some interesting tactics from Peter and Troy, including Peter serving and volleying while Troy stayed behind the baseline, the rest of the set went with serve until they got into a tie-break. The breaker was just as scrappy as the rest of the set; Peter and Troy took a 4-2 lead and then had 3 set points at 6-3 before Alex and Antonio fought back to level it. Antonio then threw in a poor double fault which allowed Peter to serve it out to take the tie-break 8-6.

Alex and Antonio took a toilet break at the end of the set and when they returned they looked a lot more focussed. They broke Peter and 1-1* and then broke him again on a sudden death deuce point at 4-2* to take a commanding lead in the second set. Antonio had been struggling to hold serve in the first set but by now he was more determined and played a good game to hold to take the second set 6-2.

By the time the boys started the match tie-break it was obvious that Alex and Antonio had the momentum in the match and they managed to maintain their level to take a 4-0 lead. Peter and Troy managed to get the next couple of points back but Alex and Antonio played some very good doubles to eventually take the deciding set 10-3.

The match was just over 2 hours long and after talking through the match over lunch, Alex went into the gym to complete his fitness programme just as Zeki was taking to the court at 4.30pm.

Zeki had been desperate to get into the doubles at the start of the week but unfortunately when the match started neither him nor Francisco Caldas played to their potential. They were playing against a good pair in Tiago Cacao from Portugal and Markus Nordby from Norway but they just didn’t seem to get going throughout the match. Francisco was broken twice in the first set and even though Zeki held both of his service games the boys lost the set 6-2.

 

Zeki and Francisco Caldas (POR) vs Tiago Cacao (POR) & Markus Nordby (NOR)

The boys then made a strange decision at the start of the second set which I think really knocked them down – Francisco insisted that he served first despite not holding once in the first set . . . and was broken to Love. That really set the tone for the set and even though Francisco did manage to hold serve at *0-4 it was a little too late and Tiago and Markus went on to take the match 6-2, 6-1.

Zeki was disappointed after the match and even though he knew his partner had not performed well he also knew that he can play a lot better than he did. One of the big factors during the match was the number of sudden death deuce that were won by both teams – there were 8 in total and Zeki and Francisco only managed to convert 1 of them.

Zeki and I had a good chat about the match while he stretched out in the gym and then after he had showered and changed we left the club to get the 6.21pm bus back to the hotel – just the 11 hours at the club today!!

We were joined at dinner tonight by Luke Simeone and Dan Little and it was again very entertaining to see everyone get very tight over a game of cards! Luke decided the forfeit would be to ask the girl behind the bar for her telephone number . . . and then he lost in the final to me!

Schedule for tomorrow:

Sebastian Hawken (NOR) & Casper Ruud (NOR) vs (2) Alex Hagon (GBR) & Antonio Sabugueiro (POR) – 6th match after 9am (2nd match not before 1pm)

Stabekk U18 ITF Grade 5, Day 4

Monday 4th November 2013

It was a good day at the SEB Arena in Stabekk today as, despite a loss to the top seed, Alex produced a good performance and for a large proportion of the match had his opponent very worried.

We started the day with breakfast at 6.30am before getting the 7.19am bus to the tennis centre. When we arrived, Alex and Zeki signed in for doubles and then warmed up from 8-8.30am before we got on court for Alex’s pre-match practice session. Alex has been hitting the ball very well since we arrived on Friday and he continued to find a very good level throughout the warm up this morning.

 

Alex and Zeki warming up this morning

 

As Alex was scheduled for 3rd on today we had quite a lot of time after he had finished hitting to prepare for his match and also watch some of the other first round matches. Then, at just after 11.30am Alex went on court to face top seed and his doubles partner; Antonio Sabugueiro from Portugal.

Despite a ranking difference of over 400 places Alex started the better of the two players; he was very aggressive from the back of the court and dictated play in almost every rally which resulted in him breaking Antonio in the opening game. Alex was then broken straight back but he immediately raised his level to take a *2-1 *40-15 lead and looked in full control of the match. Unfortunately Alex couldn’t hold onto his serve in that game and despite continuing to play at a very high level he wasn’t able to convert any of the game / break points he had in the following 4 games.

It must have been difficult to be 6-2 down after playing so well but after a toilet break at the end of the set Alex came out fired up and ready to start again. Alex once again took control at the start of the set and, in a similar way to the first set, he led *2-1 *40-0 but he again couldn’t convert when it really mattered. Each game from 2-2* until the end of the match was very close and it was obvious from Antonio’s body language that he was struggling to deal with the level that Alex was producing. The only problem was that Alex once again just could not convert the game break points that he had. Throughout the whole of the 2nd set Alex had a total of 13 game / break points but could only take 3 of them which resulted in Antonio taking the match 6-2, 6-3 in almost 2 hours.

When we spoke after the match Alex knew that he had put in a very good performance which is always a massive positive but he also knew that if he had been able to capitalise on the amount of opportunities he had then he could have taken the match. It was a great learning experience for Alex who was playing a top seed for the first time and hopefully he can now build on that in the doubles to prepare him for the Liverpool ITF in a couple of weeks.

Despite a lack of practice courts at the club today Zeki managed to get on court from 2.30 – 3.30pm with fellow Brit Lucas Taylor, who did not play today due to being drawn against a qualifier. Both boys worked hard for the whole session and it gave Zeki and I another chance to work on some specific areas of his game that he had been struggling with.

Zeki serving against Lucas during their points this afternoon

 

While we were on court we found out that unfortunately Zeki and his partner didn’t get into the doubles but there is still a chance if they sign in as Alternates tomorrow.

After the session Alex and Zeki cooled down and stretched out before we got the bus back to the hotel. The plan was for Zeki to do some school work before dinner but I’ve got a feeling that most of the time was spent watching the Inbetweeners movie!!

Lucas joined us for dinner this evening and once again the forfeits continued! I think the boys were actually more nervous tonight than they are when they play matches and I was shocked to see Alex end up losing two games in a row! Last night I had the balsamic vinegar challenge but tonight it was chilli oil and star jumps in front of the chefs for Alex!!

Boy’s Doubles Draw

Schedule for tomorrow:

Troy Dixon (GBR) & Peter O’Donovan (GBR) vs (2) Alex Hagon (GBR) & Antonio Sabugueiro (POR) – 3rd match after 9am

Stabekk U18 ITF Grade 5, Day 3

Sunday 3rd November 2013

It was a tough day for Zeki today as he came up against a good player in his 2nd round match while Alex’s continued his preparations for the main draw which starts tomorrow.

Due to a later start to breakfast and the fact that the first bus of the day was at 8.49am the tournament decided to start play at 10.30am today. That gave the boys a bit of a lie in and after we arrived at the tennis centre at around 9.15am they warmed up and then hit from 10-10.30am. Zeki was hitting well throughout the session and he continued to focus on some of the things we had talked about yesterday following his first round win.

After the practice session we went upstairs onto the balcony to recap on yesterday’s match before talking in detail about goals and tactics that we wanted to use in the match today. Then, at 12.30pm, Zeki went on to face Jacob Eskeland from Norway.

We had watched Jacob play almost all of his first round match yesterday so we knew quite a bit about how he plays – he had a big serve and hit well from the back of the court when the ball was within his comfort zone. Zeki’s game plan was therefore to use his ‘leftiness’ to move Jacob wide on his weaker backhand side before looking to ghost in to finish the point.

The match started with Jacob holding serve comfortably but Zeki responded well with a very good service game of his own. After another hold from Jacob, Zeki played a poor game where he double faulted and gave away another 2 unforced errors to hand Jacob the break. That game was to have a big impact on the match as Zeki’s head dropped a little while Jacob’s confidence grew resulting in him taking a 4-1* lead. Zeki managed to hold serve in the next game with 5/5 first serves but that was unfortunately the last game he won in the match.

After winning the first set 6-2, Jacob raised his level and prevented Zeki from really being able to execute his game plan effectively. Zeki did have opportunities in the second set to get games on the board but in the end Jacob played well on the big points and ended up taking the match 6-2, 6-0.

While Zeki was on court Alex spent 30 minutes practicing with Dan Little and then after we all got some lunch we went back on court from 3-4pm to make sure he was well prepared for his main draw match tomorrow. The session started with the two of us training next to a couple of Russian girls but soon they were done so we started a practice set. Alex hit the ball very well throughout our hour on court and despite him taking a 4-1 lead I managed to fight back to level the set before (luckily for me!) our time was up. We then headed into the gym so that Alex could do his injury prevention work and stretch out while I did little workout of my own. After a while Peter O’Donovan and Rob Morgan from the Bolton high performance centre in England joined us in the gym and I think, thanks to Rob’s ‘help’ on the bench press, I’m going to be feeling it in the morning!!

Alex working out in the gym while the Italian slept on the floor!

We left the tennis centre at 5.45pm and after a quick change at the hotel we headed down to Vapiano again for dinner. To try and get a bit of variety in the player’s diet I decided at the start of the week that no-one could have the same meal for more than two days in a row. Zeki decided to go out on a limb and order the beef ravioli tonight but in the end it was definitely the best selection of the night.

After last night’s forfeits Zeki was determined to get his own back on Alex and me! In the end we both lost which saw me have to drink a tablespoon of balsamic vinegar while Alex had to pay for dinner and walk out of the restaurant wearing all of our jackets!

 

Boy’s Singles Main Draw

Schedule for tomorrow:

(1) Antonio Sabugueiro (POR) (603) vs Alex Hagon (GBR) (1090) – 3rd match after 9am

Stabekk U18 ITF Grade 5, Day 2

Saturday 2nd November 2013

We had a good start to the tournament today as Zeki produced a good performance to advance through his first round qualifying match.

Officially breakfast didn’t start until this morning at 7.30am but luckily we managed to get in there early so that we could get to the bus stop for the first bus of the day at 7.49am. Unfortunately there is no tournament transport from the hotel to the club this week which means that we’ll need to get the bus each day. That won’t be a problem on weekdays as busses start at 6.30am but on Saturdays and Sundays the first busses aren’t until much later.

We arrived at the club just before 8.15am and the boys immediately went into their physical warm ups before we got on court at 8.30am for our practice session. Zeki was hitting well throughout the session and following the time we spent on court yesterday he looked much more comfortable on the fast surface. The boys ended the session with some point play and then at 9am the matches went on.

As Zeki was scheduled for 3rd match on it gave us a chance to watch his possible next round opponent who played first on today. We watched almost the whole match and then afterwards our attention turned to Zeki’s preparation for his own match which included filling out his pre-match sheet and making sure he had eaten enough before he went on.

At around 11.45am Zeki went on to play Anders Mannerak from Norway. Both plays started a little nervously but it was Zeki that settled down first and took a 3-0* lead after dominating from the back of the court. At this stage Zeki relaxed a little too much which resulted in a few too many unforced errors and suddenly the match was back on serve at 3-2*. Zeki responded well though and fought hard to win the next two tight games before going on to take the set 6-2.

Zeki serving on the far court during the first set

Once the first set was under Zeki’s belt he became much more confident and dominated his opponent in every game of the second set resulting in him taking the set 6-0. Overall Zeki played a good match and even though the start was a little tentative he soon found the level he needed to get the win.

After the match Alex and I went outside to work on his serve on the clay courts while Zeki cooled down and stretched out. We finished the serving session around 2.30pm and then we all got some lunch at the club.

The plan for the rest of the day was to train from 5-6pm after the last matches had finished but at around 3.45pm some of the courts became available so we went straight on. The first half of the session was spent preparing Zeki for his 2nd round match based on what we had learnt about his opponent from earlier in the day and then in the second half of the session I worked with Alex individually on his game. We then went into the gym at around 5pm to cool down and stretch out to end a good day at the tennis centre.

Dinner tonight was once again at Vapiano and it was even more enjoyable than last night. The highlight wasn’t the food tonight though as Zeki lost at Cheat and had to endure the forfeit of acting like a waiter – he had to go up to a table of four, ask them if they enjoyed their meals before clearing their plates from their table and taking them to the kitchen!!

Queuing up to order at Vapiano

Schedule for tomorrow:

Jacob Eskeland (NOR) (UNR) vs (8) Zeki Horoz (GBR) (2286) – 2nd match after 10.30am

The winner to play either Peter Anker (NOR) or Peter Kampen (DEN) – 4th match (after rest)

Stabekk U18 ITF Grade 5, Day 1

Friday 1st November 2013

The first day of a trip is always an exciting one, whether it’s with players I’ve travelled with before or new players that I’ve never met, but one of the most exciting parts of my job is going to a tournament for the first time. The last time I was in Norway was in 2005 and despite a fantastic tournament the week will unfortunately be remembered for the London bombings. This week our hotel is in Oslo but the event is in the small town of Stabekk just on the outskirts of the capital city.

I met Alex Hagon early this morning on the 6.42am train from London Bridge to Gatwick airport and then when we arrived at Gatwick we met Zeki Horoz at the Norwegian airlines check-in desk. Zeki does some training at the same venue as Alex and I so even though we had already met, I’d never been on court with him.

I think Alex had already warned Zeki about the rules of no junk food on the trip, but over breakfast at the airport Zeki came out with a classic – “Rob, can I get a pain au chocolate?” After a moment of shock where I wasn’t sure if he was winding me up, I responded with a “No . . . you’ve got a match tomorrow!” to which he replied “Oh yeah!!”

The 2 hour 10 minute flight went quite quickly and then, after we collected our bags at Oslo airport, we were straight on the express train through to the city centre which the boys were very impressed with – “Rob, why don’t we have trains like this in England?” – with questions like this it could be a long week!! It was then a short walk (once we worked out which way to go!) to our hotel for the week.

At 2.30pm we headed over to the tennis centre which involved a 20 minute bus ride and then a 5 minute walk at the other end. Even though the centre was very busy with its own coaching programme we managed to get on court for 30 minutes indoors, then we hit some volleys and serves outside on the clay before returning indoors for another 10-15 minutes so that Zeki could hit some returns and play some points.

Zeki and Alex training on the indoor courts this afternoon

Both boys adjusted well to the fast and dusty indoor courts and were very professional when I said we would continue the session outdoors so that Zeki could hit volleys and serves.

At 5pm the boys cooled down and stretched out before Zeki singed in for the tournament. He then booked a practice court for tomorrow and, after making sure we had done everything we needed to, we left for the bus ride back.

As I hadn’t been to Oslo for quite some time I asked the receptionist at the hotel to recommend a good place for dinner and they came up with a great choice! The boys weren’t a fan of the 10 minute walk (or maybe it was the pace I was walking at!) but as soon as we walked into ‘Vapiano’ we knew it was going to be good! It’s basically an Italian restaurant where you go up to one of the three chef sections (Pizza, Pasta or Antipasti & Insalate), order your food, charge it to a plastic card and then when it’s ready you go and collect it. Then you pay for everything you’ve had on your card on the way out of the restaurant. Well, the food was amazing, the only mistake we made was that we ordered everything at the same time and then, because it was so nice, we ate it all too quickly!!

Having already purchased a bus / train / tram ticket for the week we decided to make the most of it and get the tram back to the hotel – nothing to do with the fact we were all too full to walk up the hill!!

After a long day of travelling, training and eating we all had an early night to get ready for Zeki’s opening qualifying match tomorrow.

Boy’s Qualifying Draw

Schedule for tomorrow:

Anders Mannerak (NOR) (UNR) vs (8) Zeki Horoz (GBR) (2286) – 3rd match after 9am (not before 11am)

Colombo U18 ITF Grade 4, Day 6

Wednesday 16th October 2013

We had a disappointing end to a great couple of weeks today as Holly lost in the ¼ Finals and wasn’t quite able to produce the level of tennis that saw her beat the number 2 seed yesterday.

Once again we had breakfast at 6.30am and then, after saying goodbye to Alex who flew home today, Holly and I got the shuttle bus to the courts at 7.15am.

An early morning practice for the local juniors

The weather this morning was beautiful which meant that the clay courts were open early for practice so, after going through her physical warm up, Holly took to the court at 8am with Holly Hutchinson. Their session was good but I felt as though Holly’s shots had just got a little flatter than yesterday. She was happy with how she was hitting though and how the player feels is much more important than how the coach feels the player is hitting!!

Holly & Holly training next to the Win boys

Having watched Holly’s opponent play yesterday we knew what she did well and what she struggled with so we discussed tactics and goals before Holly went on court at 9am.

From the very first game Holly struggled with her consistency from the back of the court and 3 unforced errors seemed to set the tone for the rest of the set. Holly soon found herself 3-0* down having been broken twice; she was trying to be aggressive but wasn’t able to produce enough spin on the ball and ultimately that resulted in far too many errors. Part of Holly’s game plan was to move her opponent and then look to hit back behind to make her turn but, as she was hitting so flat, too many shot ended up going down the middle of the court – and that was just too comfortable for Xeniya. Holly kept fighting and managed to break Xeniya’s serve at 0-3* and 2-5* but she went down 6-3 in the opening set having only held her own serve once.

I was very surprised to see Holly making so many unforced errors especially after her superb performance yesterday and during the second set it didn’t get much better!! To her credit Holly tried to do different things to find a way to win; she sliced off both sides, hit high balls, drop shots, angles etc. and after a good 1st game I thought Holly had turned the corner. However, during the next 6 games she just couldn’t hit enough quality shots in a row to break down her opponent who, to be fair played to her, played much better than when we saw her play yesterday.  The final score was 6-3, 6-1 and I think we’ve got to put it down to Holly having “a bad day at the office!”

Despite Holly finishing her trip with a disappointing match she has done really well over the past 2 weeks considering last week she was suffering from heat stroke. Two quarter-finals in two weeks, beating a seed in each week and pushing the number 1 seed very hard last week is a good achievement and I know Holly has learnt a lot about herself and her game on this trip.

During the afternoon we relaxed at the hotel and packed everything up ready for our flight home tomorrow. We then met up with Holly Hutchinson (who had won her ¼ final 6-1, 6-0 after a superb performance) and the Win Tennis team at 5.30pm to have a bit of a sightseeing trip around Colombo!

A race around Colombo with the Win Team!

We first headed to Majestic Mall to get some DVDs and then went over to Dutch Hospital to get dinner. The players were keen on going to TGI Friday’s for our last meal but it opens for the first time on Saturday so we went across the road to the other Hilton hotel in Colombo. The food was excellent and the banter over dinner was brilliant – I think by the end of the meal Phillip (from South Africa) really knew the meaning of the word “banter”!!

We are going to go to the club tomorrow morning to thank everyone and say goodbye before heading off to the airport for our long flight back to London.

The next trip will be to the U18 ITF Grade 5 event in Norway on Friday 1st November so please check back in then to see how that trip goes!

Colombo U18 ITF Grade 4, Day 5

Tuesday 15th October 2013

It was a day of completely mixed emotions today as Alex started the day with a loss, albeit a close one, then Holly played a superb match to take out the number 2 seed and then the day ended with a disappointing doubles result.

When we woke up this morning the weather was not looking good and more overnight rain left the court at the hotel completely soaked – that meant the clay courts at the club would be in a bad way! As we were up early we decided to have breakfast at 6.30am but we didn’t end up leaving the hotel until just after 8am. When we arrived at the club we were told that the clay would not be ready until 10am but the hard courts were drying out, so we warmed up straight away. Alex and Holly then had a good hit for just over 30 minutes where they not only warmed up for their matches but also spent some time on working on their volleys while moving forwards from the baseline. That was a tactic that both of them wanted to implement in their matches so it was good to spend a little time practising it before they went on.

Alex went on court at 10am to face Phillip De Bruyn from South Africa who he lost to last week in the first round. The boys completed their 5 minute warm up but then had to wait a further 15 minutes due to a patch of the court that still wasn’t dry enough to play on. Eventually they started the match at just after 10.20am and Alex came out of the blocks well breaking Phillip in the opening game. Unfortunately Alex was broken straight back and then it took a while for both boys to really get going in the set as they exchanged a further break of serve each. Alex was playing at a good level from the back of the court but wasn’t always taking his chances and couldn’t create enough opportunities to close points out from the net. Despite this he was still staying close to Phillip until *3-4 when we was broken for the 3rd time in the set even after he had a game point. Alex managed to break Phillip as he served for the set but again struggled with his own serve and eventually went down 6-4.

Alex’s hitting level had been high throughout the first set, probably the best I’ve seen him hit the ball during the whole trip, but when he was broken at *1-2 in the second set his head started to drop and Phillip took control. Alex had more opportunities to get games on the board but couldn’t convert the big points which led to Phillip taking the second set 6-1. One big positive in the second set was that Alex managed to move forwards and finish 9 points at the net compared to only 3 in the first set – unfortunately the scoreline doesn’t say that though!

Alex and I talked through the match while he had some lunch at the onsite Italian restaurant and then Holly joined us to complete her pre-match sheet and talk through her tactics for her singles match. She then went on at 1.20pm to face number 2 seed May Wanvisa Thurakitseree from Thailand.

We knew that Holly had been playing well over the past couple of weeks, both in England where she made the final of a British Tour and out here in her matches last week. However, she wasn’t feeling well during the event last week and she felt she should have done a lot better – today she certainly found her form!

From the start of the first set Holly was on fire; she hit 4 winners in May’s opening service game to get the early break and then she didn’t once take her foot off the gas as she stormed through the set 6-0. The scoreline was impressive against a good player but the stats are even more impressive – 18 winners and 12 unforced errors to finish with an aggressive balance of +6.

Holly preparing to serve at the start of the second set

Holly continued to produce a high level at the start of the second set but as it went on she started to find it more difficult to put together a run of quality points. May’s confidence also increased as she got a couple of games on the board and that caused Holly to start to force her shots a little. At *5-2 up Holly had the opportunity to serve out the match but a few too many errors resulted in her being broken for only the second time. In the next game Holly raised her level again to hit 3 winners and break May’s serve to close out the match 6-0, 6-3. It was all over in less than an hour and it was great to see Holly walking off the court with a huge smile on her face. The most impressive part for me though was not just beating the number 2 seed 6-0, 6-3 but also producing such a high level in doing so.

After the match I joined both Hollys for some lunch and then it was time to turn our attention to their first round doubles match. They had a tricky draw against two good girls from Taipei, but after they had both won their singles matches today I expected their confidence to be very high.

The girls went on court at just before 4.30pm to face 3rd seeds Pei Hsuan Chen and Fang-Hsien Wu but after Holly Hutchinson was broken in the first game I knew it was going to be a lot tougher than I originally thought. The first set was very close and in total there were 5 sudden death deuce games, unfortunately 3 out of the 5 went against our girls as they went down 6-3.

The second set was even closer and even though it seemed as though the girls from Taipei had the momentum, the “Hollys” continued to fight hard. They started to fight back from 1-4 down but yet again they couldn’t convert the sudden death deuce game at 2-4*. The best game from our girls was at 3-5* when they broke serve but Holly Hutchinson was broken in the next game and we eventually went down 6-3, 6-4.

Holly Hutchinson returning during a tight first set

It was a disappointing end to a day where both Alex and Holly had played well in their singles matches but you can’t win them all and now Holly’s focus can be 100% on her singles ¼ final tomorrow.

After the match we returned to the hotel where both players had a long stretch out before we headed down to dinner at 7pm.

Alex will be leaving tomorrow as he heads back to England with Kerim from the Win Tennis team but for Holly it’s her chance to get through to the semi-finals and guarantee herself the dessert I promised her at the start of the week!!

Schedule for tomorrow:

Xeniya Prokopchuk (UKR) (1876) vs Holly Horsfall (GBR) (1460) – 1st match at 9am

Colombo U18 ITF Grade 4, Day 4

Monday 14th October 2013

Today was one of those days where the players can reflect on their training over the past few months and know that the hard work they’ve put in was definitely worth it. It was also a day when, from a coach’s perspective, I’m glad that I’ve got two very hard working and mentally tough players on the trip.

Breakfast this morning was at 6.45am so that the players had a bit of time to let the food digest before they warmed up at the club at just after 8am. After negotiating a couple of half courts to practice on, Alex hit with Kerim while Holly hit with Holly Hutchinson and even at 8.30am the temperature was already very warm.

A small panoramic picture of the practice courts this morning . . . but where has the bottom of Holly’s leg gone?!!

All four players had a good practice and at 9am we went back to the clubhouse so that my players could complete their pre-match sheets and discuss their match goals and tactics.

At 11.15am Holly went onto court 4 to face Roma Chandiran from India and having played her last week in the doubles and, having watched Holly Hutchinson beat her last week in the singles, she knew exactly what to expect. Holly broke in the first game with some excellent play from the back of the court but in the following 4 games she completely lost her way and ended up hitting far too many unforced errors. At 1-4 Holly became a lot more aggressive and by taking the ball on more she actually became more consistent. That resulted in her winning 3 out of the next 4 games to get back on serve at *4-5. Holly then had a very close service game and ended up saving 2 set points before holding, breaking and holding again to take the set 7-5.

Holly continue to build on the momentum that she had gained in the first set and raced to a 4-0* lead in the second set. However, she then took her foot off the gas and allowed Roma to work her way into the set. That resulted in Holly losing the next 3 games but at *4-3 she refocused and worked very hard to take 2 of the next 3 games to take the set 6-4.

The match lasted just over 2 hours and it was a very hard fought battle from start to finish – Roma played very well and Holly had to dig deep in both sets in order to close out the match.

While Holly was 5-5 in the first set, Alex went on to face Jeffrey Hsu from Taipei on the court next to Holly. Jeffrey had won the doubles event last week so we knew it was going to be a tough match but Alex was definitely up for a battle.

Alex and Holly on court side by side during their 1st round matches

After going 2-0 down Alex found his range and broke straight back before holding for the first time to level the set at 2-2. The set then went with serve but there were a lot of ups and downs in each game; Alex had to dig deep to hold onto his serve on a couple of occasions but he also put a lot of pressure on Jeffrey when he was returning. That resulted in Alex breaking at 5-5* and despite having to have treatment on a sore shoulder in the middle of the set he served it out well to take the set 7-5. The whole set was extremely close but Alex produced some world class shots when under pressure and fought very hard throughout.

At the start of the second set Alex got an early breakthrough and at 3-1* up he looked completely in control while his opponent looked like he was almost finished. However, at this stage it looked as though the heat had got to Alex; his level dropped significantly and Jeffrey took full advantage by winning the next 4 games in a row. Alex then found a way to break Jeffrey while he was serving for the set and that gave Alex a big lift resulting in him holding serve to level the set at 5-5*. By this stage both players were feeling the effects of the heat and after they both held serve we were into a tie-break to decide it. Despite knowing that Alex was feeling very tired he gave the impression that he was fresh and raced to a 5-0 lead in the breaker. Jeffrey tried to slow Alex down and was taking well over 20 seconds between points but Alex stayed very strong and ended up taking the tie-break 7-4 on his 3rd match point.

Both Holly and Alex performed well today but more importantly they worked very hard throughout their matches and showed their opponents that they were not going to roll over when things got tough.

Unfortunately the doubles draw came out while Alex was on court and he and Kerim were one place away from getting in due to Kerim being in the singles main draw via a wildcard. They were 15th team on the list and only 14 + 2 wildcards get accepted – hopefully they might get in as an alternate pair tomorrow.

Girl’s Doubles Draw

Once Alex had come off court he saw the physio for some treatment on his shoulder and then we went back to the hotel. He then had an ice bath to help his recovery before we all got some well-earned lunch.

After stretching out, Holly and Alex spent some time relaxing in the swimming pool and then not before long it was time to get ready for dinner.

It’s going to be a long day tomorrow but hopefully both players will show the same levels of effort and determination that they showed today.

Schedule for tomorrow:

Alex Hagon (GBR) (1331) vs (8) Phillip De Bruyn (RSA) (878) – 1st match at 9am

Holly Horsfall (GBR) (1460­) vs (2) May Wanvisa Thurakitseree (THA) (467) – 3rd match after 9am

Holly Horsfall (GBR) & Holly Hutchinson (GBR) vs (3) Pei Hsuan Chen (TPE) & Fang-Hsien Wu (TPE) – 5th match after 9am

 

 

 

Colombo U18 ITF Grade 4, Day 3

Sunday 13th October 2013

We had another great day of preparation today despite another wet start and Alex and Holly are all set for main draw to start tomorrow.

The players had a lie-in this morning following a few days of getting up early, but when we met for breakfast at 8.30am we realised that it rained overnight and so we knew the clay courts would be out of action. We called the tournament referee to check the situation with the courts but he said that they would not be fit to play on until at least midday so I gave the players the option of either resting for the morning or training on the court at the hotel. Holly decided to rest while Alex wanted to train so at 10.30am we went into the gym to warm up for the session.

Alex and I went on court at 11am and spent just over an hour going through a few specific goals to tighten up his game before we went into a lot of points. Even though there was a swirling wind and we had the hotel generator going off behind the court, it was still a very beneficial session.

When we were done we returned to the apartment to shower and change before heading down to the pool restaurant for a really good buffet lunch. The selection of food was fantastic; there was a meat station, pasta station plus a lot of local food and then the dessert selection was probably bigger than at dinner – shame we didn’t try it though! The highlight of the meal though had to be watching Alex do his forfeit when he lost at cards:

A headless Alex!

We headed over to the club at 1.30pm and after our routine visits to the physio we went on court at 2.45pm. Even though we had one of the back courts booked for practice we managed to get on the match courts for around an hour which was great preparation for the players. Holly Hutchinson and Charlie Ridout joined us which meant that I could spend the whole time with Alex and Holly rather than hitting from the other end of the court. The aim for the session was for both players to get a good feel for the ball and get used to the courts again which they did really well.

Afternoon training on the match courts

At 4pm our time was up on the court and even though we had another court booked for practice, Alex and Holly felt as though they were ready for their matches tomorrow so we finished our training for the day. We headed back to the hotel and then went to the pool for a recovery session before having a thorough stretch out.

Alex was up for a bit of revenge over dinner after his wet forfeit earlier in the day but as it turned out he lost two games, I lost one and Holly lost zero – she must be hooking!! That meant Alex and I had to wear our napkins as bandanas on our heads for the entire meal and then Alex had to skip around the restaurant while thanking all the staff before we left!!

After dinner we returned to the apartment to watch a bit of TV before everyone had an early night to prepare for the matches tomorrow.

Boy’s Singles Draw

Girl’s Singles Draw

Schedule for tomorrow:

(SE) Roma Chandiran (IND) (UNR) vs Holly Horsfall (GBR) (1460) – 2nd match after 9am

Alex Hagon (GBR) (1331) vs Jeffery Hsu (TPE) (1160) – 3rd match after 9am (not before 11.30am)

 

Colombo U18 ITF Grade 4, Day 2

Saturday 12th October 2013

It was another great day of preparation here in Colombo despite feeling the very distant effects of cyclone Phailin overnight.

Just after I posted the Blog last night I looked out of our balcony window to see the rain lashing down and very strong winds blowing the trees sideways. I then found out that cyclone Phailin was on its way past Sri Lanka as it passes through the Bay of Bengal.

The overnight rain caused us a little problem this morning; we had planned on getting to the tennis centre at 8.30am but due to the rain the courts were completed soaked. The hotel court was drying out quite well but unfortunately it was completely fully booked from 8am until 8pm so instead we hit the gym for a strength and conditioning session! Both Alex and Holly followed their own travelling programmes while I had a bit of a workout of my own.

Alex and Holly working hard in the gym this morning

By 10.45am we were all finished and so we headed back to the apartment to shower before ordering our standard chicken and pasta from room service!

Throughout the morning we had kept in contact with the tournament referee so that we knew how the courts were drying out and as soon as he said that the clay courts were looking good we headed straight over. When we arrived Alex got a bit of treatment on his forearm by the physio and then we headed down to the practice clay courts to warm up for our afternoon session.

To our surprise, when we went on court at 1pm four out of the five practice courts were empty so we chose to go on court 3 which is the Sri Lankan Davis Cup court. Holly and Alex continued from where they left off after yesterday’s session and found a good level from the start. We spent quite a lot of time hitting two against one so that the person on their own got a very good workout. We trained like that from the back of the court and also with the person on their own at the net so that the players had a chance to work on both areas of their game. Once they were happy with how they were playing we went into a few point based drills before hitting some serves and finishing the session with serving points. I think it was one of the hottest afternoons since we arrived but by now the players are well acclimatised and they both put in a very good training session.

We finished the session just after 2.30pm and, after the physio gave my forearm another hammering (I think I sweated more in the 25 minute physio session than I did for an hour and a half on the court!), we got a Tuk Tuk back to the hotel. The players then stretched out in the gym and then they had a couple of hours to themselves before it was time for dinner.

Tonight’s theme was “Mediterranean” and after having the same buffet last week we were very much looking forward to this one – the chicken wraps were amazing!

It’s all in the preparation!

Colombo U18 ITF Grade 4, Day 1

Friday 11th October 2013

The singles finals of the first ITF here in Colombo were played today, so officially the first week came to an end and our preparations for the second week (also at the same venue but on clay and a Grade 4 event) have begun.

We were up early again this morning and had breakfast when it opened at 6.30am so that we could get over to the club to help Holly Hutchinson prepare for her final. We all warmed up and then both Holly’s hit together while Alex and I trained on the other half court. Once Holly Hutchinson was finished, Holly Horsfall continued to train with me individually while Alex hit with Kerim from the Win Tennis team. Alex then joined us for the last 30 minutes of the session where we worked specifically on transitioning from the baseline to the net in order to close out the point. We had planned for the session this morning to be around an hour to an hour and a half but in the end we were on court for almost 2 hours!

We then had a short break in which time we watched Holly Hutchinson go 5-3 up but I was conscious that I’d not watched Holly play much during the week and I didn’t want to jinx her by now watching the final!! At that stage we headed back to the hotel to get some lunch and then when we arrived back at 12pm we found out that Holly had taken the match 6-3, 6-3 to win her first ITF title.

Holly and Khim Iglupas (PHI) after the final

It was a great effort from Holly who has played well all week and definitely deserves the results after the hard work that her and her team have put in over the last few months. Holly first travelled with me last November to Mombasa and her game has developed a huge amount in the last 12 months.

This afternoon we managed to train on the clay after it had been too wet this morning. Holly, Alex and I warmed up and then spent 20-30 minutes getting used to the clay before going into some tough drilling in 3s. The courts were actually much better than we expected and, even though the lines are just painted on top of the clay, they were much better than the chalk lines in Nairobi! We had an excellent practice for about an hour with both Holly and Alex playing very well and working very hard throughout the session. Unfortunately we were interrupted by a very heavy downpour at 2pm and that ended our time on the clay.

Holly and Alex following our first session on the clay

Even though it stopped raining after about 30 minutes the clay was out of the rest of the day so we headed back to the hotel for a gym session and then a good stretch out. Holly Hutchinson joined us in the afternoon and that sparked a crazy couple of hours where both Hollys were a little hyper!!

We all had dinner together to celebrate Holly’s win and tonight was Italian night at the buffet so we all tucked into pizza and pasta. I was surprised that Holly Hutchinson couldn’t quite finish her 2nd pizza (even though they were quite small!) but somehow she managed to find room for her chocolate cake dessert – it was well deserved though!

Holly and Alex getting stuck into the buffet

After dinner I headed over to the club to book courts for tomorrow but it seems that all the Tuk Tuks stop at night so I had a very interesting walk / run trying to find one to take me back to the hotel!!

Colombo U18 ITF Grade 5, Day 7

Thursday 10th October 2013

It was our rest day today which meant that Holly and Alex could choose to do whatever they wanted . . . which wasn’t much!!

I decided to get up early and head over to the club to get some physio treatment on the tendonitis in my wrist but, after 30 minutes of intense pain as the guy worked on my forearm, I wished I’d stayed in bed!! I was also hoping to watch some of Holly Hutchinson’s semi-final but it rained heavily throughout the morning so the match was delayed.

Holly and the Win Tennis team with a competition of their own to kill time in the rain delay – just look at the concentration on their faces!!

Check out the video of the match point on the Facebook page – www.facebook.com/itctennis1

When I returned to the hotel Holly and Alex were just leaving breakfast . . . at 10.30am! I asked them what they wanted to do for the day – maybe check out some sights around Colombo, or take a Tuk Tuk journey to a local shopping mall, or go for a walk to see the floating temple close to the hotel, but no, they wanted to chill in the apartment!! That’s fair enough though as they’ve been training and competing hard for the last week but I had to do something so I went into the gym to do some leg weights for my London marathon training. It was a tough session but the best ones always are!

We all got some lunch and as it was a rest day the food rules were relaxed a little; Alex went for the buffet while Holly and I had a chicken burger . . . and boy was it big! Holly’s appetite is definitely back after not feeling well earlier in the trip and she did very well to get through it all. Over lunch we got the great news that Holly Hutchinson had won her semi-final 6-3, 6-0 to move into her first ITF final tomorrow. Holly’s been playing well all week and has gone about her business very professionally.

After lunch we headed over to the club so that Holly and Alex could get a massage from the physio and I could get some more treatment on my wrist. The rain had stopped over lunch but just as we were in the Tuk Tuk driving to the club the heavens opened again. The rain started to pour into the Tuk Tuk as Alex and I frantically tried to put the sides down to keep us dry – it didn’t help that the driver then stalled it and we got stuck for a good minute or two while he tried to get it going again!

We returned to the hotel at around 5pm and then relaxed before going down for dinner at 7pm. Tonight’s theme was “Asian night” and the buffet included Chinese, Japanese and Vietnamese foods as well as some Indian dishes – it was another excellent meal and we all couldn’t resist giving the desserts a try!

It’s back to normal training tomorrow which is a good job as I need to burn off some of the food from today!

Time to get our clay court shoes on and get sliding!

Colombo U18 ITF Grade 5, Day 6

Wednesday 9th October 2013

It was a tough day for the team today as 3 losses out of 3 matches saw our first week of competition come to an abrupt end!

We had another early start this morning as Holly was scheduled first on at 8.30am. That meant a 6.30am breakfast and then a 7am shuttle to the club so that we could warm up and get on court to hit from 7.30-8am. Holly hit with Holly Hutchinson again and both girls trained well to prepare for their ¼ final matches.

Between 8am and when Holly went on court for her match at 8.30am we recapped on the notes from the match yesterday and then planned the goals and tactics for today’s match against top seed Ria Vaidya from Singapore.

Holly didn’t start the match too well and really struggled with her timing after finding it difficult to return Ria’s serve in the opening game. Even though the set went with serve until *3-4, I felt as though the momentum with mainly with Ria as she was holding comfortably and making Holly work hard to hold each of her own service games. Ria broke at *3-4 and then played a solid service game to take the opening set 6-3.

There wasn’t a lot between the two players throughout the first set and I knew that if Holly relaxed a little and didn’t try to hit the ball too well then her timing issues would be solved. Holly did just that at the start of the second set; after holding serve from *15-40 down in the opening game her confidence increased, she relaxed more and her timing got a lot better. Just like in the first set the games all went with serve but this time Holly made life a lot more difficult for Ria who was starting to show a few signs of frustration. At *5-5 Holly had a 14 point service game but despite taking a 40-15 lead she couldn’t hold serve and was broken – even a dog coming on to the court at 15-15 couldn’t help her!! Ria then held serve to take the match 6-3, 7-5.

It was a close match and Holly had her chances but Ria is a tough competitor and kept her nerve when Holly started to put the pressure on. The match will give Holly a lot of experience and hopefully she learnt a lot from her first ITF ¼ final.

Following the match we had a couple of hours before Holly was due back on court for her doubles so we quickly got a Tuk Tuk back to the hotel to get some lunch. We then returned to the club at 2pm and Holly went on for her first round match with Pei Hsuan Chen from Chinese Taipei at just before 3pm.

Despite the girls finding it a little difficult to communicate they started the match well and took a 4-2 lead. However, their opponents fought back and played some good doubles to win 5 out of the next 6 games to take the opening set 7-5. I was very surprised to see Holly and Pei lose the opening set as they were also playing well but three sudden death deuce games at 4-4*, 5-5* and *5-6 all went against them which was a major factor in the outcome of the set.

Our girls quickly put the disappointment of losing the first set behind them and raced to a 4-0* lead in the second set. I then thought they were going to have the same problem as in the first set as they lost 3 out of 3 sudden death deuce games out of 6 games but Pei held her serve when it mattered at *5-4 to take the set 6-4.

Holly stepping into her backhand during the second set

The match tie-break third set was a real roller coaster; we went 1-3* down, then fought back to lead 7-5 and then finally their opponents took the next 5 point to take the match 7-5, 4-6, 10-7. It was a disappointing loss as I think Holly and Pei were the better doubles pair but if you don’t convert the important points then you are always going to struggle. Out of a total of 8 sudden death deuce game we only managed to win 3 of them!

Alex and his Sri Lankan partner Anish Wijesinghe followed Holly and Pei’s match on the same court. They had a tricky draw against Phillip De Bruyn (who Alex played in the singles) and Charlie Ridout but after our boys broke Charlie in the opening game it looked as though it was going to be a close match. Phillip and Charlie broke straight back and then went on to take a 5-2 lead before Alex held serve for the first time whilst saving a set point. That gave the boys a lift and they fought back to level the set at 5-5*. They then narrowly lost the next game to sudden death deuce but held serve to take it to a tie-break. Unfortunately Phillip and Charlie played a strong breaker and took it 7-3.

Alex continued to play well in the second set and if it wasn’t for the energy that he brought to the court the boys would have never fought back as they did in the first set. His doubles was very sharp but he had to do a lot of work during the match and that took its toll in the second set. In the end Phillip and Charlie took the match 7-6(3), 6-2 but I was pleased with the level that Alex produced and how he kept fighting until the very last point.

Those three results today brought our first week to an end and Holly and Alex have opted to have a rest day tomorrow before starting their preparation on the clay on Friday. We’ll then have three days of training before the main draw of the second week starts on Monday.

Colombo U18 ITF Grade 5, Day 5

Tuesday 8th October 2013

It was another good day at the Sri Lanka Lawn Tennis Association today as Holly won her 2nd round match which moves her into the ¼ finals tomorrow.

We were up early again at just before 6am and then down to breakfast by the time it opened at 6.30am. Alex had a good breakfast and, as Holly was feeling a little better than yesterday, she managed to eat around half of her normal amount.

We then got the 7am shuttle to the tennis centre but once again the overnight rain had meant there were still lots of puddles on the courts. By the time we had gone through our physical warm ups the staff had managed to clear most of the water so both Holly’s hit together, while Alex joined the Win Tennis boys to train with them. As Holly had a singles match today she was the priority so I spent the session with her and talked about her goals for the match today. One of them was to keep her contact point in front on both groundstrokes and here’s a pretty good example:

Holly focussing on her contact point during her pre-match warm up

After 30 minutes of warming up groundstrokes, volleys, drive volleys, serves and returns we both left the court happy and went off to prepare for the match. While Holly was preparing her pre-match sheet I went and saw the physio to have more (very painful!) work on my wrist and forearm – I think I sweated more in that session than I did on court yesterday!!

Before Holly went on we watched some of Holly Hutchinson’s postponed 1st round match from yesterday and then at 11.15am she went on court to take on wildcard Sadaf Sadeghvaziri from Iran. During the warm up it looked as though Sadaf was the kind of player that would hit very flat and miss a lot of balls but as the set started it was obvious that she was a lot better than she looked. Holly started very well and probably hit the ball the best I’ve ever seen from her; she was able to generate a lot of spin off both sides and produce a consistently aggressive level. Holly broke Sadaf at 1-1* but then played a cheap game to give up her serve in the very next game. That didn’t upset Holly at all and despite going *2-3 down she upped her level again to win the next 4 games in a row to take the opening set 6-3. The games were quite close but it was Holly who played the bigger points well and used good variation throughout the set to keep the ball out of Sadaf’s hitting zone.

Holly continued to play at a high level at the start of the 2nd set and raced to a 3-0* lead. However, 4 unforced errors in the next game gave Sadaf a little bit of confidence which she used to break Holly in the following game to get the set back on serve. Holly kept her head though and fought hard to win the next 3 games to take the set and the match 6-3, 6-2.

During the match I didn’t think Holly looked too well and when she came off she said she actually felt worse today than she did yesterday! It was therefore an even more impressive performance considering she felt so bad and it also shows how tough Holly can be.

After Holly and I had a quick debrief she went off to shower and change while I went on court with Alex for his second session of the day. He had a really good session for over an hour with two boys from the Philippines and we both felt as though his level of hitting was much better than in his match yesterday.

Once Alex had finished we all squeezed into a Tuk Tuk (along with our bags!) to go back to the hotel. It was a bit tight but good fun!

Alex and Holly loving their Tuk Tuk ride!

After lunch Holly still didn’t feel great so she went to bed for the afternoon while Alex and I had a good gym session. I then went back over to the club to get some more treatment on my wrist and book practice courts for tomorrow before I returned to the hotel to meet Alex and Holly for dinner.

Dinner was going smoothly until I lost at cards and had to play a 30 second shadow point around the restaurant! I was actually playing a great point but after misjudging my landing from a jump smash off the steps I found myself sliding across the floor – I think I managed to save it though and finished the point with a great volley!!!

Schedule for tomorrow:

(1) Ria Vaidya (SIN) (280) vs Holly Horsfall (GBR) (1441) – 1st match at 8.30am

Pei Hsuan Chen (TPE) & Holly Horsfall (GBR) vs Roma Chandiran (IND) & Watsachol Sawasdee (THA) – 4th match after 8.30am

Alex Hagon (GBR) & Anish Wijesinghe (SRI) vs (2) Phillip De Bruyn (RSA) & Charlie Ridout (GBR) – 5th match after 8.30am

Colombo U18 ITF Grade 5, Day 4

Monday 7th October 2013

It was a day of mixed emotions today as Alex had a tough match against the 5th seed while Holly took out the 7th seed despite being unwell last night and all of today!

The day didn’t start too well with Holly informing me at 6.30am that she’d been sick in the night and was still feeling very unwell. She tried to eat some breakfast but couldn’t face it so after making up a little take away meal we headed off to the club at 7am.

Our hotel shuttle driver really did not know where he was going this morning and in the end we all directed him the right way to the club! When we arrived Alex and I went straight to his match court to warm up but due to the heavy rain overnight the court still had a lot of puddles on it. After a good physical warm up we managed to hit around the puddles for around 25-30 minutes to get Alex prepared for his match. The balls got quite heavy throughout the practice but Alex hit well and was feeling good before we left the court at 8am.

Due to the court still being a little wet Alex didn’t end up going on until just after 9am to face 5th seed Phillip De Bruyn from South Africa. Alex had trained with Phillip and Charlie Ridout on Saturday so we knew a little about his opponent but despite having a breakpoint in the opening game, Alex soon fell 3-0 behind. Phillip was playing a solid set but Alex was a little inconsistent with his level and struggled to get on top during the points. Alex held serve at *0-3 but Phillip continued to play at a high level to take the next 3 games and the first set 6-1.

The second set followed a similar pattern to the first set with Alex trying to find his range to get on top, while Phillip hit well from the back of the court. Alex again had numerous game points but couldn’t convert until he held serve at *0-4. At this stage Alex started to play better and create more chances to move forwards to finish the point at the net. Even though Alex’s level had increased, Phillip held serve to lead 5-1 but the set was far from over. Alex held in the next game then raised his level significantly to break for the first time then hold serve again to  trail 4-5*. Alex was then 30-0 up on Phillip’s serve but some strong winners turned the game around and Phillip took the game and then match 6-1, 6-4.

 

Alex taking control of a point at the end of the 2nd set

It took Alex a little while to get going in the match today but it was always going to be tough against a much stronger opponent. When Alex did find his level he played well and was very close to levelling the score at the end of the second set. A tough first round match but there were lots of positives to take from it.

Due to Holly not feeling well she didn’t hit this morning before her match and while Alex was playing she was off on her own trying to relax. As I left Alex’s court I walked past Holly’s court to find her in the middle of the warm up! She later told me that she just wanted to save her energy for the match and because of how she felt “nothing I could have said before the match would have made a difference” – fair enough!!

Her unusual preparation for the match actually worked so who says you have to hit or talk to your coach before you go on?! Holly fought hard throughout the match and even though I knew she was struggling she never once showed any kind of weakness. She chased every ball and took control of the opening set from the start winning it 6-0.

During the second set Sharlee played a couple of good games but Holly served very well and never looked in danger of being broken. Holly broke the 7th seed at 3-2* and then again at 5-2* to take the match 6-0, 6-2.

Holly attacking a backhand on her way to a convincing win

Even after she had won I don’t think Holly had enough energy to celebrate and so after a little smile from her and a high five from me we went straight back to the hotel for her to eat and then go back to bed!

Holly actually slept from around 2pm until 6.30pm this afternoon! During this time Alex and I went through a tough gym programme at the hotel and then took a Tuk Tuk to the tennis club to get a bit of physio treatment. We had also planned on watching some of Holly Hutchinson’s match but because of bad light her match got delayed until tomorrow.

When we got back to the hotel we woke Holly up and then headed to the swimming pool restaurant to get some dinner. Holly still wasn’t feeling hungry but when I gave her the option of having some ice cream her appetite suddenly increased! I didn’t mind as long as she got some food in her system but I think Alex was a bit jealous!!

After dinner we headed back to the apartment for an early night to get ready for another early start tomorrow.

Boy’s Doubles Draw

Girl’s Doubles Draw

Schedule for tomorrow:

(WC) Sadaf Sadeghvaziri (IRI) (UNR) vs Holly Horsfall (GBR) (1441) – 2nd match after 8.30am

Doubles to follow depending on scheduling

Colombo U18 ITF Grade 5, Day 3

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.

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

Colombo U18 ITF Grade 5, Day 2

Saturday 5th October 2013

It was a really good first day’s training today as we all got a feel for the club and the conditions while putting in two on court sessions either side of lunchtime and a gym session to finish off the day.

Despite still being a little jet-lagged everyone slept quite well last night and were up for breakfast by 8am. The options for breakfast were excellent; you could have cereal, eggs, toast, yoghurts to name a few and so I was a little surprised when I sat down next to Holly and she had fried onions, vegetable samosas and potato wedges on her plate!! I was thinking it must be a Northern thing and I had my assumption confirmed after she told me that she recently had seafood risotto for breakfast!!

At around 9am we got a taxi over to the club and we joined by Holly Hutchinson soon after. Holly isn’t able to get on the internet where she’s staying and it must have been at least 30 seconds before she was up to the tournament office to get the Wi-Fi code!!

We all warmed up together from 9.30-10am and then managed to get a full court to train on from 10-10.30am. As is always the case at junior events, everyone puts their names down for a practice court but then don’t turn up and when there’s only one practice court it’s always worth hanging around to see if people don’t use their court. I trained with Alex on one half court while both Holly’s hit together on the other and the main focus of the session was to get a feel for the courts and the humid conditions. Alex and I were quite used to the humidity after travelling out to the Caribbean on three different occasions this year but the girls were finding it a little more difficult. After warming up for 30 minutes Alex took a break for half an hour while the Holly’s stayed on and shared a half court with the WIN Tennis boys to play some points. Alex then came back on at 11am and joined Charlie Ridout and Phillip De Bruyn to play some points for another 30 minutes.

Alex at full stretch for a volley against Charlie this morning

All three players found some good form during the morning session and at just after 11.30am we left site to go back to the house Holly is staying at for a shower and a fantastic lunch. We then all headed back to our hotel to relax for an hour before we went onto the hotel court for our second session of the day.

The hotel court is actually much better than the courts at the tennis centre and even though we have to pay to use it, it was definitely worth it. After warming up for 15-20 minutes we went into a lot of points and everyone once again found a good level considering it was only their first day of training. We stayed on court for about an hour and a half and then went straight into the gym where Alex completed a power session, both Holly’s did some strength work and I continued with my own strength programme as I prepare for the London Marathon next year.

Holly Horsfall returning Holly Hutchinson’s serve during the points at the hotel this afternoon

Holly Horsfall returning Holly Hutchinson’s serve during the points at the hotel this afternoon

We were all finished by 5.45pm and after Holly Hutchinson had a panic while she raced around the hotel looking for her phone (it ended up being in her shoe in her tennis bag!) we went down to dinner at 6.30pm. The food at the hotel is very reasonably priced but the portions are quite small and once you add on the 26.8% tax a meal is around 2000 Rupees (about £10). With that in mind we decided to all go for the buffet which is 2,600 Rupees (about £13) and you can eat as much as you like! The quality of the food was excellent and the banter over dinner was just as good as both Holly’s lost at “Chase the Ace” which resulted in some hilarious forfeits – like I said yesterday, Holly Hutchinson is a great entertainer!!

Holly dancing with one of the waiters after dinner . . . as you do!!!

Last day of training tomorrow before main draw starts on Monday.

Colombo U18 ITF Grade 5, Day 1

Friday 4th October 2013

It’s been a tiring first day in Colombo as we had a 10 & a half hour flight from London last night and only arrived at our hotel at 3pm this afternoon.

Yesterday Alex Hagon and I had a full training day and were joined by Holly Horsfall for our afternoon session before we all headed across London to get to Heathrow. When we arrived at the airport we met up with Holly Hutchinson and even though Holly joined us for the flight she’s got friends in Sri Lanka so will not be an official member of the team this time! However, because Holly gives us such good entertainment, we’re sure to be spending a lot of time with her over the next 2 weeks!!

The flight was quite good despite being quite a long one; Alex managed to get 3 seats to himself so he slept for a good 7+ hours, I managed to get around 4/5 hours and both Holly’s slept a bit so we weren’t too wiped out when we arrived.

As we got off the plane Holly Hutchinson was immediately met by someone who took her through immigration and collected her bags for her (friends in high places eh?!!) while the rest of us fended for ourselves! After we collected our bags we met our driver who took us on a crazy 1 hour journey to our hotel for the next 2 weeks.

The afternoon was spent unpacking and getting a feel for the hotel before we visited the local supermarket to stock up on water and food. I then had a sleep in the afternoon which ended up going on a little more than the 30 minutes I had planned and despite Alex and Holly calling me and banging on my wall, they still couldn’t wake me!

We met up with the Win Tennis team from Bisham Abbey at 7pm for a good dinner and then relaxed in our apartment before having an early night to prepare for our 1st training day tomorrow.

Tobago U18 ITF Grade 5, Day 8

Friday 30th August 2013

Our event came to an end today as Alex and Stefan went down 6-2, 6-4 in the semi-finals of the doubles to the solid pairing of Gui Gomes (USA) and Pedro Cavalcante (BRA).

Once again we had to go through our physical warm up at the hotel at 7.15am as the 7.45am bus wouldn’t have given us enough time before our practice session at 8am. When we arrived on site we met up with Stefan and then the boys had a good 30 minute hit to warm up everything before their match. There was then just a short break before they took to the court at 9am for the semi-final.

We knew the match today was going to be tough after watching Gui and Pedro take out the number 2 seeds yesterday and the main objective was to control the net and move early in the rally before they got a chance to. Unfortunately Stefan was broken in first game and even though Alex held a tight game at *0-2 you got the feeling that the momentum was still with their opponents. The next two games went with serve and it was clear that Alex and Stefan were trying to raise their energy levels but when Alex was broken to sudden death deuce at *2-4 Pedro then stepped up and held serve to take the first set 6-2.

The start of the second set was not good from Alex and Stefan; they looked quite flat and were quite static at the net which allowed Gui and especially Pedro to dominate. However, at 0-3* the boys got a little breakthrough and broke Gui’s serve which gave them a big boost and suddenly they came to life. Stefan then held and the boys got an even bigger breakthrough when they broke Pedro’s serve in the next game to level the set at 3-3. The momentum had really shifted but the boys couldn’t capitalise on it and Alex’s serve was broken in the next game. The loss of that game really deflated both boys and even though Stefan held serve at *3-5 Pedro served out the set with a tight sudden death deuce game to take the match.

It was a disappointing performance from both boys especially as they only managed 6 crosses in the match and only 8 first volley winners – not the kind of stats you’re looking for when you’re trying to dominate the net and stop your opponent from doing so. The positives were that they came through a tricky ¼ final match and they played some good doubles on the way to the semi-final even though it was their first time playing together.

After the match we got some lunch and watched some of the other semi-final match before we headed back to the hotel. We then met up with Eric, Ryan, Kylie, Kuba and Stefan and drove down to Crown Point beach right next to the airport where we spent the afternoon. Eric, Ryan, Kylie, Kuba and Stefan decided to go on a boat trip for a few hours while Alex and I had a relaxing afternoon with Breana and her family.

The amazing view from Crown Point

We then headed back to the hotel and then met up with Mia, Dawn and everyone else that had played today at Ciao’s for our last meal together.

It’s been a good couple of weeks both on the court and off; Alex has played the best tennis that I’ve ever seen from him and worked hard in training and in his matches. He’s picked up some singles and doubles points but most importantly he has developed as a player and as a person and has met a lot of new friends.

In one of the opening ceremony speeches the president of the club talked about how important it is for the players to “enjoy the journey” as the road can often be a little bumpy with wins and losses. That is something that players, parents and coaches can often forget but it is vital for the development of the player and I know that we’ve definitely enjoyed the journey over these last two weeks.

Tomorrow is going to be a long day of travelling as we leave Tobago on a 6.40am flight and do not arrive back into London until 5.45am on Sunday!

I hope you’ve enjoyed following our journey over the last couple of weeks, next stop will be Sri Lanka at the start of October.

The sun setting on our final day in Tobago

Tobago U18 ITF Grade 5, Day 7

Thursday 29th August 2013

It was another good day at the Tobago ITF today as Alex and Stefan came through a tough doubles ¼ final against Jesse Ruder-Hook and Jakub Wojcik from America.

After a more relaxed start to the day we met for breakfast at 8.30am and then Alex warmed up at the hotel from 9.30-10am. We then got the bus to the tournament site and had another good 1 hour training session with Stefan to get prepared for the doubles. By 11.30am both boys were looking very sharp and were eager to get on court for their ¼ final match.

At 12pm they went on court and immediately imposed themselves on the match by breaking Jakub in the first game. Stefan then held serve and the boys broke Jesse to take a strong *3-0 lead. The next few games were a bit up and down; Alex was broken at sudden death deuce, then the boys broke Jakub again before Stefan was the next player to give up his serve. At *4-3 the set was looking very close but Alex this time held serve at sudden death deuce and then the boys found good energy to up their levels and break Jesse to take the set 6-3.

The second set started in the opposite way to the first; Alex and Stefan went 0-3* down having both been broken and even though they managed to get one break back it wasn’t enough as Jesse and Jakub went on to take the set 6-2. In terms of doubles performance the second set was actually better than the first for Alex and Stefan as they moved more and finished more first volleys but Jesse and Jakub played well and deserved the set.

During the second set Alex and Stefan had been quite flat but at the start of the match tie-break they raised their energy levels and became a team once again. That made a massive difference to the quality of their play and they raced to a 6-0 lead. Jesse and Jakub managed to get back into the set and at 8-6 in was starting to look like it could go either way but some sharp play at the net and a good serve at the end from Stefan wrapped up the match 6-3, 2-6, 10-6.

Alex & Stefan celebrating after winning match point

Even though it wasn’t the best of doubles matches in terms of executing their plays, the boys responded very well at the start of the 3rd set and definitely deserved to take the win.

After the match we had some lunch and then watched the other ¼ final match as we did think that we’d play the semi-final later in the day. However, by the time that Pedro and Gui had won their match it was almost 4pm and they felt too tired to play the semi-final. The decision was always going to be theirs as the match wasn’t on the schedule for today but yesterday they did say they’d want to play it if they won. Instead there will be the semi and final tomorrow.

When we returned to the hotel Alex and I went through his upper body strength and conditioning programme and then he stretched out to end a successful day.

I’m sure the staff at Ciao Café love the fact that we’re spending a lot of money there each evening but tonight we took over the whole restaurant and I’m sure it’s much busier than it normally would be! It was still another great meal and the fact that all of the players and coaches are getting on so well together is definitely a highlight of this trip.

After dinner a few of us walked back to the hotel and then we had an early night to get ready for the semi-final (and hopefully the final too!) tomorrow.

Schedule for tomorrow:

(3) Stefan Cooper (GBR) & Alex Hagon (GBR) vs Gui Gomes (USA) & Pedro Cavalcante (BRA) – 1st match at 9am

Tobago U18 ITF Grade 5, Day 6

Wednesday 28th August 2013

It was another wet day at the tennis centre today but the boys eventually got on court at around 4pm for their 1st round doubles match . . . and by 4.50pm they were off court with a win!

When Alex went to bed last night we had decided to meet for breakfast at 7am and then get the 7.45am bus to the courts, but that was before the order of play came out at 11pm!! Once I found out the boys were scheduled to play ‘not before 12pm’ I decided that we’d get the bus over at 10am but, as didn’t want to wake Alex to let him know, he only found that out at 7am this morning!

While Alex tried to get back to sleep I took to the road for a long and exhausting 7 mile run. It wasn’t the most pleasant run that I’ve ever done due to the high humidity and the exhaust fumes from the lorries on the highway but I’m glad I managed to get through it. Please donate if you can to help an amazing charity who helps very sick children – www.justgiving.com/robsGNR2013.

Once we arrived at the tennis centre we watched some of Mia’s ¼ final match before Alex and Stefan warmed up and then had a really good training session for an hour. They warmed up as normal for 20 minutes and then went through a series of doubles specific drills to get them sharp at the net and also work on their movement forwards. They then served and finished the session with some cross court points.

We had lunch today from the small hut next to the tennis centre and even though it wasn’t as good as the pasta from Ciao Café, it was definitely better than having a Subway sandwich! As we were eating our chicken and rice back at the court the Heavens opened and it poured with rain.

More like a UK summer than one in the Caribbean!

During the rain delay Alex got stuck into his strength and conditioning programme and then at 4pm the boys went on for their 1st round doubles match. They were due to play Matthew Foster-Estwick & Simon Lewis from Barbados but Matthew had a bad injury to his knee yesterday so they were replaced by the alternate pairing of Timothy Davis & Ryan Thomas from Trinidad and Tobago.

Our pre-match talk was mainly about getting the job done in a professional manner and improving throughout the match so that they would be prepared for a tougher match tomorrow. As always the boys had 3 specific goals for the doubles; hit 10 first volley winners per set, cross the centre line of the court 10 times per set to poach the volley and aim to approach off every second serve return to put pressure on their opponents.

Alex and Stefan performed well together and stayed focussed on their goals as they stormed through the match 6-0, 6-0. Even though it was very comfortable victory I was pleased with how both players conducted themselves and how they developed their doubles throughout the match.

After Alex had showered and changed we got a taxi back to the hotel but as there were 6 of us travelling back, 3 of us were in the back of the pick-up with the wind in our hair!!

Pedro and Gui in the back of the truck with me

We had a big group of us at dinner tonight which included the Advantage Tennis team, Pedro Cavalcante and during the meal Mia and her mum joined us too.

It was another fantastic meal at Ciao Café and after a tough run this morning there was only going to be one thing that I was going to order!

My ‘Lunatica’ pizza – part Calzone, other part normal pizza – unbelievable!

Schedule for tomorrow:

Jesse Ruder-Hook (USA) & Jakub Wojcik (USA) vs (3) Stefan Cooper (GBR) & Alex Hagon (GBR) – 3rd match after 9am, not before 11am

Tobago U18 ITF Grade 5, Day 5

Tuesday 27th August 2013

It was a tough day for Alex today as he came up against a good player in top seed Jean Thirouin and, despite a good performance for the majority of the match, he went down in straight sets.

As Alex was scheduled for 2nd match on it meant that we could have breakfast at 7.15am before we headed over to the courts on the 7.45am bus. Alex and Stefan then went through their physical warm-ups between 8.30-9am and then had a solid 30 minute practice session. We knew that a big part of our tactics today would be using variation to keep Jean uncomfortable so Alex focused on that during his pre-match hit and ended the session feeling confident.

We had just under an hour before Alex went on for his match and in this time he completed his pre-match sheet and we discussed again the tactics we would need to implement to be effective today. Alex then went on court at 10.15am to face the American number 1 seed.

After 2 very long games, in which a total of 24 points were played, Alex found himself *0-2 down. He had started well and was competing hard against a tough opponent but he just couldn’t convert the game points that he had. Alex was then broken to Love to trail *0-3 but the score definitely didn’t reflect just how close the set was. It was therefore no surprise when Alex held serve in the next game and then broke Jean to get the match back to 2-3*. Alex continued to get opportunities to get more games on the board but Jean played the big points better and ended up taking 3 out of the next 4 games to take the set 6-3. Alex and I always talk about the winning the important points (notably the 30-30 points and Game / Break points) in games at the first opportunity and in total Alex had 8 of these in the first set and only managed to win 1 of them.

Alex serving during the tight start to the match

The first 3 games of the second set continued to be just as competitive as the whole of the first set; Alex was fighting hard and producing tennis of a very high level but he just couldn’t get the breakthroughs to get games on the board. Then at 6-3, 3-0 down his head dropped a little and he looked as though his belief was starting to go. As this happened his quality dropped, more cheap unforced errors started to creep into his play and subsequently the final three game of the match went against him very quickly.

Despite going down 6-3, 6-0 Alex produced a high level of tennis for 11 out of the 14 games played and it was only in the middle of the second set that his focus and energy levels started to drop. There were definitely a lot more positives than negatives in the match and it was a great experience for Alex to play a player ranked in the 300s. He now knows what he needs to work on to get up to that kind of level by the end of next year.

We had lunch at the club after the match and then we decided to get the 12.30pm bus back to the hotel so that it gave Alex and Stefan a break from being on site all day before their doubles match. Unfortunately while we were back at the hotel the weather changed and the rain started to fall. It then continued for a few hours and in the end the tournament decided to cancel the doubles for the day.

For dinner tonight we were joined by the Advantage Tennis team from California and due to Ciao Café being closed on Tuesdays we went next door to the Havana restaurant. The quality of the food was pretty good but the portions were small and expensive so I don’t think we’ll be going back there again!!

Due to matches still going on late into the evening the schedule didn’t end up coming out until after 11pm but here it is!!

Schedule for tomorrow:

Matthew Foster-Estwick (BAR) & Simon Lewis (BAR) vs (3) Stefan Cooper (GBR) & Alex Hagon (GBR) – 4th match after 9am, not before 12pm

Tobago U18 ITF Grade 5, Day 4

Monday 26th August 2013

It was a good birthday for Alex today as he got a first round win under his belt and also had a great slice of chocolate birthday cake!

It was an early start for us today as we met for breakfast at 6.15am but it did give Alex a chance to open his birthday card and present from me before he warmed up at the hotel at 7.15am. We then got the 7.45am shuttle bus to the courts and as soon as we arrived Alex went straight on court to hit with Stefan from 8-8.30am. Both players were hitting well and Alex looked very strong from the back of the court and also when volleying.

Once we had finished we had a short break before the opening ceremony of the tournament got underway just after 9am. Much to the player’s delight the speeches were short and after a quick photo call we managed to get away to warm up for 10 minutes before Alex was called for his match.

Everyone getting ready for the start of the Opening Ceremony

We knew that Alex was playing against a player that was a little weaker than him, so the main focus was to find a good level of hitting throughout the match and most importantly work on maintaining his concentration. After a poor first game Alex settled down and then started to produce the kind of level that he’d been finding in practice. He raced through the next 6 games with some very aggressive tennis and never let his opponent get into the set.

After a very convincing 6-1 first set Alex continued to stay in control and won the first 4 games of the second set. Even though he was broken in the next game by hitting 4 unforced errors, I wasn’t too disappointed as each mistake was made by Alex trying to either develop his serve or try something different from the back of the court. However, Alex’s focus dropped at 4-1* and the rest of the set became very scrappy. His unforced error count started to increase very fast and the quality of hitting that he had in the first set was no longer there. In the end Alex closed out the match 6-1, 6-3 but as soon as he came off I knew he was not happy with his second set performance. His first words to me were “Can we go straight onto the practice court?” which showed great professionalism and I know that a month or two ago he would have never asked to do that. All it took was 10 quality minutes of hitting before Alex once again found the level that he wanted and we both finished the session happy.

Many players see a win as their overall goal but if you don’t improve or play at a level that you are happy with then it is very important to get back on court so that you do feel ready to play the next round. Alex made a very mature decision to train straight after the match and I believe that shows how much he has developed as a player and a person since he started playing ITF events.

After Alex had cooled down and showered we headed off site to the local shopping mall to get some lunch and, as it was his birthday, we decided to rest this afternoon and go to the cinema. We had hoped to see ‘Wolverine’ but that showing wasn’t until 8pm and as we just missed the start of ‘Red 2’ we had to settle for our 3rd choice which was ‘The Mortal Instrument’. Neither of us had heard of it before, and to be honest it wasn’t really my cup of tea, but it wasn’t too bad and I’m sure it was better than watching ‘The Smurfs’!!

We got back to the hotel just before 5pm and while Alex went online I decided to have a quick run followed by some very tough hill sprints. We then headed out to Ciao Café for dinner with Stefan and Danielle at 6pm and no birthday would be the same without some quality birthday cake (I just couldn’t believe Alex couldn’t finish his!!).

Action shot of Alex blowing out his birthday candle!

 

Boy’s Doubles Draw

Schedule for tomorrow:

(1) Jean Thirouin (USA) (379) vs Alex Hagon (GBR) (1880) – 2nd match after 9am

Matthew Foster-Estwick (BAR) & Simon Lewis (BAR) vs (3) Stefan Cooper (GBR) & Alex Hagon (GBR) – 5th match after 9am (not before 1pm)

Tobago U18 ITF Grade 5, Day 3

Sunday 25th August 2013

It was another good training day today as we prepared for Alex’s 1st round main draw match tomorrow.

We met for breakfast this morning at 8.15am and, due to the tournament bus schedule, we ended up warming up at the hotel before getting the 10am bus to the tennis centre. The plan was then for Alex to train with Stefan from 10.30 – 11.30am but Stefan had a bit of a mix up with where he was staying last night and didn’t end up getting to bed until after 2am! Just before we were due to start we managed to get Allen Thornes to join us which was great as it gave me the chance to be down Alex’s end of the court for the whole session. Alex and Allen had a good hour on court together and with just one day to go before the main draw starts the majority of the session was point based.

The plan for lunch today was to go to Ciao Café and get a good portion of pasta but after going all the way to the restaurant it turned out that it was closed for lunch on Sundays! Therefore it was back to Subway to get a sandwich but hopefully that will be the last time this week! The food there is okay but the service is diabolical (we were waiting 35 minutes today!) and it’s just a bit too heavy when we haven’t got a lot of time between sessions.

This afternoon we went back on court at 2.30pm and, as Stefan was still not at the club, we asked Andrew Symmonds from Barbados if he wanted to warm up and play a practice set. He was happy to do so and the boys ended up having a close set; Alex couldn’t quite find the level he had been hitting at over the weekend and he struggled to maintain his focus but in the end he held serve at *5-6 down and played a solid tie-break to take the set 7-6. The set took a little longer than I would have liked but it was good practice for Alex and identified areas that he needs to focus on for tomorrow’s match.

Alex serving against Andrew this afternoon

After the set Alex and I had a debrief and then he went off to sign in. He then got a lift back to the hotel with Kylie McKenzie, Ryan Peus and Ryan’s dad while I decided to run the 2.5 miles – a short distance but it was very hot and humid!

Once I got back, Alex and I had a recovery session in the swimming pool and then at 6.30pm it was back to the Ciao Café with Kylie, Ryan and Eric. We had another fantastic meal and I think I’m spreading the word quite well about the restaurant as, just as we were finishing, half of the tournament seemed to turn up for dinner!

By the time we got back to the hotel the draw was out:

Boy’s Singles Main Draw

Schedule for tomorrow (oh, and it’s Alex’s birthday!):

Alex Hagon (GBR) (1880) vs Kristen Anthony (TRI) (UNR) – 1st match on at 10am after the Opening Ceremony

Tobago U18 ITF Grade 5, Day 2

Saturday 24th August 2013

We had an excellent training day today which saw Alex produce the highest level of hitting that I’ve seen from him ever!

We had a bit of a lie-in this morning as we met for breakfast at 8.30am and then got the tournament bus to the club at 10am. Due to the ‘Drinks Festival’ yesterday and the ‘Boat Race’ today the whole of Scarborough was packed, so it ended up taking us almost 40 minutes to do a journey that would normally take 5-10 minutes.

Alex warmed up as soon as we arrived at the club and then at 11am he went on court with Gui Gomes from America who qualified and lost in the semi-finals last week. Over the past couple of weeks Alex’s game has really started to come together and the level that he produced this morning was the highest I have seen from him. That resulted in a really good training session for just over an hour where both players were pushing each other hard in hot and very humid conditions.

Alex and Gui during their training session this morning

After the session Alex showered and changed and then we headed to ‘Subway’ for lunch. I’m normally a fan of Subway sandwiches but as I’m training for the Great North Run and trying to lose a couple of kilos I could have really done without having a big baguette for lunch – unfortunately it was the only option though!

We were back on court at 2pm this afternoon to train with Victor Gurevich and once again Alex produced another session of high quality. The only difficulty for Alex was trying to maintain his focus when he took a big lead in the points but it was something we discussed and hopefully he can continue to work on it tomorrow. At 3pm we finished the session and we should have got the tournament bus straight back to the hotel but as it was running a bit late Alex started is power session at the club. We then finished it on the veranda at the hotel and by 4pm Alex had finished a very good training day.

Overhead Slams – part of Alex’s power programme

Mine hadn’t quite finished though and I took to the streets for a very draining 6 mile run. The roads weren’t as hilly as in St. Vincent but the humidity at 5pm was very high and it really took it out of my legs. Like before though, the thoughts of helping very sick children kept me motivated to finish the run. I’ve now raised £195 for Make-A-Wish Foundation which is just over ¼ of the way to my target amount – if you can help me get closer please donate via my JustGiving page – www.justgiving.com/robsGNR2013.

At 6pm Alex, Stefan, Danielle and I walked into Scarborough to once again have a fantastic meal at Ciao Café – we all went for the pasta again but I think I’m going to have to have a ‘cheat day’ this week so that I can try one of their amazing looking pizzas!!!

Tobago U18 ITF Grade 5, Day 1

Friday 23rd August 2013

It was a full day of travelling today as we said goodbye to St. Vincent and hello to Tobago which will be our home for the next week.

We had an early start this morning and were at the airport checking in at 7.30am but as we were travelling with Liat Airlines we should have known there was going to be a delay! Even at 7.30am the flight had been delayed from 9.30am to 11am so we made the decision to check in and then get a local bus back to the hotel to relax there in our air-conditioned rooms! Leaving the airport after checking in reminded me of when I was travelling with my wife in the Cook Islands – you could check-in and then go across the road to the pub to wait until you saw the plane land, then go through security and board straight away!

We eventually got on the flight at about 11am and enjoyed a very scenic view over the Grenadines on the way to Trinidad.

Amazing views of the Grenadine islands from the plane

We were scheduled to fly to Tobago on the 5.45pm flight but the national coach for Tobago (who has some very good contacts at the airport!) managed to get us on his flight at 3pm which saved us a good couple of hours of waiting around.

We arrived at the Blue Haven hotel at around 5pm and were pretty impressed by the view from the reception:

Looking out towards Scarborough from the hotel

The restaurant at the hotel looked a little pricey so we decided to take the 15 minute walk into Scarborough to go to Ciao Cafe – a family run Italian restaurant that had been recommended by a couple of people. After going into the café first (and almost getting our heads blown off by the crazy music) we were told that the pizza and pasta restaurant was next door. Alex and I both opted for the pasta and we weren’t disappointed. The food was amazing and I think we’ll be coming back each evening this week.

Café Ciao with the pizza / pasta restaurant on the left hand side

After dinner we had a walk further into town to get some food from the supermarket and some fruit from the local street vendors. We then looked for a taxi back to the hotel but because the town was so packed tonight every driver was busy. The restaurant owner then tried his contacts and after he couldn’t find anyone he did us a massive favour and took us back to the hotel himself.

It was then an early night to get ready for a full training day tomorrow.

St. Vincent U18 ITF Grade 5, Day 6

Thursday 22nd August 2013

We had a good day’s training today which started our preparation for next week’s event and marked our last day in St. Vincent.

In order to get a full training day in we were up early for breakfast at 7.45am and then at the courts warming up at 9am. Alex then trained with Stefan for just over an hour before Stefan stopped to prepare for his doubles semi-final. The main focus this morning was on maintaining the quality of the ball strike that Alex was producing so that he can be consistently aggressive for longer in matches. After Stefan stopped we continued for another 30 minutes to work on Alex’s serve and even though that was one of the best parts of Alex’s game during the week it’s important to keep developing it.

Following the on court session we went straight into Alex’s lower body strength and conditioning programme. The programme took around 45-50 minutes and due to the lack of weights available to lift we had to improvise and use Alex’s tennis bag! He wasn’t too impressed with that but it worked and was much more beneficial than just lifting a 3kg medicine ball.

During the middle of the day we had some lunch back at the hotel and relaxed before it was back to the club at 2pm for the afternoon session. The plan was for me to play a practice set with Alex but after warming up for 30 minutes (and being covered in sweat!!) Victor Gurevich asked if he could play the set with Alex. It was obviously more beneficial for Alex to play a set with someone of a similar age so I stepped down and the boys got stuck into quite a competitive set. From the start I explained to Alex that the score today was irrelevant and all I wanted him to focus on was his performance. Even though Alex took a 5-3 lead he wasn’t quite finding the high level that he produced in the first sets of his two matches. Victor then came back and took a 6-5 lead which was when Alex finally stepped up and produced a much better performance to hold serve and then take the tie-break 7-1.

Alex returning serve during the practice set

After the session we headed back to the hotel and stretched out before he boys relaxed in the pool before dinner. There was then just enough time to watch the end of ‘Coach Carter’ before we had to pack and get ready to leave for Tobago tomorrow.

It’s been a good 1st week and hopefully Alex can improve on his performance in our last event of the trip next week.

St. Vincent U18 ITF Grade 5, Day 5

Wednesday 21st August 2013

After training, travelling and competing for the last 10 days Alex decided he wanted to rest today and then start his preparation for the event in Tobago on Thursday.

While Alex had a lie in I woke early and started to get stuck into emailing and updating the website with new pictures, a revised schedule and planning next year. We then met for breakfast at 9am and following that we headed over to the courts to watch some of the singles ¼ finals.

Alex stayed at the club for most of the day while I returned to soak my foot in vinegar for another 2 hours while continuing with admin work for our upcoming training block in September and the trip to Sri Lanka in October.

After having lunch together at the hotel Alex and Stefan went back to the club for the continuation of Stefan’s rain interrupted singles match. Stefan was 5-2 up in the first set but a shoulder injury during the opening games meant that he had to serve underarm and that played a big part in his 7-5, 6-1 loss.

Late in the afternoon I took to the road for another 6.5 mile run and even though my foot was still painful from the sea urchin spines, I managed to knock a minute off my time from Monday so I was rather pleased with that. At the moment I’m stuck on £150 raised for Make-A-Wish Foundation so if anyone can sponsor me and help some very sick children I would be very grateful (www.justgiving.com/robsGNR2013).

We had dinner this evening at the hotel and my lemon chicken skewers with jasmine rice was extremely nice! After dinner we watched the end of ‘The Impossible’ and then Mia joined us for the start of ‘Coach Carter’. It was then an early night for everyone to get ready for a full training day tomorrow.

St. Vincent U18 ITF Grade 5, Day 4

Tuesday 20th August 2013

Despite a close loss today in the 2nd round of the singles, Alex produced another good performance and those kinds of matches help enormously to build confidence.

Alex’s request yesterday to play first on today was granted so we were up early for breakfast at 6.30am and then walked over to the club just after 7am. Yesterday, during Alex’s first round match, we noticed that there was a cow very close to the back of the court and today while we were warming up it was back again. Stefan decided to name her Daisy and also help her with a bit of breakfast!

 

Stefan and his number 1 supporter!

 

Alex and Stefan had a good warm up for 30 minutes and even at 8am in the morning the temperature was really starting to heat up!

Alex and Stefan during their pre-match preparations

After half an hour break, during which Alex completed his pre-match sheet and we talked through tactics for the match, he stepped back on court to face 6th seed Jesse Ruder-Hook from America. We had watched Jesse play yesterday so knew exactly what to expect and during the first 5 games Alex stuck to his game plan and executed very well. He raced to a 5-0* lead and it looked as though the tall American didn’t know what had hit him! The next two games were much closer as Alex started to make a few more errors but after a 24 point game at *5-1 Alex held serve to take the first set.

Alex getting down to the ball during the 1st set

The first two games of the second set went with serve but I got the feeling that Jesse was starting to find his range a little more. After Alex then  hit 3 unforced errors at 1-1* it gave his opponent a big boost and Jesse went on to take control of the set winning the next 4 games in a row including hitting 4 unreturnable serves while serving for the set at 5-1.

After both boys went for a toilet break it was Alex that came out firing at the start of the third set; his energy level were high, he showed great fight and determination and found the same form that he had in the first set. Alex held then broke to lead *2-0 but then a poor service game allowed Jesse to get back into the match. That break of serve increased Jesse’s confidence a lot; he stepped up more and took the ball on hitting 11 winners in the next 5 games whilst serving very well. Despite a great first set and patches of very good tennis in the third set Alex eventually went down 1-6, 6-1, 6-2 in just under 2 and a half hours.

Like yesterday the big positives were that Alex is producing his high training level in matches against players that are much bigger and older than he is. Now our goal is to work to maintain that level throughout the duration of each match and if he can do that then there is no reason why he can’t be making the later stages of these events.

Once Alex had cooled down and stretched out we went back over to court 4 to watch Mia take on Ryan Peus from America. Mia fought hard throughout but Ryan played a very smart match and went on to win 6-2, 6-3. After the match Alex and I went back to the hotel to have some lunch and then together we planned the next few days of training before we fly out to Tobago on Friday.

This afternoon Alex went through his upper body strength and conditioning programme and then we decided to have a recovery swim over to Young Island. It was a really nice swim over but unfortunately just as we were within metres of the sandy beach I put my left foot down and stood on a Sea Urchin who didn’t take too kindly to it and left dozens of its spines in my toes and heel!! After getting some treatment on the island we took the water taxi back and then I spent the next hour with my foot in a bucket of vinegar!

After dinner I was back in the vinegar again much to the disapproval of Stefan and Alex who were sat next to me holding their noses while we watched ‘The Impossible’ on DVD. It was an astonishing film which is based on the true story of a family caught up in the Tsunami in Thailand in 2004 and it really put into perspective the pain I was going through with some spines in my foot!

St. Vincent U18 ITF Grade 5, Day 3

Monday 19th August 2013

It was a very good start to the tournament here in St. Vincent today as Alex produced a fine performance to take down Elliott Thornton from America in the first round.

We were all up early this morning but some heavy downpours meant that we were left waiting at the hotel for the rain to clear until about 8.45am. Alex, Mia, Stefan and I then walked to the club and even though the courts were still covered in water we decided to go through our warm-ups so that we were ready to start as soon as they were dry. Due to the heat and a little bit of wind the courts here seem to dry out pretty quickly and by 10am Alex and Stefan were on court going through their pre-match hit. After a quick game of Bounce, which saw Stefan finally get his first points on the board (!), the boys had a good 30 minutes of uninterrupted hitting. Alex was hitting very confidently from the back of the court but the mostly pleasing aspect of his game was the way his serve has really come together this week after working on it for the last month.

Alex and Stefan warming up between rain showers!

After the session the rain came down again so at 11am we got a ‘not before 1pm’ match time for Alex which enabled us to leave site and go back to the hotel for some lunch.

We returned at 12.30pm to find that the first round matches were only just starting but the match on Alex’s court went quite quickly and at 1.45pm it was game time!

Alex was taking on Elliott Thornton today and as Elliott hadn’t played last week in St. Lucia we weren’t able to get much information about him before Alex went on court. Therefore the game plan was to concentrate on the way Alex wanted to play and make sure that he brought a high level to the court. During the first set Alex did just that; his serving was fantastic which lead to him only losing 1 point of his first 2 service games and from the back of the court he was consistently aggressive. At 2-2* Alex increased his hitting level from the back of the court to brake Elliott’s serve and even though he struggled a bit in his next service game he eventually managed to hold which gave him a big boast of confidence. Elliott then held to make it *4-3 but Alex raised his focus again to hold (from *0-30 down) and break to take the first set 6-3. It was a very good performance from Alex in the first set, probably the best I’d seen from him this year, but now he needed to maintain that level to get the job done.

The second set was a little more scrappy; Alex was still in full control but took his foot off the gas a little at 4-1* and allowed Elliott to get back into the set. Elliott held and broke Alex to make the score 4-3* but Alex responded professionally, didn’t panic and in fact raised his level immediately to play his best two games of the set hitting only 1 unforced error to break and hold to take the match 6-3, 6-3. The win saw Alex pick up his first singles ITF points but most importantly it will give the belief that he can produce his high training level in matches when it really matters.

After the match we had a quick debrief and were both happy with the way he had not only played but also conducted himself on the court. We then sat down and watched Alex’s next round opponent play his opening match to prepare for tomorrow.

At around 4.30pm we headed back to the hotel so that Alex could stretch out and relax while I once again took to the mountainous roads of St. Vincent for a 6.5 mile run. The temperature during the day had been quite pleasant but by 5pm the humidity had really increased and from the start I found it tough going – still, more miles in the bank and more preparation for the Great North Run in September.

For dinner tonight Dawn, Mia, Alex, Stefan and I walked down to the Mariner’s hotel to join fellow Brits Megan Rogers and her dad. The food was superb (even though it was slightly difficult to see what you were eating due to the candle light) and it was great to have a big team around the table.

Schedule for tomorrow:

Alex Hagon (GBR) (1861) vs (6) Jesse Ruder-Hook (USA) (1115) – 1st match at 9am

St. Vincent U18 ITF Grade 5, Day 2

Sunday 18th August 2013

It was a good final day of preparation today as we managed to get two good practices in between very heavy downpours.

It was an early start for me this morning as jet lag once again kicked in and I was wide awake at 4.30am! After breakfast Stefan, Alex and I headed to the courts at just after 8am to try and get on court from 9-10am before all of the other main draw players turned up. It had rained overnight and so while Alex and Stefan warmed up I swept the puddles off the court but just as the boys started to hit at 9am the rain came hammering down again! In the rain break Alex went through his pre-hab programme and then just before 10am we managed to get back on court for a very good 1 hour session.

It was then back to the hotel to relax, get some lunch and watch some of the Chelsea vs Hull game. After Alex and Stefan moved rooms so they could share, we headed to the supermarket on one of the local buses to stock up on water and supplies before going straight to the club for the second session of the day.

We were joined by Victor Gurevich from America from 3-4pm and, as it was the last session before everyone would play their main draw match tomorrow, we decided to make it all point based. The boys all worked well together and it was good variation to have 3 players on the court even if it did mean that they weren’t on court for every point.

Alex returning Stefan’s serve during the afternoon session

By the end of the session Alex was happy with his level and felt well prepared for tomorrow so he went and signed in and then, just as the rain started to pour down again, we went back to the hotel.

We had dinner tonight at the hotel and were joined by Mia Smith who had just arrived after a horrendous 36 hours of travelling from St. Lucia – Liat Airlines is definitely not the player’s favourite on this trip!! It was great to catch up with Mia having not seen her for a couple of months and after narrowly losing in the final of the doubles last week she’s hoping to go one better this week.

The draw came out while we were at dinner and here it is!

Boy’s singles main draw draw

Schedule for tomorrow:

Elliott Thornton (USA) (2094) vs Alex Hagon (GBR) (1861) – 2nd match after 9am

St. Vincent U18 ITF Grade 5, Day 1

Saturday 17th August 2013

After a very long day of travel yesterday, which included a high of getting upgraded on the British Airways flight from Gatwick to Barbados to the low of sleeping on a tiled floor at Barbados airport waiting for the delayed Liat flight, Alex Hagon and I eventually got to St Vincent at just before midnight. Alex is on his own on this trip but we’ll be meeting up with Mia Smith and Stefan Cooper so hopefully they’ll be a lot of support for the Brits!

The plan for today was to have a relaxing start to get over the flight but both of us were up early due to the jet lag so we met for breakfast at 8am. This week we’re staying at the Beachcombers Hotel which is located right on the beach and has a great view of Young Island from the restaurant and pool area – not a bad sight while having breakfast.

The view of Young Island from the restaurant in our hotel

Once we had finished we decided to have a walk to the tennis club rather than pay the EC$15 taxi fare! The walk took us out of the back of the hotel and along the beach to a boardwalk which ran along to the main road. It was then just a short 7-8 minute walk from there to the tennis club. When we arrived we said hi to Anthony and Colleen who were the same referees when we were last in the Caribbean in April and then booked some practice courts for later this afternoon.

After that we left the club and had a quick look around the local shops before deciding to take one of the Island busses to the main supermarket near the airport. We stocked up on water, fruit and snacks and then headed back to the hotel to get some lunch and watch the start of the Premier League season!

This afternoon we got to the club at 2pm and then went through a good 30 minute warm up before our scheduled practice time of 2.30pm. By the time we stepped on the court my shirt was already soaked due to the high humidity here but it didn’t stop me from taking the opening game of “Bounce” against Alex! Bounce (or what we call Bounce!) is a game that we play at the start of each session and it basically involves the player hitting the ball down into the ground before it goes over the net (a bit like a table tennis serve). It’s just played in the service boxes and is great for footwork and establishing a high intensity at the start of the session. After that we spent the next hour and a half getting used to the heat, humidity and court surface by drilling from the back of the court and playing lots of points. There was a brief downpour of very warm rain towards the end of the session but after a quick break we got back on court to work on Alex’s serve for the last 30 minutes of the session.

Once we were finished on court we booked practice for tomorrow and then headed back to the hotel. While Alex stretched out I headed out for a 6 mile run to keep up with my training programme for my 12th Great North Run half marathon in Newcastle on the 15th September. It seems that every road out here goes uphill and some of the hills are massive! On the way back the heavens opened and a big storm came down but I really didn’t mind as by that stage I needed to cool off!

This year (like the last two years) I am running the Great North Run for Make-A-Wish Foundation which is an amazing charity that grants wishes to children with life-threatening illnesses. The charity does not receive any government support and needs to raise at least £7 million this year so if anyone reading this Blog is able to donate absolutely anything please do so via my JustGiving page:

www.justgiving.com/robsGNR2013

When I got back Stefan Cooper had arrived from St. Lucia so after a quick shower and change we all headed out along the beach to ‘High Tide’ for dinner. The restaurant at our hotel was closed this evening due to a big function with the President of Taiwan but it was also nice to check out some different restaurants early in the week.

More training tomorrow before main draw sign-in in the evening and then game time on Monday – Bring It On!!

Bermuda U18 ITF Grade 5, Day 4

Tuesday 25th June 2013

It was a tough end to the event here in Bermuda today as Alex and Harry lost in the first round of their doubles.

Following Alex’s defeat in the singles yesterday we decided to go straight into a normal training week from today which includes a full on court session in the morning, a strength and conditioning session and his doubles this afternoon. Watching the juniors over the years it is obvious that very few of them train as they should do when they are knocked out of the singles whereas the senior players make sure that keep up to date with their physical training even when they are still in the singles and doubles.

My day started today with some tough hill sprints on the road going down to the beach – the first 5 hurt but the next 15 hurt even more!! I then met Alex for breakfast at 8am and we got the 9am shuttle to the club. Once we arrived it was straight onto court to warm up before we had a good session from 10-11.15am. We had two main focuses for the session; firstly we wanted to address issues that Alex had on his groundstrokes following his singles match and then for the second half of the session we focussed on Alex’s volleys and doubles tactics. By the end of the session we were both soaked in sweat but instead of taking the easy option and having a break we went straight into Alex’s lower body strength and conditioning programme. It was quite a tough session but Alex completed it well and at 12pm it was time for some well-deserved lunch – unfortunately I had to wait for all of the players to have theirs before I could get my free lunch!

After lunch we chilled out watching Wimbledon in the player’s lounge and also some of the main draw matches before it was time to warm up again for our pre-match session with Harry Copley. We were supposed to hit from 2-2.30pm but it appeared that a court booking today wasn’t really valid and according to the referee the priority went to anyone who was playing next match on – an interesting concept and the first I’d ever experienced!! The boys however managed to get on court at around 2.45pm and had a good session which included some doubles specific work with me at the end.

Alex and Harry warming up before their doubles match – can you spot the ball?

At 4.15pm Alex and Harry went on to play Courtney Murphy & Myles Schalet from America. Alex and Harry started well and played some good doubles but their opponents were looking very sharp at the net and at *1-2 they broke Alex to take control of the set. Harry held serve at *1-4 and then the boys saved a set point at sudden death deuce on Alex’s serve but Courtney and Myles stepped up their level to close out the set 6-3.

In the second set Alex and Harry looked more confident and made less cheap errors but Courtney and Myles played some very tight doubles as they broke Harry at 2-2 and then Alex at 2-4 on their way to taking the match 6-3, 6-2.

Alex looking stunned by a huge 2nd serve ace on match point!

Another tough loss but like with the singles yesterday there were lots of positives to take from the match as well as lots of areas to develop and improve before Alex’s next event.

Tomorrow we will train at the club during the day before trying to get on an earlier flight home in the evening (hopefully without having to pay a huge change fee!). It’s been a good week in terms of Alex developing and also identifying areas of his game that need to improve and if he can continue to work hard in the way that he has been, then the results will come very soon.

Bermuda U18 ITF Grade 5, Day 3

Monday 24th June 2013

It was a disappointing day today as Alex lost his first round singles match despite starting both sets very well.

As Alex was scheduled for second match after 1pm we decided to have a more relaxed start to the day so that he wasn’t on site for too long before his match. After breakfast at 8.30am we headed over to the club at 10.30am and watched some of the main draw matches until it was time to warm up at 11.30am. Alex then hit with Jody Maginley from Antigua for 30 minutes to prepare for his match and during the session Alex once again found an excellent level. By 12.30pm we were both very pleased with how he was hitting so we finished the session and got some lunch.

Over the next hour and a half we discussed Alex’s tactics and goals for the match and then chilled out in the player’s lounge while watching the first round matches from Wimbledon. As the match before Alex’s got to a set and 3-0 we went out and warmed up. Then at 2.15pm Alex went on to face Ernesto Telles Schmidt from El Salvador.

For the first game and a half Alex played at a very high level and didn’t allow his opponent to get into the match but then a few cheap points gave Ernesto a bit of belief. Alex was then broken at *1-1 and ended up trailing 1-4* before he managed to get a break back but Ernesto broke straight back and held to take the opening set 6-2. Despite losing the set Alex was playing well in parts but was finding it very difficult to break down his very consistent opponent.

Alex taking on a backhand during the first set

After a toilet break at the end of the set Alex started the second set in the same way as he started the first; hitting extremely well from the back of the court and controlling every rally. Unfortunately Alex was broken again at *1-1 but fought hard to break back and level the set at 2-2. The next two games went against serve but when Alex held to take a 4-3 lead I really thought he had the set in the bag as he had come through a very tough 14 point game to hold serve at 3-3. Alex was still struggling with his consistency but was fighting hard during each point to try and stay on top in the set. Unfortunately 9 unforced errors from *5-5 cost him the next two games and after 2 hours 15 minutes he went down 6-2, 7-5.

It was a disappointing match overall as it was an good opportunity to get through the first round but the stats don’t lie and 69 unforced errors at this level is just too many, especially when his opponent only hit 28 in total.

After the match Alex cooled down and showered before we got the shuttle bus back to the barracks. The journey normally takes 10-15 minutes but due to an accident on the single lane road that runs through the middle of the island it ended up taking an hour! When we eventually got back to the barracks we changed and then spent some time going through the match. Alex’s observations from the match were very accurate and he responded well to the notes and feedback that I made – he knew that he had a good opportunity today but just couldn’t quite execute his shots the way he wanted to. However, I know he’s going to work hard now to make the necessary changes to his game and get prepared for the doubles tomorrow.

Once we were finished we met up with the other players and coaches in the ‘Mess Hall’ for dinner and then relaxed before it was time for bed!

Boy’s Doubles Draw

Schedule for tomorrow:

Harry Copley (GBR) & Alex Hagon (GBR) vs Courtney Murphy (USA) & Myles Schalet (USA) – 5th match after 10am

Bermuda U18 ITF Grade 5, Day 2

Sunday 23rd June 2013

We had a very good final day of preparation today but once again we were interrupted by a big rain storm in the afternoon.

While Alex had a bit of a lie in this morning I was up early to hit the roads for a 4 mile run. I’ve got less than 3 months to go until my 12th Great North Run half marathon so I need to keep up with my training even though it was very hot and humid (even at 6.30am!). When I got back I met Alex for breakfast at 8am and then we headed over to the courts on the 9am shuttle bus.

For our first session of the day we were joined by Robert Levine from America and within the first five minutes Alex had found a very high level of hitting from the back of the court. It was hotter and more humid than yesterday and it was physically quite draining to keep up a high training intensity but Alex worked hard throughout the 45 minute session. The boys played a match tie-break to end the session and even though Alex went down 10-7 he showed that he could maintain his high level during the points.

Alex returning serve during the points this morning

Over the next couple of hours we had some lunch, watched the final round of qualifying matches and tried to stay out of the heat / occasional downpour of rain! Alex and fellow Brit Harry Copley then warmed up and got on court at 1.30pm for our second session of the day. The boys warmed up for around 20 minutes and then went into a set to make sure they were both ready to compete in their matches tomorrow.

Alex and Harry at the start of their set

The start of the set was very close with both players serving well at key times but just as the boys were starting to really get their teeth into it the rain came down again. It was a similar time to the storm that hit yesterday and even though the sky didn’t look that dark the rain just kept getting heavier and heavier. In the end (after sheltering under the court umbrellas for 15 minutes!) we came off court at around 2.45pm and then just waited until 4pm for the opening ceremony.

Just as the ceremony was due to start the rain cleared and the players were paraded around the court:

 

Team GB – Stefan Cooper, Alex, Harry Copley, Imogen Williams and Scott Redmond

We were then treated to a dance performance by a local group and then a skipping performance by some local kids before the tournament was officially opened (much to the delight of the players who had been waiting around all day!).

The Gombey’s performing their traditional dance at the opening ceremony

Dinner tonight was at the club (to make sure everyone stayed for the opening ceremony!!) and then we had to wait around for an hour and a half before the shuttle bus came to take us back to the barracks.

Boy’s Main Draw

Schedule for tomorrow:

(WC) Ernesto Telles Schmidt (ESA) (UNR) vs Alex Hagon (GBR) (1705) – 2nd match after 1pm

Bermuda U18 ITF Grade 5, Day 1

Saturday 22nd June 2013

After a long day of travel yesterday, Alex had his first day of preparation today before main draw starts on Monday.

I met Alex Hagon at London Bridge train station yesterday before we started our journey to Gatwick for our 3pm flight to Bermuda. The flight was quite smooth, the movies were quite average but I did enjoy a couple of hours of sleep! We landed in Bermuda just after 6.30pm and once we cleared customs we were met by the tournament transport who drove us straight to Warwick Camp barracks which will be our home for this tournament.

The barracks are still in use by the military in Bermuda but for this week the players and coaches will be taking it over as part of the full hospitality offered by the tournament. When we were choosing which event to do this week we had two options; either the Grade 4 ITF in Tunisia or this one in Bermuda and because of the full hospitality offered here it actually worked out the much cheaper option.

The view from the barracks on Friday night

This morning we were both up early due to the jet lag and met for breakfast around 7.30am. Alex had struggled to get a lot of sleep in the 30 bed boy’s dorm but I slept like a baby in the coach’s dorm which only had two of us in it last night!

We headed to the courts at 9am and, after a long physical warm up to loosen up after the long flight yesterday, we got on court to train from 10-11.15am. The courts at the club are excellent and we had a good session which focussed mainly on consistency from the back of the court while trying to acclimatise to the heat. We were both still a little tired but we knew we would be and that’s why we decided to come out a couple of days early.

After the session we walked into Hamilton to go to the supermarket and stock up on water and food. When we returned to the club the first round of the boy’s qualifying was still going on so we got some lunch and watched some of the matches.

The view from the covered stand while the qualifying matches were on court . . .

Then at 2.15pm it was time for our second session of the day so we warmed up and then managed to get on one of the match courts as the qualifying only needed 2 courts.

Our second session was very good and Alex looked a lot more comfortable in the conditions. The match courts were quicker than the practice courts and more like the surface we’d been training on at home for this event. After warming up and going through some drills, Alex decided he wanted to play some points to finish the session but despite him leading 9-8 in the tie-break he just couldn’t finish me off before a big storm came over which ended our session!

. . . and then the same view during the storm!

We tried to shelter from the rain in the covered stands next to the courts but the storm was quite aggressive and the rain ended up coming in sideways!! We managed to find a room under the stands to stretch out and then at 4.30pm we got the shuttle back to the camp.

After a good dinner of sweet and sour chicken and rice in the ‘Corporal’s Mess’, we headed across the road from the barracks to check out the local beach and ended up coming across a beach party!

Alex on the beach this evening

We’ve got one more day of preparation tomorrow which will hopefully involve two more on court sessions as well as the opening ceremony for the event.

Podgorica U18 ITF Grade 5, Day 6

Saturday 1st June 2013

There was disappointment in the singles today but a superb performance in the doubles final from both Holly and Georgie put smiles on everyone’s faces and ended the trip on a very positive result.

We woke up to very heavy rain this morning and after breakfast Georgie decided she’d rather wait at the hotel for a while than go to the club which was definitely the right call. In the end we got a taxi and 9.30am just as the rain was starting to ease but when we arrived at the club every court was completely submerged in water!

The referee made an early decision that if the rain stopped we would play the singles semi-finals but if it didn’t then the doubles final would be on the indoor court at 4pm. With no practice courts available indoors until 1pm we killed time by preparing for the matches, watching the French Open, eating (I’m sure Alex is trying to set a new record for most Paninis eaten in one day!) and playing cards for some interesting forfeits!!

At 12.30pm Holly and Georgie warmed up before getting on the fast indoor hard court to hit at 1pm. At 1.15pm the referee came in to say that the newer courts 5 & 6 were dry and ready for play so the Georgie got changed and then took to the court at just before 1.30pm to face number 1 seed Tereza Mihalikova from Slovakia.

As you develop as an international junior the level at which you play matches becomes more consistent and the amount of ‘bad days’ you have become less. Then when you move into professional tennis hopefully these ‘bad days’ become very few and far between. Unfortunately today Georgie had a ‘BAD DAY!’

From the start of the match Georgie struggled with finding not only a level to compete with her opponent but also a consistency. She would play one good point but could not back it up with another and so could not string enough points together to win games. At *0-5 Georgie held serve to get a game on the board but Tereza went on to take the opening set 6-1 with stats of 8 winners / 7 unforced errors compared to Georgie’s of 6 winners and 17 unforced errors.

 

Georgie serving during the first set

 

The second set was much the same as the first with Georgie just not being able to set the points up without breaking down early. There was a rain delay with Georgie serving at *0-4 which gave me and Georgie a chance to go straight onto the indoor court to try and find some rhythm and loosen up her shots. Unfortunately it didn’t have the affect we were hoping for and when they returned to the court 30 minutes later Georgie lost the next 7 points in a row to go down 6-1, 6-0.

The performance was very unlike Georgie but we had to put it behind us quickly and move on to get prepared for the doubles final.

Holly and Georgie went on to the indoor court at 6.30pm for the doubles final against top seeds Tereza Mihalikova from Slovakia and Kseniia Bekker from Russia. We talked before the match about reproducing the level that they had found in the semi-finals and being brave enough to do it when it really counted in the final . . . and they did just that!

The start of the doubles final

The level that both girls found from the start of the match was very high and after breaking in the first game after a sudden death deuce point they went on to take a *3-0 lead. Georgie was then broken and their opponents held to close the gap but it didn’t stop Holly or Georgie from continuing to play to a very high level. Holly held serve and then two games followed that both went to sudden death deuce; one on Tereza’s serve and then one on Georgie’s serve with us coming out on top in both games to take the set 6-2.

Holly calling the serve out while Georgie focuses on the return

Our girls started the second set very confidently and again broke in the first game but couldn’t hold onto it and Holly was broken straight back – 1-1 and looking tight! From there Holly and Georgie raised their levels to take 4 out of the next 5 games and be in complete control of the match. At *5-2 Georgie was broken to love but the girls stayed calm and at 5-3*, 40-15 they had three match points. Both of their opponents played all of them very well to hold serve and so now it was up to Holly to serve out the match. Despite Holly having match points in the doubles final in Nairobi in February and losing the experience hopefully helped her today as she served well when it mattered on sudden death deuce! Holly made a great first serve which Georgie crossed on and buried the volley – game, set and match!

The girls were really pleased with the win and I was very proud of how well they performed under pressure against two tough competitors.

To view the video of the match point please see the Facebook page: www.facebook.com/itctennis1

After the match we had the prize giving and here‘s Holly and Georgie with their trophies.

We headed back for dinner at 9pm and there was no way Holly or Georgie were going to turn down the chance to have Pizza!

We’ve got a rest day tomorrow and then it’s back to England on Monday. It’ been a long two weeks due to the very poor weather but there have been some very good performances and it was fantastic to finish the trip with a title.

Next stop Bermuda at the end of the month!

Podgorica U18 ITF Grade 5, Day 5

Friday 31st May 2013

It was another very successful day today as Georgie advanced to the singles semi-final while Holly and Georgie teamed up to destroy the 2nd seeds in the doubles semi-final.

It was another early start for the team this morning but after telling the players they could be at breakfast between 6.45-7am I was very surprised when I arrived at 6.45am to find them all there!

We got a taxi over to the club at 7.45am but when we arrived all of the courts were out of action due to a storm last night. At around 8.15am the referee said that 2 courts were fit for practice so there would be space for the 16 main draw players to hit in 2 sessions of 20 minutes at 8.20am. That was perfect for us and Georgie and Holly spent 20 minutes warming up before hitting from 8.40am until the matches started at 9am.

During the next 2 hours I met with both Georgie and Holly to review their matches from yesterday and then get them prepared for today. Georgie’s game plan was a little different today; she’d been working throughout the trip on being aggressive from the back of the court and taking more balls on but against the big hitting Romanian those tactics would have played right into her opponents hands. Instead today was about playing smart, taking some pace off and finding more angles to make her opponent cover more ground.

Georgie went on at 10.45am to play Christiana Tudor and was fully prepared to deal with the Romanian’s antics and arguments with her mother! Georgie broke 3 times in the first 6 games but was broken back straight away each time. She finally held to level the set at 4-4* and by this stage she was starting to find the middle ground between being too passive and too aggressive. Georgie went on to break again and then held her serve well to take the opening set.

I was hoping for the second set to be more one sided after Georgie broke in the opening game but she really struggled to hurt Christiana from the end of the court where the wind was blowing in her face. In fact, up until 3-3 every game that was played into the wind was lost until Christiana held serve to lead 4-3. At this stage Georgie changed ends to have the wind behind her and held serve comfortably. The next game was very long but Georgie finally came out on top and would serve for the match facing the wind. When she came down my end I encouraged her to play more like she was on a hard court to get a better depth and penetrate more which she did immediately. That led to her holding serve for the first time from that end and taking the match 6-4, 6-4. It wasn’t a great performance from Georgie today but the conditions were tough and her opponent was difficult to deal with throughout.

Georgie only had just over an hour break between matches and most of it was spent talking about the singles match and getting some lunch. Her and Holly then went on court at 2pm to face 2nd seeds Milica Novakovic & Ege Tomey.

Georgie and Holly during their impressive doubles performance

I’ve always been a firm believer that doubles, and especially girls / women’s doubles, can be quite simple if you have a pair on court who know what they are doing and are willing take risks at the net. I’ve worked with players who have played doubles from U14 European level to winning $100k challenger events and all the way up to Grand Slam level and it’s the ones that do the basics well that are always the most successful.

Today’s doubles semi-final was up there with one of the most satisfying doubles wins I’ve ever had players involved in. Both players played extremely well and Holly in particular played outstanding both from the back of the court and at the net. Georgie and Holly completely took their opponents apart and even a couple of breaks of serve against them in the second set couldn’t distract them as they stormed through 6-0, 6-2.

Too good!

It was great to see Holly with a big smile on her face at the end of the match after her difficult singles match yesterday but Georgie still thought that she should have played better!! We all stayed on the court straight after the doubles to do some specific work with Georgie following her singles match and when Georgie was happy with her level we called it a day.

While Georgie and Holly had been on court, Katty and Alex were having a good training session themselves and finished off with a couple of good practice sets. Once they were done the whole team had a thorough stretch out and we managed to get away from the club early today at 4.30pm.

As Katty is flying home tomorrow the dinner this evening included the trip quiz but I was totally shocked by how little the players know about the basics in tennis e.g. height of the net, length of the court etc. Georgie eventually came out on top with a score of 17 out of 60 so her dinner and dessert was paid for by me while Holly Horsfall had the closest guess of how many games in total everyone had played this week – she guessed 393 and the total was 397!

All of the players spread out in the restaurant trying to solve the bonus question!

Her prize for the bonus question was a bar of chocolate which made the rest of the team very jealous!!

A final team photo with the waiter – Alex doesn’t look convinced!!

Schedule for tomorrow:

(1) Tereza Mihalikova (SVK) (263) vs (4) Georgie Axon (GBR) (379) – 1st match at 10am

Girl’s Doubles Final:

(1) Kseniia Bekker (RUS) & Tereza Mihalikova (SVK) vs (3) Georgie Axon (GBR) & Holly Hutchinson (GBR) – after rest

Podgorica U18 ITF Grade 5, Day 4

Thursday 30th May 2013

2 wins out of 4 today means that we have one player in the ¼ finals of the singles and one team in the semi-finals of the doubles.

After just 5 and a half hours sleep I was up at 6am this morning to get ready for a long day at the club. We knew that some rain had been forecast but we didn’t expect it to start as soon as we made our way over to the club at 7.45am.

While Holly Hutchinson, Georgie, Alex and I were warming up the rain was quite light but from 8.30-9am it brightened up which meant we could get a good practice session in before the matches started at 9am.

There were a couple of rain delays during the first round of matches but fellow Brit Lewis Roskilly did us a big favour by flying through his match 6-1, 6-0 as Georgie was next on that court.

After trying to start their match once but failing due to the rain, Georgie and Mia Jurasic from Croatia finally started at 11.15am and by the way Georgie began she wasn’t in the mood to hang around for the next spell of rain! She took a 3-1 lead with some solid tennis and then raised her level to extend the lead to 5-1. While Georgie was serving for the set at *5-2 the rain came down again but Mia didn’t want to leave the court as she was up *15-40 in that game. Georgie held her ground and the referee finally arrived to say it was too wet and suspended play.

A very wet court 5 and court 6

We then had a break for exactly 2 hours which gave us plenty of time to get some lunch and talk through the set before they returned to the court at 2pm.

Holly keeping us entertained during the rain delay after losing at cards!

Georgie was broken after having a set point on her serve and then Mia put more pressure on by holding her own serve in the next game. Georgie stayed strong though and served it out the second time of asking to take the set 6-4.

The second set scoreline was much more one sided but it wasn’t until 4-1 up when Georgie really relaxed and really started taking the ball on which lead to her taking the match 6-4, 6-1.

Once the other courts had dried out Holly was moved to court 1 at 4.30pm to face Andrada Surdeanu from Romania. Holly lost to Andrada last week in a poor match and was definitely prepared for her this week. The first 4 games all went against serve but Holly’s level of hitting from the back of the court was very good. She knew that she needed to be aggressive and take on short balls / drive volleys to take her opponents time away and she was doing it very effectively. Unfortunately Holly lost a little confidence at 2-2* which lead Andrada to hold twice and break twice to take the first set 6-2.

At a junior level most players think that if they lose a first set they need to completely change their tactics for the second set but a lot of the time they just need to be more effective with them and execute their shots better. Holly had played a good first set but her unforced error count hurt her too much (24 from Holly vs 5 from Andrada). Holly started the second set well but wasn’t moving forwards as much as in the first set which made life more comfortable for her opponent. Holly was broken again at *2-3 and despite having lots of points to break back in the 18 point next game she eventually went 2-5 down. Holly struggled again in her last service game, managing only 3 out of 8 first serves which lead to her being broken to lose the match 6-2, 6-2. It was definitely a better performance than last week in all areas and if Holly could have kept her belief up and kept playing the way that she did at the start of the match it could have been a different outcome.

After Holly’s match we had just one hour before Holly Horsfall and Elyse and Holly Hutchinson and Georgie went on for their doubles matches. They were put on courts behind each other so we sat between the two courts and tried to keep up with what was happening in both matches.

Georgie & Holly were taking on Agata Borgman & Sonia Grzywocz from Poland while Holly & Elyse had a tough draw against 4th seeds Tamara Kupkova from Slovakia & Cristiana Tudor from Romania.

Georgie and Holly played the best match that I’d seen from them on the trip and looked like a very sound doubles pair as they came through to win 6-1, 6-2 but unfortunately Holly and Elyse struggled against a strong pair and were never able to really get a firm hold on the match as they went down 6-2, 6-3.

We got back to the hotel around 9pm and then had a late dinner before everyone went off to bed to get as much sleep as possible before another early start tomorrow.

Schedule for tomorrow:

(4) Georgie Axon (GBR) vs (5) Cristiana Tudor (ROU) – 2nd match after 9am

(3) Georgie Axon (GBR) & Holly Hutchinson (GBR) vs (2) Milica Novakovic (SRB) & Ege Tomey (TUR) – After Rest

Podgorica U18 ITF Grade 5, Day 3

Wednesday 29th May 2013

In a change to the normal way I write the daily Blog I thought I’d give you a timeline for our day today:

6am – Wake up and get everything prepared for day

6.45am – Meet Alex and Katty for breakfast . . . well, Alex was there, Katty was still asleep!!

7.10am – Get a taxi to the tennis club

7.25am – After signing in for onsite alternate Katty and Alex trained on court until 8am

8.15am – I met with Katty to go through her match from yesterday

8.30am – Both Hollys and Georgie arrive onsite and all of the players sign in for doubles. The girls then warm up and then hit briefly on the indoor hard court

9.15am – Get a taxi to another club to practice on the clay as all courts were used at the main club for matches

9.45 – 10.15am – Georgie, Holly, Holly and Katty go through their pre-match hit on court before their singles matches

Georgie, Holly Hutchinson, Holly Horsfall and Katty training at the other club before their matches

10.15 – Go back to the tournament site

10.45am – Holly Hutchinson goes on for her 1st round match against Ivana Tasevska (MKD) (1342). After taking a 5-3 lead she eventually takes the tie-break 7-6(3) and then cruises through the 2nd set 6-0 with some very consistent and confident clay court tennis.

Holly exploding into a forehand during her 1st round singles match

 

12.30pm – Holly Horsfall goes on the same court after Holly’s win to play Ena Camdzic (BIH) (1098). Holly’s opponent plays a very strong first set hitting 10 winners on her way to taking it 6-1. Holly fought hard in the 2nd set and recovered from 3-5* down to level the set but eventually went down 6-1, 7-5.

Holly being strong behind the ball on her backhand

2.15pm – Georgie followed Holly’s match on the same court again (by this stage my bum was starting to go numb!) to take on (LL) Doris Aleksovska (MKD) (2065). As Holly Horsfall had beaten Doris yesterday we knew her well and Georgie took full control from the start. Georgie worked on her game throughout the match and after leading 4-0 in each set she finally won 6-2, 6-1.

Georgie keeping her eyes on the mark as she calls the ball out

3.45pm – After over 5 hours sitting in the same spot I managed to have a break and get some lunch!

The concrete was nice and soft to sit on though!!

5.15pm – Alex & Geoffrey Blancheaux (FRA) go on court to play 4th seeds Michal Rolski & Panel Zawisza from Poland. The tall Polish pair were just physically too strong for our boys and won the match 6-1, 6-1.

6.20pm – As soon as Alex had finished 3rd seeds Holly Hutchinson & Georgie went on the next court to play Doris Aleksovska (MKD) & Nermeen Shawky (EGY). Despite a slow start Holly and Georgie took the opening set 6-2 but then a lapse of concentration in the second set resulted in them losing the set 7-5. They managed to recover though and took the match tie-break 10-6 – a big lesson learned!!

8.15pm – Straight after Holly and Georgie had won I had a debate with the referee about how long we’d been onsite (13 hours by this stage) but he was adamant that is will rain tomorrow so we must finish all of the matches tonight. Holly Hutchinson, Georgie and Alex get a taxi back to the hotel.

8.50pm – Katty & Julijana Petrovic from Serbia take to the court to play 2nd seeds Milica Novakovic (SRB) & Ege Tomey (TUR).

9pm – Holly Horsfall & Elyse Lavender (USA) go on court 1 to play Nina Kalezic & Ivana Klac from Montenegro.

10.15pm – Holly and Elyse come through a tricky match 6-2, 6-3 and played some very good doubles throughout. Meanwhile Katty and Julijana are still on after some big disputes over the score in the first set. They went 6-2, 5-2 down but then fought back (Katty playing almost single-handed as her partner lost interest!) to go 6-5 up. Then in the tie-break they went 6-1 down before eventually going out 6-2, 7-6(6) – tough match especially as Katty had to do most of the work!

11pm – Eventually leave site after arriving 15 hours 30 minutes ago (8 hours of which was spent watching matches on court number 6!)

11.15pm – Order dinner at the hotel restaurant with Holly Horsfall, Katty, Elyse and Dawn.

12am – Finally get back to my room and start to edit photos and write this Blog!

1am  – Sleep (hopefully!)

Up in 5 hours to do it all over again but I love every minute of it!

Schedule for tomorrow:

(4) Georgie Axon (GBR) (379) vs Mia Jurasic (CRO) – 2nd match after 9am

(8) Holly Hutchinson (GBR) (827) vs Andrada Surdeanu (ROU) (1360) – 3rd match after 9am

Agata Borgman (POL) & Sonia Grzywocz (POL) vs (3) Georgie Axon (GBR) & Holly Hutchinson (GBR) – To be arranged

(4) Tamara Kupkova (SVK) & Cristiana Tudor (ROU) vs Holly Horsfall (GBR) & Elyse Lavender (USA) – To be arranged

Podgorica U18 ITF Grade 5, Day 2

Tuesday 28th May 2013

It was a mixed day of emotions today as we ended up winning 3 out of 5 matches but only 1 of the 3 players managed to qualify for the main draw.

It was an early start for Holly Horsfall, Katty, Alex and I as we needed to have breakfast at 6.45am so that we could get to the club for 7.30am to warm up before our 8am practice. I trained with Alex and the two girls hit together for the 30 minute pre-match warm-up. After the session they all completed their pre-match sheets and then it was game time!

Alex was first up to face the very tall and strong 8th seed Ognjen Sunjevaric from Serbia at 9am. Just as they were about to start Georgie and Holly Hutchinson arrived to add their support to the team but Alex struggled at the start and was broken in the 1st game. The Serbian’s height and strength meant that Alex found it difficult to break him down and he soon found himself 1-4* down. Alex was playing well up until this stage but wasn’t quite getting enough on the ball to force his opponent to miss, but in the next game he upped his level and broke the Serbian for the first time. Unfortunately Ognjen then raised his game to take the next two games and the first set 6-2 with stats of 10 winners and only 6 unforced errors.

In the second set Alex struggled at the start; instead of sticking to his original game plan and trying to do it better he became a little too passive which resulted in the Serbian taking a 4-0 lead. Alex’s attitude then changed and with it so did his performance. The next few games were the best he played in the match but by this stage his opponent was full of confidence and went on to win 6-2, 6-2.

There wasn’t much of a break between matches as Katty took to the court at 11am to play Andjela Laban from Montenegro. I was impressed with how Katty had played in her opening match yesterday and she continued that form into today’s match with some very aggressive tennis. After breaking and holding in the first two games Katty went on to take the first set 6-0 and was in full control of every rally.

The second set was equally as good and even when her opponent’s dad turned up and started making line calls for his daughter, Katty stayed focussed and went on to take the match 6-0, 6-0.

Holly Horsfall followed Katty’s match on court 3 at 12pm and she was up against tricky Croatian Gorana Kadjevic. Holly’s level has been getting better and better as the trip has gone on and if she had played this match a week ago the scoreline might have been different. Holly took a commanding 3-1* lead with some precise hitting from the back but then she threw in two poor service games at *3-2 and *4-3 to let her opponent back in. At 5-5* with her opponent serving at 40-0 up, Holly played some very solid tennis and took one point at a time which lead to her coming back and breaking. Holly then continued the momentum that she had gained from that game to hold and take the first set 7-5.

The second set was more one-sided; Holly raised her game from the start and cut out a lot of the unforced errors that hurt her in the first set which led to her taking a *4-1 lead. Holly was then broken in the next game but that didn’t distract her as she broke and held to take the match 7-5, 6-2.

From Holly’s match I went straight on court with Katty to hit some serves and then spent some time with Holly Hutchinson and Georgie who were practicing on court 6.

Holly and Georgie training on the brand new courts

I then had a short break to get some lunch before Katty went back on court at around 3.30pm to take on qualifying number 2 seed Lejla Colic from Bosnia and Herzegovina. Katty started well and the first 3 games went with serve before the rain came down. After a brief delay the girls were back on the court and Katty took control by breaking her opponent in the next game. The next 3 games all went against serve as Katty was struggling with her first serve consistency but at *5-3 she made 5 out of 5 first serves to hold and take the set.

Just as Katty was finishing the first set, Holly Horsfall went on for her last round of qualifying match against Doris Aleksovska from Macedonia. I moved positions to watch both matches and this was the view I had:

Split screen – Holly on the left and Katty on the right!

It wasn’t easy to keep one eye on each match but I had the support of the other players in the team to help me. Holly struggled at the start of her opening set and went 0-2 down before she worked out what she needed to do! She won the next 5 games in a row with some strong tennis against a tricky lefty and then closed out the set 6-3.

Unfortunately Katty on the next court was having more difficulties in her match; she broke Lejla in the opening game of the set but again struggled with her serve and was broken straight back. The set then went with serve until *3-4 when Katty was broken but she responded well to break straight back. However, when Katty lost the next game on her own serve to level the match at one set all there was a big change in mindset from both players. Katty’s head dropped as she felt she couldn’t win a game on her own serve even though up until this point the girls had broken each other the same amount of times. The change in attitude of both players resulted in Katty losing the next 6 games in a row to eventually go down 3-6, 6-4, 6-0.

Holly Horsfall was looking strong throughout her second set as she found great width on both sides, especially on her forehand cross court which she’d been working hard on all trip. Holly took a 4-2 lead and then after a few close games she went on to take the match 6-3, 6-4 to secure her qualifying place in a main draw of an ITF for the first time.

There was mixed emotions in the team after the matches; joy for Holly but disappointment for Alex and Katty but by the time we got to dinner and played some cards everyone was in a better mood!

Girl’s Singles Main Draw

Schedule for tomorrow:

(8) Holly Hutchinson (GBR) (827) vs Ivana Tasevska (MKD) (1342) – 3rd match after 8am

(Q) Holly Horsfall (GBR) (1904) vs Ena Camdzic (BIH) (1098) – 4th match after 8am

(4) Georgina Axon (GBR) (379) vs (LL) Doris Aleksovska (MKD) (2065) – 5th match after 8am

Podgorica U18 ITF Grade 5, Day 1

Monday 27th May 2013

It was a good 1st day at the Podgorica Open today as both Alex and Katty started their tournaments off with a win in the first round of qualifying and then we ended the day with a little climb up a mountain!

Everyone met for breakfast this morning at 7.30am and then we got two taxis over to the tournament site at 8.45am. The drive to the club is quite picturesque as you follow a valley in the mountains and when we arrived at the club the first thing we noticed was the amazing scenery. The players were quite impressed by the club, especially as it had a TV and Wi-Fi!!

The view from behind the courts

Georgie and Holly Hutchinson decided that they wanted a day off from tennis today so they did some strength and conditioning work while Holly Horsfall, Katty, Alex and I warmed up. As Holly had a bye in the first round of qualifying she wasn’t able to practice this morning but Katty and Alex managed to share a court with two of the Turkish players for their pre-match warm-up.

Katty and Alex warming up with the Turkish team

We finished the session at 10am when the first round matches went on and then Katty and Alex completed their pre-match sheets in preparation for their singles matches. Once Holly and Georgie had finished their training we all met on the balcony for the players to write a review of last week and set their goals for the tournament this week. Everyone did it well (even if it did take them a while to get going!) and it’ll be interesting to see if they can reach their goals for this week.

At just after 12pm Katty went on to face Katsiaryna Skachkova from Belarus. The first couple of games were a bit edgy from both players but once Katty held serve to level the set at 1-1* she relaxed and started to produce  a good level of tennis. Katty has a very good physical intensity and works hard for each point which made life very difficult for her young opponent. Katty took a 5-1 lead but then her opponent raised her level and took the next two games before Katty closed out the set 6-3.

In the second set Katty was much more relaxed but her attitude was just as ruthless! She raced to a 5-0 lead with some very aggressive tennis from the back and the front of the court before finishing off her opponent 6-3, 6-1.

After the match we got some lunch and then at 2pm it was time for Holly Horsfall to get some time on the clay. She trained with me for the first 30 minutes of the session and then Elyse Lavender joined us for the last 30 minutes.

Following that session Alex took to the court at 3.15pm to take on Jovan Macic from Montenegro. The level from the start of the match was very high with both players competing hard from the back of the court but it was Alex that broke early and took control at *2-1. Alex was dictating play from the back of the court and he stuck to his goal of trying to keep each rally to 60/40 in his favour. Doing that, combined with some excellent moves forwards to the net to finish points, saw Alex go on to take the first set 6-1.

Alex continued to play the best tennis that I’d seen from him on a match court at the start of the second set and immediately took a 4-0 lead. With his dad barking instructions at him from the side of the court Jovan fought back from 5-1 down to 5-3 but Alex stayed strong and served it out to take the match 6-1, 6-3.

After two good performances the whole team were happy but Georgie, Holly Horsfall and Elyse didn’t want to end the day without trying to climb up the big hill opposite the club! It was probably my fault as I’d been saying all day how good the view must be from up there so I decided to go with them to give it a go. It was a pretty steep climb and after getting about ¼ of the way up I decided that was far enough for today . . . here’s the view we had:

The view of the club as we started our climb . . .

. . . and then from where we eventually got to!

After getting back to the hotel at around 6pm the players had an hour to shower, change and relax before we met for dinner at 7pm. We had a very intense game of cards over dinner which saw me just beat Alex in the final two so at some point this week he’s got to re-enact this classic “Night-time, daytime” to the whole restaurant!!

Schedule for tomorrow:

Alex Hagon (GBR) (1680) vs (8) Ognjen Sunjevaric (SRB) (1680) – 1st match at 9am

Katty Weymouth (GBR) (UNR) vs Andjela Laban (MNE) (UNR) – 2nd match after 9am (not before 10am)

(3) Holly Horsfall (GBR) (1904) vs Gorana Kadijevic (CR0) (UNR) – 3rd match after 9am

Final qualifying rounds will follow after rest

Bar U18 ITF Grade 4, Day 8

Sunday 26th May 2013

For the second trip in a row we had a birthday to celebrate but unfortunately Georgie just couldn’t have the perfect birthday present of reaching the final this week.

We woke up again to miserable conditions but at least it wasn’t raining and it looked as though it was going to brighten up soon. Everyone was at breakfast at 7am apart from Katty who had struggled to get to sleep because of yet another school disco at the hotel!

By 8am the weather had cleared so we made our way over to the club and to our surprise the clay courts were looking quite dry! While the ground staff prepared the clay, the four players warmed up on the hard court and then they hit until just after 9am. It was an important day for all four players as Georgie and Holly Hutchinson both had matches to play while it was Alex and Holly Horsfall’s final day of preparation before they played in the qualifying of the next event tomorrow.

After Georgie completed her goals sheet we talked through the match and then at 9.45am she went on to play Tamara Kupkova from Slovakia. Georgie started the first set by breaking her opponent but then a cheap service game and a strong hold from Tamara meant that we were back on serve at *1-2. It was very windy this morning and you needed to play in two completely different ways depending on what end of the court you were playing from. Georgie worked that out at *1-2 and played two solid games hitting into the wind while her opponent went for too much and missed. Georgie then changed ends at 3-2* up and with the wind behind her she attacked the ball more to break her opponent and take the first set 4-2.

At this stage I felt as though the momentum was entirely with Georgie but we’d seen Tamara play in the round before and knew that she was not just going to roll over. Despite maintaining at least 1 winner in each game of the second set Georgie’s error count increased while her opponent hardly missed and within a flash the set was over and we were into a tie-break 3rd set.

Georgie had the advantage of having the wind behind her for the start of the tie-break but when they changed ends the score was level at *3-3. Tamara then struggled to deal with the wind and because Georgie was being very solid it caused her opponent to go for more and eventually she missed. In the end Georgie took the match 4-2, 0-4, 7-4 and she did very well to come back from a difficult 2nd set.

After the match Georgie and Holly had an hour before they were on for their doubles so we all quickly went to the local café on the promenade to get some food.

At 11.45am the girls went on court in some of the windiest conditions I’ve ever seen to face Daria Chemodanova and Ekaterina Kunina from Russia. The warm up was very interesting with serves bouncing 3 or 4 times before they reached the baseline while the windbreaks literally blew off of the fence!

The first set went with serve all the way through to the tie-break but it was the Russian pair that looked the better doubles team. They were moving more confidently and were much sharper with their volleys than Georgie and Holly which gave them the advantage during the tie-break. The Russians took a 5-3 lead before closing out the set 7-4.

The second set was completely the opposite of the first set; there were 8 breaks of serve and it was Georgie and Holly that were definitely the better team throughout. They moved more, finished more first volleys and attacked more 2nd serve returns than they had in the first set. Holly served for the 2nd set at *3-2 where they had a set point at sudden death deuce and then Georgie served for it at *4-3 but again the girls were broken. Unfortunately our girls played a poor tie-break and ended up losing it 7-3 but overall it was the best set of doubles I’d seen from them in the event.

The doubles finished at 1pm and at 2.15pm (while Katty, Holly Horsfall and Alex trained on the clay) Georgie went on for her semi-final against top seed Mina Markovic from Serbia. The 3 year age difference and the 200 place ranking difference made it a tough challenge for Georgie but she fought hard and tried to dictate the points against a much taller and stronger opponent. Unfortunately the level that Georgie needed to find on the day was just a little too far out of her comfort zone and as she tried to put pressure on her opponent she often over hit.

Georgie in action in her semi-final against Mina Markovic

After losing the first set 4-1 Georgie broke in the first game of the second set to lead *1-0. She was then broken back and Mina went on to take a 3-1 lead but Georgie stuck to her tactics and battled well to break her opponent while she served for the match. After a close game and a very questionable call on match point Georgie was broken again to go down 4-1, 4-2. Despite the loss it was a good match for Georgie to evaluate where she is right now and identify what she needs to work on and develop to make the next transition into the top 200.

Following the match we said our thanks to the tournament organisers and Katty, Holly Horsfall and Alex signed in for the nest event with the referee which saved us a journey to the other club this evening. We then had our final walk along the promenade back to the hotel to pack up before getting a taxi to Podgorica.

The amazing scenery on the drive from Bar to Podgorica . . .

The snow-capped mountains on the way into Podgorica

The girls were very excited when they saw their bedroom in Hotel Keto and kept on telling us how big it was and how they had a kitchen – we’ll have to make sure they do some cooking for us then!!

At 7pm we met for dinner and even though 5 out of the 6 meals were good Holly Horsfall wasn’t happy with hers so I swapped my lovely chicken tagliatelle for her very average penne carbonara – the things I do for the players!!

Once we were all finished with our main meals it was birthday cake time for the birthday girl!

Georgie with her Smarties birthday cake!

Schedule for tomorrow:

Katty Weymouth (GBR) (UNR) vs Katsiaryna Skachkova (BLR) (UNR) – 3rd match after 10am

Alex Hagon (GBR) (1680) vs Jovan Macic (MNE) (UNR) – 4th match after 10am

Bar U18 ITF Grade 4, Day 7

Saturday 25th May 2013

It was another rain interrupted day today but at least we managed to get through two matches and a good training session on the clay (plus more school work!)

I met Georgie and Holly for breakfast at 7.30am this morning and after not going to bed until well after midnight neither of them were in a very chatty mood! It didn’t help that the rain was once again pouring down so after breakfast I decided that it would be best for them both to go back to their rooms to try and sleep while I walked to the club to find out what was happening.

Not the view we were hoping for this morning!

Once I got there the rain really started to come down so I then had a ‘Mission Impossible’ style run back to the hotel; ducking into every open shop front and sheltering under as many balconies as I could find! Once I got back I decided to get everyone downstairs to complete more of their school work while we waited for the rain to stop.

After lunch we headed to the courts only to find out that Georgie’s singles opponent had pulled out through illness (must have been due to the midnight finish of her match last night!) so she would next have doubles, then another singles and finally the quarter-final of the doubles if they won!

With that in mind we warmed up on the hard court then moved to the clay court next door to the hard court which is actually another club on its own! We had to pay €10 for the hour but it meant that we could have a really good practice session and all four players could spend some time on the clay . . . finally!

We finished the session at 3pm and then got some food before waiting at the club until it was time for the girls to play their doubles. During the delay Alex completed with fitness training for the day while the girls kept focussed by hitting a little on the hard court. It can be difficult when team members are playing each other (especially when two are playing against one) but they all did their own thing and prepared in their doubles pairs.

At 7pm Georgie and Holly Hutchinson went on court to play Holly Horsfall and Elyse Lavender and it was the unseeded pair that found their form the fastest. After Elyse held serve, her and Holly broke Holly Hutchinson’s serve to take a 2-0 lead and despite being broken straight back they stayed positive and won the next two games to take the opening set 4-1

Georgie and Holly Hutchinson then upped their level in the 2nd set and after they both held serve they broke Holly Horsfall to take a 3-1 lead. Georgie and Holly were a lot more active in the 2nd set and they continued to apply the pressure when Georgie held serve to take the set 4-1.

The shorter 3rd set match tie-break to 7 points was always going to a tough one to call but after Elyse and Holly played a few loose points at the start they found themselves 0-3 down. They managed to then get a couple of points back on Elyse’s serve to stay within touching distance at 2-3* but Georgie and Holly played a solid next few points and eventually took the match 1-4, 4-1, 7-3.

I had a chat with all four girls at the end of the match and then as we were walking towards the main courts Katty Weymouth called me to say she was in Belgrade and that her flight to Podgorica had been cancelled!! Loads of thoughts about how I would get Katty into Montenegro suddenly started to going around my head but then she told me that she’d managed to change flights and that she’d be landing at 9pm rather than 10.30pm! I then had the dilemma that Georgie was still supposed to play a singles and another doubles but out of nowhere the heavens opened and a big storm came down – good timing!

So, having run back to the hotel in the pouring rain, I quickly changed and then got a taxi to Podgorica airport to meet Katty. When she arrived I was at the airport waiting and we then got straight back in the same taxi to go back to Bar.

It probably worked out better than Katty got the earlier flight as it meant we got back to the hotel earlier and could get to bed at a reasonable hour!

Schedule for tomorrow:

Tamara Kupkova (SVK) (839) vs (6) Georgie Axon (GBR) (378) – 3rd match after 8am

(3) Georgie Axon (GBR) & Holly Hutchinson (GBR) vs Darina Chemodanova (RUS) & Ekaterina Kunina (RUS) – 5th match after 8am

Girl’s singles semi-finals to follow and then doubles semi-finals afterwards!

Bar U18 ITF Grade 4, Day 6

Friday 24th May 2013

It was another rain affected day today but at least all of the first round matches were played even though that meant that we were at the club until after 11pm!

The plan that Alex and I have had all week to get up at 6am to train from 7-8am was once again interrupted but the rain. That meant it was a morning of more schoolwork for the team – at least one positive comes out of it raining so much (but I don’t think the players see it that way!!).

After lunch we decided to go for a walk to get out of the hotel and while we were checking out he shops in Bar the sun finally came out. On the way back we walked via the tennis club and despite most of the courts still having a pool of water on them the referee was adamant that play would start at 3pm with sets up to 4 games and the third set being a tie-break to 7 points. So with that in mind we headed back to the hotel to get everything ready for the matches.

When we returned to the club at about 3.30pm almost every first round match was on which was a tremendous effort from the ground staff. The players then warmed up for 30 minutes and, after I put together a practice sheet for the hard court, they got on court from 4-4.30pm to go through their pre-match hit.

Over the next 5 hours the players had to juggle eating, completing their pre-match sheets, keeping track of the score on their court, not getting bored or tired and keeping warm – hard to do when you don’t bring a jumper or tracksuit bottoms so I had to freeze while some of them wore mine!!

Alex training with Jay Clarke before the girl’s matches

Holly Hutchinson went on court at 9.20pm to face qualifier Andrada Surdeanu from Romania. We didn’t know much about her and hadn’t seen her play in qualifying but after a 30+ shot rally on first point of the match we knew she was going to be a tough competitor. Holly had 2 or 3 chances to win that first point but after failing to finish it off Andrada eventually hit a backhand passing shot winner and that started a run of 7 points in a row to the Romanian. At 0-2* Holly managed to get a break back but unfortunately too many unforced errors cost her the first set 4-1.

Alex practising his serve on the hard while Holly serves during her 1st set

With the shortened sets up to 4 games you really need to start fast and stay focused throughout otherwise the set could be over very quickly. During the second set Holly just couldn’t find the level or consistency that she needed to break down her opponent and she eventually went down 4-1, 4-0. It was a disappointing match after Holly had been striking the ball so well in training at the start of the week. Maybe the first point of the match really was the key and if she’d be able to finish it off then she might have been able to build on it throughout the match.

Georgie and Holly Horsfall were the next match on at 10.15pm and again they had a huge first point where both players were stepping up and trying to dictate the play. Holly was broken in a tight first game and even though Georgie went on to win the next 3 games in a row to take the set 4-0 the quality of tennis was of a very high level. Holly was striking the ball the best that I’d ever seen her play while Georgie was countering and then turning the points around with excellent aggression – something that won her the final in Guadeloupe last month.

The second set score line was the same as the first with Georgie taking it 4-0 but by no means did that reflect the closeness of the games – 3 out of 4 games went to deuce. Both players were trying to dominate the point with some strong hitting from the back of the court but it was Georgie that was hitting at least 1 winner per game (a big goal in Guadeloupe) while keeping her unforced error count low. Overall it was a good performance from both players with the main difference being Georgie’s consistent aggression and experience on the bigger points.

Their match finished just after 11pm and as soon as they were finished we left site to get some food at a local restaurant before walking back to the hotel at midnight!

Our midnight stroll in Montenegro!

Schedule for tomorrow:

Marija Curnic (CRO) (622) vs (6) Georgie Axon (GBR) (378) – 3rd match after 8am

(3) Georgina Axon (GBR) & Holly Hutchinson (GBR) vs Holly Horsfall (GBR) & Elyse Lavender (USA) – 7th match after 8am

Girl’s Singles Quarter-Finals – 10th round after 8am

Girl’s Doubles Quarter-Finals – 12th round after 8am

Bar U18 ITF Grade 4, Day 5

Thursday 23rd May 2013

It was another washout today here in Bar but the good news was that we managed to get a session in on the hard court, a session in our makeshift gym and the players managed to get a lot of school work done!

Alex and I were up bright and early again to try and get a 7am practice in but unfortunately the rain was already falling heavily. By 9am it was still pouring down so we all had breakfast and then decided to go to the supermarket to get some food and water. Despite the supermarket being so close we all got completely soaked!

Not much fun but at least it got us out of the hotel!

Without an end to the rain in sight we went into the meeting room in the hotel at 10.30am and had a good 2 hour school work session, most of which I spent trying to do one of Alex’s GCSE maths questions!!

After lunch there was a break in the rain so we went straight to the courts and, while I tried to sweep some of the water off the hard court, the team went through an extended warm up.

Not the best conditions but we did the best we could!

Even though it was pretty dark throughout the session and the clouds were always threatening to rain, we managed to get a really good 45 minutes training in which included a lot of half court drilling and some serving points.

Probably needed the floodlights on!

Almost as soon as we finished a storm came over and torrential rain, thunder and lightning engulfed the whole area. Without anywhere else to go for shelter we ended up in a tent that the tournament had set up as a children’s play area. After converting it into a gym the players went through their own strength and conditioning work for the next 45 minutes and then stretched out.

Everyone working out in our ‘gym’ . . .

. . . while the rain hammered down outside!

Eventually the rain died down so we decided to head back to the hotel to watch the end of ‘Coach Carter’ and relax before dinner. Once we were done we went through some goal setting and psychology work until about 8.30pm.

Despite not being able to play a match or train properly we still managed to get some good work done today and in particular the players worked very well during the psychology work at the end of the day.

Fingers crossed for some better weather tomorrow as the referee has 11 rounds of matches scheduled!

Schedule for tomorrow:

(Q) Andrada Surdeanu (ROU) (1367) vs Holly Hutchinson (GBR) (827) – 5th match after 8am (not before 11am)

(LL) Holly Horsfall (GBR) (1908) vs (6) Georgie Axon (GBR) (378) – 6th match after 8am

(3) Georgina Axon (GBR) & Holly Hutchinson (GBR) vs Holly Horsfall (GBR) & Elyse Lavender (USA) – 9th match after 8am

 

Bar U18 ITF Grade 4, Day 4

Wednesday 22nd May 2013

It was a complete washout today so not a single ball was stuck by any of the team even though we had to wait around most of the day until the referee suspended play.

Alex and I were up early at 6am today but after taking a quick look out of the window we knew we’d be struggling to get on court!

I had a feeling it was going to be a long day!

The girls joined us later in the day and despite a break in the rain it wasn’t long before the heavens opened again so all that was left to do was huddle under the umbrellas to try and stay dry!

Still smiling despite the miserable weather!

We did think there might be a chance of getting on court later in the day to practice but after the last downpour at 5pm there was no way this was going to dry:

Game Over!

Alex still was able to go through his strength and conditioning programme for the day and all of the team managed to get some school work done whilst I achieved my own goal of beating Alex’s highest score on Subway Surfers!!

After dinner at the hotel we all met in one of the meeting rooms to watch the first half of ‘Coach Carter’ with Samuel L. Jackson – great film!

Hopefully tomorrow will be a drier day but according to the referee we could be in for much the same over the next few days!

Schedule for tomorrow:

(Q) Andrada Surdeanu (ROU) (1367) vs Holly Hutchinson (GBR) (827) – 5th match after 8am

(LL) Holly Horsfall (GBR) (1908) vs (6) Georgie Axon (GBR) (378) – 6th match after 8am

Bar U18 ITF Grade 4, Day 3

Tuesday 21st May 2013

Holly produced another two very good performances today but unfortunately fell at the final hurdle in qualifying against a very good opponent.

As Georgie and Holly Hutchinson had limited time on the clay yesterday they decided to have an early start this morning to guarantee a good hour on the match courts. We left the hotel at 6.25am and after a good physical warm up we got on court just before 7am. The plan was to warm up and then play a lot of full court points but unfortunately we had to share the court at 7.30am so instead we did a lot of drilling and finished with some points.

Alex and Holly Horsfall arrived at the club at just before 8am and then went through their own warm ups before Holly had her pre-match hit with Elyse Lavender from America and Alex had a good half an hour with Bjoern Petersen from Germany. By 9am everyone had trained and were happy with the level they were hitting at so I went back to the hotel to join Holly and Georgie for some much needed breakfast!

I returned to the club at 10am and then we had a couple of hours before Holly went on to play number 1 seed Yana Kochneva from Russia. We didn’t know much about Yana but from previous experience against Russians at this level I presumed she would play straight, flat and hard – which is exactly how she did play! Holly comfortably dealt with Yana’s pace of shot and after holding serve in the first game she went on to take a *4-0 lead. During this time Yana tried but failed to get inside of Holly’s head and even though Holly was broken in the next game she went to take the first set 6-1 with some very good hitting from the back of the court.

After a lengthy toilet break Yana came back to the court but nothing was going to faze Holly and she continued from where she left off at the end of the first set. Yana led 30-15 in the first three games of the second set but Holly reeled off 3 sets of 3 points in a row (one of her main goals for the trip!) to take a 3-0 lead. Once again Yana tried to disrupt Holly’s rhythm with some very late calls but Holly stayed strong and took down the top seed 6-1, 6-0.

Over the next four hours we managed to watch Holly’s next opponent, Alex completed his strength and conditioning programme for the day and got some more practice in, Holly Hutchinson and Georgie trained on the hard court, I managed to get in a power nap in the restaurant and Holly Horsfall managed to get away from site with me for an hour to relax before her next match.

Eventually Holly went on for her last round of qualifying match at 6.30pm to face Jelena Djordan from Bosnia and Herzegovina. We’d watched Jelena earlier in the day and knew that she was a tough lefty who was both solid and aggressive from the back of the court. Holly had a difficult start to the match; she was trying hard to put her opponent under pressure but unfortunately that resulted in too many unforced errors. It wasn’t until 0-4* in the first set that Holly really started to find her range and she played a good game to break Jelena’s serve. Unfortunately Holly couldn’t capitalise on that break and lost the next two games to lose the first set 6-1.

During the second set Holly played some of her best tennis of the trip so far. The game plan was to find a series of 3 shots in a row where she could keep her opponent under pressure to get either a volley or drive volley to finish the point and Holly did just that on at least 12-15 occasions. Unfortunately it was the final ball that Holly struggled with and she just couldn’t finish the point off after setting it up so well. Despite playing at a high level throughout the set Holly went down 6-1, 6-1 but credit has to go to her opponent who played very well throughout.

Holly moving forwards to finish the point off during the 2nd set

After the match all four players cooled down and stretched out before we headed back to the hotel for dinner.

Due to a delay in the draws being produced the girls all went to bed without seeing who they are playing which could be just as well as Holly Horsfall drew the Lucky Loser spot and now plays Georgie in the first round!

Girl’s Singles Main Draw

Schedule for tomorrow:

(Q) Andrada Surdeanu (ROU) (1367) vs Holly Hutchinson (GBR) (827) – 7th match after 9am (2nd match not before 3pm)

(LL) Holly Horsfall (GBR) (1908) vs (6) Georgie Axon (GBR) (378) – 8th match after 9am (3rd match not before 3pm)

Bar U18 ITF Grade 4, Day 2

Monday 20th May 2013

It was a good start to the first event here in Montenegro despite only taking one win out of two matches today.

Holly Horsfall, Alex and I had an early start this morning with breakfast at 7am while Holly Hutchinson and Georgie had a well-deserved lie in after they were kept awake by someone snoring!

After breakfast we headed to the courts to warm up at 8am and then Holly and Alex had their on-court practice session from 8.30-9am.

Holly & Alex warming up

The level from both players had increased from yesterday as their shape and weight of shot was looking much more effective. After moving to the hard court to hit some serves (while the clay courts were prepared for the matches) the players were finally finished around 9.15am. I then went back to the hotel to get Georgie and Holly while the other two completed their pre-match sheets and got ready for their matches.

When we returned to the club I went through the game plan and goals for both players and then it was just a case of keeping up to date with the scores on each court so that Alex and Holly knew when to warm up.

Alex going through his pre-match warm up on the promenade

Alex was first to take to the court at just before 11am to play local wildcard Srdjan Lazarevic. After being broken in the first game it was obvious that Alex was up against a strong player who was very at home on the clay. Alex was broken again at *0-2 and it was looking like he might struggle to get a game on the board but he kept fighting hard and managed to break and hold to close the gap to 2-3*. Having won those two games it was clear to see that Alex was more confident and was looking to dictate the points more but Srdjan raised his level straight away to win the next 3 games in a row to take the first set 6-2.

The scoreline in the second set followed almost the same pattern as the first set as Alex just couldn’t quite get enough weight on the ball to keep Srdjan under pressure for long enough. The Montenegrin played well throughout the match and hit some big serves at 5-2 in the second set to hold and take the match 6-2, 6-2.

Despite the loss Alex was quite positive after the match as he had put into practice the things he’d been working on over the past few weeks and he felt as though he’d improved throughout the match.

While Alex was coming to the end of his first set Holly Horsfall went on to play Valeria Mishina from Belarus. Holly struggled a little at the start of the practice session yesterday but after 30 minutes she looked much more comfortable on the clay and when she started the match today she very quickly found a good level. Holly broke Valeria to love in the first game and even though she dropped the next two games without winning a single point she didn’t let that bother her. Holly responded by raising her level again whilst fighting hard to stay in some tough rallies which resulted in her winning the next 4 games in a row to take a 5-2 lead. Holly then wasn’t able to serve out the set but she broke in the next game to take the set 6-3.

The second set was much more one-sided; Holly flew to a 5-0 lead as Valeria just didn’t have an answer to Holly’s consistent but aggressive level from the back of the court and even though it took her a few games to close it out she finally took the set 6-2.

After Holly had finished both players cooled down and then we all returned to the hotel for lunch. The players then had a little time to themselves before Alex, Georgie, Holly Hutchinson and I returned to the club at 3.15pm for our afternoon session on the clay.

Holly and Georgie had already trained on the hard court this morning and, as they are main draw players, the only clay courts they could book were after the matches had finished. We had a very good session from 4-5pm which was mainly point based for the girls but it also gave Alex a chance to work on areas that had been highlighted from his singles match.

After cooling down and stretching out we all went back to the hotel to shower and change. I then managed to keep my Great North Run preparations going with a 4 mile run before we headed to the supermarket and then onto a well-deserved dinner.

After dinner we all went through a short psychology session and then at around 8.30pm everyone went off to bed for an early night. Georgie, Holly and I are leaving the hotel at 6.25am tomorrow to get an early practice in so hopefully they’ll get a good night’s sleep tonight!!

Schedule for tomorrow:

(1) Yana Kochneva (RUS) (1249) vs Holly Horsfall (GBR) (1908) – 3rd match after 9am

Winner plays in the final round of qualifying later in the day

Bar U18 ITF Grade 4, Day 1

Sunday 19th May 2013

After travelling from Kent yesterday morning with Alex Hagon, we met Holly Hutchinson, Holly Horsfall and Georgie Axon at Heathrow Terminal 4 before we started our long journey to Montenegro. It was great to be travelling again with all of the players as I’ve now seen them all compete and, through recent communication with their coaches, I’m familiar with what they’re going to be working on over these next two weeks.

After Holly Hutchinson’s regular bag search in security (Georgie actually got stopped this time too!) I was once again amazed by the things the players take on the plane – I think they had 7 bags of dried apricots / dried mango between them!!

After a short delay we left Heathrow and a few hours later, most of which I managed to sleep apart from a brief interruption due to pretty bad turbulence, we landed in Belgrade. We then had just over 3 hours to wait until our final flight to Podgorica in Montenegro.

Killing time at Belgrade airport (can you spot Alex’s random right leg?!)

By the time we got out of the airport it was around 11.30pm and thankfully our taxi driver was there waiting to take us the 45 minute journey to Bar. Once we arrived at the hotel we had a few problems with the rooms but managed to finally get checked in and into bed by around 12.45am.

The players and I had a lie in this morning which meant that we met for breakfast at 9am. We then visited the local supermarket to stock up on water and food before heading off to the club at 10.30am.

Great to see a junior event being advertised so well

Our first impression of Bar was that it was a very picturesque place; we have to walk along the promenade past the marina to get to the tennis club and in the background behind the courts there is an amazing view of the mountains – Georgie was also very impressed by the courts being less than 50 metres from the beach!

There are only 4 match courts at the club which means that practice could be quite limited but there is also a hard court which can be used whenever we want to. As the practice courts were all booked up this morning we decided to warm up and go through a movement session for half an hour to get yesterday’s travel out of the player’s systems. All 4 players worked well and by the time we finished they were looking sharp and ready to get on the clay.

Some competitive movement training!

More specific movement work

Once we’d finished the movement session it was around 12pm so we headed back to the hotel for lunch and then relaxed until around 2.15pm when we headed back to the courts for our afternoon practice. In the UK there isn’t much opportunity to practice on traditional European clay courts so for the first hour of the session we did a lot of specifics on height, shape and weight of shot to make sure they can make their opponents uncomfortable in the rallies. It didn’t take long before all 4 players got the hang of it and they all worked hard on their forwards and backwards movements to get into the right position to hit the ball as effectively as possible. We moved into points for the last 45 minutes of the session with the main focus being on Holly Horsfall and Alex who both play in qualifying tomorrow.

Holly Horsfall working hard against Alex and Georgie during the points

By 5pm all of the players were happy and Holly and Alex felt prepared for their matches tomorrow so we cooled down and stretched out to end the session. Holly and Alex then signed in before we made our way back to the hotel for dinner. On the way back I decided to try a short cut which was working out well until a pack of dogs decided they didn’t want us walking through their patch!!

After dinner at 7pm at the hotel we walked back to the club to check the order of play for tomorrow and book practice courts. There was then just enough time to have a nice stroll back past the marina to the hotel before we all decided to have an early night.

Boy’s Qualifying Draw

Girl’s Qualifying Draw

Schedule for tomorrow:

(WC) Srdjan Lazarevic (MNE) (UNR) vs Alex Hagon (GBR) (1676) – 2nd match after 9am

Valeria Mishina (BLR) (2069) vs Holly Horsfall (GBR) (1908) – 3rd match after 9am

Guadeloupe U18 ITF Grade 4, Day 7

Sunday 14th April 2013

Final’s Day!! And what better way to finish a fantastic trip than to get a singles winner on the final day!

Even though it was Final’s Day there was no lie-in for the team as we were up and at breakfast by 6.30am. We then got all of our bags packed and ready to go before we check out and waited for the shuttle to take us to the club for the final time. It would have been better if the tournament had sent the mini bus to pick us up but somehow we managed to squeeze four of us plus all of our bags into a saloon car!

When we got to the club we had a few team photos before Georgie and Alex went through their physical warms up.

The team in their ITC trip t-shirts

Georgie hit for around 30 minutes and was striking the ball really well; as I’ve said before the pre-match warm up is very personal and it was my job to just make sure Georgie was comfortable and confident before going into the match. After the warm up Georgie went through the normal routine of completing her pre-match sheet and then discussing the goals and tactics for the match before she went on court at 9am.

The tournament this week has been really well organised and after Georgie had asked me if she’d have ball boys / girls (to which I responded “I wouldn’t have thought so!”) we saw 10+ kids run past us to the court ready to go! Georgie and Jenna Friedel followed them to the court and then it was “Game on!”

Georgie and Jenna at the coin toss

Both girls started the final very tentatively even though they must have known exactly what to expect from playing against or watching each other all week. Georgie drew first blood after breaking Jenna’s serve at 1-1* and went on to lead 3-1*. Before the match we knew that Jenna is a hard worker, feisty and that her coach likes to try and get under her opponent’s skin and when she started fighting back Georgie started to get down on herself. At 3-3* I had a few choice words with Georgie through the fence and with that her attitude changed; she became calmer and more focused on what she needed to do which resulted in her taking the next two games to lead 5-3*. Jenna fought back again to break Georgie at *5-4 and after two more games that went with serve, we were into a tie-break. Georgie went 4-1 down at the start but upped her level to win the next 4 points in a row to lead *5-4. The rest of the tie-break was extremely close; Jenna saved two set points at 6-5* and *7-6 before winning three points in a row to take the breaker 9-7.

Georgie “re-setting” under the towel after the 1st set

The set took almost an hour and 15 minutes and both players were looking mentally and physically tired. At *0-40 down in the first game Georgie looked as though she was struggling but she showed a lot of heart to come back and hold serve. The next three games were the key to the whole match; Georgie held at *1-1 with some very aggressive tennis then despite losing the next game she still found a high level of hitting. It was the *2-2 game though that was the real turning point. Georgie produced 3 unforced errors to find herself *15-40 down but then turned the game around and, after hitting 5 winners in total in a game that was 16 points long, she finally held to lead 3-2*. That game had a massive impact on Jenna and Georgie took full advantage to break, hold and break again to take the set 6-2.

Georgie’s aggressive play had been the key to winning the second set; in 13 games of the first set she had hit 14 winners but in only 8 games of the second set she hit the same amount! At the start of the third set I asked her to hit at least 1 winner a game to maintain her aggressive play and at 5-0* up she’d totalled 9 winners and 5 unforced errors. Jenna had been quiet all set but at 5-0* she produced 2 big winners which fired herself and her coach up a little. Georgie then played a poor service game at *5-1 and it was obvious she was just a little nervous! When she changed ends she said to me “Should I be solid or aggressive?” and my response as always was “Be aggressive and win the points yourself”. Georgie did just that and having spent most of the session yesterday evening working on drive volleys and moving forwards to the net, is was brilliant to see her doing it when it mattered the most. Georgie “won” the final game with 2 winners and some very aggressive play to take the match 6-7(7), 6-2, 6-2 in 2 hours 30 minutes.

It was absolutely brilliant to see Georgie win the tournament after 3 tough weeks but the most important thing to me is that the players work hard, compete hard and improve their games, which Georgie has done 100%.

After the match we walked on court to congratulate Georgie and then we had the presentation. Georgie was not impressed when I said before the match that she might have to say a few words of thanks to the referee and tournament officials but luckily for her she wasn’t asked to do a speech!!

Jenna and Georgie with their trophies

A very proud pair!

As soon as we were finished with taking photos and telling Georgie how amazing she was (!!) she went off to cool down and change before we got some food at Paul’s – Alex had promised Georgie an Éclair if she won the event but can you believe they were sold out by the time we’d got there?!

At 1.30pm we said our thanks and goodbyes and got a shuttle to the airport. Before we checked in we had to do a bit of repacking to do to get Georgie’s trophy in and then there was the matter of finishing the press-ups that the players and I had accumulated during the trip (note to myself – Mia’s still owes me 215 as she refused to do them in the clothes that she was flying in – don’t tell Holly H. who had to do 180 Burpees in her Hollister stuff in Nairobi!!

After leaving Guadeloupe at 4.45pm we arrived in Paris at 6.20am and then made our way across the capital to the Gare Du Nord for our Eurostar train back to Ebbsfleet. Even though we arrived in time to get the 9.13am train, and there were seats available, I was not prepared to pay another €40 each to change the tickets! So we spent the next 4 hours eating and sleeping in a local café!

The team fast asleep on the plane and at the train station!

That brings another brilliant trip to an end, I hope you’ve enjoyed reading the Blogs and if you have any questions on international tournaments or on any events that I would recommend please feel free to contact me.

Guadeloupe U18 ITF Grade 4, Day 6

Saturday 13th April 2013

We had one win and one loss today in the semi-finals as Georgie came through 6-2, 6-4 against Madison Harrison while Mia went down 6-1, 6-1 to number 2 seed Jenna Friedel.

After a late finish last night in the girl’s doubles final the team were looking a little tired at 6.30am this morning when we met for breakfast. They soon perked up a little once they got some food in their systems and we made our way over to the club at 7.30am.

It was a nice feeling being first at the club this morning and after Mia and Georgie completed their physical warm up they then hit for around 30 minutes to get ready for their semi-finals. We hit on the same court as the doubles final last night and the funny thing was it was less than 12 hours since the girls were battling it out for the title – not sure Mia and Georgie saw the funny side though!!

Both girls then completed their pre-match sheets and I went through the plan for their matches individually. At this stage of the tournament all four players should be well into their strides so it really comes down to who is willing to fight the hardest and compete the best to go one stage further and make the final.

As both girls went on at the same time I positioned myself between the two courts so that I could keep up with what was happening in both matches. Mia was taking on Jenna Friedel from America and, having lost to her in the doubles final last night, I was hoping Mia would get some revenge today.

Mia was broken in the first game of the match but responded positively and broke Jenna in the very next game. Unfortunately that was the last game of the set that Mia managed to win as a mixture of Jenna’s consistency and Mia playing a little impatiently resulted in Jenna taking the set 6-1. The set had gone very quickly and Mia made a good decision at the end of the set to go off court to the toilet to gather her thoughts.

Mia played a good game at the start of the second set to break Jenna and take a *1-0 lead and I was hoping that she would start to build some momentum from that game. However, when Mia was broken in the next game her energy levels dropped and she struggled to compete with Jenna from then onwards. It may have been because she was a little tired from the doubles yesterday or that she didn’t believe she could get through a consistent player who wasn’t putting a lot of pace on the ball. In a similar way to the first set Mia lost the next 5 games in a row to go down 6-1, 6-1 in less than an hour. It was a shame that Mia finished on a match like this one as she has competed well in her matches over the last 3 weeks but hopefully she’ll learn from it and it will help her in the future.

Georgie started really well against Madison Harrison from America and after Mia had played her last week we knew exactly what to expect. Georgie broke in the first game and after holding in the next game she kept the pressure on her opponent with some big groundstrokes from the back of the court. Georgie then broke again at 4-2* and served out the set well to take it 6-2.

We knew Madison had some fight in her so it was important for Georgie to stay on top at the start of the second set. Georgie did just that a raced to a 4-0* lead before Madison finally held to get a game on the board. At this stage Georgie threw in a poor service game and then suddenly started to get a little negative as she felt as though it gave Madison an opportunity to get back into the set. Madison held serve to make the score *4-3 but Georgie continued to fight hard even though the quality of the tennis wasn’t as good as in the first set.  Both girls then held which left it up to Georgie to serve for the match! Despite the last game being a little edge Georgie kept her nerve to serve out the match 6-2, 6-4. The look on Georgie’s face when she won wasn’t quite the story of the match but at least she’s through to the final!!

Not quite a big celebration after winning!!

After congratulating Georgie I made my way over to the shopping centre to get on the internet to try and rebook flights so that we could try and fly home after the final tomorrow. It wasn’t an easy job but I eventually managed to get flights to Paris and then a Eurostar train back into Kent!

We had lunch together at the club at around 12.30pm and then returned to the hotel to relax for the afternoon.

As Georgie wasn’t happy with the level at the end of her match, we went back to the club just before 5pm to work on a few different specifics and then go through the tactics for the final tomorrow against Jenna. Alex and I drilled with Georgie for around an hour and then she finished the session with some work on her serve and return to make sure she was fully prepared.

We all then sat down together at the club for dinner and were the only ones left there after the floodlights went off at 7pm!! It was then back to the hotel for an early night to be ready to do battle tomorrow.

Schedule for tomorrow:

Final(1) Georgie Axon (GBR) (612) vs (2) Jenna Friedel (USA) (658) – 1st match at 9am

Guadeloupe U18 ITF Grade 4, Day 5

Friday 12th April 2013

It was a heart-breaking day today as, following Georgie’s ¼ final win in the singles, the girl’s lost a very close doubles final after having 2 match points.

The players all had an extra hour in bed this morning as play started at 10am today. We met for breakfast at 7.30am and then got to the courts just before 8.30am to warm up. Georgie and Mia then hit together until just before 9.30am where they went through their normal routine to prepare themselves for their matches today. Following the session, Georgie and I went through some notes from her previous singles match and then discussed tactics and goals for today’s match. Georgie was feeling confident and at 10am went on court to face 5th seed Anna Wierda from America.

Both girls were tentative in the opening games as they tried to work each other out and after they exchanged breaks in the first two games, Georgie broke and held to take a 3-1 lead. At this point Georgie relaxed more and started to dictate the play from the back of the court which saw her break Anna for the third time to take a *4-1 lead. Georgie then lost her serve in the next game but continued to fight hard and play some good tennis to break again and then hold to take the first set 6-2.

Georgie chasing a wide forehand during the first set

Georgie increased her level in the second set and had even more of a bounce in her step as she raced to a 3-0 lead. Even getting broken in the next game didn’t faze her and as the set went on her confidence grew more and more. She won the next 3 games in a row, including hitting 4 massive unreturnable serves at *4-1, to take the match 6-2, 6-1 and join Mia in the semi-finals tomorrow.

Following the match we had a quick chat then Georgie stretched, showered and changed before we headed over to the shopping centre next to the club for a traditional “Paul’s baguette!”. Once we arrived back on site lunch was ready so we sat down together to eat and then got the shuttle back to the hotel to relax for the afternoon.

We got back to the tournament site at 4pm to watch some of Georgie’s next round opponent play her ¼ final match and then at 4.45pm all 4 of us got on court for 30 minutes to do some doubles drilling to prepare the girls for their final.

Following the boy’s final, the girls went on court at just after 5.30pm to face number 2 seeds Jenna Friedel and Michelle Valdez. Our girls started well and after breaking Jenna in the opening game then went on to take a 2-0 lead. Jenna and Michelle fought back though to level the set at 2-2* and then after another exchange of breaks the set went with serve until *4-5. Mia and Georgie then saved 3 set points on Mia’s serve in the next game and after 2 more holds on serve we were into a tie-break. The set so far had been very close with neither pair really dominating and the tie-break was another close affair! Mia and Georgie trailed 1-3* but then stormed back to take the next four points in a row and eventually held their nerves to take it 7-5.

Girl’s doubles final under lights

The second set was just as much a rollercoaster as the first – both physically and mentally (especially for me!!). We got a good break at 3-2* but Georgie was broken in the next game and then the games continued to be close until Georgie was again broken at *5-5. Mia and Georgie stayed positive despite falling behind for the first time in the set and broke Michelle immediately to take the second set to a tie-break. Just like in the first set the girls had a slow start and when they changed ends for the first time they were 1-5 down . . . well, that was the correct score but the chair judge had made a mistake earlier in the breaker and he called 2-4 – bonus!! We took full advantage of the help with the score and went on to win the next 4 points in a row to lead 6-4 with 2 match points! Unfortunately Mia and Georgie couldn’t convert either of them and despite saving set points at 6-7* and *7-8 they went on to lose the tie-break 11-9.

In their first round doubles match Mia and Georgie responded well to losing the second set and came out for the match tie-break with a real spring in their step but after failing to convert their match points today was a different story. Throughout the match tie-break they were both very flat and after a couple of mini-breaks at the start they found themselves 4-1 down. Jenna and Michelle had become quite defensive with their play which frustrated Mia and Georgie and resulted in them forcing too much. The tie-break eventually went against us 10-4 and it was definitely an opportunity missed to get a title this week.

All of the finalists together

By the time we had finished and the presentation had been completed it was around 8.15pm so we quickly got some dinner and then returned to the hotel to lick our wounds. We now turn our attention to the singles semi-finals tomorrow and hopefully the girls can put aside their disappointment from today and get through to the finals on Sunday.

Schedule for tomorrow:

(1) Georgie Axon (GBR) (612) vs Madison Harrison (USA) (UNR) – 1st match at 9am

(3) Mia Smith (GBR) (764) vs (2) Jenna Friedel (USA) – 1st match at 9am

Guadeloupe U18 ITF Grade 4, Day 4

Thursday 11th April 2013

It was another successful day today as Mia took a close ¼ final match to advance to her first U18 ITF semi-final, while the girls moved into the doubles final after a walkover in their semi-final.

As Mia was scheduled for 1st match at 9am we had an early breakfast at 6.30am and then got a taxi to the tennis club at 7.20am. Mia and Georgie then warmed up and hit for about 25 minutes until Mia was feeling the ball well and ready for her match.

Mia warming up before her 1/4 final match

We then talked about some of the key points from yesterday’s match with Arki Truscott while Mia completed her pre-match sheet. Then at 9am Mia went on to face Nanette Nylund from Finland.

The first game of the match was 18 points long as both girls struggled to find a consistent level but Mia came out on top to hold serve. The set then went with serve as neither girl was able to really impose themselves on the match but, as Mia was definitely the more aggressive of the two players, I knew it was only a matter of time before she got a breakthrough. Mia got a break at 3-2* but was broken back in the next game and, after Mia didn’t hear the chair judge call a serve out, the set was suddenly level at *4-4. At this point Mia took a deep breath and stepped up to play two good games where she hit 1 winner and 0 unforced errors to take the first set 6-4.

The first set had been a tight affair, not only in the scoreline but also in the level but when Mia took a *3-1 lead in the second set it looked as though the match was over. Nanette kept fighting though and I think thoughts of last week when Mia was 3-0 up against Madison Harrison started to creep in. Nanette took the next 2 games to level the set at *3-3 but Mia stayed positive and continued to stay patient in the rally. After holding serve in the next game, Mia then broke Nanette and finished the match well with another good service game to win 6-4, 6-3 and book her place in the semi-final.

It was a hard fought win against the type of opponent that Mia does not like to play but she stayed more patient than she has done recently and that made a massive difference. By winning that match Mia has now advanced to the semi-finals of a singles U18 ITF for the first time and hopefully she can go one better on Saturday.

After a break for lunch we got back on court just before 1pm to work on some doubles. By this stage we had not been told that Mia and Georgie had received a walkover in the semi-finals but we knew that it was very likely as neither opponent had been onsite all day. After warming up Alex and I took on the girls in a couple of full sets to work on the specifics that we identified from the ¼ final match yesterday. The girls didn’t seem too up for the challenge of playing us and after two quick 6-2 sets we decided to change the teams around. Alex teamed up with Georgie and I took on the challenge of playing with Mia!!

The final set started really well for us and we flew to a 5-2 lead but Alex and Georgie weren’t quite done there! They played some very sharp doubles and, even if they crossed and missed, they were definitely doing the right thing to develop their games. Alex and Georgie went on to win the next 5 games in a row and deny us 3 set point opportunities to take the set 7-5 – too good from them!!

Once we were done we got some food and then waited for the referee to return onsite to confirm that the girls had received a walkover. We then returned to the hotel at around 4pm to stretch out and relax before we had a nice dinner at the hotel restaurant this evening.

Alex was keen to join in on the karaoke in the lobby tonight but instead we went on the search for an open supermarket to get some food and water . . . but we couldn’t find one!

Schedule for tomorrow:

(1) Georgie Axon (GBR) (612) vs (5) Anna Wierda (USA) (840) – 1st match at 10am

(1) Georgie Axon (GBR) & Mia Smith (GBR) vs (2) Jenna Friedel (USA) Michelle Valdez (DOM) – 2nd match after 4pm

Guadeloupe U18 ITF Grade 4, Day 3

Wednesday 10th April 2013

It was a very long but successful day today as 3 wins out of 3 saw the both girls advance into the ¼ finals of the singles and the semi-finals of the doubles.

We had our earliest start of the trip today as we met for breakfast at 6.30am and then got a taxi to the courts at 7.20am. We could have waited for the shuttle bus at 7.45am but that would not have given the players enough time to go through their physical warm up before hitting at 8am. As Georgie and Mia both had matches today they hit together from 8-8.30am while Alex started his strength and conditioning programme for the week.

Georgie & Mia warming up while Alex goes through his strength programme

Both girls were hitting well and looking confident throughout the session and once they had finished their pre-match warm up they completed their match analysis sheets while I went off to get some water. When I returned I talked through Georgie’s match plan with her and then at 9am she went on to face Morgan Bernabe from Martinique.

Georgie got off to a great start and was well into her rhythm after she broke Morgan’s serve in the first game of the match. She then went on to dominate most games during the first set and didn’t allow her opponent to get going as she flew through the set 6-0.

Georgie continued where she left off after the first set and went on to increase her level as she progressed through the second set. There were a couple of tight games towards the end of the match as Morgan produced some big backhand winners but Georgie went on to take the second set 6-0 with 14 winners and 12 unforced errors.

As soon as Georgie finished, Mia was straight on the same court to take on Arki Truscott from Australia. I met Arki for the first time a couple of months ago in Nairobi and having seen her play yesterday we knew exactly what to expect. Mia broke in the second game to take a 2-0 lead and found a very good level from the back of the court. Mia has struggled over the past couple of weeks to find the balance between being aggressive and maintaining her consistency but today she found it from the start of the match. Mia was broken when serving at *3-1 but immediately broke back and went on to take the opening set 6-2.

Mia then raced to a 3-0 lead in the second set but, like last week, a bit of negativity crept in and it was soon back on serve at 3-2*. Despite being broken at *4-2 and *5-3 Mia reacted well on both occasions and continued to hit well from the back of the court to eventually take the match 6-2, 6-4.

It was a big win for Mia after coming close to gaining a singles win in the last two weeks and hopefully it will give her a big boost before the ¼ final tomorrow.

After Mia had finished we had a quick chat and then got some lunch with Georgie and Alex. We then got the 12.30pm shuttle back to the hotel so that the players could get away from the tournament site and relax for a while before the girl’s doubles match this evening.

As Mia and Georgie were scheduled 2nd on after 4pm we needed to get the 3.45pm shuttle back to the tennis centre in case the match before theirs finished very quickly. As it turned out we had a little wait before the girls went on which gave us a chance to go over some details from last week and set some goals for the match.

Mia and Georgie finally went on just as the sun was setting at 5.30pm to face Madison Harrison (USA) and Arki Truscott (AUS). It was a chance for Mia to get some revenge over Madison after she left a lead slip against her last week but it wasn’t a great start as Mia was broken in the first game. Both girls stayed positive though and played some very good doubles to brake twice in the next 3 games to take a *3-1 lead. Mia was then broken for a second time but despite the scoreline looking close it always seemed as though our girls were playing the better doubles. After Georgie held at *3-3, the girls then broke Arki’s serve for the second time and Mia held to take the set 6-3.

Mia lining up for a big smash in the 1st set

With the momentum definitely going our way, Mia and Georgie broke Madison in the first game of the second set but then over the course of the next couple of games the wheels started to fall off! Mia was broken at *1-0, then after Georgie was broken at *1-2 both girls stopped communicating and things got very edgy. Madison and Arki went on to win the next 3 games to take the set 6-1 in a complete turnaround of the first set.

To Mia and Georgie’s credit they raced out of their chairs at the start of the match tie-break and showed they were not giving this one up. The energy levels were much higher and both girls encouraged each other which made a massive difference to their belief in winning the third set. The match tie-break went with serve (apart from a couple of 1 point mini-breaks) until 5-4* when Mia and Georgie took both points off Madison’s serve to take a 7-4 lead. Mia then served well and Georgie moved well at the net to take the next two points before Arki threw in a double fault to give our girls a 6-3, 1-6, 10-4 win.

Getting the win under the lights!

Both Mia and Georgie were relieved to come through the match and get their first doubles win of the trip but hopefully they have now learnt that they need to continue to play together as a team and remain positive in order to get the job done quickly!!

We were told by the referee that Mia and Georgie’s semi-final opponents may have to pull out tomorrow as one of them has had a death in the family but that will be confirmed in the morning.

After the match we had dinner at the club and then had a very squashed bus journey back to the hotel to have an early night before another early start tomorrow.

Schedule for tomorrow:

Nanette Nylund (FIN) (1833) vs (3) Mia Smith (GBR) (764) – 1st match at 9am

(1) Georgie Axon (GBR) & Mia Smith (GBR) vs Luna Meers (BEL) & Yasmine Xantos (AUS) – To Be Confirmed

Guadeloupe U18 ITF Grade 4, Day 2

Tuesday 9th April 2013

It was a tough 1st round singles match for Alex today which brought his event to a close while the girl’s still haven’t played a singles or doubles match!

We had a very early start today with breakfast at 6.45am before we got the 7.45am bus to the courts. The girl’s training session was scheduled for 10am-12pm so when they arrived on site they got straight into their school work while Alex went through his physical warm up. Alex then hit with Max Renke to prepare himself for his singles match and by 9am he was feeling good and ready to go!

After the session Alex completed his pre-match sheet with his game plan and specific goals while I took the girls across the road to the supermarket to stock up on water. When we returned Alex and I went through his pre-match briefing before waiting for the match before his to finish.

Alex took to the court at 10.15am to play French wildcard Constant De La Bassetiere. Alex played well in the first two games to take a 2-0 lead but he then put in a poor service game and was broken to allow Constant back into the set. Alex was broken again at *2-2 as Constant started to find his rhythm but Alex responded very well to break straight back. Many of the games were very close with both players finding a good aggressive balance but Constant stepped up his level at *3-3 to break and hold to take a 5-3 lead. Alex’s head had dropped a little but he dug his heels in and worked very hard to hold serve to make his opponent serve the set out. The next game was extremely close and it was by far the best game of the set but after three deuces Constant hit two big unreturnable serves to take the set 6-4. The set had taken almost an hour and 15 minutes and it definitely had a big physical effect on Alex.

The second set was much more one sided as Constant upped his level again and Alex struggled to find the same level as the first set. Alex went 0-3* down before getting one of the two breaks back but he couldn’t hold onto it and was broken again in the next game. Alex continued to work as hard as he could but a slight pull to his right quad meant that he struggled to stay in the rallies like he had in the first set.

Alex receiving treatment during the 2nd set

He held serve at *1-5 but Constant served well to take the match 6-4, 6-2. The first set was definitely the best I’ve seen Alex hit the ball and now it’s going to be his goal to become physically strong enough to be able to maintain that level for 3 sets.

After the match I had a quick chat with Alex to reinforce all the positive points from both sets before I went straight over to the practice courts to be with Mia and Georgie. They had both trained hard for an hour and a half and when I arrived they were just coming to the end of their first match tie-break. They played one more up tie-break up to 15 points and at the end of it they were both happy with their level so decided to finish the session and get some lunch.

Georgie getting ready to return Mia’s serve during their practice session

I was back on court with Georgie at 2pm for her second session of the day and the goal of this session was to help her feel the ball a little more and find the level she wants for the match tomorrow. Georgie hit the ball really well throughout the session and look very confident from the back of the court. I managed to sneak the match tie-break that we played at the end but I think that was only because I had the wind behind me after we changed ends at 9-9!!

Following the session we got the bus back to the hotel which gave the players a couple of hours to do school work and have a swim in the hotel pool before we went out to dinner. Tonight we went to a local African restaurant near the hotel where the food was very good.

After dinner we headed back to the hotel to go through a psychology session for 30 minutes and then the players relaxed while watching the second half of The Goonies!

Schedule for tomorrow:

(1) Georgie Axon (GBR) (612) vs Morgan Bernabe (MRN) (UNR) – 1st match at 9am

Arki Truscott (AUS) (1872) vs (3) Mia Smith (GBR) (764) – 2nd match after 9am

(1) Georgie Axon (GBR) & Mia Smith (GBR) vs Madison Harrison (USA) & Arki Truscott (AUS) – 2nd match after 4pm

Guadeloupe U18 ITF Grade 4, Day 1

Monday 8th April 2013

It was a tough start to the final week of the tour as Alex and George lost a close 1st round doubles match after having set points in the first set.

Having arrived late last night we were told that none of the players would have a singles match today but Alex would have the first round of his doubles. We therefore had a more relaxed start to the day and met for breakfast at 8am before we got the bus to the courts at 8.45am. The shuttle bus is only a little 8 seater and, by just before 8.45am, there were probably about 15-20 players waiting for a lift. We managed to squeeze into the first bus and arrived on site just as the first singles matches were starting.

After a quick visit to the local supermarket the players warmed up at 9.30am and then we went on court at 10am with George Cartledge who is playing doubles with Alex this week. For the first hour all four players did a lot of drilling to get used to the court surface and then at 11am we moved to court 4 to play points for the second hour of practice.

Georgie and Alex working hard during the morning session

It was quite a hot, humid and windy morning and the players were all a little agitated throughout the point play which was probably also down to a little tiredness after travelling yesterday.

All four players warming up before playing points

We finished the session at 12pm and then the players cooled down, stretched and showered before lunch was served! It’s quite unusual to find a Grade 4 ITF that offers full hospitality to main draw players and national coaches but we’ve got it here and so far the food and hotel accommodation has been very good.

For the following couple of hours the players either relaxed, watched the matches or completed their school work before Alex and George went on for their doubles at 3.30pm.

Alex and George had played very well together in Trinidad and they started well today taking a 4-1* lead in the first set against Geoffrey Blancaneux from France and Maxim Renke from Germany. Maxim held serve in the next game but then Alex was broken to get the set back on serve. Our boys responded well by breaking Geoffrey for the second time to take a 5-3 lead and despite 2 set points on Georges serve they were broken straight back. At 5-4* Maxim held serve well and after Alex was broken again Geoffrey held for the first time to take the opening set 7-5.

George and Alex had played some good doubles to take control of the first set but after it went against them they began to look a bit flat. George was broken in the first game of the second set and then again at *1-3 to trail 1-4*. The good movement and sharp volleys from both boys had dried up which gave Geoffrey and Maxim a lot of confidence. Alex held at *1-5 but it was the last game our boys managed to win as they went down 7-5, 6-2.

It was a disappointing loss after such a good start to the match but hopefully both players will respond with a good singles performance tomorrow.

While Alex was playing, Mia watched the match that would determine who she would play in her first match. Once she had enough information on the winner, her and Georgie got stuck into some school work before dinner was ready at 6.30pm.

There was a lot of mosquitos around this evening, which wasn’t much fun, but we just about managed to finish our dinner before we got a bus back to the hotel at 7.30pm. We then sat in the lobby of the hotel and watched The Goonies for an hour following a request from Mia. Georgie and Alex were a bit sceptical to begin with but I think they were just starting to get into it when we stopped the film to go off to bed at 9pm. Part 2 tomorrow evening!

Boy’s Doubles Draw

Girl’s Doubles Draw

Schedule for tomorrow:

Alex Hagon (GBR) (1835) vs (WC) Constant De La Bassetiere (FRA) (UNR) – 2nd match after 9am

Barbados U18 ITF Grade 4, Day 11

Sunday 7th April 2013

We had another good practice day today before we left Barbados to head to Guadeloupe for our final event of the trip.

The morning followed the same timetable as yesterday; we had an early breakfast and then got the bus to the Hilton hotel to train on their hard courts. It was quite a hot and humid morning but the players worked very hard both in the drilling for the first hour and then in the point play after. Usually I’d prefer to get to the next event as early as possible to train on their courts and get used to the new environment but due to flights only leaving Barbados on Thursdays and Sundays we decided to stay.

Me and Mia after a very intense session

At around 10.30am we decided to finish the session with some match tie-breaks. The first one was just a warm up and I beat Alex while Georgie beat Mia but the second one was the big one as we played for bus fares back to the hotel! The winners then played each other and unfortunately the boys took a beating – Georgie took me down 10-5 which some outrageous tennis (!) while single-handed Mia beat Alex 10-5. We then cooled down and changed before heading back on the bus to Café Sol for a Mexican lunch.

We got back to the hotel at 1pm and were told that we could stay in our rooms until we needed to leave for the airport which meant we could relax and take our time packing up. At 3pm we got a taxi to the airport and luckily I managed to sweet talk the check-in staff again to allow us to take our tennis bags to the plane. Unfortunately I forgot that I left my Swiss Army knife in my tennis bag and the security staff were not too pleased about it!! Luckily I managed to get it back before we boarded our 1st flight to Dominica.

Georgie and Mia about to board the flight to Dominica

After a brief turnaround in Dominica we were told that the next flight to Guadeloupe was 16 minutes long – it was in fact 25 minutes long but still one of the shortest I’ve been on.

We arrived in Guadeloupe at just after 7.30pm and were picked up by the tournament transport who took us straight to the tournament site so that we could sign in. We then went straight to the hotel, checked in and had a quick dinner at a local restaurant before heading off to bed.

None of the players are scheduled for singles tomorrow but Alex will definitely have doubles which will be after 3.30pm.

Boy’s Main Draw

Girl’s Main Draw

 

Barbados U18 ITF Grade 4, Day 10

Saturday 6th April 2013

Following our day off yesterday it was back to training today to prepare all 3 players for the final week of competition in Guadeloupe which starts on Monday.

We were up reasonably early this morning for breakfast at 7.30am and then, along with our tennis bags, we squeezed into a number 11 bus to go to the Hilton hotel which was our practice site for the morning. The court next to our hotel isn’t really good enough to train on so we decided to try and sneak on the courts at the Hilton as they were much better!

After a 25 minute warm up we went through some speed and movement exercises to get the players really sharp before they hit their first ball. Unfortunately Mia’s back was playing up again so after a few minutes of hitting she stopped the session to ice and rest it. Georgie and Alex continued to train for almost 2 hours and, despite being a little slow at the start, they raised their levels throughout the session. After working on each of their individual goals we finished the session with some points and the bet was that the loser had to pay for the winner’s bus ticket back. Unfortunately Georgie lost so Jeremy had to pay up!!

We left the Hilton at around 11.30am and on the way back we stopped at Subway for lunch (another first for Georgie and Jeremy!) and then the laundrette to collect our washing. Once we arrived back at our hotel there was just enough time to have a quick chat with Jeremy before he headed off to the airport to catch his flight back to England.

For the rest of the afternoon the players had the choice of what they wanted to do; Mia’s friends from England arrived a few days ago so she spent the afternoon with them while Georgie and Alex relaxed at the hotel and then took on the waves at the beach!

Both videos will be on the Facebook page as soon as I can get a strong enough internet connection to upload them!

After all the swimming yesterday I wasn’t really up for more today so I stayed on the beach keeping an eye on both of them with a new little friend that popped up out of a hole right in front of me!!

A local crab keeping a watchful eye on me!

Georgie and Alex were in the sea for almost an hour and after being battered by waves on more than a dozen occasions they eventually retired to the swimming pool at the hotel to wind down.

For dinner tonight we headed back to Mamma Mia’s for the last time and then it was back to the hotel to pack up and get ready for training and travelling tomorrow.

Barbados U18 ITF Grade 4, Day 9

Friday 5th April 2013

It was “All aboard the Jolly Roger!” today as we spent our day off out at sea on a pirate ship!

After a bit of a lie-in we met for breakfast just before 9am and then were picked up at 9.30am to go into Bridgetown to the docks. We then signed in and had a few glasses of fruit punch (no rum punch allowed!) before we headed over to board the boat.

Mia and Alex getting in the pirate spirit!

Our first stop was to snorkel around the wreck of a boat but before we even left the docks Alex was already set to drive in!

Nothing wrong with being keen!!

Everyone was struggling with their mask & snorkels and the strange way that the lifejackets did up between your legs (!) but we had a good swim over the wreck and saw some quite big fish.

We then had a break for an hour where we had lunch and sailed up the west coast of the island. Our second and last stop of the day was to swim with two turtles, walk the plank and throw ourselves into the sea via the rope swing! Who do you think has the best technique from the plank?

Mia, Me, Alex and Georgie walking the plank!

Georgie definitely got the loudest cheer of the day as the boat just seemed to rock back as she went on the rope swing which caused her to go higher than anyone else – the look on her face was priceless!!

At 2pm we started our return journey to Bridgetown but the crew made sure it wasn’t a relaxing ride back as they got us all up and dancing on the top deck – something Alex definitely loved!!

We got back to the hotel around 4pm which gave the players enough time to relax before we headed out to dinner at 6pm. Tonight we went back to St. Lawrence Gap but this time we visited a great Mexican restaurant for some burritos and a chimichanga (that’s a wrap, not a dance!).

After the meal we went to Chilli Moos for the ice cream the players had been waiting for all week . . . and here’s Georgie with her prize for winning the sets yesterday!

Yum yum!!

The next two days are going to be quite light with probably one tennis session each day so that the players are fresh and ready for their final week of competition in Guadeloupe.

Barbados U18 ITF Grade 4, Day 8

Thursday 4th April 2013

It was a very disappointing day for Alex today as, for the second time in two weeks, his doubles partner has had to pull out due to not being able to change their flights.

We arrived at the tennis centre today just after 9am to be told by the referee that Christian had pulled out of the doubles semi-final due to not being able to change his original flight booking. Alex knew from the start of the event that Christian had a flight booked today but we both hoped that he would have been able to change it last night so that he could have at least played the semi-final. Alex was very disappointed but the good news was that as long as Alex turned up for the match when it was called then he would still keep the points that he has earned whereas Christian would not. I was very disappointed also and I’m sure Christian would have made the flight change if he had been in the ¼ finals of the singles today!

Following that news we headed straight down to the on-site practice courts where we warmed up and then went into some practice sets to work on all of the player’s goals from this week.  For just under 2 hours we all played each other in either a short set up to 4 games or, if one court was going faster than the other, we played a full set to 6 games. The deal was that if everyone played under match conditions then the overall winner (or runner up if I won!) would get a Chilly Moos (ice cream mix-in – similar to the Coldstones last week) bought by me.

All three players competed well and after Georgie won a close set 5-4 against Alex it was only left for her to beat me to become the overall winner. Fortunately I managed to take our set 6-2 so the final standings were: Me, Georgie, Alex and Mia – I’ll be sure to post a picture of Georgie with her ice cream!!

After the session I took the players through a surprise fitness circuit – they were all a bit worried about what I was going to come up with but were quite relieved when they found out we were going to follow the 20 station “Fit Trail” that is posted around the tournament site! I think the trail is mainly for the local adults but, after starting with a few stretching stations, it actually ended up with a few tough exercises. Here are the team in action:

Core, single leg squats, pull ups, jumps. springs and hand walks!

By the time we had finished it was just after 1pm so there was just time for some lunch and to watch some of either the Davis Cup practice or the tournament matches before we got the 2.30pm bus back to the hotel. The rest of the afternoon was then spent taking washing to the local laundrette and visiting the supermarket to get food and money. We then had a quick visit to the beach across the road from the hotel for our first swim in the sea before changing for dinner.

Tonight we finally got to eat at the Surfer’s Café in Oistins and the food and views were definitely worth the wait.

Not a bad view from the decking in the restaurant

Tomorrow will be a day off and I’ve got something special planned for the players – tune in tomorrow to find out what it is!!

Barbados U18 ITF Grade 4, Day 7

Wednesday 4th April 2013

It was a very positive day for Alex today as he progressed through to his first ever ITF semi-final while on the other hand it was bitter disappointment for the girls as they lost an extremely close third set tie-break in their doubles.

As both doubles matches were scheduled for later in the day we had breakfast at 8am and then went into Oistins to stock up on some supplies at the supermarket. We were back at the hotel just after 9am and the plan was to warm up at 9.30am and then train on the hotel court at 10am, but the weather had other ideas! A big storm came over us at bang on 9.30am but as we’re in Barbados it didn’t last long and by 10am we were back out warming up.

Even though Mia, Georgie and Alex had to all share a half court with 2 Americans, they had a good 40 minutes warming up and then we finished the session with some doubles specific work to get them all closing in an dominating the net. We were finished by just after 11am and then it was back to the hotel for a very quick shower and change before getting the bus at 11.30am.

For the next 5 hours there wasn’t much to do apart from sit and wait for some long matches to finish but the players managed to keep themselves occupied with either school work, reading or Subway Surfers!!

At 5.15pm Alex went on for his ¼ final with Christian to play Simon D’Alfono from America and Jorge Vargas from Columbia. The first set was very close with both pairs playing well on their own service games and it went with serve until 4-3* when Alex and Christian got a vital break. Christian then went on to make 6 out of 6 first serves in the next game to hold serve and take the set 6-3.

When Alex and Christian took a 2-0 lead in the second set it looked as if their opponents were defeated but a poor service game and some poor shot selections when Christian was serving at *3-2 gave that break up. Both boys had been moving well at the net in the first set but they had become a little static in the second set which allowed their opponent to relax more. That changed at 4-4* when both Alex and Christian were a lot more active and that resulted in them getting the break that they needed. Alex continued to move well and finish volleys in the next game while Christian was serving, which helped them hold serve and take the match 6-3, 6-4. Another good performance from both players and on to the semi-finals tomorrow!!

Mia and Georgie went straight on court following Alex’s match to face Abigail Altick and Jenna Friedel from America. Both girls started well; they were very sharp at the net and even though they went *0-2 down they were definitely playing the better doubles. Mia and Georgie fought hard and continued to dominate the net which saw they win 5 out of the next 6 games to take a *5-3 lead. Mia then served for the set and despite being broken both girls stayed positive and broke back in the next game to take the set 6-4.

The performance in the first set had been of a high quality and it was almost like déjà vu in the second set as the girls once again went from *0-2 down to 4-3* up. Both girls were still playing well but some negative responses in the next game caused them to lose concentration and after Georgie was broken at *4-4 the Americans took advantage to hold serve and take the set 6-4.

The third set match tie-break was extremely close and very nerve-wracking, especially for the spectators! Mia and Georgie got a break through at 3-3* and won the next three points but the Americans kept their focus and fought hard. Our girls continued to play positive doubles and take control of the points which saw them take a 8-6 lead. Mia then served at *8-7 but both points went against them to give the Americans match point at 8-9*. The Americans couldn’t convert that chance and our girls won the next two points to take a 10-9 lead with Georgie serving. The Americans then played a good point to level the scores at *10-10. The next point was very close with both pairs playing well but after a long rally Mia had an easy smash on top of the net but she went to hit it much too hard and the ball sailed straight into the back fence! That point was always going to be difficult to recover from and, with more of a spring in their step, the Americans took the next point to win the match 4-6, 6-4, 12-10.

Both girls were bitterly disappointed with the result and even though there were so many positives to take from the match it was understandably difficult for them to see past the result.

By the time the girls had finished it was just after 8pm so they cooled down and stretched out before we got a taxi straight to Mamma Mia’s for dinner.

Schedule for tomorrow:

(1) Charlie Ridout (GBR) & Robbie Ridout  (GBR) vs Alex Hagon (GBR) & Christian Haushammer (USA) –  3rd match after 9am (not before 11am)

 

Barbados U18 ITF Grade 4, Day 6

Tuesday 2nd April 2013

It was a very long day today as we arrived on site at just after 7.30am and didn’t get the bus back to the hotel until 8pm. However, good performances from both Georgie and Alex definitely made the day worthwhile.

Even though we had managed to book a practice court for this morning there was still difficulties with the players who had priority for first round matches – I think the referees have finally realised that they need to monitor who are booking the courts rather than just put the practice sheet out for anyone to write on!! Mia, Georgie and Alex had a good practice session from 8-8.30am to warm up for their matches and then Alex managed to stay on for a further 30 minutes to train with one of the other main draw players.

As Georgie was playing third match off site at Summerhayes tennis club we had to wait until the first match was completed before we could get the transport over. When we did get there at around 11.30am the second round match was at 2-1 in the first set but it wasn’t long before 6th seed Caroline Turner took a 6-4, 4-1 lead. As the match was looking like it was coming to an end, Georgie went through her pre-match warm up and we spoke about her tactics and goals for the match. All of this was a little premature though as Jenna Friedel started her comeback after being 5-1 down in the second set. After levelling the match 6-4, 5-7 Jenna eventually went on to take the third set 6-1 and Georgie finally went on at around 2.15pm.

Georgie was playing number 2 seed Mira Ruder-Hook from America today and even though there was a difference of over 300 ranking places between them, it was not obvious on the court. After a slow and uneasy start Georgie broke the tall American at 0-2* to get the set back on serve but then struggled in her own service game at *2-3 and was broken. Unlike at the National Tennis Centre the wind at Summerhayes was blowing directly down the court which made it difficult from both ends. Because of this Georgie found it difficult to find the balance between playing aggressive tennis and maintaining consistency but at *2-5 down she started to find an excellent level. She held serve well and if it wasn’t for Mira’s accuracy of serving in the next game I think Georgie would have got the break back. Unfortunately she didn’t and Mira went on to take the first set 6-3.

Georgie continued to improve her level in the second set and from the start she had definitely found a better aggressive balance in her game. After being broken at *2-2 Georgie broke back at 3-4* but then was broken straight back which allowed Mira to serve for the match at 4-5*. The next game was definitely one of Georgie’s best as she reeled off 5 winners including 2 off Mira’s serve while only making 2 unforced errors to level the set again at *5-5. Unfortunately by this stage Georgie was finding it easier to dictate points when returning rather than when she was serving and after Georgie was broken in the next game Mira went on to take the match 6-3, 7-5.

It was a close match throughout and Georgie definitely had the game to beat her higher ranked opponent (Georgie’s stats in both sets were actually better than her opponent’s!) but a few lose games at the end of both sets cost her. There were still loads of positives to take from the match though and it’s a match we can definitely build on for next week in Guadeloupe.

We arrived back at the National Tennis Centre at 5.15pm to find that Alex (who was scheduled for 4th match after 9am) had just started his doubles match. Alex and Christian took a 2-0 lead in the first set before their opponents got a game back. They then went on to take the first set convincingly 6-2 with some very confident play both from the back of the court and at the net.

The second set was much closer and the local support really seemed to motivate the Barbados players. The set went with serve until *3-4 despite Alex and Christian having a couple of sudden death deuce points on their opponent’s service games. Alex was then broken in the next game and the pair from Barbados held serve to win the set 6-3 much to the delight of their supporters!

As I’ve said before match tie-breaks can often be a bit of a lottery as a few cheap points can result in the match being over very quickly. At *0-3 down Alex and Christian looked a little shell shocked but they fought back well to level the tie-break at 3-3 and then looked in complete control as they went on to take the match 6-2, 3-6, 10-5. Both players were disappointed and felt as though they should have played better but they got the win and now have a chance to improve in the next match tomorrow.

Night matches at the National Tennis Centre!

Following Alex’s doubles match we were told that we would have to wait to see if Georgie and Mia would go on before the cut-off time of 9pm. We were all a little surprised by this as Alex’s match was the 4th round and Georgie and Mia’s was scheduled for 8th round on the same court!! Fortunately the referee saw sense at just before 8pm and cancelled the remaining doubles matches for the day.

We got back to the hotel at just after 8.15pm and after a quick shower and change we walked down the road to the Barbados Beach Hotel for dinner. It was then straight back to the hotel to get an early night after a long and tiring day.

Schedule for tomorrow:

Simon D’Alfonso (USA) & Jorge Vargas (COL) vs Alex Hagon (GBR) & Christian Haushammer (USA) – 5th match after 9am (not before 1pm)

Abigail Altick (USA) & Jenna Friedel (USA) vs Georgie Axon (GBR) & Mia Smith (GBR) – 6th match after 9am (not before 2pm)

Winner of Georgie & Mia’s match to play again after rest.

Barbados U18 ITF Grade 4, Day 5

Monday 1st April 2013

We had a mixed day today as Georgie came through her first round match convincingly while Mia took a commanding first set lead but unfortunately couldn’t maintain her level.

It was another early start this morning as the fight for practice courts continues!! We got to the club at just after 7.30am to warm up and then Mia and Georgie got on court from 8-8.30am to warm up for their singles matches while Alex had to wait until 8.30am before he could get a court. As Alex was signing in for a Lucky Loser place he needed to sign in 30 minutes before play started and then it would be a case of waiting all day to see if anyone would pull out . . . or get defaulted, like today!

During the practice session from 8-9am a German boy hit a ball over the fence and a young local spectator caught the ball but wouldn’t give it back! The German then went off the court to get the ball back and after an argument, which involved the German boy’s dad too, all three of them got into a fight. I’ve never seen anything like it at a tournament and after the police were called the German boy was eventually defaulted from singles and doubles. That meant that Alex had an opportunity to get a Lucky Loser spot but, as there were two players who lost in the last round of qualifying that both had rankings, it would have to be drawn out of a hat. Alex unfortunately picked out the other boy’s chip so lost out on a place in the main draw.

After that crazy start to the day, Georgie went on at just after 10.30am to play her first round match against Mary Meredith from America. The conditions today were very windy and it was difficult to find a rhythm from both ends of the court but Georgie started the match well and broke serve in the first game. She then went on to take a 4-0 lead and even though Mary held serve in her next two service games, Georgie served out the set to take it 6-2. At the end of the set Mary called the physio onto the court and after a brief assessment of her condition she said that her shoulder was too painful to carry on playing so she pulled out.

After the match I had a brief chat with Georgie before she cooled down and stretched out. We then all got some lunch at the club and our attentions then turned to Mia’s pre-match preparations.

Mia went on just after 1.30pm to play qualifier Madison Harrison from America who is the younger sister of top 100 player Ryan Harrison. Mia knew Madison from when she trained at the IMG academy in Florida and she had seen her play during qualifying so was ready to take her on!

Mia started the match well and just like in her match last week she was very patient from the back of the court while still maintaining an aggressive level to put her opponent under pressure. Mia took a 3-0 lead and looked in full control of the match but a few negative comments to herself after missing a couple of shots in the next game allowed her opponent back in. Madison held serve for the first time at 3-0* and, as she could see Mia was starting to get down on herself, her confidence started to grow. Madison went on to win the next 11 games in a row to go from 3-0 down in the first set to 6-3, 5-0 up in the second before Mia then held serve.

The two games at 5-0 and 5-1 were actually two of Mia’s best in the match and I had a feeling that a big fight back was about to begin but Madison served well in the last game to take the match 6-3, 6-1.

It was a disappointing match and one that if Mia could have stayed positive and maintained the level that she started the match with then she would have definitely come through it with a win.

After Mia had finished Alex and Georgie went through their band and injury prevention work for 45 mins then had a stretch out to end the day. We then got the shuttle bus back to the hotel at 4.30pm which gave the players an opportunity to relax or go swimming in the hotel pool before we left for dinner.

The plan tonight was to go to Oistins to see the Fish Festival and to eat at a local surfer’s restaurant but we didn’t realise that the restaurant was closed on Mondays!

A very crowded final day of the Oistins Fish Festival

So instead we had a walk around the town before heading to St. Lawrence Gap for a nice meal in a Brazilian restaurant overlooking the beach.

Alex, Georgie and Mia at the St. Lawrence Gap beach

 

Not a bad view at dinner!

We got back to the hotel just after 8pm and then went through some psychology work as well as the individual analysis from their singles matches.

Boy’s Doubles Draw

Girl’s Doubles Draw

Schedule for tomorrow:

Georgie Axon (GBR) (690) vs (2) Mira Ruder-Hook (USA) (374) – 3rd match after 9am (Summerhayes Courts)

Matthew Foster-Estwick (BAR) & Ajani King (BAR) vs Alex Hagon (GBR) & Christian Haushammer (USA) – 4th match after 9am (not before 12pm)

Abigail Altick (USA) & Jenna Friedel (USA) vs Georgie Axon (GBR) & Mia Smith (GBR) – 8th match after 9am (not before 4pm)

Barbados U18 ITF Grade 4, day 4

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)

Barbados U18 ITF Grade 4, Day 3

Saturday 30th March 2013

We had a solid start to week 2 today as Alex eased through his 1st round match against Joshua Blanchard from Barbados.

Due to one of the courts being reserved for Davis cup, the tournament is being held on just three courts this week which has meant that the schedule for each day is going to be very long. As Alex was scheduled for 6th match I decided that there was no point in getting to the club early today so we had breakfast at 9am and then practiced on the hotel court from 11-11.30am. The condition of the court was ok and it was probably the same as the practice courts that are available at the tournament site but it was interesting to have the court surface different to the outside of the court!

Alex and Mia warming up before his 1st round qualifying match

Alex and Mia had a good hit for just over 30 minutes and as soon as Alex felt as though he was warmed up and ready for his match we concluded the session and returned to the hotel. Both players then showered and changed before we got the local bus into Oistins to get some food from the supermarket. There is a big fish festival in town at the moment with lots of different market type stalls selling items from toys to clothes so hopefully we’ll get a chance to venture in one evening to check it out.

After lunch we got the 1.30pm shuttle to the courts and then waited for Alex’s court to become available. Even though Alex’s match was scheduled not before 3.30pm the match before his finished early so both boys agreed to go on at around 3.15pm.

Alex took control of the match from the first game and even though Joshua was a weaker player Alex made sure that he pushed himself to improve in every game. In particular, Alex worked hard on his return of serve and on developing his movement forwards to the net, both of which he did well on his way to a 6-0, 6-0 win.

After the match we still had an hour before the next bus left for the hotel so, while Alex cooled down and stretched out, Mia and I went for a 30 minute run around the cricket pitch to tick off another one of her strength and conditioning sessions for the trip. We then returned to the hotel and had a swim in the hotel pool to cool off before dinner.

Our bus journeys to and from Hastings are getting better each day and today had to be one of the best – we had 20 of us in a 12 seater mini-bus which included 2 young children trying to sleep! As always Alex loved the experience!

Definitely Alex’s hightlight of the trip!!

Schedule for tomorrow:

Ethan Ammon (TRI) (UNR) vs (8) Alex Hagon (GBR) (1811) – 2nd match after 9am

Winner to play (WC) Jeremie Euphraise (MRN) (UNR) or William Berry (JAM) (UNR) – 6th match after 9am (not before 2pm)

 

Barbados U18 ITF Grade 4, day 2

Friday 29th March 2013

It was Alex’s last day of preparation today before qualifying starts tomorrow, while Mia balanced some training with some school work as she looks to be fresh for main draw on Monday.

The tournament started a shuttle bus service today which, on one hand is great as it will save us a lot of money in taxi fares but on the other hand it means that we will have to stick to their timetable which will not always fit in with our plans. After having breakfast at 8.30am we got the 9.30am shuttle and, after a delay while the other players / coaches got themselves organised, we eventually got to the club just before 10am.

The court situation this morning was a bit of a free-for-all but I had managed to get one of the staff to reserve us a court yesterday so we warmed up at 10.30am and then starting hitting at 11am. It was another hot session but our plan was always to do an hour in the morning followed by an hour and a half in the afternoon with the main focus of finding Alex’s match level. Mia and Alex worked well together and after a 20 minute warm up they went through some specific drills based on their goals from last week. We then finished the session just after 12pm with some serve and return so that Alex was ready for a practice set in the afternoon.

There wasn’t any catering facilities at the club today and as it was Good Friday most of the local food outlets were closed. Luckily Kevin, the Barbados Davis Cup captain, offered to take us into Hastings to get some food and then we returned to the club and had lunch while watching the Barbados team train.

Barbados Davis Cup team training session

Mia decided to rest for the afternoon session and complete some of her school work for a couple of hours while Alex and I took to the court again. Alex was supposed to play a practice set with George Cartledge but George got the times wrong so it gave me a chance to step up! We had a good set in pretty hot and humid conditions but it was in the drilling and points afterwards where the level really increased – that might have had something to do with the 50+ people that were watching the session!!

By 4pm Alex was hitting really well from the back of the court and finishing points at the net effectively. He then signed in and after cooling down and stretching out we all got the bus back to the hotel at 5pm.

We went to Mamma Mia’s for dinner again this evening and then once we got back to the hotel we continued with our psychology work until about 8.30pm when our attention turned to watching Murray take down Gasquet in the Miami semi-finals.

Alex and Mia went to bed around 9pm but it was a late one for me as I waited until after 11pm for the draw and order of play to come out – as I was told last week “they work at their own pace here on the islands!”

Schedule for tomorrow:

Joshua Blanchard (BAR) (UNR) vs (8) Alex Hagon (GBR) (1811) – 6th match after 9am (not before 3.30pm)

Barbados U18 ITF Grade 4, Day 1

Thursday 28th March 2013

After a long day yesterday, which saw us arrive in Barbados at 10.30pm, we had a more relaxed day today as Alex started his preparations for qualifying on Saturday.

There was no set time for breakfast this morning as I wanted the players to have a lie in but they were both awake by 9am so we got something to eat and then got a feel for the hotel. We then decided to have a walk into Oistins to visit the local supermarket and stock up on food and water. Despite it being very warm, the walk was very picturesque and all of us were very impressed by the views.

Average beaches here in Barbados!!

Alex and Mia both had a bit of trouble with their shopping bags splitting on the walk back and Alex even tried to pay me to carry his bags!! Once we got back to the hotel we all sorted out our clothes that needed washing and then we took them to a local laundry on the way to the tennis centre.

The tennis centre is a lot smaller than the one in Trinidad and only has 4 courts but one of them is reserved for the whole week so that the Barbados and Puerto Rico teams can use it to prepare for their Davis Cup match which is next weekend. It’s going to be a really good experience for all of the players to be around a Davis Cup tie and I’m looking forward to being close to the action.

After warming up thoroughly I took Mia and Alex through some movement work with the ladder and then they had a really good session from 12.30-2pm. Both players were a little tired after the long travelling day yesterday but they worked hard and played well.

Mia and Alex working hard during the movement session

We were met by our taxi driver at 2.45pm who took us back to the laundry shop to collect our clothes and then we headed back to the hotel via a local shopping mall to get some lunch. For the rest of the afternoon the players relaxed at the hotel and kept cool in the swimming pool while I caught up on some admin work (and tried to dodge getting splashed by the side of the pool!!).

For dinner this evening we were joined by George, his coach Eddie and Matus Lazar (who Alex and George had played in the doubles in Trinidad) and his father. To get to the restaurant I decided that we would go via local minibus so all 7 of us squeezed into an already busy bus – still $2 each is much better than $50 for a taxi! Dinner tonight was at a local Italian called Mamma Mia’s in Hastings which was recommended by an English family who were staying at our hotel.

After the meal we waited for another local bus to get us back to the hotel and Alex’s excitement was obvious for everyone to see!

When we got back to the hotel we met in the lobby to go through some psychology work to help the players reflect on last week and prepare themselves for this week. Then at 9pm we headed back to our rooms for an early night.

Trinidad & Tobago U18 ITF Grade 4, Day 7

Wednesday 27th March 2013

It was a disappointing day today as George wasn’t able to change his flights to Barbados so he and Alex had to pull out of their ¼ Final match against the top seeds.

We were up at breakfast at 7.30am this morning and then had to wait around while George and his coach tried to change their flights but by 9am they told us they weren’t able to and would have to pull out of the doubles. It’s very frustrating when players commit to playing in the doubles but don’t tell their partners that they have flights booked before the final’s day but it continues to happen week in week out. In our case George and Eddie tried everything they could but because of the Easter holidays all of the flights to Barbados were very busy.

Once they had told us they were pulling out I decided that we’d have a rest day today and then fly to Barbados tonight to get there early to prepare Alex for qualifying. Alex and Mia agreed with the plan so we spent the next hour packing up and checking out before we headed to Movie Towne to go to the cinema.

Alex made the call to see G.I. Joe in 3D and even though Mia and I were quite reluctant we went with it!! After the film Alex immediately turned to both of us and said “That was pretty good” to which we responded “no it wasn’t!!” It was good fun though and Mia enjoyed wearing her colourful children’s green 3D glasses – she was very disappointed though when she found out that she couldn’t keep them!!

As it was our rest day I relaxed the rules on what food the players could eat so, after lunch we went to Coldstones Creamery for an ice cream and for the first time in Mia’s life she struggled to finish anything with chocolate in it!! As Carlos the local coach would say “that’s going to ride you tonight!”

Struggling to finish . . . I can’t believe it!!

We then headed back to the hotel to grab our bags and drive to the airport. The traffic was pretty bad all the way but it did give us a chance to take some pictures of the views.

Alex & Mia at the lookout over Port of Spain

Well I suppose it was their ‘Rest Day!’

After lots of negotiation at the airport (and sweet talking the check-in staff!) we managed to get on the flight without paying for excess baggage even though we were each 20kgs overweight!

The look on Mia’s face was priceless when she saw we were travelling on a little propeller plane but the early nerves soon faded as we watched some Michael McIntyre during the flight! We had a brief stop in Saint Lucia before landing in Barbados at 10.30pm and then finally got to our new hotel at just after 11am.

Our focus now turns to Alex’s preparation for qualifying which starts on Saturday.

Trinidad & Tobago U18 ITF Grade 4, Day 6

Tuesday 26th March 2013

Alex had a tough match in the singles today against a strong opponent but got a good win in the doubles while Mia and Sara lost a close 1st round doubles match.

As Alex had a later start time today we met for breakfast at 8.30am and then got a taxi to the courts at 9.45am. Our original plan was then to warm up at 10am and hit from 10.30-11am but Alex’s court was moving quite slowly so we delayed everything by 30 minutes. Alex and Mia trained well together during the session and by 11.30am they were both warmed up and ready for their matches.

We then headed down to Pizza Hut for our normal lunch and returned to the club to prepare for Alex’s singles match.

Alex went on just after 2pm to face 16th seed Arthur Stefani from Brazil and even though Arthur’s ranking is only just above Alex’s he was older and physically stronger. Arthur raced to a 5-0* lead with a combination of heavier hitting and less errors and even though Alex managed to hold serve in the next game the Brazilian took the first set 6-1.

Alex upped his level in the 2nd and hit almost twice the number of winners as he did in the 1st set but Arthur always looked in control and after breaking Alex for the second time at *2-4, he went on to take the set and the match 6-1, 6-2. Alex was disappointed with the result as he felt he could have performed better but he understood that because of his current physical size and strength there are going to be some matches that are just going to be too tough for him. He still learnt a lot throughout the match and developed his game so hopefully when he reflects on it tomorrow he will realise it wasn’t as bad as he first thought!

After the match Alex had some treatment on his left elbow as it had been hurting throughout the match and then at after quite a long delay he took to the court again for his 1st round doubles match with George Cartledge from America. Alex started the match really fired up and was very positive at the net both when he was returning and when George was serving. The boys broke in the 1st and 3rd games to lead *3-0 and despite Alex losing his serve in the next game they broke again to stay in control. They then won the next two games convincingly to take the 1st set 6-1.

Alex at the net ready to cross during his doubles

At the start of the Alex’s 2nd set Mia went on for her doubles match with Sara Kelly from America so I was then dashing between court 1 and court 6 to keep up to date with what was happening! Mia and Sara struggled to get going at the start of the match and soon fell 4-1 behind before raising both their games to level the set at 4-4. Unfortunately Mia was broken to Love while serving at *4-5 to lose the 1st set 6-4.

Mia returning serve

Meanwhile Alex and George continued to play some impressive doubles and after a tight start to the set they went on to take the set and the match 6-1, 6-2. After their match had finished George’s coach told me that they might struggle to play tomorrow unless they can change their flights so now we’re hoping they can otherwise they will both have to pull out.

Mia and Sara started their 2nd set much better than they had in the 1st and when they broke at 2-2* I thought they’d go on to control the whole set. However, a poor service game from Sara in the very next game let their opponents back in. Mia served well to hold a tight service game at *3-4 but Sara couldn’t do the same at *4-5 and they went on to lose the match 6-4, 6-4. Loses are always hard to accept but it’s even more difficult when you feel as though you could have done better and that was definitely the case with Mia and Sara today.

By the time Mia had finished it was just before 8.30pm so after she showered and changed at the club we headed straight to dinner. Once we were done it was then straight back to the hotel to try and get the players in to bed at a reasonable time!

It’s been a tough couple of days for Mia but I know she’s going to bounce back next week and hopefully, if George can rearrange his flights, him and Alex can win the next round and get some points on the board.

Schedule for tomorrow:

(1) Christian Cargill (BAH) & Arturs Lazins (LAT) vs George Cartledge (USA) & Alex Hagon (GBR) – 3rd match after 9am (not before 11am)

 

Trinidad & Tobago U18 ITF Grade 4, Day 5

Monday 25th March 2013

It was a very positive day for the team today even though we ended the day with one win and one loss.

Due to the late match times for Mia and Alex today we had a bit of a lie in and met at breakfast at 9am before getting a taxi to the club at just after 10am. Alex then spent the next hour and a half trying to find a doubles partner but once he had got one arranged they signed in and him and Mia then warmed up for their on-court session from 12-12.30pm. As with all pre-match warm ups the players dictated exactly what they wanted to do so that they felt completely prepared for their upcoming match. Mia and Alex worked well together and after 30 minutes of groundstrokes, volleys, smashes, drive-volleys and serves and returns they felt ready to go.

We then got some lunch and watched some of Katie and Georgie’s singles victories before Mia took to the court at 2.30pm to play Elizabeth Sutherland from America.

Elizabeth is quite a big hitter and at the start of the 1st set Mia made the mistake of trying to match her pace which resulted in too many unforced errors. Mia fell *1-3 behind and struggled to hold serve but she fought back to level the set at *3-3. Unfortunately she again struggled with her serve and despite breaking back to level the set at *4-4 she went on to lose the 1st set 6-4.

In the past Mia has found it difficult to come back after losing the 1st set but today she showed real maturity and professionalism to realise her tactics weren’t working and to change them to a more solid gamestyle. Mia worked the ball really well throughout the 2nd set and after she held in the 1st game her confidence increased and she raced to a 4-1* lead. She continued to serve a lot better than in the 1st set and played a very patient game to hold serve at 5-2 to level the match.

Mia returning serve during the 2nd set

Mia again looked in control at the start of the 3rd set as she continued to play a patient but aggressive game and after Elizabeth double faulted with an underarm serve at 2-1* it looked as though there was only going to be one winner. Unfortunately Elizabeth held from *0-40 down in that game and then broke Mia for the first time in 8 service games at *3-3 to take control of the set. Mia continued to work hard and fight for every point but Elizabeth held serve at 4-5* to go on to take the match 6-4, 2-6, 6-4 in just over 2 hours 15 minutes.

Despite the loss the match was very positive from Mia’s point of view and I think it was the best I’ve ever seen her play in an ITF; not only did she manage to change her tactics after the 1st set but she chased every ball and fought hard throughout the match.

Almost as soon as Mia had finished Alex was on court 3 at 5pm to take on Patrick Nkrumah from Trinidad and Tobago. Alex started the match very aggressively and imposed his game on his opponent from the first game. Alex took a *3-0 and even though he was disappointed to lose his serve in the next game he went on to take the 1st set 6-2.

Alex on route to victory under floodlights

At the start of the 2nd set some local support gave Patrick a bit of a boost but Alex continued to play aggressively and got two breaks of serve to lead *4-1. However, just like in the 1st set Alex gave away a cheap service game and had to dig deep to pull through the 2nd set after his opponent once again raised his level. Alex played a very solid but aggressive game at 5-3* to break Patrick’s serve to take the match 6-2, 6-3.

Just like with Mia’s performance I was very happy with the way that Alex played especially as he maintained an aggressive gamestyle and developed his front court game throughout the match.

By the time Alex finished it was almost 6.30pm so he cooled down at the courts and then showered and changed before we headed straight out to dinner. We were then met at the restaurant after the meal by one of the local tennis coaches who gave us tour of Port of Spain (the good parts and the bad!!) before he drove us back to the hotel to end a long but successful day.

Boy’s Doubles Draw

Girl’s Doubles Draw

Schedule for tomorrow:

(16) Arthur Stefani (BRA) (1494) vs Alex Hagon (1805) – 4th match after 9am (not before 12pm)

Stephanie Nemtsova (USA) & Jeung Won Yang (KOR) vs Sara Kelly (USA) & Mia Smith (GBR) – 6th match after 9am (not before 2pm)

Scott Lanser (TRI) & Matus Lazar (SVK) vs George Cartledge (USA) & Alex Hagon (GBR) – 6th match after 9am (not before 2pm)

Trinidad & Tobago U18 ITF Grade 4, Day 4

Sunday 24th March 2013

Today was our final day of preparation before the main draw starts tomorrow and both Mia and Alex put in a quality day of training.

Most of the day followed the same pattern as yesterday; we had an early breakfast at 6.30am and then left the hotel with Georgie and Katie on the 7.15am shuttle bus. We then all warmed up together from 7.30 – 8am while Mia’s music pumped out of the new speakers that she had brought with her! As Katie had a match she just hit for the first 30 minutes of the session but Mia, Alex and Georgie stayed on for the whole hour and worked on the tactics that they would be using in the afternoon practice sets.

Shortly after we finished the session we returned to the hotel to have a second breakfast and relax for a while before we met again in the lobby at 11.30am to go through some psychology work. To maintain the player’s interest levels and concentration I limited the session to 25-30 minutes and then we hit the gym from 12-1pm to complete some conditioning work. Because there was only one day to go until the players were competing they just had a light session which was mainly movement based but they both worked hard throughout.

Mia and Alex working hard in the gym this afternoon

We returned to the club to find out that Katie had cruised through her last round qualifying match and then we all headed down to Pizza Hut to get some lunch.

After a short break it was time for the players to warm up for their second session of the day where Mia took on Georgie and Alex took on Daniel Superlano from Venezuela in a practice set. Both sets were of good quality; Mia took an early leaded but then had to fight back from 5-3 down before she eventually lost a close tie-break and Alex led 3-2 before his opponent upped his level and went on to take the set 6-4.

Mia attacking a forehand against Georgie

Alex dominating the set early on against Daniel Superlano

Both Mia and Alex were happy with their sets and felt as though they’d prepared well for the main draw tomorrow so it was just left for them to sign in before we got a taxi back to the hotel.

When we got back we headed straight to the gym to cool down and stretch out before we showered and changed ready for Katie’s birthday meal at TGI Fridays!

Despite a bit of a wait for all the steaks that were ordered we had a good meal which was topped off with a rather nice piece of Katie’s Smarties birthday cake!!

Katie celebrating her 14th Birthday while Alex is just as happy with his apple juice cup!

Schedule for tomorrow:

Alex Hagon (GBR) (1805) vs Patrick Nkrumah (TRI) (UNR) – 5th match after 9am (not before 1pm)

Elizabeth Sutherland (USA) (641) vs Mia Smith (GBR) (755) – 5th match after 9am (not before 1pm)

Trinidad & Tobago U18 ITF Grade 4, Day 3

Saturday 23rd March 2013

It was another good training day in the hot and humid conditions here in Trinidad as main draw is fast approaching.

It was an early start today as we met for breakfast at 6.30am but as we’re still adjusting to the time difference some of us were wide awake at 5am!! We met Georgie Axon and her dad Jeremy at breakfast as they’d arrived late last night and then at 7.15am we met up with Katie and got the first shuttle bus of the day to the courts.

The courts were surprisingly busy at 7.30am this morning but after a good 25 minutes of physical warm ups and band work we trained on centre court from 8-9am. Katie stayed on court for around 30 minutes as she just wanted to have a pre-match warm up but Mia, Alex and Georgie stayed on for the hour and went through some specific drills to increase their consistency. Georgie had  adapted to the courts and the conditions really well while the training that Mia and Alex had completed in the last couple of days was starting to show.

Mia, Georgie, Katie and Alex during the morning session

After the session we returned to the hotel so that we could have a break from the heat and relax for a couple of hours. Then at 12pm we went into the gym to complete the player’s scheduled strength and conditioning work before returning to the club at 1.15pm to get some lunch.

During the time that we’d been back at the hotel Katie had won her first match and then at 2pm she went on court for her 2nd round which she again won convincingly. Mia, Alex, Georgie and I warmed up for our 2nd session of the day at 3.40pm and then had a good hour of point play from 4-5pm. The levels of all three players was good throughout the session and they’re are getting very close to their match level which is good to see with 1 more training day to go.

It was then back to the hotel and straight into the gym to cool down and stretch out before meeting everyone for dinner at 6.30pm.

As the restaurant at the hotel is quite expensive we decided to venture out this evening to TGI Fridays, much to the delight of the players. We all had a good meal and even when you take into account the cost of the taxi to and from the restaurant it still worked out a lot cheaper than paying for dinner at the hotel.

We arrived back to the hotel at around 8.45pm and, as it was quite late and we’ve got another early start tomorrow, I decided that we’d do the planned psychology work during the day tomorrow.

Trinidad & Tobago U18 ITF Grade 4, Day 2

Friday 23rd March 2013

It was another good preparation day today as we started to increase the volume of training and at the same time the players became more accustomed to the intense heat on court.

After a 7.30am breakfast we met up with Katie Swan, her mum Nicki and brother Luke (who had all arrived last night from Wichita in Kansas) in reception at 8.45am and then took a taxi to the courts. Katie is playing in qualifying this week as she is currently unranked and so today was her only day of preparation before the qualifying matches start tomorrow.

After a good 25 minute warm up we managed to get two courts for almost the whole hour and a half session which meant that I could spend a lot of time with Alex and the girls could train together. The session consisted of a lot of drilling to again get used to the courts and the conditions and even though it was mid-morning the temperature was getting hot which meant the players needed a lot of time to rest and refuel. We finished the session with some serving points and by 11.30am everyone definitely felt as though they’d worked hard and put in a good training session.

Luckily they had fixed the showers at the club as yesterday there was barely a dribble coming out so after showering and changing we all headed to Pizza Hut to get lunch. It was then time to visit the supermarket again to stock up on water and Mia and Alex made a very professional decision to buy a cool box between them to keep their drinks cold throughout the day – they dismissed the idea yesterday but after experiencing the heat again today they knew it would be a wise move!!

This afternoon we warmed up just after 1pm and then went on court for just over an hour to play a practice set; Mia took on Katie while Alex and I battled it out. Both sets were well fought and it was obvious nobody wanted to lose but in the end Katie and I both came out on top 6-2.

Katie and Mia during their set today

We then had a little bit of time to kill while we waited for Nicki and Luke to return with Katie’s passport for sign in which gave Alex an opportunity to clock up 3 million points on Subway Surfers which now puts him in the lead!

Once Nicki had arrived, Mia, Alex and I went back to the hotel and straight into the gym to go through their specific strength and conditioning sessions for the day. Alex had some tough intervals (which I joined him on!) and injury prevention work while Mia’s programme included some light strength work. Both sessions took around 45minutes and then we all foam rolled and stretched out to end a really good training day.

After a break to relax we headed out to dinner by the swimming pool at just after 6.30pm and then it was back upstairs to the lobby at 8pm for our daily psychology session which today was “Rules of Engagement”. It basically was an opportunity for the players to list the things they are going to accept that happens on the court and also the things that they expect of themselves while on the court. Mia and Alex did the task very well and ended up finishing with a very professional “Top 10”.

Katie plays in qualifying tomorrow so we’ve got an early start to get on court at 8am but hopefully it’ll be a bit cooler then!!

Trinidad & Tobago U18 ITF Grade 4, Day 1

Thursday 21st March 2013

After 20+ hours of travelling yesterday we finally arrived at the hotel in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago at just before 11pm last night. The team for the next three weeks of Grade 4 U18 ITFs is Mia Smith and Alex Hagon with Georgie Axon joining us for the 3rd week in Guadeloupe.

At 8am this morning I was wide awake and even though we’d planned on having breakfast at 9.30am, both Mia and Alex were up early and wanted to eat! As you’d expect in a Hilton Hotel the breakfast was excellent and gave us a good opportunity to refuel after not eating that much on either of the flights yesterday. After breakfast we spend a while getting used to where everything was at the hotel and managed to find the gym despite getting lost! At most ITFs you don’t have access to a gym but we’re going to make sure we make full use of the one here (much to the player’s delight!!).

The view over Queen’s Park from the hotel

At 11am we took a taxi the short 10 minute journey to the courts and after walking to the local supermarket to stock up on water we eventually started warming up on court around 12.30pm. The facilities at the tennis centre are quite basic but well maintained and the courts are very good. After a good 30 minute warm up the plan was to spend an hour training to get used to the courts and the hot conditions but after about 20 minutes Alex wasn’t feeling well and ended up being sick on court which meant I had to step in!! Mia and I carried on with the rest of the session but I think the travel yesterday combined with the intense heat and humidity made us all feel a little rough.

At around 2pm we walked the short distance to the end of the road to Pizza Hut to get some lunch (only pasta allowed though!) and we were very surprised to hear that in the restaurant they have to give an estimated time for food and drinks – 3 minutes for drinks (they took 2 minutes!) and 12 minutes for food (which was spot on!). We were then back at the club by 3.30pm and not long after Mia and Alex started their warm ups for our 2nd session of the day.

Alex managed to get through the whole session and Mia was feeling better too but the heat was still getting to both of them which resulted in a much lower level than normal. We thought that would be the case today and had discussed it earlier so neither of them were too worried especially as we’ve still got 3 more days until they both compete in the main draw.

Alex and Mia working as hard as their bodies allowed today!

After the session we went back to the hotel and straight into the gym to cool down and stretch out before having some time to ourselves before dinner.

A good end to a tough day

We had dinner tonight at the hotel and then afterwards we had our first preparation / psychology session which we will try to do each evening so that the players have a chance to reflect on the day’s activities and discuss their thoughts. Tonight was performance / outcome goal setting for the trip and also a game plan for playing yourself which turned out to be a lot harder than the players thought!!

Katie Swan joins us tomorrow having recently moved to America and Georgie Axon will be arriving tomorrow evening so, combined with Robbie and Charlie Ridout who arrived today, we should have a good British contingent out here!

Tunis U18 ITF Grade 5, Day 4

Thursday 14th February 2013

It wasn’t a very happy Valentine’s Day for us today as Mia had a disappointing 1st round loss in the singles and then Mia and Sofia got a walkover in the doubles – 4 days down and only 1 match played!!

We arrived at the club this morning at just after 8am and as soon as we started our physical warm up the rain started! It was only a light shower so we finished off the warm up and then waited in the player’s lounge until the courts were dry enough to train on. At around 9.30am Mia went on court with one of the Spanish boys to go through her pre-match warm up and despite the balls getting quite heavy Mia hit the ball very well from the back of the court and the issues that she had with her serve a couple of days ago seemed to have been solved.

After completing her pre-match sheet and going through her tactics for the match Mia went on court at 10.15am for her first round match against Chiraz Bechi from Tunisia. The match didn’t start well for Mia; she was *40-0 on her serve in the opening game before a series of unforced errors allowed her opponent to get back into the game. After losing her footing on break point Mia lost that game and then went on to trail 4-0 after a lot of inconsistent play from the back of the court. The Tunisia girl was quite solid but wasn’t really hurting Mia with a great deal and when Mia managed to hold serve in the next game and then get one of the breaks back I really thought that she would turn the set around. Unfortunately at *2-4 Mia’s serve let her down which led to her going 2-5* down but another break back kept her in the set. Mia struggled again with her serve at *3-5 and after 3 double faults in that game she lost the set 6-3.

This would normally have been a perfect time to take a toilet break and go and re-group as I got the feeling that Chiraz was starting to gain a lot of momentum. After holding serve in the first game Chiraz broke Mia to lead *2-0 and despite being 40-15 down in the next game she managed to hold to take a 3-0 lead. Mia held serve in the next game but by this stage the Tunisian’s confidence had grown considerable and she went on to win the next 3 games to take the match 6-3, 6-1.

The conditions in the match were difficult as it was cold and windy but Mia knows she should have done much better against a player who had very little to hurt her. It’s often the case at this level that players beat themselves with too many mistakes rather than an opponent beating them with a lot of winners and that was definitely the case today.

After the match we got some lunch and had a brief chat about the match before Mia showered and changed to get ready for their scheduled doubles. To our disappointment we then found out that Mia and Sofia had been given a walkover into the ¼ finals which meant they wouldn’t now play until tomorrow. With that news Mia decided she wanted to get back on court in the afternoon to work on her game so at 2pm we warmed up and then got on court for a very good session for an hour and a half.  We spent the first 45 minutes drilling and then played a set where Mia played a lot better than this morning and showed good patience, discipline and consistency throughout.

Once we were done Mia cooled down and stretched out and then the highlight of our day happened!! We were driving back in the taxi when all of a sudden I noticed black smoke coming out of the bonnet of the car; I mentioned it to the driver in French to which he casually replied “Oui, Oui J’ai vu!” (yes, yes I have seen!). A moment later flames started coming out from under the bonnet so we quickly pulled over and when he opened the bonnet it was obvious something wasn’t quite right!! Mia and I both jumped straight out of the car and ran to the side of the road before a local policeman came over to help. Unfortunately my phone battery died before the flames really got going (!!) but you can make out the burn marks on the edge of the bonnet!

We were really surprised to see so many people stop and help the taxi driver put out the flames but we did laugh when one guy pulled over behind us, jumped out with two bottles of water but forgot to put his handbrake on and then his car rolled off the road an into a wall!!

We eventually managed to flag down another taxi and got back to the hotel safely but that does have to be placed high up on my “crazy taxi journey list” alongside when a brick got thrown through the windscreen of our taxi on the way back from the US Open!

Before dinner we went through the match in detail and then for the rest of the evening we relaxed and made sure everything was packed ready to check out tomorrow. Our flight is booked for tomorrow night but if Mia and Sofia win in the doubles then we’ll change it to a flight on Saturday.

Schedule for tomorrow:

Tereza Melicharkova (CZE) & Ana Dominguez (ESP) vs (3) Mia Smith (GBR) & Sofia Sualehe (POR) – 3rd match after 9am (not before 1pm)

Tunis U18 ITF Grade 5, Day 3

Wednesday 13th February 2013

Although there was some play in the tournament today for Mia and I it was a complete washout as she never quite made it onto the match court!

We met for an early breakfast this morning at 7am and by 7.45am we had left the hotel to go to the club. While we were on our way the rain started and it continued on and off for the next 5 hours which left us with nothing to do but sit in the player’s lounge trying to access the internet along with everyone else in the tournament!

The view over the clay and hard courts from the top of Centre court

At 1.30pm there was quite a long break in the weather so we warmed up and managed to get on Centre court at 2pm for a good 35 – 40 minute session. The wind had picked up and the court was still quite slippery but Mia hit the ball well and by the time we were done she was ready for her match.

Just over an hour later Mia checked her court and as it was nearing the end of the match before hers she went through another physical warm up and we finished by going through some movement work to sharpen her up. Just as we finished the heavens opened again and play was once again suspended – Mia’s court was at a set and 5-2 so we knew that it would be finished almost as soon as it re-started!

Mia looking very unimpressed after another rain delay

We had to wait until 5pm for the matches to go back on court but just as the match before Mia’s finished we were told by the referee that only unfinished matches would now go under floodlights so Mia would have to come back tomorrow to play her match. We were both very frustrated that we’d been waiting at the club for almost 10 hours and then just as Mia was ready to go on court they decide to cancel her match but at least she’ll be fresh in the morning.

We had dinner tonight at 7pm in the hotel and then relaxed in the lobby with some of the other players before heading off to bed for an early night . . . tomorrow could be another long day!

Schedule for tomorrow:

Chiraz Bechri (TUN) (1774) vs (4) Mia Smith (GBR) (709) – 1st match at 9am

The winner to play Paola Gullino (ITA) (UNR) – 3rd match after 9am

(WC) Oumeima Charrad (TUN) & Jihene Ftouh (TUN) vs (3) Mia Smith (GBR) & Sofia Sualehe (POR) – 5th match after 9am

Tunis U18 ITF Grade 5, Day 2

Tuesday 12th February 2013

After a good training day yesterday we were all set for Mia’s first round match today but as the match time approached the whether changed and the afternoon became a complete washout!

As Mia was scheduled for 2nd match after 2pm we had quite a relaxed morning and met for breakfast at 9.30am. We then went to the local supermarket across the road from the hotel to get some water for the day before getting a taxi to the club. The tennis club is situated on the site of the National Sports Centre in Tunis and it covers quite a sizeable area so not even the local taxi drivers can miss it.

We arrived on site at 11am so that we could sign in for doubles and watch some of Mia’s potential next round opponent but as the morning wore on the whether changed and the rain came down which stopped play. Once it had stopped and the courts were dry we decided to go straight out to warm up so that we could get a hit in before the next downpour. The conditions were tough as the wind had really picked up but we still had a good session from 1-1.30pm and Mia was hitting well and feeling prepared for her match. After the hit we went across the road to the small patisserie to get some lunch and while we were walking back it started to rain again!

Girl’s Doubles Draw

At first the rain didn’t stop the matches but at around 2.30pm it started to come down a lot heavier so play was called off and everyone had to try and find a place to sit in the small player’s lounge. The rain continued for the next two hours and just before 5pm the referee suspended play for the day and everyone went back to the hotel. It’s always annoying when you prepare for a match and then it gets rained off but being from Britain we’re quite used to it as that’s how we spend most of our summer!!

Before & after the rain today!

Once we got back to the hotel we both relaxed in the lobby and tried as hard as we could to get some form of internet signal but it was painfully slow! We then had dinner at 7pm and afterwards it was time for Mia’s second instalment of some classic films; last night it was The Goonies and tonight was the start of Top Gun! Mia managed to squeeze in some of Michael McIntyre’s Comedy Roadshow but I’m going to make sure we watch the rest of Top Gun tomorrow!!

At 9pm we both went back to our rooms to get an early night as there is the possibility of playing 3 matches tomorrow.

Schedule for tomorrow:

Chiraz Bechri (TUN) (1774) vs (4) Mia Smith (GBR) (709) – 2nd match after 9am

The winner to play Paola Gullino (ITA) (UNR) – 4th match after 9am (not before 1pm)

(WC) Oumeima Charrad (TUN) & Jihene Ftouh (TUN) vs (3) Mia Smith (GBR) & Sofia Sualehe (POR) – 6th match after 9am (not before 4pm)

Let’s hope the weather holds out tomorrow!!

Tunis U18 ITF Grade 5, Day 1

Monday 11th February 2013

It was a manic 24 hours at home after arriving back from Kenya in the early hours of Saturday morning but by yesterday at 11am I was all packed again and at Gatwick airport to meet Mia Smith for this week’s event.

Yesterday was just a travelling day so it didn’t warrant its own Blog (!) but basically after being delayed for an hour we got underway at 2.30pm and arrived in Tunis just before 6pm local time. Originally I was going to book the airport transfer to the hotel through the tournament director but when I found out they wanted £45 for a 15 minute journey I decided we’d try our luck with a taxi from the airport . . . in the end it only cost us £9 – sometimes it pays to take a chance!!

Anyway back to today . . . we were woken early by the noisy traffic and police whistles outside our rooms at 7am and then we met for breakfast at 8.30am. There’s not a huge amount of choice for breakfast but they’ve got bread, eggs and juice which will do the job for us! After breakfast we headed out to the local supermarket to stock up on water before getting a taxi at just after 9.30am to the club. When I was planning the trip I read up on the local taxis and a lot of people were saying they’re always looking to rip you off but on both occasions today we made sure the driver used the meter and it cost us less than £1 for the 15 minute journey!

Once we were at the club we found out that the next available practice court was at 1pm – not ideal as we’d have to wait 3 hours but we did manage to find one court that they were not using for the tournament so after a good physical warm up we went on at just after 10am. The difference between the courts and the balls at high altitude in Nairobi to the conditions here was unbelievable but at least it meant the ball was a lot easier to control! We ended up losing the court after about 25 minutes as a match was going on but in that time I was very impressed by how Mia was striking the ball both in terms of how strong she looks behind the shot as well as how consistent she was.

The Tunisian Tennis Federation at the National Sports Centre

After the session we spent a little while getting used to where everything was at the club and then we made our way down the road to a small French patisserie to get some lunch. Both Mia and I are not a fan of olives or very spicy food but it seemed like every sandwich they made in that place involved olives and a spicy sauce!

At 1pm we were back on court for the 2nd session of the day where Mia trained with Sofia Sualehe from Portugal. Both girls trained well for the hour and after spending 40 minutes drilling and warming up all of their shots they finished the sessions with some points up to 11 which Sofia just managed to sneak 11-9. After the session Mia asked Sofia if she’d like to play doubles and we were both really happy when she said she could.

Mia setting up for a big backhand in her 2nd session of the day

We then had almost an hour off before going back on court for our last session of the day to work on Mia’s serve. It had been quite erratic during the earlier session so we spent 45 minutes going through a few different aspects of her serve so that she could solve any problem that might arise during the match tomorrow.

By just after 4pm Mia had cooled down and stretched out so all that was left to do was sign in and then we were done for the day. Even though this event is only an ITF Grade 5 the way everything is run is superb; they have chair umpires for each qualifying and main draw match and there is bed & breakfast hospitality for main draw players and their coaches. I knew about the hospitality for the players but was surprised by them giving it for the coaches. When Mia signed in she was told that I needed an official letter from the federation in order to obtain the hospitality so I quickly emailed Leon Smith and Kirsty Thomson at the LTA who passed on the request to women’s team administrator Vicky Daniels and within an hour the letter had been sent through – great job guys and much appreciated.

When we arrived back at the hotel I went for a walk to find a bigger supermarket to get some supplies and then at 7pm we met for dinner at the hotel. After dinner Mia and I sat in the lobby of the hotel and watched “The Goonies” on my laptop – an all-time classic that Mia hadn’t seen before but I think she loved it!

Girl’s Singles Main Draw

Schedule for tomorrow:

Chiraz Bechri (TUN) (1774) vs (4) Mia Smith (GBR) (709) – 2nd match after 2pm

Nairobi U18 ITF Grade 5, Finals Day!

Friday 8th February 2013

It was a heart-breaking final day of the trip today as Holly and Alena failed to convert on two match points in the third set tie-break of the girl’s doubles final.

After a really tough semi-final yesterday the whole team were in good spirits this morning as we had a chance to take home a title for the first time. The day started as it has almost every morning this week with Anais hitting with Ria at 8am to warm her up for the girl’s singles final and following that Alex trained with Anais for a further 30 minutes while I went back to the hotel to help Holly move all of her bags out of her room. Holly then made her way across the cricket pitch to go through her physical warm up while I paid the hotel bill. At 9am I was back on court again as it was time for Holly and Alena to prepare themselves for their doubles final. Both girls were hitting well and after their 30 minute session we talked through the tactics for the match before they went off to watch some of the boy’s and girl’s singles finals.

Alena and Holly warming up before the final

Jay Clarke competing in front of the packed stands in the boy’s final

At 10.45am Holly and Alena took to the court to play top seeds Dona Abo Habaga from Egypt and Nelise Verster from South Africa. After a couple of nervous service games which resulted in breaks of serve everyone settled down and the set went with serve until *3-4 when Alena was broken for the first time to leave Dona serving for the 1st set. Holly and Alena did well in the next game to break back and after a further two holds of serve the set went into a tie-break. Up until this point the set was very even with neither pair really dominating from the back of the court or from the net, it was more about who would miss first rather than who would play the best doubles! As soon as the tie-break started Holly and Alena took control racing to a 3-0* lead. Dona and Nelise then brought it back to *3-3 before our girls got a mini –break at 4-4* and it looked like it would be enough to take the set. However, Holly dropped one of her service points and it was again looking nervy at 6-5*. Nelise then failed to control her nerves and a double fault handed Holly and Alena the first set 7-6(5).

Holly & Alena during the 1st set

As had been the case all week the 2nd set was not good from Holly and Alena; they were broken at *0-0 and at *0-2 but managed to get back into the set following a poor service game from Nelise and a strong hold from Alena. Holly struggled again on her serve and was broken at *2-4 but it was a crucial hold from Nelise (who had really been finding it difficult to get a consistency on her serve) at 3-4* that seemed to upset our girls. Alena was then broken in the very next game to level the match at one set all. It was the same as it had been all week and I was hoping that Holly and Alena’s routine toilet break at one set all would work its magic again!!

Maybe the magic took longer to kick in today as our girls immediately went 0-3 down and looked completely out of it but some tough words to each other helped them to win the next couple of points to close the gap to *2-3. They then went 3-7 down and that’s when the fight back really started as they won the next 5 points in a row to take an 8-7* lead. By this stage we were all in full voice and Holly and Alena knew that winning one out of the next two points would set themselves up for the title. They won the point at 8-8* on Dona’s serve but Alena then threw in a big double fault to let their opponents back in to the tie-break. Alena held the next point and we were all expecting Nelise to double fault under the pressure but to her credit she put in a good first serve and won the point to save a 2nd match point. Holly then served well at 10-11* to save a match point but a couple of missed chances to put the volley away at *11-11 set Dona and Nelise up for their 2nd match point which they converted well. It had been a well contested final where both teams fought hard throughout even though the quality of the doubles wasn’t as high as it was yesterday in the semi-final when Holly and Alena played the Russians.

After the match Holly and Alena were bitterly disappointed but I said to Holly that she’s had an absolutely fantastic couple of weeks and made her first ever ITF final so there are so many positives to take from the trip.

Holly and Alena with their runners-up medals

After the boy’s had finished their doubles final we all gathered round for the presentation which involved different coaches giving out the medals to different players which I thought was a great idea. I was then on court with Anais from 3-4pm for an individual session to prepare her for the 3rd tournament before she played a really good practice set with Elena Belenova from 4-5pm which she took 6-2.

There was then just about enough time for Anais and Alex to do the press-ups that they owed me and for Holly to complete the 180 Burpees that she owed me (don’t ask!) before we changed and headed out for dinner.

And Holly thought she’d get away with not doing them!!

For only the 2nd time in the two weeks it was just the four of us for dinner this evening as they competed with each other in the “Trip Quiz”! After the 38 questions Anais came out on top so she won the dessert and also won the bar of Dairy Milk for getting the most answers right on the Bonus Question but it wasn’t all bad for Holly and Alex as they got a Cadbury’s Flake to put in their milkshakes! We all had a fantastic last night and while having dessert in the lower restaurant we were joined by almost everyone else in the tournament!!

Everyone mixing in together for a great last night

It’s been an absolutely fantastic two weeks; the players all worked hard on and off the court and we made sure they played hard in the evenings too! New friends were made and hopefully the players will all stay in contact over the years to come.

I’ve now got a quick turnaround as I’m off to Tunisia for the U18 ITF Grade 5 on Sunday afternoon!

Nairobi U18 ITF Grade 5, Day 7

Thursday 7th February 2013

It was a fantastic day today as Holly and Alena made it through to the final of the girl’s doubles after a nail biting three set win against the two Russians that had beaten Anais and Ria yesterday.

As Ria had been doing well in the singles all week she wanted to stick to the same routine that she’s had each day which meant that Anais was up early to hit with her at 8am. Holly was also up early to warm Alena up for her singles semi-final against Ria and as Holly is still in the tournament I spent the whole warm up on court with her to make sure she was happy with how she was playing. Both girls finished at 8.30am and after a long couple of weeks Anais decided that she’d take the rest of the day off to recharge her batteries for the 3rd event next week. Holly on the other hand had the doubles final to play and as she was feeling a little tired too she went back to the hotel to rest. I watched some of the boy’s and girl’s semi-finals before returning to the hotel to sort out arrangements for travelling back to England tomorrow night.

Semi-finals day but surely court 3 is longer than the other courts?!

At 11.30am Holly and I sat down for some lunch at the hotel and were soon joined by Anais and Alex who had been watching the semi-finals where Ria had beaten Alena in three tight sets. While we were eating Alena came in for some food and made it very clear that there was no way that she was going to lose two matches in one day!!

After warming up and talking through the tactics and goals for the match Holly and Alena went on court at 2pm to face Elena Belenova and Elisabeth Lyukshinova from Russia. Holly and Alena didn’t start well and it was obvious that they were both a little tentative on serve and return in the first few games. After hitting 4 double faults in her first service game Holly was broken to go 0-2* down but the girls responded straight away by breaking Elena’s serve to get the set back on serve. Elena Belenova’s serve was then broken again at 3-3* and then the next two games went with serve until Holly played a great service game to take the opening set 6-4. It was a pretty good set from the girl’s despite some early nerves and after Holly’s first service game she ended up hitting 6 out of 6 first serves in at *2-3 and at *5-4 which was very impressive.

The second set was similar to yesterday’s ¼ final as Holly and Alena stopped moving as much at the net and the communication dried up a little between them. At *2-3 Alena was broken, however the girls responded by breaking straight back but at *3-4 Holly played a poor service game which included 2 double faults and 2 unforced errors and following that they lost the next 2 games in a row to lose the set 6-3. Not a lot had changed but we’d lowered our level while the Russians upped theirs.

After a lengthy toilet break (just like yesterday!) Holly and Alena emerged looking very up for the match tie-break. Unfortunately the nerves got the better of Holly and after losing her two opening service points the girls found themselves 1-4* down. Alena managed to hold one of her two service points but at 2-7 things were looking very bleak. Holly and Alena weren’t done yet though and when they looked across the net and saw Lyukshinova starting to get very tight their belief grew and the scoreline started to get closer. After Holly double faulted to give the Russians a 5-8* lead Lyukshinova missed a couple of very easy balls close to the net and suddenly the momentum started to shift our way. From 5-8* down Holly and Alena played some smart and confident tennis to win the next 5 points in a row and take the third set 10-8.

Alena and Holly encouraging each other during the match tie-break

Both girls screamed with joy at the end while Alex, Anais and I were equally as pumped up – it was a really hard fought win and the match could have gone either way but it came down to the fact that Holly and especially Alena held their nerve when it really mattered.

There were high fives and hugs all around for the team after the match and now Holly will compete in her first ITF final tomorrow against top seeds Dona Abo Habaga from Egypt and Nelise Verster from South Africa – bring that one on!!

For the rest of the afternoon we all went about the jobs we needed to do; Anais had a massage to try and relieve a bit of pain in her back, Alex sorted out his room and got everything ready to pack and after Holly and Alena had decided what kit they were going to wear for the final tomorrow she cooled down and stretched out on the cricket pitch (priorities first of course!!). I on the other hand put some final touches to the all-important “Trip Quiz” that the players will do over dinner tomorrow night for some great prizes!!

After trying to escape some more embarrassing forfeits we all had a great dinner and then it was back to the hotel to pay off the room bills and get an early night ready for our last day tomorrow.

Schedule for tomorrow:

GIRL’S DOUBLES FINAL

(1) Dona Abo Habaga (EGY) & Nelise Verster (RSA) vs (4) Holly Hutchinson (GBR) & Alena Mashtakova (RUS) – 2nd match after 9am

 

Nairobi U18 ITF Grade 5, Day 6

Wednesday 6th February 2013

It was a mixed day today as Alex and Anais got knocked out in the ¼ finals of the doubles but Holly managed to go one better and make the semi-finals after a real rollercoaster of a match.

The day started at 7am with breakfast and then we had a succession of practice sessions starting with Anais and Ria at 8.30am followed by Holly and Alena at 9am and then ending with Alex and Olivier at 9.30am. During each of the sessions we managed to get some good quality doubles played to prepare each of them for their ¼ final matches.

Ria, Anais, Holly and Alena playing points during their practice sessions

Alex and Olivier taking on Alexis and Dylan in a tie-break to finish off their warm up session

Holly and Alena were scheduled 2nd on Centre court and as the match before them went very quickly they ended up going on at just after 10.15am to play Iva Ivkovic from Serbia and Nina Van Oost from Belgium. Over the past two days Holly, Alena and I have had some good practice sessions where we’ve worked specifically on their doubles play but I wasn’t expecting what happened in the first set of their match today. From the start of the set both girls were superb in everything they did; Holly served at 70% during the set and Alena dominated the net with great presence. They broke Nina’s serve at 1-1* and then took a convincing 5-1 lead before they eventually took the set 6-2 – they played at a fantastic level but the hard part was now trying to maintain it.

Alena serving to take the opening set

As Holly and Alena finished the 1st set Anais and Ria started their ¼ final match on court 7 so I repositioned myself on the side of Centre court so that I could watch both matches at the same time! Maybe it was the fact that I moved positions but the 2nd set of Holly and Alena’s match was completely the opposite to the 1st set; Holly really struggled with her serve, both of their returns became very erratic and neither of them seemed to want to commit to moving at the net! All of that resulted in them going 4-0 down straight away and even though they managed to break Iva’s serve in the next game they went on to lose the set 6-1. It was now down to the match tie-break to decide the match and the big question of who would be mentally strong enough to do what they needed to do.

3 out of the 4 girls on the court were very nervous during the match tie-break but luckily for us Alena was very tough throughout. Holly and Alena got a breakthrough at 3-3 and went on to take a 6-3 lead before their opponents fought back to get within one point at 7-6*. By this stage everyone was very tense; Holly and Alena let an 8-6* lead slip and at *8-8 it was up to Alena to serve to set up match point. She boomed down a big 1st serve that wasn’t returned and then at 9-8* Alena once again stepped up to hit a great passing shot down the line to seal the win 6-2, 1-6, 10-8. Both girls were very pleased to get through the match and move into the semi-finals where hopefully they’ll recreate the level of the 1st set throughout the whole match.

While Holly and Alena were fighting hard in their match Anais and Ria were having real difficulties in their ¼ final against Elena Belenova and Elisabeth Lyukshinova from Russia. Anais had not been feeling well before the match and she was finding everything very difficult; she was broken at *1-2 in the 1st set and then despite getting the break back at 3-5* Ria failed to hold her serve so they ended up losing the set 6-4. Anais was still struggling in the 2nd set but after letting an early break go they managed to break again at 4-4* and this time Anais served very well to take the set 6-4. Even though it was now 1 set all I had a feeling that the Russians had the edge slightly as they moved better at the net and were more comfortable at the baseline but once again the match would be decided by a match tie-break.

The tie-break went with serve until 4-4* when Anais and Ria got a mini-break but they couldn’t capitalise on it and went from 5-4 up to 5-8 down. They continued to fight hard but the Russians played some good doubles to eventually go on to take the third set 10-7. Anais was really disappointed at the end of the match as she felt as though if she’d been feeling ok then they would have easily won but I think she did really well to keep fighting throughout the match despite feeling so bad.

After a short break where Holly and I went through her match it was Alex’s turn to go on for his ¼ final match against fellow Brit and roommate Jay Clarke and his partner Mwendwa Mbithi from America. After doing the hard work yesterday Alex and Olivier had the chance to go out and really take the match to their opponents without any pressure at all but some very good serving from Jay and Mwendwa prevented them from really getting stuck into the 1st set. Alex was broken at *1-1 and then the games went with serve until Alex and Olivier had the chance to break back when they were 40-15* up on Mwendwa’s serve at 3-5*. Unfortunately they couldn’t convert any of their 3 break points and they went on to lose the set 6-3.

The 2nd set was very tight throughout and it was very similar to the 2nd set that Alex and Olivier played yesterday; they served well and kept fighting hard to keep the game score close. The whole set went with serve until *5-5 when Alex struggled with a couple of double faults and ended up being broken after a sudden death deuce point. Jay then served very well to close out the set and take the match 6-3, 7-5. It was probably an even better performance from Alex and Olivier compared to yesterday’s match but Jay and Mwendwa played well and were very tough to breakdown.

We then had a couple of hours off to get some food and relax before I went on court with Holly and Alena at 4pm to work on their doubles in preparation for tomorrow’s semi-final. We were joined in the session by Emmanuelle De Beer and went through some good doubles work before ending the session with a set in which Emmanuelle and I just managed to scrape a win!!

Dinner tonight was a long affair with 18 of us eating together at the Fairview hotel. We had some good laughs though and after a mammoth game of Chase the Ace it was Emmaunelle’s coach Jono (who was joining us for the first time) who had to do the forfeit of crawling around the restaurant on his hands and knees!! Unfortunately for Alex and me sorting out a 28, 950 Shilling bill wasn’t quite as much fun!!

Schedule for tomorrow:

(4) Holly Hutchinson (GBR) & Alena Mashtakova (RUS) vs Elena Belenova (RUS) & Elisabeth Lyukshinova (RUS) – 2nd match after 9am (not before 2pm)

Nairobi U18 ITF Grade 5, Day 5

Tuesday 5th February 2013

It was a very long but extremely positive day today as all three players won their doubles matches which meant they all moved into the ¼ finals and in doing so Alex picked up his first ITF points.

It was an early start this morning as Anais had arranged to hit with her doubles partner from 8 – 8.30am to warm her up for her singles match and then afterwards we were joined by Holly and Alex who had a bit of a lie in as their doubles matches weren’t until this afternoon. All four of us then warmed up at just after 9.30am so that we were ready for our tennis session at 10am. The first 30 minutes of the session was spent going through our normal pre-match warm up, then the next 30 minutes was spent working on doubles specific work so that everyone was sharp at the next and confident coming forwards and then we ended the session with 30 minutes of point play to make sure everyone was ready to go!

At 11.30am we all headed back to the hotel to shower and change and get some lunch before it was back to the club just before 1pm so that Holly was ready for her match. As the matches on court 2 had been moving quite quickly this morning we thought that Holly would be on at her scheduled time of 1pm but a few of the courts needed watering and re-lining so Holly and Alena Mashtakova didn’t end up starting the match until 2pm.

Holly and Alena were facing local wildcards Lonah Bhwenje and Chizi Mutsumi and from the start it was obvious that Holly and Alena were just going to be too strong for the Kenyan girls. They raced through the first set very quickly taking it 6-0 and it was looking like the 2nd set was going to end up the same way until a lapse of concentration when returning at 3-0 cost them that game. They got back on track though in the next game and ended up taking a comfortable 6-0, 6-1 win to take them through to the ¼ finals.

As Holly was finishing up the 2nd set Anais and Ria Vaidya from Singapore went on the next court to play Lize Moolman from Namibia and Arki Truscott from Australia. Anais and Ria started the match very well and took a commanding 5-0* lead before taking the set 6-1. The girls had played together a couple of times before and they looked very confident as a pair but after breaking in the 2nd set to take a *2-1 lead their concentration completely went which allowed Lize and Arki to get back into the match. From *2-1 up Anais and Ria found themselves 2-4* down and had to save two game points to prevent them from going 2-5 down but after breaking Arki in that game they got back on track and won the next 3 games in a row to take the match 6-1, 6-4. It was tighter than it should have been but at least the girls were tested in the 2nd set which will help them to maintain their level and focus during the next round.

While Holly and Anais had been playing Alex had been sitting next to me cheering them on while he waited to go on for his match. During that time we talked a lot about his match, what his goals were and how to deal with the occasion as Alex knew this was a big opportunity for him to gain his first ITF points. As soon as Anais had finished Alex was straight on the same court with partner Olivier Huvigimana to face 6th seeds Arian Ebrahimiyan from Iran and Aliaksandr Streltsas from Belarus. The first 2 games went with serve but then Alex was broken at *1-1 and then again at *2-4 before the 6th seeds took the first set convincingly 6-2.

Alex working hard to return some tough serves

It wasn’t the kind of start that we’d been hoping for; Alex was struggling with his serve and his returns while the 6th seeds played very confidently throughout. I knew that it was going to be really important for Alex and Olivier to stay close to their opponents at the start of the 2nd set and fight really hard for every point. After Alex held serve at *1-1 for the first time in the match his confidence really grew which in turn improved the quality of his returning game and it just seemed a matter of time before him and Olivier would get a breakthrough. We did have a slight problem in the middle of the set as Olivier broke his strings and didn’t have another racket so he had to uses Alex’s!! That didn’t bother him one bit though and at 4-3*, 40-0* up it looked as though a break was on the cards but Alex and Olivier squandered their chances and once again the set was level. Olivier then put in a really solid service game and at 5-4* him and Alex finally got the break they deserved to take the match into a final set tie-break – game on!!

By this stage the crowds had grown and it seemed as though everyone left at the club was willing Alex on. Alex thrived off the encouragement and the normally quiet Olivier was getting pumped up too while their opponents seemed to have lost every bit of confidence that they had in the first set. With Alex and Olivier leading 2-0 in the match tie-break Arian Ebrahimiyan missed a smash right on top of the net and with the crowds cheering louder than ever they took a commanding 3-0 lead. Alex and Olivier then led 5-2 before the 6th seeds clawed it back to 6-4 and at this stage everyone was starting to get a little nervous. We had no reason to though as Alex and Olivier got another mini-break and Olivier served two great points to set up match point at 9-4. Alex then pulled out a huge return off Ebrahimiyan’s 1st serve and when the shot was not returned it was all over! The crowds went wild and so did Alex and Olivier on court – check out the video on the Facebook page – www.facebook.com/itctennis1.

A huge 2-6, 6-4, 10-4 win for the boys!

Alex was ecstatic with the win and he really deserved it after the hard work he’s put in over the last two weeks. Sometimes getting your first ranking point is a lot harder than getting subsequent points but now Alex has that one under his belt I’m sure his confidence will grow and that will help his game develop very fast.

After everyone congratulated Alex he eventually made his way off the court to join Holly, Anais and I to get the biggest applause from his team. It was then back to business as Anais and Alex cooled down and stretched out before we returned to the hotel at 6.15pm with all of us still buzzing from the match! Almost 11 hours at the club today but it was all well worth it.

We were joined at dinner tonight by the Bath boys but it was obvious that the exploits of the day had really taken their toll on Alex, Anais, Holly and I as we all looked thoroughly exhausted! What a fantastic day though!

Schedule for tomorrow:

Elena Belenova (RUS) & Elisabeth Lyukshinova (RUS) vs (2) Anais Nussaume (THA) & Ria Vaidya (SIN) – 2nd match after 9am

Iva Ivkovic (SRB) & Nina Van Oost (BEL) vs (4) Holly Hutchinson (GBR) & Alena Mashtakova (RUS) – 2nd match after 9am

(3) Jay Clarke (GBR) & Mwendwa Mbithi (USA) vs Alex Hagon (GBR) & Olivier Havugimana (RWA) – 3rd match after 9am (not before 1pm)

Nairobi U18 ITF Grade 5, Day 4

Monday 4th February 2013

It was a day of mixed emotions today as Holly; our last remaining player in the singles, had a tough second round match while Alex got a good win in the doubles to mark his first main draw win of the trip.

We had a little bit of a later start to the day this morning with breakfast at 7.45am followed by our physical warm up before training at 9.10am. All three players trained together even though Anais didn’t have a match today and we managed to get just over 30 minutes on the court before the next players came on. Anais then stayed on court for another 30 minute to warm up Ria Vaidya for her singles match while Alex, Holly and I left the club to change up some money at the bank and to stock up on water and food at the supermarket.

As Holly wasn’t scheduled on until 4th match and Alex wasn’t due to be on until 5th match it gave us some time to watch some of the other main draw matches as well as have lunch at the hotel. Normally the food at the hotel can take anywhere from 20 minutes to an hour and a half to arrive so we’ve been opting to eat at the club but the food there has dramatically gone downhill in the last few days and a few of the players have felt unwell after eating there. After lunch Holly and Alex returned to the club to prepare for their matches but due to some courts moving much faster than others they had to constantly keep up to date with what was happening on their court.

At around 2.30pm Alex and I had one final session on court to work on some doubles specifics while Holly kept out of the sun and completed her pre-match sheet ready for her match. Both players then went on court at almost exactly the same time so I positioned myself between the two courts to try and take in as much of both matches as possible!

Unfortunately Holly didn’t start well in her match and despite this being the 4th time in two weeks where we’ve faced Sasha Alexander from Australia we still couldn’t get on top of her. Holly was broken in her first two service games and at 4-0 down things weren’t looking good but she managed to play better in the next game and had points to break Sasha’s serve but couldn’t convert them. In the end Holly’s consistency both with her groundstrokes and with her serve cost her as she lost the 1st set 6-0.

Holly serving during her 2nd round match today

Holly started the 2nd set well and finally managed to break Sasha’s serve but it was her serve that again let her down and she gave the break up straight away. Sasha then broke again at *1-2 and once more at *2-3 as Holly’s serve continued to be too erratic. Something changed though when Holly was serving at *2-5; for the first time she seemed more relaxed and thought more about what serve she was going to hit and how hard she was going to hit it which increased her 1st serve percentage and resulted in her holding serve. Holly then played her best returning game of the match and had chances to break back but 2 huge serves from Sasha at Deuce gave her the game and the match 6-0, 6-3.

Overall it was a disappointing match from Holly; she tried to play the right way but was just too inconsistent on the day and for a 4th time in two weeks Sasha got the better of us.

Alex on the other hand was getting himself pumped up on the court behind me as he and partner Olivier Havugimana played some great doubles together against John Lutaaya from Uganda and Alex Meseguer from Spain. They broke in the 3rd game of the first set to take a *2-1 lead and then looked very comfortable at 4-2* before their opponent held and broke Alex’s serve to level the set at 4-4. The boys remained positive and encouraged each other well which led to them breaking straight back before Olivier served out the opening set to take it 6-4. Both Alex and Olivier were playing much better than last week and looked as though they were having a lot of fun on the court. The second set went with serve until 2-2* when Alex and Olivier broke and held to take a 4-2 lead but this time they didn’t make the same mistake as in the first set and took the next two games to win the match 6-4, 6-2. Alex was very pleased to get the win and after looking over in my direction gave a “Sweden” to celebrate!! He will now be playing tomorrow for his first ITF points but they have a tricky match against the 6th seeds – bring it on!

After the doubles Alex sat and supported Holly until the end of her match and then both players cooled down around the hockey pitch before stretching out together. On the way back to the hotel Holly and I had a short debrief but as the player’s emotions are always very high after a match I believe it’s always better to go through everything in detail the next day.

After another solid dinner of Mango Chicken at the Fairview hotel we returned to the courts to book practice for tomorrow and our focus now rest entirely on the doubles.

Schedule for tomorrow:

Lonah Bhwenje (KEN) & Chizi Mutsumi (KEN) vs (4) Holly Hutchinson (GBR) & Alena Mashtakova (RUS) – 3rd match after 9am (not before 1pm)

Lize-Elfrida Moolman (NAM) & Arki Truscott (AUS) vs (2) Anais Nussaume (THA) & Ria Vaidya (SIN) – 3rd match after 9am (not before 1pm)

Alex Hagon (GBR) & Olivier Havugimana (RWA) vs (6) Arian Ebrahimiyan (IRI) & Aliaksandr Streltsas (BLR) – 4th match after 9am

Nairobi U18 ITF Grade 5, Day 3

Sunday 3rd February 2013

It was a positive day for Holly and Alex today while Anais had a very tight 1st round match that didn’t quite go her way.

Even though Holly was scheduled for 2nd match on today we stuck to our normal routine of breakfast at 7am, warm up at 7.40am and then straight on court for our tennis session at 8am. As Anais was scheduled for 4th match on she decided to hit later at 10am and Alex had decide to go with Jay to the Public Service Club to get a whole court for an hour so it was just Holly and I for her pre-match hit. We ended up training for around 45 minutes as Holly wanted to spend longer working on her serve and return but by the end of the session she was timing the ball well and ready for her match.

The match before Holly’s was moving very quickly but she completed her pre-match sheet and then we spoke about what she was looking to achieve in the match before she went on just after 10am. Having had quite a lot of experience of players I’ve travelled with playing against Kenyan wildcards I knew that the match was probably going to be quite straightforward but it’s always important for the players to play not just for the win but to develop and improve for the next round. Holly went about her business well today against Alvas Wahome and quickly rapped up a 6-2, 6-0 win in under an hour. She had a little difficulty with her serve throughout the match but she hit well from the back of the court and played a really good last game to finish off a comfortable victory.

While Holly was on court Anais hit with Ria Vaidya from Singapore who is another player that is a good friend of hers and also the top seed this week. After their session Anais watched Holly’s match and then it was time to go through her own preparations before she went on court at 12.30pm to face Sasha Alexander who had beaten her in the ¼ finals last week. Anais was really up for some revenge and her preparations for the match over the last couple of days had been excellent.

As the two players had played last week they knew each other’s games well but Anais was playing much better today and was finding a much more consistent level in each point. The whole of the first set went with serve with either player not really getting close to breaking the other’s serve; Sasha was serving much more consistently compared to last week and the double faults that had haunted Anais throughout the previous match were gone. When it got to the tie-break Sasha was the first one to step up and she immediately took a 3-0 lead. Anais won the next 2 points but a few too many unforced errors cost her as she eventually went down 7-2.

The second set was much the same as the first with Sasha doing most of the dictating but Anais fought hard to stay in the rally and was prepared to wait for Sasha to miss. Anais got a breakthrough at 2-1* when she broke Sasha’s serve but then she immediately gave up the break with some poor serving in the next game. It was looking like another tie-break was on the cards but at *5-5 Anais gave up a *40-15 lead and was broken which left Sasha to serve for the match. Anais responded superbly by playing a very smart game and got the break back to take the 2nd set to a tie-break but it was Sasha that once again started the better out of the two of them. She took a 4-0 lead before Anais got a point on the board but it was a little too late as by that stage Sasha was full of confidence and she went on to take the tie-break 7-3.

It was a really tough match to sit through on the side of the court let alone play and to go down 7-6, 7-6 after two and a half hours of constant battling is always going to be a tough result to digest. Anais as always looked on the positive side of things and she knows she’s starting to find some better form which is why she made the decision after the match to stay on for another week on her own to play the third tournament. She’s got a very mature and professional attitude which is so refreshing to see and hopefully she’ll get the results she deserves next week.

After a quick chat with Anais she went back to the hotel to shower and change while Holly, Alex and I went over to the Public Service Club together so that Holly could work on her serve and Alex could work on his return. Earlier Alex had drawn himself out of the hat to get into the doubles draw; there were 3 pairs that all had the same entry priority but there were only 2 spaces in the draw so he was quite fortunate to pick his own number!

 

Boy’s Doubles Draw

Girl’s Doubles Draw

Holly served for around 45 minutes and found a really good level before I stepped in to bang down some serves to prepare her for playing Sasha tomorrow.

Our afternoon serve & retrun session at the Public Service Club

After the session we made our way back to the club to cool down and stretch out and then I met up with Anais to go through some tournament planning for the next 3 or 4 months. Dinner tonight was not as lively as it has been as most of us were feeling quite tired after a long day but it did include my first forfeit of the trip which saw me complete some swimming by the side of the pool!!

Schedule for tomorrow:

Sasha Alexander (AUS) (1136) vs Holly Hutchinson (GBR) (1615) – 4th match after 9am

John Lutaaya (UGA) & Alex Meseguer (ESP) vs Alex Hagon (GBR) & Olivier Havugimana (RWA) – 5th match after 9am

Nairobi U18 ITF Grade 5, Day 2

Saturday 3rd February 2013

It was another tough 1st round qualifying match for Alex today while the girl’s trained hard and put the finishing touches to their preparation before their main draw matches tomorrow.

As Alex was scheduled for 1st match on at 9am we met for breakfast at just before 7am and then made our way over to the courts to warm up at 7.40am. Once Alex and Jay had completed their physical warm up we walked over to the court to find that the lines had been put down but the net hadn’t been put up – it’s the same most days but today we decided not to wait for the groundsman to do it and so the 3 of us got stuck in!

It took 3 of us but we got there in the end!!

Alex and Jay had a really good hit for 30 minutes and then Alex and I went over towards the clubhouse to go through his pre-match sheet and set goals before he went on. We both knew that it was going to be a tough match today as Marco Prochazka from Austria had made the last 16 in the first tournament but we were feeling positive as Alex was going into the match full of confidence after his consolation matches.

Alex began the match well breaking Marco in the opening game and then holding serve to take a 2-0 lead but Marco immediately stepped up his level to hold and break back to level the set at 2-2. At this stage Alex had to make a decision; did he continue to play to play the way that he had to go 2-0 up or did he sense that Marco was getting into his stride and then respond by upping his own level to be more aggressive? Unfortunately Alex chose to stick with the way that he started the set and that meant that Marco could step up and dominate most of the points to take control of the set. The next 4 games went against Alex as he lost the first set 6-2 but Marco’s 12 winners and only 8 unforced errors from 2-0 down were quite impressive stats.

Alex tried to respond in the second set by going for more and trying to get Marco out of his comfort zone but unfortunately the Austrian was well into his stride now and dictated almost every point. Alex ended up losing the second set 6-0 and despite being very disappointed when he came off the court he realised that his opponent was just a lot stronger both in terms of physical size and quality of the tennis that he produced. We had a good chat after the match and talked about the kind of game that Alex is aiming to produce at 15/16 years old and how each match at the moment is just adding to his development as a payer.

I left Alex at the hotel to shower and change while I went back to the courts to be on court with Anais for her first session of the day. Anais trained with Josh Liu who is the number 2 seed in the boy’s main draw and a good friend of hers. Josh and his dad had just arrived last night from Singapore but the altitude and the courts didn’t affect him at all which was great for Anais and both of them ended up having a really good practice for an hour. At 12pm Holly came on court so I left Anais and Josh to continue their practice while Holly and I went on the next court to start her training session. Despite the practice courts being in the worst state that I’ve seen them all week we ended up having a good session and ended with some really good points.

By this stage everyone was hungry so Anais and I went back to the hotel to get some lunch while Holly and Alex stayed with some of the other players at the club to eat there.

The next session of the day was at 3pm and this was the main session for the girls to get a lot of point play in so that they felt comfortable before their matches tomorrow. Alex joined the session to work on things from his match earlier in the day and we were also joined by Gil de Keyser from Belgium so all four players could compete against each other. By 4pm we were done so Anais and Alex went off to cool down and stretch out while Holly waited for her last session of the day at 5pm with Alena Mashtakova. Holly just wanted a short session to get more of a feel for the ball and both girls worked well together for 30 minutes before the groundstaff kicked us off the court to prepare it for tomorrow.

While we were at dinner the draw came out and can you believe Holly and Anais are once again in the same section of the draw?!

Girl’s Main Draw

Schedule for tomorrow:

(WC) Alvas Wahome (KEN) (UNR) vs Holly Hutchinson (GBR) (1615) – 2nd match after 9am

(5) Anais Nussaume (THA) (582) vs Sasha Alexander (AUS) (1136) – 4th match after 9am

Nairobi U18 ITF Grade 5, Day 1

Friday 1st February 2013

As week 1 leads into week 2 here at the Nairobi Sports Club Alex put the final touches to his preparation with two very good consolation matches while the girls had a lighter day.

As Alex was scheduled for 3rd match on today we all had a bit of a lie in and then met for breakfast at 8.15m. Anais and Holly had the option of a rest day today as they don’t play until Sunday but Anais wanted to spend more time on court to get a better feel for the ball and Holly wanted to keep up to date with her physical conditioning programme so she planned in her injury prevention work.

We all headed over to the courts at 9.30am so that Alex could go through his physical warm up before he hit with Jay Clarke from 10 – 10.30am. During the session Alex hit very well and even though he had to deal with a very heavy ball coming off Jay’s racket he knew that it would prepare him well for his first match.

After completing his pre-match sheet we had a brief chat about what we wanted to get out of this set and then Alex went on court around 10.45am to play Shabani Kabura from Burundi. After losing the first game Alex really upped his level and played some of the best tennis I have ever seen him play; he was dominating the points from the back of the court and found a very consistent but aggressive level with his serve too. Alex won the next 6 games in a row to take the match 6-1 and his stats were very impressive; 65% 1st serves in, 12 winners and only 8 unforced errors leaving him with a very good aggressive balance of +4. After the match Alex was very pleased with his performance and decided he wanted to play his final consolation match rather than just have a training session in the afternoon.

Alex sliding into a dropshot and then hitting an angle winner

Not long after Alex had finished Anais and I went off to warm up for her only tennis session of the day and we were very lucky to get on one of the better match courts for a really good session for an hour and a half. Anais had been disappointed with her results last week and knew that her best tennis is still within her – our job now is to get her to perform at that level this week. During the training we worked on a lot of specifics around the quality of her groundstrokes and then we played a lot of points towards the end of the session so that she felt confident to do what she needed to do under a little more pressure. We played 3 sets of points and I just about managed scrape the first two up to 11 sets but for the last one we played up to 7 and her level was much too good which resulted in me getting my hands and nose dirty as we had 10 press-ups riding on it!!

Once we were done we just about had enough time to go back to the hotel, order some food, shower and change, eat the food and then get back to the courts before Alex went on for his last consolation match at 2.30pm against Tumaini Meshuko from Tanzania. Tumaini had taken the number 2 seed in the main draw to 3 sets earlier in the week so Alex was really up for another good match. The first 3 games went with serve until Alex got broken at *1-2 and even though he was struggling with the condition of the courts Alex still managed to find a really good hitting level against a good opponent. At *2-5 down Alex kept digging deep and fighting hard for each game which resulted in him winning the next 3 games in a row to level the set at 5-5. Both players then held serve to take the match into a deciding tie-break. Just like the 12 games in the set the tie-break was very close but when Alex managed to get ahead to lead *5-4 it was looking as though he would finished it off. Unfortunately Alex hit 3 unforced errors in the next 3 points to lose the set 7-6 but on each of the last 3 points he performed very well and his mistakes only came from going for the right shot at the right time which was great to see. It was another very positive match and if Alex can perform at that level in the Qualifying tomorrow then he has a great chance of getting through.

Following the match Alex signed in and then went through his prescribed injury prevention and stretching exercises which ended a very good day’s preparation. All three players then had some time to themselves but the girls decided that they wanted to play some Frisbee so out came my Aerobie Pro and we had some good fun throwing it around the cricket pitch!

Dinner tonight was once again at the Fairview Hotel and after having a few nights where the group was getting bigger and bigger it was nice to just have 8 of us – it was good for Anais too as there were less people to watch her forfeit of doing cartwheels around the swimming pool!!

Boy’s Qualifying Draw

Schedule for tomorrow:

Marco Prochazka (AUT) (UNR) vs Alex Hagon (GBR) (UNR) – 1st match at 9am

Winner to play last round qualifying later in the day

Nairobi U18 ITF Grade 4, Day 8

Thursday 31st January 2013

It was Alex’s turn today to get a win on the board while both Holly and Anais struggled in their doubles ¼ final matches.

Our plan today was to get up early for a 7am breakfast and then hit at 8am but when we got to the courts to warm up at 7.40am we found that the overnight rain had completely soaked the courts and we were told there would be no play before 10am. We returned to the clubhouse to relax and then made our way back over to warm up at 9.30am but when we got there the courts were in the same state as before! Eventually we were told that play would start around 11am and the players would have a longer warm up (as there weren’t any practice court available) so all of the players went through their physical warm ups expecting to be 1st on but the referee then changed the schedule so that the singles matches could start first. That meant that we had a bit of time to kill and rather than stopping the players during their warm up I let them finish and then took them through a speed and movement session for 10-15 minutes.

Anais, Jay, Alex and Holly (on the steps!) during the movement session today

After the session the players got some food and then watched some of the main draw singles matches before it was time for them to go on. Holly was first on with partner Maria Ong and they were facing a bit of an uphill battle as when play was suspended yesterday they were 5-3 down with Nelise Verster serving for the set. When they resumed play Nelise and Dona Abo Habaga held serve and then continued to put pressure on Holly and Maria as they took a 2-0* lead in the second set. Maria then held serve and Holly held well at *1-3 but both of them really struggled with their returns only managing to return 5 serves in total in the whole set. Despite trying to take on as much as she could and doing her very best to cover as much of the net as possible Holly wasn’t able to stop Nelise and Dona from targeting Maria with a lot of balls. After Maria was broken at *2-4 Dona held serve to take the second set and the match 6-3, 6-2. Holly was disappointed with the loss but knew that it was always going to be difficult with an inexperienced partner so now the hunt begins for a new partner for next week!

Whilst Holly was on court Alex went on for his next consolation match and to his credit he prepared very professionally completing his pre-match sheet and talking to me about his goals before he went on. The consolation today was only 1 set so it was important that Alex started well and kept his focus throughout. He did just that and cruised through the set 6-1 against a player who had been in the main draw this week which will hopefully give him a good boost for qualifying of week 2 on Saturday. Alex will now play one more consolation match tomorrow to try and fine tune his game and then we might have a second session in the afternoon if he feels as though he needs it.

Anais and Alena were next on at 2pm and were immediately facing two set points when the match resumed at *4-5, *30-40. They ended up losing the next point but after almost completely turning the 1st set around yesterday they knew what they needed to do today and consequently they started the 2nd set really well racing to a 4-0 lead. The Belgians weren’t about to roll over though and after one of them had already won her singles semi-final earlier in the day they both fought hard to get back into the set. It was looking comfortable at 5-1* but then Alena struggled in her service game and after their opponents held serve it was up to Anais to serve for the set at *5-4. The nerves that had been apparent in her singles match yesterday were not bothering Anais today and she held well to take the 2nd set and level the match. Now match tie-breaks can often be a bit of a lottery and if you can get a bit of a lead at the start it can be tough for the opponents to come back, unfortunately it was the Belgians that took a 5-0 lead and they never once looked like giving it up as they eventually went on to take it 10-4. Anais and Alena just didn’t play well enough when it really mattered but on another day they could have easily won that match in straight sets.

Having not had time for lunch due to trying to keep on top of what was happening with the re-scheduling of the matches I sat down with Alex and Holly at around 3pm to get some food before it was back over to the courts to be on court with Holly from 4.30-5.30pm. Holly is still maintaining a great level of hitting and it seems as though the work that she did back in Halton with Mike James before we came out has really sunk in. She’s added a very important dimension to her game and hopefully she will build on that over the next few months to get her ready for the summer.

When we were done we cooled down and then headed back to the hotel to shower and change before dinner. We had hoped to join the team from the Bath International High Performance Centre who had landed from England this morning but they all went for the pasta buffet in the other restaurant. It’ll be good to train alongside those boys this week and it’s good to see “newbie” coach Jamie Feaver on the road as his professionalism and wealth of playing experience will be a huge asset for the boys.

Schedule for tomorrow:

Shabani Kabura (BDI) (UNR) vs Alex Hagon (GBR) (UNR) – 3rd match after 9am

Nairobi U18 ITF Grade 4, Day 7

Wednesday 30th January 2013

It was a tough day at the Nairobi Sports Club today as Anais had a disappointing singles match but the quest for a title in week 1 is still alive as both Holly and Anais are still in the doubles ¼ finals.

We were all up early this morning for breakfast at 7am as Anais was first match on at 9am and Holly and Alex needed to warm up for their matches later in the day. We trained on court from 8-8.30am and despite every court being full on the booking sheet we managed to get a whole court each to warm up on! I trained with Alex while Holly and Anais hit together and after 30 minutes everyone was hitting well and ready for their matches.

After going through her pre-match goals and setting out her tactics for the match Anais went on court at 9am to face 8th seed Sasha Alexander from Australia. Holly had lost to Sasha in round 2 so we knew exactly what to expect; a big first serve, a spiny second serve but she can be quite inconsistent from the back of the court.

Anais started very nervously and after Sasha held in the opening game she struggled with her serve resulting in four double faults in her first service game. Anais then was 40-0* up in the very next game but failed to convert any of her break points and from that moment Sasha turned into a completely different player; she was much more confident from the back of the court and her 1st serve suddenly became very consistent. Anais managed to hold at *0-3 and then get a break back at 1-5* but too many unforced errors and not enough winners cost her as Sasha took the first set 6-2 with a total of 13 winners.

To her credit Anais came out in the 2nd set and was much more aggressive but by this stage Sasha’s confidence was very high and she was making a lot less unforced errors compared to when she played Holly. Anais went 0-2* down but managed to break back straight away only to struggle again in her own service games and give the break up. Anais was still struggling with her consistency and couldn’t quite get hold of the ball enough from the back of the court to put Sasha under pressure but she kept fighting hard throughout. After holding serve at *2-5 Anais made Sasha serve it out which she ended up doing very well to take the match 6-2, 6-3.

It was definitely a disappointing performance from Anais but she’s not one to dwell on a bad match and almost immediately after she’d finished she was back on court hitting some serves to get ready for her doubles ¼ final.

After getting some lunch together Holly and Anais were back on court with their partners at 1pm – Anais was playing for the first time with Alena Mashtakova from Russia who I met back in November in Mombasa and after winning a tight match yesterday Holly and Maria were set to take on the number 1 seeds. The difficulty was that Holly was on Centre court while Anais was on court 8 so I had to position myself on the top of one of the stands to Centre court so that I could see both courts!

Anais & Alena on court 8 …

… and Holly and Maria behind them on Centre court!

As both matches started the wind really began to pick up making conditions very difficult and both of our pairs struggled. They both went 1-4 down before both starting a bit of a fight back; Anais and Alena held, broke and then held again to level the scores and then the set went with serve until *4-5 when a huge storm came over to stop play. Holly and Maria also started coming back and after Maria managed to hold serve at *2-5 things were beginning to look much more promising – they ended up stopping at 3-5*, 15-15*.

The view of the rain flooding down from the referee’s hut

As the rain came hammering down we all rushed to the referee’s hut and then were kept there for 20 minutes before Patrick decided the courts weren’t going to dry so he suspended play for the day. Poor Alex had been eagerly waiting to go on for his consolation match just as the storm started so unfortunately he wasn’t able to play his match today but he will get on tomorrow.

The rest of the afternoon was spent stocking up on supplies at the supermarket, changing up money and sorting out the food bills at the hotel but as always there was time for some cards!! Like I said yesterday the forfeits are starting to get quite extreme so here’s a couple of the ones from today:

Holly always ends up getting the bad ones (I was in the final 2 though!)

But Yasmine’s was pretty special too!

The video of Yasmine’s immense knee slide is up on the Facebook page so check it out! www.facebook.com/itctennis1

Once we’d all recovered we headed out to dinner with the ever increasing “team” for a great dinner together.

Schedule for tomorrow:

(1) Dona Abo Habaga (EGY) & Nelise Verster (RSA) vs Holly Hutchinson (GBR) & Maria Ong (PHI) – 1st match at 9am (to finish 5-3, 15-15)

Margaux Bovy (BEL) & Nina Van Oost (BEL) vs (2) Alena Mashtkova (RUS) & Anais Nussaume (THA) – To Be Arranged after rest (to finish 5-4, 40-30)

Both winners to play later in the day

Alex Hagon (GBR) (UNR) vs John Lutaaya (UGA) (UNR) – 2nd match after 9am

 

Nairobi U18 ITF Grade 4, Day 6

Tuesday 29th January 2013

We had one win today, one loss and one very good training day – all in all a pretty good effort from the whole team.

We had a more relaxed start today as Holly wasn’t scheduled until 4th on and Alex had to wait for a match to be completed before he could play his consolation match. That meant the players could have a much needed lie in and so we met for breakfast at 8.45am. After breakfast Anais and I went to the local bank to change some money and then it was back to the hotel to meet up with Alex and Holly to go to the club to warm up. Our morning session today was from 10.30 – 11am but we managed to stay on the court a little longer and because Ricky had joined us for the session it meant we could do some really good doubles specific work while I worked with both teams.

Once we were done it was time to visit the local supermarket to stock up on more water (Anais drank over 8 litres yesterday!) before returning to the club to watch some of the main draw matches.

Alex was next on for his second training session of the day; he hit with Alexis Canter for an hour and found a really good level despite the terrible condition of the practice courts. The boys worked hard during the drills that we did and then they finished the session with a very close match tie-break where Alexis just scraped it in the end 11-9.

Alex and Alexis training today

The session finished around 1pm which gave me just about enough time to grab some lunch before Holly went on for her doubles at just after 1.30pm. Because of the mix up with Holly’s original doubles partner she teamed up with Maria Ong from the Philippines to take on Mariam Mujawaimana from Burundi and Nidhi Surapaneni from India. We knew it was going to be a tough match as Nidhi is in the ¼ finals of the singles and Holly’s partner had struggled in the main draw. Holly and Maria broke in the first game and then went on to take a 3-0 lead after a couple of sudden death deuce points before Maria was broken in the next game. The girl’s didn’t let that distract them and broke back straight away but when Holly was broken in the very next game they lost their way resulting in losing the next 2 games in a row. At *4-3 it was looking very tight but after Maria held her serve for the first time and then Holly served well to hold at 5-4 they took the first set 6-4. In total there had been 6 sudden death deuces and our girls took 5 of them!

The second set started the same as the first but at 3-0 up Maria lost her serve poorly and then Holly was broken at *3-2 which eventually lead to the girls losing a total of 6 games in a row; going from 3-0 up to 6-3 down. It was a poor set from Holly and Maria but to their credit they bounced back in the match tie-break and after a good start never looked back taking it 10-5. Maria was a different player in the match tie-break compared to the second set so hopefully she can bring more of that level to the court for the ¼ final tomorrow.

While Holly was on for her doubles Alex went on for the 1st round of the consolation and he was facing a tough match in Ernest Habiyambere who he had played against yesterday in the singles. I arrived at the court just as Alex had lost the first set; he said he was playing well but had just missed out on quite a few games due to losing the sudden death deuce point. He started well in the second set though and took a 2-1 lead with some good aggressive play from the back of the court. Unfortunately a poor service game at *2-2 and at *2-4 meant that he had a big mountain to climb if he was to turn the set around. As always Alex was up for a fight; he broke in the next game, then held serve well and I thought he was going to level the set at 5-5 but another sudden death deuce didn’t go his way and he ended up going down 6-2, 6-4. Overall he played well and was much more aggressive than he had been previously which was great to see but it’s tough to play against a lot of these guys that are older and stronger than he is. He’s got another match tomorrow though and will keep developing and improving as he prepares for next week.

As soon as Alex was done I was straight on court with Anais at 4pm for her second session of the day. All of the girls in the singles ¼ finals had a rest day and as Anais had a bye in the doubles it meant it was just a day of practice for her. We had a very good practice for just over an hour and even the downpour of rain didn’t stop us, in fact it made the court even better! We worked on the specifics that Anais would need to implement tomorrow which included me having to bang down loads of serves to match the pace that the tall Australian serves at – hard work but well worth it.

After cooling down and stretching out everyone returned to the hotel together to change before dinner. We had a time-out from the forfeits last night but tonight they were back with a vengeance and one of the best was Alex doing an Olympic-style torch procession with our table candle around the restaurant and swimming pool!!

Not quite the Olympic Flame but the best we could do!!

Schedule for tomorrow:

(8) Sasha Alexander (AUS) (1127) vs (2) Anais Nussaume (THA) (458) – 1st match at 9am

(1) Dona Abo Habaga (EGY) & Nelise Verster (RSA) vs Holly Hutchinson (GBR) & Maria Ong (PHI) – 3rd match after 9am, not before 12pm

Margaux Bovy (BEL) & Nina Van Oost (BEL) vs (2) Alena Mashtkova (RUS) & Anais Nussaume (THA) – 3rd match after 9am, not before 12pm

Boy’s consolation to be arranged as players become available.

Nairobi U18 ITF Grade 4, Day 5

Monday 28th January 2013

It was a day of mixed emotions today as Anais came through a hard fought match with a win while Alex had a tight loss in the doubles and Holly went down in the 2nd round of singles.

As there were byes in the boy’s singles draw Alex had another chance of sign in as a Lucky Loser but last night he wasn’t sure if it was worth getting up so early to do so especially as he had a doubles match scheduled for later in the day. I left the decision up to him and before we went to bed he decided that he would do it as he still had a very small chance of getting in. That meant we met for breakfast this morning at 7am, warmed up at 7.40am and then were on the court hitting by 8am. We had a really good 30 minutes on court and playing at that time is probably the best time of day as the courts have just been rolled and the temperature is quite cool. Alex then signed in while I walked to the supermarket to get some water for both of us but I didn’t realise that I’d be waiting an hour and 20 minutes for the shop to open! While I was waiting I got a call from Anais asking me to get the girls some water so in the end I walked back to the club with 25 litres!!

At 10am the girls arrived at the courts to warm up before our practice session from 10.30-11am. Both girls were hitting very well; as I said before Anais has been looking very comfortable from day 1 but now she’s starting to step up and be a lot of aggressive and Holly is just going from strength to strength each day as her new found patient game style is looking extremely good. After the session we watched some of Jay’s match with Ricky and then it was a case of sitting and waiting for everyone’s matches to go on while making sure all the players were well fuelled and had gone through their pre-match preparations.

Anais and Alex were both on at just before 2.30pm; Anais was taking on Emmanuelle De Beer from Mauritius on court 1 while Alex was a few courts further away on court 4 with his doubles partner Olivier Havugimana from Rwanda.

After the first couple of games in Anais’ match we knew it was going to be a tough one but I didn’t expect the first 6 games to all go against serve! Anais had started nervously which was expected as she hasn’t competed a lot recently and the other girl had already played a match yesterday  but at *3-3 she held serve and started to settle down. The quality of the set wasn’t quite up the level that Anais has been training at but she fought really hard against a tough player and at *5-5 she held serve well and then managed to break Emmanuelle’s serve on her 8th set point!! The set had taken an hour and 20 minutes but as I’ve been saying to the guys all week if you’re prepared to work hard and stay in the rally you will get results out here.

The 2nd set was just as close as the first with most of the games going to deuce but Anais played well at the right times and ended up taking the set 6-0; a flattering scoreline but it wasn’t as easy as it looks! Anais was really pleased with the win, she knows it wasn’t her best performance but she’s now got that elusive 1st match under her belt so now she can relax more and improve as the week goes on.

Anais celebrating her 2nd round win

Alex and Oliver had finished their match by the time Anais had just started her 2nd set and unfortunately they went down 7-6(3), 6-2. Alex was frustrated at the end of the match as he felt as though it was definitely a match they could have won but he was pleased with the way that he played and the fact that he achieved his doubles goals more than he did in Austria. It’s another match at this level for Alex and with each match he gains more experience which is only going to help him develop more as a player. He now has the consolation starting tomorrow which will prepare him perfectly for the qualifying of the second event on Saturday.

We weren’t sure if Holly’s match was actually going to go on as some matches were talking a long time to complete but in the end her match was moved onto court 1 after Anais had finished and so at 4.45pm she went on to face 8th seed Sasha Alexander from Australia. Unlike Anais’ match both girls held their serves at the start of the match and it looked as though their serves would be the dominating part of the game. Sasha in particular had a very big 1st serve but Holly knew that if she could neutralise it then she’d be able to take control in the baseline rallies. After starting really well Holly was broken at *2-3 and from there until she lost the set 6-2 she seemed to lose belief that she could beat the Australian. Sasha did have a big serve which was tough to return but she only made 7 in the entire 1st set and Holly did have break points at 2-2*.

Holly ripping a forehand during her match

After a toilet break Holly came out in the 2nd set and looked much more confident; she started to stand a little further back on Sasha’s 2nd serve to allow the spin to come off of the ball which made it easier to return and she also stepped up more during the rally to take control leading to more winners. Unfortunately though Holly was really struggling with her serve and after being broken again at *2-3 her unforced error count increased significantly resulting in her going down 6-2, 6-2. It was a tough result to take and as Holly put it “the consistency of the serving was the only difference” which was spot on. It’s another experience though and the most impressive thing was that even though Holly was frustrated with the way the match was going she maintained a fantastic discipline in every game which is a huge improvement from Austria.

By the time we had finished it was almost 6.30pm so while Holly went off to cool down and stretch out the other two players went to book practice and check out what time they are playing tomorrow.

For dinner tonight we were joined by Alexis Canter and his dad at the Fairview Hotel where we probably had the best meal of the trip – Mango Chicken was definitely the winner!

All of the Brits at dinner (some smiling more than others!!)

Schedule for tomorrow:

Holly Hutchinson (GBR) & Maria Ong (PHI) vs Mariam Mujawaimana (BDI) & Nidhi Surapaneni (IND) – 4th match on after 9am

Boy’s consolation to be arranged as players become available.

Nairobi U18 ITF Grade 4, Day 4

Sunday 27th January 2013

It was a very positive day for the whole team today as Holly got a win, Alex squeezed his way into the doubles and Anais had another very good day of practice before she opens her campaign tomorrow.

The day started very early for Alex and I as we needed to get to breakfast at 7am so that we could get over to the courts to warm up and be ready to hit on court at 8am in case Alex managed to get into the main draw as a Lucky Loser. Alex was originally 11th Lucky Loser but we thought we’d still give it a go as he was going to be onsite for the whole day anyway. In the end only 3 boys signed in for a Lucky Loser spot but unfortunately no-one pulled out – there’s always tomorrow though as the seeds got byes today.

I came back to the hotel just after 9.30am to meet up with the girls who had just finished breakfast and then we made our way back over to the club to watch some of the main draw matches. At 10.45am the girls went through their physical warm ups at the club before we walked the short journey to the Public Service Club to the extra practice courts so that Holly could go through her pre-match hit. The session was going really well until I got a surprise call from Alex at 11.45am saying that Holly’s doubles partner had signed in with another girl and we should come back straight away as we’ve only got 15 minutes to find another partner. Holly was quite rightly very annoyed but after speaking to her original partner she managed to find another girl before the sign in deadline of 12pm.

Holly and Anais warming up before Holly’s 1st round match

After having lunch together the team then went about their own individual work; Alex had two on court session where he warmed up a couple of the players before their matches, Anais spent some time watching the matches before going on court herself while Holly and I went through her pre-match preparations.

At just after 2pm Holly went on to play Maheen Dada from Pakistan who we didn’t know too much about apart from what I’d seen this morning when I watched her hit briefly. After the first couple of games it was obvious that Holly was a much stronger player than Maheen but the most impressive thing was that Holly worked really hard on playing patient, disciplined and smart tennis in every game throughout the match. Holly ended up winning 6-0, 6-0 but the match wasn’t without incident as, at the change of ends at 3-0 in the 2nd set a ball was mishit from the next court, went about 50 feet in the air and landed right on the back of Maheen’s neck! She was in quite a bit of pain following the impact and had to get the physio on to loosen up her neck before she could continue playing.

After the match both Holly and I were really pleased with the way she’d played but she felt as though she needed to do a little work on her serve so I went straight onto the court and spent 15-20 minutes going through a few specifics. When she was happy with her serving level she went off to cool down and stretch out while Anais came onto the court to spend a little time sharpening up on a few areas before she plays tomorrow. Anais and Alex had been playing a practice set while Holly was on court and all Anais now wanted to do was just spend 10-15 minutes playing on the match courts to find a better rhythm. When we finished she was hitting the ball really well and feeling confident ahead of her match.

At around 4.30pm everyone in the team met up again to stretch out and then we headed back to the hotel to relax before dinner. There were no forfeits this evening but we did have some fun when Alex joined in with the local singer which set the whole table off in a fit of laughter.

Schedule for tomorrow:

Emmanuelle De Beer (MRI) (1210) vs (2) Anais Nussaume (THA) (458) – 4th match after 9am

(8) Sasha Alexander (AUS) (1127) vs Holly Hutchinson (GBR) (1607) – 4th match after 9am

(WC) Alex Hagon (GBR) & Oliver Havugimana (RWA) vs Ernest Habiyambere (RWA) & Emanuel Mallya (TAN) – 4th match after 9am

Nairobi U18 ITF Grade 4, Day 3

Saturday 26th January 2013

It was a difficult day for Alex today in his first round qualifying match while the girls put in a good days training to prepare themselves for their main draw matches tomorrow.

Everyone was up and at breakfast by 7.20am this morning so that they had enough time to let the food digest before our warm up started at 8.30am. When we got to the club the courts weren’t ready for play but as I’ve experienced that for the last couple of years I went to go straight to the groundsman and managed to get a court set up by our scheduled practice time of 9am. Hopefully from now on the tournament have told the groundstaff that we need the courts ready at least an hour before play!

Alex hit with Ricky again and, as they both had qualifying matches today, they went through their pre-match warm up while the girls trained on the other half court. Alex was a little erratic to begin with but soon found his rhythm and was looking good by the time we finished the session. While Alex and I left the court to prepare him for his match the girls stayed on and finished off a really good hour of practice; Anais has been comfortable from the first day but Holly’s game has really developed in the last couple of day and, as she put it, “I’m learning to play tennis again!!”

At 10am Alex went on to face local wildcard Kevin Langat and having played Kevin before in Mombasa back in November Alex knew exactly what to expect. Neither player served well at the start of the match which resulted in five breaks of serve and at 2-3* Alex had chances to break back again but didn’t quite take them which resulted in him going 4-2 down. There had been far too many unforced errors coming from Alex throughout the set but when he was serving at *2-4 he gave away 5 cheap points in the game and then Kevin held serve to take the opening set 6-2. It had not been the start that I’d expected from Alex but I think it was just down to Kevin dealing with the court and the conditions much better from the start.

Alex serving during the 1st set

After a toilet break Alex came back and started to play some really good tennis; he served a lot better, was a lot more aggressive and also went for bigger targets on the court which meant his unforced errors count was reduced. Alex held serve in the opening game which gave him and big boost and then at 2-* he had chances to break but Kevin came out with some big winners on the important points to hold serve. Alex responded well to this and at *3-3 it really looked like Alex had taken control of the match but a sloppy game with 3 unforced errors and 0 winners cost him his serve. At *3-5, *40-15 I felt as though there was still a lot left in this match but it was the unforced errors that again cost Alex as he went on to get broken to lose the match 6-2, 6-3.

It’s always disappointing to lose an opening match of a tournament but the level that Alex found in the second set was much better than in Austria and if he can now get into the consolation draw later in the week he’ll get more practice matches which will prepare him really well for the singles next week. Alex still has the chance to get into the doubles tomorrow and he managed to secure a main draw player so fingers crossed that they get lucky.

Alex and I returned to the hotel after the match and had a quick debrief before we sat down with the rest of the team to get some lunch. My attention then turned to Anais who was straight back on court for some drilling and point play with Yasmine Xantos from Australia. Anais has really adjusted well to the surface (which she puts it down to being French!!), she’s now started to step up more and looks really confident coming forwards which I great to see.

The last session of the day was at 3.30pm when Anais and Holly were due to play a practice set but unfortunately they had to share the court. Luckily though they were sharing the court with fellow Brits Jay Clarke and Alexis Canter so after a good warm up we were able to go into a lot of full court points with them. Anais picked up from where she left off during the previous session and played some very solid tennis while Holly showed that the level she found in the morning session was no fluke as she continued to play some very smart, disciplined but aggressive tennis. The session was the best one I’ve seen from the girls which was just what we needed before their main draw matches.

Once everyone had cooled down and stretched I made my way over to the referee’s desk to check the girls had signed in correctly (good job I did eh Holly?!!) and then we headed back to the hotel to change for dinner.

We had another great dinner at the Fairview hotel which included Anais giving our waitress a hug and Holly going down on one knee to give one of the other waiters a flower! Poor Holly gets all the bad forfeits … I’m sure it’ll be the boy’s turn soon though!

Girl’s Main Draw

Schedule for tomorrow:

Holly Hutchinson (GBR) (1607) vs Maheen Dada (PAK) (UNR) – 4th match after 9am (not before 2pm)

Nairobi U18 ITF Grade 4, Day 2

Friday 25th January 2013

It was a good training day today as Alex put the final touches to his preparations before qualifying starts tomorrow and the girls also put in a good full days training as they look to be ready for main draw starting on Sunday.

After a long day yesterday we all had a bit of a lie in and met for breakfast at 8am this morning. Everyone had slept pretty well and were looking up for a good training day so at 9.30am we walked over to the courts to go through our physical warm ups before getting on court just before 10am. The courts were very busy and as there wasn’t a booking procedure in place the team had to split up with the girls taking half of court 1 while Alex hit with fellow Brit Joel Jones on court 4. As Alex is starting in qualifying tomorrow his training was the priority today so I spent most of the morning session with him while keeping an eye on what the girls were doing from a distance! All three players looked much more comfortable this morning and by just after 11am everyone was happy with the level of hitting that they had achieved so we met back up to cool down and stretch out.

Once we were all done we headed back to the clubhouse to get some lunch and then watched some of the fantastic Murray vs Federer match from the Australian Open. Soon enough though it was 2.30pm and time to get back over to the courts for our afternoon session where we’d arranged to play some practice sets. Alex was to take on Ricky Hendler who is from Belgium but based out in Florida with his sister, Tammy, who I know quite well while the girls were going to play a set together. We luckily managed to get two full courts which would have been perfect but Holly’s wrist was getting a little sore after trying to hit more topspin than she’s ever had to hit before (!) so after 30 minutes she stopped and Anais carried on the session with her doubles partner; Alena Mastakova from Russia.

Alex and Ricky had a good set; both of them served well but struggled with their returning games on the bouncy courts but it was ideal preparation for their first round matches tomorrow. Alex took a 5-3 lead but then Ricky played some smart tennis to come back and take the next 4 games to win the set 7-5; overall it was a good set with a lot of positives to take forwards to tomorrow.

Alex serving against Ricky Hendler in their practice set

After the boys were finished Anais and Australian Arki Truscott, who is travelling with Ricky, started to play a set but after 6 games they lost the court so had to stop. By this time it was just after 4.30pm and everyone had put in a great days training so we headed over to the grass area by the side of the court to cool down and stretch out alongside Jay Clarke and his sister Yazmin who have also travelled out from England.

Jay and Yaz joined us for dinner tonight at the Fairview Hotel and witnessed one of the best Chase the Ace forfeits that I think we’ve ever come up with – doing the Gangnam Style dance to the live piano music in the restaurant! Like in Austria when it came to the worst forfeit I somehow managed to end up in the final two (I’m sure these guys are hooking me!) but luckily I chose right and Holly was left with the Ace! She then had the whole meal to sweat about doing it but to her credit she got up and did something that more resembled disco dancing from the ‘70s rather than the Gangnam Style dance – I think I’ll be keeping that video saved in case I ever need to bribe her!!

The Boy’s Qualifying Draw

Schedule for tomorrow:

(WC) Kevin Cheruiyot Langat (KEN) (UNR) vs Alex Hagon (GBR) (UNR) – 1st match at 10am

Winner to play Davide Alberoni (ITA) (UNR) – 2nd match, not before 2pm

Nairobi U18 ITF Grade 4, Day 1

Thursday 24th January 2013

After less than a week at home since the Austria trip it was time to get back on the road for the next two events in Nairobi, Kenya. This is the 3rd year that I’ve been at these tournaments and each year the trip gets better and better so I’m really looking forward to a great couple of weeks.

Yesterday I met up with Alex Hagon at Charing Cross train station at 3.30pm and then we made our way via the underground to Heathrow. It’s normally a very straightforward journey but there were a few delays and we had to change trains a few times which meant we didn’t arrive at Heathrow until just after our scheduled meeting time of 5pm – I absolutely hate being late and after texting Holly Hutchinson at 4.30pm to say there were some problems I could tell she was loving the fact that she was on time and we weren’t!!

The flight left London at 7pm and being the nice coach that I am I managed to get Holly and Alex three seats to themselves so that they could sleep while I struggled in my single seat! It couldn’t believe my eyes when I looked over and saw Alex asleep in the middle seat with the other two seats empty but I didn’t have the heart to wake him up and ask him if he would swap seats so I could have all three!!

We arrived just before 6am local time in Nairobi and then had a bit of a wait for Anais Nussaume who was flying in from Thailand to meet up with us. Once she arrived we met our driver and after an hour of sitting in very slow moving traffic we eventually arrived at the Nairobi Club. One of the best things about these events is that the hotel and the club are on the same site so the players can walk back to their rooms on their own if they need to shower / change or if they forget something (which happens most of the time!).

After catching up on some sleep we all met for lunch at midday and then went through the normal procedure of changing up some money, going to the supermarket and generally getting a good feel for the local area before heading over to the courts to practice at 3pm. The altitude and the bouncy courts always catches the players out here so it was really important to get a good hours practice in even though everyone was still struggling a little from the overnight flight. The first five minutes were very interesting with balls flying all over the place but then all three players settled down and started to feel the ball a little more which resulted in a pretty good session overall.

Holly, Alex and Anais after our 1st training session

After training we all cooled down and stretched out before walking back across the cricket pitch to the hotel to try and shower off all of the clay we had around our ankles!

It’s been a custom over the previous two years to go to the Fairview Hotel for dinner most evenings as they do a really good pasta buffet so I thought I’d take the players there for their first night. Everyone was impressed with the food but it was obvious that tiredness was definitely settling in – can you believe we didn’t play one game of cards through the entire meal?!

After the short 5 minute walk back to the Nairobi Club we all went straight back to our rooms to get an early night ready for a full days training tomorrow.

Salzburg U18 ITF Grade 4, Day 5

Wednesday 16th January 2013

Today was a disappointing day as Holly Hutchinson lost her singles and both Holly’s went down in the doubles 1st round which, after a very long day at the club, brought our tournament to an end.

The day started on a high note as Alex had to complete his forfeit from dinner last night – the deal was that if either of the girls lost they had to go through their 20 minute physical warm up in one of my tennis kits or if Alex or I lost we had to go through the warm up in one of the girls kits. As it got down to the final two Alex and I got very tight but I just about managed to pull through so here it is, Alex warming up in Holly’s kit!

Priceless!

Once the tears from laughing so hard had been wiped away both Hollys went with me to the practice court to warm up for 30 minutes to prepare themselves for their matches. The hitting was a little erratic to begin with and I got the sense that both girls were nervous about competing today, but after 10 minutes they had both settled down.

We came off court at 12pm and the three players had lunch at the restaurant while I walked down the road to the supermarket to stock up on some water for Holly. We then had about an hour and a half to relax and prepare before Holly went on for her singles match. During this time Alex went off and completed his strength and conditioning programme to keep up to date with his own training while the girls watched some matches and kept a close eye on the score on Holly’s court.

At just after 2pm Holly went on to face Mira Antonitsch from Austria and her nerves were apparent from the start as she struggled to find her range in the opening 3 games and very soon found herself 0-3 down. I always think it’s not a bad thing for your opponent to serve first as it gives you a chance to hit some balls and find a rhythm before you have the pressure of holding serve but the only downside is that if you fail to hold then you could find yourself 0-3 down very quickly. In the next game Holly was a lot more relaxed; she served well, was much more consistent from the back of the court  and was prepared to let the rally develop before going for the big winner which resulted in her holding to make it 1-3*. Holly then had chances to hold again at *1-4 but 4 unforced errors from *40-15 up cost her the game and then Mira held serve to take the first set.

It was obvious that Holly was disappointed with how the set had gone but she responded well at the start of the 2nd set by starting to play much smarter tennis. As Holly’s consistency improved she started to get much closer to her opponent in the games and then her confidence increased very quickly. At *1-1 Holly was broken but this time she didn’t let her head drop and she fought very hard to stay close with the Austrian until at *3-5 she was broken again to go down 6-1, 6-3. The match was really a tale of two sets from Holly; the first set was erratic and too one dimensional whereas the second set was much smarter and patient where Holly was prepared to out think her opponent rather than just try and outhit her!

Once the match was finished Holly stretched, showered and changed and then met up with me in the restaurant to get some food to fuel herself ready for the doubles. Both Hollys had been volleying well in training all week and I was very positive going into the match that they could get a win. We had a long chat before the match about what they were going to do and how best to take control of the points so that they had a clear picture of how they were going to play together.

After a slight delay the girls eventually went on court at 7pm to play Kristina Mrazova from the Czech Republic and Ekaterina Stepanova from Russia. The girls started very well and broke in the first game with some very sharp movement at the net but then gave a sloppy game away to let their opponents back in. The set then went with serve until *2-2 when the girls were broken again and from this point level dropped significantly; the movement that had secured them the early break had gone and it was their opponents who took the opportunities to dominate at the net. That resulted in our girls losing the next 8 games in a row to go 6-2, 5-0 down before they then got a game on the board but it was the only game they managed as they went on to lose the match 6-2, 6-1. It was the only match of the week that I was disappointed with as I felt the girls could have done much better and could have done more to try and prevent their opponents from winning 9 out of 10 games from 2-2 in the first set.

Holly Horsfall (hitting) and Holly Hutchinson (watching Holly hit!) during their doubles match

After the match was done the team were feeling very down but I reminded them that they are all only just starting out on their international journeys whereas a lot of the opponents they are playing against have been doing it for a year or two and have a lot more experience. All three players have worked hard on and off the court and the results that they have had this week are definitely not through a lack of trying.

Michael picked us up from the club at 8.45pm and took us back to the hotel before we headed out for a very late dinner! Tomorrow we will fly back to London and then in one week I’ll be back on the road again with Alex, Holly Hutchinson and Anais Nussaume from Thailand for two U18 ITFs in Nairobi, Kenya.

Salzburg U18 ITF Grade 4, Day 4

Monday 14th January 2013

There was a mixture of emotions today as, on one hand we had Holly Hutchinson making her final preparations before her 1st round main draw starts tomorrow, while on the other hand we had Alex who lost in the doubles and saw his tournament come to an end.

We knew today was going to be a long day as we were told over the weekend that the boy’s doubles would be after the 16 girl’s last round qualifying matches and the 32 boy’s 1st round singles matches. So with this in mind and also being aware that the players had been up early on the last 3 mornings we decided as a team last night that we should all have a later start to catch up on some sleep. That was the plan but following a heavy snowfall last night we were all rudely awoken at 7.30am by the guy across the street from the hotel scraping the snow from his driveway! My response to this was to get up and watch the Australian Open, Alex’s was to pull his pillow over his head and get another hour’s sleep and Holly Horsfall did what we all wanted to do and that was go out onto the balcony and ask him to keep the noise down – I’m not sure he understood her accent though!!

After breakfast we were picked up my Michael’s wife and taken to the tennis academy before Michael took us the final part of the journey to the tournament site. We arrived just before 11am which gave Alex an hour to find a doubles partner. I always let the players organise their own partners as I think it’s a great chance for them to talk to other players and get used to being outside of their comfort zone but today Alex was really struggling to find someone so at 11.50am I went on the hunt and managed to find an American who was in the singles main draw.

As soon as that was arranged I went with all of the players to the squash courts and after they completed their own physical warm up I took them through a speed and movement session for 45 minutes.

Moving much too fast for the camera!

Everyone worked really well together and by 1pm we were all finished and in need of some lunch so we went up to the restaurant for the standard Penne Bolognaise J

Due to a lot of the girl’s main draw players arriving today the amount of time we were able to spend on the practice court was very limited but we were able to get Alex a 40 minute session to warm up and work on some specifics before his doubles match and Holly Hutchinson secured a very good hour with 3 other main draw players. Holly Horsfall was also able to train with another main draw player and between the 3 players they managed to keep me on my toes for the whole afternoon!!

Alex went on for his doubles 1st round match with Spencer Furman from the USA at 5.15pm to face Patrik Obal and Peter Vajda from Slovakia. The first two games went with serve but at *1-1 Alex struggled to make enough 1st serves in and was broken. Alex and Spencer remained positive and responded by breaking straight back and holding to take a 3-2 lead but it was again in Alex’s service game that the team were struggling which resulted in another break of serve. The Slovakians then took their chances on Spencer’s serve at *3-5 to break to love to take the set 6-3.

Spencer (serving) and Alex during their doubles match

During the second set Spencer and Alex continued to return quite well and attack at the right times but a lack of movement at the net combined with some missed volley opportunities resulted in the boys being broken twice as they eventually went down 6-3, 6-1. Alex had performed quite well throughout and had definitely stepped up his level from his singles match but maybe he felt a little under pressure by playing with a strong partner which meant that he was a little more reluctant than normal to move at the net. It was still another positive match and one that Alex will take a lot from.

After the match Alex and I had a quick debrief and then he went off to cool down and stretch out while I took on the crowd in the referee’s office to fight for a practice court for Holly for tomorrow before her 1st round singles match.

We ended up leaving the site at 7.15pm this evening and managed to get a lift back by one of Michael’s former players as he was coaching all evening which meant that it was a case of dropping the bags in the hotel room and then heading straight out to dinner. I was quite up for a change of scenery and suggested going back to the Italian restaurant that we ate in on the first night but as Holly’s playing tomorrow she got to choose so it was back to the Bavarian place for the third night in a row! Still … the food is good, the atmosphere is great and they put up with our forfeits which are getting crazier by the day – make sure you check out Alex’s warm up tomorrow!!

Girl’s Singles Main Draw

Schedule for tomorrow:

Mira Antonitsch (AUT) (855) vs Holly Hutchinson (GBR) (1598) – 5th match after 8am, not before 1pm

Doubles to be played not before 4pm

Salzburg U18 ITF Grade 4, Day 3

Sunday 13th January 2013

It was another tough day at the office for the team today as Holly Horsfall came up against a very good German girl in her first round qualifying match.

As Holly was scheduled for first match at 8.30am it meant that we had to have breakfast at 6.30am and then leave for the club 15 minutes later with Michael and one of the girl’s from the Piding Tennis Academy. When we arrived at the club all of the players went straight into their physical warm ups and then at 7.30am we went on court where the two Holly’s hit together and Alex warmed up with Michael’s player. By 8am Holly had completed her pre-match hit and was happy with the level she had found so we went off to the player’s lounge to put the finishing touches to her preparation.

We didn’t know anything about Holly’s opponent but from the start of the warm up we knew that it was going to be a tough match. Paula Goetz is from Germany and is currently unranked but she started the match as if she was a top 200 player; she broke Holly in the first game and raced to a 3-0 lead hitting 8 winners in the process without making a single unforced error! Holly managed to then get a break back and was getting closer to her opponent during the games but the German always played the bigger points better than Holly which resulted in her winning the next three games to take the set 6-1.

Holly’s attitude remained positive and she played a great opening game of the second set but just couldn’t convert on one of her four break points she had against Paula’s serve. As the second set went on the rallies began to develop more and Holly did start to find a way to break down her opponent but a few too many unforced errors resulted in her going 0-4 down. Holly was still playing positively and looked very good coming forwards to the net but any shot that was slightly within her opponents comfort zone resulted in Holly being put under a lot of pressure.  At 0-4* Holly stepped up her game again and played a very positive break point to get a game on the board but unfortunately still couldn’t hold serve and eventually went down 6-1, 6-1. It was a very tough match and Paula Goetz is definitely the best players we have seen here so far; she hit 18 winners in the second set to Holly’s 9 and hardly ever gave up any points cheaply. Despite being disappointed with the loss Holly knows that the experience of playing this match will definitely help her to develop her game and she is now looking forward to hopefully getting into the doubles on Tuesday.

After having some lunch and relaxing for an hour, Alex and I went over to the squash courts to go through his Strength and Conditioning programme which involved making the best use of everything we had as there was not a gym available! We were using the back wall of the squash court for eccentric pull-ups, rackets for deadlifts / overhead squats, my medicine ball for bench press and (very painfully!) a tennis ball as a foam roller!! From there it was then on court with Holly Hutchinson and two other girls for an hour to get her ready for her main draw match on Tuesday, an hour on court with Alex to keep developing the things we’d talked about yesterday and one final 30 minute session for Holly Horsfall to reiterate the positive parts of her game from her singles match earlier in the day. After all of that we all met back up to cool down and stretch out before returning to the hotel with Michael. The players then had some time to complete some of their school work before we went out to dinner at 6pm.

It’s often difficult when you’re on the road and results don’t go the way that you would like so it’s very important for the players and coach to separate the hard training and matches with fun and entertainment once the day is over. That’s why I always like to have some banter with the team in the evenings and tonight was no exception. I must admit that I’m not a fan of losing at anything especially when it means that I’ve got to sit at the dinner table with a snowball on my head but seeing Holly Horsfall crawling around the restaurant on her hands and knees, Holly Hutchinson doing Burpees and Alex skipping around the restaurant with a tulip in his mouth delivering the bill to the waiter did all help to raise everyone’s spirits!

No-one likes losing … but we all did!

Schedule for tomorrow:

Doubles sign-in for Alex and then a possible 1st round match

Salzburg U18 ITF Grade 4, Day 2

Saturday 12th January 2013

As the qualifying event for the boy’s and the girl’s started a day apart only Alex competed today while both Holly’s continued their preparations for qualifying and main draw.

It was an early start for me and Alex this morning while the girls had an extra 10 minutes in bed with the excuse of “our alarms didn’t go off!” At 7.15am Michael picked us up and after an interesting drive in the snow we arrived at the club after 7.30am!

Nice drive in the snow!

We went straight to the badminton courts to warm up before Holly Horsfall hit with Alex from 8-8.30am to prepare him for his match. While Holly and Alex were training Holly Hutchinson stayed on the badminton court and went through a 25 minute speed and movement session as she looks to balance her recovery from this week’s training at home with the right amount of hitting to prepare herself for main draw on Tuesday.

We then had a couple of hours to relax and then prepare for Alex’s match before he went on court at 10.30am against Serban Mucenic from Romania. The first four games of the match went with serve as both players were just finding their range; the Romanian hit well from the back of the court and had quite a strong first serve but Alex was comfortably matching him from the baseline and didn’t miss a first serve for the first two service games. Alex looked in control at 2-2* 40-15* but a poor shot selection on his first break point really distracted him and that lead to Serban holding, breaking and then holding again to take the first set 6-2.

Alex during his match today

Alex started the second set in a much more aggressive manner and even though this resulted in him going 0-4* down the quality of his tennis was much better, the only problem was that he was missing a little too early in the rally. However that changed when he managed to get his first break of the match and from *1-4 he looked much more positive and confident on the court which resulted in making the balls that earlier he was just missing. Alex held serve and continued to attack his opponent but the Romanian responded by upping his level too. The set was really in the balance at 3-5* but unfortunately Serban served big and hit three winners from the back of the court in that game to take the game and the match 6-2, 6-3. There were a lot of positives to take from the match especially how Alex increased his hitting level and aggressiveness at the start of the second set, if he can continued to develop that side of his game and keep pushing himself to dominate more points he will come through these type of matches with a win.

After Alex’s match we went straight to the badminton courts to cool down and stretch out before Alex showered, changed and then met me at the club restaurant for lunch. After lunch Alex completed his match analysis sheet and then we talked through the match in detail focusing firstly on the effectiveness of his hitting and then we talked about where he wants to be in a few years’ time and what he needs to do to get there. Alex was very mature and professional in his post-match analysis and he knows that it’s the experience of playing at this level that’s important rather than just the winning as long as he develops his whole game in the process.

As soon as we were finished I was back over to court 8 to work with the girls and, as they’d managed to book a full court to practise on, we were able to get a lot of points played to prepare Holly Horsfall for her first round match tomorrow. Both girls were hitting well, working hard and looked very comfortable on the slow carpet courts. As soon as we were finished we all went over to the squash courts to cool down and stretch out to end a good days training.

There was then just enough time to navigate our way in the snow to the local supermarket (while trying to avoid the snowballs that Holly Horsfall and Alex were trying to bombard me with!) before we returned to the club and Holly signed in for qualifying. Michael then picked us up and drove us back to the hotel where everyone had a bit of time to themselves before we headed out to dinner.

Tonight we ate at a local traditional Bavarian restaurant and the food was superb; I had the schnitzel that Michael had earlier recommended, Holly Horsfall prepared herself for tomorrow with an amazing looking Pasta while the other Holly and Alex both had a big Pork dish. On the way back I was once again subject to a snowball attack from Holly Horsfall and Alex but I did manage to get a few good hits in myself!!

Girl’s Qualifying Draw

Schedule for tomorrow:

Paula Goetz (GER) (UNR) vs Holly Horsfall (GBR) (UNR) – 1st match at 8.30am

Winner to play Eva Nyikos (AUT) (UNR) – 5th match after 8.30am

Salzburg U18 ITF Grade 4, Day 1

Friday 11th January 2013

It was an early start today for the whole team as we began the first ITC trip of 2013 to the Grade 4 U18 ITF just outside of Salzburg in Austria.
I arrived at the British Airways check-in desk at the Gatwick North Terminal at7.30am this morning and was delighted to see Holly Hutchinson, Holly Horsfall and Alex Hagon already there and raring to get going! It had been an eventful 24 hours for Holly Horsfall as she’d had to return home just after leaving Yorkshire yesterday due to forgetting her passport and then thought that we were flying from Heathrow instead of Gatwick!! Holly Hutchinson also thought that we were going from Heathrow too so luckily I’ve got Alex here to keep me sane – saying that though I’ve got a funning feeling there could be a few classic quotes coming from all three of them this week!

After checking in and clearing security the players had an hour to themselves before we headed to the gate and boarded at about 9.30am. It was all going very smoothly until we left the gate and then the Captain came over the tannoy to tell us all that the plane had broken so we had to go back to the gate!! It took an hour to fix (which gave me a chance to catch up on some sleep) and at around 10.40am we took off for the 1 hour and 40 minute flight to Salzburg.

When we arrived it was snowing heavily but the Alps behind the airport made a spectacular sight. As we were waiting in the queue for passport control I thought I’d throw a question at the players to see how awake they were so I went for the name of the person whose statue was in the waiting area. Alex went for Abraham Lincoln, Holly Horsfall went for Nelson Mandela and Hutchie’s answer was so bizarre that I can’t even remember it but it was in fact Mozart – not surprising really as the airport is named after him!! Like I said classic quotes a-plenty this week!

We were met at arrivals by Michael Andreasson who is the Head Coach of the Piding Tennis Academy which is situated just outside of Salzburg. Michael has been a huge help in arranging this trip and has already saved the whole team a lot of money by arranging a cheaper hotel as well as agreeing to drive us around for the week. From the airport we went to Michael’s tennis club where he’d already arranged an amazing lunch for us but I think my reputation took a bit of a hit as I declined a beer and a coffee – apparently it’s unheard of out here for a coach not to have a beer or a coffee with lunch!

Michael then took us to the hotel so we could check in and then we drove the 20 minute journey to the tournament site so that the whole team could practise and Alex could sign in for qualifying. We had 3 sessions in total on the match courts; I hit with Alex from 4.30-5pm then both Hollys and an Austrian girl hit for the next 30 minutes and finally Alex and I had a final session from 6-6.30pm to make sure he was happy with his playing level before his first match tomorrow. At 6.30pm we all met up in the badminton courts to have a cool down and stretch out – out here our warm ups and cool downs are going to be even more important as not only is it freezing cold outside but it’s also very cold on the indoor courts too.

Once everyone was finished Alex and I went to check the draw and order of play before booking a practice court for tomorrow morning. Michael then met us at just after 7.15pm to take us back to the hotel.

Boy’s Qualifying Draw

After a quick stop at the local Aldi supermarket to stock up on food and water we went to Valentina’s Italian restaurant for a well-deserved meal:

The Team at dinner this evening

One thing I forgot to mention is that Michael’s tennis academy and our hotel are just over the Austrian border in Germany so today’s timetable was:

Fly England to Austria – drive to Germany for lunch – drive back to Austria to train – drive back to Germany for dinner and bed!

Schedule for tomorrow:

Alex Hagon (GBR) (UNR) vs Serban Mucenic (ROU) (UNR) – 2nd match after 8.30am

Winner to play Laurin Mackner (AUT) (UNR) – 5th match after 8.30am

Mombasa U18 ITF Grade 5 (week 2), Day 4

Wednesday 5th December 2012

It was another long hot day today at the Mombasa Sports Club today and after Mason had a disappointing 1st round loss last week he’s definitely making up for it this week with another good performance against a good player.

As Mason was 2nd on today after 9am we all met for breakfast at 7am and went over to the club for an early morning warm up. The team was a little split today as I hit with Mason to prepare him for his match from 8.30 – 9am, Holly hit with one of the Russian girls to prepare herself for the consolation event and Mia had a long warm up and stretching session before seeing the physio about her back.

Everyone was done by just after 9am and as I had a feeling that the match scheduled before Mason’s could be over very quickly we immediately sat down after the hit to go through his pre-match talk. Mason was very positive and quite rightly so after how he’s been training and competing in the last week so we reiterated the specific goals to keep him focused before we went on.

The match before Mason’s was over in 50 minutes so at 10am he took to the court to face 8th seed Frederik Oervad from Denmark. We now know Frederik well after spending the last two weeks with Dave’s Euroelite team so Mason knew he’d have to show the same kind of fight as he did last week and as Mason put it on his pre-match sheet “keep him out there all day”!

The first 5 games all went with serve and both players were looking in control during their own service games but Mason played a loose game at *2-3 to get broken for the first time. He then did well to break back but another service game of only getting 2 / 6 first serves in and not taking control of the point early enough meant that Frederik could serve for the first set at *5-3. Frederik held serve comfortably to love to take the set and then won the next two games to lead 6-3, 2-0 before a big turning point occurred in the match.

Mason had been a little tight with his hitting and wasn’t quite dominating the points like he did yesterday but at *0-2 *0-30 something clicked in his game and suddenly things started to look up. Mason had been fighting hard throughout the first set but now he had more spring in his step after holding serve and then breaking to level the set at 2-2*. Frederik then held but that was the last game that he won in the set as Mason took the next 4 games with some very consistent play that his opponent didn’t have an answer for.

Mason serving during his hard fought 3rd round win

As they started the third I had the sense that all of the momentum was now with Mason and the winners that Frederik had been hitting in the first set were now being dealt with while at the same time Mason was increasing his winner count. Mason won the first 4 games of the 3rd set and despite a wobble at 4-0 when he was broken and Frederik held Mason managed to get back on track and take the next two games to seal an extremely hard fought 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 win in 2 hours and 40 minutes. Mason was very pleased at the end and I was extremely pleased with how much desire and heart he showed to turn a match around even when he wasn’t playing his best tennis. Hard work should always be a given but when it’s combined with the kind of fight and determination that Mason showed today then in my opinion the player cannot lose whether the scoreline goes their way or not.

After a good cool down and stretch out we went back to the hotel for Mason to relax in an air-conditioned room before we had some lunch.

At 2.30pm we were back at the club for Mia to warm up for her practice session of the day with her doubles partner while Holly went on court a little later for her 1st round consolation match against Yashvi Radia from Kenya. I was very pleased that Holly chose to do the consolation for extra matches as she could have said that her tournament is over and that there would not be any purpose in playing but she made a very professional decision. Holly played well in the match and even though it was a very comfortable 4-0, 4-1 victory she went about her business with the right attitude and developed her game during the match.

Mia courtside keeping up with her school work

At 4.30pm all of the team (including Mason who had not played this afternoon) went over to the cricket pitch to have a full cool down and stretch out before we headed back to the hotel at just before 5.15pm.

We met the Euroelite girls and Dave for dinner tonight which meant it was a “card-free” meal which, after the forfeits of the last two nights, I’m sure Mia and Holly were very happy about!!

Schedule for tomorrow:

(6) Mia Smith (GBR) (782) vs (2) Elizabeth Kapari (GHA) () – 1st match at 9am

(12) Mason Recci (GBR) (1017) vs (2) Joshua Luck (RSA) () – 1st match at 9am

Mia Smith (GBR) & Shannon Wong Hon Chan (MRI) vs Matabe Akoachere (CMR) & Natsumi Okamoto (JPN) – 3rd match after 9am (not before 12pm)

Felipe Cunha Silva (POR) & Carlos Donat (ESP) vs (5) Sacha Modica (GBR) & Mason Recci (GBR) – 4th match after 9am

Mombasa U18 ITF Grade 5 (week 2), Day 3

Tuesday 4th December 2012

It was the hottest day of the trip so far today as temperatures reached close to 40°C and for two of our team it was a successful day while for the other one it was not!

After an 8.30am breakfast we got to the courts at 9.30am and straightaway began the physical warm up for our 10am practice session. Originally Mason was going to warm up with me but as Isaac Stoute needed to also warm up for his match they ended up hitting together – saved me a work out! After half an hour all three of the team were hitting well and ready for their matches, now it was just a case of waiting until the 3rd round of matches on their courts.

The whole team + Isaac warming up together this morning

Having finished the practice at 10.30am there was a long wait due to a lot of the matches before ours going to 3 sets. That meant that the players had to plan what time they would eat and also make sure that they stayed hydrated as the temperature was really starting to heat up.

Holly was first on out of the team at around 1.30pm to face top seed Nikita Dawda from Kenya. Nikita is a tricky player and despite not having a huge amount to her game she is very competitive and works hard so Holly knew she’d have to play smart and structure the points well. Holly played a fantastic opening game by stretching Nikita wide in each rally and earning either the short ball or the drive volley which she then put away but after that game the smart tennis dried up. To go from 1-0 up to 6-1 down Holly hit 25 unforced errors in 6 games and Nikita only actually hit 2 winners / forcing shots. It was completely the opposite of how we said we were going to play but to Holly’s credit she fought hard in the second set and started to make some in-roads into the match.

Holly was broken at *1-1 and despite starting to play smarter and more consistent tennis she just couldn’t manage to get the break back. She was then broken again at *2-4 but played her best game of the match to break straight back to *3-5, unfortunately she couldn’t build on the previous game and ended up going down 6-1, 6-3. It was a disappointing match but one that I think Holly will really learn from and it will help her in future events when she comes up against that type of gamestyle.

Mia had started while Holly was in the middle of her 2nd set and when I occasionally looked over during Holly’s change of ends I witnessed some of the best tennis I’ve ever seen from Mia; she seemed to really be up for the match and looked like there was no way she was ever going to lose it! Mia was 3-0 up in the 1st set but Vicky Geurinckx from Belgium fought back to 3-2 before Mia twisted on a wide ball and hurt her back. When I moved over to sit behind her court she was in quite a bit of pain but managed to get the lead to 5-3 before she called on the physio. After some treatment she came out and held serve to take the set 6-3 – apparently the physio put some ultra-hot cream on her back but it obviously did the job!

During the 2nd set Mia continued to really work hard and a few of the games went on for  at least 10 minutes as neither player was willing to give up a single point without a fight. Mia broke in the second game and then again at 3-1* after a 7 deuce game with some exceptional hitting. When Mia wants to she can be very tough to beat and today was one of those days where she wasn’t going to leave the court until she had won the match! She took the next two games to seal a very good 6-3, 6-1 win. After the match she went straight to the physio and then cooled down and changed before joining me to support Mason for his singles match.

All of the games had been overlapping which really kept me on my toes; Holly and Mia where on at the same time, then Holly finished and Mason started and finally when Mia was done Holly went on that court at 4.15pm for her doubles. Somehow I managed to keep track and make notes on each match but Mason did do me a favour by playing superbly well to beat last week’s semi-finalist 6-0, 6-1. I have been saying all week that Mason could do some damage this week and today he got his campaign off to a flyer. He dominated from the start and, unlike last week, he looked very confident all the way through the match. He was serving much better and controlling the baseline with consistently aggressive tennis as he took the first 11 games of the match while Keshav Vellodi from the USA did not know what had hit him. Mason dropped the 12 game of the match but served it out in style and was a very happy boy indeed at the end!

Mason wasn’t done there though and after the match he went straight back on court with Sacha Modica for another 30 minutes of excellent drilling. While Mason did that I moved across 2 courts to watch Holly and Hannah Brett take on top seeds Nikita Dawda and Valentina Kulikova.

Holly and Hannah started poorly and immediately went 5-0 down before finally getting a game on the board but that was all they did get in that set as Nikita and Valentina took it 6-1. Holly and Hannah showed good fight though at the start of the 2nd set and they broke in the second game to take a 2-0 lead. They then held onto the break until *3-2 when Hannah was broken and it was looking like that could spell the end of the match but both girls dug deep and played some good doubles to get a break back when it really counted to take the set 6-4.

By now the WIN Tennis boys were starting to find their voices and we all had a good feeling about the match tie-break. Unfortunately Nikita and Valentina played well in the breaker and once they got a lead they didn’t let up resulting in them taking the match 6-1, 4-6, 10-7.

Holly and Hannah during thier tight 3 set loss to the number 1 seeds

Holly was very disappointed to lose twice to Nikita in one day but in both matches she fought hard and unfortunately just came up short. Holly is now done for the 2nd week but she will sign in for consolation tomorrow to get some extra matches in while Mason and Mia are still competing.

We found out just before Holly’s doubles that Mia and Shannon had a walkover against the 4th seeds due to one of them being injured so once Holly was done we all headed over to the cricket pitch for a long cool down and stretch out to end the day.

Dinner tonight was just as eventful as last night with some trolley service for Holly and some interesting pictures for Mia!!

Holly with her trolley and Mia with her new friend!

Schedule for tomorrow:

(8) Frederik Oervad (DEN) (860) vs (12) Mason Recci (GBR) (1017) – 2nd match after 9am

Mombasa U18 ITF Grade 5 (week 2), Day 2

Monday 3rd December 2012

We had 2 good wins on the board today as Holly picked up her first ITF singles points and Mia also took a comfortable win to start her week 2 campaign.

Holly was scheduled 3rd match on and Mia was 4th match on after 9am so we met for breakfast at 8.30am and then were over at the club going through the player’s physical warm ups by 9.30am. The practice court situation hasn’t improved much since last week but now the players and coaches have an understanding that if someone is next match on then they can take priority. Holly and Mia hit together from 10 – 10.30am and then they prepared for their matches by completing their pre-match sheets.

As Mia and Holly were both scheduled to play in the middle of the day Mason arranged to practice in the morning with Philip Hellstrand from Sweden and then in the afternoon we arranged for him to join all of the boys in the Euroelite team for a lot of point play to prepare him for his main draw match tomorrow. Mason also had a scouting job to do as he plays the winner of a 1st round match so he spent some time today watching and analysing both players.

Even though Mia was scheduled 4th on and Holly was 3rd on, Mia’s court had two 6-0, 6-0 wins so she went on before Holly at 12.45pm to play wildcard Diana Wamwene Munyasya from Kenya. We knew it was going to be a very comfortable match but I was very pleased that Mia went about her job professionally and did what she could to improve throughout the match. Mia made it three out of four 6-0, 6-0 wins on court 2 today and she was very pleased with how she played.

Mia serving during her 1st round match

There was a little bit more of a wait on court 3 for Holly’s match as fellow Brit Alex Hagon had a long 6-4 in the third win against another Kenyan. Alex fought hard and had to deal with his opponent’s local support but eventually took the match for his first ever singles main draw win – he definitely deserved the two bottles of Coke he had afterwards!!

Holly finally went on around 1.45pm against Sunita Verma from Norway who is one of Dave’s Euroelite players. Holly had played Sunita in a practice set last week and had won 6-3 so she knew exactly what she had to do. Holly was a little nervous at the start of the match but after holding serve in the opening game she relaxed, slowed down between points and started to play some excellent tennis. Holly found a great level and it was obvious she learnt a lot from her matches and training in the last week as the targets she was finding were much more realistic and she was much more patient in the rally. The score line doesn’t reflect how close some of the games were but Holly ended up taking the match 6-0, 6-0.

After Holly was finished I gave both of the girls the option to either train more on court if they felt they needed to improve their level for their next match or go through one of their strength and conditioning programmes. Both girls were happy with their tennis so we headed straight over to the cricket pitch were Mia went through a pre-hab session while Holly completed her own specific fitness session.

 

Mia and Holly during their fitness session

After cooling down and stretching out we headed back to the hotel to shower, change and get some food.

Following Baijul’s tour of Mombasa last night we decided to go and see Fort Jesus in the daylight just before dinner so, along with Dave and his team, we stopped 4 Tuk Tuks to take us all up there. The Fort was built in 1593 by the Portuguese for defence but later turned into a prison before it was more recently turned into a Museum and it has some great views over the India Ocean.

Fort Jesus and it’s amazing views

From there we had a quick stop at the hotel before we headed back out to the Royal Court Hotel for a brilliant dinner which saw Holly, Mason and myself having to complete embarrassing dares for losing at “Chase the Ace!”

Nothing wrong with a few lunges around the swimming pool at dinner!!

Schedule for tomorrow:

(6) Mia Smith (GBR) (782) vs (q) Vicky Geurinckx (BEL) (UNR) – 3rd match after 9am

Keshav Vellodi (USA) (1764) vs (12) Mason Recci (GBR) (1017) – 3rd match after 9am

(1) Nikita Dawda (KEN) (259) vs (q) Holly Hutchinson (GBR) (UNR) – 3rd match after 9am

(1) Nikita Dawda (KEN) & Valentina Kulikova (RUS) vs Hannah Brett (GBR) & Holly Hutchinson (GBR) – 4th match after 9am

(4) Claudia Cianci (POR) & Sofia Sualehe (POR) vs Mia Smith (GBR) & Shannon Wong Hon Chan (MRI) – 5th match after 9am

Mombasa U18 ITF Grade 5 (week 2), Day 1

Sunday 2nd December 2012

It was a great day’s preparation for all of the players today as we build up to the 1st round main draw matches tomorrow.

The players determined how much they wanted to do today as it’s important for them to take ownership of what they are doing so they develop not only as tennis players but also as responsible, mature people. After having a day off yesterday Holly wanted to do 2 sessions; 1 with me individually and 1 point play session with another player in the afternoon. Mia only wanted one session so that she is fresh for tomorrow and Mason also just wanted one session as he knows he’s got the whole of tomorrow to prepare before he plays on Tuesday.

I was down at breakfast at 8.30am this morning to meet Holly while Mia and Mason had a bit of a lie in. From there we went to the Mombasa Sports Club just before 9.30am to book practice courts but once again every court was full on site so it was over to the Mvita Club to warm up and then train for an hour. We had a good session where we focused mainly on Holly’s consistency level from the back of the court and, despite the tremendously hot conditions, Holly worked very hard and said she’d never sweated that much in her life!

We left the Mvita Club around 11.30am and went straight back to the hotel to shower and change before meeting up with Mia and Mason for lunch. Sizzling Chicken was once again on the cards for Mason and I while the girls went for a very dodgy looking chicken and rice!

At 1.30pm we were back over at the club warming up for the next session of the day. Mason teamed up with Jonas, Holly with Arezo and Mia with me for an hour and 15 minutes of drilling and point play. Mason has been hitting the ball better each session and is looking very capable of doing some damage in the draw this week while Holly and Mia are improving their consistency from the back of the court and, with a couple of early wins to build their confidence they could also do very well.

Everyone was happy with their levels by 3.30pm so we headed over to the cricket pitch where I took them all through my stretching routine. Junior players are generally poor at stretching; many don’t see the point in doing it until they get an injury while most are just too lazy to do it properly so I thought I’d show them how thoroughly it should be done. The whole session took just under 25 minutes and even though the players didn’t say it once we had finished I think they could all feel a difference between how they normally stretch and how we did it today.

The whole team going through a thorough stretching session

From there the players signed in for the main draw and then it was back to the hotel to have a couple of hours to do school work, catch up with friends on Facebook or just relax after a good days training – I did ask all of them to contact their own individual coaches to update them on how things have been out here so it’ll be interesting to see if any of them actually did that!

Dinner tonight was back at the Royal Court Hotel but the highlight of the evening had to be having a tour around Mombasa with Baijul (a good friend of Holly’s dad who lives and works out here). We saw Fort Jesus, the Lighthouse, the Port and the beach which we would never of had the chance to do normally so we were all very grateful for Baijul’s time in showing us the sights!

Boy’s Main Draw

Girl’s Main Draw

Schedule for tomorrow:

Holly Hutchinson (GBR) (UNR) vs Sunita Verma (NOR) (UNR) – 3rd match after 9am

(6) Mia Smith (GBR) (782) vs (WC) Diana Wamwene Munyasya (KEN)(UNR) – 4th match after 9am

Mombasa U18 ITF Grade 5 (week 1), Final’s Day

Saturday 1st December 2012

After a long week in very hot and humid conditions it was Finals Day and a chance for Mia to win her first ITF title but the number 1 seeds in the doubles stood in her way.

Today marked the middle day between the two tournaments so last night I asked the players how much they would like to train today. Every player needs at least 1 rest day per week and all of them had played every day since we arrived last Friday. Mason wanted to do 1 session for an hour and then rest in the afternoon, Holly also wanted to just do 1 hour so that she was fresh for qualifying tomorrow and Mia had no choice as she had the doubles final to play!!

After breakfast at 8am we walked over to the club as normal at 8.50am and then Mia and I immediately warmed up and hit from 9.30 – 10.15am. The main focus of the session was just to go through a pre-match warm up but we did concentrate more on Mia’s volleys and we talked through yesterday’s semi-final again to keep at the front of her mind what she needed to do in the final. While we were training Mason and Jonas trained on the half court next to us for 30 minutes until they lost the court – it was some of the best ball striking I’d seen from Mason and we’ve both got high hopes for him next week.

Straight afterwards Holly had planned to work with me for an hour but she wasn’t feeling too well and made the decision to rest for the day to try and shake it off. We’ve all been feeling a little under the weather for the last couple of days; nothing major just some dodgy stomachs!!

Due to a very long straight sets singles final Mia and Nikita didn’t go on court until 12.45pm to face top seeds Valentina Kulikova (RUS) and Jessica Simpson (RSA). We know Jessica quite well from seeing her play in Nairobi in February; she’s a good singles and doubles player who won the singles and doubles last week and lost in the singles final this week. We’d only seen Valentina play this week but she’s a typical hard working and intense Russian so we knew it was going to be a tough final.

Mia held serve in the opening game and her and Nikita were looking good from the start but at *2-2 Mia was broken at Sudden Death Deuce and from then onwards the top seeds took control. Valentina and Jessica won the next 3 games in a row to take the set 6-2 and then in the 2nd set they continued to dominate the play and looked very sharp as a pair to again take a 5-2 lead. At this point Mia and Nikita got a bit of a breakthrough as they broke Jessica’s serve for the first time and it seemed as though the top seeds were starting to get a little edgy. Mia the held serve to make it 4-5* and after a double fault from Valentina on the first point of the next game it really did look like there could be a bit of a “choke” on the cards. Mia and Nikita managed to get the game to deuce but Jess was very sharp at the net on the match point when she crossed and finished off a good volley to take the match 6-2, 6-4.

Mia during the doubles final today

Mia was very disappointed after the match and she felt as though she didn’t play well throughout but, in a similar way to Mason and Sacha’s semi-final yesterday, I think the pair that played the best doubles in terms of movement at the net, sharper volleys and dominating that points came out on top today.

After the match there was the prize giving ceremony where Mia and Nikita collected their runners-up medals:

From the club it was straight back to the hotel to meet up with Dave and the team who had already decided to go to the beach this afternoon. We weren’t sure if we were going to make the 2.30pm meeting time after the singles final went on for so long but we made it with a time to spare for everyone to have a shower before we got on the minibus.

I missed out on going to the beach last year as we had to fly to Nairobi straight after the doubles semi-final but I’m glad I got a chance to go this year. The sea was like stepping into a bath and the sand was pure white. We had been recommended a restaurant called Yuls which was situated right on the beach front and it was perfect for all of the players to relax and unwind after a tough week. Obviously we had the locals trying to sell us everything from Camel rides to Jet ski / Banana Boat trips but I think the real winner amongst the players were the souvenirs to take back home – they all loved a bit of bartering and a few of them had it down to a fine art!

Camel ride anyone?!

Looking North & South on Mombasa Beach

The whole team at Yul’s Restaurant

At 5.45pm we left the beach and went to The Tamarind Restaurant which Dave had been to last week with his team. The views over the sea were amazing and the food was first class with not a single plate left unfinished between all the guys.

Watching the Sun go down over Mombasa from our dinner table

We were back at the hotel by 8pm to find out that Holly had received a bye through qualifying so tomorrow will just be a training day for everyone with the main draw starting on Monday.

Girl’s Qualifying Draw

Mombasa U18 ITF Grade 5 (week 1), Day 8

Friday 30th November 2012

It’s always tough to lose a semi-final; if you make the final and lose you’ve still experienced the Final’s Day atmosphere and maybe picked up a trophy but losing one round before that is very tough to take. Today we had Mason in the boy’s doubles semi-final and Mia in the girl’s doubles semi and our aim was to make it two finals out of two!

The players were up early this morning and we met at breakfast at 7am with the plan being to train on site from 8.30 – 9.30am to prepare ourselves as best as possible for the two semi-finals. Unfortunately when we arrived on site every court was taken so instead of waiting to see if we could jump on a couple of half courts we decided to go to the other club where we knew we’d get the whole court to ourselves.

When we got there some of the Kenyan team were already on court and we later found out that there session was from 6 – 8am – great commitment from those guys. After going through their own individual warm ups I took the team through a speed session for 10 mins and then it was on court to prepare for the matches.

Mason, Mia and Holly during the speed session this morning

Most of the session was geared towards the doubles matches so we spent a lot of time with the players drilling 2 on 1 with the player on their own working specifically on their volleys to begin with and then we turned it around so the two players were at the net working on their movement patterns as they closed the net down. Everyone seemed to enjoy the session and they all worked very hard.

At 9.45am we headed back to the Mombasa Sports Club where we had some time to relax, cool down and get some lunch before Mason and Sacha went on at around 12.15pm.

Mason and Sacha were up against top seeds Courtney Lock (RSA) and Ismael Mzai (KEN) who won the event last week so we knew that they’d have to be on their games to get the job done today. Our boys started with a poor first service game where Mason was broken but then they responded immediately with a break back to love to level the score. From then on they won the next 5 games in a row to take the 1st set 6-1 but I always had the feeling that the 2nd set was not going to be as easy as the 1st – Mason and Sacha were getting away with a lot in the 1st set including a huge amount of lobs that all came off and Courtney and Ismael missed a lot of volleys when they had the chance to finish the point.

Getting pumped after they took the 1st set

From the start of the 2nd set Mason and Sacha were under a lot of pressure; the top seeds were now moving better and not missing anywhere near as much as they had done earlier which lead to them taking the first 3 games. Mason and Sacha eventually broke back at 2-4* and went on to level the set at 4-4*. At this point I thought they were going to go all the way and take the next two games but Ismael served well to hold and Sacha couldn’t find enough 1st serves which resulted in him being broken to Deuce.

The Match Tie-break was always going to come down to the most consistent and dominant team and despite leading 4-3* Mason and Sacha eventually went down 10-4. It was a tough one to lose especially after winning the 1st set so comfortably but if I’m being honest I think the better doubles team came through in the end.

Mia and Nikita were next on the same court and it was a big opportunity to get some revenge against Oleksandra Shkorupeyeva who had beaten both of them on the way to the singles final. Mia and Nikita did exactly what Mason and Sacha did in their 1st set; they were broken in the 1st game but then dominated the next 6 to take the first set 6-1.

The Russian and the Ukrainian didn’t seem quite themselves in the 1st set but after a long toilet break they were back on court and throughout the 2nd set it was Mia and Nikita who didn’t seem right. They had stopped talking and had stopped dominating the net like they did in the 1st set which allowed their opponents to feel more comfortable on the court. Mashtakova and Shkorupeyeva did exactly what Mia and Nikita had done in the 1st set – they went 1-0 down and then won the next 6 games in a row to take the set 6-1 and level the match.

Mia lunging for a volley during the doubles semi-final

I did not have a good feeling for the Match Tie-break but Mia and Nikita started talking and encouraging each other more which raised their spirits and their level. They led the tie-break from the start and at 4-3* up they won 5 points in a row before eventually taking the set and the match 6-1, 1-6, 10-4. I was really pleased for Mia as she’s played great doubles all week and after the disappointment of a 1st round singles loss she’s now in the final of the doubles and has a chance to win the title.

While Mia was on for her doubles Holly was playing her consolation quarter-final against Sarah Sarjoo (RSA) (861) but due to watching the semi-final I didn’t get a chance to see any of it. Holly said she played well during her 4-2, 4-1 win and she was especially pleased as it was the first ITF ranked player she’s beaten.

After both matches Mia and Holly were due to play each other in the consolation semi-final but they decided that it would be better for Holly to do a lighter session tomorrow to prepare for her qualifying of the 2nd tournament on Sunday and better for Mia to rest up and put all of her focus and energy into the doubles final tomorrow. I was happy with their decision so we spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing at the hotel before going back over to the Royal Court Hotel for dinner.

On Friday evenings they have a BBQ buffet on the roof terrace of the hotel so along with the Euroelite team and the Berkhamstead boys we ate outside under the stars (and the bats!).

Schedule for tomorrow:

(1) Valentina Kulikova (RUS) & Jessica Simpson (RSA) vs (2) Nikita Dawda (KEN) & Mia Smith (GBR) – 2nd match on after 9am

Mombasa U18 ITF Grade 5 (week 1), Day 7

Thursday 29th November 2012

It was another good day at the Mombasa Sports Club today; we ended up with 5 wins out of 5 matches but as Mia and Holly had to play against each other in the doubles one of them unfortunately had to lose.

The tournament organisation out here is generally pretty good and we’re very grateful that the players can have more singles matches in the consolation but yesterday we were told that those matches would be after the doubles. However, when we arrived on site at 9am we were told that the consolation matches could go on anytime and we’d need to be ready. With that we headed straight over to the Mvita Club to warm up and hit for 45 minutes before returning just after 10am.

The players were then expecting to go straight on but in actual fact Holly was the first one to go on at 12.45pm which gave them a chance to get some lunch and relax before they had to play.

Holly’s 1st round match was against Stephanie Mbaya from Kenya who Mia played last year in Burundi. Holly had some specific goals for the match based around her return of serve and her movement forwards on short balls – it is very important to have specific goals especially against weaker opponents as it’s very easy to just go out and win comfortably without actually improving your game. Holly started well and won the 1st set 4-1 but during the second set she lost her way a little and had to fight back from 1-2* down to take the match 4-1, 4-2.

Mason’s match immediately followed Holly’s and he was up against a potentially tricky opponent who is from Botswana and works incredibly hard for every point. Mason had 2 reasons why he was particularly up for this match;

Because he wanted to work on dictating the play more in the rallies and trying to hit through his opponent with more winners / forcing shots etc.

And 2 because this was the player who was in the umpires chair for Mason’s singles match and he gave Mason a few horrible calls!!

Mason started the match very well and flew through the first set 4-0 racking up 9 winners and only 3 unforced errors. It would have been very tough for Mason to keep up that level but he continued to work hard and apply himself really well physically and mentally. Mason won the 2nd set 4-1 with a winner count of 7 and an unforced error count of 9 – if it hadn’t been for a poor returning game at 1-1 where he hit 4 unforced errors it would have almost been a perfect performance!

After a break (and a quick dash back to the hotel as Holly had forgotten her match top!) Holly and Hannah went on to play their doubles ¼ Final against Mia and Nikita. It’s always a difficult one for the coach when two of their players have to play each other but I told both players that they were to go out, play hard and focus on what they needed to do to win – the £1 a pin (or 100 Shillings) rule still applied so they could make a bit of money too!

Holly and Hannah started the better of the two pairs and took a 3-1* lead before Mia and Nikita started to find their games and dictate the play more. Holly was again moving well at the net up but at 3-1* she backed off a little and stopped doing it so much while Mia and Nikita began to move more. Mia and Nikita levelled the set at 3-3 after breaking Holly’s serve and then they won the next 3 games in a row to take the first set 6-3.

The momentum they had gained in winning those 5 games in a row flowed into the 2nd set; they broke Hannah at *1-1 and then again at *2-4 before going on to win the match 6-3, 6-2. It was still a positive match for Holly despite the loss as she finished the match with better stats than any of the others with 14 crosses at the net and 9 1st volley winners.

Mason and Sacha were on straight away after Holly and Mia’s match so I went over to court 8 to watch what turned out to be more of an exhibition rather than a ¼ Final! Mason and Sacha were never in any danger of losing as they raced through the match 6-1, 6-1. Like with all easy wins is very important that they both improved as they played so that they’re ready for a tougher next round match but Mason only managed 3 crosses in the match and 5 1st volley winners while Sacha totalled 3 crosses and 6 1st volley winners – surely Holly didn’t beat the boys?!!

Mason serving during the doubles today

I thought the day was done there but Mia decided she wanted a little more tennis and went on for her consolation ¼ Final against Gizelle Umumararungu from Rwanda. Mia and Gizelle have a bit of history as they played last year in the consolation in Burundi where Mia ended up losing after a bit of a lethargic match!! Today was a different story and Mia was out to gain some revenge – when I turned up after Mason’s doubles match Mia had already won the 1st set 4-0 and continued to stay on top in the 2nd set taking the match 4-0, 4-1.

The girl’s wanted to go straight back to the hotel when Mia was finished but after a long day we needed to cool down and stretch out properly to prevent any injuries occurring so, despite resistance from the girls we headed over to the cricket pitch and went through their cool down and stretching sessions.

We joined the Euroelite team and Nick and Ed from the Berkhamstead Academy in England for dinner tonight at the Royal Court hotel. The meal was great but the best part of the night had to be Dave’s dance on winning 5,000 shillings on one spin of the Roulette wheel in the Casino – he walked in, put the 5,000 shillings down on red, danced when it came in and then walked straight out the door – priceless!!

Schedule for tomorrow:

(1) Courtney Lock (ZIM) & Ismael Mzai (KEN) vs (5) Sacha Modica (GBR) & Mason Recci (GBR) – 2nd match after 9am

Alena Mashtakova (RUS) & Oleksandra Shkorupeyeva (UKR) vs (2) Nikita Dawda (KEN) & Mia Smith (GBR) – 3rd match after 9m

Consolation matches to be confirmed in the morning

Mombasa U18 ITF Grade 5 (week 1), Day 6

Wednesday 28th November 2012

Today was a very positive day for the team as they took 3 wins out of 3 which included a win for Holly’s first ITF points and a win for Mason which adds some points to his ranking.

The team were all up for breakfast this morning at 8am and leaving the hotel by 8.50am to go to the club. We originally only had Mason’s doubles scheduled but we were told that the consolation could start today so we’d have to wait and keeping checking with the referee to see if they could fit the matches in.

With that in mind we decided to head over to the Mvita Club straight away so that we could get a good session in there before the other players arrived. After another disrupted journey with a Tuk Tuk driver that had no idea where he was going I ended up having to direct the way and somehow we managed to get there in one piece!! We all went through our own physical warm up for 25 minutes and then went through some tough drills on court which really tested who out of the team would work the hardest in the intense heat. When asked at the end of the session who worked the hardest 2 of them put their hands up but then to my surprise one of them backed down and actually backed the other person!! Following the drills we had a brief break and then it was back on the court to sharpen up everyone’s net game to prepare themselves for their doubles matches. We went through some volley drills and then competed against each other – I just about managed to take Mason out while Mia beat Holly after a retirement! We finished the session with some 2 ball sprints for the losers but I stepped up to help Mason get his time under 30 seconds which almost finished me off for the day!!

Once we got back to the club Mia and I walked back to the hotel to shower, change and get some lunch while Mason and Holly opted for lunch onsite. We then spent the next couple of hours trying to work out when the doubles would be on and in that time Holly was told that she’d also have doubles today as the referee had forgotten to put it on the schedule – thanks!!

Holly and Hannah Brett from the WIN Tennis Academy went on for their doubles at 3.45pm to play Vicky Geurinckx (BEL) and Shanna Krimatschow (GER). Holly had played the German girl in qualifying so knew her game well and we knew the Belgium girl had qualified for the main draw so it was going to be a close game. Holly knew this was a chance for her to get her first ITF points on the board but the occasion didn’t faze her at all and her and Hannah raced to a 3-0 lead at the start of the 1st set. Holly was dominating the net well and Hannah was playing very solid from the back of the court but a poor service game at *3-0 let their opponents back into the match. At *4-3 up Hannah played a good game to hold serve and then they broke Vicky’s serve to take the first set 6-3 – out of the 6 games they won 5 of them were to Sudden Death Deuce.

The second set started poorly from our girls and the good movement at the net which dominated the first set wasn’t happening as much. At *1-3 Holly held serve and it looked like they were going to level the set in the next game but this time the Sudden Death Deuce went against them and they found themselves *2-4 down. At this point Hannah served a good game and Holly started to take more control over the net which gave the girls the boost they needed to hold and then break to level the match at *4-4. Unfortunately Holly was broken in the next game and it looked like it could be heading to a Match Tie-Break but at 4-5* Holly and Hannah dug deep and managed to break straight back. In that game Holly hit a very late backhand straight into the side of Hannah face – you’d normally expect an apology for almost taking out your partner but instead Holly said “If you miss high volleys that’s what you get!!!”. It was all taken in the right spirits and from that moment onwards the girls never looked back as they won the next 2 games to take the match 6-3, 7-5. Holly was delighted with the win and the illusive first ranking points.

Holly and Hannah on their way to victory today

Mason and Sacha had been on the court behind Holly and Hannah’s playing their 1st round doubles match but they were in complete control and when I turned up they were already 6-3 up. They dominated the 2nd set and took a solid 6-3, 6-2 win to move into the Quarter-finals.

Immediately following that match Mia went on for her first round consolation match so it was back over to the court Holly had been on to see Mia wrap up a very easy 4-0, 4-0 win against Melissa Brown from Kenya.

It was great to have all three players get a win on the board today but it does now mean that Holly and Hannah will face Mia and Nikita in the Quarter-finals tomorrow – at least the team is guaranteed 1 semi-finalist this week and hopefully Mason and Sacha will make it 2.

For dinner tonight we decided to go to the other Official Hotel where the WIN Academy are staying. The restaurant at the Royal Court Hotel is on the 6th floor and to our delight the food is even better than the views – I had an amazing spinach and ricotta ravioli which was a very welcomed change and we didn’t have to wait an hour for it either!

Schedule for tomorrow:

(4) Amadi Kagoma (BDI) & Joshua Luck (RSA) OR Carlos Fernandez (MEX) & Keshav Vellodi (USA) vs (5) Sacha Modica (GBR) & Mason Recci (GBR) – 4th match after 9am

Hannah Brett (GBR) & Holly Hutchinson (GBR) vs (2) Nikita Dawda (KEN) & Mia Smith (GBR) – 4th match after 9am

Consolation:

Mason Recci (GBR) (1019) vs Innocent Tidmane (BOT) (1735) – To be arranged

Stephanie Mbaya (KEN) (UNR) vs Holly Hutchinson (GBR) – To be arranged

Mombasa U18 ITF Grade 5 (week 1), Day 5

Tuesday 27th November 2012

Today was one of those days that could have ended in huge elation but instead the result went against us and it ended in bitter disappointment.

Mason decided last night that he would like to warm up on the match courts at 8.30am this morning even though he wasn’t due on until much later in the day as he’d spent most of the time training at the Mvita Club for the last couple of days. We therefore had breakfast at 7am and were all set to leave the hotel at 7.50am when the Heavens opened and it poured down with rain!

The rain didn’t last too long but a huge amount came down both outside the hotel and inside my room – I’ve got an internal balcony attached to my room and the rain was pouring through the roof onto it!! By 9am the rain had stopped and it went back to 30+ degrees so we headed over to the club to see if the matches had started. When they got underway Mason’s opponents were playing so we both sat by the court and made notes about both players so he would be prepared for whoever won.

After they were done I took the girls over to the Mvita Club so they could train and play practice sets with Sunita and Arezo from the Euroelite Academy.

Mia and Holly in the Tuk Tuk on the way to the Mvita Club

I left them there to play while I went back to the Mombasa Sports Club to warm up with Mason and then go through his pre-match on court session from 12.45 – 1.30pm. Mason was hitting well and very up for the challenge of playing a very fiery Portuguese player.

While I was on court with Mason, Dave had gone over to the other club to collect the girls and then we all sat down for some lunch. The girls said that they played well in the session and they both won their sets so were quite happy!

At 3pm Mason took to the court to play Felipe Cunha Silva and based on watching him play this morning we knew it was going to be a tough match against a player who’s not afraid to express himself!! Mason started very nervously and found it difficult to get into a rhythm as Felipe was taking big swings at everything and not missing too much. Mason was broken at *1-2 and it looked as though Felipe was really starting to impose himself on the match but Mason showed great fight and composure to break straight back in the next game. Unfortunately Felipe then went on a run of 6 winners and only 2 unforced errors in the next 3 games to take the set 6-2. There was not much Mason could have done about the end of the set as the Portuguese boy was just taking everything on and it all came off for him – if he kept that level up it was just be too good!!

At the start of the 2nd set Mason really dug deep and after breaking serve in the 1st game he found his voice which in turn increased his aggression and upped his level. He went on to hold and break again to lead *3-0 before Felipe found his range and won the next two games in a row. Mason continued to fight really hard for every point and even though he wasn’t dictating much of the play he was making sure his opponent had to earn every point. Mason got another break at 4-2* but was broken straight back and then at 5-3* he showed real determination to deal with some bad calls and break Felipe to take the set 6-3 (not 6-4 as the ITF result shows!).

Mason in action vs Felipe Cunha Silva from Portugal

There were a few very close calls at the end of the 2nd set and start of the 3rd so the referee brought on a main draw player to referee the rest of the match. This is quite common in countries where there aren’t many court officials but it would have been better if they had actually used one of the supervisors that spent the whole match watching from the back of the court anyway. Mason broke to lead *3-1 but was again broken straight back and then the set went with serve until *5-5. By this stage the players had been on court for around 3 hours and Mason had been battling mentally and physically very hard throughout the whole match. Unfortunately he then put in a poor service game as he really struggled to find enough 1st serves at important times and Felipe was quite prepared to step up on the 2nd serve return and really take it on. Mason again fought hard at 5-6* down but some calls went against him and in the end he didn’t quite have enough to take the match as he eventually went down 6-2, 3-6, 7-5 in 3hrs 15mins.

It was a real heartbreaker of a match but Mason will learn a lot from it and it was tremendously positive to see him fighting so hard physically and mentally even when he knew he wasn’t playing that well.

While all of this had been going on for 3+hrs Mia had gone on for doubles with Nikita Dawda from Kenya and they comfortably beat Habiba Shaker (EGY) & Shannon Wong Hon Chan (MRI) 6-1, 6-3. I didn’t see any of it as I was over with Mason but Holly kept me updated and Mia told me afterwards that she was very pleased with the match.

After having a chat with Mason about the match we went back to the hotel to have a quick shower and change before we went back out to the Castle Royal Hotel for dinner. Mason was very hungry after his marathon of a match so we both decided to go for the buffet and it was well worth it!

Schedule for tomorrow:

Karl Hulten (SWE) & Jacob Svantesson (SWE) OR Chisomo Lumeta (MAW) & Ryan Wong Pin Young (MRI) vs (5) Sacha Modica (GBR) & Mason Recci (GBR) – 5th match after 9am

Vicky Geurinckx (BEL) & Shanna Krimatschow (GER) vs Hannah Brett (GBR) & Holly Hutchinson (GBR) – 5th match after 9am

Consolation matches to be arranged as players become available

 

Mombasa U18 ITF Grade 5 (week 1), Day 4

Monday 26th November 2012

It was a tough day for the girls today as they both suffered 1st round losses but with every loss comes some positives and some learning points which will definitely help to develop their tennis.

Our normal timetable of breakfast at 8am followed by warming up at the club at 9am remained unchanged this morning but due to the crazy way that the referee decided to arrange the practice courts it meant that we then had to go offsite to hit.

The Mvita Tennis Club is only about a 5 minute Tuk Tuk ride away and yesterday we didn’t have any problems getting there but today we had 2 drivers who did not have a clue where they were going! After 10 minutes of driving around we eventually went back to the tournament site to get a local to come with us and show the drivers where to go! We had plenty of time though as our court wasn’t booked until 10am and once we got there Holly and Mia had a good 30 minute warm up while Mason and I trained for almost an hour next to them. It was then back to the tournament site to change and get prepared for the matches.

Mia was first up against Oleksandra Shkorupeyeva from Ukraine. We didn’t know a lot about her except that her backhand was the stronger side and she had lost in the Quarter-finals of the singles and Final of the doubles last week. Mia played the first game of the match very well; her level of hitting was aggressive, patient and very consistent and she looked as though she would be in full control of the match. At *1-1 Mia played a poor service game and that really seemed to knock her concentration as the patience and control she showed in the first game was soon replaced by harder, flatter hitting which the Ukrainian seemed to enjoy. Mia held serve at *1-3 but that was the last game she won in the set as she went down 6-2.

Mia in action today

The level in the second set was similar to the first with Mia hitting more than twice the amount of winners that her opponent managed but at the same time she hit almost 6 times the amount of unforced errors too. Mia was finding it difficult to find the balance between hitting too soft, which wasn’t hurting her opponent, to hitting too hard and making mistakes. In the end Mia went down 6-2, 6-0 but there are always positives to take from matches and the experience of playing your first ITF as a seeded player at 14 years old will put her in good stead for next week.

Holly was next up but the court she was scheduled was moving incredibly slowly – the first two matches had very long 3 setters and fellow Brit Hannah Brett, who was scheduled the match before Holly (3rd match after 9am), still hadn’t gone on at 3pm! We thought that Holly would be moved as she was the last match scheduled on that court and after confirming with the referee she went off to go through her pre-match warm up.

Just after 4pm Holly went on against Alena Mashtakova from Russia who just happened to be part of the same group as Mia’s opponent! Holly looked really up for it from the start and the nerves that hindered her at the start of the match yesterday were replaced by confident, clever tennis against a good player. The first set went with serve until 2-2* when Holly raised her returning level and played a very solid game from the back of the court to break the Russian and take a *3-2 lead. Unfortunately Holly was broken straight back and then the set went with serve until *4-5. Up until this stage Holly had looked confident in her service games but her serve let her down while she was serving for the set which resulted in too many 2nd serves and her opponent took advantage to take the set 6-4.

Holly had played a good 1st set and most players might think that things needed to change after losing a set like that but they didn’t and Holly stuck to her plan in the second set too. Her level was good, she was working and fighting hard in each and every point but the only difference was the Russian was just a little more experienced on the bigger points. Holly was broken in the 2nd at *1-2 and then again at *2-5 to eventually go down 6-4, 6-2.

It was a very positive performance from Holly and despite being disappointed by the loss she immediately knew that she had played well and had put up a very good fight against a tough opponent.

After the match Holly went off to cool down and stretch out while Mason and Mia checked out the doubles draw and organised practice for tomorrow.

It had been a long day at the club today and we finally left site at 6.45pm when we went straight back to the hotel to shower and change before heading off to the Royal Castle Hotel for dinner.

Mason is scheduled for singles tomorrow and Mia has doubles but due to bad light Holly’s doubles partner has to finish her singles match tomorrow so they will not play doubles until Wednesday.

Boy’s Doubles Draw

Girl’s Doubles Draw

Schedule for tomorrow:

(q) Rahul Somani (IND) (UNR) OR Felipe Cunha Silva (POR) (1497) vs (15) Mason Recci (GBR) (1019) – 4th match after 9am, not before 1pm

Habiba Shaker (EGY) & Shannon Wong Hon Chan (MRI) vs (2) Nikita Dawda (KEN) & Mia Smith (GBR) – 6th match after 9am

 

Mombasa U18 ITF Grade 5 (week 1), Day 3

Sunday 25th November 2012

It was a great start to our trip today as Holly won her match in qualifying to secure her place in the main draw of an ITF for the first time.

We were all up on time for breakfast this morning at 8am and then made our way over to the club to warm up at 9am. As it was match day for Holly she determined who she hit with, how long she hit for and exactly what she did in the session. Even at 9.30am it was very hot on court and both Holly and Mia were feeling a little drained from the start. The most important thing for Holly was just to make sure she hit a few balls to loosen up but after a couple of breaks and once the electrolytes in her water had kicked in she managed to have a good 30 minutes on court and by 10am she was feeling much better.

Matches in qualifying events in ITFs in Africa can often be quite weak especially in the first round so it was important that Holly kept an eye on the boy’s match scheduled before hers so that she would know when to warm up for her own match. At 6-0, 3-0 we went off to warm up and go through our plan for the match and by just after 11am Holly went on court for her match.

Holly was up against 17 year old Shanna Krimatschow from Germany and after the warm up we knew it was going to be a close match. The first four games went with serve but then Holly settled down and found her rhythm more from the back of the court resulting in breaking Shanna’s serve to lead *3-2. By this stage the temperature had risen and the balls were flying a little more so it was really important for Holly to keep a good shape on the ball and look to hit big targets on the court. When she did that she was in full control of the points but unfortunately she was a little erratic at *3-2 which cost her the next game. She responded very professionally to losing her serve to break straight back to maintain the lead and then she went on to serve out the set at *5-4 with some great tennis especially from *30-40 down in that game.

After a quick toilet break Holly took to the court for the second set and from the start really upped her level – she was returning serve much better and finding a more patient and consistent level during the rally which the German struggled to deal with. As she did in the first set Holly broke at 2-2* but this time she never looked back; she broke again at 4-2* and played a great service game at *5-2 ending with an ace out wide to take the match 6-4, 6-2. It was a good performance from Holly but most importantly it was really good to come through a match against a good opponent as she’s now better prepared for the main draw tomorrow.

Once Holly was finished we had a quick debrief before she went off to cool down, stretch out and shower while I got a quick bite to eat and then I was off in a Tuk Tuk with Mason to go over to the other club for his practice set with Jonas from Denmark. The other club has 2 courts which are slightly quicker than at the Mombasa Club but it was just great to get a full court to play on and also get a full set in. Mason played well to take a 4-1 lead and then at that stage he started to work on different areas of his game which resulted in Jonas finding his way back into the set. In the end Jonas took the set 7-5 but the most important thing was that Mason produced some good tennis, developed different areas of his game and got over an hour of good quality point play in. Mason now has at least 1 day more of preparation as he’ll get a bye in the 48 boy’s main draw so another practice set tomorrow will ensure he’s well prepared for this first match.

Mason serving during the practice set this afternoon

Next up was Mia practice session with Shannon Wong Hon Chan from Mauritius and they too decided to play a set after they had a good warm up. Mia started well and took a 3-1 lead as Shannon just couldn’t deal with the pace and penetration of Mia’s strike. Mia then had a slight slip up and lost her serve in the next game but then went on to win the following 3 games in a row to take the set 6-2. It was a solid performance overall and again some very valuable point play before her tournament starts tomorrow.

We then moved over to the cricket pitch to cool down and stretch out before heading back to the hotel at 6pm to shower and get ready for dinner.

Once again we joined up with Dave and his team for dinner which was great fun – everyone had a great time but it was all too much for Sunita who actually fell asleep at the head of the table (must have been Holly’s conversation!!)

The ITC and Euroelite teams at dinner together (with Sunita asleep at the end of the table!!)

After dinner we went back to the hotel where I sat down with Holly for a full debrief of her match and then at around 9.30pm the guys headed off for a good night’s sleep..

Schedule for tomorrow:

Oleksandra Shkorupeyeva (UKR) (1347) vs (5) Mia Smith (GBR) (729) – 3rd match after 9am

Alena Mashtakova (RUS) (1267) vs (q) Holly Hutchinson (GBR) (UNR) – 4th match after 9am

Mombasa U18 ITF Grade 5 (week 1), Day 2

Saturday 24th November 2012

It was another good day of training today as we put the final touches to Holly’s preparations while Mason and Mia continued to get themselves ready for main draw on Monday.

We should have all been up for breakfast at 8am but Holly and Mia ended up having a little more sleep than they expected as their alarm wasn’t set properly! After breakfast we headed over to the club at 9am and by that time it was already very hot and humid. We warmed up for around 25 minutes and then were on court from 9.30am until 11am where we again spent time getting used to the high bounce of the court but also spent time focusing on the specific areas of each of the player’s games to prepare themselves for their matches. There wasn’t much shade around the court this morning and despite the intense heat all of the players did well to maintain a good level of focus and work rate.

After the session we watched some of the boy’s and girl’s singles finals from last week before heading back to the hotel to shower, change and then get some lunch.

As we draw closer to the day of the player’s first match I always believe it’s important for the player’s themselves to determine how much they train as well as the specifics that they focus on to make sure they feel 100% ready before they step on the match court. With that in mind I spent the afternoon session on court with Holly while Mason and Mia trained on the court next to us. Holly decided that she wanted to train on the court in the sun to get more used to the conditions and her focus this afternoon was on the consistency of her groundstrokes, especially on the shots after the first 3/4, as well as her footwork to make sure she’s not getting too close to the ball. She did this very well and it was great to see a high level of intensity in the tough conditions. Our session lasted about an hour and ended with some service points so she felt comfortable and ready for qualifying tomorrow.

A well deserved drinks break during the session

Once we were finished I moved over to the court that Mason and Mia were training on and spent the last 15-20 minutes of their session working with them. It was good to see them both working hard whether I was on the court or not and despite getting quite tired towards the end of the session they both managed to stay focused on their own goals.

From the court it was straight over to referee’s tent for Holly to sign in before we all went over to the cricket pitch for a cool down jog and then a good stretch out to complete our day.

Once we got back to the hotel the players then had a couple of hours to relax before we headed out for dinner with Dave’s team at the Royal Court Hotel. The draw came out while we were at dinner and then when we were finished we walked back to the club to book practice for tomorrow morning.

Girl’s Qualifying Draw

After that there was just enough time for the guys to chill out at the hotel and play some cards before having an early night.

Schedule for tomorrow:

Shanna Krimatschow (GER) (UNR) vs Holly Hutchinson (GBR) (UNR) – 2nd match after 10am

Mombasa U18 ITF Grade 5 (week 1), Day 1

Friday 23rd November 2012

This time last year I was heading out to Bujumbura in Burundi for the East Africa ITF Circuit but this year the circuit has moved to Mombasa in Kenya and has a total of 3 events of which I will have players competing in the 2nd and 3rd weeks.

Due to travelling to a lot of Men’s Futures events over the summer I hadn’t been out of the UK since May for an event so I was really excited about travelling back out to Mombasa for these two U18 ITFs. I was here in February 2011 and despite the courts at the Mombasa Sports Club being quite run down we had a great week and it enabled me to establish links with some players, coaches and most importantly a good cheap hotel which will save the players a lot of money over the next two weeks.

I met up with Holly Hutchinson (Everyball Academy in Halton), Mason Recci (Edgbaston Priory Academy in Birmingham) and Mia Smith (Bath Academy) at around 4pm yesterday afternoon at Terminal 4 (well … Mia actually fancied a tour around Terminal 5 before joining us in Terminal 4 but she eventually got there!). I then had a quick chat with their parents before we checked in and went through the long queue at security. We originally had loads of time before we were due to board but due to Holly’s hand luggage being selected for a random search, and it taking 35 minutes to get searched, we ended up getting to the gate just as they were starting to close it.

The flight went very smoothly; Mia, Holly and I managed to get a little bit of sleep while Mason had a good hour at the start of the flight and then managed to get 3 seats to himself at the back of the plane to sleep for another 3 or 4 hours more.

We landed in Nairobi at 6.15am local time and after obtaining our visas we walked over to the domestic terminal to catch our next flight to Mombasa at just before 9am. It was again a good flight and I just about managed to stay awake long enough to get the picture I’d been waiting for of Mount Kilimanjaro:

After arriving in Mombasa at around 10am we were met by our taxi driver and taken straight to the hotel. On the way the players had a chance to get a feel for the place and witness some of the locals hard at work. Holly later commented to me about how gruelling some of labour was as she saw a few men pulling carts filled with barrels of oil along the side of the road. It does make you appreciate the life that you have and realise that when things get difficult in our lives it’s never as difficult as some of the things others have to do just to earn a living.

By 11.30am we were all checked in and we decided to try and catch up on some sleep before meeting again at 1pm for lunch. There was then time to get out and about in Mombasa and get used to the heat and humidity before going over to the club to go through a long physical warm up to get the flights out of our systems. We then trained from 4.15 – 5.30pm on the newly painted courts and I was very pleased with how well everyone applied themselves to the training considering they were all very tired. We cooled down around the cricket pitch and then had a thorough stretch out to end a very good first training session.

A professional conclusion to training on Day 1

We had dinner tonight with Dave Bandelin and the Swedish / Danish team at the Royal Court Hotel which had become a favourite of ours last year. Once again the flat bread was a winner but Dave and his team made a big unforced error by ordering 9 pizzas which could only be cooked 2 at a time in the small oven!!

Everyone was exhausted by 9pm so they retired early to their rooms to get ready for a full days training tomorrow. Holly has one more day of preparation before she starts in Qualifying on Sunday while Mason and Mia have an extra day of training as they start their campaigns in the Main Draw on Monday.

Chiswick Men’s $10k, Day 3

Monday 27th August 2012

Today ended up being a little short and sweet but it’s always better to air on the side of caution especially with one final tournament coming up of the summer.

After the engineering work on the train line was all completed yesterday it meant that I could go all the way to Barnes Bridge which just left a short walk over the River Thames to get to the club. I met Dave there at 10am and we went straight into the gym to warm up. The plan was to do a couple of hours on court this morning and then hit the gym in the afternoon but midway through the warm up Dave felt a pull in his calf. He said he’d felt something during his first match yesterday against Sam Hutt but hadn’t felt it again until now. We were going to try and hit some balls to see if he felt any pain whilst loading and moving on it but we decided to just see the onsite physiotherapist to get a diagnosis.

After a 45 minute treatment Dave came hobbling back down to the restaurant and said that his calf was in a pretty bad way and the physio had advised him to rest today and then see how it is tomorrow for the doubles. It’s always a difficult decision for the players as most of the time they’re really keen to train and Dave was definitely up for putting in a lot of hours this week before Roehampton $10k next weekend but on the other hand they have to listen to their bodies and make mature decisions if they feel slight injuries.

Dave made the right call to completely rest today and after some lunch I headed back home on the train while he rested up back at his hotel.

Fortunately or Unfortunately, Dave and Alex Jhun didn’t get into the doubles which meant there won’t be any pressure on him to play tomorrow if his calf is not feeling 100%.

Our attention now turns to getting fit for Roehampton $10k which starts on Sunday and making sure that the summer ends on a big high.

Chiswick Men’s $10k, Day 2

Sunday 26th August 2012

It was a very positive day at Chiswick today and even though Dave didn’t manage to get two wins on the board he still performed well and showed a much improved level compared to last week.

Due to some engineering work on the train line today I wasn’t able to get off close to the club so I met Dave at Barnes train station and he drove the rest of the way to Chiswick. Before Dave got there I saw George Morgan and his brother Rob who were going to get the train from Barnes to Chiswick but they hadn’t heard of the changes to the train timetable so we also gave them a lift – 4 big guys with 3 tennis bags and 2 rucksacks in a small Ford Fiesta – beautiful!!

We got to the club at 9.30am and Dave and I went straight to the gym to go through our normal 30 minute warm up before we went down on court for Dave’s pre-match hit. After about 25 minutes Dave was feeling loose and confident with the way he was hitting the ball so we finished the session and he went off to get changed for his match. Fifteen minutes before he was about to go on court we met up again to go through the tactics for the match and set some goals – today it was all about Dave dictating play and moving forwards to the net to control the points as Sam is a very solid baseliner.

Qualifying gets underway at Virgin Riverside

At 11am Dave went on court having never beaten Sam Hutt in 3/4 meetings over the past 4/5 years. Dave took control early to break Sam’s serve at 1-1 but was immediately broken back after struggling with his serve. The standard of the tennis was very high from both players and Dave managed to control a lot of the points from the back of the court which gave him a lot of opportunities to move forwards to finish the points from the net. The set went with serve until 4-4 when Dave broke and then held well to take the set 6-4 after just over an hour and fifteen minutes!

Dave started the second set well but it was always going to be difficult to maintain the high level that he set in the first set. He broke at 2-2 but was broken back straight away and then the set went with serve until 4-4. Dave then broke and served for the match at 5-4 and then again at 6-5 but Sam produced some good tennis to break him each time. In fact Sam played much better returning games than serving games and that resulted in the set being decided by a tie-break. During the second set it was often Sam’s level that was determining who was winning / losing the points and fortunately for us he hit 6 unforced errors in the tie-break to hand Dave the set and the match 6-4, 7-6(2) in just over 2 and a half hours.

Overall it was a very positive match and in the first set Dave really showed that he had put his disappointing performance last week at Nationals behind him and was eager to perform at his best today.

We had a break of a couple of hours between matches which gave us a chance to talk through the match in detail while we had some lunch but we had to wait longer than expected for our chicken and pasta as the first serving of it came out with the chicken almost completely raw! The chef did come out of the kitchen to apologise and in the end we managed to get a decent meal!!

At around 3.30pm Dave went back on court for his second round match against Adam Skalsky who had received a bye in the first round. At the start of the first set both players were holding serve comfortably and I got the feeling that it was either going to come down to one break of serve or it would end up in a tie-break. Once again Dave was hitting well from the back of the court but a slight lapse in concentration at *3-3 *40-15 serving ended up costing him the set as Adam broke and then held to take it 6-3.

Dave had a toilet break at the end of the set to regroup and then played a good opening two games but when he was broken at *1-1 in the second set I did wonder weather the tough match this morning had taken it’s toll on him. At 1-3 Dave responded well by raising his intensity and working hard to get the set level at 3-3 after breaking Adam’s serve. Unfortunately he then struggled with his next two service games and was broken in both games to go down 6-3, 6-3. Again there were lots of positives to take from the match; in the past Dave might have rolled over after the disappointing end to the first set but he showed great fight and determination to come back from 1-3 down in the second set especially when he did not serve well throughout the match.

After the match we went straight into the gym to cool down and stretch out before we sat down and talked through the positives and learning points in detail. Overall Dave was quite pleased with the way the day had gone and now our attention turns to getting into the doubles tomorrow.

After getting some food on the way to Barnes train station I got the train back home while Dave went back to his hotel. My day wasn’t quite over there and after a quick stop at my house to get some kit I was straight up t the gym to do some interval training to keep up to date with my training programme – not nice at 9pm but it’s got to be done!

Chiswick Men’s $10k, Day 1

Saturday 25th August 2012

Today was the final day of practice before the next block of Aegon Pro-Series events commence in England which include two $10k events in London; Chiswick and Roehampton and then another $10k at The Nottingham Tennis Centre.

Over the next two weeks I’ll be working with Dave Hodgetts as he looks to qualify for his first Futures event and then hopefully go on to secure his first ATP point. I was with Dave last week when he competed in the British National Junior Championships in Nottingham and then from there we trained at Chiswick to prepare for qualifying tomorrow. Dave’s normal training base when he’s in the UK is at Chiswick so in effect this is his “home” tournament!

After putting in a good training day yesterday Dave had a lie-in this morning to make sure he’s fresh for his matches tomorrow but I was up and out of my house at 6am to keep up to date with my training schedule ahead of the BUPA Great North Run half marathon on the 16th September. This year will be my 11th consecutive Great North Run and I’ll be running for the amazing Make-A-Wish Foundation who grant magical wishes to children with life-threatening illnesses. If you would like to support me and the charity please go to www.justgiving.com/RobsGNR2012.

I then left my house just before 12pm to drive to the train station and make my way into London before heading back out to Chiswick. The journey takes around 2 hours from door to door which isn’t too bad and it means we can save a lot of money on food and hotels during the week.

I met up with Dave at 2.30pm and we had a chat about goals for this week before we warmed up in the gym and then went on court from 3.30-4.30pm with Borna Coric from Croatia. Borna is one of the best 15 year olds in the world and has been basing himself at the Virgin Active centre in Chiswick with David Felgate for the last few weeks. He’s using the Futures event at Chiswick as a warm up before he heads across the Atlantic for the US Open Junior Championships which start on the 3rd September.

Dave and Borna had a very good session as they both fine tuned the work they’ve been doing on their games to get themselves ready for qualifying tomorrow. They warmed up and then went through a couple of drills before finishing the practice with a tie-break which Borna managed to edge 7-5.

Dave & Borna training indoors due to heavy rain

After practice Dave and I headed up to the gym to cool down and have a thorough stretch out before he headed back to his hotel and I got back on the train home.

Here’s the Singles Qualifying Draw:

Schedule for tomorrow:

(WC) Dave Hodgetts (GBR) (UNR) vs (WC) Sam Hutt (GBR) (UNR) – 1st match at 11am

Winner to play Adam Skalsky (GBR) (UNR) – 3rd match after 11am (Not before 2pm)

Ilkley Men’s $10k, Day 2

Sunday 8th July 2012

It was a long day at the Ilkley Lawn Tennis Club today but after a cautious start we managed to get through it in one piece and live to fight another day!

Dave wasn’t scheduled until 2nd match after 1.30pm today so I thought I’ve leave him to have a lie in while I got up early to get the tournament shuttle bus to the club to get my daily run in. Dave then arrived around 11.30am and we went into the gym to warm up just before 12pm. Due to the amount of players that needed to practice and the fact that the tournament only had very limited indoor court time we were only scheduled for a 20 minute practice starting at 12.30pm. However we managed to get on court a little early so we actually got a full 30 minutes in. During the session Dave felt his right hip tighten up and by the end of the practice he was quite concerned about it so once we were done he went straight to see the on site physio. This week Nigel Smethurst is the tournament physio and, as he has a son who is ranked around 400ATP, it’s fair to say that he knows what he’s talking about when it comes to tennis injuries. Dave had a good session with Nigel who ended up working on it for quite some time and then strapped it up to protect it for the match.

After getting some lunch and watching the start of the Wimbledon Men’s final it looked as though the match before Dave’s was coming to an end so he warmed up for 15 minutes only to find that the match went to 1 set all!

Eventually Dave went on court to face Howard Scott at around 4.30pm and from the start he took control of the match and seemed to be moving without any pain. Dave broke in the first game and despite getting broken back straightaway he kept his composure to break again in the next game to take a *2-1 lead. Dave’s serving percentage wasn’t as high as normal and he seemed to be struggling to get up to the ball but his consistency from the back of the court ensured that he continued to hold his serve. He broke again at 4-2* and then served it out to take the first set 6-2.

In the second set Dave’s level from the back of the court increased and even though the scoreline was a little closer at 6-3 he was always in control of the match which meant he could work on developing his game throughout the set. It was a solid first round match and I was very pleased that the issue with his hip hadn’t caused him too much discomfort.

After the match Dave went straight to the physio to get some treatment and was advised to ice his hip for 10 minutes before showering and stretching to make sure it didn’t tighten up. Nigel then treated Dave and said that his hip hadn’t got any worse from playing the match which was a big positive – often if you can get through a match then it gives you another night to let the injury heal a little more and by the next day it is much better. Originally Dave was scheduled to have his 2nd round match at 9.30pm this evening but it was then changed to 10.30am tomorrow morning – another bonus for us!

From the club we headed out to dinner at 7pm with Lewis Burton and had a great meal at Piccolino’s in the town. We then headed back to the hotel where Lewis had a sudden impulse to go for a run! So, not wanting to leave him to run alone, I said that I’d join him at 9.30pm once my huge dinner had gone down a bit! Before the run I sat down with Dave and went through the match which included some initial planning for the 2nd round match tomorrow. Then at 9.30pm Lewis and I took to the road and ran up the steep hill to the Cow and Calf before heading across Ilkley Moor. It had rained heavily this afternoon and both of us were getting covered in mud as we ran up and down the Moor but is was well worth it as the view over the valley was amazing.

Thumbs up from Lew just before we got lost on the Moor!

After a few wrong turns we eventually made our way back to the road but at one point it did seem like a scene out of 127 Hours as we were literally climbing down rock faces to get back onto the right path!!

Schedule for tomorrow:

Dave Hodgetts (GBR) (UNR) vs (13) David Pel (NED) (1873) – 1st match on at 10.30am

Ilkley Men’s $10k, Day 1

Saturday 7th July 2012

After travelling up to Ilkley in torrential rain yesterday we got a funny feeling it was going to be a repeat of last weeks washout but today the sun came out and tomorrow we might actually have a chance of getting on the grass – but I won’t be holding my breath!

Yesterday we trained for an hour and a half on the indoor courts so we didn’t need to overdo it today; we just needed to make sure Dave was happy with his level and was prepared for his first round match tomorrow. The day started with a good breakfast at the hotel before driving to the club and warming up at 10.30am. We then went outside onto the hard courts to go through Dave’s physical conditioning programme for the day which was a speed session. Dave completed the programme well despite being a little bored with the amount of rest that he had to have between each sprint – most of the sprints were under 5 seconds but he had to have a full 45 seconds so that he was fully recovered before the next one. The programme consisted of 48 short sprints which also involved changes of directions and reactions to my calls so it kept Dave guessing throughout.

After the session we went back into the gym to cool down, foam roll and stretch to make sure Dave doesn’t have any stiffness later in the day. We then had a good lunch at the club and relaxed while watching the Ladies Final at Wimbledon.

Later in the afternoon we went back on court and just had a light session to make sure Dave was happy with all areas of his game. We warmed up everything and then played some points at the end of the session to make sure Dave felt sharp and ready to go tomorrow.

From the court it was straight into the gym for both of us; Dave had his injury prevention and recovery work to go through while I was back on the running machine for another 1 hour run. I’ve now just clocked up 250 miles and have completed 37 of 98 training runs that I’ve got set before The Great North Run in September. This year I’m again running for Make-A-Wish Foundation UK to help children with life-threatening illnesses and I’m hoping to raise more than the £1,300 I did last year – if you are able to make a donation please see my JustGiving page: www.justgiving.com/robsGNR2012.

Once we’d completed our training for the day we went back to the hotel for an hour to relax and watch the start of the Wimbledon Men’s Doubles Final before we went out to a small Italian restaurant that we found last night. The food there was amazing and we’re very disappointed that it’ll be closed for the next two days!

We then headed to the club quickly to get the draw and order of play before returning to the hotel to watch Jonny Marray become the first British player to win a Men’s singles or doubles title in the last 76 years. I’ve played against Jonny in the past and I could think of a nicer guy to win the title; he’s had his setbacks over the years with injuries but he’s always kept going and is now a Wimbledon Champion!

Here’s the qualifying draw:

Schedule for tomorrow:

Dave Hodgetts (GBR) (UNR) vs Howard Scott (GBR) (UNR) – 2nd match after 1.30pm

Manchester Men’s $10k, Day 3

Monday 2nd July 2012

It was a tough day at the Northern Club today; we had a set and a half on the outdoor clay, then a long rain delay and then we went indoors to finish the match. There were lots of momentum shifts both on and off the court but Dave managed to keep his nerve and perform very well to take a difficult 3 set win.

Yesterday we moved to the official hotel which meant we are now only 10 minutes away for the tournament site. That also meant that we could get up a little later and have a more relaxed start to the day so this morning we had breakfast at 7.30am and then we left for the club at 8.15am. After a good warm up in the gym I hit with Dave to prepare him up for his match from 9-9.30am and then the first round of matches went on immediately after we were finished. Dave hit well and was feeling good so it was then just a case of getting something light to eat before he went on for his match.

We knew that it was going to be tough against 10th seed Harry Meehan as he’s got a big lefty serve and will take any opportunity to move forwards and put you under a lot of pressure. It helped a little to be on the wet outdoor clay but that didn’t stop him hitting at least 1 or 2 aces a game.

The first 12 games all went with serve with the returner not really making any inroads which meant the set would have to be decided by a tie-break. Both Dave and Harry were serving well and also backing up their serves with confident groundstrokes so going into the breaker it could have gone either way. Dave got the first mini-break at 3-3*and then held his 2 service points to give him a 6-3* lead and three set points. However he only needed one and after a strong 1st serve return Harry missed a volley long to hand the set to Dave.

The second set followed the same pattern as the first set but the balls were getting a little heavier so the returner had a bit more of a chance to swing at the serves. After Harry held to lead 3-2 the match was stopped due to heavy rain which gave me a chance to talk through the match with Dave but it also meant that after a long delay the referee decided that the match would be moved indoors onto the hard courts.

. . . and it keeps pouring down!

The move indoors probably favoured Harry more than Dave but it didn’t make a huge difference as the match was being dominated by serve anyway. Once they restarted Dave held well to level the score at 3-3* but Harry now looked even more confident on his serve and from the back of the court and went on to hold, break and then hold again to take the second set 6-3.

The third set was a real battle and included 5 breaks; the first one came when Dave gave up his serve with some poor decision making at *1-1 but he managed to break back at 2-3* after finally starting to read Harry’s serve and move up to take it earlier before it reached the side curtain!! Dave was broken straight back but, after saving a match point and Harry missing one of the easiest smashed I’ve ever seen at 4-5* 40-40* Dave finally got the set level at *5-5. He then held and managed to take his first match point to take the match 7-6(3), 3-6, 7-5. It was a really mentally tough performance from Dave and after losing a few close 3 setters recently it was great that he came through this one against strong, big hitting opponent.

The match almost had to be stopped prematurely as some other members had booked the court at 5.30pm but it was all completed not long afterwards and after a cool down and a good stretch out we left the club by 6.15pm.

We joined up with Lewis Burton and Ed Corrie for dinner in Zizzi’s this evening and then it was back to the hotel to go through the match in detail before preparing for tomorrows last round of qualifying match.

Schedule for tomorrow:

Imran Aswat (GBR) (UNR) vs (WC) Dave Hodgetts (GBR) (UNR) – 2nd match after 9.30am

Manchester Men’s $10k, Day 2

Sunday 1st July 2012

A solid performance today saw Dave win his opening matching in qualifying against Angus McCaul despite some difficult conditions and a tricky court surface.

Normally in qualifying the matches start quite early so everyone has to be on site beforehand to warm up on court but today was different as the tournament only had a few courts at 9.30am and it wasn’t worth getting there before if Dave wasn’t playing until closer to 3pm. We therefore decided to have a relaxed start to the day which included a fantastic farm cooked breakfast at 9am before we left for the club at 10am. On the way Dave decided he was going to wash his car at the petrol station and check the air in his tyres before we got to the club which also helped to kill a bit of time!

After a quick bite to eat we warmed up in the gym and then hit on the indoor courts from 1-1.30pm as all of the outdoor clay courts were either being used by the tournament matches or by the members. Dave then had some more food to make sure he was well fuelled before we sat down to discuss the tactics for the match. I’ve known Angus for many years and travelled with him when he was younger to Tennis Europe and ITF events so it’s fair to say I know his game pretty well – so you could say there was pressure on me to get the tactics right!!

Dave and Angus went on just after 2.30pm and from the start Dave took control of the match. He broke Angus’ serve in the first game and then again at 3-1* to take a solid lead in the match. Dave was working the ball well and making sure that Angus couldn’t get into a comfortable position to hit the ball during the rally. Dave held serve at 4-1 and then again at 5-2 to take the first set. A similar pattern occurred in the second set; Dave played well from the back of the court while Angus found it difficult to really get a strong strike on the ball resulting in Dave again taking a 5-2 lead. At this stage Angus played his best two games of the match to break and then hold while Dave’s level dropped a little. However Dave got his game back on track and served well to hold serve (despite being break point down) to take the match 6-2, 6-4. It was a good first round performance from Dave who made sure he pushed himself outside his comfort zone throughout the match which will hopefully help in his next round match tomorrow.

After the match we went straight up to the gym for Dave to cool down for 20 minutes on the bike before having a thorough stretch out. While he was doing that it was my turn for a workout so I jumped on the running machine for an hour to keep up with my own training for the Great North Run in September. We then went back to the hotel to shower and change before heading out to dinner with the other Chiswick boys.

Once we got back from dinner we sat down with some of the other players to watch a superb performance from the Spanish team to win Euro 2012 and then had an early night to prepare to a tough match tomorrow.

Schedule for tomorrow:

(WC) Dave Hodgetts (GBR) (UNR) vs (10) Harry Meehan (GBR) (1896) – 2nd match on after 9.30am

Manchester Men’s $10k, Day 1

Saturday 30th June 2012

After spending the last 2 weeks training with Dave Hodgetts at the Riverside Tennis Academy in Chiswick, London we’ve now got the next 2 weeks on the road in Manchester and Ilkley at men’s $10k Futures events.

I left home this morning at 8.30am to get the train from Bexley to London and then after a brief journey through London on the Underground I boarded the 10.20am train to Manchester. The journey was delayed a little due to the heavy rain but I finally met up with Dave, who had driven from his home in Worcester, at around 1.45pm.

We then headed to The Northern Club where the event is being held this week and managed to get a practice session on the artificial clay for an hour and a half with Jathan Malik. The grass courts at the club look extremely nice but due to the heavy rain (and the heavy rain forecast for this week) we could be on the clay for the whole tournament – everyone was very surprised that a club with grass courts as nice as this one hasn’t invested in some court covers!

Mersin Men’s $10k (week 2), day 2

Saturday 26th May 2012

Dave got the second week here in Mersin underway today with a solid win over John “The Grinder” Valenti and a potential banana skin was avoided!

It can sometimes be a little tricky to plan when to eat for matches that are in the middle of the day as you have to try and schedule food between the warm up and the start of the match so that you’ve got enough food in your system to last the whole match. Dave’s match today was 2nd on after 10am so we decided to have breakfast at 7.45am and warm up in the gym at 8.50am ready for a 9.30am practice on court. That then meant that Dave could get some more food from breakfast just as the match before his was starting.

That plan worked well as the match before Dave’s lasted about an hour and 45 minutes so it gave him time to let the food go down while we went through our pre-match talk, set goals and go through a thorough warm up before he was called. Today Dave was up against John Valenti, the self named “Grinder” who is a bit of a journey man around the Futures but can often be a little tricky, especially on the clay.

The first game was a bit of a grind as Dave was a bit cautious and John was making sure he made each point hard work for Dave to win. After holding serve in the first game Dave stepped up his level and started to dictate the play more which resulted in him taking a 5-0 lead. John then held serve but Dave served well to take the first set 6-1.

The second set followed the same pattern as the first but Dave found a much more aggressive level from the start and moved forwards to finish more points at the net to eliminate his opponent’s main tactic of grinding! Dave had 2 match points on serve at 5-0 but a lapse of concentration cost him his serve for the first time as John kept fighting hard for each point. Dave responded well and broke straight back to take the match 6-1, 6-1 in just over an hour. It’s always tough to play an opponent who doesn’t give you much pace, especially one that you’re expected to beat but Dave performed well mentally and put in a professional performance throughout the match to get the job done.

After the match we went straight onto the practice court to get the slow match level out of Dave’s system and getting him hitting a more realistic and heavier ball. We only spent around 15 minutes on court but it gave us a chance to work on some specifics from the match while we increased Dave’s hitting level to what’s going to be needed for his next match.

It was then time to go back to the hotel to shower and change before getting some lunch and going through the match in detail. Once we’d finished we went into the gym for a long cool down and stretch out to make sure Dave doesn’t have any tightness tomorrow when he plays his next round.

We returned to the club late in the afternoon to watch a good performance from Jamie Feaver and Daniel Glancy as they took a 7-6(5), 6-3 win in the doubles final – nice to see a fellow Brit taking home a trophy!

Dinner tonight was the Italian buffet again which was perfect for Dave to keep the Carbohydrates up during the event but it was a challenge for me not to eat too much – the coach always has to watch how much they eat when they’re away or they could end up putting in a huge amount of weight!!

Today was my last day as I have to return home tomorrow from Adana to Istanbul and then Istanbul to London which means I won’t get a chance to see Dave’s last round of qualifying match but I know he’s 100% ready to qualify for the main draw.

Schedule for tomorrow:

(2) Daniiar Duldaev (KZG) (838) vs Dave Hodgetts (GBR) (UNR) – 1st match at 11am

I didn't manage to get a picture of Dave playing today so I thought I'd leave you with the view from our hotel hallway - looks as if we're in the middle of the sea!!

Mersin Men’s $10k (week 2), Day 1

Friday 25th May 2012

Today marks the start of the second Men’s $10k event here in Mersin, Turkey and our final day of preparation before the qualifying starts tomorrow.

We had started to taper down the training yesterday and today was an even lighter day as we wanted to make sure Dave is 100% physically and mentally ready before he plays his first round match. Even though Dave didn’t see it that way, we did have a bit of a lie in this morning as we met for breakfast at 8am – it was definitely a lie in compared to the 6.30am breakfasts we’d had on the last 4 days!! By 9.30am we were on court warming up for a speed session which was programmed for the day before Dave’s next match. The session included 38 different sprints and lasted about 35 minutes but due to the fact that speed work has to be done at a maximum intensity the work rest ratio was around 1:8.

Speed training on the hard court

After the session we returned to the hotel to shower and change before going back to the tennis club for a nice Turkish lunch – all week we’ve been having pasta for lunch but over the last few days we’ve experimented more with the menu and found that some of the chicken wraps and meat kebabs are extremely nice and also very healthy!

We had a couple of hours to rest in the afternoon before it was back in the gym at 1.30pm to warm up for our on court session at 2pm. The weather has been turning a little over the last few days; the temperature has been dropping and the wind has been picking up but today had to be the windiest day by far. We still managed to have a very good hour and a half session which was only interrupted by the groundstaff having to water the court to stop the clay blowing everywhere including in our eyes! During the session we went through everything in Dave’s game so that he was feeling good before his first match, we then played three sets of points up to 11 from the back of the court before ending the session by working on serve and return.

It was then straight back to the gym in the hotel to cool down and have a very thorough stretch out to make sure Dave’s feeling fresh and loose in the morning. Just after 6pm we went back down to the club to check out the draw and the order of play for tomorrow:

Singles Qualifying Draw

Tonight saw the return of the “Italian Buffet” for dinner at the hotel and we’d both been looking forward to it all week! We both had some great fresh pasta cooked in front of us by the Head Chef and this week I managed to get a picture of him preparing it:

For our evening entertainment we put together a bit of a “Superstars” event: 1 game of air hockey, 2 games of bowling, 6 games of pool and 1 game of darts! I lead after the air hockey, Dave came back and beat me in both games of bowling but I produced a great display of pool winning 5 out of the 6 frames and then finished off the evening with a win in the darts to take the overall victory!

It was then back to the hotel to prepare for Dave’s match tomorrow and get an early night.

Schedule for tomorrow:

John Valenti (USA) (UNR) vs Dave Hodgetts (GBR) (UNR) – 2nd match after 10am

Mersin Men’s $10k (week 1), Day 8

Thursday 24th May 2012

With just two days to go until the second men’s $10k event here in Mersin we started to taper down the volume of training while maintaining the match intensity and focus so that we’re 100% prepared for the qualifying on Saturday.

To guarantee a full practice court to play sets on we once again had to be up early before all of the other players arrived which meant breakfast when it opened at 6.30am. Dave then went through his normal physical warm up from 7.30am until 8am when we went on court with Jamie. Like yesterday the intensity of the training was very high from the start and after a 20 minute warm up Dave and Jamie decided to go straight into playing a couple of sets.

Dave started very well and took a 4-1 lead while only making 1 unforced error but the momentum shifted at that stage as Jamie played a good game to break and then he held well to make it *4-3. Dave responded well and held serve but Jamie was now finding a better level and he won the next 2 games in a row to level the set at 5-5. When Dave was 4-1 up the stats read: Unforced Errors: 1 vs 13, Winners: 3 vs 5. By 5-5 they had completely shifted the other way: Unforced Errors: 11 vs 14, Winners: 7 vs 13. Jamie continued his aggressive play while hardly missing to take the next two games and the first set 7-5. The quality of play had been very high and both players had to really work hard to earn every point.

The second set was a little more one-sided as Jamie continued to improve his level while Dave’s dropped off slightly. Dave broke in the first game of the set and then he broke again at 1-3* but Jamie played very well in the other 6 games of the set to take it 6-2. Despite losing both sets Dave continued to improve the areas of his game that we’ve been working hard on all week so by the end of the session at 10am we were both very pleased with how it had gone.

Once again it was straight off the court and into the gym (much to the annoyance of the gym staff who made all of us wear covers on our shoes so we didn’t drop any clay on the floor!). As the volume of Dave’s tennis training tapers down to his match day so does the volume of his strength and conditioning programme and today he was faced with a core programme which lasted around 50 minutes. Even though the volume has decreased it was still a tough session but, as the lower back / abdominals of any tennis player are one of the most important areas of the body to keep injury free, it’s very important that we always maintain its strength and flexibility.

After another good lunch at the club we watched some of the matches before relaxing for the afternoon. Dave had a massage at the hotel to help his recovery and reduce any tightness that has been building up while training on the clay while I caught up on some scheduling for the next few months.

After dinner we had a couple of games of bowling where I managed to finally get the ball turning a little and then we had a set of pool before we returned to the hotel.

Tomorrow is our last day of preparation so we intent to put the finishing touches to a very good training week.

Mersin Men’s $10k (week 1), Day 8

Wednesday 23rd May 2012

Today’s been another great training day and our last heavy day before we start tapering down tomorrow before the qualifying of the next event starts on Saturday.

Like yesterday we were up early and at breakfast by 6.30am so that we could warm up and be ready to play by 8am. This morning we were joined by fellow Brit Jamie Feaver and Dave and I both knew that it was going to be a good session as Jamie is not only a good player but he’s also one of the hardest working and most professional players I know.

Dave and Jamie had a very high quality drilling session for the first hour before the second hour was spent playing out a set. Dave worked very hard throughout the session and even though the intensity of the first hour took a lot out of him he still put in a good performance in the set but one break of serve in the first game and the last game of the set resulted in Dave going down 6-3.

Dave and Jamie during the session this morning

After two hours on court we went back to the hotel to relax before going back to the club at midday to get some lunch and watch some of the main draw matches. At 3.30pm we were back on court for our second session of the day but this time it was more about a few specific areas of Dave’s game rather than point play. We continued with the work we’d been doing all week on the development of Dave’s net game and after working on it for a solid hour we came off court at 4.30pm and went straight into the gym for his strength and conditioning session. Today it was a weights session which lasted about 45 minutes and involved both upper and lower body exercises in the same ‘super-set’ format as Dave did on Monday.

By 5.30pm we were still not done and it was outside to the swimming pool so that Dave could go through a recovery session in the water. He was only scheduled to do 2 sets of 5 different exercises but it was the first time Dave had gone through this programme and as he was really feeling the benefits of it with each exercise he did he actually ended up doing 6 sets!

Not a bad environment to train in!

For dinner tonight we had the standard buffet at the hotel and then had a few games of pool before having an early night to be ready for another early start tomorrow.

Mersin Men’s $10k (week 1), Day 7

Tuesday 22nd May 2012

It was another really good day’s training today in Mersin as the main draw started but a strange decision from the referee meant that practice time for everyone was very limited.

When we checked the practice schedule yesterday we noticed that the referee had decided to use courts 1, 3 and 4 for the matches which meant the only court available for practise throughout the day was court 6 (as you can’t practise next to the match courts). The main draw players always have priority for practice and, as there was singles and doubles today, court 6 was fully booked for the whole day which meant we needed to get all of our training in before the matches started. That meant that Dave and I were up early for breakfast at 6.30am and then we were at the club by 7.30am to warm up for an 8am start.

We had scheduled a practice session this morning with Artur Completo who some of you might remember from the Kenyan and Nottingham ITFs last year. Artur is the same age as Dave and last year increased his U18 ITF ranking to 140 – when we first met in Kenya last February he was unranked so he’s done very well in the last 12 months. After a 20 minute warm up we decided to play two sets and make them as much like match play as possible. Dave started a little slowly and Artur made the most of his chances to take a 3-0 lead before Dave fought hard and played some of the best tennis I’ve seen from him to win the next 6 games in a row to take the set 6-3. The standard of tennis was very high throughout the first set so it was then a challenge for Dave to see if he could maintain that level during the second set.

Artur again started well and took a 2-0 lead but Dave was mentally very good and kept working on his game which resulted in him winning the next 3 games in a row to lead 3-2. The set then went with serve until Dave broke at 4-3* and then held to take the second set 6-3. Overall it was 2 of the best sets I’ve seen from Dave; mentally he was very good and tactically he was always switched on not only to what his opponent was doing but also to what areas in his own game he wanted to develop throughout in each game.

After signing in as a Lucky Loser for the singles (always worth a go even though Dave lost early in qualifying) and as an Alternate for the doubles we returned to the hotel and went straight into the gym. Today’s session was ‘circuits’ and the work / rest ratio was 15 seconds on / 15 seconds off which doesn’t give you a lot of time to recover from the previous exercise before you’re going again on the next one.

Dave working hard during the circuit training

After 2 sets of 4 circuits the session was completed and after showering and changing we were back to the club for some well earned lunch.

We spent a lot of the afternoon watching the main draw matches which included fellow Brit Jamie Feaver who lost a tight match to the same guy that beat Dave in qualifying and Sam Barry from Ireland who played a superb first set but eventually went down in three sets to former world number 5 junior Robin Kern.

At 5pm we went back into the gym to go through a 20 minute recovery session on the bike and then Dave did a thorough stretch out to finish the day.

It’s been our standard evening’s entertainment to venture next door to the bowling alley to either play Pool, darts or go bowling and this evening was no different. Despite beating Dave at Pool during the week I’d been struggling at the bowling and tonight was no different as Dave was on fire producing an unbelievable 205 in the first game!

Average!

After that I decided to take on the advice of the pro bowlers who were training on the lanes next to us and they were happy to give both of us a bit of a lesson on how to bowl properly! After about 20 minutes of intense practise I finally managed to get the ball to turn like the pros but I think it’s going to take a bit more practise before I’m scoring 300!

Mersin Men’s $10k (week 1), Day 6

Monday 21st May 2012

It’s been a good training day today; we’ve managed 2 on court sessions totalling over three hours plus we both did a one hour strength and conditioning session and then we finished the day with a cool down and injury prevention work. I think I’m going to be feeling it in the morning though!

I’m not sure Dave is an early riser but he was up and at breakfast at 6.45am this morning before we headed the short 300 metre walk to the tennis club at 8am to warm up. We’d not arranged anyone to train with Dave this morning as we wanted to do a lot of work of his volleys in preparation for the doubles – unfortunately they didn’t get in as their priority was one of the lowest but it was still great practise for Dave as he looks to expand the variety in his game. It was a tough session and the legs took a bit of a pounding as so much was based around getting low and moving forwards onto the volley but Dave got a lot out of it. By 10am the players who were competing today started to arrive so we had to make way for them.

There was no resting for us though as we walked straight back to the hotel and down into the gym for a weights session. Dave had some tough super-set exercises whereby he would do two sets of dynamic exercises (e.g. pull ups) either side of a weighed exercise (e.g. lat pull downs) and then during his 1 minute 30 seconds rest he’d also have band work to do. He had 4 sets to do like that and then had another 4 sets of 2 different super-set exercises to do afterwards – it was a hard session but one of the biggest areas players neglect when on the road is strength and conditioning. Players tend to just concentrate on the tennis side of things but once you’re out of the singles event you should be getting back in the gym to make sure the hard work you’re doing during your training blocks is not deteriorating too much when you move into a competition block. It’s all about educating the players and getting them to buy into how important physical conditioning is – if they start doing it at a young age they’ll continue when they get older.

After the session we had a good lunch at the club while watching the last round of qualifying matches before having another few games of Pool and then relaxing at the hotel.

At 3.30pm Dave was warming up again for a point play session with Canadian Antoine Richard who had also lost in qualifying yesterday. Luckily they managed to get a full court to themselves for almost an hour and a half so they were able to get two good sets in which is exactly what we want to do each day this week to get Dave to the best possible level before next weekend. After the session we were back in the gym to cool down, stretch out and go through Dave’s injury prevention work before finishing a solid day’s training.

Dave serving against Antoine Richard during practise today

When we played Pool at lunchtime I managed to take the 4th set so as soon as we’d finished dinner we were back at the bowling alley to finish off our match!! After the best set we’d both played I managed to sneak the win to take the match 2-6, 6-1, 3-6, 6-2, 6-1 – a very proud moment for me 🙂

It’s going to be an even earlier start in the morning as we’re playing sets at 8am with Artur Completo so it’ll be a 6.30am breakfast followed by a 7.30am warm up – time for an early night then!!

Mersin Men’s $10k (week 1), Day 5

Sunday 20th May 2012

Despite Chelsea being the underdogs in the Champions League final they were able to overcome their Germany opponents but unfortunately Dave wasn’t able to do the same today as he lost against German 3rd seed Daniel Uhlig.

It was quite a relaxed start to the day today; Dave wasn’t due on court for his match until 11am so we met for breakfast at 8am and then made our way over to the club to warm up at 9.30am. Dave still wasn’t feeling 100% but he had a good 30 minute hit with one of the other qualifying players and when he came off court at 10.30am he was feeling good and looking forward to his match. During the next 30 minutes Dave changed, made up his drinks for his match and made sure everything was as it should be before his match. We then had a good pre-match chat where we talked a lot about the way Dave had been training all week and the most effective parts of his game before we went through the specific goals that we were looking to achieve during the match.

At 11am the digital temperature gauge next to the courts was reading 27°C and it was time to get going. Like Dave, his opponent had a Bye in the first round so we hadn’t had a chance to watch him play, it was therefore very important that Dave worked out his gamestyle during the warm up and the first couple of games of the match. Unfortunately Daniel Uhlig started very well going 4-0 up by playing very aggressive and consistent tennis from the back of the court. Dave had to make some changes to how he was constructing the points as his opponent was too strong from the baseline and as he started moving forwards more he started to earn more points. Dave held serve at *0-4 and then played a good game to break but Uhlig increased his level again to take the next two games and the first set 6-2.

Dave and Daniel Uhlig on the far court warming up for their match

Dave was playing some good clay court tennis but his older opponent was obviously much more experienced and more at home on the surface. Uhlig continued his high level of play throughout the second set; he went on to take the set 6-1 and in doing so hit 13 winners to only 2 unforced errors. Dave was disappointed with the loss but he was pleased with his performance and knows that if he can continue to develop his clay court game over the next week he’s got a great chance of qualifying next weekend.

After the match we went into the gym to cool down and stretch out before getting some food and going through the specific details from the match. The plan for the rest of the week is now to try and get into the doubles but also play as many practise sets as possible against the other main draw players in preparation for qualifying for the next event on Saturday.

For the rest of the afternoon we had a walk along the sea front and then had a walk around the local shopping centre before returning to the hotel for dinner. After dinner we had a quick game of bowling (which I lost again but am getting closer!) before continuing our best of 5 sets Pool game – as it stands at the moment I’m 2 sets to 1 down but 4-0 up in the 4th set – looks like it’s going to be a big deciding 5th set!

Due to Dave being out of the qualifying, plus the fact that there are only 6 courts at the club means that we’re going to have to train around the peak times so that we’re able to get a full court to play some sets. That means that tomorrow we’re going to be on court bright and early at 8.30am and then again at 4pm with a gym session in the middle. I hope Dave likes early mornings!!

Mersin Men’s $10k (week 1), Day 4

Saturday 19th May 2012

It’s been a fantastic day today; on the court Dave maintained the high level of training that he’s been producing all week and off the court Chelsea won the Champions League!!

Due to Dave not feeling 100% we decided to just do one session today so that he can save his energy for his qualifying match tomorrow. After a good sleep we met for breakfast at 9.30am and I have to say that the selection they have is the best I’ve ever seen in any hotel. Dave was also in his element and unlike me he doesn’t have to watch the volume of food he’s consuming as he’s burning most of it off each day!

After breakfast Dave still wasn’t feeling too good so we decided to pass on the speed work we had planned and just go straight into the normal warm up at 11.30am. He then hit with Gerard Junyent from Spain for just over an hour which included around 30 minutes of warming up and drilling and then points for the remaining of the session. Dave quickly found the level that he’d been training at all week and then maintained it throughout the games to end the session ready to compete tomorrow. I’ve said in previous Blogs that it’s not the volume of training that’s important when it comes close to the match day but it’s how the player feels about they way they are playing and moving that counts. Some players take an hour or even two hours before they feel as though every shot is how it should be, others can hit the shot once or twice and feel as though it’s at the level they need for their match. It’s very personal and as such it can only be determined by the player – the coach will have their input but it always comes down to how the player feels and what the player wants to do before they compete.

At 1.30pm we returned to the hotel to cool down and stretch out in the gym and then had a good lunch before chilling out for the rest of the afternoon. When it comes to “down time” I like to watch a bit of TV, go on the internet and mainly catch up with any work I need to do. Dave is very similar and after our recent tournament in Bournemouth I’ve got him back into watching “The Inbetweeners” so he’s spending most of his time off watching that and then telling me all about it at dinner!

Not a bad view from my hotel room!

We ate dinner this evening at the hotel where they had a great Pasta Buffet which included a pasta bar where the chef made Linguine from scratch and then added whatever sauce / ingredients you wanted. I wanted to get a picture to show you but I was too busy eating all of the amazing Italian food!

After dinner we had a few games of Pool (I’m now 5-3 down in the third!) before we settled in to watch Chelsea take on Bayern Munich in the Champions League Final. Dave did his best to keep me calm during the first half before he headed off to bed but I was there until the end; just me and a 5 metre projection screen in the middle of the hotel bar. Nerves were very much jangling at the end but what a match and what a way for Chelsea to secure their very first Champions League title!

Schedule for tomorrow:

(3) Daniel Uhlig (GER) (1078) vs Dave Hodgetts (GBR) (UNR) – 1st match at 11am

Mersin Men’s $10k (week 1), Day 3

Friday 18th May 2012

We had planned on today being Dave’s final day of preparation ahead of the start of the qualifying tomorrow but a Bye in the first round has meant that he will now play his first match on Sunday.

We’ve had two very good training days on Wednesday and Thursday this week so we’d decided to taper down today with just one on court session and some speed training to make sure that Dave was fully recovered and very sharp for his 1st round match. We had a later than normal start today as we had to pack up all of our bag to move to the official hotel next door to the club so we warmed up at 10am and then went through 30 minutes of speed training from 10.30am until 11am. At this stage the temperatures on court had already hit 29 degrees and it was looking like it was going to be another very hot day.

At 11am we went on court with Can Altiner from Turkey and the plan for the session was to warm up for 15 / 20 minutes and then go straight into playing one set to recreate the conditions for tomorrow. As both players were fresh from the start the quality of the tennis was very good but it was Dave who was playing more aggressive and more consistent and he went on to take the set 6-2. We were both very happy with the level especially Dave’s serve and weight of shot from the back of the court which we have worked hard on all week. All in all it was a superb way to end our preparation for this week’s event and we were very much looking forward to him competing tomorrow.

After the session Dave cooled down and then we had some lunch at the club before moving our bags over to the hotel to check in and relax for the afternoon.

At 7pm we had dinner in the hotel and then we went back over to the club to check out the draw. We were a little disappointed that Dave didn’t have a match tomorrow but it does mean that we can have another day of making sure everything is as it should be before he takes on the qualifying 3rd seed on Sunday.

We then had a few quick games of Pool in which I managed to take the 2nd set 6-2 to level the match before we headed back to the hotel for an early night.

Mersin Men’s $10k (week 1), Day 2

Thursday 17th May 2012

It was another great training day today as we got through two tough on court sessions as well as a core session in temperatures pushing past 30 degrees.

After getting used to the conditions yesterday and recovering from the long travelling day on Tuesday we wanted to make sure we put in a full training day on court today to prepare well for qualifying on Saturday. We met for breakfast at 8am this morning and then were courtside by 9.30am warming up for a 10am start. During the morning session we spent a lot of time working on Dave’s 1st and 2nd serve to make sure they were not only up to the consistency that he needs for his match but also that the serve is as effective as it needs to be. That means that his 1st serve needs to be harder and more accurate than it was in Israel so that it doesn’t enter into his opponents hitting zone and his 2nd serve needs to be more effective by getting up and away from his opponent to ensure it doesn’t get attacked. The majority of the rest of the session was focussed around effectiveness of Dave’s groundstrokes and his sharpness at the net when he moves in to finish the point. By 11.45pm we were both thoroughly exhausted (!!) but more importantly we were both extremely happy with the level of training Dave had put in.

We then had a good lunch at the club and relaxed for an hour before it was time to warm up again to prepare for the afternoon session at 2pm. Dale joined us again on court which gave Dave a chance to play some practise sets which the type of player who he’s going to meet in the qualifying draw on Saturday. Dave started a little slowly in the set but after a quick chat he raised his level and probably found the best mental application I’ve ever seen from him. He won the first set 6-1 but more impressively he maintained every aspect of the first set level throughout the second set to also take that set 6-1 too. By 3pm the temperature on court had risen to 32 degrees and even though we’re right next to the coast there wasn’t a single breath of wind which made conditions pretty tough.

Dave returning Dale's serve during the practise sets today

After the session Dave went straight into his scheduled core exercises for the day and then when he had finished we went though his stretching programme to end a great days training. It was then off to the supermarket to stock up on some food before returning to the hotel to get ready for dinner.

We decided to walk to dinner this evening to check out the local harbour and the sea front and it was a shame I don’t like fish as the quality of the meals on some of the floating restaurants looked amazing. Saying that I was quite happy with my “Penne Arabiatta with chicken” and Dave was more than happy with his “eat as much as you want” buffet!!

Now after getting a bit of a pasting at Pool yesterday I was up for a bit of revenge but Dave through a curve ball in there by suggesting we go bowling. I was definitely up for that but performed horrendously in both games scoring around 154 in the first to Dave’s 176 and then in the second game Dave had a shocker but I couldn’t find a single strike or spare when I needed one and I lost that as well even though both of us scored under 100! I did manage a bit of revenge on the Pool table though; after losing the first set 6-1 I should have taken a 3-0 lead in the second but it currently stands at 3-2 to me with it all to play for tomorrow night. This could end up being an Isner vs Mahut marathon!!

Mersin Men’s $10k (week 1), Day 1

Wednesday 16th May 2012

After a tough journey from Tel Aviv yesterday we had our first day in Mersin today and despite our expectations being quite low due to Dave being very tired we actually had a very positive and productive day.

Even though we didn’t get into the hotel until 12.30am this morning we had to be up to have breakfast before it closed at 10am so we decided to meet at 9.45am. We were both pretty tired and the Turkish buffet breakfast wasn’t quite our cup of tea so it was just down to seeing how many bowls of Corn Flakes and warm milk we could handle!

After getting everything ready we visited the local supermarket to stock up on water before getting a taxi to the tennis club. We’re currently staying at the 2nd official hotel but hope to move to the 1st hotel on the list by the weekend as it is directly next door to the tennis centre and it also has a very good gym. We arrived at the club just before midday and were greeted by the tournament director who went out of his way to help us out today. Some clubs can be a little funny if you turn up more than a day before the tournament starts and they often charge you to use the courts but they were very accommodating today and even took our bookings for the rest of the week!

After a long physical warm up Dave went on court with Dale Sutherland from Australia who is also preparing for qualifying this weekend. We had a really good hour and a half training session in quite hot conditions which was perfect to get over the long journey yesterday and to get a good feel for the red clay courts. Immediately after the session we decided to go through Dave’s speed and agility training which is part of his conditioning programme. The session only actually involved 3 sets of 10 different sprints but it took over half an hour to complete due to the work / rest ratio needed when doing speed training. By 2.15pm we were both pretty exhausted and in need to a good lunch – after being spoilt by an amazing restaurant at the club last week this one had a lot to live up to but I think it might have actually equalled it (no Focaccia bread though to Dave’s disappointment!!).

The view from the balcony overlooking the back 3 courts with the official hotel in the background

Following lunch we went back to the hotel to relax for the afternoon, we had planned on going for a walk on the sea front and along to the local harbour but the heavens opened and it rained for most of the day so that plan went out the window.

We decided to have dinner at the other hotel this evening and I think it was definitely the right choice. Not only did we have a nice view of the Mediterranean Sea but there was also a huge buffet to choose from. After dinner we went next door to the bowling alley where I managed to sneak a win at the darts but Dave firmly put me in my place by taking a 5-1 lead in the Pool – watch this space though, I’ll be fighting back tomorrow!

Bournemouth Men’s $10k, Day 4

Tuesday 24th April 2012

We finally got on the clay today after a couple of days of heavy rain but unfortunately we came up against a very tough opponent who made life very difficult for Dave throughout the match.

It was nice to wake this morning to see the sun shining and even nicer when we found out that it had been dry overnight so the matches would be outdoors on the clay. After a good breakfast we headed over to the West Hants Club at 8.30am and then we both warmed up for half an hour in preparation for Dave’s pre-match warm up from 9.15 – 9.45am. I always believe that it’s up to the player if they want to hit with another player or with me before their match and both have their advantages – if Dave was to hit with another player it means I can be there right next to him throughout the session and answer any questions he might have. But if he hits with me then we can do exactly what we want to do and not have to worry about going along with what the other player might want to do. The pre-match hit is always very personal; some players like to do an hour including lots of specific drills and some players like to do 15-20 minutes just to get a feel for the ball. The player should always make the decision themselves of how long they want to hit for so that they’re happy before they compete.

After the session Dave got some food and then we relaxed while watching some of the Women’s $10k first round of qualifying matches. The matches were quite quick and not before long Dave was back in the gym warming up for his match. We then went through our pre-match talk an then it was time for business!

Dave has started a little slow in matches this week so we had talked about electing to receive if he won the toss today but when it came time to choose he was feeling confident so he decided to serve – unfortunately that was the wrong choice!! After being broken in the first game Dave had 4 chances to break straight back but couldn’t convert on any of them and when Hewitt eventually held it gave him a big confidence boost. Hewitt then went on to win the next 4 games in a row with some very solid hitting combined with accurate aggressive play as soon as he got the opportunity to attack. Despite Dave losing the first set 6-0 he actually played much better than the last 2 days but obviously he was up against a player who was striking the ball very well.

Dave held his serve in the opening game of the second set and then forced Hewitt to save another couple of break points in the next game before the set was levelled at 1-1. Dave was then broken in the next game after some inconsistent serving combined with Hewitt stepping up more on his returns. Hewitt then took a 5-1 lead but Dave increased his serving level to make sure Hewitt would have to serve it out at 5-2 to take the match – which he ended up doing very well.

The score line reads as though it was a very one sided match but in reality the games within the match were very close and had Dave taken some of the early opportunities to break the score line might have been much closer. There were lots and lots of positives to take away from the match and credit has to go to Ashley Hewitt for playing very well throughout.

After cooling down and having some lunch we were back on court at 3pm with Tom Allen for another hour and 15 minutes to reinforce the level that we want to achieve consistently by next weekend for the Edinburgh $10k. Many players would not want to get back on court after a tough loss or they might complain about having to do so but Dave was completely the opposite. He wanted to get out there and work on his game as he knows that’s the only way he’s going to achieve the goals that he’s set for himself.

After the session Dave went off for some treatment on his back while I watched fellow Kent boy Matt Short fight hard to take a very close match 7-6 in the third set against Belgian 4th seed Arthur De Greef – great effort Matt.

Once Dave was finished we got some food before leaving the centre to return home. We’ve now got a few days to train back in Chiswick before heading up to Edinburgh for the qualifying of the Futures event on Sunday.

Bournemouth Men’s $10k, Day 3

Monday 23rd April 2012

As we predicted, today was a complete washout on the clay but thanks to the bubble at the Bournemouth Gardens Tennis Centre the tournament managed to get all of the 2nd round matches played.

I met Dave at breakfast this morning and straight away we knew that the clay courts would be out of action for at least the whole of the morning due to a huge amount of overnight rain. We therefore made the decision to head straight to the Bournemouth Gardens to train indoors in their 3 court bubble. At 8.30am we were the only ones in there and had a good half an hour warm up followed by a 45 minute hit to get used to the pace of the courts and also warm Dave up for his match.

Originally Dave was scheduled for the 1st round of matches at 10am but we found out shortly after we’d finished practising that the referee had decided than any matches that hadn’t already started would go on first followed by the matches that had been suspended from yesterday. That meant that no-one really knew when they’d be playing so it was just a case of going back to the West Hants Club to find out if an actual order of play had been established! When we arrived we were told Dave would be not before 1pm with the hope that it would stop raining and they could go on the clay – there was no way that was going to happen!!

We decided to go back to the hotel and relax while calling the referee each hour to see if there was an update to the schedule. Eventually at 2pm we were told that Dave would be 6th match on in the bubble so we made our way back to the Club to warm up in the gym before heading back down to the Bournemouth Gardens.

Dave and Nick Jones eventually got on court just before 4.30pm to resume the match with Nick serving at *3-4, *40-30. The initial plan was to really attack the first point but when Nick stepped up and boomed an ace straight down the T that plan went out the window!! Dave held serve well though despite going 30-0 down and then broke Nick in quite a nervy game from both players to take the set 6-4.

Dave’s level improved hugely in the next 2 games as he stepped up and dominated the points more which saw him hold and break to go 2-0 up. He was then broken in a bit of a sloppy game after making 3 unforced errors but got back on track at 2-2 with a good hold. The set then went with serve until Dave made the breakthrough at 4-3* when he broke Nick’s serve and followed that by holding well with some big first serves to take the match 6-4, 6-3.

Overall it was a good performance and Dave adapted well to the change of surface from the clay to the indoor hard. There were spells in the second set where Dave really imposed his game on the match which is the kind of level he’ll need against 3rd seed Ashley Hewitt tomorrow.

After dinner we had a bit of a debrief of the match while Dave went through his daily stretching routine and then it was time for an early night ready for the last round of qualifying tomorrow.

Schedule for tomorrow:

(3) Ashley Hewitt (GBR) (1120) vs Dave Hodgetts (GBR) (UNR) – 2nd match after 10am (not before 11am)

Bournemouth Men’s $10k, Day 2

Sunday 22nd April 2012

It was a good day at the West Hants Club today but it had to end a little prematurely due to heavy rain during the 2nd round of matches.

I met Dave for breakfast this morning at 7.30am and then we left the hotel at 8.15am to head over to the tennis centre to warm up in the gym. The weather had been good all morning and the clay was fit to play on by the time Dave and Tom Allen went on court at 9am for their pre-match warm up. It was a solid 30 minute session; Dave and Tom were both hitting well and after a couple of service games at the end of the session both players were ready to go. It was just left for Dave and I to go through his pre-match chat and set some goals for the match before he went on at 10am against Patrick Ogier from the Channel Islands.

Dave started slowly and after being broken in the first game soon found himself 2-0 down. He responded well though and upped his serving level to hold comfortably before breaking back to get the match back on serve. The next 3 games went with serve but the momentum was starting to shift in Dave’s direction and he finally got the breakthrough when he broke Patrick’s serve to lead 5-3 and serve for the first set. Unfortunately a cheap game saw Dave get broken but, after collecting his thoughts at the change of ends, he came out and broke Patrick’s serve to take the first set 6-4. Having got the first set under his belt Dave got on top early in the second set breaking at 1-0* up and from there on he never looked back breaking again at 2-1 and 4-1 to take the match 6-4, 6-1.

It was a pretty good first round match; the conditions were difficult as it was quite cold and a little windy but Dave was mentally strong throughout and deserved the win. After cooling down in the gym we went through some light dynamic stretches before we got some lunch and relaxed before the second round of matches.

Since Dave had come off court the weather had started to turn and it looked as if it was going to rain before his scheduled match time of 2pm – in fact the first time it actually rained was just when Dave and Nick Jones walked on to the court. After a brief delay the boys were back on court but it was Nick that started faster breaking Dave immediately and going on to take a 2-0*, 30-0* lead. Dave then fought back to hold, break and hold again to completely turn the set around and lead 3-2*. By this stage the rain was coming down again but it wasn’t quite enough to stop play so they managed to get another couple of games in before play was eventually suspended with Dave leading 4-3*, 30-40*. After a slow start it was actually a great effort from Dave to turn the set around and actually come off court leading. As soon as Dave came off court we had a good chat about what was happening and what he will need to do when he goes back on but after another hour of heavy rain play was suspended for the day at 4.45pm.

We then went straight back into the gym to have a long cool down and a thorough stretch out before leaving the centre just before 6pm. We were both really pleased with the day and Dave’s in a great position going into the match tomorrow.

For dinner tonight we were joined by Dave’s brother Andy who had been down all day to watch Dave’s matches and it was just a short walk down the road to Prezzo where we managed to order a huge amount of food without it costing us much thanks to my Tastecard and another voucher we’d downloaded!!

Schedule for tomorrow:

Dave Hodgetts (GBR) (UNR) vs (13) Nick Jones (GBR) (1722) – 1st match at 10am – to finish 4-3*, 30-40*

Winner to play either (3) Ashley Hewitt (GBR) (1120) or Nikki Roenn (GBR) (UNR) – 4th match after 10am (not before 2pm)

Bournemouth Men’s $10k, Day 1

Saturday 21st April 2012

After arriving back from the Nottingham U18 ITF late on Thursday evening I was back on the road early this morning to get the train to Bournemouth to meet up with Dave Hodgetts for the Men’s $10k Futures event.

After leaving home at 6am I got a train to London and then changed to get on a South West train to Bournemouth where Dave met me just before 10am. It was then straight to the West Hants Club where the tournament will be held this week on their American Clay courts. Dave had already been in Bournemouth for the last week playing in the British Tour event but due to the bad weather he’d been unable to train much on the clay so, as the weather was much better today, it was a good chance to get some valuable court time in.

Dave trained this morning with fellow Riverside Academy player Oliver Hudson from 10.30 – 11.45am where, despite the windy conditions, the boys had a good session and managed to go through some drills as well as play some points out. Dave’s level has improved a lot since I last saw him in the middle of March and he’s now got a good 5 week tournament block coming up which I know he’s going to do well in.

Dave and Oli training on Centre Court

After the session Dave cooled down, showered and changed before we headed into the local village of Winton to get some lunch from Waitrose. It was then a short journey to our hotel for the week to check in and get everything sorted before heading back to the club for our afternoon session.

Due to a bit of a mix-up with who Dave was going to practise with in the afternoon he ended up not having anyone to train with so it was down to me to put him through his paces! We were on court between 3.30 – 4.30pm and as it was Dave’s last session before he competes tomorrow the content was all points based. Between some heavy rain showers we managed to play points off the ground as well as with serve and Dave really increased his level and actually played better than this morning (must have been hitting with me!!). It was then straight into the gym for a long stretch out and by 5.45pm Dave had signed in and was all done for the day.

For dinner we decided to go to Valentino’s – it’s a great little Italian restaurant that I’ve been to many times before and it’s owned by one of the club members so he always gives us a bit of a discount – always a bonus! During dinner we managed to see the draw:

Schedule for tomorrow:

Dave Hodgetts (GBR) vs Patrick Ogier (GBR) – 1st match on at 10am

Winner to play (13) Nick Jones (GBR) (1722) – 3rd match after 10am (not before 2pm)

Nottingham U18 ITF Grade 4, Day 3

Wednesday 18th April 2012

It was a complete washout at the Nottingham tennis centre today; the singles wasn’t affected as they all went indoors but for the doubles players it was a day of sitting and waiting.

We knew the weather forecast was bad for today when we looked at it over dinner last night so the girls decided so start early and guarantee a practice court indoors from 8-8.30am. It was a bit of a scrum down for courts as there were around 80 singles and doubles players trying to warm up and only space for 64! We did our full warm up on the court so that no-one took our place and then Mia and Gaby competed a solid 30 minute session – we couldn’t do any doubles specifics as there wasn’t time and as soon as 8.30am came there were another 32 players trying to get on court!

From then on it was basically a case of sitting around and waiting to see if the weather would clear up so that the doubles could go on the outdoor courts. The referee had said from the start of the day that he’d make a call on the doubles at 4pm so we took the opportunity to watch some of the other main draw matches and in particular it gave Mia a chance to watch her opponent play her next round match. It was an interesting match as Eden Silva struggled against Anna Popescu despite Anna being a year younger and also being unranked – Anna was playing for her first points though and is a tough competitor so we thought it might be interesting. After leading 7-6(7), 5-4 Anna lost the next three games in a row to level the match and with that Eden’s level increased in the third to take it quite comfortably 6-2. It just goes to show that it doesn’t matter if you’re unranked or 300 in the world, every match is winnable and it just comes down to how you and your opponent play on the day.

After the match we headed off site to get some lunch and to kill a couple of hours but when we returned it was still raining so Mia decided to get stuck into her gym programme. As Mia’s not competing next week she decided to increase her normal tournament training programme so that she has a smoother transition back into her training block once we get home. Today was Plyo’s again and Mia took over the gym with her ladder training:

At just after 4pm the referee cancelled the doubles for the day so we went back to the hotel and got ready for an early dinner at Prezzo. After that it was straight back to the hotel to sit down with the Bath team to watch Chelsea play Barcelona in the Champions League semi-final 1st leg and I was very pleased to see Chelsea scrape a 1-0 win – it might be a different story next week though!

Schedule for tomorrow:

Mia Smith (GBR) & Sofia Segerfors (SWE) vs Dominique Covington (GBR) & Laura Eales (GBR) – 3rd match after 9am (not before 12pm)

The winner to play (1) Lana Rush (GBR) & Eden Silva (GBR) – 5th match after 9am

3 months to go!

Welcome to my running Blog!

Here I hope to give you an idea of how I’m preparing for my 11th Great North Run on 16th September 2012 and hopefully you’ll see how much effort I’m putting in to raise as much money as possible for Make-A-Wish Foundation. Last year I ran the half marathon in 1 hour 22 minutes and I’m hoping to go a little better this year.

To sponsor me and help to make the wishes of children with life-threatening illnesses a reality please click on the link below:

Alternatively go directly to my JustGiving page:

www.justgiving.com/robsGNR2012

 

Sunday 17th June 2012 – 3 months to go!

I had a tough 1 hour 10 minute run this evening and have only just put the finishing touches to the JustGiving page so please come back in a couple of days and hopefully I’ll have more details up of the training I’ve been doing.

Thanks for your support!

 

Nottingham U18 ITF Grade 4, Day 2

Tuesday 17th April 2012

It was a straightforward win for number 1 seed Eden Silva today against Mia but it could mark a big turning point in the development of Mia’s game.

Due to the weather forecast being so bad for today and the fact that Mia’s match was scheduled for first on at 9am we decided to leave the hotel at 7.15am and get to the tennis centre early to secure an indoor court to practise on. We were actually the first players at the tennis centre so we had a good warm up in the gym and then went straight on court for Mia’s pre-match training from 8-8.30am. Mia was hitting well and feeling good so all that was left to do was go through our normal pre-match briefing before she went on at 9am.

It was always going to be a tough match against a girl who is two years older and 600 places higher in the rankings but Mia started very well against Eden Silva forcing two break points in Eden’s opening service game. Mia was looking strong throughout that game and Eden was looking a little tentative but as soon as Eden fought off the two break points and held serve to go 1-0 up she started to relax more. By the time Eden had broken Mia in the second game she looked more in control of the match and went on to win the next 7 games in a row to take a 6-0, 3-0 lead. To Mia’s credit she was actually sticking to her goals and making Eden earn the points whilst trying to maintain more controlled aggression in her game.

Having lost the last 9 games in a row it was fair to say that the game plan wasn’t working (!!) so Mia changed what she was doing and started to step up and take the ball on more without going out of control. This was unusual for Mia as she often sticks to what she thinks will work whether it is or not so from a developmental point of view this was a huge improvement for her. The change in plan worked immediately; Mia’s winner count increased while she actually restricted Eden to only 2 winners in the next 5 games compared to her 5 winners in the first 3 games of the second set. Mia broke at 0-4* and then again at 1-5* but really struggled to hold her own serve so ended up going down 6-0, 6-2.

From my point of view it was a really good match from Mia; she didn’t go out and try and beat Eden by trying to hit huge winners from the back of the court, she managed to keep her unforced error count within an acceptable range, she leant from what was working / not working on the court and then changed her tactics and she also played a much better second set than first. Mia was obviously disappointed to lose in the first round but there’s never any shame in losing when you’ve played against a good player and you’ve improved a lot throughout the match.

Due to the rain delays it wasn’t possible to get back on court later in the day so after resting and having some lunch we went into the gym in the afternoon to go through a tough strength session followed by Mia’s band and core programme.

It was then back to the hotel around 4.30pm to relax before going out to dinner at Wagamama’s. Last year I took the Portuguese team there and they had a few issues with how spicy the Chicken Katsu Curry was even though I completely disagreed but this year it was Gaby that struggled with it much to my and Mia’s amusement!!

Girl's U18 ITF Doubles Draw

Schedule for tomorrow:

Mia Smith (GBR) & Sofia Segerfors (SWE) vs Dominique Covington (GBR) & Laura Eales (GBR) – 3rd match after 9am (not before 12pm) WEATHER PERMITTING!!!

Nottingham U18 ITF Grade 4, Day 1

Monday 16th April 2012

After a brief couple of days back at home Mia and I drove back up to Nottingham yesterday evening so that we could have a full training day today in preparation for her main draw match tomorrow.

We left the hotel this morning at 8am and after a quick stop at Sainsbury’s to stock up on some food we were in the gym warming up at 8.30am. Mia then hit with Gaby Paul to warm her up for her last round qualifying match and then it was my turn to put Mia through her paces as we spent the next hour working on the specifics that we’d identified from Mia’s matches last week. This week is a little different from last week as now we’re preparing to play against girls who are up to 18 years old and it’s not likely that Mia’s going to come up against a player who only relies on being consistent to win the match. Mia’s going to need to play very smart no matter who she plays and take every opportunity that she’s given.

After a really good morning session we had some lunch at 11am and then watched some of the ATP event in Monte Carlo. We watched Rochus vs Verdasco and it was quite amusing to hear Gaby think that Rochus was 6ft 11inches and Mia think that he was 6ft 2inches when he’s actually 5ft 3inches!! The phrase “It’s not the size of the dog in the fight but the size of the fight in the dog” was definitely correct in that match as Rochus pushed Verdasco all the way until he eventually went down 7-5 in the 3rd.

Next on the agenda for Mia was her strength and conditioning and with 1 day to go before she competes she went through 2 sets of her agility programme then she went through her daily core and band work.

Mia then had a break of another hour before she was back on court with Ilinca Bercaru from Romania. Ilinca has to be one of the tallest girls in the event at around 6ft 1inch so it was a really good test for Mia’s game and I was really pleased that she not only held her own during the session but she also played very intelligently during a couple of tie-breaks to win both. The session was only around 1 hour long but it’s not about how long you’re on the court it’s about finding the level needed to compete at this level and Mia definitely did that.

At just after 4pm we left the court and headed into the gym to cool down and stretch out to finish a fantastic days training. Dinner tonight was at Pizza Express with Gaby Paul and Mark Ruffle from the Bromley Tennis Academy and then it was back to the hotel for Mia, Gaby and me while Mark headed out to watch Arsenal – will they come back from 2-0 down???

Here’s the girl’s main draw:

Schedule for tomorrow:

Mia Smith (GBR) (983) vs (1) Eden Silva (GBR) (351) – 1st match at 9am

Nottingham U14 TE Grade 3, Day 5

Friday 13th April 2012

It was an unlucky Friday 13th today as Mia and Ellie came so close to a spot in the girl’s doubles final but just couldn’t convert their match points.

We were at the tennis centre by 8.30am this morning to warm up in the gym before Mia hit with Eden Richardson to prepare her for her singles semi-final against Cindy Castille. At 9.30am Ellie arrived so we moved over to Centre Court so that she could go through her normal pre-match warm up and also so that we could get a full court to do some specific doubles work. Yesterday the girls had played well as a team but they needed to move a lot more at the net to dominate the points from the start of the match so that was our main goal this morning. Both Mia and Ellie worked very hard for over an hour and their confidence in their movement and their tactics grew hugely as the session went on.

At 11am we went up to the café to have some lunch and relax before their doubles semi-final which was scheduled for 12pm. Unfortunately there had been a rain delay in the morning and then there was another one just after 12pm so the match didn’t end up going on court until after 2pm.

The girls were playing against the tricky pairing of Holly Thompson and Georgie Walker who Mia played against in the Wrexham U14 TE back in December last year. Mia and Ellie started very well; they were both dominating the net and holding serve comfortably which lead to them going 4-1 up in the first set. Holly Thompson, who had been serving well, then held serve for the second time before Mia and Ellie took the set 6-2. At this stage it looked as though it could easily be a 6-2, 6-1 kind of match but a lapse of focus at the start of the second set made life very difficult for Mia and Ellie. They quickly went 3-1 down before getting their heads straight and fighting back to lead 4-3 but some missed break point opportunities on Georgie’s serve and a wrong decision of who they chose to take the “sudden-death deuce” point ended up going on to cost them the set 6-4.

There was then a long delay while Holly and Georgie went for a toilet break but Mia and Ellie did the right thing of getting back out on court to hit some balls which kept themselves warm and kept their focus. When the match tie-break started Mia and Ellie took a 2-0 lead but Holly and Georgie responded well to take the next 3 points in a row. From then on it was very close; Mia double faulted at *4-4 but they came straight back to earn 2 match points at 9-7 before the tie-break was levelled again at 9-9. Mia and Ellie had another match point at 10-9 on Ellie’s serve but they didn’t convert and ended up losing 4 out of the next 5 points to lose the breaker 13-11.

It’s was a difficult loss and both of the girls were extremely disappointed not to have converted one of their 3 match points. Holly and Georgie went on to win the final later in the day but it was back down the M1 for Mia and I to rest over the weekend before returning on Sunday evening to prepare for the U18 ITF next week.

Nottingham U14 TE Grade 3, Day 4

Thursday 12th April 2012

It was a very positive day for Mia today as her hard work during training yesterday really paid off in a great doubles win over the 3rd seeds to reach the semi-finals.

We had a bit of a lie in this morning so we were up and out by 8.15am and in the gym at the tennis centre warming up by 8.30am. We then had the best session of the week so far on court from 9-10am – Mia had really taken on board the things we had worked on yesterday and was thinking so much more about each individual ball which consequently made her work harder to be in the best position for each shot. I was really impressed with her change of attitude and as soon as we finished the session she decided to go straight into the gym to go through her tough Plyometrics programme.

Mia working hard during her Plyometrics session

Mia then had an hour off to relax and get some food before she was back on court with Dayana Yastremska who beat her in the 1st round. Dayana had played a really close match with the number 1 seed yesterday afternoon; narrowly losing 6-4 in the third, but was back on court again today hungry to develop and improve. Mia also had a point to prove after her swift defeat on Tuesday so I was really looking forward to this training session! Both girls were extremely focused throughout but it was Dayana who was dictating what she wanted to work on which was fine with us as Mia goals were more based around her level of hitting rather than specific drills. After 45 minutes of drilling Mia asked Dayana if she wanted to play a set up to 4 games and, after learning a lot from their match, Mia set about her business to gain some revenge! Mia’s quality of hitting was very good and I think she surprised Dayana by how controlled and patient she was during the rallies which lead to her taking the set 4-0 – bit of a difference to their match!!

Mia and Dayana during their practice set

Just after 3pm Mia and Ellie-Rose Griffiths took to the court to face number 3 seeds Serena Nash and Eden Richardson in what we thought was always going to be a really good doubles match. Our girls started well breaking Eden in the first game but then had to come off at 15-15 in the next game due to the rain. When they returned Mia and Ellie started a little slow and got broken straight back but at 4-4 they played a solid returning game to break Serena Nash to lead *5-4. Ellie then stepped up and held serve to take the first set thanks to some solid baseline hitting and good movement at the net from Mia.

Ellie returning while Mia closes in on the net

Once the first set was out of the way Mia and Ellie’s self-belief increased and they raced to a 4-1 lead in the second set. Both girl’s then lost some focus which allowed Eden and Serena to get back into the set but a good hold from Ellie at *4-3 and Mia at *5-4 sealed the match 6-4, 6-4. Considering it was the first time the girls had played together it was a very good performance and now hopefully they can go a long way together in this event.

I debriefed the girls after the match while they were both cooling down on the bike and then after a thorough stretch out we headed back to the hotel for another meal in ASK and an early night.

Schedule for tomorrow:

Mia Smith (GBR) & Ellie-Rose Griffiths (GBR) vs Holly Thompson (GBR) & Georgie Walker (GBR) – 3rd match after 9am (not before 12pm)

Nottingham U14 TE Grade 3, Day 3

Wednesday 11th April 2012

It was just a training day today as we prepared for the doubles tomorrow but it was a great opportunity to learn from the other matches and a chance for Mia to watch her opponent compete against the top seed.

Many players treat a day without a match during a tournament as a “rest day” but in my opinion once you’re out of the singles the whole week just becomes a “training week” and so you should be looking to do as much work on and off the court as you would if you were back at your training base. Mia is now used to my expectations but it was 100% her decision to get up at 6.30am this morning and get on court to warm up by 7.30am.

Sam and Mia warming up early this morning

For the first 30 minutes of the session she warmed Sam up for his 2nd round match and then we went into the bubble and trained for another hour working on specifics from her 1st round match yesterday. In particular we worked on how individually she treats each shot to make sure she’s identifying which ball she can step up on, which ball to defend on and which ball just to stay in the rally and build the point. Mia’s work rate was superb throughout and it’s great to see such a positive response after a tough loss yesterday.

After the session we grabbed some food and then went straight back out to watch some of the matches. For the rest of the day Mia’s main focus was to learn from the older girls in the U18 ITF event but she also stuck to her training programme and completed her interval session and her core and band work that she’s got prescribed for this week.

The sun finally came through after one of the rain delays

It was then time for some lunch and a chance to watch the Ukrainian girl that beat Mia yesterday. Dayana gave the top seed a real scare before eventually losing a very tight match 6-4 in the third after a couple of rain delays. Mia watched almost the whole match and I think it gave her a much clearer understanding of what she needs to do to win matches at U14 level. Next week in the U18 ITF it will be a different story as by that age the girls will overpower a younger opponent who only relies on consistency but for this event consistency is the key to getting results – if you can find the balance between being consistent and stepping up and taking the ball on at the right time then you can be very successful from a young age.

We waited at the centre until Sam had finished his doubles match (unfortunately he went down 12-10 in the third set tie-break) and then just before we left we checked the Consolation draw for tomorrow. To my and Mia’s disappointment she was the only player who had signed in for the event so the event didn’t run. It seems as though players were only interested in playing if there were points on offer and didn’t view it as a chance for some good quality matches with other main draw players – maybe it’s a British mentality as I’ve rarely seen Consolation events cancelled in other countries due to a lack of entries.

After another good dinner at ASK it was back to the hotel to watch the latest episode of The Apprentice. During the programme we had an interesting conversation about how many tennis players / coaches this week might “get fired” based on their work rate and commitment but as I explained to Mia and Sam if we actually started to treat the development of tennis players as a business and made coaches and players more accountable maybe we would start to see more British players being successful at a senior level.

As Alan Sugar says “you can’t hide in this process” – how many coaches / players do you know that are stepping up and taking responsibility in the “task” of being “world class”??

Schedule for tomorrow:

Mia Smith (GBR) & Ellie-Rose Griffiths (GBR) vs (3) Serena Nash (GBR) & Eden Richardson (GBR) – 4th match after 9.30am

Nottingham U14 TE Grade 3, day 2

Tuesday 10th April 2012

It wasn’t the start to the tournament that we’d had hoped for today but there was lots to take away from the match and lots of lessons to be learned as we prepare for the U18 ITF next week.

We were up and out of the hotel by 7.45am this morning so that we could warm up and then get on the outdoor courts before the matches started at 9am. Mia hit with Georgia Lawson while on the other half court fellow Kent players Sam Taylor and Tom Wright warmed up for their matches. After a very solid 30 minutes practise it was time to relax and watch some of the other matches including both Tom and Sam taking good 1st round wins.

Due to some very long matches on Mia’s court she decided that she wanted to hit again so at 1.30pm we went indoors and had a light practise for 25 minutes. The session served two purposes; 1) it broke up the day and prevented Mia from getting too tired and 2) it got her focused on her goals for the match.

At just before 3pm Mia took to the court against Dayana Yastremska from Ukraine and from the warm up it was obvious it was going to be a tough match against a feisty young Eastern European. We’d watched Dayana train yesterday so we knew what to expect and we’d set out a game plan to keep her out of her comfort zone and also to take her time away. Unfortunately the inconsistency that Mia struggled with back in Kenya popped its head up again today which made it very difficult for Mia to develop many rallies. That resulted in poor start to the match with Mia going 0-3 down before she broke serve to get on the board. However, Mia didn’t capitalise on that game and lost the next 3 in a row to go down 6-1. Yastremska is a solid player but had nothing to hurt Mia with and actually only hit 3 winners / forcing shots in the whole set.

The pattern of the second set was almost exactly the same as the first with the Ukrainian taking the first 3 games before Mia held serve to trail 1-3. Yastremska then took a 5-1 lead but despite Mia breaking her serve in the next game she managed to break straight back to take the 6-1, 6-2. It was a very disappointing performance from Mia but hopefully she’s learnt that it’s smart play rather than raw power or flare that wins matches at this level.

After the match we watched top seed Beth Askew fight hard from 5-2 down in the first set against a player ranked almost 700 places lower than her by just making balls and being very patient in the rally until she could step up and attack. Mia learnt a lot from watching that set and hopefully she can put that into practise in her consolation matches later in the week.

After a good cool down and a long stretch out for Mia and Sam we went back to the hotel and had an early dinner at ASK before it was my turn to have to fight through a test as I was back out on the road at 9pm to keep up with my running schedule.

We have a training day tomorrow as Mia has a bye in the doubles so it’s a great chance to develop and improve before her consolation and doubles matches on Thursday.

Girl's U14 TE Doubles Draw

 

Nottingham U14 TE Grade 3, day 1

Monday 9th April 2012

It was a very wet day in Nottingham today but we managed to get 2 great sessions on court as well as a gym session for both Mia and I!

I’d driven up to Nottingham last night with Mia Smith for this weeks U14 Tennis Europe Grade 3 event so that we could have a full days training today before main draw starts tomorrow. The plan was to train outdoors but due to a very wet day we ended up doing an early session indoors and then we also trained after the matches had finished at the end of the day.

We warmed up in the gym at 9am and then Mia hit with Sam Taylor from Bromley to warm him up for his last round of qualifying match from 9.30am until 10am. We then headed to the gym via the pro shop so that Mia could buy some tennis shoes as she’d left hers at home!! Mia has a physical programme that is based on how many days she has before her next singles match and as today was “1 day to competition” she had an agility workout to follow as well as her daily core and band work. While she did that I also had my own workout to stick to as I’ve started a 25 week programme to get myself ready for the Great North Run in September. Today I had a 1 hour run to complete and for the first time I did it on a running machine – it could have been the most boring run of my life but at least I got through it!

After lunch at the tennis centre we watched some of the matches before getting back on court at 2pm with Georgia Lawson. It was a really good session and following a very good week at the Tunbridge Wells tournament last week Mia is looking in good form and ready to get stuck in this week. After the session it was straight back into the gym to cool down and stretch out while catching up with the Bath IHPC players.

Before dinner we dropped Sam off at the train station as he’d lost his match but during dinner he then gave me a call to say he’d got in as a Lucky Loser so he was getting off the train at the next stop to come back!! We picked him up just after 8pm and then went back to the hotel to watch Chelsea and wait for the draw to come out.

Girl's U14 Main Draw

Schedule for tomorrow:

Mia Smith (GBR) (275) vs Dayana Yastremska (UKR) (UNR) – 3rd match after 9am (not before 11am)

Roehampton U16 TE Grade 3, Day 1

Saturday 24th March 2012

Today marks the start of my first “home” international event – the U16 Tennis Europe event held at the National Tennis Centre in London, England. The NTC is only about 22 miles from where I live but due to the horrendous traffic each day through South London I have to use the country’s busiest motorway; the M25, to get there. That journey on a Sunday morning could take 1 hour but on a Monday morning could take over 3 hours!!

I met Mia Smith at a local train station this morning just before midday and we arrived at the NTC just after 1pm following a smooth journey without any problems. We then warmed up on the outdoor courts for half an hour before training from 2-3pm – Mia’s not been too well this week but has been working hard on and off the court so I was quite happy with a much lighter session today where the main focus was just to get used to the court surface. By 3pm we were both happy with her level so it was then time to sign in, cool down and stretch out and then get some food.

The National Tennis Centre in all it's glory

By 4pm we were all done and so Mia left site with her uncle who lives locally in Barnes to stay there for the evening and for me it was another drive back around the M25 to stay at home.

Mia had a relaxing evening with her uncle and cousins at the cinema which was only interrupted by me texting her through the draw and the schedule for tomorrow so that she could decide when she wanted to practise in the morning.

The Boy’s draw was completely full but the Girl’s draw was once again disappointingly weak with 5 byes in the draw – I have no idea how there can still be byes in the Girl’s draw when there are 6 High Performance Centres and 2 International High Performance Centres all with in 2 hours drive of the National Tennis Centre – questions to be asked maybe???

Even though there were lots of byes in the Girl’s draw the referee decided to schedule all possible matches for tomorrow rather than waiting until Monday for the last round matches.

U16 TE Girl's Qualifying Draw

Schedule for tomorrow:

(2) Mia Smith (GBR) (920) vs (12) Olivia Horn (GBR) (1694) – 4th match after 9.30am (not before 1pm)

Bath Men’s $15k, Day 4

Monday 12th March 2012

It was a big day today as Dave was competing in his first Futures main draw but despite a good draw in the doubles him and Oli Hudson couldn’t quite find enough to get the win.

As there is a Men’s and Women’s event on this week it is quite difficult to get practice courts during the day so we decided last night that we’d get to the centre when it opened at 8.30am this morning and then train on court from 9-10am. The session was the best one I’ve had with Dave; he’s improved a lot over the last week and was looking very sharp around the net which was one of our main goals before he played his doubles match this afternoon.

At 10am Dave had a break for an hour and a half before he was back on court again to warm up one of the main draw players for their match. This again gave us a chance to watch some of the main draw players and learn about what they do effectively in their play which will in turn help Dave to improve his own game as well as gain valuable experience at this level.

The men's main draw getting underway today

After Oli Hudson had finished his singles match he was given an hour and a half break before him and Dave were on court at 4.15pm to face Joseph Gill and Jonny O’Mara. The match started well for Dave and Oli as they were holding very comfortably but both of them were struggling with their returns. At *3-3 there had been 6 holds of serve and I got the feeling that it was our boys that were in danger of being broken first as their opponents were starting to put more pressure on them and move more at the net. Dave held in that game but at *4-4 Oli was broken and Joseph Gill serve it out easily. First serve percentages of 58% from Dave and 50% from Oli are quite low for doubles but 1st serve return percentages of 30% and 38% respectively are much too low.

Dave and Oli started the second set with much more purpose and looked a lot more like a doubles team who were prepared to move and dominate the net. After breaking O’Mara in the second game of the set they lead 3-0* and increased their lead to 4-1* before things started to go back to how they were in the first set. Dave and Oli then ended up losing the next 5 games in a row to go down 6-4, 6-4 in a match that they were capable of winning comfortably. The serving percentages improved to 69% for Dave and 65% for Oli but again the returning percentages were very low – a golden rule in doubles is always “Make your opponents play” and this is most important when returning serve.

The doubles match today and his singles matches in Tipton, Sutton and in Bath have been a great learning experience for Dave and I believe the last two weeks have helped him to become more aware of the areas of his game that need to be improved before his next block of Futures events at the end of April. He’s worked very hard and is very professional so I know he’s going to do well in his upcoming events.

My next event will be the U16 Tennis Europe Grade 3 event at the National Tennis Centre in London which starts on Sunday 25th March so I hope you’ll follow how the players do there.

If you have any questions about any of my upcoming trips or any questions at all about competing internationally at a junior or senior level please do not hesitate to contact me via Rob@itc-tennis.com.

Bath Men’s $15k, Day 3

Sunday 11th March 2012

After the disappointment of losing 7-6 in the third yesterday Dave bounced back well today with a good training session and a chance to compete in the doubles main draw tomorrow after they made the cut but he hardest part of the day was actually trying to leave the hotel!

I left early this morning to watch some of the Men’s last round qualifying matches and the Women’s $10k 1st round qualifying matches while Dave had a bit of a lie in to rest his leg. That however caused a lot of problems as by the time Dave and Tom Allen were ready to leave the hotel the Bath Half Marathon had started and the road that the hotel was on was closed until 3pm. Dave was straight on the phone to me but after hearing my “You’re going to have to walk here!” response he decided to ignore the “Road Closed” signs and make a dash for it. Luckily they didn’t meet any of the runners and arrived at the centre just after 11am!

After being told that Dave and Oli had got into the doubles Dave saw the physio and was given the all clear to train so they both trained in court for two really good 30 minute sessions. During the break between the sessions Dave went into the gym to go through his core programme and also went through his foam roller stretching to keep his Quads loose.

Bath Men's $15k Doubles draw

We didn’t want to do too much today and overload Dave’s legs after yesterday so we spent the rest of the day watching the last round qualifying matches while discussing the areas of Dave’s game that need to be improved so that he is not only qualifying in the events but also winning rounds in the main draw.

After we had watched enough it was back into the gym to do a light session on the bike and then Dave went through a really good 45 minutes foam rolling and stretching to end his day. It’s so motivating to be in a gym like the one at the tennis centre at Bath where there are athletes from many different sports who are not only competing nationally and internationally but also athletes that are competing in the Olympics in London this year. There are lots of different quotes around the centre but this one caught my eye today:

For dinner tonight Dave went out with the guys from Chiswick while I joined Lewis Burton and Neil Pauffley for another dinner in Nando’s!! If it hadn’t been for wanting to catch up with Lewis there’s no way I would have been going back, saying that it is growing on me!!

Schedule for tomorrow:

Dave Hodgetts (GBR) & Oli Hudson (GBR) vs Joseph Gill (GBR) & Jonny O’Mara (GBR) – 4th round after 10am (after rest)

Bath Men’s $15k, Day 2

Saturday 10th March 2012

Dave had a real battle today in his first round of qualifying but after almost 3 and a half hours play he ended up on the wrong end of the score line.

After an early breakfast we made our way to the tennis centre to warm up in the gym but were told that the gym didn’t open until 9am so we’d have to warm up on the court. It seemed a bit strange that a gym doesn’t open until 9am on a Saturday but we went straight on court and went through a thorough warm up. Dave then hit with Tom Allen from 9-9.30am where he found a great level with both his groundstrokes and his serving and looked very much ready to play by the time we finished.

We then had to wait for the first round of matches to finish which gave us both a chance to prepare for the match both in terms of preparing food / rackets / match kit etc. as well as giving us a chance to talk through our tactics for the match and set the goals that we were looking to achieve. When the score got to a set and 3-0 on Dave’s court we headed into the gym so that Dave had enough time to go through his physical warm up and then we did some intense movement work to get Dave sharp and focused ready to play.

At just after 11.30am Dave went on court to face Imran Aswat and having played him at the back end of last year he knew that it was going to be a tough match. Dave was broken at *1-1 in the first set and then really struggled to break back despite being up in a lot of returning games. It was Dave’s inconsistency that was hurting him a lot more than the winners / forcing shots that Imran was hitting and that really cost him the first set (6-2). Imran had only hit 4 winners / forcing shots in the whole of the first set compared to Dave’s 10 but the unforced error count was 11 vs 23 – that really sums up the set – Dave’s aggressive balance was -13 compared to Imran’s -7.

At 4-1 down in the second set Dave fought very hard and broke for the first time which signalled a massive turning point for him. He then went on to win the next 5 games in a row with some exceptionally patient but very aggressive tennis to level the match at 1 set all. The third set started with Imran breaking Dave in the first game and at *1-3 the pattern was almost identical to the first set where Dave was over pressing a little and Imran had only hit a couple of winning shots. However unlike the first set Dave held and broke back to level the set at 3-3 and then after a couple of holds each Imran was serving to stay in the match at 5-4*. Dave had 2 match points at 40-15* but couldn’t convert them and then at Deuce in that game his left Quad cramped badly. He couldn’t receive treatment as it was cramp rather than an injury and so, as he was struggling to walk, he had to try and keep the rallies short and really go for his shots. Imran held serve at 5-4* and after another hold of serve each it was on to a tie-break to decide the match. Unfortunately by this stage Dave couldn’t sustain any kind of rally so he just had to go for his serve / first shot and then try and finish the point early off Imran’s own serve. Imran was very aware of Dave’s problems and played a solid tie-break where he was quite happy to allow Dave to go for his shots while trying to move him as much as possible. In the end after almost 3 and a half hours of play Imran won the match 6-2, 4-6, 7-6(3).

Dave’s Quad was in quite a bad way at the end of the match so he went straight to the physio for treatment before getting in the gym for a thorough cool down and stretched out.

We talked through the match later in the day while we got some food and then decided that we’d see how Dave’s Quad is tomorrow and if it’s ok then we’d train and sign in for the doubles which would start on Monday.

Hopefully Dave and Oli Hudson will get into the doubles tomorrow as that will give Dave his first Futures main draw match but we’ll have to wait until tomorrow at 12pm when the sign in closes to find out!

Bath Men’s $15k, Day 1

Friday 9th March 2012

After travelling home last weekend from the Tipton $15k Futures event I spent this week working with Dave Hodgetts at the Sutton British Tour event before our next Futures event which starts tomorrow in Bath, England.

I met Dave at the Bath University Sports Village at 2.30pm this afternoon after he’d driven down from Worcester with fellow Riverside Academy player Tom Allen. Both the guys warmed up in the gym for 20 minutes and then we were out on court for a really good hours practice from 3-4pm. As both players had been competing at the Sutton British Tour event up until yesterday they didn’t need to do too much on court so the session was mainly based around getting used to the surface at Bath as well as certain specifics that Dave and I have been working on during the week.

After the on court session we were back in the gym where Dave went through a thorough Foam Roll session to loosen up his muscles before he stretched for 20 minutes to end his day. Both guys then signed in and we left the tennis centre just before 5pm to head into Bath city centre to find our hotel.

Before leaving the hotel for dinner I looked up some voucher codes to save some money on our meals but instead of using them at Prezzo or Pizza Express Dave and Tom decided they wanted to go to Nando’s!! If you follow my Blogs you’ll know I’m not a huge fan of Nando’s (especially after Cameron made us drive 17 miles to go to Nando’s in Halton last August!) but tonight it wasn’t too bad and the “large” portion of rice actually filled me up a little – Dave did need to have 2 meals though!!

After dinner Tom called the referee’s office and booked practice courts for the morning before we headed back to the hotel to prepare for their first round matches tomorrow.

Men's Qualifying Draw

Schedule for tomorrow:

Dave Hodgetts (GBR) (UNR) vs Imran Aswat (GBR) (UNR) – 2nd match after 10am

Tipton Men’s $15k, Day 2

Sunday 4th March 2012

It ended up being a brief visit to Tipton this week as Dave had a tough first round match with fellow Riverside Academy player Sizya Kivanda.

We left Dave’s house at 8.10am for the 40 minute journey up the M5 to Tipton and then went through our physical warm up from 9-9.30am. Initially the plan was for me to hit with Dave for his pre-match warm up but when we went on court there was another player looking for someone to hit with which meant that I could give Dave 100% of my attention without having to worry about getting a ball back! Dave hit very well for the 25 minute session and then we had time to talk through the tactics for the match and get a light bite to eat before he went on after the first round of matches.

Dave started well and held serve in the first game despite being *0-40 down before going on to break and hold to take a 3-0 lead. Sizya then had a comfortable hold and continued his momentum to break Dave in the next game with some solid tennis from the back of the court. Dave didn’t let the break affect him and responded well breaking straight back and then holding his own serve to take a 5-2 lead. It was then Sizya’s turn to respond well and after holding at 5-2* he broke Dave and then held again to level the set for the first time at *5-5. Dave then produced his best game of the match which included 3 aces to go 6-5 up but Sizya again played a solid game to take it into a tie-break. The tie-break was very close until 3-3 but then Sizya played 4 great points in a row to take tie-break 7-3.

You could tell that Sizya’s confidence was on the rise after he had fought back from 5-2 down in the first set and he continued to up his level in the second set as he raced to a 5-0 lead. Dave played a good service game to hold at *0-5 but Sizya held serve well to take the match 7-6(3), 6-1.

Dave was understandably disappointed with the result having lead 5-2 in the first set but from my point of view there were lots of positives to take from the match and his level was much better than when I saw him last year in Bosnia. We’ve now got the whole week to work together, including the British Tour event in Sutton, before we travel to our next Futures event at the end of the week.

To keep track of Dave’s results click on the link to the Facebook page – www.facebook.com/itctennis1 or via you can follow me on Twitter – @itctennis.

Tipton Men’s $15k, Day 1

Saturday 3rd March 2012

Today marks a significant day for International Travelling Coach as over the past year and three months I have only travelled with players to junior events but today was the first day of my first senior event – the $15,000 Men’s Futures event in Tipton, England.

After a 3 hour drive from Kent I met Dave Hodgetts at The Tipton Sports Academy at 5pm this evening after he’d been in Shrewsbury playing for Hereford & Worcester in the LTA U18 County Cup competition. As Dave had already played a singles match today he just wanted to spend a little time getting used to the different surface at Tipton so we warmed up in the gym from 5 – 5.30pm and then had a really solid 40 minute hit on court until 6.10pm. I travelled with Dave last year to a junior ITF event in Bosnia and remember how hard working he was back then so I was pleased to see his application was still of a very high level today.

After we finished and had changed it was time to try and find somewhere for dinner while we waited for the draw to come out. Unfortunately (and partly due to it being a Saturday night near Birmingham) all of the local restaurants were very busy so we decided to give Dave’s mum a call and see if she could rustle something up in the 40 minutes it would take us to get back to their house!! By the time we’d got back our dinner was ready and on the table so we both tucked into a good home cooked meal – a real rarity when you’re on the road at tournaments so this was a great treat!

After dinner we checked the LTA website and saw that the draw and order of play had been released so we had a quick chat to plan the morning tomorrow before relaxing in front of the TV with Dave’s family.

Men's Qualifying Draw

Schedule for tomorrow:

Dave Hodgetts (GBR) (UNR) vs Sizya Ernest Kivanda (GBR) (UNR) – 2nd match after 10am

2nd Qualifying Round will be played later in the day

Nairobi U18 ITF Grade 5 (week 2), Day 4

Tuesday 14th February 2012

It was a day of opportunities for Jack and Mia today as they played both singles and doubles but unfortunately we only managed one win out of three despite being in full control of one of the other matches.

As Tom is out of the tournament it’s important that he still makes the most of the training time available which means we’re training each morning from 7.30am until 9am when the matches start. Jack and his doubles partner joined us for the session and it was a really solid hour of practice. Tom’s improved a huge amount since the first week and now he has to keep making sure that he’s pushing himself outside his comfort zone in every training session.

Between 9 – 10am I went through Tom’s 1st round qualifying match from Sunday with him and then it was Jack’s turn to go through his singles win from yesterday which helped him prepare for his singles match today. At 10.15am I went over to the Public Service Club with Mia to warm her up for her singles match and then it was just a matter of them getting everything ready before they played.

Jack went on as scheduled at 12pm to play Guy Iradukunda from Burundi and from the very beginning it was obvious that Jack would need to produce his best tennis to compete with the level of his opponent. The Burundian was very used to the bouncy courts and, where as most of the players are holding back a little to maintain their consistency he was playing flat out whilst hardly missing. Jack went 3-0 down before holding and breaking to make it *2-3 but then his opponent upped his level again to take 3 out of the next 4 games to take the set 6-3.

In the second set Jack started to dominate the points more and used his backhand down the line to great effect as his opponent was expecting it to go cross court. He also moved forwards and finished a lot more points at the net than in the first set which his opponent struggled to deal with. This time it was Jack who took a commanding 4-0 lead and then went on to serve out the set 6-1.

While Jack was in the middle of his second set Mia went onto court 4 to play tricky Russian Victoria Voinova. The Russian had lost in qualies but, like Jack, had got a Lucky Loser and was determined to make the most of it. Mia started poorly and went 2-0 down before she took a little pace off the ball and started to think more about what she was doing. She went from 0-2* to *3-2 and despite being broken straight away she took the following 7 games of the match to lead 6-3, 4-0.

From the end of Mia’s first set I was back over next to Jack’s court to support him through his third set. Tom had been keeping track of what had been happening for me and told me that Jack broke serve in the first game but his opponent broken straight back to level the set. I return at 2-2* to find the Burundian playing at a similar level to the first set while Jack wasn’t quite committing as much as he did in the 2nd. From 2-2* Iradukunda played some exceptional tennis and, while Jack was still playing some of the best I’ve seen from him, it wasn’t quite enough to get on top. Jack held at *2-5 but the Burundian deservedly took the next game and the match 6-3, 1-6, 6-3. Both Jack and I were very pleased with his performance and it was great to see him end the singles component of his trip with such a good performance.
I was then straight back to Mia’s court and arrived when the score was 6-3, 3-0. At this stage Mia played a really tentative game and I could tell that she was starting to get a little nervous while trying to close out the match. She held serve but it gave the Russian a bit of belief and that lead to Mia losing the next 4 games in a row. She managed to get back into the lead at 5-4* but by this stage her hitting level had dropped significantly while her opponents level was on the way up. It was then Voinova’s turn to win 7 games in a row to go from 5-4 down in the second set to 4-0 up in the third. Mia then managed to get two games on the board but the Russian came through in the end 3-6, 7-5, 6-2. It was a match that Mia was in full control of and a match where her actions caused the turnaround in the match rather than her opponent changing what she was doing.

After a quick chat with Mia I then moved straight onto Centre Court to watch Jack and Alexandros Vakouftsis take on Wiktor Bielawski from Poland and Anatole Bizimana from Rwanda. The whole match was rather flat and while Jack was trying as hard as he could it was obvious that he was very tired after his tough singles match. Jack and Alexandros came through it though with a 6-2, 6-3 win which lifted the spirits of the team after two three set singles losses.

Jack serving his way to victory with Alexandros Vakouftsis at the net

By the time Jack had finished I had been courtside for over four and a half hours trying to keep track of 3 different matches and I was mentally completely fried!!

While Mia was warming up for her doubles match with Alessandra Gisonna I had to quickly go back to the hotel to buy a sandwich and when I returned the first words Alessandra’s coach said to me was “Are you sure you want to watch this?!”. That was at 0-3 and despite Mia and Alessandra trying their best they just weren’t up to the level they needed to be at to compete with their opponents. In the end they went down 6-1, 6-0 and that ended Mia’s 3 ITFs here at the Nairobi Club.

Mia and Dawn will fly home tomorrow; Tom will stay to train and learn from the other main draw matches while Jack will compete tomorrow in the 2nd round of the doubles for his first ITF points.

Schedule for tomorrow:

Jack Large (GBR) & Alexandros Vakouftsis (GRE) vs (7) Dominik Domazet (AUT) & Aswin Lizen (GBR) – 4th round after 9am (not before 2pm)

Nairobi U18 ITF Grade 5 (week 2), Day 3

Monday 13th February 2012

The boy’s and girl’s main draws were under way today which meant a chance for Jack to get his first main draw win and also his first win against an ITF ranked player while a win for Mia would move her into the top 1000 in the world U18.

Even though Tom is out of singles he still needed to sign in for a Lucky Loser place for the main draw and he also had to sign in for doubles today so he joined Jack, Mia and me in our warm ups at 7.40am. As it turned out I didn’t need to warm up as Jack’s 1st round qualifying opponent asked if he could hit with Jack this morning so while they practised on one half court Tom and Mia warmed up on the other. As Jack and Mia were not scheduled to play until later in the day they decided to train for an hour this morning so after their normal pre-match hit for 30 minutes they then went on to play points for the next 30 minutes – I came in to play points with Jack while Tom and Mia played together on the next court.

After the session we walked the short distance to the supermarket to get some water and food before returning to the club to prepare for the matches.

Jack was 3rd match after 9am on Centre Court and ended up going on just before 11.45am to play his doubles partner from the 1st week; Mateusz Izycki from Poland. Jack got off to a great start thanks to some very erratic play from Mateusz which included 6 doubles faults in his first 2 service games!! Mateusz held while 4-0 down but that was to be the last game of the set that he won as Jack stormed to a 6-1 lead playing some very smart and consistent tennis.

Jack chasing down a wide forehand and ripping it down the line during the 1st set

During the second set Jack’s serve started to let him down and he was broken early at 1-1 but managed to break back immediately to level the set again at 2-2. By this stage Mateusz had changed his play and had become a lot more patient in the rally, he wasn’t hitting many more winners from the back of the court but he was making Jack miss more. At 2-2 Jack was broken again and never managed to get the break back as he went down 6-4 in the 2nd set.

After a brief delay while the court was swept and re-lined Jack opened the 3rd set with a good hold of serve but at 1-1 he again struggled with his service consistency and was comfortably broken whilst only making 1 out of 6 1st serves. He was then down in the 1-2* game but fought hard to break and then won the next 3 games in a row to take a 5-2 lead. Normally I would say that at this stage the match would be in the bag but Jack’s never won a singles main draw match and I think this played on his mind a little. Mateusz held at 2-5 which meant that Jack would have to serve the match out. The nerves however got the better of him and he played a very poor game gifting his opponent the break. Jack responded very professionally and after some strong encouragement from Dawn and I Jack managed to break back to take the match 6-1, 4-6, 6-4 in just under 2 hours and 20 minutes. We were all absolutely thrilled with his win especially as he had to fight so hard to come through it – now just one more win tomorrow to get some points on the board!

There was about an hours break between when Jack came off and when Mia went on to face Waitherero Memba from Kenya so we used the time to go through Mia’s pre-match sheet and set her some goals. We’d not seen her opponent play before but some of her results suggested she was quite a weak player so our goals were all based around what Mia could do to make sure she improved a lot from the match.

During the first 4 games Mia performed very well and stuck to all of the pre-match goals that we had set which meant that she was not only 4-0 up but also improving a huge amount while winning. However she then struggled with her own service game and reacted badly to losing it which resulted in a complete turnaround in her performance. She took the first set 6-1 and then went on to win the 2nd set 6-0 but failed to really improve much after the first 4 games of the match. It was obvious at the end that she wasn’t happy with her performance so she stayed on court with Dawn to work on her serve and then completed some fitness work while I took Jack and Tom off for an early dinner in preparation for Jack’s 2nd round match tomorrow.

It was quite a contrasting day as Jack had to fight really hard for his win while Mia’s was quite straightforward but out of the two players I think Jack made the most of his opportunities today. If Mia had kept up the level she had found in the first 4 games of the match I’m sure she would have been just as happy as Jack even though the match was much easier. They’re both through to the next round though and have another chance to pick up points and improve the level of their games tomorrow. The win also takes Mia inside the top 1000 for the first time which is a great effort for a 13 year old!

Schedule for tomorrow:

(LL) Victoria Voinova (RUS) (1156) vs Mia Smith (GBR) (1031) – 3rd match after 9am (not before 12pm)

(WC) Gut Orly Iradukunda (BDI) (555) vs (LL) Jack Large (GBR) (UNR) – 3rd match on after 9am (not before 12pm)

To follow after rest:

Alessandra Gisonna (ITA) & Mia Smith (GBR) vs Liliana Araucz (POL) & Michelle Onyancha (KEN)

Wiktor Bielawski (POL) & Anatole Bizimana (RWA) vs Jack Large (GBR) & Alexandros-Georgios Vakouftsis (GRE)

Nairobi U18 ITF Grade 5 (week 2), Day 2

Sunday 12th February 2012

After just scraping into the qualifying draw it was now down to Jack and Tom to make the most of their opportunity and perform well in their matches today.

Both of the boys were scheduled to be 1st on at 9am so we all had breakfast at 6.45am, warmed up off court from 7.40 – 8am and then were on court for our pre-match hit from 8 – 8.30am. I hit with Jack while Mia warmed Tom up and by the end of our time on court both boys were feeling good and ready for their matches. During the next 30 minutes both players went through their pre-match talk with me and filled out their goal sheets before they took to the court at 9am.

Our pre-arranged plan was for me to watch Jack on court 4 for his first set and then move over to watch Tom on court 1 for his second set. After that we decided that I would stay with whoever was having the toughest match until it was completed.

Jack started nervously against Daniel Kirsch from Austria but he broke at 1-1 and despite playing a little erratically throughout the set he managed to stay on top after the early break and took the set 6-2. Jack wasn’t playing as confidently as he has in the past two weeks but, as always, he was working hard and fighting for each point making life difficult for his opponent. As soon as Jack took the first set I left him in his dad’s capable hands and moved over to court 1 to see how Tom was getting on.

Tom had been nervous last night but it certainly wasn’t showing during the first set. I’d looked over a few times while I was behind Jack’s court and saw Tom hitting extremely well from the back of the court and really taking the game to his opponent. Tom was taking on Akram El Sallaly from Egypt who he’d played a couple of practice sets with yesterday but today his level was much higher. When I arrived Tom was 5-1 down in the 1st set but Dawn told me that he was playing very well and on 3 separate occasions in the set had game points.

After losing the first set 6-1 Tom dug deep to keep in touch with his opponent and on 2 occasions he was a break up but struggled to hold on to his own serve. When he was 4-2 up serving it looked as though he was going to take the set comfortably but the Egyptian fought back to level the set at 4-4 and then it went with serve until the tie-break. The tie-break was very tight all the way through; Tom lead 6-4 but was pegged back to 6-6 before he eventually took it 9-7 with a huge running forehand down the line winner on set point. It was a huge effort from Tom and he thoroughly deserved taking that set as he really stepped up and took the game to his opponent throughout.

Tom continued his high level at the start of the third but at 2-2 you could tell that his energy levels started to drop while at the same time his opponent became even more solid. All of the physical and mentally effort that Tom had put into the 2nd set had left him exhausted and he lost the next 4 games in a row to go down 6-1, 6-7(7), 6-2 in just over 3 hours. It was an extremely positive match from Tom and, according to him, was one of his best performances ever.

While Tom was in the tie-break Jack had won his match 6-2, 6-3 and so was courtside supporting Tom throughout his 3rd set.
After Tom had finished we all headed back to the hotel for some lunch before Jack and I started his pre-match preparations for his last round qualifying match against Oskar Michalek from Poland.

Following a court change they went on at 3.30pm and it was looking as though it was going to be a really close match after there were 4 breaks of serve in the first 4 games. Unfortunately for Jack the inconsistency that he showed this morning was still apparent in his game and the next 4 games went against him to give Oskar the 1st set 6-2. At the start of the 2nd set Jack broke in the first game and then held to lead 2-0* but Oskar then produced some very smart tennis to take the next 4 games in a row to lead 4-2. Jack kept his head up and immediately broke back to get the set back on serve but that was to be the last game he won in the match as he went down 6-2, 6-3.

It wasn’t a good day for Jack and he was disappointed with his level in both matches; he knew that he was capable of a much higher level but today it just wasn’t happening for him. After the match he went straight up to the referee to see if he could get a Lucky Loser and was told that there were 2 spaces available. There were no tactics involved this week in pulling his number out of the hat but, after Jack had pulled another player out of the hat first, his number was picked second and so he moved into the main draw – what a lucky boy!!

After the draw was done at 6pm we went out for dinner to the Fairview Hotel and were joined by Tony for the last time before he flies back to Cairo this evening.

Schedule for tomorrow:

Mateusz Izycki (POL) (1560) vs (LL) Jack Large (GBR) (UNR) – 3rd match after 9am

Waitherero Memba (KEN) (UNR) vs Mia Smith (GBR) (1031) – 4th match after 9am

Nairobi U18 ITF Grade 5 (week 2), Day 1

Saturday 11th February 2012

It was celebrations all round today as not only was it Jack’s 17th birthday but also both Jack and Tom got into qualifying after being 14th and 15th alternate before sign in.

There was no lie in for the birthday boy this morning as we all met for breakfast at 7am and then were over at the tennis centre warming up by 8am. We then had a good hour and a half on court from 8.30 – 10am where the goal was for the players to just get back into a good rhythm after having yesterday off. The practice courts always play their best early in the morning after they’ve just been watered and rolled so we took full advantage and did a lot of drilling from the back of the court before finishing with some serve and return practise.

At 10am it was time for everyone to go through their strength and conditioning programmes which for the boys included a lot of mobilisation work to make sure they ready for their qualifying matches tomorrow. Mia follows a programme which indicates what she has to do depending on how many days there are to go until her next singles match so today’s programme was 2 sets of Plyometrics training.

At 11am we went back to the hotel to shower and then all met up out on the terrace overlooking the cricket pitch to finally celebrate Jack’s birthday. He had a lot of cards to open including one from me and the other players but I think the cards he valued the most were the ones from his family in England which had chocolate bars inside!! There’s a strict rule on all the ITC trips that no-one (including myself) is allowed any junk food on the trip but the only exception is when it’s your birthday! I tried to bring out a “Colin the Caterpillar” cake from M&S but it would have past it’s “eat by date” by the end of January so instead I brought some M&S mini chocolate treats. The players were delighted when I brought them out and we all enjoyed them along with our lunch.

We were then back on court from 1.30 – 3pm where the players had all arranged to play practice sets / points with other players so I spent the hour and a half going between 3 different courts making sure they were happy with everything in their games. Everyone performed well and the boys felt in great shape so now it was down to whether they would get in or not!

After the boys had signed in they were still 8 and 9 out of qualifying so it was then just a bit of a waiting game to see if anyone didn’t turn up to sign in. We decided to go back to the hotel to get ready to go out for dinner before returning to the courts just before 6pm to see if they’d get in. By this stage the referee could have just told us there and then if the boys were in or not but he spent ages messing us around before finally letting both of them know that they had just scraped in – out of 24 players Jack was number 22 and Tom was number 23.

With huge smiles on the boy’s faces we left the club and walked down to the Fairview Hotel to celebrate Jack’s birthday in style. We all had a fantastic dinner and Tony had organised a huge birthday cake for Jack (with even more chocolate in it!!) which we all enjoyed immensely!

The Birthday Boy with his huge cake

Schedule for tomorrow:

Akram El Sallaly (EGY) (UNR) vs Tom Hulme (GBR) (UNR) – 1st match at 9am

Jack Large (GBR) (UNR) vs Daniel Kirsch (AUT) (UNR) – 1st match at 9am

Last round qualifying matches to be scheduled later in the day.

Nairobi U18 ITF Grade 5 (week 1), Day 7

Friday 10th February 2012

The phrase “it was another early start at the Nairobi Club” has been a ongoing joke amongst us all for the last couple of weeks as we have an early start everyday but it was more appropriate today as we were up and at breakfast by 6.15am.

By 6.30am we were all ready to leave for the safari but one person hadn’t arrived yet – Jack’s dad. He’d decided to fly over from Cairo to join Jack for the weekend as tomorrow is Jack’s 17th Birthday but Jack had no idea he was coming. When Tony arrived at 6.40am Jack was just walking down the stairs to reception and the look on his face was priceless!

By 6.45am we were all in the van and on our way to our first stop of the day – the Nairobi National Park. Once we’d paid our entry fee we were back in the van and into the park trying to spot anything that resembled an animal – we think that the rangers had planted trees that look like animals as to begin with that was all we kept spotting!

Jack, Tony, Tom and Mia on the Safari Van

Eventually we started to see more and more animals and the deeper we went into the National Park the better the variety became. Throughout the 2 and a half hours we were in the National Park we spotted Impala’s, Ostriches, Warthogs, Buffalos, Baboons, Rhinos, Giraffes, Zebras and a whole load of other animals which we didn’t know the names of! It was great to see them all in their natural habitat and I think the highlight for everyone was seeing 9 or 10 Giraffes running across the road in front of us.

The Nairobi National Park

After the National Park we went to the Animal Orphanage where it was nice to see some of the animals we hadn’t seen in the park but it was difficult to see them all caged up. It’s great that they have rescued the animals as they would have died in the wild and it’s fantastic that the local school children can learn from seeing them but it’s still not nice to see such wild animals with such little space to roam.

From there we went to the best place of the day which was to see the Baby Elephant Orphanage at The David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust. We spent over an hour there (which is when they bring the elephants back to the site to feed each day between 11am-12pm before they then go back to the wild) which was absolutely fantastic. We listened for an hour to one of the keepers taking about the projects they have going on at the moment while the Baby Elephants were being fed behind her.

At 11.30am the youngest Elephants were guided back to the National Park and the slightly older ones came in for their turn to feed. It was amazing to watch huge Elephants drinking the same milk (SMA Gold) that my 6 month old daughter currently has each evening. The only difference was that my daughter has 8oz per evening where as the Elephants have 12 pints every 3 hours – that’s a hell of a lot of formula to make up but thanks to SMA, British Airways and a lot of other supporters the charity manages to keep the costs down.

Some get their bottles fed to them . . .

. . . and some feed themselves!!

If you ever want to support an animal charity then I think this is one of the best I’ve ever seen so please check out the website for more details – www.sheldrickwildlifetrust.org

Our last stop of the day was to the Nairobi Safari Walk where Tony, Jack and I decided to give it a go while the others grabbed some food and relaxed. It was again a great experience and it gave us a chance to get much closer to all of the animals including the Rhinos and the Cheetahs – Jack’s highlight though was spotting a Crocodile in the middle of the National Park from high up on the walkway!

 

Close up of a huge Rhino

 

The Tree Top Walkway

By 2pm we were all well and truly done for the day so we went back to the hotel to catch up on a bit of sleep and relax for the afternoon before having the traditional Friday night BBQ at the Hotel. After that we had a couple of frames of snooker before getting an early night to prepare for a full days training tomorrow.

Nairobi U18 ITF Grade 5 (week 1), Day 6

Thursday 9th February 2012

It was a really tough day at the office today for Jack who was playing for his first ITF points but just fell short in a tight 3 set match.

After getting into the doubles draw yesterday as an Alternate Jack was fired up and ready to go this morning as we took to the practice court at 8am with his Russian partner Maxim Dmitriev. Maxim, like Jack, did not get into the singles qualifying draw and so for both of them this was a big chance to pick up their first ITF points and secure an under 18 world ranking.

The boys trained together for an hour while on the next court Mia and Tom each trained with one of the South African girls that we’d gone out to dinner with last night. Everyone had a really good session; it was nice to see such a high level of tennis being played and a really motivated team after a disappointing week of results. Jack’s motivation was obvious but for Tom and Mia their attention was now firmly on next week and being at a level to perform well throughout the last event.

At 9am we were all finished which left Jack with an hour to recap on his last doubles match, set some new goals for today’s match and then get himself ready to play. He took to the court with Maxim at 10am to take on wildcards Costin Economu from Romania and Francesco Migliano from Italy. Both of their opponents were from the Sánchez-Casal Academy in Spain and as Tom used to train there he new both of them pretty well.

Jack and Maxim had an ideal start to the match as Jack held serve in the first game, they then broke Costin’s serve and Maxim then held well to make it 3-0. Jack was moving very well at the net and his volleys were very sharp while Maxim was playing very consistently from the back of the court which often set Jack up at the net. From 3-0* the set went with serve until Jack and Maxim took it 6-3.

At the start of the 2nd set the boys decided that Maxim would serve first which surprised me as Jack had been serving so well but he held serve to level the set at 1-1*. At this stage it was obvious that of their opponents Costin was by far the stronger player; Francesco was quite solid from the back of the court but it was Costin that was making things happen for their team. At *1-2 Jack’s serve was broken and it was the first time that Maxim had looked weak at the net – in doubles it’s often the net player that will determine if a pair hold serve on not as they are the ones that can take the pressure off the server by moving and putting pressure on the returner. After trailing *1-4 Maxim held serve and then the boys broke straight back to bring the set back on serve but once again Maxim let Jack down in his service game which resulted in Jack being broken for the 2nd time. Francesco then served out the set thanks to Costin’s sharp net play and we were into a 3rd set match tie-break.

This was the third time that Jack had gone to 3 sets when playing for his first ITF ranking but it was to be 3rd time unlucky for him as some easy missed volleys from both of our boys resulted in them going 8-4 down. Jack and Maxim continued to fight hard but Costin and Francesco had the finish line in their sights and eventually took the match 3-6, 6-3, 10-6.

Once again it was hugely disappointing for Jack but he was boosted by the fact that it was by far his best doubles performance in this level of event. He moved at the net more than any of his previous matches and finished off more first volleys but at the end of the day both players need to perform well to get a victory and today that didn’t happen.

As we’ve been away for 14 days and have only had 1 rest day I gave the players the option last night of deciding what they did today before we rested on Friday. Jack had his doubles match so he had to play but Tom and Mia decided to do a solid half day before resting in the afternoon. That meant that from around 1pm all of the players were back at the hotel and getting on with some much needed school work. I’ve been very pleased with how the players have got on with their school work especially Tom who takes great pleasure in telling us how well he’s doing with it all!!

We headed out for dinner early tonight so that we could get back and play some more snooker afterwards. I played a 3-way game with Tom and Jack and after we all struggled to earn more points that we gave away in fouls I eventually came through in 1st place with Tom in 2nd and a very frustrated Jack in 3rd – it just wasn’t his day today!

Rest day tomorrow but it’s not going to be a day relaxing by the pool as we’re up early at 5.45am to go on Safari for the whole day – bring it the Big 5!!

Nairobi U18 ITF Grade 5 (week 1), Day 5

Wednesday 8th February 2012

It was a day of mixed emotions today as on one hand Mia had a tough 1st round doubles loss but on the other hand Jack had some huge good fortune as he managed to get an alternate into the boy’s doubles.

Each day is now following a very similar pattern as the only time we’re almost guaranteed a court is between 8 – 9.30am. We’ve actually got to the stage where there’s no point in going over to the courts in the evening to make a booking as it seems everyone knows that we “own” that time slot on court 6!!

We started the session with all 4 of us training until 8.30am when Mia met up with her doubles partner and went on the court behind to go through their pre-match warm up. Tom and Jack stayed with me and we got down to some tough drilling for half an hour before Mia rejoined us to end the session with some points. I must add that during the session both Tom and Mia ended up covered in clay; Tom due to an almighty fall (which was very amusing to us but he wasn’t impressed!) while it was Mia’s nose and hands that got covered due to a few “accidental” press-ups that she had to do!

Tom, Mia & Jack in training

After the session there was just enough time for Mia to write her pre-match sheet, talk through her tactics with me and get a bite to eat before her and Alessandra Gisonna from Italy were on Centre Court for their doubles 1st round match.

Alessandra and Mia (this end) on Centre Court today

They were taking on Anastasiya Shestakova (who Mia lost to in singles last week) and Krystyna Shumlianska (who Mia beat in the doubles last week) from the Ukraine and so it was a good chance for Mia to get some revenge. From the start though it was obvious that it was going to be a very tough match as both of the Ukrainian girls were very solid and quite quick at the net. Mia held serve to make it 1-1 in the first set but that was to be the last game our girls won in the entire match as they ended up losing 6-1, 6-0. Despite the score line Mia actually played quite well; she moved more at the net and finished more 1st volleys than her partner but unfortunately there weren’t enough of those types of play on consecutive points to get games on the board.

She was disappointed after the match but the big positive was that her energy levels and her communication were much better than last week so hopefully it’ll all come together next week for the final event of the trip.

I decided to go back to the hotel for lunch as the food at the Club hasn’t been very good for the last few days and it also gave me a chance to get on with some work on the computer. After I’d been gone for about an hour Tom came racing over the cricket pitch to ask if I’d seen Jack as he had a chance of getting into the doubles as an Alternate. Tom thought that Jack, Dawn and Mia might have gone to the local shop so with that I left everything in the restaurant at the hotel and raced out the front door and up the road to the shops. By the time I got there I was completely out of breath but just about managed to communicate to Jack that he needs to get back to the tournament site as soon as possible!

When we got to the referee’s desk we were told that there were 2 spaces in the doubles draw as 2 seeds had withdrawn so any pairs that wanted to sign in had 10 minutes to do so. Jack then raced over to the Public Service Club where his partner was practising to get him back on site to sign in. After about 20 minutes of coaches and players arguing that Alternates shouldn’t be allowed to sign in that late (which officially they shouldn’t be allowed to but I wasn’t going to say anything!) they finally did the draw. At this point I gave Jack some advice on which chip to choose and low and behold he picked himself and he was in the draw! As Jack and Maxim took the place of seeds they will now play tomorrow for their first ITF points.

After that crazy hour Tom and Mia were back on court over at the Public Service Club; Tom played a set with a local Kenyan boy and played very well while Mia worked on her serve on the next court for an hour. At 4pm Jack joined us and still had a huge smile on his face – funny how it was a little different a few days ago when he didn’t get the wildcard!! We all then returned to the club and the players went through their injury prevention work before stretching out to end a bit of a rollercoaster of a day.

For dinner tonight we met up with the South African Twins and their mum for a really nice meal at the Fairview Hotel and then returned to the Nairobi Club for some more team charades. Both Mia and I had to deal with teams that weren’t quite with it this evening – Mia managed to get her team to “The Globe Theatre” but no-one was guessing “Shakespeare” while I managed to get my team to “ The ….shank Redemption” but no-one could complete the title. We eventually both got our teams to guess the correct answer but not without a lot of steam coming out of our ears!!

Our extended Team for dinner

Schedule for tomorrow (and for the 1st time this week Jack’s name is on the board!):

(ALT) Maxim Dmitriev (RUS) & Jack Large (GBR) vs Costin Economu (ROU) & Francesco Migliano (ITA) – 1st match at 10am

Nairobi U18 ITF Grade 5 (week 1), Day 4

Tuesday 7th February 2012

It was a hot day on site at the Nairobi Club today where a huge swarm of Butterflies almost caused play to be abandoned! Tom was competing for the second time in the doubles main draw and Mia had a lot of waiting around before her match was eventually postponed until tomorrow.

As in previous days are regular training session from 8 – 9.30am on court 8 was fully booked but again the players who had booked the court didn’t turn up! This meant that we had the whole court so we spent the session working on doubles specifics before Tom’s and Mia’s first round matches. At 9.30am we were all done on court and our attention turned to keeping up to date with the player’s strength and conditioning programmes. Jack and Tom wanted to change up their programme as they’d been doing the same exercises for the last 12 days so, with the help of all the equipment I travel with, they devised their own mini-circuit which I was quite impressed with:

At 11.30am Mia went off site to play a practice set with Louise-Mare Botes from South Africa while I stayed on site with Tom to prepare him for his doubles. I always think it’s important while we’re away for the players to train with as many different players as possible so, as we’re about halfway through the trip, I challenged the players to see how many they could hit with before we go home. Currently Jack and Tom have trained with 5 different players (not including each other!) and Mia has hit with 4 – their goal is to hit with more than 10.

As we were waiting for Tom’s doubles match to go on we were amazed to see that 2 girls had to wait on court for over 45 minutes before their match in very hot conditions before their court was watered. They had asked the referee if they could come off but she said that they had to wait – it was utterly unacceptable and not a way to treat the junior players.

Tom went on for his doubles around 2.30pm and had set very clear goals on what he wanted to achieve from this match – you can never guarantee winning or losing but you can make sure you improve in every match you play. Tom and Akim were up against the very strong and fiery Israeli team of Yuval Barak and Nimrod Berman. The first two games were very close and competitive but when Tom was broken at *1-1 the Israeli team stepped up a gear and raced to a 5-1 lead before taking the set 6-2. The second set was much closer but this time it was Akim that was broken at *2-2 and then Tom was broken at *2-4 to leave our boys 5-2 down. The score line didn’t affect them though and they responded by getting their first break of the match and then holding to make their opponent have to serve out the match. This time the Israelis didn’t make the same mistake and held well to take the match 6-2, 6-4.

Both Tom and I were pleased with his performance and it was very obvious that his confidence at this level is growing by the day. His movement at the net and his volleys were much better than in his previous doubles match and I think Tom and Akim’s attitude and work rate was superb throughout.

After Tom had finished Mia was due to play her first round doubles match but by this time it was 5pm and one of the girls that she was supposed to play against was still on court playing singles! This meant that the referee had to postponed the match until tomorrow as it would have been too dark to play later in the day.

All three of the players then completed their injury prevention exercises and stretched out before we went back to the hotel to shower for dinner. We decided to have dinner at our hotel tonight so that the players would have more time afterwards to do school work, call home or just relax.

Jack and I finished the day with a good game of snooker for the second time on the trip and I’m pleased to report that I’m currently 2-0 up – allez!

Schedule for tomorrow:

Anastasiya Shestakova (UKR) & Krystyna Shumlianska (UKR) vs Alessandra Gisonna (ITA) & Mia Smith (GBR) – 2nd match after 9.30am

Nairobi U18 ITF Grade 5 (week 1), Day 3

Monday 6th February 2012

It’s been another long day on and off the court at the Nairobi Club today which included the high of one of the boys getting into the doubles but the low of Mia suffering a first round singles defeat.

The boys and I are getting used to seeing the sun come up over the cricket pitch now as all of our sessions are starting early but this morning’s training was made even more difficult for me as I’d been up all night with a dodgy stomach! I managed to get a little bit of food down at breakfast before we were all warming up at 7.30am to start the session at 8am.

Today’s morning session was probably the best one we’d had since the trip begun; Jack and Tom were both working as hard as ever but their quality of hitting had increased significantly since day 1 and Tom was really started to push Jack from the back of the court. The session seemed to fly by which is always a good sign but by 9.15am I was starting to get a little concerned as Mia wasn’t on site warming up. Once we finished at 9.30am I saw Dawn who informed me that Mia had endured a similar night to me and was feeling pretty rough so had decided to stay at the hotel.

It was only at about 9.45am that the referee finally released the girl’s draw and we saw that Mia was scheduled for 3rd match on against Iva Ivkovic from Serbia (the girl she played a practice set with on Saturday!). With that Dawn made her way back over to the hotel to get Mia and, after she’d had a good warm up, we finally managed to get on court for a pre-match hit from 10.45 – 11.15am.

After the session Mia looked worse than before and it was obvious that she was feeling pretty weak. Luckily the 1st round match on Centre Court had gone to 3 sets so it gave Mia sometime to eat, relax and try to get in the right frame of mind to compete.

She took to the court just after 12.30pm and it was obvious from the start that this was going to be a very difficult match; Mia was still struggling with how she was feeling and Iva was not in the mood for giving out any sympathy! Mia served first and lead 40-15 in the opening game but 3 unforced errors lead to her being broken. That then lead to Mia struggling with her consistency throughout the set and Iva took full advantage winning the next 6 games in a row to lead 6-0, 1-0. Iva was just playing a solid game; she didn’t have anything big in her game but was patient and quite happy to wait for Mia to miss.

Mia on Centre Court against Iva Ivkovic from Serbia

Mia staged a mini comeback and actually lead 2-1 in the 2nd set but a total of 38 unforced errors and only 9 winners lead to her going down 6-0, 6-2. It wasn’t a good performance from Mia but considering the way she was feeling before she went on the court I think she did well to work hard throughout the match and put up a bit of a fight in the 2nd set.

After Mia’s singles we checked the doubles draw and found out that Tom had been awarded a wildcard into the draw with Akim Ntwali from Rwanda. Jack was obviously disappointed not to get into the draw but he turned his attention to his second session of the day and had a good 45 minute hit with one of the Polish boys. Tom also got back on court this afternoon with his Russian hitting partner and had a long 2 hour + session where they managed to almost play a whole match. Tom lost the first set 6-1 but fought back well to take the second set 6-4 and then the boys decided to play a match tie-break for the third where Tom eventually went down 10-4. He was really pleased with his performance and his high level from the session this morning was again reproduced this afternoon. He was even more pleased with the afternoon session though as he was able to reproduce that level in point play rather than just in drilling.

For dinner tonight we again went to the Fairview hotel but decided to go to one of their other restaurants at the back of the hotel by the swimming pool. The food was of the same high standard as usual and, on the recommendation of the waiter, I went for the Mango Chicken. I did think it would just be chicken with a mango sauce but was delighted to have this presented in front of me:

Schedule for tomorrow:

Yuval Barak (ISR) & Nimrod Berman (ISR) vs Tom Hulme (GBR) & Akim Ntwali (RWA) – 5th match after 9am (not before 2pm)

Anastasiya Shestakova (UKR) & Krystyna Shumlianska (UKR) vs Alessandra Gisonna (ITA) & Mia Smith (GBR) – 6th match after 9am

Nairobi U18 ITF Grade 5 (week 1), Day 2

Sunday 5th February 2012

It was the final day of preparation for Mia today before her 1st round main draw tomorrow while the boys had their work cut out trying to find a partner for the doubles.

All of the players were up early this morning for a 7am breakfast and then they all trained together from 8 – 9.30am. It was good to have all three players together on court so that two could work together while I did some individual work with the other one. We were lucky enough to get two courts for the last hour so that we could play some full court points out and also work on serve and return.

By 9.30am we were all done and pleased with the morning session so now my attention moved to running with Dawn! We had a good 5 laps around the cricket pitch where Dawn beat her quickest time on each lap and just to add a competitive edge we got Mia to record a lap time. Her first one was only 20 seconds quicker than Dawn but once Mia realised what we were doing she wanted another go! On her second attempt she went off like a rocket and at half way we thought she was going to collapse but she eventually got through it 45 seconds quicker than her first go!

Everyone had a break in the middle of the day and our attention turned to trying to get the boys into the doubles. As they didn’t get into the singles qualifying they would go down as 5th priority on the entry list even if they played with the number 1 seed so I came up with the idea of them trying to find a local player and requesting a wildcard. With that the boys went their separate ways and started asking ever African player that could find. With both boys believing they had the best partner for a wildcard they wrote their letters and passed them on to the referee – we’ll see tomorrow if either of them were successful!

Mia was back on court for her 2nd session of the day at 2pm to play a practice set with Kasandra Kozub from Poland. She had a really good set and, despite the poor state of the practice courts, she found the best level that she’s played at from the back of the court and she also served well. She lost the set 6-4 but she felt good and ready for her main draw match tomorrow.

Mia driving into her serving during a practice set

As soon as she finished I left her to complete her strength and conditioning programme and went over to the Public Service Club to be on court with Jack and Tom. They had arranged sessions with different players to add variety in their training and when I arrived they were both working very hard. Jack was hitting with a boy from Canada and a boy from India while Tom had hooked up with a Russian boy who, like Tom, had not got into the qualifying draw.

Jack (in red) and Tom (in the air!) during training this afternoon

By the time we had finished both Jack and Tom were happy with their level but it was Tom that seemed extra-pleased as it was the first day for a while where he wasn’t feeling unwell and he was really enjoying working hard. After the session we walked back to the club (following Jack on a sneaky short-cut over a wall!!) and then Jack went through his maintenance programme while Mia and Tom had a thorough stretch out.

This evening we decided to get to the Fairview hotel early to make use of their free WiFi as all of our “pay as you go” internet on our dongles had run out! The players and I then each tucked into a big bowl of pasta while Dawn opted for the Quesadilla’s. It was then time to make some Skype calls home before walking back to the hotel for an early night.

Schedule for tomorrow:

To be confirmed once the final girl’s qualifying match is completed in the morning.

Nairobi U18 ITF Grade 5 (week 1), Day 1

Saturday 4th February 2012

It was a tough day for the boys today as our suspicions were confirmed that they would not quite make the cut-off to get into the qualifying draw.

Tom and I had an early breakfast at 7am so that we could get on court by 8am and get the whole court to ourselves. We then had a good session for an hour and a half where we continued to work on how Tom constructs the points and how aggressive he is from the back of the court. It was very much a session to push Tom outside his comfort zone and the results were very pleasing for both of us.

A little friend watching us train on Centre Court today

During the last 30 minutes of the session Jack arrived to warm up and by 9.30am he was ready to start his individual session with me. Just like Tom, Jack worked very hard and performed well during the session as we worked on developing his game both from the back of the court and when he comes forwards.

During the time the boys were on court with me, Mia was training off site but on her return we all got together to have some well earned lunch while we watched some of the boy’s and girl’s singles finals. The boy’s final was of a high quality and the winner was actually the Italian boy that beat Jack in the final round of qualifying! The girl’s final was disappointing as both players were just making balls and waiting for the other person to miss – I said to all of the players at the start of the week that the winner of each event would not be the one that looks the best but the one that is the most consistent and this was definitely the case with the girls. The girl’s winner was actually the Ukrainian that was 3-1 down to Mia in their first set!

After the matches Mia was back on court to play a practice set with a Serbian girl while Jack had a solid hour of serving. Mia lost a close set 6-4 but applied herself well and was happy with her own performance while Jack made significant improvements on the consistency of his first serve.

After each of the players went through their fitness for the day they stretched out and showered ready for dinner. Before we left for dinner we went back to the tennis courts to see if the boys had got into the qualifying but unfortunately Tom was 6 places out and Jack was 7 places out. We were all very disappointed that they didn’t get in but in total there were 9 players who competed last week (in the “stronger” Grade 4 event) that didn’t get into this week’s Grade 5 event.

Everyone was a little down at dinner but our spirits were lifted by the restaurant entertainment guy who always had a big smile on his face!

The boys will now put in a full training week and hope to get into the doubles on Monday while Mia will complete her final day of training tomorrow before her main draw starts on Monday.

Nairobi U18 ITF Grade 4, Day 9

Friday 3rd February 2012

It was our rest day today after 7 days of training and competing but it ended up being a busier day than we’d all expected.

After checking today’s order of play yesterday evening we realised that Jack had been scheduled to play consolation this morning even though he had told the tournament referee that he was going to have a rest day. I still wanted Jack to make sure that the referee knew this but I thought I’d let him have a lie in so I was up early to go over and make sure there were no problems. When I got to the courts the referee said he’d expected Jack not to play so everything was fine and, to my surprise, when I got back to the hotel to have breakfast the whole team were sitting there – nobody fancied a lie in then!

After breakfast Jack wanted to take me on at squash so at 10.30am we took to the court and, along with Dawn, played at least 10 games before we were all exhausted!

Dawn playing a drop shot winner against a flat footed Jack!!

On our last game Jack decided to play for a forfeit – the loser had to wear one of Mia’s dresses for 1 lap around the hotel. The deal was that if Jack won 4 or more points I would do the forfeit or if I beat him 9-3 or better he was dressing up. After a few nervous points I came through 9-1 and Jack ended up with his racket in 2!! (It wasn’t actually in anger though as the racket broke while he was trying to play a shot off the wall!).

After the squash the players got stuck into some school work while I went to see the physio to try and fix the problem I’ve been having with my shoulder. I ended up having a very painful massage but hopefully I’ll be feeling the benefits in the morning.

By this time it was about 2pm so we headed over to The Junction to have a look around the Shopping Centre there. It gave everyone a break from the hotel and tennis centre which, after being there almost non-stop for 7 days, was much needed. We ended up having lunch and dinner there and it also gave the players a chance to buy some souvenirs. The best part though had to be having a bit of fun with some wigs in the supermarket!

It was then back to the hotel for an early night ready for a full training day tomorrow (and maybe the sight of Jack going around the hotel in a dress!!)

Nairobi U18 ITF Grade 4, Day 8

Thursday 2nd February 2012

Mia was the last player of our team left in the draw today and was competing for a place in the doubles semi-finals.

Due to Tom not feeling well for the last couple of days he decided to make the professional decision of not training with me at 8am but to go back to bed and see if he would feel better later. That gave me some time to catch up on some work before Jack joined me for breakfast at 8.30am. We then made our way over to the tennis courts at 9.30am, warmed up and started our session on Centre Court at 10am.

The ground staff had been working on Centre for the last week so we were expecting it to be one of the best courts but within the first 2 minutes of the session we realised it was actually the worst court in the whole club! We still managed to have a great session for an hour despite both of us miss-hitting a couple of shots out of the court and onto the middle of the hockey pitch!

When we finished Mia warmed up with her doubles partner and then, after a break for some lunch, they took to the court to take on 2nd seeds Nikita Dawda from Kenya and Joanna-Nena Savva from Cyprus. Mia and Anastasija started very slowly and looked from the start as though they were struggling as a team – there was little communication and not much energy coming from either of them. They went 5-0 down before Mia held and then they managed to break before Anastasija lost her serve for the 2nd time resulting in them losing the 1st set 6-2. Not much changed in the 2nd set and Mia and Anastasija looked as though they were going to be beaten in straight sets but after a couple of holds from our girls I think their belief increased a little. They managed to hold serve to get the set level at 5-5 and then kept making their opponents play more balls which resulted in them winning the next two games to take the set 7-5.

At this stage Dawn, Jack and I expected Mia and Anastasija to come out for the match tie-break looking pumped up and ready to destroy their opponents but unfortunately the communication and energy was very much the same as in the first two sets. Their opponents however (as well as Nikita’s vocal mum) were definitely showing they were up for a fight and they raced to a 9-2 lead before finally taking the match 6-2, 5-7, 10-4. It was a match that Mia and Anastasija definitely could have won and it just goes to show that at this level if you’re the one who’s willing to fight harder, chase more balls and work physically & mentally as hard as you can you WILL get results.

After Mia’s match Jack went on court with one of the Polish boys and played a very good practice set with him. He went down 6-3 but served well and despite the very poor state of the court (the practice courts don’t get watered or re-lined at all throughout the day and by this time it was 5pm!) he was happy with the level he was finding from the back of the court.

After Mia and Jack had cooled down, stretched out, showered and changed we all had dinner together at the hotel where the normal card games were replaced by the boys taking on the girls at Charades. It wasn’t pretty and I think we all had tears in our eyes at some point during the game – Mia’s horse impression for “The Grand National” and Dawn’s demo of “The Skeleton” (Bobsleigh) were priceless. Here’s me getting pumped up as Jack managed to guess part of the answer:

Rest day tomorrow but no lie in for me!

Nairobi U18 ITF Grade 4, Day 7

Wednesday 1st February 2012

It was a tough day at the Nairobi Club today as both Mia and Jack took difficult losses but a win in the doubles meant that Mia’s first week wasn’t quite over yet.

After a 7am breakfast we made our way over to the courts at 8am to complete our physical warm up for 30 minutes. We were expecting Mikey to join us for the on court session at 8.30am but another one of his nosebleed emergencies meant that I was subbed in to warm Mia up for her match! Jack and Tom had a good 45 minute hit to get Jack prepared for his doubles while on the other half court I hit with Mia to get her ready for her singles match against the number 1 seed.

After the session all the players went their separate way; Jack went back to the hotel to change, Tom went off to complete his daily strength and conditioning work and Mia relaxed with a bit of reading before completing her pre-match sheet.

At around 11.30am Mia took to the show court to take on Anastasiya Shetstakova from the Ukraine. I remember Anastasiya from last year when two of the Bath players played her and Devan and Beth also played against her in the semi-finals of the doubles. She was quite a handful last year so Mia was well prepared for some bad calls and gamesmanship but to our surprise she was on her best behaviour!

Mia decided to serve first in the match but some inconsistency with her serve and from the back of the court meant that she was broken immediately. She responded well though and went from 0-1 to 3-1 with some very patient and mature tennis which made the top seed look very ordinary. Unfortunately Mia’s level was not sustained and she was broken straight back. At this stage she was still 3-2 up with the match on serve but that game and the next one actually determined the rest of the match. With Mia limping due to a sore right knee Anastasiya took full advantage and made Mia work for every point which ultimately ended with Mia making an unforced error. The next 9 games followed that same pattern with Anastasiya making every ball back in court and Mia making far too many unforced errors. Those 9 games all went against Mia as she went down 6-3, 6-0.

It was a poor performance from Mia where she had a huge opportunity to take control of the match at 3-1 in the first set but a couple of games ended up costing her a possible ¼ final place.

It wasn’t long after Mia’s match that Jack and Mateusz were on court taking on 7th seeds Nimrod Berman from Israel and Alexandros-Georgios Vakouftsis from Greece. This was the third time that Jack had been in the last 32 of the doubles draw and so the third time that he was playing for his 1st ITF points.

All four players were serving well from the start and it looked like it would be difficult to break anyone of them but at 2-2* Jack and Mateusz made the breakthrough as they came back from 40-0 down to break Berman. From then on the set went with serve until Jack had the chance to hold to take the first set at *5-4. Up until this stage Jack had been serving at 90% first serves but after a double fault on the first point and then a missed high volley he was broken to level the set. From there it went to a very close tie-break which Jack and Mateusz ended up losing 7-5.
Even though they had lost the first set I thought they were the better pair and I really expected them to come back and take the 2nd set. Unfortunately Mateusz seemed to completely lose all of his confidence after the first set which meant that he only made 1 first serve and only made 2 service returns in the whole of the second set. Jack tried hard to pick him up throughout the set and did a good job of holding his serve twice but there’s only so much you can do on your own and the boys ended up losing 7-6(5), 6-2. Jack was very disappointed as it was a good opportunity to pick up some points but, like with his singles, his doubles was much better than in Burundi and I know he’s going to get his first ITF points on the board within the next 2 weeks.

Mia was on court right after Jack’s match and her and Latvian Anastasija Homutova were taking on Kasandra Kozub from Poland and Krystyna Shumlianska from Ukraine. Mia seemed to have put the disappointment of her singles match behind her and her and Anastasija teamed up well to race through the first set 6-1. They were pegged back in the second set but did well in the match tie-break to eventually take the match 6-1, 4-6, 10-6.

Mikey joined us again for dinner this evening before he flies home tomorrow but, due to a loss to Jack at “touch tennis” today, he ended up completing a forfeit of crawling around the restaurant on his hands and knees. The staff had no idea what was going on but we had a great laugh at his expense!

It’s just down to Mia now as she plays the ¼ final of her doubles tomorrow while the boys will be putting in a tough days training before they have a rest day on Friday.

Schedule for tomorrow:

Anastasija Homutova (LAT) & Mia Smith (GBR) vs (2) Nikita Dawda (KEN) & Joanna-Nena Savva (CYP) – 3rd match after 9.30am (not before 12pm)

Nairobi U18 ITF Grade 4, Day 6

Tuesday 31st January 2012

Today was doubles day at the East African U18 Junior Circuit and a chance for Jack and Tom to get a main draw win under their belts while Mia had a rest day in singles but was still scheduled to play doubles last match on.

We decided to have an early start today so that we could have a break before lunch to try and buy some internet dongles before Jack went on for his doubles match. We’ve been without internet for 5 days and I think the players were starting to miss the outside world!!

After a light breakfast at 7am Jack, Tom and I warmed up at 7.30am before practising from 8 – 8.50am. Tom trained with his doubles partner while Jack and I worked on his doubles specifics which included his consistency from the back of the court as well as his movement forwards to finish off 1st volleys. While we were training Mia arrived to start her warm up and then we all left site to go to the Public Service Club at 8.50am so that we had a full hour from 9-10am. Mia and I mainly worked on her movement around the ball as she was setting up a little too early during her match yesterday and then moved on to her working on her front court game in preparation for her doubles. While we were doing that Jack and Tom hit a lot of serves and then finished with some doubles points in the half court.

After training we went back to the hotel and then walked the 20 minute journey into Nairobi city centre to go to the Orange shop to get us all connected to the internet. We would have come in earlier on the trip but the tournament kept on telling us that they would have internet at the club but after 5 days everyone had enough of waiting. We were soon all setup and on our way back to the club for some lunch.

Jack was first on just after 1pm and took to the court with Mateuzs Izycki from Poland to play Maxim Dmitriev from Russia and Palash Mishra from India. Jack and Mateuzs started very well and took a commanding 4-1 lead before a lapse of concentration cost them the next 3 games without them hardly winning a point. Jack then settled them both back down with a strong service game and then an easy break handed them the first set 6-4. In the second set they both raised their levels; Jack was much more commanding at the net and Mateuzs served much better as they stormed through to take the match 6-4, 6-1.

Just as that match finished Tom and Aakash Goyal from India were just about to play the first point of their match on the next court against Henry Ayesiga from Uganda and Shabani Kabura from Burundi. The boys started well and despite a few early breaks of serve they managed to hold, break and hold from 3-3 to take the opening set 6-3. It was a bit of a scrappy set where first serve percentages were a little low but both Tom and Aakash returned very well and were just more solid than their opponents. In the second set Tom and Aakash took their foot off the gas and allowed their opponents to build a bit of confidence. They were broken in the second game of the set and never recovered as they then lost 6 games in a row. By this stage the African pairing were really pumped up and hungry for the win whereas Tom and Aakash were struggling to get themselves going.

As the third set Match Tie-Break started it seemed to be heading the same way as the 2nd set but at 0-3* Tom and Aakash fought back and put more pressure on their opponents taking the next 4 points in a row. From then on it was neck and neck until Aakash missed a simple smash at 7-7 and then they didn’t win another point as they went down 3-6, 6-0, 10-7. It was a very disappointing loss especially as Tom and Aakash were in full control of the match after the first set but as always it’s a learning experience and hopefully Tom will use what he’s learnt this week in training for the next 4 days before he competes again on Sunday.

By this time it was around 4pm but Mia’s doubles partner had only just gone on for her singles match. Mia watched the first set while I went through Tom’s match with him but then just after 5pm the referee decided it was too later for Mia to play her doubles so it was postponed until tomorrow. That did us a bit of a favour as Mia’s knee had been a little sore all day so it gives her time to rest it before her singles match against the top seed tomorrow.

After showering and changing we walked down to the Fairview Hotel for a lovely dinner and met up with fellow Brit Mikey Puttick who had lost in the 2nd round of main draw today. As always the meal was great but half way through we were very rudely interrupted by a huge Cricket which flew in through the window and tried to take out Dawn and Mia (well . . . that’s how they reacted anyway!). Jack also got a little scared and almost ran out of the restaurant as; in his own words “it tried to get me too!”

After dinner I went through Tom and Mia’s singles with them from yesterday and then it was off to bed for the players for an early night as Jack looks to get his first ITF points tomorrow.

Schedule for tomorrow:

(1) Anastasia Shestakova (UKR) (368) vs Mia Smith (GBR) (1330) – 2nd match after 9.30am

Mateuzs Izycki (POL) & Jack Large (GBR) vs (7) Nimrod Berman (ISR) & A Vakouftsis (GRE) – 3rd match after 9.30am (not before 12pm)

Kasandra Kozub (POL) & Krystyna Shumlianska (UKR) vs Anastasjia Homutova (LAT) & Mia Smith (GBR) – TBC

Nairobi U18 ITF Grade 4, Day 5

Monday 30th January 2012

It was a good day both on the training court and the match court today as Mia played her first round main draw while the boys worked hard in preparation for their doubles tomorrow.

Early start - the view over the cricket pitch from the hotel

Like usual when the players are out of the singles it’s difficult to book practice courts so I decided last night that Jack, Tom and I would start early today before the main draw players turned up. Therefore we were at breakfast when it opened at 7am and then we made our way over to the courts to warm up at 7.30am. At this stage the courts weren’t lined and the nets weren’t up on any of the courts but by the time we’d warmed up at 8am all the courts were ready and looking good – it’s amazing how the ground staff do it but they manage to get the courts in a pretty good condition.

We had planned on training for an hour but because people didn’t turn up for their bookings we actually managed to stay on the court for an hour and a half which gave both boys a great opportunity to work specifically on their serves without having other players on court. Both the boys worked very hard and were happy with their levels by the time we finished at 9.30am. As we were leaving the court Mia and Dawn arrived so, while the boys went through their strength and conditioning work I left site with Mia to warm her up for her singles match at the Public Service Club around the corner. It was quite busy over there as they are much better than the practice courts on site but I managed to sweet talk the grounds man into letting us use a member’s court! We had a good practice and Mia found the best level she’s played at since we arrived so by the time we finished around 11.15am she was definitely ready for her 1st round match.

Mia was due to be on 4th match after 9.30am but the first 2 rounds on court 1 went to 3 long sets so the 3rd round of matches didn’t actually start until after 2pm. This gave Jack and Tom a chance to talk with me in detail about their matches before Tom was back on court for his second session of the day from 1.30 – 3pm. Today was also doubles sign in day and Jack and Tom made the wise decision to find separate partners to give them more of a chance to get into the draw. Their good thinking paid off as they both found main draw partners with rankings which meant they were inside the cut-off for the draw – if they had decided to play together or if they had signed in with a main draw player without a ranking they wouldn’t have got in.

Mia took to the court just before 4.30pm against Sarah Schaerer from Switzerland. She knew that this was a good opportunity to earn some good points in her first Grade 4 main draw and she went into the match looking very focused and up for a tough match. She started well by breaking in the first game and then took a 2-0 lead before the feisty Swiss girl won the next 3 games in a row to go ahead 3-2. In the past this would have really got to Mia but she remained calm and fought very hard in tough conditions to win the next 4 games in a row to take the first set 6-3.

Mia started the 2nd set where she left off from in the 1st and it wasn’t long before her consistency and quality from the back of the court really had a negative effect on her opponent – so much so that Sarah ended up firing a tennis balls at her mum who was sitting in the stands! This was a great time for Mia to step up and finish off her opponent and she did that with great professionalism taking 5 games in row from 1-1 to take the match 6-3, 6-1.

Even though it was a very good performance from Mia we still went back on the practice court for another 10-15 minutes just to tighten up a few areas on her serve before she had a good cool down and stretch out.

We all then went back to our rooms to shower and change before having dinner at the hotel tonight. It wasn’t as good as the Fairview Hotel and we did have a little trouble working out exactly what part of the cow Jack’s steak had come from (!!) but we’d all had a long day so it was the easier option. It also gave us a chance to play some more cards and have some good banter before having an early night.

No singles for Mia tomorrow so it’s just down to the doubles.

Schedule for tomorrow:

Mateuzs Izycki (POL) & Jack Large (GBR) vs Maxim Dmitriev (RUS) & Palash Mishra (IND) – 3rd match after 9.30am (not before 12pm)

Aakash Goyal (IND) & Tom Hulme (GBR) vs Henry Ayesiga (UGA) & Shabani Kabura (BDI) – 4th match after 9.30am

Kasandra Kozub (POL) & Krystyna Shumlianska (UKR) vs Anastasjia Homutova (LAT) & Mia Smith (GBR) – 6th match after 9.30am

Nairobi U18 ITF Grade 4, Day 4

Sunday 29th January 2012

After two days of preparation the boy’s kicked off their qualifying campaign today while Mia had another day before main draw starts tomorrow.

As Mia wasn’t competing she had a lie in while Jack, Tom and I all met for breakfast at 7.20am. We then headed across the cricket pitch at 8.30am to warm up before going on court at 9am for the boy’s pre-match hit. Both of them were hitting the ball well, especially Tom who was a little nervous last night and by 9.30am they were ready for their first round qualifying matches.

Tom and Jack during their pre-match training

Jack was first on at 10am against a tricky American opponent in Victor Gurevich but from the start it was very obvious that this wasn’t the same Jack Large that was out in Burundi with me. His confidence in his game has improved hugely and the hard work and professional approach that Jack has each day has resulted in big improvements in the last 2 months.

Jack started well breaking in the first game and then holding to take a 2-0 lead but lost his concentration a little to give away the next game with 3 unforced errors. He regained his focus to then take a 4-1 lead and despite the next 3 games being very close Jack ended up coming through to take the set 6-2. That was a big difference to the player I watched in Burundi where a couple of close games would have caused Jack’s head to drop a little resulting in a complete turn around in the set. Not now though and Jack then went on to race through the 2nd set 6-1. Victor made Jack work hard for it and as I said to him at the end the score line didn’t reflect how close the match was or how tricky his opponent made the match for Jack – a good win and a great start to the tournament.

While Jack was in the middle of his 2nd set Tom went onto court 2 for his 1st round match against Oskar Michalek from Poland. This was Tom’s first ITF event and even though he was feeling nervous last night he didn’t look it and was hitting the ball very well. Unfortunately Michalek was a tough opponent and looked very comfortable with both the altitude and the bouncy courts. Tom lost the first 4 games but fought back to 2-4* before going losing the 1st set 6-2. There wasn’t a lot between the two players; Tom was hitting well from the back and forcing his opponent to earn each point but it was Oskar who just seemed to have the edge when it came to the important points.

Tom continued to work very hard and apply himself mentally very well but the difference between the two players was 1) consistency and 2) the amount of winners that were hit. Tom finished the set with 2 winners and 15 unforced errors whereas Oskar ended up with 6 winners and 6 unforced errors. I like to call the difference between the two statistics the “aggressive balance” therefore Tom finished the set with -12 and Oskar finished the set with 0. Looking at those results you can tell that Oskar would have taken the set and he did take it 6-1. I was pleased with how Tom played the match and I believe the training over the next week will get him prepared to win this type of match when he plays qualifying for the next event next Sunday. Tom was also not too disappointed with his performance and, to my pleasure, knew exactly what he wanted to work on later in the day.

There was then only about 30 minutes left before Jack went back on for his last round qualifying match which just gave me time to eat some lunch and talk Jack through his pre-match briefing.

Jack was up against Tommaso Evangelisti from Italy who was the top seed in qualifying and had received a bye in the 1st round. Jack again started well and it was obviously that the match he had played earlier in the day had prepared him well to play against a higher ranked opponent. After 2 good service games Jack let the 3rd one slip too easily which gave the big serving lefty from Italy a 2-3* lead. At this stage Jack’s level dropped off – he’d only made 1 unforced error in the first 4 games while hitting 2 winners but in the next 5 games he hit 17 unforced errors and only managed 8 winners. It wasn’t easy as the Italian was hitting well from the back of the court, he was also serving very well and made Jack work very hard to hold his own serve. After being broken at *2-2 Jack was also broken at *3-5 to go down 6-3 in the 1st set.

Jack responded well and fought hard throughout the second set but the Italian raised his game which caused Jack to try to do more with the ball resulting in more errors. While Jack struggled with his serve Tommaso was serving at 64% and hit at least 1 ace per game. In the end it was just one break of serve at *3-4 which decided the set and Jack ended up going down 6-3, 6-3. Like Tom, Jack was quite pleased with his performance and I agreed with him when he said it was a much better performance than any he had had in Burundi.

While Jack cooled down and stretched I was back on court with Tom and Mia from 4-5.15pm. Mia had already played in the morning but wanted to play a few more points to prepare her for her match tomorrow so she hit with a girl from Ukraine while Tom trained with a Canadian boy who is in the main draw. Both of the players worked well; Tom worked on the areas that we had identified from his match while Mia just made sure she was feeling the ball well to gain confidence before tomorrow.

After the session Tom and Mia stretched out while the draw was being made and then we all showered and changed before we went back to the Fairview Hotel for another round of the buffet pasta! Jack and Tom definitely got value for their money as they piled up the food but it turned out that my plate ended up the biggest as I didn’t really take into account how much extra volume the vegetables would add to the meal!! When the food arrived I was reminded by the players my rule of “you’ve got to finish everything on your plate” but as the food was so nice I was quite happy to take my time and plough through it slowly.

We returned to the hotel for a quick game of cards but Tom decided to teach us a new game which ended up taking almost an hour to play!! I’m glad to say that I didn’t finish last but it was very close between me and Jack!

Schedule for tomorrow:

Sarah Schaerer (SUI) (UNR) vs Mia Smith (GBR) (1330) – 4th round after 9.30am

Nairobi U18 ITF Grade 4, Day 3

Saturday 28th January 2012

There were a lot of unhappy faces at breakfast this morning as everyone had endured a terrible night’s sleep (apart from Jack who slept like a baby!) and almost everyone (not me though!) were covered in mosquito bites!

Nonetheless it was training as normal and we had a good practice from 9-10.30am where once again the main focus was getting used to the altitude and the bouncy courts. We also mixed in a few points to end the session and much to my surprise everyone was finding a good range and execution on their shots. After practice the players all got out their strength and conditioning programmes and very professionally went through their scheduled fitness for the day.

After lunch we headed back to the hotel and were told that 2 twin rooms were available in the “new wing” which meant that Dawn & Mia and Jack & Tom had the chance to move into a much better room where they’d hopefully have a better night’s sleep!! Dawn & Mia jumped at the chance and were all packed up and in the room before you could know it but the boys took a little bit of convincing that the £4 extra per night for a much better room, better bathroom and shower and a fridge was worth it!! In the end I think the fridge sold it for them and they then moved their stuff into the new room. I on the other hand was still stuck in my old room but I did later managed to move to a similar “old wing” room but this time in was in the main building which hopefully will be much quieter with less bugs!!

We were back on court from 3-4.30pm for our final session of the day which mainly consisted of point play in preparation for the boy’s qualifying matches tomorrow. The session was again good but the players soon realised that the clay got very slippery as the day went on and Jack in particular took a superb fall.

Funnily enough almost exactly 1 year ago at almost the same time of day on the same court one of the group from last year ended up in the same state:

The boy’s then signed in for qualifying before we all had a good cool down and stretch out. After going back to the hotel to shower and change we headed out early to the Fairview Hotel for dinner which was where we spent almost every dinner last year with the Bath IHPC team. We were slightly early for dinner so we killed a bit of time playing some chess before heading into the restaurant and straight up to the buffet pasta bar. At the pasta bar you can basically choose however much pasta you want and then add vegetables / meat to it and the chef will cook it all up in front of you, add a sauce of your choice and then that’s your dinner – all for £8 which we thought was great value.

After dinner we walked the short 10 minute journey back to the hotel and then all had an early night in preparation for the big qualifying matches tomorrow.

Schedule for tomorrow:

Victor Gurevich (USA) (UNR) vs Jack Large (GBR) (UNR) – 1st match at 10am

Oskar Michalek (POL) (UNR) vs Tom Hulme (GBR) (UNR) – 2nd match after 10am
 Winners to play final round of qualifying later in the day

Nairobi U18 ITF Grade 4, Day 2

Friday 27th January 2012

It was a long day today which actually just seemed like an extension of yesterday rather than a new day (if that makes sense!!) as we were flying throughout the night.

We arrived on schedule at Nairobi international airport at 9am local time (6am UK time!) and all of us were feeling ok as we’d managed to get some sleep on the flight apart from Dawn who didn’t manage to get a wink! We all got our Visas and then made our way down to pick up our bags. After the problems in Burundi in November I was glad to see everyone’s bags arrive and we were soon out of the airport and in our pre-arranged taxis to the Nairobi Club. Dawn, Jack, Tom and Mia were all in one taxi and I was in the other with everyone’s bags – gave me a chance to get a bit of extra sleep though!

By 11.30am we arrived at the hotel and checked in, unfortunately we only had rooms in the “old wing” which weren’t great but everyone was quite happy just to get rid of the bags and have a bit of time to relax. I then gave everyone a tour of the local area which included the bank to change some money and the small supermarket up the road where we got food and water. It was then back to the hotel for lunch – Jack and I made the solid choice of Spaghetti Bolognaise while Mia and Tom made the huge unforced error of going for the Spaghetti Carbonara (neither of them finished it!!).

To try and get used to the altitude and also to try and get the long journey out of our systems I decided we’d do a long warm up followed by an hour on court from 4.30 – 5.30pm this afternoon. I think it did everyone good to hit some balls but it was very different from hitting at normal sea level and it took a little while for everyone to get used to the ball flying through the air so quickly. The courts here are exactly the same as last year so I knew that they get very slippery the longer you play on it and also the lines are marked out in chalk so when you slide across them they get erased!! That was just something everyone had to get used to and accept before they go into their matches on Sunday / Monday.

Pre-tennis movement work (spot the poser looking at the camera!)

After the session we all cooled down and had a very thorough stretch out before walking the short distance across the cricket pitch to the hotel. We then showered and changed and headed down to the hotel restaurant for their traditional Friday night BBQ which was superb – not that we would have that if they had been competing the next day!

Everyone then had an early night ready for a full training day tomorrow.

Nairobi U18 ITF Grade 4, Day 1

Thursday 26th January 2012

It was a long day today as we had two training sessions at the National Tennis Centre in London on clay before leaving Heathrow on a 9.20pm flight.

The team for this week is Mia Smith, Jack Large (who came out to Burundi in November) and Tom Hulme (who is back from Sanchez Casal’s and training at the Bath International High Performance Centre).

We had two sessions booked on the clay at the LTA Headquarters in Roehampton, London but Jack was unable to attend either as he had to be at school in Bath and Tom was travelling down from Manchester so he could only make the afternoon session. Mia and I got the train across London and were at the NTC by 10am which gave us a chance to watch some of the other full time players who are based there go through their normal training before we warmed up at 10.30am. We then had a good hour and a half outside on the covered red clay to get used to the different bounce compared to the faster indoor courts where we train and also get used to sliding again. Just as we were finishing Tom and his dad arrived so, after cooling down and showering, we had lunch with them and got to know each other.

Mia completing her forfeit at the NTC!

We were then back on court from 2.30 – 4pm for our afternoon session where I spent almost the whole time with Tom getting to know his game and how he likes to play while Mia played a set with one of the other girls who was training there. Both players had a good session and, despite the rain coming in horizontally throughout the afternoon, they were both feeling good back on the clay. After cooling down, stretching and showering we left the centre at 5.30pm and made the tricky journey across London in the middle of rush hour with all of our bags.

Tight squeeze on the Underground but we eventually made it to Heathrow!

We finally got to Heathrow just after 7pm and met up with Dawn (Mia’s mum) and Jack before we checked in for the flight. Originally we weren’t all sitting together but, after smiling nicely at the check in staff(!), I managed to get us closer together and even got us upgraded to seats with extra leg room without having to pay! As it turned out the flight was quite empty so Mia was able to get 4 seats to herself, Tom had 2 and Jack, Dawn and I were all on the emergency exit row.

We then went through security where all of us managed to set the alarms off but I think Jack gets “unforced error of the day” by leaving a Swiss Army knife in his hand luggage – fortunately the blade was just under 6cms so he was able to take it with him. We then got some dinner before settling down for the 8 and a half hour flight to Nairobi.

Bolton U14 TE Grade 1, Day 6

Tuesday 17th January 2012

Hey everybody, last blog of the trip so I’m writing it. If you have read any of the previous Blogs from this tournament then you probably would have gathered that my name is Mia!

Today we had a bit of a lie in compared to the morning before and had breakfast at 6:55am to give it at least an hour to digest before we started warming up at 8:10. We left the hotel with our bags and suitcases (Babolat everywhere!) to head over to the centre by 8am. We then prepared our water etc, and warmed up together. As it turned out Rob wasted his time warming up because I ended up hitting with a Serbian boy. It was a good pre-match hit and I left the court feeling good with one hour before my first match. I got changed into my match kit and then I did my pre-match analysis sheet before Rob and I went through it. I was ready to take to the court against Mijam Bjorklund at 10 am.

I started off striking the ball well but making too many errors and I went down 1-3*. This wasn’t a time for slow starting because in consolation it is only short sets to 4 but I managed to fight back to *4-3. I then lost that game to go 4-4. It was a long tiebreak in which I didn’t help myself because I wasn’t showing any energy or pumping myself up but my tennis pulled me through and I won 11-9. In the second set the same score-line was followed except she went 3-4 up. I came through once again playing exceptionally well but still not showing energy I needed to dictate with my presence as well as my tennis. I won the match 5-4(9) 5-4(2).

I only had just over an hour to each lunch, change and get prepared for my next match so I ate lunch and changed quickly before I went through my match with Rob. I then did another pre-match analysis sheet for my second match against Tessah Adrianjafitrimo from France.

I hit the court just before 2pm and was up for a good match with good energy and professionalism. The girl was better than in my first match but unfortunately I wasn’t playing as well as my first match. My energy and attitude was much better though. So it was basically the reverse of the first match! I lost the first set to love but fought hard to go 2-0 up in the second but then the unforced errors crept back in and she took the match 4-0 4-2.

Rob and I went through the match before I headed off to shower and change and then we jumped back on the road home. Before we left there was a quick panic as we couldn’t find the car keys but then once we found them we thanked the referee and said goodbye.

It was a positive week overall and I am ready to get back to some tough training before flying across the ocean next week to Africa! I can’t wait! I hope you all enjoyed reading this Blog and come and read them again when were in Nairobi!

Bye!

Bolton U14 TE Grade 1, Day 5

Monday 16th January 2012

It was a much lighter day today as not only were we restricted by how much time we could spend on court but, after training / competing for the last 7 days, Mia needed a bit of time to recover before consolation tomorrow.

It was a very early start this morning; the centre didn’t open until 7am and I thought it was a bit too cold to do our warm up outside when the temperatures have been -1°C so we actually warmed up in a very warm conference room at the hotel at 6.20am. We then left the hotel at 6.45am, drove to centre and were straight on court after the doors opened just before 7am.

To her credit Mia worked very hard this morning after a very exhausting day yesterday and she wasn’t alone as just after 7am Mark Taylor and Marcus Walters turned up to have an early morning session too. We worked tactically on Mia’s game within the first 3 shots of the rally and then opened it out to full court points including specifics on her return of serve. After training for an hour Mark asked if Mia wanted to play some points with Marcus so they first set up points cross court on both sides and then finished off the session with a match tie-break which Mia just happened to win!!

By this time it was just after 8.30am and time for us to go back to the hotel for some well deserved breakfast. I then got stuck into some work finalising details for the upcoming trip to Kenya for three U18 ITFs while Mia caught up on some sleep she missed out on last night!

Just before midday we headed back to the tennis centre to watch and analyse some of the main draw matches. It’s great opportunity this week to watch some of the American and Canadian players and see how they compare to the Europeans especially when the likes of Nicole Frenkel and Ali Black are regarded as some of the best 1998 players in the world.

We spent most of the day at the tennis centre and then had an early dinner to prepare for Mia’s consolation match(es) tomorrow. If she can keep up the level that she played her main draw match at on Sunday and the level she trained at today then we’ll both be very happy no matter the result.

Schedule for tomorrow:

Mia Smith (GBR) (251) vs Mirjam Bjorklund (SWE) (95) – 1st match at 10am

Bolton U14 TE Grade 1, Day 4

Sunday 15th January 2012

It was a disappointing day in terms of results today but a very positive day in terms of performance and how much Mia has improved in since her last international event in December.

Due to the strange way this tournament organising practise for the players (they determine the time and who you hit with!) we had to warm up earlier that we would have preferred to but Mia still had a good session from 9.00-9.30am. She then had some time to relax and prepare for her match before she went on just before 11.30am.

We didn’t know anything about Nina Van Oost before Mia went on but it was obvious from the start that she was a strong girl and a solid player from the back of the court. Mia started a little nervously but stayed with her opponent for the first 4 games of the match until she was broken in a long 10 point game at 2-2. Her level was good and mentally I could tell she was working a lot harder than she has in the past but after being broken she struggled to get the break back and ended up losing the first set 6-3.

Mia in action today vs Van Oost

In the second set Mia continued her great serving level but her inconsistency from the back of the court on the big points cost her another brake at almost the same stage as in the first set. Trailing 1-3* she kept fighting hard and making life difficult for her Belgium opponent but she still struggled to get the break back. Mia held her serve well at *3-5 and then produced some of her best tennis to finally break her opponent at get the scores level for the first time since 2-2 in the first set. She then had game points at *5-5 but despite being broken she again fought hard and played a tough game to break back and take the set to a tie-break. By this stage Mia was playing some of the best tennis I’ve seen from her and the early errors that were apparent in the first set were now only coming if the point developed past 8 or 9 shots. Mia controlled the tie-break from the start leading 4-2* and then 6-4* but could convert on either of her 2 set points and ended up losing the breaker 8-6. She was very disappointed with the result, especially as the match was over 2 and a half hours long but in my opinion it was one of the top 3 matches I’ve ever seen her play and these are the kind of matches she needs to toughen her up to get to the level she wants to be at within the next 12 months.

Because of the busy schedule today we then had a long break where we went through the match, had some lunch and watched some of the other main draw matches before Mia was back on court with Alex Herd for their doubles. They were taking on the Canadian paring of Katarina Kopcalic and Vanessa Wong and from the start Mia and Alex looked very flat. They must have both been disappointed with their earlier singles matches but it was a good opportunity to get a win on the board again a good doubles pair. Unfortunately neither Mia nor Alex managed to hold their serve in 8 attempts and even when leading 2-1 with a break in the second they struggled to take their chances resulting in going down 6-2, 6-2. Losing is one thing but losing and not improving is very disappointing especially when you’re testing yourself against some of the best players in the world.

By the time the girls had finished and Mia had stretched and showered it was around 7.30pm so she used her hospitality voucher to have dinner at the centre while I went across the road to Harvester for a very cheap and fast chicken, mash and peas – great value for a fiver!!

There’s no play for Mia tomorrow as consolation starts on Tuesday and, due to all the court being booked for practice we’ll be warming up at the hotel at 6.20am so we can go straight on court to hit when the doors open at the centre at 7am. The best way to get over a couple of tough losses is to get straight back on court the next day and work hard and that’s exactly what we’re planning to do!

Bolton U14 TE Grade 1, Day 3

Saturday 14th January 2012

It was just a training day today as all of the main draw teams arrived in Bolton in preparation for their first round matches tomorrow.

Mia’s had five early mornings in a row this week so today I wanted to give her a bit of a lie in by starting our training at 9.15am. We then went through 45 minutes of warm ups and movement work before we had an individual session for an hour to work on the specifics that came up from her match yesterday. The session started a little slow but Mia’s focus increased as time went on with the added motivation of being surrounded by some of the best players in Europe. After the session Mia went through her planned strength and conditioning, core and band work before having lunch.

We then had 2 and a half hours off which gave Mia another chance to keep up to date with school work before warming up again for her second session of the day at 2.45pm.

For her second session we decided to play a set with Alex Herd (Mia’s doubles partner) as we’d managed to book the whole court for an hour. Unfortunately neither of the girls were playing that great and when we stopped with Mia leading 4-2 there had only be 3 rallies that had lasted longer than 3 shots each!! As Mia was disappointed with her level and not being able to achieve the session goals she decided she wanted to stay on court so we then had a frantic couple of minutes trying to find a spare half court. Despite it being the busiest time slot of the day (right before sign in closes) we managed to get a half court with Eden Richardson and during the next 45 minutes Mia found a fantastic level which was exactly what she needed before her main draw match tomorrow.

Mia stepping up on a 2nd serve return (no fancy editing, this is how my iphone took the picture!)

After the session Mia had a long stretch out and then we returned to the hotel to shower and change for dinner. As the whole of the area around the tennis centre was unbelievably busy we headed into Bolton for dinner at Pizza Express before getting an early night.

Schedule for tomorrow:

Nina Van Oost (BEL) (165) vs (q) Mia Smith (GBR) (281) – 2nd match after 10am

Doubles to be scheduled after the singles matches

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 & Milo warming up before their 1st round matches

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)

Bolton U14 TE Grade 1, Day 1

Thursday 12th January 2012

Happy New Year everyone and welcome to the start of the second full year of International Travelling Coach. Last year I travelled to 25 International and domestic events and this year I have 33 planned including senior Men’s and Women’s events – it’s going to be busy so I hope you’re ready to keep up!

One year ago today I left Kent with Mia Smith and Milo Bargeron to go to my first ITC trip at Teen Tennis in Bolton and today it was exactly the same. I met Mia and Milo at the Bromley Tennis Centre at 7.45am this morning and we had a great training session until 10am when we got some lunch and then hit the road for the 250 mile journey to Bolton.

Within minutes of leaving the tennis centre Milo was fast asleep in the back of the car and Mia was wired into her laptop so I was left singing along to Capital Radio! The journey actually went quite quick despite taking four and a half hours; it must have been Mia’s amazing map reading skills (which almost took us to Liverpool!) or Milo’s film game where he kept naming films with a different letter than he was supposed to!!

We arrived at the tennis centre in Bolton just after 4pm and as we’d had previous experience of Teen Tennis we all knew that we weren’t going to be able to train on court today due to all the courts being booked out for coaching. We weren’t too disappointed by this as we’d already trained back in Kent and we knew what to expect so Mia and Milo took themselves through their full dynamic warm up to get the journey out of their system followed by some light band work. The players then signed in and we went back to the hotel to check in around 5pm.

By 6.15pm we were back at the tennis centre and had the draws in our hands. It was good to see that the boys draw was full and had a compete set of seeds – exactly how it should be for a Grade 1 Tennis Europe event, but the girls draw was again very disappointing. For those of you that followed my Blogs last year you’ll know that I was constantly going on about byes in the girls qualifying of the international events in Great Britain and today was once again very frustrating. It was exactly the same last year when there were again 3 byes but at least last year there were 13 seeded players – this year there are 3! Once again the centres that are funded to produce players for these kinds of events need to be made accountable.

Before the event we decided not to apply for a wildcard for Mia for the main draw as we want to get as many matches as possible under our belts before her ITF events in February but I am surprised by some of the main draw wildcards. In particular I’m surprised that Serena Nash has not had a wildcard as I think she’s been playing very well and has improved huge amounts in the last few months – it’ll be interesting to see how she gets on this week.

After we’d booked practise we headed over to ASK for dinner and then went straight back to the hotel for an early night.

Schedule for tomorrow:

Milo Bargeron (GBR) vs (2) Mathieu Rajaonah (FRA) – 4th match after 10am

(3) Mia Smith (GBR) vs Chelsea Samways (GBR) or Penny Roberts (GBR) – 5th match after 10am

Wrexham U14 TE Garde 3, Day 7 – Finals Day

Thursday 15th December 2011

Hey Everybody! It’s the last blog of the trip so Rob has passed it over to me; Mia, as he is currently cruising down the M42 on our way home!

Today we finally got a chance to lie in as we didn’t have to leave the hotel until 9.10am. We checked out of the hotel and made our way over to the tennis centre with all of our bags. I then went straight off to get my strength and conditioning work done before joining Rob again at 10.00am for a pre-doubles / training session. We had a great session and I felt confident with my doubles game upon finishing. Rob and I then made our way outside into the freezing cold so that I could complete my endurance training for the day. I ran around the field at the back of the centre for 30 minutes and then went inside to shower, change and clean all of the mud off of my shoes!!

Following this Rob and I sat down to have lunch and I offered to buy Dan Sanders, Head Coach of Wrexham HPC, lunch as he had done me a massive favour the day before of stringing my rackets for me. He declined but I will buy him something the next time I see him! We then went to watch some of the semi-final singles matches being played before going through my doubles from the day before and then decided on tactics for my doubles final. Anastasia Mikheeva (my doubles partner) won her match 7-6(5) 6-2 against Olivia Tompkins. She then wanted an hour and a half afterwards to get some lunch and prepare for our doubles so Rob and I jumped back on court after warming up and hit some more. We hit for about 25 minutes and by that time Anastasia was ready to get back on court for the final.

We took to the court to play the final against Alexandra Herd and Sophia Haine. We stormed on through the first set taking it 6-1 with a little blip of our focus when we lost a game. Anastasia and I were working well together and playing good doubles. In the second set Anastasia’s head dropped a bit and I didn’t do a good enough job of picking her back up so disappointingly we lost that set 6-4. The 3rd set was to be a match tiebreak so we pumped ourselves up and started fresh to try and close out the match. It was very tight up until 5-6 when Alex and Sophia managed to win the tiebreak 10-7. It was a disappointing end to the day and after a quick presentation where we each receiver runners-up trophies Rob and I talked through the match before I showered, changed and grabbed a quick bite to eat before getting straight on the road home.

Mia and Anatasia (left) taking on Alex and Sophia (right) in the doubles final

It’s been good writing this for y’all to read but I’m going to try get some sleep now whilst rob is singing/shouting to Katy Perry next to me. Awkward. 😉 Bye!

These are mine & Rob’s Awards for the week:

Coach of the Week: Mark Taylor, Head Coach of Nottingham HPC – Spent more time on court than anyone (even Rob).

Player of the Week: Anastasia Mikheeva – hardest working, best attitude, most consistent, enough said!! And she tried to book a practise court for 4 hours lol!!

Most Intense Parent: Mrs Knezevic – Video to be uploaded to the ITC Facebook page soon – www.facebook.com/itctennis1

Shot of the week: Sophia Haine hitting her own doubles partner Alex Herd in the back from 2 metres away!

Most Committed Player: Sam Ibanez Roig – Travelling from Ibiza …well, Formentera but Ibiza is close enough, when he was 25th alternate.

Miss of the week: Mia Smith – 1st game, 1st set, 1st round – volley on top of the net, whiffed it!

Fashion Police Alert of the week: Rob Booth – in a big fluffy jumper.

Wrexham U14 TE Grade 3, Day 6

Wednesday 14th December 2011

It was back to training today as Mia prepared for the semi-final of the doubles this afternoon and the U14 LTA National Tour event in Nottingham next week.

It was an early start this morning as I met Mia and Ema Lazic in the reception of the hotel at 7.10 am. We then made our way over to the tennis centre and had a 30 minute physical warm-up which included some medicine ball and ladder work before we got on court at 7.50 am. It was Mia’s choice to start early this morning as she wanted to get on a full court to play a set out with Ema. The girls worked hard together and after a couple of early breaks Mia played two great games to take a 5-3 lead but Ema stuck in there and fought back to level the set out at 5-5. It was at that stage that the 9 o’clock bookings had arrived, so, much to Mia’s delight (as she’d just been broken serving for the set) we had to stop the session.

Mia then grabbed a quick bite to eat before she went through her strength and conditioning for the day which included her band work and core stability exercises as well as her agility work. By this time it was about 10.30 am and, as Mia’s doubles wasn’t scheduled until around 3:30 pm, we had a nice break to relax and watch some of the other matches. It also gave us a chance to watch the girl that beat Mia and work out how we would play her if we had a rematch as she struggled in her Quarter-Final match today.

Just before 2.30 pm I sat down with Mia and we talked a little about her singles match yesterday and then we set tactics for her upcoming doubles match. Mia and Anastasia then warmed up together before they went on for their semi-final match against Holly Thompson and Georgie Walker.

Mia started a little bit slow in the doubles but the set stayed on serve until 2-2 when Anastasia got broken. In doubles its not only the server’s responsibility when they get broken and that was the case today as Anastasia hit 5 out of 5 first serves but Mia didn’t do enough to take some of the pressure off her by intercepting the volleys. Mia’s movement at the net has improved significantly since the summer but now she just needs to develop her confidence to move an extra step or two and this will enable her to be in the position to finish off a lot more volleys. At 2-3* Mia and Anastasia really raised their game; I’m not sure weather it was just because they had just been broken or whether they had now got into their stride, but they won the next 8 games in a row to lead 6-3 4-0. Georgie and Holly managed to get a game on the board but it was all too little to late as Mia and Anastasia won the next 2 games with some fantastic doubles play to take the match 6-3 6-1 and advance to the final.

Both Mia and I were happy with her performance but she wanted to do some more work on her serving accuracy and finishing first volleys so we went back on court for a really good 40 minute session. After that Mia stretched out and then we headed back to the hotel to shower and change before dinner.

All week we have been going out to dinner with either the West Hants team or Craig and Tom but tonight she had to put up with just my company. However, a solid game of ‘Words with Friends’ managed to pass the time and I must add (because I am so competitive!) that I took the win (I think Mia struggled after deleting her cheat application!!).

After Cameron made the Final of the U16 Singles event in Halton Mia is now the 2nd ITC Player to make a final this year and we hope to bring home the trophy tomorrow.

Schedule for tomorrow:

(3) Alex Herd (GBR) & Sophia Haine (GBR) vs (2) Mia Smith (GBR) & Anastasia Mikheeva (GBR) – 3rd Match after 10.00 am, After Rest.

Wrexham U14 TE Grade 3, Day 5

Tuesday 13th December 2011

After a taking a loss yesterday, despite a great performance, Mia was back on court today for her consolation 1st round match and her doubles ¼ final with Anastasia Mikheeva while we had to say farewell to Sam.

It was a more relaxed start to the day today; Mia was first on at 9.30am for her consolation match so she warmed up on court with Sam from 8.30 – 9am before preparing her goals and match analysis sheet ready for the match at 9.30am.

Today she was up against Chloe Hughes who had narrowly lost to a tough Swiss girl in the main draw. The consolation matches are just the best of 3 short sets (up to 4 games with a tie-break if it gets to 4-4) so it’s very important to start fast and take the opportunities when they arise as the sets could be over very quickly. Unfortunately Mia was broken in the first game of the match but got the set back on level terms by breaking straight back. From this stage Chloe played some very smart tennis and only made 1 unforced error in the next 3 games as she took the set 4-1. Mia was striking the ball quite well but a combination of too many errors and playing a little into Chloe’s hands meant that the set was over very fast.

The second set was much more competitive; Mia took a 2-0 lead and looked completely in control but a short forehand error at 2-0*, 15-0* gave Chloe a real boost and a chance to stay in the set. Mia then served for the second set at 3-2 and had a set point but again Chloe came back to break and hold to take a 4-3 lead. Mia’s serve then let her down in a long 10 point game that saw Mia broken with only 20% of 1st serves going in. The final score was therefore 4-1, 5-3; it was a disappointing loss but Mia struck the ball well and if she can increase her consistency with the same level of play then she turn these results around.

After waiting around most of the afternoon to play doubles Mia and Anastasia were told that their opponents had withdrawn so they were through to the Semi’s without hitting a ball!! That then gave Mia a chance to speak to LTA National Coach Lucie Ahl who had watched both of her singles matches to find out her thoughts about the way she played. Following their talk we went back on court between 4.30-6pm and had a great session working on the areas that Lucie and I had identified in her matches. It’s always good for the players to get feedback from other coaches especially when they’re as experienced as someone like Lucie.

Once Mia had cooled down and stretched out we went back to the hotel to shower and change before meeting up with Rob Booth and the West Hants team for dinner at the Pub. It was then an early night as Mia has arranged a practice set with Ema Lazic at 7.30am tomorrow morning!

Schedule for tomorrow:

Girl’s Doubles Semi-Final:

Holly Thompson (GBR) & Georgie Walker (GBR) vs (2) Anastasia Mikheeva (GBR) & Mia Smith (GBR) – 5th round after 9.30am

Wrexham U14 TE Grade 3, Day 4

Monday 12th December 2011

Main draw started today which saw Mia take on 4th seed Jovana Knezevic from Cyprus while it was just a training day for Sam in the hope of getting into the doubles tomorrow.

Due to practice starting at 8.30am for the main draw players Sam and I had to be at the centre at 7am to get a good amount of time on court. After going through our physical warm up we had just over an hour with the same Brazilian boy Sam hit with yesterday and Sam once again improved on the level he’s been training at throughout the session.

Early 7am start alongside Dan Sanders and the Wrexham HPC team

Mia arrived with Craig at 8.15am and had breakfast at the club before warming up for her pre match practice at 9.30am. She was expecting to be hitting with another girl who had booked with her at 10.30am but when the girl didn’t show it was down to me to warm her up!! We had a good hit for 30 minutes and Mia was seeing the ball very well which gave her a lot of confidence before the match. We then had time to get some lunch and go through the match before Mia went on.

It was always going to be a tough match today as Mia was facing a very tall Cypriote who looked more like she was 18 years old rather than 14! The first set was over quite quickly as Jovana took it 6-0 but from Mia’s point of view it was a very positive performance; she was striking the ball well and working very hard but her opponent just did exactly the same as Mia on a much more consistent basis. In total the Cypriote only missed 2 balls in the entire set!

Mia’s attitude didn’t change in the 2nd and she fought very hard to hold her serve in the first game. From then on it was obvious that Mia’s belief was starting to grow and while her hitting level stayed the same as in the 1st set she significantly reduced her unforced errors while increasing her winners. It was neck and neck throughout the set until Mia was broken at 4-4 after struggling with her serve. In the past Mia has let her head drop at times like this but she responded very well in the next game playing a superb point to go 0-15 up. Unfortunately Jovana stepped her game up and produced 3 winners in that game to take the match 6-0, 6-4. Without a doubt it was the best match I have ever seen Mia play and if she can keep up that level in training and in matches she’s going to improve very quickly.

After Mia was finished she completed her core and band work before stretching out to end a very positive day. We then returned to the hotel to have a rest before meeting back up with Tom and Craig for dinner at the pub across the road from the tennis centre.

Unfortunately Sam didn’t get into doubles today; him and his partner were 17th on the entry list (only 16 get in!) so he’ll be returning to Formentera tomorrow with his aunt.

Schedule for tomorrow:

Girl’s Consolation 1st Round:

Chloe Hughes (GBR) (1024) vs Mia Smith (GBR) (722) – 1st match at 9.30am

Girl’s Consolation Semi-Final:

Chloe Hughes / Mia Smith vs Karla Nuez Delgardo (ESP) (820) – 4th match after 9.30am

Girl’s Doubles ¼ Final:

Rebecca McCarthy (MLT) & Karla Nuez Delgardo (ESP) vs (2) Anastasia Mikheeva (GBR) & Mia Smith (GBR) – 6th match after 9.30am

Wrexham U14 TE Grade 3, Day 3

Sunday 11th December 2011

We had a really good training day today as Sam continued from where he left off yesterday and Mia arrived to prepare for main draw tomorrow.

It was an early start today so that we could get enough time on court before the last round qualifying matches started at 10am. Sam and I warmed up just after 8am and then we trained together for 20 minutes before a boy from Brazil, who lost yesterday, asked if he could hit with Sam. They then had a really constructive session for just over an hour; we had to go between a couple of courts as we weren’t allowed to book any but the boys coped with that well and both got a lot out of training which was mainly restricted to half court.

Sam in training this morning

At 10am I took Sam off to the mini-tennis courts at the end of the tennis centre and we went through a tough 30 minute fitness session involving some medicine ball and core work. At 10.30am we were done for the morning so Sam and his aunt went and got some food and then sat at the centre watching some of the last round qualifying matches while I got on with some much needed emailing!

At 2pm Craig Allen arrived from Kent with Tom Wright and Mia Smith and, as none of them had been to the centre before, they spent a little while getting used to where everything was before having a very thorough warm up to get the journey out of their systems. I then went on court with Mia at 3pm and had a great hour and a half training with her while Sam was back on court with the Brazilian playing a set out. Once Mia was happy with her level she stopped and went through her pre-hab work and then stretched out. I then went over to see Sam finish off a very competitive set where he narrowly went down 6-4.

After everyone’s training was done they all signed in and then it was a quick journey back to the hotel so Craig, Tom and Mia could check in before we went back to the tennis centre to check out the draw. Once practise for tomorrow was booked we went across the road to have dinner at the pub and then all the players had an early night to prepare for their matches tomorrow.

Schedule for tomorrow:

Mia Smith (GBR) (722) vs (4) Jovana Knezevic (CYP) (236) – 3rd match after 9.30am

Wrexham U14 TE Grade 3, Day 2

Saturday 10th December 2011

Big day today as Sam played his first ever match abroad and his first ever match indoors!!

After Sam and his aunt had a long day of travelling yesterday they were very pleased when I said that we’d meet at 10.30am this morning giving them a nice lie in. We then drove the short 5 minute journey to the tennis centre and warmed up at 11am before getting on court for Sam’s pre match warm up from 11.30am – 12pm. Sam was noticeably better than yesterday; he looked a lot more comfortable on the indoor courts and much more relaxed throughout the whole session.

After training we had a break for a couple of hours which gave us plenty of time to eat lunch, go through some pre match goals and get Sam ready before he went on for his match just after 2pm.

Sam was taking on 11th seed Calum MacGeoch and right from the warm up he looked really up for the match. Sam held serve in the first game and then broke Calum to take a 2-0 lead but that’s when Calum started to relax a bit more and find his range. As that happened Sam tried to do more with the ball to put Calum under pressure but it resulted in far too many unforced errors. Often trying too hard can cause you to play worse and that was definitely the case with Sam today as he went from 2-0 up to 6-2, 5-0 down. A lot of credit has to be given to Calum who played very well to absorb the pressure that Sam was putting on him in the early games but in the end consistency was the key factor.

At 6-2, 5-0 down Sam was still working very hard and fighting like you would expect of a Spaniard. He then got his reward for the hard work he was putting in as he broke Calum (when he was serving for the match) and then held his own serve (for the first time since the opening game). After Sam held to go 5-2 down Calum started to get rattled and it was obvious he wasn’t happy being on that court anymore! Sam won the first 2 points of the next game but Calum served very well and hit 3 winners from the back of the court to take that game and the match 6-2, 6-2.

It was a fantastic experience for Sam and he was quite pleased with his performance scoring it at a 7/10. We managed to have a thorough debrief about the match via Google Translator (!!) and after that Sam decided he wanted to get back on court for another hour of training to work on the areas we had identified. We had to wait until all of the matches were finished but then we got on court for a great session. It’s always a nice feeling to be the last ones training at the centre but not nice for the staff who had to wait until we were finished before they could close up!!

We had another nice meal with Rob and Selina at the Pub across the road from the tennis centre but the staff were under strict instructions (from both Rob and Selina!) that we had to get our food quickly so that they could get back to the hotel to watch the final of X Factor!!

Tomorrow we are joined by Mia Smith who is in the main draw and Tom Wright and his coach Craig Allen who are staying with us for the week. Sam’s now going to be training hard and will try to sign in for doubles on Monday.

Wrexham U14 TE Grade 3, Day 1

Friday 9th December 2011

It’s amazing how time flies by . . . it was a year ago when I first came to this event (after launching International Travelling Coach at the end of November 2010) to promote and advertise my schedule for 2011. Not much has changed in Wrexham but this year I’m here with players in both qualies and main draw so it’s going to be a great week.

My recent link with “European Tennis Tours” (www.europeantennistour.com) based in Ibiza has resulted in 14 year old Samuel Ibanez Roig joining me this week for the boy’s event. Sam has come over with his aunt (Antonia) for the week and it was a big step for Sam as he has never left Ibiza before let alone compete in an International event in Wales!

I met Sam and Antonia at Gatwick airport at 10am this morning before we made the 4 and a half hour journey to Wrexham. The journey was quite straightforward but it was rather quiet in the car as Sam doesn’t speak a word of English and Antonia’s English is very limited!!

We arrived at Wrexham just before 3pm to find that the tournament did not have any practice courts booked and so the players couldn’t train before they compete tomorrow. This was very disappointing and I think the only other time I’ve had this happen in the last 14 years was back in January at Teen Tennis in Bolton. However, because I know Dan Sanders and the team up here at the Wrexham High Performance Centre very well they did us a massive favour and moved one of their squads from 2 courts to 1 to let us train for an hour. We were very lucky to be able to do that and I think Sam was very glad to be able to hit for an hour as he’d never played indoors before and was used to very slow outdoor clay. After struggling to make contact with the ball at the start of the session (!!) Sam eventually relaxed and hit the ball well.

By this time it was around 5pm so we signed in and were told that Sam was still 25th Alternate – this means that if everyone on the acceptance list signed in he would miss out on the qualifying by 25 players. You might then ask why he’s made the journey from Ibiza to Barcelona, then from Barcelona to London and finally up to North Wales when he’s nowhere near getting into the tournament? The plain answer is that when you haven’t got a ranking you have to give these things a go to try and get in to events. I remember travelling to Sweden with a player who was 65th Alternate and he got in, his parents were unsure if it was worth the risk but I said we should give it a go. They trusted my opinion and he not only got in but he ended up qualifying and gaining his first Tennis Europe points ?

After Sam’s first visit to Sainsbury’s to stock up on food we headed back to the hotel to shower and change before returning to the tennis centre to check on the draw. To our delight Sam got into the qualifying! It was disappointing to see that other British players who were on the alternate list didn’t bother to sign in and I actually had a conversation with a HPC coach and two players this week recommending them to give it a go but they chose not to – if they had they would have easily got in.

Once again the girl’s draw is very very disappointing; for those of you that have been reading my Blogs during this year you’ll know that I’ve constantly brought up the fact that every one of the qualifying draws in the British girl’s international events have had byes in them. Today there were 8 byes and after the quality of the qualifying draws this year I hope something is done to make sure the centres that receive the £4 million that the LTA put high performance tennis are made accountable. EVERY SINGLE IHPC / HPC should have players here in both the boy’s and the girl’s draw and if they haven’t then questions should be asked as to whether they should be receiving the funding that they do. We’re all in this to create international tennis players so why aren’t players trying to compete in international events that are on their doorstep??

After booking practice courts and checking the schedule for tomorrow we met up with Rob Booth and Selina Briggs from West Hants HPC for dinner before going back to the Travelodge for an early night.

Schedule for tomorrow:

Samuel Ibanz Roig (ESP) vs (11) Calum MacGeoch (GBR) (907) – 4th round on after 10am

Bujumbura U18 ITF Grade 5 (week 2), day 5

Wednesday 30th November 2011

A heartbreaking day brought our last tournament of this trip to an end as Mia, Julia and Jack were all knocked out of the doubles before they picked up any ranking points.

After a bit of a lie in I met the guys for breakfast at 8.15am and then we had an hour to relax before we started our warm up at 9.30am. Jack Oswald joined us for our training session this morning as it was all based around doubles tactics in preparation for their matches today. We had a good 50 minute session and were even joined by something trying to get involved with our training:

My partner for the doubles training!

Jack Large and Jack Oswald were our first match on today taking on 4th seeds M Mohamed Hatem from Egypt and Gabra’el Teja from Kenya just after 12pm. Our boys started well and looked the much stronger team as they took care of their own serves well and kept the pressure on in their returning games. Eventually they got a breakthrough at 3-3 and firstly Jack Oswald held well and then Jack Large played his part by holding serve to take the first set 6-4.

During the second set the confidence that the “Jacks” had in the first set seemed to decrease as their opponents starting serving much better and taking their chances more. Jack Large was broken at *1-2 and, despite getting the break back, Jack Oswald was then broken at *2-3 which consequently saw them *2-5 down. Jack Large then held but their opponents played a solid game to hold and take the second set 6-3. The Match Tie-Break was really all over in the first 5 points as the “Jacks” struggled to recover from a 0-5 deficit. They fought hard to try to get back into it but eventually went down 10-5 to lose the match. It was a heartbreaker for both Jacks as this would have been their first ITF points – they got close and, with their work rate and professionalism, it won’t be long before their gain their rankings.

After lunch we played a bit of basketball to warm up and Mia and Julia took to the court around 3pm for their 1st round match against Lesedi Jacobs from Namibia and Elizabeth Kapari from Ghana. The opening games were of a very high quality and it was great to watch four girls who really knew how to play doubles. Mia held serve to start the match and then they broke to take a 2-0 lead but unfortunately Julia was broken back to put the set back on serve. At 3-3 Julia was broken for the second time and Lesedi and Elizabeth took full advantage by holding at 3-4* and 4-5* to take the first set 6-4. Mia and Julia had played well but were just not sharp enough on the key points.

The second set was a more one sided affair as, after Mia was broken at *2-2, their opponents won the next 4 games in a row to take the match 6-4, 6-2. It was definitely a match that Mia and Julia could have won but a loss of focus during the first set really cost them and then they never really got on top in the second.

After the match it was then the difficult job of changing flights and trying to get home as soon as possible. Luckily I have an amazing wife who, after driving 3 hours home, got straight on the case and managed to get our flights changed without a single charge – thank you darling x

Tomorrow will be a rest day before we travel home on Friday.

Farewell from Burundi

Next stop is the Wrexham U14 Tennis Europe event in around 10 days time so I’ll let you all know how it’s going from there.

If you have any questions about any upcoming trips or if I can help you in any way about an individual player please email me: Rob@itc-tennis.com and I’ll get back to you as soon as I can.

Bujumbura U18 ITF Grade 5 (week 2), Day 4

Tuesday 29th November 2011

After another rain interrupted day it was Jack that ended up with a win while the two girls came up against two very tough opponents.

As the matches were so staggered today we ended up with 3 separate warm ups which kept me on my toes but also gave me a chance to hit some balls too! Julia was scheduled to be first match on so I joined her for breakfast at 7.45am before going through her physical warm up with her just after 9am. We then had a really good match warm up from 9.30 – 10am; it was actually the best I’d seen Julia hit the ball and considering she’d never played on red clay before this trip her game has really developed in the last two weeks.

As we finished Mia was going through her warm up and then I hit with her from 10.30 – 11am where we not only went through her pre-match hitting but we also addressed some specifics from her match yesterday. After we’d finished I met back up with Julia but just as we started to talk about the match it started to rain quite heavily and play was suspended.

In the next few hours the rain kept falling which gave us the chance to go back up to the Italian restaurant for a great lunch and then when we were done the players had the chance to get on with some school work. By 2pm the rain was starting to ease off and the local children helped to dry up the courts with lots of massive sponges – a messy job but very effective!. We thought it was going to take ages to dry but all of the tournament officials and helpers did a great job to clear the puddles and get the courts fit for a 2.30pm start. The scheduled had now changed with both Mia and Julia being 2nd round on after 2.30pm and Jack wasn’t far behind as all four players were out of the singles and ready to play their doubles.

Jack was next up for his pre-match warm up with Jack Oswald and a couple of the other WIN Tennis Academy players where they also managed to get a good set of doubles in too. As we finished Mia’s court was getting close to the end of their match so I had a good chat with her and set her match goals before she went on.

Mia was playing 5th seed Janet Koch from South Africa and from the start it was obviously that Janet was just going to be too strong and too experienced but that didn’t mean that Mia couldn’t still improve and develop her game. After losing the first set 6-1 Mia had game points in each of the next three games but they didn’t go her way and she ended up going down 6-1, 6-0. It was a very hard working and professional performance from Mia despite struggling to find her best form but she was very proud of her attitude and can set her sights on being at that level or above this time next year.

Julia had an equally tough match as she took on top seed Lynn Kiro from South Africa who is ranked inside the top 150. In the first set Julia struggled to test Kiro as she was going for too much which consequently lead to too many unforced errors. It’s sometimes the player’s thought process that they have to go out against the top seeds and blow them off the court but it normally results in errors which makes it even easier for their opponents. After losing the first set 6-0 Julia calmed down and started to play some very smart tennis working Kiro side to side and waiting for the opportunity to hit the harder flatter ball. This had an immediate effect and Julia’s level increased significantly even though the score line might not suggest it. In the end Julia went down 6-0, 6-1 but in the second set she served at 59% (a big improvement from last week), had three games in the set where there were more than 12 points in each game, had game points in 3 games and hit a total of 15 winners – as always there are lots of positives to take from even the toughest of losses.

Due to the girls both being on for singles I missed the whole of Jack and Jack’s doubles but I was getting regular updates from the WIN Tennis team and they did very well to get through to the Last 16 with a 6-3, 6-2 win.

After everyone was done he went back to the hotel to stretch out and change before getting a taxi to the Havana restaurant for dinner. Tough day with two singles losses but the girls learnt a lot and I know the improvements they’ve made over the last two weeks will help them in their upcoming matches when they compete next. Jack had a great win and now plays for his first ITF points tomorrow!

Schedule for tomorrow:

(4) M Mohamed Hatem (EGY) & Gabra’el Teja (KEN) vs Jack Large (GBR) & Jack Oswald (GBR) – 3rd match on after 9am, not before 11.30am

Mia Smith (GBR) & Julia Weisel (USA) vs Lesedi Jacobs (NAM) & Elizabeth Kapari (GHA) – 5th match after 9am

Bujumbura U18 ITF Grade 5 (week 2), Day 3

Monday 28th November 2011

2 wins out of 3 today in the main draw but it was the loss that really hurt as Jack struggled against his nemesis from last week.

For all three players it was an early start today with breakfast at 6.40am before we were on court warming up at 7.40am. Everyone’s matches were scheduled after 11.30am but if we wanted to hit on the match courts then we had to do it before the courts were closed for matches at 8.30am. The warm ups were good and everyone was feeling confident going into their 1st round matches.

After practice Jack felt as though he needed a good meal inside him to boost his energy so we walked the short distance down the road to “La Fantasia” Italian restaurant where he got a big bowl of Spaghetti Bolognaise (not sure I could have handled that at 9.30am but it did smell good!).

When we came back we had some time to prepare before Julia took to the court at 12.30pm to take on Megdalene Mutua from Kenya. We knew this was going to be a straightforward match as Julia and Mia had played against her in doubles last week but Julia was still a little nervous as she really wanted some singles points on the board! After taking the first game (1st goal achieved – Julia said she never wins the first game in matches!) the rain came down heavily and play had to be abandoned. This lasted around an hour and a half and play resumed just after 2.30pm when Jack also took to the court to face the boy he lost to last week in three tight sets.

Jack and Julia were on courts almost directly behind each other so it made it a little easier to keep track of the scores. After Julia took a very comfortable 1st set 6-0 I knew she wasn’t going to be troubled so I then spent the majority of the time watching Jack.

After taking a 3-1 lead in the first set and looking in complete control Jack just let his concentration slip a little which allowed his opponent a foot in the door as he broke back – 3-2*. Jack then lost the next 2 games but managed to get the set back on serve with another break of his own as he levelled it at *4-4. By this stage his opponent was soaking up Jacks pace and not really giving him much back that he could attack which lead to Jack making a lot of unforced errors. Jack was then broken again at 5-5 and Andriatokiana held to take the first set 7-5.

By list stage Julia had won her match 6-0, 6-0 and she came straight over to cheer Jack on while Mia went onto Julia’s court for her first round match. Jack again had a good start to the next set going 2-0 up but again struggled with his serve allowing the Madagascan back into set. Jack went from *2-0 to 2-3* down but a break and hold at this stage settled himself down again. At 5-4* up my money was on Jack to break and take the set but his opponent was just too consistent resulting in a hold and break to lead 5-6*. I was still sure Jack would break back to take it to a tie-break and he had a point to do so but in the end his opponent held to take the match 7-5, 7-5. Another tough loss for Jack in round 1 but I believe he’s learnt a lot from his singles matches in the last two weeks and now the focus is straight on to doubles tomorrow.

Mia had been playing for a while and despite looking a little worried in the warm up (I think was shocked when the girl made a few balls in a row!) she was in full control and tried hard to improve her game throughout the match against a weaker opponent. In the end Mia had a comfortable 6-2, 6-2 win and the experience she’s gaining out here against all of her opponents, strong and weak, will really help her develop as a person and a player.

As soon as Mia finished she wanted to stay on court to train so Julia and I joined her for a really good hours training. As a coach you can tell when I player’s not happy with a match performance even if they say they are and it’s great when they ask to do more training rather than you suggesting it. Mia really worked hard and her focus was superb which resulted in her best training session since we’ve been away. Julia was also happy with her level and so at 5.30pm we ended the session and moved over to the side of the court for Mia to go through her core exercises and Julia to stretch out.

After waiting for our taxi driver to turn up for 20 minutes we decided that again tonight wasn’t going to be the night to go to the beach for dinner and instead had it in the hotel. The waiting time for food is turning into an ongoing joke with all of the players and coaches – tonight it was an hour and a half! However we were entertained with a dance ceremony by a local tribe which is part of a big East African Community Council meeting that is going on at the hotel this week. The performance was amazing and something that you might only see once in a lifetime.

Due to weak internet to view the photos / videos please go to the ITC Facebook page: www.facebook.com/ITCtennis1

Schedule for tomorrow:

(1) Lynn Kiro (RSA) (146) vs Julia Weisel (USA) (1051)

Mia Smith (GBR) (UNR) vs (5) Janet Koch (RSA) (632)

Stephen Bleach (RSA) & Ted Sindabizera Ntwari (BDI) vs Jack Large (GBR) & Jack Oswald (GBR) – 6th match after 9am

Mia Smith (GBR) & Julia Weisel (USA) vs Lesedi Jacobs (NAM) & Elizabeth Kapari (GHA) – 6th match after 9am

Bujumbura U18 ITF Grade 5 (week 2), Day 2

Sunday 27th November 2011

Only the one match in qualifying today but Jack made light work of it while Mia and Julia tightened up their games in preparation for main draw tomorrow.

As Jack had a midday match he had a bit of a lie in while Mia and Julia were up early to get on court before the crowds arrived! After warming up we had a really good hour and a half training from 9-10.30am where we continued the work we’d been doing on finding a more consistent higher level. I managed to get a box of balls so we could add in some basket training as well as hitting a high volume of serves. As the girls were finishing the temperature really started to rise which was precisely the time Jack started his physical warm up! He then hit with Charlie Ridout from WIN Tennis Academy for just over 30 minutes to get him ready for his qualifying match.

By the time Jack went on it was really hot; I was sitting in the small stand by the side of court 4 and the metal roof made it seem like a sauna – I’m sure it was cooler on the court! We didn’t know a lot about Jack’s opponent except that he had struggled in qualifying last week but then got a Lucky Loser and ended up winning a round in the main draw.

Jack started the match well going 3-0 up but a slight lapse of concentration meant he gave up his serve cheaply in the next game. He responded well by breaking straight back and after dominating the majority of the points from the back of the court he took the set 6-2. Jack was in full control of the match but his opponent was making life a little tricky for him and Jack found it quite difficult to get into a good rhythm. Despite this Jack kept the pressure on when serving and after breaking a couple of times at the start of the second set the result was never really in doubt. In the end Jack came through 6-2, 6-2 to qualify for the main draw.

Jack wanted to go straight back on court as soon as he had finished and we had a good 20 minutes training which helped Jack find more of a rhythm at a higher level. It wasn’t perfect but it helped to get the match out of his system and we decided that we’d do a little more on court later.

 Pictures to be uploaded as soon as the internet can deal with it!!

At 4pm Mia, Julia and Jack were all back on court for the last session of the day. Julia trained for an hour with Ruby Grant on one court while Jack and I hit on another with Mia sharing half the court to work on her serve. After 20 minutes Jack was hitting really well and so decided to join Jack Oswald for a bit of doubles training while I moved over to work with Mia on her serve and return before we finished the session with a little more basket drilling. By 5.15pm everyone was happy with their own level so we stopped the session to cool down, stretch, shower and change. We then met back up at 6pm to go back to the club to check the draw and find out when everyone was playing tomorrow.

Draws to be uploaded asap!

We had planned to go to the beach tonight for dinner but our normal taxi driver wasn’t available and when the replacement tried to charge us $20 for a 5 minute journey I told him we weren’t interested! It was quite amusing how he went from $20 to $10 and then to $5 before saying he’d accept BIF 5,000 (less than $4) all in the space of 3 minutes!!

After dinner at the hotel the players all had an early night in preparation for their 1st round main draw matches tomorrow.

Schedule for tomorrow:

(q) Jack Large (GBR) (UNR) vs Andriatokiana Ratsimandresy (MAD) (UNR) – 3rd round after 9am, not before 11.30am

Megdalene Mutua (KEN) (UNR) vs Julia Weisel (USA) (1051) – 3rd round after 9am, not before 11.30am

Mia Smith (GBR) (UNR) vs Paige Mbugua (KEN) (UNR) – 4th round after 9am, not before 1pm

So . . . Jack plays the same opponent as in the 1st round last week and Julia and Mia play their 1st round doubles opponents from last week!

Bujumbura U18 ITF Grade 5 (week 2), Day 1

Saturday 26th November 2011

As one week ends the next begins and it’s quite handy that we don’t have to travel anywhere for the next event. Even though the players had week 1 consolation matches to finish today the fact that the qualifying sign-in was also today officially marks week 2 of the trip!

Due to the hot conditions plus the fact that all of the players have had singles, doubles and consolation matches this week it’s not surprising they were feeling a little tired this morning. I therefore gave them all the option of playing their consolation matches today, having a rest day or just having a light training day. Originally they all said they wanted to play but after training this morning Julia was feeling a little exhausted so she opted to rest leaving the other two ready to compete.

Julia and Mia in training today

Mia was first up against Nelise Vester from South Africa and everyone was a little surprised when the match before them finished in 45 minutes with a score line of 6-4, 6-4! However they took to the court just before 1pm and Mia started with some fantastic tennis working the ball exactly as we’d been working on in training to take the opening set 6-2. Unfortunately her focus wandered a little at the start of the 2nd set as temperatures rose which Nelise took full advantage of breaking twice to take a 4-0 lead. Mia managed to break at that stage but the South African was too solid taking the next two games and the set 6-1. As they were a set all I asked the South African coach if he wanted to jump on court with me and do a bit of on court coaching (like in WTA events) to work with the girls – it was after all just a practice match and he thought it was a great idea. I had a good chat with Mia and she seemed confident when I left the court but obviously what I said didn’t quite do the trick as she made 10 unforced errors to lose the Match Tie Break 10-6. A disappointing loss as she’s twice gone close to beating two players with ITF rankings in the consolation but her focus has just let her down a little in the end.

Jack went on at the end of Mia’s 2nd set and by the time I got there with Julia he was 3-2 up against another South African; Keegan Sullivan. Jack was looking good at 3-2 but then Keegan really upped his game putting Jack under more and more pressure from the back of the court resulting in him winning 7 straight games. At 2-6, 0-3 Jack and I had a good chat at the back of the court which seemed to settle him down and regain some of the focus he had before. He then held, broke and held again to level the set with a much better serving percentage and much more aggressive play from the back. Keegan responded well by holding serve and then the rest of the set went with serve until 5-5. At this stage Jack’s service return had been working well but at 0-30 with Keegan serving he struggled to make his opponent play and Keegan went on to win the next 8 points in a row to hold and break taking the match 6-3, 7-5.

Both matches have been really beneficial for Mia and Jack and I hope they take the learning points into their respective tournament matches next week. Some people may have not wanted to play the consolation event but our team has benefited enormously from it and we’re very grateful to the referee for taking the time to arrange it.

After the matches it was around 3.45pm so we got some lunch from the supermarket and then by 5.15pm I was back on court with Julia for another 45 minutes of quality training. As we finished training so did the presentation for the winners of the tournament and then all of the winners stayed on court and hit with lots of the local young players. It was great to see so many of them working really hard while training with players up to 10 years older than them and with 6 players on 1 court. The club and the town have made such a huge effort this week and without a doubt it’s one of the best Grade 5 ITF events I’ve ever been to.

Tournament winners and local kids training together this evening

As Jack had signed in for qualies earlier in the day we then all showered and changed before heading off site for dinner tonight to the Havana Restaurant. Everyone had a great meal including Jack with his massive ¼ grilled chicken! Before they all went to bed I had an individual chat with each of the players to debrief the last 8 days, listen to their thoughts on their training and matches and then get them all set for the week ahead.

Schedule for tomorrow:

Boy’s Final Round Qualifying:

Jack Large (GBR) (UNR) vs Syed Kaleem (PAK) (UNR) – 1st match at 12pm

Bujumbura U18 ITF Grade 5 (week 1), Day 8

Friday 25th November 2011

It was a much lighter day today as the players were need of some rest after competing and training for the last 7 days in a row.

As matches were scheduled to start at 10am this morning we had a bit of a lie in and all met up for breakfast at 7.40am. Thankfully by this time breakfast was out and we even had the luxury of Rice Crispies!!

As normal the players warmed up 25 minutes before we were due on court and as I was joining in hitting during the session that meant that I was warming up too (got to be careful now I’m getting old!). Julia had the choice of who she wanted to hit with as she was the only one competing today (after Jack had a walkover) and to my surprise she chose me!! After a good 30 minutes Julia was ready for her match but Mia and Jack stayed on with me for another 15 minutes which concluded their training for the day.

The consolation event that the tournament has arranged has been absolutely fantastic for the players and for the coaches as it gives the players the opportunity for more competition. Every player in the draw can continue competing until tomorrow as, even if you lose, you keep going until you achieve your specific position from the main draw e.g. you’re placed between 17 – 32 (not great if it turns out you’re the weakest player in the draw though!).

Julia ended up going on with the 1st round of matches as there had been a walkover in the previous round so just after 10am see took to the court to face Mia’s opponent from yesterday. Julia was really up for taking some revenge on Mia’s behalf but she didn’t get off to the best start going 0-2 down. She then settled down and won the next 3 games in a row before being broken again at *3-2. Despite playing a much better set than any other she’s played so far Julia struggled a little to hold serve but was breaking serve easily. This pattern continued until Giselle held at 5-5 but Julia responded with a solid hold of her own with 3 winners from the back of the court to take it to a tie-break. Julia served at 83% in the tie-break which, after going 0-3 down at the start, helped her to fight back and take it 7-5.

She then relaxed in the 2nd set and played even better than in the 1st set clocking up 16 winners and 14 unforced errors on the way to taking the set and the match 7-6(5), 6-3. She was a little disappointed when she came off the court as she thought the match should have been easier but after hearing the stats, especially the serving percentage, she was a lot more upbeat.

Following Julia’s match I debriefed Mia on her match from yesterday and then we headed back to the hotel for some lunch. As we were done for the day by 1pm I suggested to the players that we leave the hotel and go just up the road to a small Italian restaurant. They all jumped at the chance to eat somewhere different and the food ended up being really good!

After lunch we went back to the club to cheer on the WIN Tennis Academy team as Robbie and Charlie Ridout were in the semi of the boy’s doubles while Ruby Grant was in the girl’s doubles final. Unfortunately Rob and Charlie lost 10-6 in the 3rd set match tie-break but Ruby and her partner won their match tie-break 10-8 to lift her first ITF trophy. Ruby’s had a great week in both singles and doubles; she’s worked very hard and truly deserved her victory today and the points that go with it!

Jack, Julia and Mia had a couple of hours from 4-6pm to get stuck into some school work before we all met up again for dinner in the hotel.

Schedule for tomorrow – Final Consolation Matches:

9th / 10th Place PlayoffJulia Weisel (USA) (1052) vs Lesedi Jacobs (NAM) (UNR) – 2nd match after 12pm

13th / 14th Place PlayoffMia Smith (GBR) (UNR) vs Nelise Vester (RSA) (1116) – 2nd match after 12pm

33rd / 34th Place PlayoffJack Large (GBR) (UNR) vs Keegan Sullivan (RSA) (1741) – 2nd match after 12pm

Bujumbura U18 ITF Grade 5 (week 1), Day 7

Thursday 24th November 2011

Over the past few days it’s been the girls who have been getting the wins but the tables turned today as the girls struggled and Jack began to find his form.

The service at the hotel seems to be getting worse by the day and when we got down to breakfast at 6.40am there was only a few bits of fruit to eat. Eventually some bread came and we used the jam we had bought from the supermarket to make up our breakfast, it does feel as though we just living off bread though!!

After a good physical warm up the team hit from 8 – 8.30am and then Julia and Mia stayed on court to go through some doubles specifics until we got kicked off the match courts just before 9am. Julia was supposed to be the our first scheduled match of the day but due to a walkover Mia somehow moved up the list from 5th round on to 1st! She had already warmed up and was happy to play her consolation match early so on she went to play Giselle Umumararungu from Rwanda.

Mia started well and looked really up for the match even though she was completely dominating her opponent but at 2-1 things changed and she soon found herself 2-4 down. She was struggling with her consistency and gave away far too many cheap points resulting in her almost losing the set 6-3 – there was a mix up with the score but luckily the other girl was honest and said it was 4-5 rather than 3-6! The rest of the set was up and down before Mia lost it on a tie-break 7-2.

Mia in her consolation match today

Mia then took a toilet break to compose herself and when she came back she raced away at the start of the 2nd set taking a 3-0 lead. This was cut back to 3-2 as her opponent broke and held but Mia managed to get the break back and take the set 6-4. On to a match tie-break for the 3rd set then! Unfortunately it wasn’t a good tie-break from Mia and after taking a 3-0 lead she was distracted by a line call and soon found herself 3-6 down. She managed to get another couple of points on the board before going down 7-6(2), 4-6, 10-5

Just as Mia was finishing Jack took to the court for his next round consolation match – Julia still hadn’t gone on and then was told that she had been given a walkover and that she should have been told 2 hours before – Thanks!! After struggling in his 2nd set of his 1st round consolation match Jack’s goals today were to maintain a better focus throughout, increase his winning count and hit more aces. He achieved all three and even when I threw him the goal of hitting 2 backhand winners in the last 2 games he ticked that one off in style too. His opponent could have been quite tricky but Jack got on top and never let him into the match taking it 6-0, 6-1.

After debriefing Jack there was about an hour to go before Mia and Julia were due on for their doubles so we warmed up and did a bit of doubles work on the court to get them sharp and focussed ready to go.

They went on at 2pm for their semi-final against Ruby Grant from WIN Academy and Janet Kock from South Africa and, after being broken in the first game they fought back to break and hold to lead 2-1. At this stage they were playing well and looked like a strong team but when Julia was broken at 2-2 the wind really came out of their sails. They lost the next 3 games in a row to lose the set 6-2 and by that stage they looked very flat.

The 2nd set was much a similar story but this time they managed to break and hold when they were 2-5 down however they didn’t have enough to break again and lost the final game on a sudden death deuce point going down 6-2, 6-4. It was a real shame as it should have been an easier match than the round before but neither of the girls found the same level or the same hunger to get the win.

After the match Julia wanted to get straight back on court which I was really up for and we spend the next hour and a half working on her level from the back of the court followed by a little mental work around her serve. She was hitting great by the end of the session and serving huge which will hopefully carry over to her consolation match tomorrow against the Rwandan girl that beat Mia today.

This evening we took a taxi to the supermarket to stock up on more water and then met up with the Kenyan team at the Havana restaurant. This made a fantastic change to the hotel restaurant where we’ve eaten for the last 7 lunches and dinners!

Schedule for tomorrow:

Jack Large (GBR) vs Charlie Ridout (GBR) – 1st round at 10am

Julia Weisel (USA) vs Giselle Umumararungu (RWA) – 2nd round after 10am

P.S. HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO ALL MY AMERICAN READERS (and Julia too!)

Bujumbura U18 ITF Grade 5 (week 1), Day 6

Wednesday 23rd November 2011

We had three really good doubles today and 2 out of the 3 went our way! Here’s my diary of the day:

6am – Wake up, check and reply to emails

6.40am – Breakfast with the Team

7.30am – Meet the players in reception and go over to the courts

7.35am – Take the players through their physical warm up

8am – On court pre-match warm up for everyone

8.30am – Make sure players know when they’re on and brief Jack for his 1st round consolation

9am – Jack goes on court, Mia goes through the video from her match

9.15am – Help the tournament staff to fix the net with my Centre Strap!

9.30am – Jack starts his match

Jack serving during his 1st round consolation match today

11am – Jack takes the win 6-0, 7-5 with a good 1st set and shaky second (saving 3 set points!)

11.30am – After 20 minutes of trying to get enough balls together I went on court with Julia to work on her serve

12pm – Mia and Julia go on for their 1st round doubles vs Stephanie Mbaya (KEN) & Megdalene Mutua (KEN) (I eat lunch while stating the match!)

1pm – Girls win 6-0, 6-0 with a good performance

1pm – Debrief the girls on the match and set goals for their ¼ Final match

1.30pm – Brief Jack and Jack on their Last 16 match

1.40pm – Boys go on vs (6) Bjorn Scheepbouwer (RSA) & Keegan Sullivan (RSA)

3.30pm – Boy’s lost 7-6(3), 6-3 after serving at 4-2 up in the 1st set. Tough match but great learning experience and positive debrief afterwards

3.55pm – Girls go on for their ¼ Final match vs (4) Melissa Lang (RSA) & Nelise Verster (RSA)

Mia and Julia on their way to victory in the 1/4 Finals

5.40pm – Girls take a very close 6-4, 6-4 win with them both playing superb doubles throughout – the match point was a huge 30+ shot rally that Mia played unbelievably well!

5.45pm – Debrief, cool down and stretch out

6.10pm – Back to the hotel to shower and change

6.30pm – Order dinner, play some cards

7.45pm – Finally eat dinner – they almost got the whole order right!! Few more games of cards!

8.45pm – Players relax before going to bed around 9.15pm

It was a long day today in intense heat but all three players had a positive day; Jack came close again to gaining his first ITF points and the girls impressed everyone with their superb doubles display

Schedule for tomorrow:

Mia Smith (GBR) & Julia Weisel (USA) vs Ruby Grant (GBR) & Janet Kock (RSA) – Not before 2pm

Consolation Event:

Jack Large (GBR) vs Shabani Kabura (BDI) – 4th round after 9am

To Be Arranged (around doubles):

Akshara Iska (IND) (855) vs Julia Weisel (USA) (1052)

Mia Smith (GBR) (UNR) vs Giselle Umumararungu (RWA) (1326)

Bujumbura U18 ITF Grade 5 (week 1), Day 5

Tuesday 22nd November 2011

It’s was a tough day on the singles court for Julia and Mia today but Jack managed to get a win in doubles which ended our day on a high.

The players had a bit of a lie in this morning as the day was going to be a very long one so we all met for breakfast at 8.40am followed by a quick trip to the supermarket to stock up on water and food.

Julia was first on today and she was scheduled to play ‘not before’ 11.30am so we warmed up off the court at 10am and then were on court hitting from 10.30 – 11am. As the matches before hers were only around an hour each she took to the court bang on 11.30am to play 6th seed Elizabeth Kapari from Ghana.

Pre-match warm up today

Julia seemed a little nervous to begin with and her 10 unforced errors in the first game didn’t help her get off to a great start as her serve was broken. She responded well though and fought hard to get back on level terms at 2-2 but it was only at 4-4, after being broken twice in a row, that she managed to hold serve to take the lead for the first time. I’ve said to all of the players this week that it will be the player who is the most consistent throughout the tournament that will come out the winner, not the player that looks the best or hits the ball the hardest but the one who makes more balls back in play. It was exactly the same with this first set and at 5-4* Julia played a very solid game and let her opponent miss to give her the game and the set 6-4.

Julia then had a poor start to the second set which, coupled with her opponent raising her level, lead her to be 3-0 down. She then looked as though the heat was really starting to affect her as he focus seemed to drift in and out too often. With that I reached for Mia’s “Emergency Jelly Babies” and she managed to get a bit of sugar into her system. From 0-3 down she was only able to get one game before Elizabeth took the set 6-1. By this stage Julia was looking down and her opponent was on a high so I suggest she take herself off the court for a (tactical!) toilet break and I got some ice to cool her down and a cold sugary drink to give her a bit of a boost.

It seemed to work as she came back on court with more of a spring in her step and broke her opponent to 15 in the first game. Unfortunately Julia really struggled with serve today and went from 1-0 up to 1-3 down before breaking back and holding for the first time since 4-4 in the first. At 3-3 she looked in control and was playing a much more solid game but 13 unforced errors in the next 3 games really cost her as she eventually went down 4-6, 6-1, 6-3. It was a really tough loss but her opponent did play well and I can see her doing very well this week.

While Julia was starting the 3rd set Mia took to the court to play 4th seed Nikita Dawda from Kenya. I know Nikita from when I was in Kenya in February and I explained to Mia yesterday that she’d have to really be focussed and show she’s up for a fight today as the Kenyan can be very competitive. Unfortunately Mia looked a little flat after going 0-2 down in the first set and despite holding serve in the third game she was just too inconsistent and didn’t test her opponent enough. After losing the first set 6-1 Mia had a chance to get on top at the start of the second as she broke Nikita and then had game points to go 2-0 up but didn’t take her opportunities. She was broken back and then went on to lose the next 5 games in a row as Nikita didn’t let up and was showing just how much she wanted the win by still getting pumped up at 6-1, 5-1 up. Mia was very disappointed with the loss especially as she felt as though she never really competed like she knows she can and in the end that gap between yesterday’s level and today’s was just far too big.

Jack was on for his doubles with Jack Oswald while Mia was still on court so after a quick debrief with Julia I went straight over to court 4 and for once I was in the shade! The two Jack’s have very similar characters and I thought that would make for a really good partnership this week. They are both very hard working, quite quiet but very determined and go about their business in a very professional way. The doubles was no exception and, after they both lost in the singles without picking up any points, they were determined to get through this one so they have a chance of points tomorrow. In the end they took a very good 7-5, 6-3 win to set up a clash with the 6th seeds in the last 16 tomorrow.

Mia and Julia were scheduled to be on for their doubles in the evening but at 5.45pm the referee decided it was too late to start more matches so they were postponed until tomorrow.

After a tough day it was a real bonus that the tournament has decided to run a consolation event on the spare courts for the losers of the 1st and 2nd round matches. This means that Jack, Julia and Mia all get a chance to compete against the other main draw players and develop the areas of their games that they struggled with under proper match conditions. It will really be a fantastic opportunity for them all to play more matches and prepare really well for the tournament next week.

Schedule for tomorrow (an even longer one than today and don’t ask me how we’re going to fit this all in!):

9am – Jack Large (GBR) (UNR) vs Emmanuel Gafilita (RWA) (UNR) – 1st Round Consolation

N.B. 11.30am – (6) Bjorn Scheepbouwer (RSA) & Keegan Sullivan (RSA) vs Jack Large (GBR) & Jack Oswald (GBR) – Last 16 Doubles

N.B. 11.30am – Mia Smith (GBR) & Julia Weisel (USA) vs Stephanie Mbaya (KEN) & Megdalene Mutua (KEN) – Last 16 Doubles

N.B. 2pm – Winner of above vs (4) Melissa Lang (RSA) & Nelise Verster (RSA) – ¼ Final Doubles

To Be Arranged (around doubles):

Akshara Iska (IND) (855) vs Julia Weisel (USA) (1052) – 1st Round Consolation

Mia Smith (GBR) (UNR) vs Giselle Umumararungu (RWA) (1326) – 1st Round Consolation

Bujumbura U18 ITF Grade 5 (week 1), Day 4

Monday 21st November 2011

HAPPY 1st BIRTHDAY TO INTERNATIONAL TRAVELLING COACH!

In the last 12 months I have travelled to 17 international tournaments and helped to make Tennis Europe and ITF events more accessible for a lot of players. In the next 12 months I hope to increase the number of events and introduce some senior events to my calendar. If you are interested in travelling to events or would like to be kept up to date on my plans please email me (rob@itc-tennis.com) your email address and I’ll add you to my mailing list.

Today was a mixture of emotions as the team took 1 win and 1 loss but it could have so nearly been 2 out of 2.

Play started today at 9am but when we arrived at the club at 7.30am to warm up we were surprised to see all of the match courts closed for practise – the reason being that they were repainting all of the lines on the courts! It was then a free for all to try and get on the back courts but luckily, with the help of the WIN Academy Team, we managed to have a solid 30 minutes so Jack and Mia were prepared to play.

The match before Jack’s was a very quick 6-0, 6-0 so at around 10am he took to the court for his 1st round match. Jack started well against a very talented boy from Madagascar and, after breaking for the first time, took a 4-2 lead. He was then pegged back to 4-4 after struggling with his consistency of serving but did well to maintain his aggressive play to hold and break to take the first set 6-4. At this stage Jack seemed in complete control but at the start of the second set he gave away too many cheap points when serving and returning to find himself 2-0 down. He then fought hard to get back on serve at 2-2 but in his next 3 service games he didn’t win a single point. Fortunately he was returning well and broke back each time until it got to 5-5. He then held serve and had 2 match points at 6-5* but failed to convert on both leading to the tie-break. Jack performed poorly in the breaker and hit 6 unforced errors out of the 7 points he lost to lose the second set 7-6(4).

The third set was a very close battle but the heat took its toll on Jack as he struggled to stay consistent in the long rallies with a player who was prepared to be out there all day long. Jack was broken at 1-1 and then again at 3-5 to eventually go down 4-6, 7-6(4), 6-3. It was a really tough loss but Jack improved his level significantly from his match yesterday and showed that he can compete with the main draw players. I’m very positive that Jack will learn from his singles matches this week and be a much better player in the doubles tomorrow and the singles event next week.

As Jack was in the middle of his 3rd set Mia went on the court next to him to face Jone Kruger from South African. Both of the girls were a similar height and build and they were both playing for their first ITF points – it was really going to be a battle of who was going to perform on the day. From the start Mia looked the better player and it was only going to be a matter of time before she made a breakthrough. After being a little tentative at the start she broke the South African’s serve at 2-2 but gave up her own serve cheaply straightaway to level the set at 3-3. She then responded very professionally to break straight back and from there she never really looked in trouble taking the next 8 games in a row to win the match 6-3, 6-0 and earn her first ITF points! Matches like this one are a good way to get into the event but there’s no point winning them easily if you don’t improve your game so that you’re prepared for the next round. After the match I explained to Mia that if her level today was a 4 out of 10 then she might need an 8 out of 10 to win the next round and I asked her how we should go about increasing her level to that standard. She responded by saying she wanted to get back on court after lunch to work on the specifics from the match and find the level she would need for the next match.

At 5pm we were back on court for a solid hour until Mia felt as though she was ready to take on the 4th seed tomorrow. After training we cooled down, showered and changed and met up with Jack and Julia for dinner. The dinner, as always, took ages to arrive but then it took even longer for the girls to finish it so Jack and I went through his match in detail!

So . . . it was a pretty good 1st Birthday all in all, yes I would have loved Jack to take the win in the second set but it wasn’t to be and he learnt a lot about himself and his game from it. Mia gave us a nice birthday present with some points on the board and everyone is fit and ready for some more wins tomorrow.

Schedule for tomorrow (it’s going to be a long one!!):

Julia Weisel (USA) (1052) vs (6) Elizabeth Kapari (GHA) (712) – 3rd match after 9am, not before 11.30am

(4) Nikita Dawda (KEN) (495) vs Mia Smith (GBR) (UNR) – 4th match after 9am

Jack Large (GBR) & Jack Oswald (GBR) vs Herman Abban (GHA) & Saidi Nkurunziza (BDI) – 5th match after 9am, not before 2pm

Mia Smith (GBR) & Julia Weisel (USA) vs Stephanie Mbaya (KEN) & Megdalene Mutua (KEN) – 6th match after 9am

Bujumbura U18 ITF Grade 5 (week 1), Day 3

Sunday 20th November 2011

The rain came down again today for the third day in a row but Jack managed to avoid it as he made light work of his match to qualify for the main draw in his first ITF event.

Everyone was on time for breakfast this morning; Julia and Mia were first down as they were practising early and Jack came down a little later as he was only hitting for 30 minutes for his pre-match warm up.

When we arrived at the courts we found out that the draw had changed due to two of the Bisham boys playing each other when they should have been separated. This meant that Jack was now facing a local Burundian wildcard but as there were still only 5 matches in qualifying the start time remained the same.

The girls took to the court at 9.30am and worked hard to find a much more consistent level before Jack shared half the court to hit with Alistair from Bisham Abbey at 10am. Despite Jack shanking a few balls out of the court and making me climb up on top of the clubhouse roof to retrieve them he had a really good warm up and by 10.30am he was all done and ready to go through his pre-match talk. Jack was very specific with his pre-match sheet and set specific goals that he wanted to achieve during the match – I always think it’s good to set some goals as that way, win or lose, you can still come off the court feeling as though you’ve achieved something. I’ve seen so many players in the past win a match easily but not improve their game and these are the type of events where you have the opportunity to do both.

After doing some movement work to get Jack sharp he went on court at 11am and from the warm up it was obvious he was a little nervous. It was totally expected as this is his first ITF event and he did well to maintain a positive attitude after struggling with his consistency in the opening games. Despite being nervous and losing his serve from 1-0 up Jack worked hard to stay in the rallies and keep the local crowd quiet. At 4-1 he relaxed a little more and convincingly held serve and then broke to take the set 6-1.

Jack knew that his opponent wasn’t going to rollover after the first set and he upped his level to race to a 4-0 lead. He was playing a much more aggressive game by this stage but he did have a bit of a shocking service game at 4-1 as he managed to shank 3 serves in a row over the back fence!! By the 4th serve I was thinking he might be considering hitting an underarm serve but he managed to regain his focus to get the ball onto the strings and into the court!! After that blip Jack won the next two games to take the match 6-1, 6-1 and qualify for the main draw.

Jack ripping through a forehand on his way to qualifying for his first ITF main draw

By this time it was around 12.45pm so we went back to the hotel for Jack to shower and change and then we all had some lunch. The plan was then to get back on court at 3pm to train but once again the rain came down so our plans changed to everyone doing some school work. After signing in for main draw we got on court at 4.30pm and had a really good hours training with me working primarily with Jack on areas to improve from his match and the girls working on their specifics together. We were then kicked off the court by a local Vice-President who wanted to use the 1st court for a bit of doubles. I was able to make them wait a little while so that we could finish our session but I wasn’t going to argue too much as he did bring his whole armed security team with him.

After Mia completed her fitness programme and Julia and Jack had a full stretch out we went back to the hotel to shower and change before going back to the club to see the main draw. It was then time for dinner which included a few games of cards and a couple of dares – I think me and Jack got off lightly with press-ups though as Julia had to go up to the counter to order some bread with some steak sauce on her forehead!

The Team after an amusing dinner!

Schedule for tomorrow:

Andriatokiana Ratsimandresy (MAD) (UNR) vs (q) Jack Large (GBR) (UNR) – 2nd round after 9am

Jone Kruger (RSA) (UNR) vs Mia Smith (GBR) (UNR) – 3rd round after 9am

Bujumbura U18 ITF Grade 5 (week 1), Day 2

Saturday 19th November 2011

It was a real sense of Déjà vu today as, after it rained everyday for two weeks in Vietnam, the heavens opened on us twice today to make it two days in a row!

A lot of people voiced their concerns to me before the trip about going out to Burundi and how safe it would be out here but after a lot of communication with the ITF, the East African Tennis Federation and one of the British guys who was playing a Men’s Futures even here a couple of weeks ago I was confident the trip would be safe. I was even more confident when I left the hotel this morning at 6.45am to go to book practise courts when I saw 4 policemen sitting outside the front door of the hotel with machine guns (I didn’t realise I was that important!!).

We all met for breakfast at 7.15am, well . . . we were supposed to meet at 7.15am but the girls were a little late and at 7.30am I had to knock on Jack’s door to wake him up – I love the way they all blame their alarms for not going off!! We warmed up at 8.30am before fighting off the local club members to get on a court at 9am (seems like court bookings are meaningless out here!). This morning we were joined by Jack Oswald from the WIN Academy team and the two boys and the two girls had a great session – everyone’s feeling much better today after a good nights sleep and the quality of the tennis is getting better and better. It’s not easy out here with the ball flying through the air much quicker and the courts proving to be very inconsistent but the players are getting out of the habit of setting too early (as they’re able to on hard) and are working very hard to adjust to the ball after it’s bounced. After setting the players up with specific drills for the first hour they took ownership of the next 45 minutes to work on whatever they needed to so that they felt prepared for their upcoming matches.

By 11.15am everyone had cooled down, stretched out and we were on our way back to the hotel to shower and change. The plan then was to have lunch and then get back on court at 1pm to play some sets out but it seems out here the weather determines what you’re going to do rather than your plans! Just before 1pm it rained heavily for an hour and the courts got absolutely flooded so it was laptops out and on with the school work much to the delight of the players!! It seemed as though the courts would be dry by 4pm so at 3pm Mia, Julia and Jack took it upon themselves to do some physical work by the swimming pool. This all went well until the heavens opened again and it rained for longer and harder than before.

The good thing was that the players had a great session this morning and none of them felt as though they weren’t ready to go and compete. Even Jack, who plays in qualifying tomorrow, was happy with his level and ready to get stuck in.

View from my balcony - (front to back) Hotel swimming pool, local golf course, Lake Tanganyika and Democratic Republic of the Congo in the background!

I went for a walk early this evening to try and find somewhere different to eat dinner as I thought eating the same food in the same restaurant for lunch and dinner for two weeks is not going to be very enjoyable! Unfortunately the other hotel that is close by had an even more basic menu than our hotel – never mind it was worth a go!

We met up with the Bisham team at 6pm to go and see the draw and then afterwards we all ate dinner together which was nice even though it did take almost an hour to get served! After challenging Julia to try and name more US States than me (we actually got all 50!) everyone headed off to bed.

Schedule for tomorrow:

Jack Large (GBR) (UNR) vs Nathan Lavanchy (SUI) (UNR) – 1st match at 11am

Bujumbura U18 ITF Grade 5 (week 1), Day 1

Friday 18th November 2011

It’s been a very long 30 hours since we left Heathrow at 7pm last night but the team are in good spirits and everyone worked hard today on and off the court.

After taking the train and underground across London I met up with Julia, Mia and Jack at 4.45pm at Heathrow airport. Julia has been training with Mia and me since she arrived from Florida last Saturday and Jack is from Brighton but is based at the MCTA Team Bath International High Performance Centre.

For some unknown reason we had to board the plane an hour before we were scheduled to take off but by 7pm we were all set and on our way to Nairobi. The first fight wasn’t too bad; the films were ok and we all managed to get some sleep – some more than others and some in the most uncomfortable looking positions I’ve ever seen (I have no idea how Julia was able to stand up after sleeping on the tray table for 5 hours!!).

We landed in Nairobi airport at 6.30am and despite Jack trying to knock himself out 3 times on the overhead lockers while getting off the plane we were all feeling pretty good. After a quick bite to eat we were on our next flight to Bujumbura and after 45 minutes we were in a very green looking Burundi. Everything was going quite smoothly when we got our Visas but on collecting our baggage we realised mine and Jack’s suitcases were missing. We were told it wasn’t a problem and they’d be on the next flight in a few hours time so we got in our taxi and headed the short 15 minutes journey to the hotel where we met the WIN Academy team from Bisham Abbey.

The rest of the day was good; our hotel is a little old but has everything you need including a good restaurant, the Club is a 30 metre walk from the hotel entrance and the courts were much better than in Kenya in February – we also got our bags back at midday which was a relief as Jack didn’t fancy training in his cotton tracksuit bottoms! After getting some lunch we took a taxi to the local supermarket to stock up on supplies and then at 2.30pm we all completed our physical warm up before we were on court hitting from 3.00 – 4.45pm. All three players worked hard and got to grips with the climate and the bad bounces on the court. Jack continued his problematic day; after hitting his head on the aeroplane and then in the taxi and the airline losing his bag he split his shorts warming up and then took an almighty fall on the court chasing after one of my lobs (great commitment though!). We had to stop the session at 4.45pm as it rained heavily but the players went straight into the individual fitness programmes before stretching out and returning to the hotel.

Heavy rain on Day 1 in Bujumbura . . .

. . . so it was straight into some fitness training

We had a good dinner at the hotel in the evening and then the players all did some school work before turning in for a good nights sleep. Jack has one more day of preparation before qualifying starts on Sunday but the girls have two days before their main draw matches commence on Monday.

Davos U14 Tennis Europe Grade 3, Day 5

Tuesday 1st November 2011

I’ve spent some long days at tournaments over the past 12 years including a 19 hour day on site at a Tennis Europe event in Gothenburg watching a player finish his match at 1.30am but I’ve never left the hotel as early as 5.55am . . . until today!

We had a rather quiet walk down to the tennis centre this morning as I think Mia was still fast asleep but by 6.20am we were warming up in the car park and by 6.45am the doors were open and we were straight on court. We knew it would be difficult to get practise courts today as all of the main draw players had signed up but we managed to jump from court to court and find spaces so we could get some training done. By 9am when then matches started we were both rather pleased that we’d managed to train for an hour and 45 minutes including an hour with the other main draw players. In the break we had from 8 – 8.30 Mia signed in as a “Lucky Loser” expecting to still be 4th on the list but the 3 players above her had not bothered to sign in so if anyone pulled out she’d be 1st in.

As soon as the first round matches went on we were able to go back to the hotel for some breakfast but as the bus wasn’t there Mia decided we should run back . . . well, that’s not 100% true – she decided we should leave our bags at the tennis centre so I said we might as well run back!! After getting used to the cold mountain air we made it back in about 10 minutes and then had a good breakfast at the hotel. It was then straight back to the club (got the bus this time!) to sign in for doubles and play the waiting game to see if any players pulled out of singles.

No one pulled out today but the Mia and Costanza took to the court at around 5pm to play their first round doubles match against the Swiss pair of Sara Orellana and Natacha Petrovic. Mia and Costanza started well playing some solid doubles and at 2-2 after 3 sudden death deuces the set could have gone either way. Unfortunately Costanza’s serve was not on today and following 3 double faults in her opening service game she hit another 2 at 2-2 and got broken easily. She was also broken at 3-5 to lose the set 6-3. Out of the 9 games in the first set 6 of them went to sudden death deuce with the Swiss pair taking 4 out of the 6 games – the sudden death deuce is a huge part of doubles now and you’ve really got to be switched on or you can find your self a long way behind after having close games.

The serving level from Costanza and Mia didn’t improve in the second set and far too many points were given away cheaply. Mia was broken at 0-1 and then Costanza was broken at 0-3 – all three games at the start of the second set went to sudden death deuce with our girls losing all 3!! After breaking at 0-4 Mia held but despite breaking again to make the score 3-4 the Swiss pair upped their level and took the next two games to win the match 6-3, 6-3.

Total games played: 18

Total games lost: 12

No. of deuce games played: 10

No. of deuce games lost: 7!

Overall I think the Swiss girls were just a little stronger all round today but you never know how a pair will react until you get on level terms with them and see how they deal with a bit of pressure.

Overall this week hasn’t been as good as the two weeks in Vietnam or the week in Bath at the LTA event but there have still been a huge amount of learning points and a trip is always beneficial if you come away from it as a more experienced and better player which I believe Mia has this week.

Tomorrow we’ll sign in for a Lucky Loser again as they split the draw today but unless anyone has a bad reaction to the meal that the Club laid on tonight then I think we’ll be travelling home in the evening.

Davos U14 Tennis Europe Grade 3, Day 4

Monday 31st October 2011

I’m always up for a bit of Halloween but unfortunately we didn’t get any tricks or treats today in the last round of qualifying in Davos.

It was nice this morning to leave the room for breakfast with the Sun starting to come up as opposed to the last few mornings when it’s been pitch black! We had a good breakfast and then managed to catch a bus half way to the Tennis Centre which meant we arrived there just after 7.45am. Mia then had a good physical warm up and we were on court hitting at 8.30am – unfortunately it wasn’t with the girl we had planned to hit with as she cancelled so Mia had to hit with a 6ft boy! She actually hit quite well but it was a little difficult to get into a great rhythm as the boy was hitting very hard – returning was a bit of an issue too which would later cause us a lot of problems.

After the match before Mia’s went to three sets she eventually got on court around 11am to play 4th seed Lina Hohnhold from Germany. From the 1st game Mia struggled with her returns and consistency and that gave her opponent more belief to stay in the rally and wait for the mistake to come. At 0-3 down Mia held serve but it took until 3-5 with her opponent serving before she really got into a groove with her returns against the tricky lefty. Mia then had an opportunity to break back to get the match back on serve but a cheap point at 3-5*, 40-30* gave the German a boost and then she went on to take the set 6-3. A bit like yesterday my thoughts at this point were that if Mia could just keep working the ball in the rally and increase her consistency then the girl just wouldn’t be able to live with her.

Unfortunately that didn’t quite happen as Mia was broken in the 1st game of the second set. She fought hard to break straight back only to give up her serve rather cheaply again to trail 1-2. From there it was a similar pattern to the first set with the German playing a solid game and just waiting for Mia to miss. Mia played some good tennis at times and won 4/5 points from the net during the set but she just struggled to string 3/4 good points together in a single game. Mia broke Hohnhold at 1-4 but again was broken back at 2-4 and then her opponent played a good service game to take the match 6-3, 6-2. It was a disappointing match but sometimes you just have days where it wouldn’t make a difference how long you stayed out there for you just wouldn’t be able to find the level needed to win the match.

To Mia’s credit she got back on court later in the day and worked very hard finding a much higher level than I’ve seen from her in quite some time. We spent 30 minutes on the squash court working on her using her body better to control the ball and then an hour and 15 minutes on the court hitting with the main draw players. I’ve said it many times before but at this age the development is much more important than the winning; I’ve been to events where players have won the tournament but not improved their game and also to events where players have lost in qualies but learnt more than they ever would have done from training or individual lessons. Mia learnt a lot today and will be a better player because of it.

Mia training hard despite a tough loss – CLICK FOR VIDEO

We stayed at the club for dinner to see if any Lucky Losers would get into the main draw but unfortunately everyone turned up for sign in. Mia’s currently 4th Lucky Loser so only has a very slim chance of getting in but she’ll team up with Italian Costanza Pera (who she played with in Edinburgh) for the doubles and hopefully they get in.

Early start tomorrow as now it’s back to a full day’s training and due to the main draw players practising from 7.30am we’ll have to be at the centre warmed up and ready to hit as soon as the doors open at 6.45am.

Davos U14 Tennis Europe Grade 3, Day 3

Sunday 30th October 2011

Good day on two counts today; 1) Mia got a win and 2) we got a chance to explore part of the Swiss Alps.

As Mia was first on at 8.30am we were up at 6am (after setting 2 alarms and getting a wake up call to make sure the clock change didn’t catch us out!) and after a good breakfast at the hotel we were walking through the town by 6.55am. Mia completed her physical warm up on the squash court for 20 minutes and then we hit from 7.40am until 8am – each player only had 20 minutes this morning as there were 64 players who needed to hit before they played and they wouldn’t open the centre earlier than 7am!

Mia warming up before her match

Mia found a good level in her training and after going through her pre-match sheet and setting goals for the match she was all set to go at 8.30am. Mia was up against quite a tricky Swiss girl who, despite being a year younger, worked very hard and made life difficult for Mia in the first set. From the start of the set there were 6 breaks in a row as both girls struggled with their serves but returned well until Mia held at 3-3. From 4-3 up Mia had 30-0 in each of the next three games but Michelle dug very deep and turned each game around to take the set 6-4.

To Mia’s credit she didn’t panic or change her tactics and I think we both had the sense that she was never going to lose the match. She started the second set well taking a 4-0 lead and despite Michelle getting a couple of games on the board Mia took the set 6-2. Having now got on top and feeling a lot more comfortable on court Mia wasn’t about to let up and she raced through the 3rd set without allowing her opponent to hit a single winner taking it 6-0. As always there were a lot of positives to take from the match especially how Mia responded after losing the 1st set and also the fact that she had 3 sets on court meant that she’s now a lot more comfortable with the bouncy surface and the quick balls.

After cooling down and showering we got some lunch and went through the specifics from the match before watching all of Mia’s next round opponent’s match. The match wasn’t that interesting but the reactions of the Austrian girl’s coach and the German girl’s father were amazing – definitely NOT a positive way to support a player on court!!

We left the centre around 2pm as there weren’t any practise courts and decided to explore the town for the afternoon. It’s not often we get a chance to get out and about at tournaments and Mia had really wanted to go up one of the mountains so we headed for the mountain train. It was just a short 5 minute trip up the mountain and after exploring the top for half an hour we decided to take the walking route back to the town. The sign said 35 minutes but Mia decided she wanted a picture with every carved statue on the way down and I decided to go cross country a little so it ended up taking closer to an hour – all good fun though!!

Mia's and the 6 Dwarfs!

We got back to the hotel around 4pm which gave Mia a chance to get stuck into some school work for a couple of hours before we headed out for dinner. Most of the town was closed tonight as it’s Sunday so we ended up at the same place as last night – they were a bit more generous with their water tonight – we got a jug for £3.50 – Cheers!!

On a separate note I just want to say a BIG WELL DONE to all the Brits who have done so well this week around the world:

Cardiff Men’s Futures:
Oli Golding & (fellow Kent boy) Sean Thornley – Doubles Winners

Poitiers Women’s $100k
Elena Baltacha – Singles Finalist

Barnstaple Women’s $75k:
Anne Keothavong – Singles and Doubles Winner – HUGE EFFORT!

St. Petersburg ATP 250:
Colin Fleming & Ross Hutchins – Doubles Winners

Thailand ITF Grade 2:
Katie Boulter & Katy Dunn – Doubles Finalists

Holland ITF Grade 4:
Callum Poland-Smith – Doubles Winner

That’s a great effort from everyone – keep up the good work!

Schedule for tomorrow:

(4) Lina Hohnhold (GER) (333) vs (16) Mia Smith (GBR) (624) – 2nd round after 9am

Davos U14 Tennis Europe Grade 3, Day 2

Saturday 29th October 2011

Due to Mia having a bye she didn’t play today so it gave us another day to get used to the courts and get sharp before her match tomorrow.

As the centre only has 4 courts and the players competing today had priority at 7.30am and 8am we got up nice and early to walk the 20 minute journey to the centre at 6.20am! It was rather cold at that time of the morning and pitch black outside so our topic of conversation on the walk were the millions of stars covering the sky! The 20 minute walk managed to raise the heart rate a little so once we got to the centre Mia completed her dynamic stretches and then hit with an Austrian girl for 30 minutes until 7.30am. We were then able to stay on court until 8.30am as players had not turned up for their courts so after only expecting to train for 30 minutes we actually got in a great hour and a half.

Mia training in Davos – CLICK FOR VIDEO

After getting the bus back to the hotel we then had breakfast and both of us managed to catch up on some missed sleep!

We were back at the centre at 2.30pm for some lunch before heading onto the squash court for some movement and medicine ball work which lead nicely into another good hour on court after the matches had finished. We also managed to watch the end of fellow Brit Omari Owens-Maxwell as he took a 1st round win 6-2, 6-1 over a Swiss wildcard.

Mia training hard on the squash court

By this time it was just before 6pm so we walked back to the hotel, showered and changed and then headed straight out for dinner at the local Casino! The food was really good but we weren’t best pleased with being charged £3.50 for 2 glasses of tap water – no tip there then!!

Tomorrow is another early start so Mia completed her pre-match sheet tonight before getting an early night. Clock’s go back tonight which mean’s we get a much needed extra hour in bed ?

Schedule for tomorrow:

Michelle Leuthi (SUI) (UNR) vs (16) Mia Smith (GBR) (624) – 1st round at 8.30am

Davos U14 Tennis Europe Grade 3, Day 1

Friday 28th October 2011

It’s been a long day today of driving, flying, catching 3 trains, walking, getting on a bus and then to top it all off our last bus didn’t turn up so it was another 20 minute walk back to the hotel!

After a few months of being woken up in the middle of the night by a new born baby you would have thought that waking up at 4.15am would have been easy but after 2 and a half weeks in Vietnam, a week in Spain and then straight down to Bath for the LTA U14 National Tour I think October might be catching up with me – either that or I’m going soft!! I met Mia at 5.15am just off the M25 and then we headed straight to Gatwick for our 7.20am flight to Zurich.

After a brief nap on the plane we arrived in Zurich and then it was straight onto the train to the City Centre to wait for our connection towards Davos. By this time it was around 11am and as we’d been awake for almost 7 hours I sent Mia off to get some lunch while I watched the bags – that was a BIG mistake! She came back with a couple of “Chilli Bratwurst” and seeing the look on my face she responded with “That’s all they had!” So believing her I tucked into the most expensive sausage and bread roll I’d ever had; it seemed ok at the time but I’m not sure my body agrees with that now! On the way to our next train we past the place Mia got the sausages to find they had a great selection of sandwiches including some lovely Chicken Schnitzels – I was pleased!!

The scenery on our next two train journeys was amazing as we wound our way through the Swiss Alps to the ski resort of Davos:

…..……

Next up was my turn to make an error! I’d been telling Mia all week that it was going to be really cold so pack everything to keep her warm. With that advice on board we both left the train wrapped up for the Artic and after 2 minutes of walking to our hotel in 20° heat we realised it might not have been entirely necessary!!

Switzerland is notoriously expensive but I managed to find a great deal on a hotel and when we arrived we they gave us free passes for the busses and cable cars in the town which is sure to save us quite a bit of money and allow us to explore a little. We headed out at 3pm and in typical Swiss fashion the bus was bang on time for the short 4 minute journey to the Tennis Centre. Mia then signed in and after a late lunch (the sausage really didn’t do the job!) we warmed up and had a great session on court with a couple of different players. It took Mia a little while to get used to the altitude and the bouncy courts but in the second 30 minute session she was superb.

After the draw was completed we headed out to get the bus back but the timetable we had didn’t match up with the one at the bus stop so rather than waiting 40 minutes for the next bus I made the (very popular!) call of walking back. It actually only took 20 minutes and we managed to stock up on some supplies at the supermarket as well as grab some dinner.

Mia doesn’t play tomorrow as she is seeded 16 and has a bye so the only practise court she’s able to get is at 7am for 30 minutes. It’s therefore going to be another early start and due to the busses not starting until 6.48am we’ll be walking to the centre! All good fun though and we’ve got to make use of the hats and gloves 🙂

Qualifying Draw:

Michelle Leuthi (SUI) (UNR) vs (16) Mia Smith (GBR) (624) – scheduled for Sunday 29th October

Bac Lieu U18 ITF Grade 5, Day 5

Thursday 13th October – Friday 14th October 2011

So . . . it was all down to the doubles and Mia and Angelina Skidanova would have to really be on their game to take down the no.2 seeds in their first round match.

We were on court warming up at 9.15am before Mia and Angelina starting hitting against Anais and Julia at around 10am. It was really good to have the 4 girls warming up together especially as it meant they could hit next to their doubles partner – that’s something that might seem small but it gives the players a chance to get used to their partner being right next to them before they play the match. Unfortunately the session didn’t last very long as after 10 minutes the rain came down (at least the rain kept up its 100% record!) and we had to escape to an undercover parking area for some shelter. We thought it would only be a quick shower but in the end it rained for 4 and a half hours!!

We went back to the hotel for some lunch and it gave Mia and the other girls a chance to catch up on some school work while Pierre and I went for a bit of a stroll around the riverside. You rarely get a chance to explore the town much when you’re away at these kind of events and often you get a misconceived impression of how poor some of the places really are, after all we go from a nice hotel to a tennis club and back each day and maybe venture out to the supermarket! We spent about 30 minutes walking around, chatting with some of the locals and seeing how they live their lives:

The waterside houses just metres from our hotel and locals selling Chickens, Ducks and Rice.

The rain eventually stopped around 2.30pm but as they still had to dry the courts we didn’t end up going over to the club until 3.30pm. We watched the match before Mia and Angelina’s and as it was getting to the middle of the second set the girls warmed up before I sat them down to go through the tactics for the match.

It was always going to be a tough match against the 2nd seeds especially as Ah Song from Korea had won the doubles the week before but Mia and Angelina started well despite going a break down at 2-1. At this point they were actually playing better doubles than their opponents but just missing once they had set the point up and the older, more experienced pair knew they just needed to stay solid and take their chances. Song and Phakamad then took the next 4 games to take the first set 6-1 and continued their solid level to go on to take the second set 6-2. I was really pleased with how positive Mia was when she came off court; we both agreed that it was a good performance especially from her and considering Mia and Angelina are the youngest players in the draw they showed they they’re both capable of competing well in doubles.

Mia and Angelina vs Song (Kor) & Phakadam (THA)

After the match we headed back to the hotel to get some dinner and then, while Mia went with Julia and Stephanie to get a massage, I tried to change our flights. The problem was that the Singapore Air offices in Vietnam were all shut but thankfully my wife came to the rescue and did all the hard work for us in changing the tickets from the UK. Unfortunately the flight we wanted for the next evening wasn’t available so we had to opt for the 1.10pm flight which meant we had to get an overnight bus to Ho Chi Minh! Mia got back from her massage at 9.45pm and that’s when I told her she only had 1 hour and 15 minutes before we had to leave! Luckily she hadn’t really unpacked so she was ready before me!

We said goodbye to everyone and got a taxi to the bus station at 11pm before boarding the bus at 11.30pm. The next 20 hours looked something like this: 6 hour bus journey to Ho Chi Minh, taxi to the airport, 5 hour wait at the airport, 2 hour flight to Singapore and then a 7 hour wait for our final flight to London. It’s now 9pm and we’ve still got another couple of hour before we board!

Overall the trip has been very positive and a complete success; yes we came here to pick up some points and unfortunately we didn’t quite manage it but the training, competition and all round experience has developed Mia as a person and as a tennis player and it’s something that can only be achieved by being on the road at these type of events.

Bac Lieu U18 ITF Grade 5, Day 4

Wednesday 12th October 2011

It only rained a little today which gave us the perfect opportunity to get in a lot of training before the first round of the doubles tomorrow.

Where as last week we had to be at breakfast at 6.45am and then get the 45 minute bus journey to the courts this week it’s a bit more relaxed. We’ve pretty much got busses whenever and wherever we want them and the court are only a 5 minute drive away so after breakfast at 8am we were on our way to the courts at 9am. While Mia completed her warm up (and then went in search of her hat!) I warmed Julia up for her singles match for 45 minutes and then started Mia’s first session of the day. We worked on her strength and movement patterns with the medicine ball for a tough 20 minutes and then it was on court hitting purely with the doubles in mind.

Mia working hard with the medicine ball

We had a good session in very hot conditions and then made our way over to one of the other sites to watch Julia play her 2nd round match. When we got there Julia was still waiting to go on so Mia completed her strength programme and had a good stretch out before we got some lunch together.

Julia had a tough singles match against a tricky opponent but despite not feeling 100% she took a 4-1 lead in the first set before frustrations about her serve started to get to her. Her opponent then took full advantage and fought hard to win the next 11 games in a row to take the match 6-4, 6-0. After the match I walked back to the main club with Mia only to find out that Anais had to pull out of her match after losing the 1st set 6-0. She’d had food poisoning for the last couple of days and had been up most of the night so really it was a good effort for her just to step on the court!

Just before 3pm we were back on court for our 2nd session of the day which again was just doubles related. We worked on a lot of movement specifics and made sure that Mia knew exactly where she needed to be no matter where the ball was hit in the rally. We also tightened up her volleys and smash so that when she did get the opportunity to finish the point she did so in 1 shot rather than giving her opponents another chance to get back into the rally. It was another good session and after an hour and a half the rain started to come so we got the bus back to the hotel, completed Mia’s core programme for the day and then had another good stretch out.

Anais managed to come down to join us all for dinner at 6.30pm and she was looking a little better, I just hope that she’s ok in the morning to play her doubles match with Julia. Mia had a good days training today and I know that if she executes her doubles game like we know she can she’ll come out on top tomorrow.

Schedule for tomorrow:

Mia Smith (GBR) & Angelina Skidanova (RUS) vs Siriporn Phakamad (THA) & Ah Song (KOR) – 3rd round on, not before 11.30am

Bac Lieu U18 ITF Grade 5, Day 3

Tuesday 11th October 2011

It’s always a lot harder to write this Blog after a tough day on and off the court but I’m sure we’re going to look back on this day in a few months time and realise it was just one step on the journey to a player becoming a professional player – that doesn’t mean it doesn’t hurt though!

After meeting up with the other guys for breakfast at 8.30am we took the 10am bus to the practise courts and after a good physical warm up I hit with Mia for just over 30 minutes to prepare her for her singles match. It was then straight back to the hotel for a quick shower and change before getting some lunch. We’d already made sure that we had a “Not Before” time for Mia’s match which meant that we didn’t have to rush back to the club and wait around there all day. We eventually got back to the club just as the match before Mia’s went on which was perfect timing as it gave us a chance to go through a thorough pre-match talk, setting tactics and goals for Mia to focus on.

Mia warming up against Hsing-Ping Cheng

Mia went on just before 3pm against 8th seed Hsing-Ping Cheng from Chinese Taipei and from the start I was very impressed. Unlike last week she wasn’t tentative at all and she knew exactly what she needed to do but more importantly she knew exactly how she was going to do it. The first game was really close and despite losing it Mia looked very comfortable and really up for the match. She held strongly with 4 unreturned 1st serves and then broke Cheng to take a 2-1 lead. The games then went with serve until Mia was 5-3 up when the heavens opened and the rain came hammering down. It was actually exactly what I wanted as Mia had just started to up the pace on her shots (which she didn’t need to) resulting in more unforced errors so it was a good chance to refocus her. After around an hour they were back on and I hope my words of wisdom helped Mia to break Cheng’s serve straight away to take the set 6-3. I haven’t seen Mia play a more professional and smart set of tennis (74% 1st serves in and 12 winners in the set) but the tough job was now to keep that up.

Unfortunately that’s exactly what Mia struggled to do and from the start of the 2nd set it was obviously it was going to be a bit of a rollercoaster. Mia went 3-0 within 6/7 minutes but played 2 solid games to get back to 2-3*. It was then the 6th game of the set that was the important one and Cheng responded to Mia’s threat by stepping up and hitting 4 clean winners in a row. Instead of accepting that sometimes your opponent is allowed to play well Mia got frustrated and went on to lose the next 2 games to lose the set 6-2.

At the rain break at the end of the first set we talked about the possibility of being up or down throughout the match and I urged Mia to remember how she played in the first set to get into a winning situation. She must have thought about that at the start of the 3rd as she played a good steady game to hold in the first game, Cheng then held to make it 1-1 and that’s when Mia started to wobble again. She was broken in the next game but broke straight back only to lose her serve again – 2 1st serves in 2 games wasn’t helping and that’s why it’s so important for players to think about what’s happening when it’s happening and not just reflect on it later. That 5th game was massive and Cheng gained a lot of confidence from it. The rest of the set went with serve until Mia was broken at *3-5 to lose the match 4-6, 6-2, 6-3.

Mia was understandably very disappointed at the end of the match but it’s good that losses hurt, if they don’t then the match is meaningless and at the end of the day if it hurts then you’ll remember it and hopefully it won’t happen again. She played a superb 1st set and if we can maintain that level throughout a match then there aren’t many girls at this level that are going to be able to get the better of her. Wins are important and we did come here to get singles wins but she’s learnt a huge amount over the last two weeks and has still a chance to pick up some points in the doubles.

After cooling down, showering and stretching out we met up with the others for a great dinner back at the hotel which included more Track and Field on the iphone as well as trying to solve Julia’s riddles – see if you can get this one:

“I am used to bat with, yet I never get a hit.
I am near a ball, yet it is never thrown.
What am I?

Answers on the Facebook page please – www.facebook.com/itctennis1

Training day tomorrow as doubles is not until Thursday.

Bac Lieu U18 ITF Grade 5, Day 2

Monday 10th October 2011

It was our final day of preparation today before the main draw kicks off tomorrow with Mia taking on 8th seed Hsing-Ping Cheng from Chinese Taipei.

We decided to get to the club early today to get a feel for the place and to sign in for the doubles before we went off site to train. The main club has only got 4 courts but they are very nice and I think they were brand new last year. Each court has a stand on one side which gets packed out for every match as the locals love to come and watch (especially when the Vietnamese are playing!). As well as the main courts the tournament uses another 2 courts off site for matches early in the week and they also have 4 other sites where we can practise so there’s no shortage of courts to train on.

This morning Mia trained her doubles partner Angelina Skidanova from Russia who is the only other 1998 year of birth player in the draw. The both completed a very thorough warm up and then we went through some movement and speed work before they started hitting at 10am. Both girls trained well together for an hour and fifteen minutes going through everything they wanted to work on so that they were prepared for their singles matches tomorrow. When we were finished with the singles work the girls teamed up to take on Julia and Anais to work on some much needed doubles specifics. Doubles is a very important part of these level of events; it’s not only a great opportunity to work on your serve and return but develops a lot of other skills like movement at the net and volleys that you don’t always get a chance to work on when playing singles. By midday everyone was happy and we got the bus back to the hotel for lunch.

The afternoon session was much lighter than the morning; Mia and Julia played points for a solid 45 minutes until they were both feeling prepared for their singles matches. By the time you get to the day before competing all the hard work should have been done so it’s just a chance to get sharp and make sure you’re in the right mindset to compete. Just as we were walking off the court a huge thunderstorm started so we all went back to the hotel to do some core work and then have a thorough stretch out to end a fantastic day’s preparation.

We had a couple of hours before dinner so I managed to get some work done and Mia was able to get stuck into her school work before we met back up with the other guys. We girls wanted to try somewhere different tonight (always an error!!) so we managed to find somewhere that did some pizza and pasta – everyone went for the spaghetti bolognaise apart from Pierre and Stephanie who made a huge unforced error in going for a very dodgy looking pizza!

After a stroll around the local market, meeting the locals and the girls trying to find some fake designer bags we headed back to the hotel for an early night.

Schedule for tomorrow:

Mia Smith (GBR) (UNR) vs (8) Hsing-Ping Cheng (TPE) (1047) – 5th match on, not before 1pm

Bac Lieu U18 ITF Grade 5, Day 1

Sunday 9th October 2011

The start of a new week today which means new opportunities, new experiences, the chance to pick up some points in a new event and lots more things to learn for both Mia and I.

We had breakfast this morning at 8am and I was very happy to have cereal rather than the eggs and bread I’ve had for the past 8 mornings. Our solid team of Mia, Anais, Julia, Pierre (Anais’ coach), Stephanie (Julia’s mum) and I have been getting on great for the past week and now we’re doing everything together. It’s great to form a strong bond with players and coaches when you’re on the road, both for the players and for the support team as travelling 1 on 1 can often become very intense. The girls have been getting on very well and Pierre, Stephanie and I have really enjoyed each others company.

We all trained together today and had a good 2 hours on court before me and Pierre tried to show the girls how it’s done! We were hitting well and sweating buckets but after 20 minutes and an exhausting up to 7 off the ground we decided to call it a day!!! We were back to the hotel at 12.45pm for a shower and lunch after which Julia and Mia wanted to do a bit of shopping. I was definitely up for that as I love to have a haggle with some locals and soon I found myself in a huge battle to try and get Julia a traditional Vietnamese hat for less than $1. To the shock of the locals I managed to walk away with one for 10,000 dong (about 20p or $0.50) and Julia was over the moon with it! Here’s Mia and Julia (proudly wearing her hat!) with one of the locals:

As I said yesterday this is one of the best Grade 5 tournaments I’ve ever been to; not only is the organisation fantastic – we get our own personal translator per team, but the courts, transportation, hotel and food are superb. We also get to be part of an amazing Opening Ceremony which is live on local TV and the coaches get some great gifts! At 2.30pm we were all taken off to the Town Hall for the Opening Ceremony which ran from 3.30 – 4.30pm. We all watched some local music and dance acts before each country’s coach or player representative was taken up to the stage to be presented with a scroll and flowers whilst wearing their own Adidas jacket with the tournament logo on it. It was brilliant and something that much, much wealthier federations can learn from. We were then taken to a brand new hotel and restaurant were we all had a 5 course meal laid on for us for free.

The Opening Ceremony in Bac Lieu

The draw was completed at the restaurant at 6.15pm and then afterwards we were taken back to the hotel for an early night. Mia has a bye in the first round and so will not play until Tuesday when she will face 8th seed Hsin-Ping Cheng from Chinese Taipei.

Binh Duong to Bac Lieu

Saturday 8th October 2011

After 8 straight days of training and matches it was time for a well deserved rest but unfortunately it wasn’t a complete rest day as we had to travel from Binh Duong to Bac Lieu – a 250km journey and you never know how long that’s going to take in Vietnam!!

After working until 1.45am I was up at 4 hours later to pack everything up and make sure our hotel bill was correct – it took the hotel 45 minutes to get it right but after paying up they were still chasing me 4 hours later saying we owed them more!! We all had breakfast together and then at 8am got a taxi to the club expecting the bus to leave at 10am as scheduled. I should have remembered that it’s never that straightforward in Vietnam and at 9.55am we were told we’d have to wait until after the singles matches before the bus would leave. That wasn’t all bad as it gave Mia a chance to watch and analyse the girl’s semi-finals before we left. The plan was changed again at 11.30am and we were told we were leaving in 5 minutes. Our team got on the bus first and as nobody was taking responsibility to pack the bags on the bus I decided I would do it – unforced error on my part there! After doing it for 20 minutes I looked like this:

Glad I packed a spare T-shirt!

And the seats behind where we were sitting looked like this:

. . . and Yes they did fall on my head a few times on the way!

We eventually got away just after 12pm and that was after people from our hotel had arrived at the club and tried to tell me they hadn’t charged us enough for our stay! I wasn’t having any of that and got on the bus and away we went.

After a gruelling 8 hour 30 minute journey, only stopping once, we arrived in Bac Lieu around 8.45pm. It wasn’t a very comfortable trip but Mia’s DVDs and a combination of my singing and Mia’s dancing got us through!!

After meeting our translator for the week we all hit the supermarket to stock up on water, fruit and cereal before having a quick bite to eat for dinner and then heading off to bed for a well deserve nights sleep. It’s good to be back in Bac Lieu – this is one of the best Grade 5 tournaments I’ve ever been too so I’m really looking forward to a great week.

Binh Duong U18 ITF Grade 5, Day 8

Friday 7th October 2011

We had a fantastic day today to end our first week in Vietnam which included some of the day over ground and some of it underground!

The earliest bus this morning was at 8am so we trained for a couple of hours from 8.45am with Anais and a new addition to our “team” – Julia Weisel from Hawaii. It was very hot this morning but the quarter-final matches were outdoors so we were under cover where the humidity was even worse than it had been all week. After a solid session of mainly point play we stretched out, had lunch and then were picked up from the tennis centre at 12pm by a taxi from our hotel to take us to the Cu Chi Tunnels.

After just over an hour of driving on flooded, pothole filled dodgy roads we arrived at the Cu Chi Tunnels just 70km north west of Ho Chi Minh City. The Cu Chi Tunnels are the famous tunnels that were built by the local Cu Chi people during the Vietnam War to fight against the Americans. The locals built over 250kms of tunnels all by hand and in the tunnel system they had living areas, dinning rooms, kitchens, wells to collect water, medical areas including rooms to conduct surgery as well as escape routes into the Saigon River. It truly is an amazing feat and something that anyone visiting the areas should come and see.

The amazing tunnel system

We spent about 20 minutes watching a documentary on the local area and how the tunnels were constructed before our tour guide explained the system in more detail. We were very fortunate to have a personal tour guide for our group, I think the torrential rain had put off the normal flow of tourists today. He then took us around the site, telling us all about how everything was build, how they set booby traps to trap and kill American soldiers and then took us through quite a few different tunnels. I visited this site back in 2003 when I was here with my wife but they have opened up more tunnels now and there’s a lot more to see.

Mia entering the tunnels

A horrific booby trap to catch American soldiers

After a couple of hours of crawling through small spaces, the girls screaming their heads off as we came across a couple of small bats in the tunnels and me trying to fit down an original tunnel entrance we left that area and headed over to the shooting range for me and Pierre to fire an M16 rifle and the girls to have a go at an AK47!!

Good job I lost some weight before the Great North Run

Looking very confident!!

It took us just under an hour and a half to drive back to the hotel and everyone was thoroughly exhausted after a long but very enjoyable day. We all had dinner together but Julia and her mum were extremely disappointed that there wasn’t any “Snake’s Head” available as they had been talking about trying that all day!

It’s now time to pack up everything before we leave tomorrow morning for the 7-10 hour drive (you never know how long it will take in Vietnam!) to Bac Lieu for the next event which starts on Monday.

It’s been a fantastic week, both Mia and I have learnt a lot about her game, about her as a person and also had a chance to experience a different way of life and culture. If we can learn just as much next week and put some of it into practise then win or lose it will be a very successful trip.

Binh Duong U18 ITF Grade 5, Day 7

Thursday 6th October 2011

It was just a training day today but we weren’t about to take it lightly as it gave us a great opportunity to develop with Mia’s next match 4 days away.

Early start as normal this morning and we got the first bus at 7.30am to give us the best chance to get a full court to play a set with one of the Swedish girls. Mia completed her full physical warm up before hitting with me for 25 mins so that at 9am she was ready to go straight into a set. As I said yesterday it’s great that there are so many girls to train with at these events, the only probably is working it so that you can get a full court and not have to share with players that are just going through 30 minute pre-match warm ups.

Mia played a good set with Sofia Segerfors and continued to develop the areas that we highlighted from her singles match. She found a much more consistent level today and was developing more points without trying to finish it too early. As they played I made notes on her performance goals and I was also able to film the set so that Mia could watch herself play and hopefully see what I see! The set lasted just over an hour with Mia narrowly going down 6-3, I would have liked them to play one more but Sofia had doubles later so they both stopped just after 10.30am.

We then had lunch and at 12.15pm were back onto the basketball court to warm up before completing Mia’s strength and conditioning programme. It started with some speed and movement work with the bungee rope and then moved onto a tough strength programme which lasted just over an hour. It was very hot during the session but Mia worked hard and proved that she’s not just one of these players that think all the important work is done on the court hitting balls.

Mia working out in our makeshift gym on the basketball court

After the session Mia stretched out and showered before we got the bus back to the hotel. We then had a couple of hours before dinner so Mia emailed her training team with her feedback from the first week while I went in search of a bank to get a good exchange rate for some Dollars. I thought the exchange rate at the hotel wouldn’t be great so I went for a walk and after 20 minute found a bank that would change some money. When they told me the rate it was only 30 dong (about 1 penny) better per Dollar than the hotel – well worth the 40 minute round trip then!!!!!

After dinner with the French guys we all went to play table tennis but got severely outclassed by the Thai team who dominated everyone they played – I did manage to scrape a win against Pierre though!

We ended the day by going through the video of Mia’s set against Sofia. She found it very useful and made a lot of notes on the positive areas as well as the things that she wants to improve on. She’ll now select 3 of those areas and set them as goals for her practise set against Anais tomorrow morning. We were going to travel to Bac Lieu tomorrow but now we’re going to train in the morning and then hit the Cu Chi Tunnels in the afternoon.

Binh Duong U18 ITF Grade 5, Day 6

Wednesday 5th October 2011

The rain came down again today for the 6th day in a row but it didn’t dampen our training or Mia’s development.

It’s getting to be our routine that we’re up at 6.15am, having eggs and bread for breakfast at 6.45am and then on the bus driving to the centre at 7.30am. Mia wasn’t due on for her match until 2.30pm but we’re not ones to have a lie in and take it easy! We were on the court warming up at 8.15am and had a great session with three different partners (I think Mia wore them all out!) for 2 hours. The great thing about these events is that even if you’re out of all of the events there are still loads of players around to train with and it’s great experience to hit with so many different types of players.

After the morning session we had lunch and then debriefed on both the singles and doubles matches from yesterday. I normally go through parts of the match as soon as the player comes off court but it’s much more beneficial to revisit the match the day after once everything has had a chance to digest. Mia responded really well to the talk and we set some goals going forward into next week’s singles matches. We then spent a couple of hours watching some of the other main draw players and learning from what they’re doing well before Mia’s pre-match preparation started for her doubles.

Anais had won her singles comfortably against a Swedish girl and both players were really up for getting stuck into the second seeds. They started very well playing a solid game to break Claudia Williams but that was really the highlight of the match as they lost the next 12 games in a row. To be fair it wasn’t as one sided as the score line suggests and Mia especially improved her doubles game from the match yesterday. Mia and Anais played well in parts but they were too inconsistent and struggled to win the important points after getting to 30-30. It was another great learning experience and I can see Mia is starting to become comfortable in uncomfortable situations which is exactly what we wanted from the trip.

After the match it was still raining so we went into the badminton courts and, in-between getting mauled by hundreds of mosquitos, Mia completed her core programme and then had a thorough stretch out to end the day. Another good day in the bank, we might not have picked up any points this week but Mia’s getting close and it’s not going to be long before she gets on the board.

One day without rain would be nice!

We were thinking about taking a day off tomorrow to visit the Chu Chi Tunnels and learning a bit about the Vietnam War but that would mean we’d have 2 days without hitting (as we’re travelling to the next event all day Friday) so we’ll try and move that to the end of the tournament next week. We’ve arranged practise sets tomorrow to keep Mia sharp which means another 6.15am start to the day – sorry Mia!!

Binh Duong U18 ITF Grade 5, Day 5

Tuesday 4th October 2011

It was a real mix of emotions today as Mia competed in her first ITF main draw in both singles and doubles. One match was disappointing, one was superb but most importantly she learnt a lot and developed her game in both.

Early start this morning; I had to give Mia a 6.15am wake up call as her phone was in my room charging and to my surprise she was already up! We had breakfast at 6.45am and then got on the bus early to make sure we got a seat.

After a good physical warm up Mia hit with a girl from Singapore for 30 minutes and by 9am she was ready to go. Unfortunately the rain came down which meant the schedule had to be changed so that all the girls got to play undercover. By 10am the sun had come out and the courts were now dry so a 3rd schedule was produced meaning Mia was moved onto an uncovered court starting at 10.30am.

It was Mia’s first ever ITF singles main draw but she looked very comfortable in the warm up and I was thinking that it was going to be a really good match. Unfortunately Mia’s consistency let her down from the start and her opponent from Taipei picked up on it early and decided she was just going wait for Mia to miss. Mia managed to hold at 0-4 and 1-5 but couldn’t do enough to break her opponent to get back into the set and lost the first set 6-2. Mia seemed to re-set at the start of the 2nd and played a really good service game but couldn’t convert her two game points leading her to get broken. She responded to this well by breaking straight back and holding to lead 2-1 but at this stage the form from the first set popped its head up again and Mia lost the next 5 games in a row while Yuna Usui only hit 3 winners. Mia was very disappointed to go down 6-2, 6-2 to a girl we both felt she could have beaten but there were a lot of positives to take from the match and I challenged her to show me the improvements that she needed to make in her doubles 1st round match.

The doubles, like the singles, was moved and I had to fight hard to get Mia an extra 5-10 minutes to be able to warm up properly but at 3pm Mia and Anais went on court. Also like the singles we had set performance and outcome goals so Mia knew exactly what was expected from her whether she won or lost. The first set was a bit up and down (like most girl’s doubles!!) – after getting broken and breaking straight back Mia and Anais then took a 4-2 lead before being pegged back to 4-4. To their credit they then focused in hard and won the next two games to take the set 6-4. The girls from Taipei weren’t done there thought and showed typical Asian attitude and commitment fighting all the way through the second set. Yun-Chieh and Lo got the break at 2-2 but again Mia and Anais fought hard to break, hold, break again to lead 5-3; it was then down to Mia to serve out the match! The first 2 points were shaky but Mia kept her cool and implemented what we had talked about after her singles to stay patient and make her opponent play more balls. She was as solid as a rock from the back which set Anais up to finish the volley on 2 occasions and the other 2 points were won through their opponent’s unforced errors – 6-4, 6-3! It was a great win, a superb performance from both girls and Mia showed huge character to come back from a tough singles loss and put in such a professional performance. Mia and Anais have formed a great team, their communication and encouragement for each other was first class and they’ll be ready to take on the 2nd seeds tomorrow.

The covered courts saved the day once again!

After debriefing, showering and changing we all got the bus back at 6pm and had a great dinner together in the hotel restaurant.

Schedule for tomorrow:

Anais Nussaume (FRA) & Mia Smith (GBR) vs Ah Song (KOR) & Claudia Williams (NZL) – 4th round on, not before 2.30pm

Binh Duong U18 ITF Grade 5, Day 4

Monday 3rd October 2011

The rain came down for the whole day today which meant that all of the girl’s 1st round matches were cancelled. For almost all of the girls that meant the day was a complete washout but we had other ideas!

As Mia was scheduled for 4th round on today we decided to have a later breakfast at 8.30am and get the 9.30am bus to the centre. Almost as soon as we arrived the rain came down so we delayed our physical and pre-match warm up until the referee had decided what he was going to do. The club we’re at looks brand new and they’ve had the foresight to build 4 out of the 9 courts under cover so it meant that half of the boy’s 1st round matches could continue. When the new schedule came out Mia was still scheduled for not before 1pm on one of the open courts but the rain was still coming down and it didn’t look like it would ever let up.

With all of the covered courts being used for matches we decided to use an indoor badminton centre next door to do some fitness but just as we decided to do that we noticed that play had stopped on one of the covered courts. Water was rolling on to it from the open court next to it; it was bad enough not to have matches on it but the water wasn’t actually on the playing surface so we grabbed Claudia and jumped on to train. While all of the other girls either went back to the hotel or sat in the clubhouse doing nothing we had a great 2 hour training session going through everything we needed to prepare ourselves for tomorrow. At 3pm it was back on the bus to the hotel and then straight into the ‘gym’ to do some physical work. The gym is very basic but has a bike, running machine, free weights and area to do core / stretching. Mia completed a great 35 minute session and then had a thorough stretch out to finish off our training day.

We then played a bit of table tennis before relaxing before dinner. We had our standard BBQ chicken and rice with Anais and her coach Pierre and once we’d let it go down we were back on the table tennis table again battling it out against each other!! It ended up being a very productive day and I’m so glad Mia is not one of those girls that would have taken the easy option of using the weather as an excuse to sit around all day doing nothing.

Schedule for tomorrow:

Yuna Usui (JPN) (UNR) vs Mia Smith (GBR) (UNR) – 1st round on at 9.30am

Yun-Chieh Chang (TPE) & Lo Shao-Chi (TPE) vs Anais Nussaume (FRA) & Mia Smith (GBR) – 4th round on, not before 1.30pm

Binh Duong U18 ITF Grade 5, Day 3

Sunday 2nd October 2011

Final day of preparation today before the main draw kicks off tomorrow!

We had a nice lie in this morning as the opening ceremony was at 7pm and we didn’t fancy being on site from 8am to 8pm! We had our standard ‘Bread and Eggs’ for breakfast at 8.30am and then, while Mia got stuck into some school work, I tried to catch up on some sleep! I’ve struggled to sleep these past couple of nights and last night I slept from 9.30pm until 1am but then couldn’t get back to sleep until 7am – good job “A Few Good Men” was on TV – I must have only watched that 100 times!!

We got the 12pm bus to the tennis centre and then trained from 1pm until 3pm with Claudia Williams – she’s the girl from New Zealand that I worked with at the Nottingham ITFs in April and asked if she could join up with us for these couple of weeks. It was a good training session and it gave Mia a chance to train with a player ranked 400 ITF which gave her great preparation for her main draw match tomorrow.

….

Mia in action today

After lunch Mia signed in and then it was back on court at 4.30pm with Mia’s newly found doubles partner Anais Nussaume from France. Like yesterday the second session of the day was better than the first; Mia and Anais trained well and finished off with 3 service games each which was the perfect end to Mia’s preparations. After the session Mia had a long stretch out and then we both showered and changed so we looked respectable for the opening ceremony!!

I really wish the tournaments in the UK would make as much of an effort as they do abroad when it comes to opening ceremonies. We only had a few brief speeches from sponsors and the head of the federation before all of the players and coaches had a fantastic (and free!) dinner together.

By 8pm we were back on the bus and it was then off to bed for Mia as soon we got back to the hotel to get ready for her match tomorrow.

Schedule for tomorrow:

Yuna Usui (JPN) (UNR) vs Mia Smith (GBR) (UNR) – 4th round on, not before 1pm

Binh Duong U18 ITF Grade 5, Day 2

Saturday 1st October 2011

It was a tough day today as we got used to the heat and humidity but we got a lot of work done and we were both very happy with how it all went.

After a restless night (partly due to going to bed far too early) I met Mia (who had slept like a baby apparently!) for breakfast at 7.20am which consisted of the Vietnamese classic of Eggs and Bread – you can have your eggs however you like them and they’re cooked right in front of you so it makes for a great start to the day! At 8am we were aboard the bus again for the 40 minute journey to the tennis centre and at 9am we were on the basketball court starting our normal 30 minute warm up. By 9.30am we were both absolutely dripping with sweat and the humidity was already taking its toll. From 9.30am to 11am we were on court hitting balls and the session content was completely down to what Mia wanted to do as she started her preparations for Monday. It was a good session and her level improved a lot as she got more used to the humidity and the bouncy court surface. At 11am, having drunk over 3 litres of water since breakfast, we had a break, changed and got some lunch.

This event is Mia’s first U18 ITF event and the experience she’s going to gain from it, apart from being invaluable, will set her up for the all the junior events she’s going to play going forwards. When you look at the current best female players in the world (with the exception of the Williams Sisters) they all started their ITF careers from a young age and by the age of 14 / 15 they all had a wealth of knowledge about themselves and their tennis that can only be gained from being on the road and being in uncomfortable situations away from your home country. Mia’s worked hard over the summer and her game is now at a level where she’s able to compete with the likes of players in these events so she’s mix in the ITFs and Tennis Europe events throughout the winter months.

After lunch Mia was back on court at 1.15pm to play points against a Japanese girl whose coach I got chatting to this morning. The girls had a competitive set which lasted just over an hour and Mia came out on top taking it 6-4 – she played well throughout and developed almost every area we worked on this morning so I was a very happy coach ?. Mia’s work wasn’t quite done there though as she had to sprint to chase down the bus which had left a little earlier than scheduled! Thankfully her speed work throughout September paid off and she managed to get there just in time which saved us having to wait at the centre for another 3 hours!!

It was nice to have a bit of a break before dinner but I didn’t really get to relax as I had to move rooms twice before I could settle in and unpack – all sorted now though and hopefully I’ll be in this room for the rest of the week.

We had a solid dinner of chicken, steamed rice and steamed vegetables but it was tempting to choose some fish from one of the dozen or so fish tanks by the side of the restaurant (NOT!). I’ll let you into one of the dishes on the menu each day so you can get a feel for what we’re looking at – and these are all genuine!

Interesting dish of the day: Boiled Snake’s Head! (Somehow I think we’ll be staying with chicken filet and rice each day!)

As there was no girls qualifying due to lack of entries and only 14 boys in the qualies there are no matches tomorrow which means we’ve got loads of courts to practise on all day as we make our final preparations before round 1 on Monday.

Binh Duong U18 ITF Grade 5, Day 1

Friday 30th September 2011 – Day 1.5!!

I suppose officially we’re now at the end of the 2nd day of the trip but as most of yesterday was spent travelling I didn’t think it was worth devoting a whole Blog to 12 hours on a plane!

I’m joined on this trip by Mia Smith and we left Heathrow at 11.30am on Thursday afternoon after a 2 hour journey across London including just over an hour on the underground with all of the daily commuters – I don’t know how people can do that everyday!

Our first flight was to Singapore and it was on a massive Airbus 380 – the third or forth time I’ve flown on one of those and they really are the best way to fly (would be nice if I could afford a First Class Suite though!). The 13 hour flight went quite quickly but the films weren’t great; I watched Bridesmaids as a few people had said it was funny but I thought it was awful! After a 2 hour stopover in Singapore we were back on our next flight to Ho Chi Minh City. That flight literally flew by (!) as we both slept the whole way only to wake for some scrambled eggs for breakfast.

We landed in Vietnam just before 11am and by 11.45am we had gone through Passport Control, collected our bags and were outside trying to find the guy who was supposed to be collecting us. After a few phone calls to the tournament director (which must have cost a fortune!) we met the driver and he took us through Ho Chi Minh City to our hotel for the week. Driving in Vietnam is always an interesting experience and I have no idea how there aren’t more accidents with the millions of motorbikes weaving in and out of all the cars trying to find a small space.

Surrounded by motorbikes!

After checking into the hotel we just had time to unpack before getting the 3pm bus to the tennis centre where we managed to get in a really good 45-50 minute session before it got dark. I think it’s always important to get the flight and travel out of your system as early as possible so no matter how far I travel I like to get a hit in on the day I arrive at a tournament – it also helps to keep you awake a little longer too!! At 6pm we headed back to the hotel, had an early dinner and went off to our rooms for an early night around 8pm.

More on the country, the tournament and Mia tomorrow!

Halton U16 TE Grade 3, Day 6 – Singles Semi-Finals

Friday 26th August 2011

Yesterday Cameron became the first ITC player this year to make the semi-final of an international singles event and today he was looking to go one better.

Semi-final days are always difficult; no-one wants to lose in a semi-final where as if you lose in the final at least you experience the last day of the tournament and get to play in front of at least a few people in the crowd. That’s why you should expect players to be more nervous for a semi than a final and that was the case today with Cameron. He wanted to do so well that he ended up being nervous most of the morning – my response to this is always the same; “it’s good to be nervous because it shows you care about the match, I’m worried by the players who say they don’t get nervous”.

After our normal warm up in the gym and 30 minutes on court training Cam was feeling better and ready to do battle. He had to wait until the match before had finished before he went on but that gave him time to reflect on yesterdays match, prepare his game plan for today, eat, re-grip rackets and generally get him focused for the match. As it was getting closer to match time we all stayed relaxed by competing at “Fruit Ninja” on the iphone – great game, especially when you get three very competitive people together!

Cam took to the indoor courts just after 11.30am and even though he was taking on a player a couple of years younger he knew that Lucas Taylor is a tough player and it wasn’t going to be easy. Cam’s focus at the start of the match was superb – maybe this was due to him being nervous and that made him concentrate more but what ever the reason it worked and he raced to a 2-0 lead. Cam then got broken and ended up losing the next 2 games as Lucas started to find his feet in the rallies. So Cam went from 2-0 up to 3-2 down but dug deep to keep in the set with Lucas who by now was stepping up and taking the ball on more. Cam broke back and then following a few close games Cam got the break at 5-4 to take the set 6-4. Cam’s level was good but he did need to come up the court more and look to finish points from the net as Lucas was very quick around the court and kept making him play one more ball.

In the second set Cam’s confidence grew and he really took his game to Lucas; his serving was much bigger and the unforced error count remained reasonable. Cam took a 3-0 lead and then it went with serve until 5-2 when Cam had a match point on Lucas’ serve but missed a simple short forehand which gave his opponent a bit of belief. Lucas held and then broke Cam easily and everyone watching knew that the next game would really determine the match. As Cam has done all week he responded well to being broken and stepped up from the start of the 5-4 game hitting 2 clean winners and not allowing Lucas to really get into the rally. On his second match point Lucas missed a simple rallying ball to give Cam the match 6-4, 6-4. It ended up being a little more difficult that Cam would have liked but he played well against a tricky opponent and at the end of the day a win is a win and he’s in the final tomorrow!

As we finished early and as it’s Saturday tomorrow (with hopefully less traffic on the road) we decided to drive back to Kent so Cam could save some money and have a good nights sleep in his own bed! We still met up for dinner and of course as it was Cam’s choice we ended up going to Nando’s!!

Schedule for tomorrow:

Boy’s Singles Final:

(1) Julian Cash (GBR) (24) vs Cameron Hawkins (GBR) (UNR) – 2nd round on after 10am, N.B. 11am

Halton U16 TE Grade 3, Day 5 – Singles 1/4 Finals

Thursday 25th August 2011

In the 7 years I have known Cameron I have never seen him work as hard as he did today, every point he fought hard for and he kept believing all the way to the end of the match. Definitely a day he should be proud of – maybe it was all down to the Nando’s!!!

A later than normal start today as we had breakfast at 7.30am, warmed up in the gym at 9am and took to the indoor courts (due to the rain) at 9.30am. Cameron was second round of matches on so after fully preparing he was all ready to go just after 11.30am.

Cameron was going to write a little bit about the match here . . . in fact he started writing it and then got tight, just like he did at the end of the match (sorry Cam!!!!). Cam started a little poorly but Dan came out of the blocks very fast, it was obvious he’s full of confidence having just won U14 Nationals without dropping a set. Dan took control from the start, moving well and really taking his forehand on putting Cam under a lot of pressure. Cam was broken at 1-1, then again at 2-4 but despite breaking straight back he was broken again at 3-5 to lose the first set 6-3.

Cam’s response to his performance in the first set was very professional; he broke in the first game and then continued to step up the court more and be the more aggressive player throughout the set. He was broken back when serving at 3-2 but again responded well to take the next 3 games and the second set 6-3.

At this stage Dan’s unforced errors started to mount up but Cam was waiting too much for him to miss rather than going after the points. Cam was broken in the first game of the third but broke straight back and then the next 4 games went with serve. At 3-3, just like in the second set Cam gave up his serve too easily (the 3 double faults didn’t help!) but again like the second set Dan just couldn’t hold after breaking and Cam made it level again at 4-4. Despite having 3 match points at 6-5 Cam just couldn’t finish it off and it was on to a tie-break. With both players looking a little edgy Cam did well to be aggressive and not give Dan anything to attack. He took a 5-1 lead and on his 5th match point he managed to close out the match 3-6, 6-3, 7-6(3).

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It was a really hard fought win for Cam playing through the tightness and mentally performing well to win the breaker after having the match points in the game before.

Mia was courtside to watch some of Cam’s match but she’s also been working hard off the court on the physical side of her game; she did 2 x 30 minute bike sessions as well as a strength and stabilisation session in the afternoon so they both deserved an early finish to the day.

We went back to the accommodation at 4.30pm and while Mia and Cam chilled out I took to the road for an hours run to keep my training going for the Great North Run in September – follow how my training is going at https://itc-tennis.com/category/gnr-2011.

Schedule for tomorrow:

(3) Lucas Taylor (GBR) (238) vs Cameron Hawkins (GBR) (UNR) – 2nd round on after 10am

Halton U16 TE Grade 3, Day 4

Wednesday 24th August 2011

It was a big day today as Mia looked to follow Cameron’s example by taking down a seed and make it to the ¼ finals.

We warmed up as normal at 8.30am in the gym and then while Mia warmed up on court with Emily Smith Cameron got a basket of balls and worked on his serve on his own. Mia had a great pre-match hit and after completing her match sheet we spoke about her goals and game plan before she went on court at 10am.

The first set was a bit of a rollercoaster; it started with Mia getting broken but then breaking straight back, then the next 4 games went with serve, the next 4 went against serve and it ended up going to a tie-break after the girls held their last two games service games. With in those 12 games the level of tennis wasn’t great; both girls were making far too many unforced errors and not taking the chances they had. In the tie-break Nika was the more solid of the two players but only had to win 1 point as Mia gave her the other 7 to lose it 8-6. In total Mia hit 39 unforced errors to Nika’s 27 and hit 18 winners to Nika’s 5 – not ideal!!

Mia responded well at the start of the second set breaking serve but then mentally completely lost her way losing the next 4 games which were all down to her missing. She soon found herself 5-2 down which is when something clicked in her head and she started to make Nika work more for the point and test her more in each rally. Mia got it back to 5-5 and then after each of the girls held we were back to another tie-break! Unfortunately the second set tie-break was almost identical to the first set with Mia giving Nika 6 of the 7 points she needed to take the match 7-6(6), 7-6(5).

It’s a match that I’m sure Mia will want to forget quickly as the stats don’t make good reading:
• Unforced Errors: 86 to 65
• Winners: 32 to 13
• Mia’s game point conversion: 41%

After lunch I went on court with Cameron to prepare him for tomorrow, we warmed up and played a set out (in which I just about managed to sneak the win!) and ended the session with some specific drilling based on the notes we made about his next round opponent. While Cameron was drilling with me Mia got back on court and worked on her serve for 40 minutes before joining us to end the session for some basket drills. She then went into the gym to complete her strength and conditioning programme while Cameron stretched out and showered.

Tough day today for Mia but I do like to see a player respond well and take it upon themselves to get back on court and back in the gym to make themselves better which she did.

Dinner tonight was Cameron’s choice (and definitely not mine!!) so we drove the 10 mile journey to High Wycombe in search of the closest Nando’s! I’m really not sure what the attraction is but soo many of the senior and junior players seem to love it. If it makes him happy and means he’ll perform better then I’m up for it!!

Schedule for tomorrow:

Cameron Hawkins (GBR) (UNR) vs (2) Daniel Little (GBR) (151) – 2nd round after 10am

Halton U16 TE Grade 3, Day 3

Tuesday 23rd August 2011

Another big day for Cameron today as he had his round of 16 singles match as well as a doubles ¼ to compete for, Mia on the other hand had a training day in preparation for her singles match tomorrow.

We arrived at the club this morning to find that it had rained overnight and the macadam courts were still wet – even worse news though was that rain was forecast for the rest of the day. We went into the gym to warm up at 9am; Mia had a longer more physical warm up as she wasn’t competing today but Cameron just had his standard 20-25 minute pre-match warm up. We then headed to the bubble to warm up on court and as we made our way there we were told that all of the U16 matches would be in there throughout the day – a good refereeing decision as at least the players knew where they stood then and there wouldn’t be any confusion. Cam had a good hit with his doubles partner and by 10am he was ready and looking forward to competing.

After eating, changing, filling out his pre-match sheet and talking about the match Cam got on court around 11.30am for his match against 7th seed Marco Ferrandia from Germany. I said to Cam before he went on that seedings and rankings mean nothing at this level and to his credit he didn’t give his opponent any necessary respect based on that. Cam got off to a flyer racing through the first set 6-0 only missing 5 balls in total! It’s not always a good thing to win a set so comfortably against an opponent who obviously can play and at the start of the second Marco started to find his range.

As Marco started to increase his winners from 1 in the first set to 14 in the second Cameron started to get a little more frustrated and then his errors started to go through the roof (literally!). Cam recovered from 3-1 down to level the set at 3-3 but another lapse of concentration at 4-5 gifted Marco the second set 6-4. So . . . now it was “Game On” and let’s see how Cameron would react! To my delight Cam came out in the third much more aggressive and much more focused, just like the first set. He raced to a 3-0 lead by hardly missing and really taking the game to his opponent. Marco held at 3-0 but then Cam increased his level again and took the next 3 games to win the match 6-0, 4-6, 6-1. It was a great effort, he learnt a lot about his own concentration but I also learnt a lot about how mentally tough Cam can also be when he wants to.

After a debrief and some lunch I was back out on the court with Mia in the rain to fine tune her game for tomorrow. Mia trained well today, especially as most of the day she was training with other girls while I was preparing Cameron for his match. We trained for just under an hour before I had to go back inside to watch Cameron’s doubles match but Mia stayed out there to serve and then went into the gym to complete her strength programme and stretch out.

To be honest I wish I had stayed out there in the rain (!!) as Cameron and Dag didn’t really change much from the level they found yesterday. Their opponents today were brothers from Malta who were both pretty solid and knew their way around the doubles court. Unfortunately Cameron and Dag didn’t impose themselves anywhere near as much as they should have done and gave their opponents too many opportunities to get back into rallies when it should have just been finished. Despite having chances in the first set and a set point in the second Cameron and Dag went down 7-5, 7-6(6). They did fight hard but they both need to do a lot of work on their doubles game.

Cam and Dag in doubles action today

By the time both Mia and Cameron had showered and changed it was around 5.15pm so we left site early and chilled out at the accommodation for a while before heading out to a local pub for dinner. Mia had some interesting games to play at the table including naming body parts beginning with the letter ‘B’ – I’ll save her embarrassment by not going through all of them but I had to draw the line when she tried using “blackheads” as one!!!

Cam’s got a training day tomorrow so it’s just down to Mia in the singles:

Schedule for tomorrow:

Mia Smith (GBR) (UNR) vs (3) Nika Hein (GER) (835) – 1st round on at 10am

Halton U16 TE Grade 3, Day 2

Monday 22nd August 2011

We were up bright and early at 6.45am this morning and down to breakfast for 7.15pm. Breakfast officially wasn’t due to open until 8am but we as we needed to start warming up at the club at 8.30am we decided to risk it! The chefs were fantastic and got out the cereals, yogurts and made us some toast so we had enough to start the day 🙂

After physically warming up for 30 minutes Cameron and Mia took to the court at 9am for their pre-match hit. Both of them had to hit with other players that the tournament arranged as there are only 4 practise courts but neither of their practise partners turned up!! So I hit with Cam and Mia hit in a three with two other girls. By 9.30am they were both warm so they got some food and then changed into their match kit ready for when they were called.

Both of them were scheduled to play 2nd round on after 9.30am. Normally this isn’t a problem even if they are playing at different ends of the club but today Mia was scheduled on court 3 and Cameron was scheduled on court 1 . . . at Great Missenden Tennis Club!!

Mia played a good first set against a tricky opponent; she was taking the ball on well and moving up the court to take time away. She took a 3-1 lead but stuttered a little as Celine stopped missing as much and started to make life a bit more difficult. After being broken at 3-1 Mia responded but breaking, holding and breaking again to take the set 6-2. With that I was straight off down the road for the 7.5 mile journey to the other club to watch Cameron.

When I arrived Cameron was 5-2 up and he quickly took the next game to take the set. He was playing well and using the slow macadam courts to his advantage – no-one likes to play a lefty, especially one who can really rip the ball and make it kick up and off the court like Cameron does! The second set was a bit of a strange affair as Cameron was in full control for the whole of it but he just couldn’t hold serve!! He broke to go 1-0 then the next 8 games went against serve until Cameron finally held at 5-4 to take the match 6-2, 6-4. It ended up being a bit of a grind but Cam got their in the end and claimed his first junior international ranking.

As Cam was in the middle of his second set Mia called me to say she’d won 6-2, 6-1 – good news al round and we were 2 from 2!

It was then straight back to Halton and a quick break for some lunch and a debrief for both players before Mia was back on court with Emily Smith for their doubles. They were seeded 4 this week but they came unstuck against a German and a Russian who were just more focussed, more motivated and a little tougher than our girls. It was a disappointing 6-2, 7-6(4) loss but hopefully lessons will be learnt and areas will be improved.

Cameron was straight on after Mia and his match was very similar to Mia’s, in fact I’m still trying to work out how him and his Swedish partner managed to win the match!! Their British opponents played much better doubles but Cameron and Dag stuck in their when the going got tough and pulled out a 5-7, 6-4, 10-7 win.

I’ve said it before but I really think coaches need to spend more time working on doubles tactics in training so that players know what their doing when it comes to competition. There are far too many players standing in the wrong positions, not moving, not dominating the net and not communicating with each other. In these events, and in ITFs, doubles points go towards your singles rankings; in fact it’s actually possible to get to top 100 U18 ITF just on doubles wins! You have to win some big events but it is possible to do it!

We were finished quite late this evening so the players showered and changed at the club and then we headed straight out to Aylesbury again for dinner. We managed to get a voucher for Prezzo so we ate their and saved a bit of money!

Schedule for tomorrow:

(7) Marco Ferrandia (GER) (978) vs Cameron Hawkins (GBR) (UNR) – 2nd on after 10am

(4) B Cassar Torregiani (MLT) & M Cassar Torregiani (MLT) vs Dag Gudmundsson (SWE) & Cameron Hawkins (GBR) – 4th on – N.B. 3pm

Halton U16 TE Grade 3, Day 1

Sunday 21st August 2011

This week we’re off to RAF Halton in Buckinghamshire for the U16 Tennis Europe event and the team consists of Mia Smith and Bromley Tennis Academy player Cameron Hawkins. Mia has some U14 TE points from Solihull earlier this summer and as those points count towards her U16 ranking they have helped her move into the main draw of the event this week. This will be Cameron’s first Tennis Europe event and only his second junior international event after Edinburgh ITF in July. He moved into main draw very late on Friday evening and so both of the players are looking to achieve TE points with a 1st round main draw victory tomorrow.

We met today at Bexley Tennis Club at 11.30am and trained for a couple of hours on the same surface (macadam) as the tournament is on. Both Mia and Cameron worked hard in hot conditions and by 1.45pm we were all done and ready for the hour and 20 minute drive to Halton.

After a brief detour (so we didn’t run out of petrol!!) we arrived at the club around 3.45pm, signed in and managed to get on court again for another 45 minutes of good training to get used to the match courts and get the journey out of our system.

Mia and Cameron getting a feel for the courts

After a thorough stretch out we headed over to Green Park which will be our home for the week. The accommodation is pretty basic but we’ve got a whole block of rooms to ourselves and for £20 a night including breakfast you can’t really go wrong!!

For dinner tonight we drove into Aylesbury and ate at Pizza Express before going straight back to the accommodation to prepare for tomorrow and have an early night.

Schedule for tomorrow:

Mia Smith (GBR) (1904) vs Celine Zoetelief Tromp (FRA) (UNR) – 2nd round after 9.30am

Cameron Hawkins (GBR) (UNR) vs Kaloyan Mihaylov (BUL) (1228) – 2nd round after 9.30am

Doubles:

To be confirmed after entry deadline

Great North Run 2011

Welcome to my running Blog!

Here I hope to give you an idea of how I’m preparing for my 10th Great North Run on 18th September 2011 and hopefully you’ll see how much effort I’m putting in to raise as much money as possible for Make-A-Wish Foundation. Last year I ran the half marathon in 1 hour 28 minutes and I’m hoping to smash that time this year.

To sponsor me and help to make the wishes of children with life-threatening illnesses a reality please click on the link below:

Alternatively go directly to my JustGiving page:

www.justgiving.com/rmsmith

11th September

I had planned on doing another couple of runs during the last week but due to having to get my club tournament matches up to date I wasn’t able to run on Wednesday, Thursday or Friday. Yesterday morning I had the semi-finals of the doubles, then in the afternoon I had our first football league match and the whole of today was taken up with the club finals day – a busy week then!! All in all it’s been a good addition to my training especially as I won the singles, doubles and mixed in the club finals and we won the football 3-2 (I should have actually got a very rare goal but one of my team got his head in the way!!). Unfortunately in the football yesterday I was on the receiving end of a nasty two footed challenge which bruised my ankle badly. I managed to strap it for all of the finals but this evening it wasn’t looking good:

6th September 2011

As I missed a few runs at the start of August due to the baby arriving I’m not quite up to date with the micoach plan so today I decided to go back a month or so and do a 48 minute short Green and Yellow Zone intervals. I thought it was going to be quite a straightforward run but after 6 minutes my legs went like jelly and I really felt low on sugar. I actually thought I was going to be sick as I pushed up a steep hill to the 15 minute mark but as I was struggling all I could think of was the fact that I’m able to fight through this where as the children I’m running for can’t always fight and that’s why it’s so important to raise the money to make their lives a little happier. We take SO much for granted and only realise how tough things can be when we’re ill – most of the time it’s only a cold that makes us realise this but the children that Make-A-Wish Foundation are helping are struggling everyday with life-threatening illnesses. PLEASE PLEASE HELP ME TO HELP THEM.

I managed to get through a 25 minute period of feeling rough as I went through intervals of 1 minute in the Green zone followed by 2 minutes in a fast Yellow zone. In total I ran for 50 minutes and 34 seconds and covered 7.02 miles – by the time I got home I was so grateful that my wife had dinner ready 🙂

The table below shows all of the runs I’m completing with the assistance of Adidas micoach. Each run starts with a Blue Zone (8.26 – 9.40 mins/mile) and then it changes daily between a Green Zone (7.15 – 8.26 mins/mile), a Yellow Zone (5.35 – 7.15 mins/mile) and a Red Zone (4.17 – 5.35 mins/mile).

RUN NUMBER

DATE

TYPE OF RUN

DISTANCE

TIME

39 6th September ’11 Short Green & Yellow Intervals 7.02miles 50mins 34secs
38 5th September ’11 Long Green & Yellow Intervals 9.46miles 1hr 07mins 54secs
37 30th August ’11 Green – Yellow – Red 9.14miles 1hr 05mins 04secs
36 29th August ’11 Steady Green, Steady Yellow 12.26miles 1hr 30mins 12secs
35 25th August ’11 Steady Green 8.2miles 1hr 00mins 00secs
34 19th August ’11 Steady Green 8.83miles 1hr 03mins 40secs
33 17th August ’11 Yellow & Green Intervals 9.02miles 1hr 04mins 36secs
32 14th August ’11 Steady Green 11.9miles 1hr 30mins 06secs
31 11th August ’11 Steady Green 14.2miles 1hr 50mins 17secs
30 8th August ’11 Steady Green 8.77miles 1hr 02mins 42secs
29 7th August ’11 Steady Yellow 8.13miles 1hr 00mins 07secs
28 5th August ’11 Green-Yellow-Red 8.13miles 1hr 00mins 19secs
27 4th August ’11 Football Training Hills n/a 30mins
26 2nd August ’11 Football Training Intervals n/a 40mins
25 2nd August ’11 Steady Green, Steady Yellow 11.96miles 1hr 34mins 27secs
24 31st July ’11 Steady Green 8.13miles 1hr 0mins 2secs
23 28th July ’11 Green & Yellow Intervals 11.34miles 1hr 26mins 41secs
22 26th July ’11 Football Training Run 2.14miles 12mins 59secs
21 26th July ’11 Steady Green 11.32miles 1hr 30mins 11secs
20 24th July ’11 Dartford Half Marathon 13.1miles 1hr 29mins 59secs
19 22nd July ’11 Steady Green 8.1miles 1hr 00mins 03secs
18 21st July ’11 Football Training Run 2.14miles 13mins 15secs
17 20th July ’11 Yellow & Blue Intervals 9.38miles 1hr 15mins 48secs
16 19th July ’11 Football Training Run 2.14miles 13mins 21secs
15 18th July ’11 Green – Yellow – Red 7.02 miles 1hr 03mins 02secs
14 17th July ’11 Steady Green, Steady Yellow 9.68 miles 1hr 59mins 23secs
13 15th July ’11 Steady Green 6.57 miles 1hr 00mins 20secs
12 13th July ’11 Yellow & Green Intervals 8.58 miles 1hr 14mins 03secs
11 12th July ’11 Red & Blue Intervals 5.15 miles 47mins 16secs
10 11th July ’11 Steady Green 6.82 miles 1hr 00mins 15secs
9 7th July ’11 Football Training Run 2.14 miles 13mins 46secs
8 7th July ’11 Yellow & Green Intervals 6.59 miles 1hr 00mins 21secs
7 6th July ’11 Steady Yellow 6.98 miles 1hr 00mins 18secs
6 3rd July ’11 Steady Green 6.48 miles 1hr 00mins 3secs
5 30th June ’11 Yellow & Green Intervals 6.63 miles 55mins 5secs
4 27th June ’11 Yellow & Green Intervals 9.27 miles 1hr 15mins 4secs
3 26th June ’11 Steady Green 7.13 miles 1hr 00mins 8secs
2 18th June ’11 Steady Green 6.86 miles 1hr 00mins 28 secs
1 15th June ’11 Steady Green, Steady Yellow 8.79 miles 1hr 16mins 15secs

5th September 2011

What a day today was!! It’s the first day of a hard strength and conditioning week for the player I’m currently working with so she’s had some tough sessions and I was on the bike next to her for a really hard 30 minutes. After that it was back home and out for an hour and seven minutes of Green zone and long Yellow Zone intervals! It was my first run in 6 days and I was actually feeling really good; I’ve just cracked open some new running shoes and despite a few tender spots on the balls of my feet they were perfect. They felt a lot more bouncy than my worn out pair and I flew through the 1st mile in around 6mins 30secs – not bad for a Blue Zone!!

Today was my biggest fundraising day – I started off the day on £405 and ended it on £555 so THANK YOU so much to everyone that donated.

4th September 2011

2 weeks to go!!

With just 2 weeks to go I’ve added up my training miles and I’m up to 283! I’m hoping to run every other day this week and then 3 times the following week as I taper down to the big day. My weight had dropped a little but after a stressful weekend of Massage exams it all might ahve gone back on – we’ll see how it looks tomorrow!

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30th August 2011

I was so pleased to get back out today as I know the rest of the week is going to be busy as I prepare for Sports Massage Diploma exams at the weekend.

It was a 1 hour 5 minute run which started in the Blue zone, moved to Green, then Yellow and finished with a 60 second Red zone sprint. I feel like I’m getting quicker at these runs now as last time I did this run I only covered 8.13 miles in 1 hour but today I ran 9.14 in 1 hour 5 minutes. I really want to push hard to see what time I could do it in if I went hard from the start but maybe I’ll save that until the Great North Run!

29th August 2011

A long run today as I’m trying to make up for not doing as much as I would have liked in the last week or so.

The run started out with a 20 minute Blue zone and then moved onto a 40 minute Green Zone. The problem is I’m not sticking to those zones anymore and I’m really maintaining a Green / low Yellow zone almost from the start of the run. It’s good for me but the micoach is not happy and keeps telling me to slow down all the time!! After the 40 minute Green zone I pushed on again to the Yellow zone and tried to keep the pace up close to the Red zone but a little fatigue started. Another 12 miles in the bank though!

All in all it was a good 1hr 30 minute run and I’m feeling good, from today I’m trying to get my weight down for the run so we’ll see how that goes – currently 83.5kgs!

25th August 2011

I am soo annoyed I’ve not been able to run in the last week; the weekend was hectic with a club Men’s 1 match (where one of the rubbers lasted almost 3 hours!) and then on Sunday I travelled to Halton in Buckinghamshire for my next international tournament. Since travelling here on Sunday the week has been unbelievably busy and I really haven’t had time to get on the road and run. The problem is also that every run is at least an hour and it’s just not possible to fit that in our day (unless I get up at 5am!). However, today was semi finals day and as my player won it gave me a bit of time before we had to go out to dinner.

It was just a steady Green today as I hadn’t run in a while but as I left the place I’m staying at I hit a huge hill and straight away my legs were feeling it! I completed the 1 hour run and felt pretty good throughout but I think I was a little slower than normal as I only managed 8.2 miles. It was still good to get back out and get stuck in!!

Total training distance: 261 miles

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19th August 2011

Even though today’s run was just a steady Green I wanted to push a little more and cover more distance than my last steady Green so my target was to run over 8.77 miles in the hour. I started a little slow and due to being a little tired and the feedback not being accurate I couldn’t tell if I was running at the right speed or not. Things seemed to be taking longer than normal so I pushed on after about 20 minutes and tried to keep that going all the way to the end of the hour.

As I turned the corner into my road I again thought I was slow as I had gone a few minutes over the hour mark but as it turned out I had run 8.83 in 1hr 3mins 40 secs which I think it better than 8.77 miles in 1hr 2mins 42 secs (it’s probably exactly the same!!). Still, it’s another 8.83 miles banked and there’s just over 4 weeks to go.

17th August 2011

I’ve been looking forward to this run for a couple of days as I really wanted to push on through the yellow zones and get bit more of a feel for how fast I’m going to be running in Newcastle. The Adidas micoach seems to be getting more accurate but it’s not 100% and it does throw you a little when one second it’s telling you to speed up and then next it’s telling you to slow down!!

The six yellow intervals seemed good and I was finding a strong pace throughout, I felt as though I could continue with the Yellow zone pace all the time so things must be getting better. In total I ran for just over an hour as I wanted to make it the whole way home and I covered 9.02 miles, my leg felt good so I’m hoping to do the next run in the next couple of days.

14th August 2011

Another hectic few days has meant that I’ve missed a couple of runs so I knew that today I had to get out and “just do it!” I only managed to get out at about 8pm but I was feeling good and quickly got into a solid pace – it wasn’t that fast but it was well into the Green zone.

I remember when running 15 minutes felt horrible but now I’m finding that an hour goes quite quickly, it’s just the runs over an hour that start to hurt; even in the easy Green zone.  After 1 hour 5 minutes I hit a two tough hills but knowing that I was only 3 or 4 miles home gave me a boost and at just after 9.30pm I arrived back home having completed 11.9 miles. I really want to have a run to test myself against my proper half Marathon pace so if there isn’t a programme with a longer Yellow zone soon I’m going to have to do one myself! My left quad was a little sore after the run so I’m going to see how that goes before heading out again for the next one.

TODAY IS 5 WEEKS TO GO SO PLEASE, PLEASE DONATE ANYTHING YOU CAN TO HELP CHILDREN WITH LIFE-THREATENING ILLNESSES:

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11th August 2011

It’s been hard to keep up the training in the last couple of days as things have got busy at home and at work so I’m findng it more difficult to find the time or energy to get out on the road – I’m sure it’ll be back soon though!

Today was one of the longest runs I’ve done so far but to give me some extra motivation I linked it in with meeting up with some of the football team for a run with them followed by some intervals that apparently the football referees have to do as part of their testing! I left home and completed 55 minutes of steady Green zone running before I met up with the boys and did another 2.34 mile loop. After that we had planned on doing 6 x 40m sprints but because it took us a while to decide how far 40 metres was we probably ended up doing 10 of them!!

After that I continued the loop back to my house which included a couple of nasty hills! I wasn’t pushing that hard today as it was just a Green zone run but I was very pleased to drop down to the Blue zone with 10 minutes to go and have a nice relaxing jog to the end. In total I covered 14.2 miles in 1 hour 50 minutes – I think I’ll be feeling those sprints in the morning!!

8th August 2011

Due to the baby taking up a lot of time and me feeling exhausted most days I’ve been running every 2/3 days for the last week or so but after yesterdays 1 hour Blue and Yellow run I wanted to get back out today and put in some more work. It was one of the easier runs so my aim was to stay either at the top of the Green or into the Yellow from start to finish.

I think I did that well but the GPS didn’t really keep up with the pace I was running at for the first 20 minutes and it kept telling me to speed up when I knew I was already going fast enough. Today I upped by personal best for the hour Green zone run; the last time I covered 8.13 miles and today I managed 8.77 (I did go over but a few minutes but it still counts!!)

7th August 2011

** BROKE THE 200 MILE TRAINING MARK TODAY**

Today’s run was a little different as it went from a 20 minute Blue zone to a 20 minute Yellow and then back to a 20 minute Blue to finish. I’d been getting a little bored with long Green runs or ones with short Yellow intervals so it was great to get out there and push hard for 20 minutes in the zone that I’m looking to run the whole half Marathon in. I’m also a little concerned that the programme hasn’t got me doing long periods in the Yellow zone, I thought by now it might have had me doing 50 minutes to an hour but I suppose I’ve got to trust it!!

The run started well but I struggle to stay in the Blue zone and I find that I increase my speed to the top of the Green zone or even straight into the Yellow from the start – probably not ideal but it seems comfortable. In the hour I ran 8.13 miles which is the same distance as I had been covering in the 1 hour Green zone runs so I’m feeling pretty good and it was even better to get home and work out that I’ve now covered 209 miles since I began training 🙂

5th August 2011

Ok, so I’m not getting much sleep and it’s hard work with a week old baby but all in all I can’t really complain compared to the children that I’m raising the money for so today I made sure I found an hour to do the next training run. It wasn’t a nice one as the zones progress from Blue to Green then Yellow and finishes with a flat out 100% Red zone.

It was a good run from the start, I felt a big stitch come on after 11 minutes but for once I managed to take my focus off my breathing (I know a lot of people / coaches say to focus on deep breaths but for me that only makes it worse!) and think about something different. It took a while to go but by the time I hit the Green zone I was fine and feeling strong. The Yellow zone was tough, it was only 9 minutes long but there were a couple of big hills and all through it I was focusing on making sure I had enough left to go flat out in the Red zone. When I got to the Red zone I was almost home and had another long hill before the route flattened out – I pushed up the hill hard and it was a great feeling when I got to the top and my Adidas micoach announced “Blue zone 10 minutes”.

Altogether I managed 8.13 miles in the 1 hr and when I look back to the last time I did that run on the 18th July I only managed 7.02 miles – things are looking good and I’m getting close to the 200 mile mark now (currently on 192.57 miles!)

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2nd August 2011

Quite a relaxing training day today as the sleepless night have been taking their toll a little! I wasn’t able to run during the day but I met up with the guys from the football team to complete 2 sets of hill runs. The first set I did with the guys and tried to push them a little but the second set I went flat out and beat the time before by 2 minutes 15 seconds – legs were burning by the end of it but as I keep saying the more hills I do now the easier they will be in Newcastle. Or that’s the plan anyway!!

2nd August 2011

Inside 50 days to go until my 1oth BUPA Great North Run and I have to say that the baby has taken quite a bit out of me in the last few days!! It was another hot one today and it just so happened that the time I had to run was right in the middle of the day!

I started well and the 20 minute Blue zone was very straight forward but as I went through the 40 minute Green zone the heat and tiredness started to take it’s toll. I fought on though and added a slightly longer route to the run so that I didn’t get too close to home before the 20 minute Yellow zone finished. The last part of that zone was very hard and I contemplated stopping at a local shop to get a bottle of water but as soon at I heard “Blue zone 10 minutes” it gave me a boost to finish.

With around a mile to go I grabbed my shirt to wipe my face and noticed that there was blood on the right side of my shirt. Straight away I knew what is was – split nipple!! I’ve had this before and it’s not pleasant; because of the heat I was sweating more than normal and the rubbing on my shirt had caused my right nipple to cut – must remember the plasters next time:

Take a closer look

Ouch!

I ended up finishing the 1hr 30min set programme before I got home but I continued for a few more minutes as I’d rather finish it running than walking.

According to Adidas micoach in the 1hr 34mins and 27secs I burnt a total of 1590 calories!!

My training day was not done there and at 6.30pm I met up with the football team and completed 40 minute of intervals – this time I had plasters on my nipples though to stop them bleeding!!

31st July 2011

As you can probably see I’ve had a few days off since my last run and that’s due to the birth of my first child on the 29th July 🙂 Despite being very sleep deprived I knew I had to get back on the road and it just so happened today was a hot one.

It was a nice run to get me back into things as it was a steady Green for an hour and I felt pretty good running the 8.13 mile course. My Adidas micoach scored me a huge (!!) 98% for the run but I know I’m going to be feeling it a little in the morning especially after not having much sleep tonight!!

28th July 2011

I thought I’d change it up a bit from my normal route today and try to avoid the 4/5 big hills that I usually hit! So, instead of them I managed to find 3 very long and exhausting hills; one of them was just under 3 miles long, it was tough but once again great preparation for Newcastle. It was also Yellow intervals today which meant I warmed up as normal in the Blue Zone then I had 2 minutes in the Green Zone followed by a fast 7 minutes in the Yellow Zone. I completed 6 of them in total including 2 as I went up the big hill!

It was a good sight when I got to the top of my road and I was very pleased with finishing the 11.34 mile route.

26th July 2011

I was still felling very stiff from the run on Sunday but I knew I needed to get back on the road and keep up my training plan today. It wasn’t a nice run that my Adidas micoach had for me either – 1hr 30mins in the Green Zone. My old Green Zone was 7.45 – 8.55 mins / mile but yesterday I decided to manually change them to challenge myself more so my new zone is 7.15 – 8.26 mins / mile.

I was up and out by 7.15am and during the 1 hour 30 minute I covered 11.32 miles. My Adidas micoach gave me an overall score of 99% for the run which I was rather pleased with :-).

My training day wasn’t done there though as I met up with a couple of the boys from my football team and took on the short 2.14 mile loop that we’ve been doing for a couple of weeks. Today I set another personal best of 12mins 59secs so all in all it’s been a great day.

I think I’m going to have to take tomorrow off to try to reduce the stiffness in my legs and then it’ll be short Green and long Yellow intervals for 1 hour 24 minutes on Thursday.

Thanks for reading and please donate anything you can.

24th July 2011

I decided not to run yesterday as my legs were a little sore from Friday and I also started to get a pain in my LCL on the side of my left knee. I had planned on running today and the scheduled run was 1hr 50mins in the Green Zone but late last night I was driving through Dartford and I saw signs for the Dartford half marathon so I thought I would research it a bit online. I found out I was able to enter on the day before 8am and the run started at 9am so at about 9pm last night I thought I might as well use it as a practise run!!

I was up at 6.45am, had a good breakfast, packed my bag and left at 7.30am to go to Dartford Park. I was all signed in by 8am and despite my legs and knee still feeling a little sore I was feeling quite good about the run. I always say that the hills in Newcastle are tough but the hills today are a different level!! There are 4 big peaks with the highest being 80 metres above sea level but the one at 10 miles was the most painful.

Ouch!!

In the end I finished in 1hr 29mins 59 secs; I wasn’t aiming to break PBs on this one as I just wanted to use it as a training run so I’m very pleased with my time. My fastest mile was 6mins 26secs and my slowest was 7mins 12secs – my aim is to keep each mile inside 6mins 30secs.

7 weeks to go until the big one and I feel I’m on track to beat last year’s time of 1hr 28mins.

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22nd July 2011

Today was supposed to be quite a light 1 hour run in the green zone but for some reason the Adidas micoach just wasn’t picking up the GPS while I was running and so it wasn’t giving me any speeds or accurate distances. I had been thinking on previous runs that it was out on measuring the miles but today confirmed it – at the end of the run it said I had done 7.44 miles but when I drove it later it turned out to be 8.1 miles – not a huge difference but it’s enough to throw out my timings.

In the end I just completed the run at a pace I wanted to do and ignored the micoach!!

21st July 2011

Lighter day today, it was a day off from the Adidas micoach training plan but I was still up for a little training so I met up with one of the guys in my football team and we completed some hill training. We did 2 sets of 5 long hill runs; 1st set took 10 minutes and the second set was a little quicker at 9mins 35secs. After that I still wanted to do a little more so I completed the normal 2.14 mile loop and today I did it in a PB of 13mins 15secs – happy days :-).

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20th July 2011

Sore and soaked but helping to make the wishes of seriously ill children come true.

It was a tough run as today’s run consisted of Yellow intervals for 5 mins and then slower Blue intervals for 5 mins. It was made more difficult as I decided that I’d run up some steep hills and they just happened to coincide with the Yellow Zones!! To make matters worse after 45 mins the Heavens opened and down came some serious rain, luckily I had Jonny Wilkinson and Busted to get me through!! During the 1hr 15min run I completed 9.38 miles and burnt a total of 1340 calories!

Soaked and sore but it will be worth it!

19th July 2011

Rest day today from the Adidas micoach schedule but I met up with one of the guys in my football team to tackle the 2.14 mile loop that I’m trying to get the whole team to compete against each other on. The hardest part of the run is a hill that is almost 1 mile long and the elevation increases by 137 feet – great practise for the hills of Newcastle! Personal Best today of 13mins 21secs 🙂

18th July 2011

Just over 2 months to go and my first running Blog! It was a tough run today as it was pouring with rain for most of it but I got through the zones and managed to complete the 1 minute Red Zone at a full sprint before I cooled down in the Blue Zone. The runs are getting tough now but it’s a great feeling to get through them. Legs are going to be sore tomorrow!

Solihull U14 TE Grade 3, Day 6

Wednesday 13th July 2011

It was just down to doubles for Mia today which meant we were back into a full training day.

There wasn’t much court availability this morning but we were still able to secure a practise court as she was still a main draw player. We trained early at 8am and then it was straight into the gym to complete Mia’s strength and conditioning programme. All week she’s been very professional with her training on and off the court and the off court training is something that too many juniors ignore; if good habits can be formed when players are young it makes it so much easier for them to continue as they get older.

After training it was around 10.45am and time for some lunch. We then watched the main draw matches for a couple of hours and then due to the absence of practise courts at the club we headed back over to David Lloyd Cranmore to train on court for another hour and a half.

We were originally given a not before time of 2pm and after the referee decided to move lots of different matches around Mia finally got on court just after 5.30pm!! This week Mia partnered up with Croatian Klara Radovcic – finding a doubles partner is sometimes a little tricky, especially as Mia’s been training abroad and hasn’t had much communication with the other British girls. Unfortunately Klara wasn’t the strongest or most confident of players and Alex Herd and Chloe Lant took full advantage. Despite the difference in levels Mia and Klara did well to compete throughout the whole match and eventually went down 6-3, 6-4.

I always view doubles as a great chance to improve areas of your singles game and, especially for the girls, it’s a chance to develop your volleys. Mia had specific goals for the match notably approach on every 2nd serve return and cross 10 times per set. In the first set she had a perfect record of approaching off the return but she failed to cross at all, this changed completely in the second as she crossed a total of 9 times including 3 times in one point! I was therefore very pleased with the second set and even though she lost the match she improved a huge amount.

The girls finished just after 7pm so there was just time for Mia to cool down, stretch out and shower before we hit the road back to Kent. It’s been a long 6 days as we’ve had a lot of time hanging around but all in all it’s been a positive tournament. Mia has improved every area of her game and I’m very confident that next week in Bournemouth she’ll go at least one step further than this week and last week.

I’m now taking a break as my first baby is due this weekend but I’ll be back on the road again in a few weeks as British Nationals start.

Solihull U14 TE Grade 3, Day 5

Tuesday 12th July 2011 – My Birthday!!

Even though it’s my birthday today there was no lie in (or breakfast in bed!) and I was up and out running at 6am. I’ve been following a training programme on Adidas micoach to prepare myself for my 10th Great North Run in September (watch this space to sponsor me and support Make-A-Wish Foundation) and today was some tough red intervals for 48 minutes! After that we had breakfast at 7am and then headed over to the club at 7.45am.

We completed our normal warm up on and off the court and by 9am we were ready to go. Mia was 3rd on today taking on 15th seed Anna Popescu from England and after the groundsman managed to flood the court while watering it we had a short delay but finally got on court around 12.30pm.

Mia started the match very well, she was aggressive on every ball and achieving most of the goals we set within the first few games. After a being broken early Mia maintained her professionalism to break straight back and then broke again to take a 4-2 lead. Anna then upped her performance and used her experience to really test Mia in every game; she broke back, held and then broke again to serve for the set at 5-4. In the past this is where Mia would get frustrated but she kept focused and won the next 3 games to take the opening set 7-5.

Anna fought hard at the start of the second set and that, combined with Mia slightly losing her way, resulted in Anna taking a 3-2 lead with a break of serve. Mia never recovered that break and was broken again at 2-4 which left Anna serving for the second set. Mia’s unforced errors had been starting to climb during the second set and 4 in the last game gifted Anna the second set 6-2.

After going 2-0 down in the third (losing 5 games in-a-row) Mia cut out some of the errors and kept being aggressive to take the next 3 games to lead 3-2. From there it went with serve until 4-4 when, from 40-15 up serving, Mia hit 4 unforced errors and gave the game to Anna who then served out the match 5-7, 6-2, 6-4 in just over 3 hours. It was a really tough result to take especially as Mia didn’t convert her chances in the third set – out of the 10 games she played she had game points in 8 of them!! It was still a great learning experience for Mia and it won’t be long before she’s coming through these type of matches with the win.

After the match we had a de-brief and, once Mia had cooled down, stretched and showered we left site to drive into Birmingham where we are staying tonight.

Mia’s incentive this week was that if she qualified and won a round in the main draw we would go to dinner at Wagamama’s. She didn’t quite do that (the walkover doesn’t count!) but as she played well and improved in so many areas, plus the fact it was my birthday, we decided to go anyway so here was my birthday meal:

Schedule for tomorrow:

Alexandra Herd (GBR) & Chloe Lant (GBR) vs Mia Smith (GBR) & Klara Radovcic (CRO) – 6th match on after 9.30am

Solihull U14 TE Grade 3, Day 4

Monday 11th July 2011

It was a disappointing day today at the Solihull International Tennis Europe event but not due to any players performing poorly or losing, it was actually because we weren’t able to compete or train much on court!

It was always going to be a long day today as Mia was scheduled to be 5th round of matches on and we were only able to practise on the clay before 9am. As usual we were at the club at 8am going through our physical warm up and then on the court from 8.30 – 9am to complete our pre-match warm – it was a great session; Mia was very intense and the training we had done yesterday was showing. As Mia had a “Not Before” time of 3pm we decided we would train in the morning and then relax after lunch so we went straight in the gym to complete Mia’s strength & stabilisation programme. After that it was onto the bike for 20mins and then a stretch, shower and change before we left site for lunch.

The sign in for the two Lucky Loser spaces ended at 11.30am and much to my astonishment when I called up at 12pm I was told not a single player had signed in. I was annoyed at this for a few reasons, mainly because I want Mia to compete and earn her place in the next round rather than just get a walkover but also because I’m starting to see a similar pattern in the girl’s draws in international events in Britain that needs to be addressed.

This year I was in Bolton for Teen Tennis which is one of the strongest events in the U14 calendar and has players like Kim Clijsters as a previous winner. It’s Britain’s only Tennis Europe Grade 1 event and yet there were still 3 byes in the girl’s qualies draw (0 in the boys). In March Britain had an U16 Tennis Europe grade 3 event at the National Tennis Centre in Roehampton again the girl’s qualies draw was not full with a total of 16 byes (half the draw), the boys draw was full. The next junior international in Britain was the U18 ITF in Nottingham in April; week 1 had 9 byes in the girl’s qualies (2 in the boys) and week 2 had 14 byes in the girls draw (0 in the boys) – see a pattern immerging? Last week in Edinburgh there were 14 byes in the girls U14 TE qualies (6 in the boys) and 7 byes in the U18 ITF girls qualies (0 in the boys). This week there were 14 byes in the U14 TE girls’ qualies here in Solihull (0 in the boys) and 12 byes in the U18 ITF girls’ qualies in Newcastle (1 in the boys).

The rankings of our top end senior girls have progressed well in the last few years so why are we struggling to fill these draws? Surely questions have to be asked of the IHPCs / HPCs and performance centres as to why there are players training in their centres who are directly and indirectly receiving funding from the LTA are not turning up to compete in the international events on their doorstep in Great Britain. If they’re not willing to travel to places like London, Nottingham and Birmingham are they really committed to playing internationally? I think questions have to also be asked of the coaches working with the players this week who did not advise the 8 British players to sign in as a Lucky Loser – 2 would have got in and even if they had lost they still would have been able to compete in the consolation draw against other main draw players.

Back to our day!! We got back onsite at 3pm to try and train on the clay courts after the TE matches had finished but due to some matches over running there was a bit of a wait. We didn’t sit back and relax though; we were straight onto the field to go through Mia’s acceleration & agility programme before again having a thorough stretch out.

Mia working hard during her movement session

We then waited again to see if the clay would be available but at 5pm we were told that the U12 tournament was running behind so they would be using the clay to catch up with matches. I tried to phone around to get courts elsewhere but everywhere was busy so we decided to have an early dinner and prepare for tomorrow’s match. Many players were waiting around all day getting tired and bored but we managed to still have a very productive day.

Schedule for tomorrow:

(15) Anna Popescu (GBR) (726) vs (q) Mia Smith (GBR) (UNR) – 3rd round on after 9am

Solihull U14 TE Grade 3, Day 3

Sunday 10th July 2011

It was a good start to the Solihull TE for Mia today as she won through qualifying for the second week in a row.

Last night we stayed at a B&B on a farm which was a nice change from the Travelodge as it gave us more of a family home feel and it was also nice to have breakfast cooked for you rather than having cereal in your room!!

We warmed up between 8.30am – 9.30am and then Mia prepared for her match by completing her pre-match sheet. As she was doing hers I went off and completed one myself to see if she would come up with the same goals and tactics as I would after we both watched her opponent play yesterday. Mia’s sheet was almost identical to mine and I think we were both pleased that we were on the same wavelength but we were both also happy to admit that the other person had one or two things that we missed. As we spoke through the sheets Mia had a clear understanding of what we needed her to do to not only qualify but most importantly to improve her level following Edinburgh last week. Winning is great but it’s not normally the players that win at U14 level that go on to win at a senior level. The players that develop at this age and continue to develop through U18 ITFs are the ones that go on to make an impact at Future and Challenger levels.

After a 20 minute delay due to the court being watered Mia took to the court at 12pm to take on fellow Kent girl Florence Abbott. Mia started very well and put into practise everything we had planned; she was aggressive from the back of the court, executed her serve well and continued to improve in every game. She took a 2-0 lead, then she was broken but responded very professionally and won the next 4 games to take the set 6-1. In the first set Mia hit 14 winners and 12 unforced errors to finish with a positive aggressive balance for the first time this summer – we were both very pleased with that! The second set was a little tougher as Florence upped her game and reduced her errors quite considerably forcing Mia to up her game. The scores remained close and despite Mia serving for the match at 5-4 Florence kept fighting and managed to get it back level before Mia broke and served it out to take the match 6-1, 7-5. Mia played a great first set and stuck in there in the second when things got a little shaky to earn her place in the main draw tomorrow.

The day was far from done though and after lunch we were back on court training with another main draw player before going in the gym to complete Mia’s fitness programme. It was then a thorough cool down and stretch out before showering and changing at the club so we could go straight out for an early dinner at ASK.

We were back at the Travelodge tonight and just to throw a spanner in the works our Sat Nav decided to take us to a completely different place instead of the one it took us to before so we had a detour around Birmingham! At least we found a Fun Fair that’s just around the corner so we might have to give that a visit one evening.

Schedule for tomorrow:

(q) Mia Smith (GBR) (UNR) vs Lucky Loser (To Be Confirmed tomorrow) – 5th round on after 9am, Not Before 3pm

Solihull U14 TE Grade 3, Day 2

Saturday 9th July 2011

It was the start of the Qualifying today with Milo taking on Alastair Gray but due to the lack to entries in the girls draw Mia had a bye so she will not play until tomorrow.

It was an early start today; we were one of the first at the club as we warmed up at 7.30am before getting on court for our scheduled practise at 8am. As always the players dictated their pre-mach warm up and as Milo was very thorough with his warm up we were on court for around 45 minutes. Milo then had some time to get some food and complete his pre-match goal sheet before relaxing and waiting for the match before him to finish. We actually warmed up and prepared to go on when the match was in the middle of the 2nd set but then it went to a set all so he had to do it all over again before he played!

Eventually Milo got on and to begin with he was competing well; the boys exchanged breaks early in the first set but at 2-3 serving Milo began to get frustrated with his level and the match started to turn. From 2-3 Milo lost the next 5 games in a row, not due to his opponent upping his level but just because he wasn’t thinking clearly about what he needed to do during each point. This changed at 6-2, 2-0 down when Milo played a great game to keep the score close but Alastair responded well and took the next 3 games to lead 6-2, 5-1. Milo then dug deep, changed his thoughts from being angry to being calm and professional and the result was that he played his best tennis of the match to break, hold and break again to put the pressure back on Alastair to serve it out. Alastair did just that with a solid service game but it gave a positive end to the match for Milo who will hopefully realise that his best tennis is produced when he’s calm and thinking clearly.

After Milo’s match we got some lunch and once he completed his post match sheet we talked through the match together and discussed the areas in which he needs to focus on before his next event. We then planned to get on court later in the afternoon to put some of the areas we had talked about into practise but there weren’t any courts available at the club or at a local centre and the David Lloyd we used yesterday didn’t have anything until the evening.

As we were unable to train it gave Mia the perfect opportunity to watch her opponents play and start to work out a game plan to beat the winner. Milo left with his parents to go back to Kent at around 4pm and not long after the mini orange tournament finished so I was able to train with Mia for just over an hour working on her serve, drilling her groundstrokes and talking about tactics to take into her match tomorrow.

By the time we finished it was around 6pm so we showered and changed and went straight from the club to dinner in Solihull. After dinner we drove out to our accommodation for this evening which was at a B&B on a farm – quite a nice place with my room being a converted old barn – hopefully there won’t be any cockerels waking us up at 5am!!

Schedule for tomorrow:

Mia Smith (GBR) (UNR) vs Florence Abbott (GBR) (UNR) – 2nd round on after 9.30am

Solihull U14 TE Grade 3, Day 1

Friday 8th July 2011

What should have been a straight forward day of travelling to a tournament, training and signing in turned out to be a little more eventful than we all imagined!

I met up with Mia Smith and Milo Bargeron at 9.20am this morning and started the 2 and a half hour journey from Kent to Solihull. The weather was terrible the whole way so I started making calls on the way up as to the state of the clay courts at the tournament site and on hearing they were out of play due to the rain I started contacting some local indoor centres to try and book some court time. Billesley Indoor Tennis Centre seemed like the best bet and so after visiting the Solihull Arden Club to confirm the courts were unplayable we made our way over there.

At first the staff at the centre were more than happy to take our money and book our court but this soon changed as they didn’t seem happy with us going through our physical warm up on the outside courts before our session started indoors. The manager, Keith Hill, demanded that we stopped and said that we would have to pay for the court if we wanted to use it. When I explained we were just warming up he then said that we couldn’t use the court, I wouldn’t be able to coach the players on court and we’d have to get a refund. I asked if the players could go on the court themselves and I’ll wait on the balcony but he said I’d still be coaching and he wouldn’t allow it. It was absolutely ridiculous and I can’t believe that a centre that is funded by the LTA could not use some common sense and allow 2 players to train with their coach when they are competing in an international event down the road.

I then called the David Lloyd at Cranmore and explained that I was a member at Dartford and the situation that we were in and they were more than happy to help. They allowed us all to train at the centre, use all of the facilities and even the other tennis coaches were welcoming. We spent around 45 minutes completing some movement and speed work and then an hour and a half on court before going into the gym to cool down and stretch out. Mia and Milo worked very hard and found a very good training level together so at the end of the day everyone was happy.

We then went back to the club to sign in and after checking in at our hotel we drove back into Solihull for dinner at Pizza Express. It was then back to the club after dinner to check the draw and arrange practise for tomorrow.

Schedule for tomorrow:

Alastair Gray (GBR) (UNR) vs Milo Bargeron (GBR) (UNR) – 2nd round on after 9am

Edinburgh U18 ITF Grade 5 & U14 TE Grade 3 – Day 5

Tuesday 5th July 2011

For Gaby, Athena and Mia it was main draw day today and a chance to get some points on the board after their tough doubles matches yesterday.

It was the same routine as it has been all week this morning; 7am breakfast, taxi to the site at 7.45am, warm up at 8am and start hitting on court at 8.30am. All of the girls had a good warm up on the back courts, the weather was holding off and by 9am they were all ready to go.

Mia was second round of matches on and was up against Katie Dyson. Like many U14 girls matches it was all about whoever held their serve a couple of times was probably going to win each set!! After 8 games it was 4-4 and there had been 8 breaks of serve but Mia did well to then hold and break to take the first set. Mia deserved to be a set up as she was playing strong aggressive tennis but at the start of the second she became too passive and Katie was by no means about to give her the match. Katie broke twice early on and managed to keep hold of her serve to take the set 6-3. Due to Athena and Gaby being on court I didn’t see the whole of the third but the parts I did see were similar to the second set with Mia not continuing the level of the first and getting frustrated with herself for making too many unforced errors. In the end Katie came through the match 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 – a disappointing one for Mia as if she had maintained the first set level she would have won the match.

Athena was taking on qualifier Emily Dunne who was a tough player and made life very difficult for Athena throughout. The matches that Emily had played in qualifying would have built her confidence and prepared her well for today as she played a strong aggressive game whilst enjoying the pace that Athena was giving her. Athena’s base game was solid but she didn’t do enough to hurt Emily in the first set as she went down 6-1. To Athena’s credit she really stepped up in the second and took the ball on a lot more forcing Emily to defend and when she did Athena came forwards and finished the point well. Apart from an early exchange of breaks the second set went with serve all the way until Athena was 6-5 up. Emily then held to take it to a tie break and finished the match off by taking the breaker 7-3. Athena did well this week to be out there playing as she had to take time off from competing last week due to illness and I know she’ll take the positives from this match into her next events.

Gaby was our last match on court and was taking on Melanie Stokke from Norway on Court 1. Gaby struggled from the start with her consistency and that played a huge part in the match as she was taking on a player that was happy to feed off her pace and just wait until Gaby missed. Melanie got an early break in the first and never really let Gaby get back into it as she went on to take the set 6-2. At the start of the second Gaby found a more consistent level whilst still being aggressive and got a break to lead 2-1 only for Melanie to break straight back and hold to make it 3-2. By this time it had been raining for about 15 minutes but I think the referee made too quick a decision to call the players off. These green clay courts can hold a lot of water and even though I wanted to get Gaby off the court to talk to her I didn’t particularly want her to go indoors. After a 30 minute break the referee decided to move the matches indoors. After an extended warm up to get used to the courts Gaby held serve to make it 3-3 but struggled again with her consistency. She was trying too hard to win the points too early in the rally resulting in Melanie taking the next 3 games and the match 6-2, 6-3.

So after a tough 4 losses yesterday and another 3 today I was pleased that all of the players responded well and went straight into the gym to complete their injury prevention, cool down and stretch out fully before they were done for the day. Funnily enough the weather outside was great and the referee moved the remaining matches back onto the clay!

After we had thanked the referee and the other tournament staff we left site and headed back to our hotel to pack and book our train journey home tomorrow. We had dinner tonight in Edinburgh and everyone’s spirits were raised a little with a few games of spoof especially when I was the one who lost and had to do a dynamic warm up in the street in front of the restaurant!

We’ll head home tomorrow and then I’ll be back on the road again on Friday with Mia heading up to Solihull for the U14 TE event at the Arden Club.

Edinburgh U18 ITF Grade 5 & U14 TE Grade 3, Day 4

Monday 4th July 2011

Happy Independence Day to all the American readers 🙂

Big day today with all of the guys aiming to pick up some ITF and TE points in doubles before their main draw singles matches start tomorrow.

Even though we weren’t playing doubles until this afternoon we wanted to get on site early in the morning to get some practise in on the clay and do some doubles specific training. As usual we were warming up at 8am and started our 30 minutes on the clay at 8.30am drilling groundstrokes and volleys to make the most of being on the match courts. From there it was straight indoors for an hour to solely work on doubles specifics before going to the gym to cool down, complete injury prevention exercises and then stretch out. Everyone then signed in for doubles and we returned to the house to have a break.

We arrived back onsite around 1pm just as the doubles draws came out and everyone got in except Cameron so the order of play looked like this:

Brigit Folland (GBR) & Ella Taylor (GBR) vs Gaby Paul (GBR) & Natalie Syme (GBR) – 5th round on, Not Before 3.30pm

Emily Dunne (GBR) & Anouska Newman (GBR) vs (3) Emily Gibbens (GBR) & Yuriko Miyazaki (JPN) – 5th round on, Not Before 3.30pm

Athena Chrysanthou (GBR) & Nicole Daisley (GBR) vs Anneka Watts (GBR) & Sophie Watts (GBR) – 5th round on, Not Before 3.30pm

Costanza Pera (ITA) & Mia Smith (GBR) vs Emily Smith (GBR) & Patricia Valimaa (GBR) – 7th round on (3rd after 3.30pm)

Everything was running a bit behind today as some of the main draw matches were going on longer than expected so Gaby and Natalie didn’t end up going on until around 5.30pm. They had a tough match against a very solid Ella Taylor and an experienced Brigit Folland. They were a little nervous to start but came back from 3-0 down in the first, then lead 4-3 only for Ella and Brigit to take it 6-4. The second was a similar pattern to the first but again Gaby and Natalie played some good doubles at times and just needed to move more and dominate the net to try to upset their opponents rhythm and consistency. In the end Ella and Brigit won 6-4, 6-4 but it’s given Gaby a good run out before her singles main draw tomorrow.

While Gaby was on Anouska and Emily were also on court so I was trying to keep one eye on each match! Similar to Gaby and Natalie’s start Anouska and Emily went 4-1 down, then fought back to 4-3 (which is when I went to sit behind their court) and probably due to me moving (!!) they then lost the next 2 games to go down in the 1st set 6-3. I then moved back to watch Gaby and saw that Anouska and Emily played a very strong second set so I thought I’d stay away and leave them to it! They took the second set 6-2 and looked all over their opponents in the match tie break leading 8-5. At this point their was a smash that our girls should have buried but it was returned and gave their opponents a bit of belief which resulted in 5 points in a row for Gibbens and Miyazaki to take the match 6-4, 2-6, 10-8.

Mia & Costanza and Athena & Nicole both went on just after 7pm – one on court 1 and the other on court 6 which are either ends of the site – not ideal! So for the next hour and 45 minutes I was running back and forth between the two matches. Mia and Costanza took the first set with some good aggressive doubles play but after Mia was broken early in the second it looked as though their heads dropped and the second and third sets went against them as they went down 2-6, 6-3, 10-8.

Athena and Nicole were playing against the Watts’ sisters and played well in parts but it was obviously that Anneka and Sophie had played together a lot and the experience they had started to show. After a tight first set Anneka and Sophie didn’t let up and continued to have the edge in the second taking the match 6-4, 6-3.

**Picture**

By this time it was 8.45pm and we’d been on site for 13 hours!! The girls had a quick shower and then we got some food before getting the bus back. It was a long day and tough to lose 4 out of 4 but hopefully they’ve all learnt a lot from their matches and Gaby, Athena and Mia can use what they’ve learnt in their singles matches tomorrow.

Schedule for tomorrow:

Katie Dyson (GBR) vs (q) Mia Smith (GBR) – 2nd round on after 9am

Gaby Paul (GBR) vs Melanie Stokke (NOR) – 3rd round on after 9am

Emily Dunne (GBR) vs Athena Chrysanthou (GBR) – 3rd round on after 9am

Edinburgh U18 ITF Grade 5 & U14 TE Grade 3, Day 3

Sunday 3rd July 2011

It was a bit more of a relaxed start to the day for some but I was up and running at 6am this morning as my Great North Run training is in full flow (details to follow on how you can sponsor me and support Make-A-Wish Foundation).

We arrived at the club just before 8am and it was straight into our warms up before stepping on the court for our pre-match hitting at 8.30am. Cameron, Mia and Anouska all had matches today so they had the priority in the warm up; whatever they wanted to do they did and everyone else in the team worked around them.

Cameron was first on at 9.30am and he was taking on Piers Herfet-Jones from The West Hants Club in Bournemouth. Cam’s nerves showed in the first couple of games but he soon got into the match and fought back from 2-0 down to get it back on serve by playing some very smart lefty clay court tennis. Up until 5-5 Cam was in control of the match and making life very difficult for Piers but his frustrations on a couple of points led the court supervisor to have a quiet word in his ear which then made him lose concentration. He went from 5-5 to 5-7, 0-4 in about 10 minutes but to his credit he fought back, held and broke to make it 2-4 but Piers played a strong last few games to take the match 7-5, 6-3. Tough result but a great performance overall and Cam will learn a lot from this experience.

Mia had gone on court just before Cam had finished so it was straight over to the other side of the club for me to court 7 to watch her. She was up against Jodie Burrage who she played in January when she was back from Bollettieri’s and the match followed almost exactly the same pattern. Mia played a very aggressive and professional first set taking it 6-1, she then raced to a 3-0 lead before Jodie fought back to make it 3-3. Mia’s unforced errors then increased at the same time as Jodie started to hit more winners but despite this Mia took a 5-3 lead and served for the match at 5-4 and 6-5 only for Jodie to take it to a tie break. Mia responded well in the breaker and took it convincingly 7-4 to win the match 6-1, 7-6 and qualify for the main draw.

We then had a short break before Anouska went on against Ella Taylor in our last match of the day. Anouska had some clear goals for the match against a player who is very tricky, especially on a clay court but all of her goals were about herself so it didn’t matter what her opponent did or how she played as this was all about Anouska. Ella won the match 6-0, 6-1 and only made 10 unforced errors throughout but Anouska achieved every goal she set for herself and played some of the best tennis I’ve seen from her in quite some time, it’s now just a case of playing at that level more often, getting used to having to hit 4/5 quality balls every point and reducing the unforced errors while she continues to attack – not easy but Anouska’s more than capable of doing that over the summer.

By the time Anouska had finished it was around 3.30pm and even though the rest of the team had been in the gym and practising on the indoor courts during the day they were very eager to get on the clay after all the matches had finished. We waited until 4.30pm and then managed to get on Centre Court for an hour to firstly work on some singles and then to finish off with some doubles.

We left site just after 6.15pm and by some miracle the girls managed to shower and change and be out by just after 7pm so we could have a reasonably early dinner!

Main draw starts tomorrow but it’s only doubles for us (depending on how many get in!)

Schedule for tomorrow:

Everyone will hopefully be in doubles action but we’ll only find out at 12pm if they have got in.

Edinburgh U18 ITF Grade 5 & U14 TE Grade 3, Day 2

Saturday 2nd July 2011

A good start to the trip today as we won 2 out of the 3 matches and the sun was shining all day!

It was an early start today with everyone up and out by 6.45pm and warming up at the tennis centre by 7am. Everyone trained from 7.30 – 8am except Athena as she’s still recovering from being ill; it was a good 30 minutes, all the players managed their time well and the three players competing were fully prepared for their matches.

Nicole was first on at 9am taking on Helen Rabot. She started the match well finding a good level of hitting but it was just a little too inconsistent, especially when serving. At 4-4 the girls were on serve but there had been a total of 6 breaks of serve in the 8 games – both girls were breaking easily but just couldn’t hold. At 4-4 Helen broke and then put together 4 good points to take the first set 6-4. The second set was much more one sided as Helen significantly reduced her unforced errors from 21 in the first set to 12 in the second whereas Nicole’s errors remained almost the same in each set resulting in Helen taking the set 6-1.

We had a bit of a break in the middle of the day which gave Gaby and Mia a chance to train indoors and also gave the others a chance to get some lunch and watch some of the other players.

Centre Court at The Craiglockhart Tennis Centre

Cameron was next up taking on Russell Graham from Scotland. It was a great match from both players; Cameron was being very aggressive and using his leftiness to great effect and Russell was playing a strong counter-punching game which made life difficult for Cameron. The first set started with Cameron going 3-1 up and then 5-2 up before Russell held and broke to make it 5-4. Cameron reacted well to this and immediately broke back with a solid game to take the set 6-4. In the second set Cameron significantly reduced his unforced errors (from 28 to 15) and upped his winners (from 11 to 14) which was the main reason why he raced to a 4-0 lead before closing out the set by holding his serve at 5-3.

Anouska had a long day of waiting around as she had a bye in the first round but she was able to get away from the site for a few hours in the middle of the day and get back to the house which hopefully helped her to prepare for her match. She went on against fellow Kent girl Rebecca Finch at just after 5.40pm and from the start it looked as though it could be a long match. Rebecca took an early 2-0 lead before Anouska fought back with some clever tactics and it was back on serve until Anouska broke at 5-4 to take the set 6-4. Anouska will admit it wasn’t the prettiest tennis but it was very effective and she stuck to her pre-match game plan throughout which gave her a healthy 5-2 lead in the second. At 5-3 she was serving for the match and dug deep to maintain her focus and belief to take the match 6-4, 6-3.

Anouska finished around 7.30pm so after over 12 hours at the club it was time for a quick cool down and then straight back to the house to get some food and relax for a while before everyone retired to bed for an early night. It was a long day but good to get 2 wins out of 3 to start the trip.

Schedule for tomorrow:

Cameron Hawkins (GBR) (UNR) vs Piers Herfet-Jones (GBR) (UNR) – 1st round at 9.30am

Mia Smith (GBR) (UNR) vs Jodie Burrage (GBR) (UNR) – 2nd round after 9.30am

Anouska Newman (GBR) (UNR) vs Ella Taylor (GBR) (UNR) – N.B. 1.30pm

Edinburgh U18 ITF Grade 5 & U14 TE Grade 3, Day 1

Friday 1st July 2011

So the British summer junior events start today (if you don’t include Roehampton and Junior Wimbledon!) with Edinburgh kicking off the first in a series of U18 ITF and U14 TE events.

This week I’m meeting up with 5 players who were playing the LTA grade 2 event in Edinburgh and Mia Smith, who travelled up with me, to make it a team of 6 in total. I met Mia at London Bridge train station and we made the journey across London and then up to Stansted to catch our easyJet flight to Edinburgh.

We arrived at the Craiglockhart Tennis Centre at around 1.30pm and met up with the other 5 members of the team; Anouska Newman, Cameron Hawkins, Nicole Daisley, Gaby Paul and Athena Chaysantou. I’ve been here many times before and it’s always a good, well run event (as long as the rain holds off!!). Apart from Athena (who has not been well) we all trained on court from 3.00pm until about 4.30pm when the guys then stretched and signed in for qualies. Once all the formalities were done we jumped in a couple of taxis and made the short journey back to our house that we’ve rented for the week.

We took advantage of having the kitchen tonight and I slaved away for a couple of hours cooking dinner for everyone – unfortunately by the time it came to serving some for myself all the food had gone so it was straight back to the shop to get something else!!

It was nice to be able to eat dinner and relax in front of the TV watching Murray vs Nadal, just a shame Andy couldn’t come through. After dinner the whole team did the washing up and then chilled out for the rest of the evening.

Schedule for tomorrow:

Helen Rabot (GBR) (UNR) vs Nicole Daisley (GBR) (UNR) – 1st round at 9am

Russell Graham (GBR) (UNR) vs Cameron Hawkins (GBR) (UNR) – 3rd round after 9am

Helen Rabot (GBR) (UNR) or Nicole Daisley (GBR) (UNR) vs Savannah Sills (GBR) (UNR) – 5th round after 9am

Anouska Newman (GBR) (UNR) vs Cecily Wuenscher (GBR) (UNR) or Rebecca Finch (GBR) (UNR) – 5th round after 9am

Delray Beach U18 ITF Grade 4, Day 4

Wednesday May 18th 2011- Last Day in Delray Beach

Hey soul sisters! Well, it’s the last day of the trip and we are both a bit sad to be leaving. The entire trip has been amazing! It has exceeded my expectations and I hope Rob’s.  Florida has treated us well even though at the start of the trip apparently Rob was abducting me and going to kill me. If the immigration officer who helped me is reading this ‘I am okay and still alive.’

We raise our glass to Florida and bid you a farewell! I thank Rob for dealing with me for three weeks and I think I should get some credit for dealing with Rob- only joking! We have had a ton of fun singing to some tunes, listening to the radio, going to the arcade, the movies and constantly moving from hotel to hotel. This trip hasn’t been anything but memorable. These are the moments that I’m going to remember the most! Especially, the Cruisin’ Café, I don’t think Rob or I will ever get over that meal. I think Rob is still snapping even though it was three weeks ago!

Hot and dangerous if your one of us then role with us! Rob and I have driven constantly so we must give a little shout to our reliable car Vince- a VW! He has been very loyal and been with us during some hilarious moments. Like today when our SAT navigation (Tina) decided to take us to a residential neighborhood instead of the airport- nice one!  Vince was also with us when we enjoyed a hilarious radio prank on 100.7.  Let’s just say that the word ‘jackass’ was thrown around quite a bit a long with ‘are you an idiot?’ I don’t think the dad was too happy that his son sold one of- a- kind comics for $250. Apparently, they are worth $18,000!!!

Things are looking up- we’re just getting started! The trip ended well – I played really well in my last match and I’m pleased with how I’ve done. Sure it would have been great to get some points but that isn’t always the most important thing. My game has improved since I’ve been out here. I have a better understanding of what I’m capable of doing and what I need to do to improve. Again, thank you Rob! Our countless hours have paid off and I’m glad. Sometimes you’re on court and you wonder when it will come together and no matter how positive your coach is you have doubts. In the end, it came together and it was so worth all the hard work!

It’s just not the same since I’ve been away, I bet I’ve lost my accent. Well, I know mine has only gotten stronger but Rob could be going between Australian, British and American now. Just depends what mood he is in! I’ve loved being back in America, nice to hear familiar accents. Finally it wasn’t me getting weird looks but this time it was Rob. Any time Rob would speak the person helping us would smile- I guess Americans love the British accent, especially the girls!

Girls don’t like boys girls like cars and money, boys will laugh at girls when their not funny. I guess I can’t write this blog without mentioning some of the amazing food we have had on this trip. Tim recommended some ‘legit’ food- Chipotle, which was amazing! The steak is super duper spicy so beware and to make your burning lips better don’t rub ice on your lips- it doesn’t help! Along with Chipotle I have to mention the Lobster that I had and Filet Mignon with my Uncle and Aunt. Let’s just say it was epic! Rob’s favorite meal? Well, Rob is part Italian so of course his favorite meal would be pasta from Vic and Angelo’s where he enjoyed a big portion of yummy pasta! For dessert Rob would pick frozen yogurt as his favorite and I can’t lie it was pretty amazing but for me I’ve got to pick something different. Benjamin Davies told me about Coldstone’s and how amazing it was so we went there for my incentive and it was ‘legit’ ice-cream. Sadly, we didn’t go there again!

I can almost see it that dream I’m dreaming. These 3 weeks have gone by so quickly. I guess that’s what happens when you’re training hard and having fun. It will be nice to get back into training and just be at home. However, Rob burnt me a CD of the music from this trip. Anytime I hear the songs from this trip I will think of Florida. Did you notice the trend through out the blog? To everyone reading this and have read the previous Blogs- thank you for reading! You’ve enjoyed this trip with us and I hope you guys will enjoy the next trip Rob goes on. I’m sure the next trip won’t live up to Florida- again only joking! Till next time readers, I bid you good-bye! Adios,

The American- Devan McCluskey

Rob and I after my first round match in Delray

Delray Beach U18 ITF Grade 4, Day 3

Tuesday 17th May 2011

It was a very positive day today as Devan took on second seed Jennifer Brady in her second round match.

We had breakfast this morning at 8am, headed over to the site at 9.20am, started our warm up at 9.40am and then got on court as planned at 10am. I hit with Devan to begin with but after 15 minutes Peggy Porter asked if she could hit a few balls before she went on for her match so Devan ended up finishing her warm up with her. The session was good, Devan was striking the ball well and at just after 10.30am we were all done and ready to go. The next hour and a half went quite quickly as we spent some time planning the goals and tactics for the match and at 12.15pm the girls were called to the court.

We knew today was going to be a tough match but the most important thing was that Devan didn’t give the girl too much respect and also made her work hard for every point. After the first couple of games Brady knew she had a fight on her hands and she wasn’t impressed at how tough the match was turning out to be. Devan broke serve in the first game and then held to take a 2-0 lead before Brady got on the scoreboard. The girls then exchanged breaks until 4-4 when Devan went up 40-0 on Brady’s serve and looked in complete control but a high loopy ball from Brady hit the baseline and ended up on the top of the back fence which unsettled Devan. That point had a huge impact on the set and it resulted in Devan hitting 4 unforced errors and then a further 6 more in the next game to lose the set 6-4. The set had been the best one that Devan had played on the whole trip, she was aggressive, calm and really confident in what she was doing, it was only that slip in concentration that cost her. The second set started again with Devan breaking Brady in the first game but the next 3 games went against her leaving her 1-3 down with her opponent serving. The next game was massive, it was 20 points long with Devan withstanding a huge amount of pressure from Brady – she ended up breaking her serve and only hit 2 unforced errors in the whole game. I really thought this was a turning point for Devan but she struggled to hold serve as Brady upped her level to break, hold and break again to take the match 6-4, 6-2 in just under 2 hours. Brady hit a total of 21 winners in that second set and deserved to take it but Devan had her chances in the first.

It was a really good performance from Devan against a top 200 player and when we reflected on it later over lunch she agreed that it was one of her best performances over the past year. Her tennis level has increased week by week and her mental level is not far behind – another few matches like this one and Devan will be coming through them with a win.

We got back to the hotel just after 5pm and I then had two 45 minute telephone conversations with Virgin Atlantic as they were trying to charge us more than we should have been charged to change our tickets! It’s still not sorted but hopefully we’ll be able to do that in the morning and catch the evening flight back to London.

Overall it’s been a great trip and I think Devan has benefited greatly from having someone watching every ball she hits in training and in her matches over the past three weeks. It’s always hard work for the players when they’re away at tournaments and they’ve got someone pushing them to improve everyday; in three weeks we have competed in three events, put in a lot of training hours on and off the court and only had 2 full rest days. The experience that players get from a trip like this is invaluable; it’s not always about how many points that you pick up on a trip but how much you’ve learnt and how much your game has improved. If you keep learning and keep improving from every match you can’t lose.

The last word as always in left to the player so Devan will be writing the final Blog (hopefully from Miami airport) tomorrow evening but I’ll leave you with an interesting sign that I saw for the first time today (the courts are just behind the lake!):

Delray Beach U18 ITF Grade 4, Day 2

Monday 16th May 2011

It’s been a very positive day today as the hard work that Devan has been putting in for the last two weeks started to come together at just the right time.

We arrived on site this morning at 9am as we wanted to make sure we had enough time to hit in case Devan wanted an extended session but we were told there were no practise courts due to the rain overnight. As soon as we heard that we immediately started our physical warm up so that we’d be ready if a court did open up and just as we finished warming up two players came off the court next to us so we jumped straight on. The court was in fact not being used for matches so we had a good pre match hit and after 35 minutes Devan was feeling ready to go. After getting changed Devan filled out her pre match sheet and we sat down and went through the game plan for the match and set some goals that Devan wanted to achieve.

At just after 11.15am Devan and Manoela Chiacchio went on court; the warm up was pretty solid but as soon as the first set started Devan struggled to find her rhythm and consistency. She was broken in the first game, broke back immediately but that turned out to be the best game of the set as Devan hit 19 unforced errors and only made Chiacchio hit 5 winners to take the first set 6-1. Throughout the set Devan’s attitude had been really good and it was no surprise to me when things started to click in the second set and she reduced her unforced errors, increased her winner count and started to make Chiacchio earn every point that she won (I really think that it was me getting soaked by the water sprinkler on the court behind that made Devan relax and play better!!). Devan’s depth of shot also improved hugely and it made it very difficult for Chiacchio to get on top on her in the rally – Devan took a 4-1 lead and despite being broken at 4-1 and at 5-2 she maintained a very professional and mature attitude throughout and immediately broke back on both occasions and took take the set 6-3. The third set followed the same pattern as the second with Devan’s attitude playing a massive part as many of the games were very long including an 18 point game at 1-0* (which Devan won I might add!!). Every game in the third was tight but Devan managed to win the important points and went on to take the set 6-0. Overall it was a great match; it was great to see Devan react in such a professional way to losing the first set and also find the level that she had been showing in training over the last week.

The match lasted just under 2 and a half hours so after showering and changing we went off site to have some lunch and then came back to relax and get prepared for the doubles 1st round match. This week Devan has teamed up with British junior Danielle Konotoptseva and they faced top seeds Jennifer Brady (who Devan also plays tomorrow in the singles) and Daria Sharapova (who Devan played against in doubles in Daytona Beach). The top seeds started very well racing to a 4-0 lead with some very strong doubles, Devan and Danielle responded by holding twice but went on to lose the set 6-2. The second followed the same lines at the first as Jennifer and Daria were just too strong from the back and from the net winning 5 of the first 6 games to take a 5-1 lead. Their level and concentration then went through the floor as I think they thought they had it in the bag resulting in Devan and Danielle fighting back to make it 5-3. Devan and Danielle then had 3 game points by couldn’t hold serve and lost the match 6-2, 6-3 – tough match but Jennifer and Daria just played better doubles and they’ll be a tough team to beat.

By this time it was almost 6pm and after a long day on site we headed back to the hotel and decided to have an easy dinner at Chipotle across the road. Devan had some issues with the legit food as the steak was a little spicy and it was quite amusing to see her sitting there with ice on her lips after each bite!! When we got back to the hotel we went through her singles match in full and talked a little about what to expect tomorrow and how we’re going to approach the match.

Schedule for tomorrow:

Devan McCluskey (USA) (973) vs (2) Jennifer Brady (USA) (173) – N.B. 12pm

Delray Beach U18 ITF Grade 4, Day 1

Sunday 15th May 2011

It was a short but very productive day today as we completed our final preparations before the Delray Beach ITF main draw starts tomorrow.

We arrived at the Evert Tennis Academy at 9am this morning but couldn’t get into the gym as all the doors were locked so we warmed up on the court. We started with a ten minute run, then went through all of our dynamic stretching and ended the warm up with some tennis football. The other academy players arrived just after 9.30am and we started the session at 9.45am. It followed the same format as yesterday, Mandy took the session and the girls warmed up and then played as many tie breaks as they wanted to until they were happy with their level. Today Devan warmed up with Ana Belmar (she was the girl that Devan played on Tuesday that we didn’t get her name!) and the level was the best she’s found on the trip so far; she was relaxed, very focus and had a plan for each point that she played. The tie break went on for almost 15 minutes and Devan ended up taking it 14-12, not bad against a player ranked 450! We’d only been on court for 45 mins but the whole session was fantastic so we decided to call it a day there. By that time the gym had been opened so all the players went in to cool down and stretch out.

Devan working hard and competing hard this morning

As we were all done by 11.30am it was nice to have a relaxing afternoon which included lunch at Whole Foods (Devan’s favourite by a mile!), some chilling out at the hotel and a chance to get some school work done.

We then headed over to the tournament site at 4pm to sign in and sort out a doubles partner before we took a drive out to the beach to check out the stunning houses and coastline.

Devan's 1st picture on her new phone!

Dinner tonight was on Atlantic Avenue which where it’s all happening in Delray Beach and is the same road that the ATP tournament site is located. There was a great atmosphere tonight as the restaurants were very busy and all of them have tables right on the side of the road – we had some amazing pasta from Vic & Angelo’s and then it was back to the hotel for an early night.

Schedule for tomorrow:

Manoela Chiacchio (BRA) (688) vs Devan McCluskey (USA) (973) – N.B. 11.15am

Devan McCluskey (USA) & Danielle Konotoptseva (GBR) vs TBC – sign in closes at 12pm, matches to follow in the afternoon

Training week before Delray Beach ITF, day 7

Saturday 14th May 2011

Two days to go until our first round match in the Delray Beach ITF and everything’s tightening up ready to compete.

We arrived at the Academy this morning at 9am and it was straight into the gym to warm up and go through some movement exercises before we joined Mandy Wilson, the Women’s Tennis Director, and the other main draw girls for our squad session. We spent the first 45 minutes drilling and then Devan played two tie breaks; one against Anna Wierda which she won 8-6 and then one against Daria Sharapova which she won 7-5. She performed well in both tie breaks but really upped her game against Daria and proved to herself that she can compete and beat top 300 players. After all of the other girls were done Devan wanted to stay on and drill some more backhands and by around 11.15am we were done. We then went into the gym to complete some core and band work before heading back to the hotel for some lunch.

Ladder work in the gym

It was quite quiet at Evert’s today as Saturday and Sunday are normally rest days for the Academy players but it was interesting to see how many players still wanted to get on court and do some training even though there weren’t any coaches around. All of the players that did train took it very seriously both on the court and in the gym which was great to see.

As I said yesterday I want Devan to do exactly what she wants to do in these few days leading up to her main draw match and she decided this afternoon that she wanted to hit some more so we headed back out to the Academy. We hit from the back of the court until Devan felt as though she was striking the ball well and then we ended the session with some serves and returns – it’s not about volume anymore, we’ve done that in the last week, it’s now just about tightening up any loose areas and making sure Devan is happy with the way she’s feeling on the court.

This evening Devan headed out to dinner with her Aunt and Uncle who have come down to Boca Raton for the weekend so it was “dinner for 1” for me at Villagio’s Italian restaurant in Mizner Park. The food there is great and tonight it was made even better by eating outside undercover while a huge thunder and lightening storm surrounded the town.

Tomorrow is our final day of preparation so we’re going to join the squad again in the morning before heading over to the tournament site in the afternoon.

Training week before Delray Beach ITF, Day 6

Friday 13th May 2011

After a day and a half rest we were back on court today, the wrist held up and we had two great training sessions with the team at the Evert Tennis Academy.

We were in the gym just after 9.15am and once we had completed our warm up we were out on the running track to complete some specific movement work before going through some 5 second on / 20 second off energy system development work. We then started our on court session at 10am and it wasn’t long before Devan was back up to the level that she found earlier in the week and the huge plus was that her wrist was feeling much better. We spent most of the session working on Devan’s level from the back of the court but we also worked on her stability when coming forward and finished the session with lots of volleys. We decided not to serve this morning and to ice the wrist to make sure it was up to the pressure of playing points in the afternoon.

This week the USTA have given us breakfast vouchers for each morning but as we’ve already bought cereal we decided to use the vouchers to buy sandwiches from the restaurant and save it for lunch. Problem was the car gets pretty hot during the day so by lunch the sandwiches weren’t looking the best! It was quite nice to have melted cheese with my ham sandwich though!!

After lunch we warmed up at 2.45pm and the matches again started at 3pm. We didn’t catch the name of the girl that Devan played but she was the strongest player that Devan has faced on the trip so far and started the first set unbelievably well. The set was over in 30 minutes as the girl took everything on and hardly made an unforced error to take the set 6-2. In the second set Devan found a much better depth and managed to stay with her opponent for longer in the rally; this usually ended with Devan getting a shorter ball that she could attack and either win the point from directly or set herself up with volley to finish the point on the next shot. The girls exchanged a few breaks but at 6-5 Devan played a great returning game and took the set 7-5 – it was definitely the best she has played, competed and focused since we’ve been away so we were both very pleased. We then headed into the gym to cool down on the bike and then the foam roll came out to put us both through some pain!!

Devan in action this afternoon

Tomorrow we’re joining in with the Evert Academy players for a squad at 9.45am and depending on how Devan’s feeling about her game we’ll probably reduce the hours on court over the weekend to make sure she’s really fresh for her first match on Monday.

Training week before Delray Beach ITF, Day 5

Thursday 12th May 2011 – REST DAY!

Today was our first proper day off on the trip, we did have one last week but as there was travel involved it didn’t really count as a full rest day.

So . . . what do players get up to on their day’s off? Simple answer is not much, most of the time they’re pretty tired so don’t want to do anything too energetic like walking around the shops or spending too much time in the sun but at the same time they don’t want a day that’s too boring. I always want the players to choose exactly what they want to do as it is “their day”, sometimes I’m not always a fan of what they choose but I’m sure they all get sick of me telling them what to do all day so I’m happy for them to boss me around for the day!!

Devan woke early so called my room and we had breakfast at the “earlier than I expected” time of 8am! We bought some breakfast from the supermarket a couple of days ago so now we just have to buy milk from the restaurant and make sure they don’t see us eating our own food (always a good challenge!). We had a bit of a break after breakfast and headed to the Mall at 10am so that Devan could attend her appointment at the Apple store. She’s been having a problem with her phone so she was very happy when they gave her a brand new one, just a shame she lost all of her contacts!

Next up was a trip to Boomers which is a huge amusement park right next to the airport. We played some of the arcade games, had a good game of mini-golf (which, after choking on a few 20cm putts, I just about managed to win!) and I had a my first ever go in a Baseball batting cage – great fun, the speed of the ball is a little scary but a great buzz when you finally make contact (and actually hit the ball forwards!!).

Finally got one! (Hope you can see the ball on the bat!)

After a good lunch at Whole Foods we were of to the Cinema to watch “Something Borrowed” – as I said earlier it was Devan’s day and this was one of the things I had to tough out! The film was ok, bit of a chick flick but I’ve seen a lot worse. It was then back to the hotel to chill out before dinner next door to the hotel at the Cheesecake Factory.

When we got back I loosened the tightness in Devan’s forearm and then she iced both her forearm and wrist so hopefully she’ll be ok for training tomorrow. She’s now moved into main draw so we’ll keep monitoring the wrist over the next three days to make sure she’s fit to play on Monday.

Training week before Delray Beach ITF, Day 4

Wednesday 11th May 2011

Tough day today as the problem with Devan’s wrist flared up again and stopped us from doing as much as we would have liked to do.

We arrived at the Academy today just after 9.15am and hit the gym as usual to warm up.  We did an extended warm up this morning as we knew we wouldn’t get a court before 10am so we added in some movement, reaction and balance work to Devan’s normal bike and dynamic stretching routine. Before we started on court we also made sure that Devan’s wrist was fully warmed up and then bang on 10am Carlos managed to get us a court. The session started well and the wrist was holding up but as we added a little more pressure it started to ache so Devan made the very professional decision to stop and ice it. We tried to go back on court and hit some serves but again as she went into a harder flatter 1st serve it hurt again so we decided to stop and rest it. The USTA then allowed Devan to see one of their physiotherapist; he diagnosed it as slight wrist tendonitis and recommended that she rested it and got a massage on her arm and shoulders.

After showering and changing we headed off site to get some lunch before returning back to the hotel to rest and ice her wrist and forearm again. After we’d had a break it was still aching so we decided to not hit again but to go back to the Academy to go into the gym and also book a sports massage. We completed a very tough 3 sets of abdominal Planks and Supermans and then Devan completed all of her per-hab band exercises before she had her massage appointment. The therapist said that she was very tight in her forearm and that’s causing the pain in her wrist so she needs to keep warming it up and stretching thoroughly as well as icing it at the end of every session.

Tomorrow is our planned rest day so it’s probably come just at the right time to give her a break and hopefully let her body recover. She’s now moved up to number 1 on the Delray Beach qualies list so if she can move up 1 more place she’ll be in the main draw and it’ll give her a couple of more days before she needs to compete.

Training week before Delray Beach ITF, Day 3

Tuesday 10th May 2011

Another great day’s training today as we spent the whole day at the USTA Headquarters / Chris Everts Tennis Academy and got involved with all the players and coaches there.

We were told yesterday that we might struggle to get a court before 11.15am as every court is either taken with the Academy programme or with the USTA programme so our plan was to get there for 9.30am to warm up and if we could get on then great, if not we’d hit the gym until one freed up. When we arrived we went straight into the gym to warm up on the bike first followed by completing all of our dynamic stretches – the coaches there were again fantastic and basically said we could use whatever we wanted! When we were all warmed up and ready to go we headed out and Carlos Zapata, the academy programme director, pointed us immediately in the direction of an empty court. We started the session just after 10am but it wasn’t long before we were asked if we wouldn’t mind moving a couple of courts down as Chris Evert was about to come on that court to do a lesson! As it’s her academy we thought we’d move down and let her have the show court!!

Another beautiful day in Boca Raton!

The session was going well but after about 45 minutes of aggressive hitting Devan’s wrist started to hurt so we took a break and iced it. As we were resting the girl from yesterdays video started training on the court next to us; her intensity and focus was again very good even when the first 15 minutes of the session started with her using Mini-Red, Orange and Green balls (oh, we also found out that she’s just turned 13 years old in January and has already had main draw wins in ITFs!). As Devan was planning on playing points in the afternoon we decided to give the wrist a rest and hit the gym. We completed a very tough 35 minutes on the bike followed by some core and injury prevention exercises. By this time it was around 12.15pm so we showered and changed and headed to the supermarket for lunch.

View from the bike!

Can you see us in the mirror?!

At 2.15pm we warmed up again, loosened Devan’s forearm and wrist up and then tested it out with some light hitting. She felt ok to play so at 3pm she joined in with the Academy to play a practise match against Anna Wierda. Anna was at Daytona Beach where she lost in the second round main draw and she played Plantation this week but lost in the last round qualies. It was a competitive match with Anna taking the first set 6-1 mainly down to Devan struggling with consistency but at 3-1 down in the second Devan turned a big corner and found a great balance between aggression and consistency to win the next 4 games to lead 5-3. Anna then upped her level and put more pressure on but Devan played a very strong but solid game to take the set 6-4. We decided to call it a day there as Devan’s wrist was starting to get a little sore so we iced it again before hitting the gym again to cool down on the bike (I think Devan’s sick of that bike now!) and then have a very thorough stretch out.

We ate tonight at Chipotle and even though the food was still “legit” the servers were being very tight with their portions so we weren’t best pleased! To add to it my burrito completely fell apart as it split at the side and then the bottom completely fell out so Devan had a good laugh at me trying to eat it in a civilised way!!!

Back to another full training day tomorrow and hopefully another match in the afternoon.

Training week before Delray Beach ITF, Day 2

Monday 9th May 2011

It was a relaxed day today as we got everything packed up and relocated (for the 5th time on the trip!) to Boca Raton where we’ll be spending the next 4 days preparing for the Delray Beach ITF.

After an early start yesterday we had a bit of a lie in today having breakfast at 8.30am. Then it was a chance to sort out all of our clothes and get them all washed and packed up so that everything was clean going into our training week. We made the most of the laundrette on site at the Holiday Inn, it was pretty cheap to wash everything but the dryers took forever! After it was all finally done we packed the car and headed just over an hour north to Boca Raton to our hotel for the next two weeks – it’s going to be nice to spend some time in one place as we were starting to feel like Nomads!

This afternoon we decided to head over to Delray Beach to check out the tournament site and we were really impressed with what we saw; another immaculate park club with 24 green clay courts and a modern clubhouse. What we were rather disappointed with was they want to charge us $21 per session for us to train there this week – if we did 2 sessions a day until Thursday that would cost us almost $150 so we decided to head back to Boca Raton to the USTA Training Centre Headquarters to see if they might be able to help us out.

USTA Headquarters, Boca Raton

It was the first time that I’ve been to any USTA national training centre (apart from Flushing Meadows) and I was very impressed by what I saw. It wasn’t a lavish tennis centre that looked as though it costs tens of millions of pounds but it had everything you needed there including a great atmosphere. There are 14 green clay courts, 9 hard courts, a reasonably sized gym (that had everything you might need) and all of the facilities that players need to live and do school work etc. The most impressive thing was that everywhere you looked there were quotes by top American athletes; every wall in the gym and on the sides and back of every court were reminders about how hard you need to work and how dedicated you need to be to make it.

I wasn’t sure how the staff would react to a foreign coach and a player they didn’t know walking in and asking to use their facility but everyone of them were fantastic; they’ve allowed us to use the courts and the gym all week and we’ve arranged for Devan to play matches every afternoon with the girls based there. It was really nice to be welcomed in that way – I wish it was like that with every national association.

We had a great training session and Devan hit the ball really well – it was hard not to perform well with top ITF ranked players training alongside you and a really positive buzz in the air. As we finished training I couldn’t help but notice a girl training against a wall on the court next to us; she’d been doing it for about 45mins and her intensity didn’t drop one bit – how many juniors do you know that would be as disciplined and work as hard as this when they’re on their own:

The desire and attitude to make it?

After we were done we headed back to the hotel and then out for dinner at The Cheesecake Factory (before you think it, no we didn’t have any cheesecakes!!). While we were waiting for our table we bumped into one of the USTA coaches that I met last week in Daytona Beach, he was again really friendly and offered for his girls to play practise matches too – everyone wants a piece of us!! Our meal was actually really good and the menu was huge so we might be going back a few times in these two weeks (just for your information there are 33 different cheesecakes on the menu as well as a series of “weight management” meals!).

Training week before Delray Beach ITF, Day 1

Sunday 8th May 2011

After the disappointment of losing yesterday Devan responded very professionally today and put in a very tough day’s training which marks the start of our preparation for the Delray Beach ITF.

Early start today; breakfast at 7am and we were on the court warming up at 8.10am. This morning we were in a park just opposite the hotel where they had a pretty good acrylic hard court (wouldn’t find them in a park in the UK!) as well as 3 basketball courts. We couldn’t book the court so we just got there early and then stayed on until we were done! It was a great session; we had an extended warm up followed by sprints and then we trained from 8.30am until around 10.15am working on specifics from Devan’s match yesterday. At 10.15am we moved over to the basketball court and Devan took me on in a very intense game of 1 on 1. It lasted over 30 minutes and I just scraped the win so I was happy! It was humid from the start of the session but by this time it was really starting to get hot and we were both absolutely soaked with sweat by the end of the basketball. From there it was straight into the gym back at the hotel and we spent another 30-40 minutes going through some strength and power work before Devan finished off with her pre-hab band exercises. It was a tough morning but very rewarding and I was very pleased with how hard Devan worked.

After a good lunch at Whole Foods we had a few hours off which gave Devan a chance to do some school work and get out of the heat! We then headed over to the Royal Palm Tennis Club to use their clay courts and get in some important point play (due to the tournament we couldn’t train there in the morning). By this time it was around 3.30pm and the heat and humidity were at their highest – it was great to experience that as it might be similar conditions in Delray Beach and you never know when your match will be scheduled. We completed a full pre-match warm-up and then went straight into a set. Devan performed well and even though it was hard for her to find her training level in the set she learnt a lot (without me commenting at all during the set) and mentally she was very good. By the end of the set we both needed a little bit of ice for a couple of twinges (me a lot more than Devan!) but that won’t stop us building on this tomorrow and for the rest of the week.

For dinner tonight we had a bit of a change of scenery and headed 25 minutes down the road to South Beach, Miami. It was very busy there and it was great to be out in such a buzzy atmosphere – the meal in Primetime was also amazing!

Tomorrow we’re on the move again as we’ll pack everything up and head back up the coast to Delray Beach to prepare for next weekend.

USTA College Bound Super Series event, Day 2

Saturday 7th May 2011

It was a very hot and humid day in Miami today as Devan played her first round match of the USTA College Bound Super Series event at the Royal Palm Tennis Club.

I was out exploring the local area this morning on a pre-breakfast run where I found some great basketball courts as well as a superb hard tennis court in a local park – I’m sure that’s going to come in handy for some training this weekend. We met for breakfast at 8am and then left for the club at 9.15am. Even though it’s only a few miles to the club the traffic here can be a nightmare so we gave ourselves enough time to get there and go through our 20 minute pre-match warm up before starting to hit at 10am. The club is really nice but I’m not convinced the club members are too happy with the event being there (reminds me of some clubs in England!!) and it was a bit of a fight to get a practise court for 30 minutes. By 10.30am Devan was warm and ready to go but still had to wait until 2pm for her match.

I always prefer to get away from the club when possible at tournaments to give the players a break, today was no different and after Devan had showered and changed we went and got some lunch before chilling out at the hotel until 1.15pm. We then drove back to the club and Devan warmed up and got set for her match.

Devan started very well, the first game was perfect as she was aggressive from the back of the court taking her opponent wide before attacking the space early. She did this three times in the first four points and in total she hit four winners in that game sending out a strong message to her opponent. Unfortunately her opponent fought very hard to take the next 5 games, Devan was doing the right things but she struggled to finish off the points once she had set them up well and her unforced errors started to increase. Devan broke at 1-5 but then was broken straight back to lose the first set 6-2. All Devan needed to do was reduce the unforced errors and she would be back in the match. She did just that in the second set and at the same time increased her winner count which resulted in an opposite outcome from the first set – Devan took it 6-2. At the end of the second set the USTA allow parents / coaches to talk to the players which I think is a great idea and one that other National Associations should encourage. I had a quick chat with Devan and said that she just needs to keep everything the same; keep attacking, keep the unforced errors down and she’ll be fine. She started the third set Super Tie-Break really well taking the first three points but then the level from the first set started to creep in and the unforced errors started to increase. In the end Devan went down 10-7 and the toughest part was that her opponent only had to hit 1 winner in the whole tie-break; the other 9 points were unforced errors.

It was still a positive match for Devan, her attitude throughout was excellent and her level from the back of the court was much more aggressive hitting a total of 27 winners, the only thing that hurt her was her unforced errors. It was definitely a tough result to take but we were both positive about where her game is going to go in the next 7 days to get her ready for the next ITF event in Delray Beach.

After dinner we went back to “Alex Rodriguez Park” to watch the second game between the University of Miami and Hofstra University and this time my iphone was charged!!

Hurricanes vs Hofstra

Great hit! (The ball is just above the floodlight on the left)

We’re now going to have a mini training block starting in Miami tomorrow and then we’ll move up to Delray Beach on Monday before either qualies on Saturday or main draw starting on Monday.

USTA College Bound Super Series event, Day 1

Friday 6th May 2011

It was decision day today as Devan had two choices for tournaments to compete in next week and we were only allowed to play one.

When Devan was planning this trip she had two goals in mind; improving her ITF ranking and also competing against other American players so College coaches could gauge her level. As Devan lives in England she doesn’t have a US National Ranking and that makes it difficult for Colleges to offer her a place without knowing how she would compete against the other girls who might be in a similar situation. She was recommended to play some of the USTA “College Bound Super Series” events and one of them fell right in between the ITFs. The problem was we only found out yesterday that she was in the event so today she made the decision to withdraw from the ITF to play the USTA event at The Royal Palm Tennis Club just south of Miami.

After making the necessary arrangements to withdraw from the ITF event we were just about to leave for Miami when we found out it was pouring with rain there so we had a quick change of plan and went over to the ITF site in Plantation to train on their courts for a couple of hours. The day off yesterday had had a positive effect on Devan; she was striking the ball much heavier and finding the depth and width that had been missing last week. After the session we had a quick lunch and then hit the road for the relatively short 40 mile trip down the coast to the tennis club.

We arrived at The Royal Palm Tennis Club just before 3pm and we were both very impressed by the immaculate courts and the 6 week old clubhouse (Devan wasn’t a big fan of the club cat though!!). We trained for just over an hour to get used to the courts and for Devan to play some service points before heading a few miles down the road to our hotel which is just opposite the University of Miami.

It was then laundry duty (which seemed to take forever!) and it was great to finally get everything washed and ready for the start of the second week. It’s always difficult to pack enough kit especially as baggage restrictions on planes are getting tighter and tighter but in America you always know you’ll be able to find somewhere to get the washing done – how clean everything comes out is another matter!

We had a great dinner (which was a little more than a “10 minute walk away” – sorry Devs!) and then on the way back we stopped by the university baseball diamond to watch the team take on Hofstra University from Long Island, New York. It was my first ever live baseball game and even though the U of M Canes were killing their opponents it was still great to watch and we’ll be heading back tomorrow to watch the second game where I’ll definitely be taking some pictures!

Schedule for tomorrow:

Devan McCluskey vs Sarah Monteagudo – NB 2pm

Winner to play (2) Athena Trouillot – NB 5.30pm

Daytona Beach to Plantation via Indian Harbour Beach

Thursday 5th May 2011

It was a day off training today as we left Daytona Beach and drove down the coast to Plantation via the women’s $50k event in Indian Harbour.

It was a much more relaxed start to the day as we had a late breakfast and left the hotel at 9.30am. It was just under an hour and a half’s drive down to Indian Harbour and it was made a little more exciting by Devan freaking out when we almost ran out of petrol (or so she thought!!). We arrived at the Kiwi Tennis Club just after 11am to watch some of the women’s challenger event –  I was at this event three years ago with Naomi Cavaday and have always remembered how friendly the club members were and how they all make a huge effort to make the tournament a success. A lot of the members get involved too and go on court as Ball Men and Ball Women!

We watched some of Mel South’s training session before watching some of the other women’s matches; as we watched we talked through the things we had worked on yesterday on the court and it was great to give Devan a live example of how committed and aggressive the players were to their shots without necessarily hitting the ball hard. Devan made a great comment about how some the juniors in Daytona Beach hit the ball much better than the seniors today but we both agreed that mentally the players in Indian Harbour were much stronger than the juniors and as we all know tennis is not all about having a good strike on the ball or a massive weapon!

Soon Laura Robson was on Stadium Court to take on Lucky Loser Aleksandrina Naydenova who had beaten 4th seed Julia Cohen in the first round. Laura was aggressive from the start and continued that way all the way through the match taking the win 6-3, 6-2. She looked really comfortable on the clay, I’m not sure how much she’s been working on her movement but it looked very good today. Naydenova did get a consolation prize though as she won $1,000 for “upset of the tournament” after being Cohen in round 1.

Laura in action at the Kiwi Tennis Club

As soon as Laura had finished we were back on the road for another couple of hours of driving and finally arrived in Plantation at around 5.30pm. The drive down was pretty dull as there wasn’t much to see but we did take a couple of good pictures:

Something a bit different as a mailbox

Florida Oranges - probably the best in the world!

It’s back to training tomorrow as we prepare for the next event on Saturday.

Daytona Beach U18 ITF Grade 4, Day 7

Wednesday 4th April 2011

Superb day of training today as we had our last day in Daytona Beach and started the preparation for the next event.

It was strange to wake up this morning with it dark outside and even more strange when we had to wait for the restaurant to open for breakfast at 6.30am! We got to the club at 7.30am and didn’t struggle to find a practise court, we weren’t the first ones there though as a lot of the players competing this week are very professional and committed to becoming pro players. That obviously takes a lot of work and I can see that lots of the American juniors have got the attitude that you need to be good at a senior level as well as a junior level.

We started the session with an extended warm up which both of us found tough, I tried to make it look easy but I was feeling it too by the time we hit the first ball!! We then had the best two hours of training that we’d had since we arrived, Devan really put the work in mentally and it really showed as her level increased throughout the session. We spent a lot of time drilling from the back focusing on the effect each of her shots was having on me and exploring the difference between committing & being aggressive and committing & hitting hard. As we went into a lot of point play the focus turned to how many unforced errors were hit compared to winners and out of the unforced errors how many did Devan improve her game on. Missing is acceptable if you develop your game from it, if you miss and don’t improve it’s a waste of time and effort.

After working out for 2 and a half hours we went straight up onto the balcony and went through our pre-hab / injury prevention band exercises for the next 20 mins before showering and changing and leaving site for lunch.

The tennis centre is located directly opposite the Daytona Beach LPGA golf course and we had been recommended going to the golf club for some lunch. It didn’t disappoint; the food was great, as was the view but the best part was definitely the water!

View from the balcony of the restaurant

One of the hardest things to balance when on the road is finding time to complete school work. Devan has been really good this week; she has set aside time more or less each day for work  and as we started early today it gave her a few hours in the middle of the day to again get stuck into work before we headed out to the beach for some fitness training.

We got to the beach at 4pm and started with a 30 minute run up the beach followed by a series of sprints in the deep sand, some specific medicine ball work, some core exercises and we finished the training with some tough work with the bungee cord. After the training we cooled down by throwing my Aerobie frisbee around – Devan almost took out some pedestrians on the promenade but it was all good!!

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By this time is was just past 6pm, we knew we’d finish quite late so we brought clothes to change into for the evening and managed to find somewhere to shower to try and clean all the sand off!! We had dinner in a really nice Italian restaurant called Rossellini’s and then had a walk along the promenade to end a fantastic days training.

Tomorrow we leave Daytona Beach to head down to Plantation but around half way down the coast there is a $50,000 women’s event on in Indian Harbour so I think we’ll stop there for lunch and check out how fellow Brits Laura Robson and Mel South are getting on.

Daytona Beach U18 ITF Grade 4, Day 6

Tuesday 3rd May 2011

It was a tough day on court today as Devan took on 9th seed Clementina Riobueno De Paola from Venezuela.

It was the same start to the day as it’s been for the past few days; 7.45am breakfast, 8.50am leave the hotel, 9.10am physical warm up and 9.30am pre-match warm up. Devan was hitting the ball great from the back of the court in the warm up but unfortunately we got interrupted after 15mins by the local senior ladies team who needed the court for their squad session!! We managed to get on another court to finish the warm up and everything was looking good leading into the match. We then went through our pre-match talk and set up our goals for the match as well as set the game plan based on the match we saw her opponent play yesterday.

The girls went on around 12pm and from the start it was obvious it was going to be a tough match up for Devan. Clementina had raised her level from yesterday and was finding a much better depth and weight on her forehand which was really kicking up off the clay and making it difficult for Devan to take control of the point. Devan had improved her level from her first round match and was being more aggressive but struggled to find the consistency that she needed to be effective against a tough clay courter. At 0-3 Devan did well to break back but couldn’t hold on to the break and Clementina held and broke again to take the first set 6-1. In the first three games of the second set Devan found a really good level but her opponent matched her shot for shot and just played the bigger points better. Devan kept on fighting hard and at 0-3 she held for the first time and then held again at 1-4 but just couldn’t do enough on her opponents serve to get the break back. Unfortunately Devan played a cheap game at 2-5 to go down 6-1, 6-2 but credit has to go to her opponent who only missed 16 balls in the whole match and was obviously very comfortable and confident on the clay.

While Devan was cooling down, showering and stretching out I checked out some of the other girl’s matches to make some notes ready for Devan to meet them over the next two weeks. When Devan was done we left site and to get some food and then later in the afternoon, once the match had been digested by both of us, we went through it in detail. Devan responded well to the feedback and what’s great about this trip is we can now work on areas of her game over the next few days in preparation for the next event and then continue that work through the second week and into the third week as well.

Tomorrow storms are forecast over Florida so it’s going to be an early start to get a good couple of hours in on court and then the plan is to head to the beach in the afternoon for a fitness session on the sand.

Daytona Beach U18 ITF Grade 4, Day 5

Monday 2nd May 2011

It was a very positive day at the office today as Devan played both singles and doubles and showed that she can compete with the likes of Sharapova.

I was up early this morning at 6.30am to put some finishing touches to Devan’s pre-match sheets and make sure everything was ready for her singles and doubles matches. We had breakfast together at 7.45am and to my relief Devan’s swollen glands had gone down and she was feeling much better than yesterday evening.

We left for the club at 8.50am and warmed up ready for our pre-booked practise session at 9.30am. The match warm up was very good, Devan was hitting great (which makes my job a lot easier!) and by 10am everything was warm and she was ready to go. She got changed after practise into her match kit and we then went over the plan for the match including setting some goals for her to focus on.

Devan was taking on Charlotte Thuries from France today and from the start she took control of the match putting the French girl under pressure from the back of the court. One of Devan’s goals was to keep the number of unforced errors down while still attacking to produce winners – she did this very well throughout the first set as she hit 12 winners and 11 unforced errors in taking the opening set 6-0. The French girl was not about to give up without a fight though and made the second set a little more tricky for Devan. Charlotte broke back to make it 1-1 and then a few tight games meant that Devan’s focus and attitude would be tested – it’s not always easy when you win the first set 6-0 as your opponent can easily come out in the second set swinging and then suddenly put you under pressure. Devan however stayed focused and showed a great attitude to accept Charlotte’s winners but then also showed great fight to come back a few times when she was down including the last game when she was serving for the set. At 0-30 Devan produced 2 aces and 2 unreturnable serves to take the match 6-0, 6-2.

Straight after her match she showered and changed and then joined me to watch some of her next round opponent play before we headed off site to get some lunch.

Doubles was a little later in the day and at 4pm Devan & Cassandra Vazquez took on Daria Sharapova and Zhanlan Wei. Daria is the younger cousin of Maria Sharapova and she has a lot of the same traits as Maria including a huge strike on her forehand. Devan and Cassandra fought hard in the first set but a couple of sudden death deuces went against them and Devan was broken twice to go down 6-2. From the back to the court they were both living with their opponents but it was at the net where the biggest difference showed. This changed in the second and Devan and Cassandra started to close out more points with first volleys, they got a break to go 2-1 but then lost the next 3 games to go 4-2 down. The broke straight back at 4-2 and then broke again and held at 5-3 to level the set. It was a much better performance now and the girls were within touching distance of levelling up the match when they went 5-2 up in the tie break but Daria and Zhanlan played some very strong points to take the next 5 points in a row.

Devan & Cassandra in action against Sharapova & Wei

It was a disappointing 6-2, 7-6 loss but only because they were so close to taking it to a third set, the actual performance was good and I was very pleased with how Devan was striking the ball from the back of the court. It’s great to really compete with someone who is 200 in the world and know that you can live with them all day long in the rally, hopefully Devan will take that confidence into her singles match tomorrow.

For dinner tonight we went to Chipotle, I’ve been a few times before and I love it but for Devan it was her first experience! The food in there is always very good and in Tim’s words it’s “legit food” so it must be good for you!!!

Schedule for tomorrow:

Devan McCluskey (USA) (958) vs (9) Clementina Riobueno De Paola (VEN) (326) – Not Before 11am

Tennis Europe Event Added!

Following the trip to Mostar in Bosnia & Herzegovina for the U18 ITF Grade 4 event in April I’m going to return to the same club for an U14 Tennis Europe event in June.

For more information on the trip please click here to view the trip factsheet or contact me directly: Rob@itc-tennis.com

Daytona Beach U18 ITF Grade 4, Day 4

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

Daytona Beach U18 ITF Grade 4, Day 3

Saturday 30th April 2011

The temperature warmed up today both on the court and inside the clubhouse, but it all ended well (unless you’re a Spurs fan!).

We started the day today with a great breakfast at 7.45am and then we packed our bags again to check out of another hotel! There’s been a problem with our original hotel booking so we’ve had to spend the last two nights at different hotels but now we’re in the player’s hotel for the rest of the week.

Our office for the week!

We arrived at the club at 9am and went through our normal 30 minute warm up. The first round of qualifying had started early today at 8am but we had our practise court booked and had a really good session following on from the good work yesterday. After training Devan went through all of her band work and injury prevention exercises and soon it was 12pm and time for lunch.

It was a quick visit to Whole Foods again for a Turkey Salad wrap and an amazing smoothie before getting back to the club to watch a very stressful match between Chelsea and Tottenham.

 

Not too nervous then?!

As Chelsea scored a late winner I got a little pumped up much to the shock of Devan and the other guys in the clubhouse – well worth it though, now come on Arsenal do us a huge favour tomorrow!!

For our second session of the day we were joined by the Mexican team of Carmen Cordoba and her coach Francisco Mugica. Devan and Carmen had a very intense session and Devan put into practise all of the things we’ve been working on for the last two days so I was a very happy coach . Devan’s sessions with me yesterday and today have been very good but it’s always great for the player’s confidence to do it against a fellow player, especially against one of the seeds.

Devan and Carmen in action

After the session we stretched out for 20 minutes and did some work to loosen up Devan’s back before going back to the hotel to change for dinner. I was over the moon when Devan suggested going back to Olive Garden and I had a much nicer (edible!) meal than last night. We went back to the hotel tonight via Dicks Sporting Goods and Sports Authority to get some supplies and now we’re all set for the week.

Last day of preparation tomorrow, so it’ll be a little fine tuning and then we’ll be ready to go.

Daytona Beach U18 ITF Grade 4, Day 2

Friday 29th April 2011

It was a great start to the trip today, we had beautiful weather, two very good sessions on court and a great choice for lunch, shame dinner didn’t quite cut it!!

It was an early start today to watch a bit of the Royal Wedding, it was strange though as the running commentary of events was by American journalists and not the familiar voices of the English TV channels. We then had breakfast which brought back a lot of memories of training at Bollettieri’s – the standard Holiday Inn breakfast of a bagel, Raisin Bran and a strawberry and banana yogurt!! It was then off to the club at 9am.

The Florida Tennis Centre has a basic clubhouse but it boasts 24 American Clay courts which are all very well maintained and includes a stadium court. We went straight on court, had a very thorough warm up to get the flight and a little bit of jetlag out of our system and then had a very productive 2 hours of training. As always the first session is about getting a feel for the courts, finding out which way the wind is blowing and figuring out how the sun is going to cross over the court so we’re prepared for the match no matter what time of day it might be. Devan worked really hard throughout and as first sessions go this was one of the best I’ve had in a long time. She got a good feel for the courts, was moving well and despite a slight hiccup with a racket issue (!!) everything went very well.

Great clay courts and clear blue skies - beautiful sight!

After the session we had a drive around to check out the local supermarkets and find the best place to get some lunch. We settled on Whole Foods for lunch and it didn’t disappoint – a world class sandwich and wrap did the job nicely! I then experienced Devan’s uncontrollabl excitement of going around a supermarket in Wal-Mart before we returned to the club with all the supplies we needed including the world class Banana Boat Sport sun cream!

We were back on court for our second session at 3pm, the morning was more about consistency of groundstrokes so this afternoon we hit more serves and returns, volleys and drive volleys and played a few points out to finish off. After the session we did some interval sprints and then had a very thorough stretch out to end the day.

For dinner tonight Devan wanted to have a change from Olive Garden so we took a drive to the beach to see what it was like there. After looking for a while we settled on a place that was, hmmm . . . interesting!! I won’t go into the details but as soon as the waitress approached us and said “Hi, I’m Emily and I’ll be your driver this evening” I knew that it was only ever going to go downhill from there!

Qualifying starts tomorrow but it’s two more days of training for us to get ready for main draw starting on Monday.

Daytona Beach U18 ITF Grade 4, Day 1

Thursday 28th April 2011

It was a 12 hour day of travel today as we left London Gatwick at 11.15am this morning and finally got to our hotel at 6pm local time this evening.

It was quite a relaxed start to the day today as I met up with Devan and her parents just off of the M25 motorway and then we drove the short 40 minute journey to Gatwick airport. After having a few problems with our originally booked seats I managed to get the seats upgraded, we didn’t go up a class this time but we did manage to get a lot more leg room than we would have normally had. The Virgin Atlantic flight was good even though the plane was quite old and the TV screens were smaller than on the newer planes. It wasn’t ideal as we didn’t have on demand TV but we both managed to watch 3 films including The Fighter which I thought was pretty good.

Once we got to Orlando we collected our baggage and then it was straight into our hire car for the 70 mile journey to Daytona Beach. The journey went very fast, Devan did a great job as DJ and we had a good sing-a-long which made time fly by! We arrived at our hotel at 6pm, had a quick shower and got out to dinner by 6.30pm. As always when we get to a new town it’s nice to have a quick drive around to get a feel for the place and not before long we drove straight past the Daytona International Speedway which is absolutely massive! For those that don’t follow NASCAR you might remember the stadium from “Days of Thunder” with Tom Cruise? (it’s one of my favourite films so I was loving it!).

We found an Olive Garden restaurant which was perfect for our first night, they kept on offering both of us cheese on everything, including the salad, but we were quite happy with our standard meals!

It was then back to the hotel to turn in for an early night. First day of training tomorrow to prepare Devan for her first round match on Monday – can’t wait to get stuck in.

Mostar U18 ITF Grade 4, Day 5

Friday 22nd April 2011

It was back to training on hard today to prepare Dave for his next tournament in Malta which he flies to tomorrow.

As we had a late evening last night we had a later start this morning getting to the club for 8.30am to warm up and start our session at 9am. We started off with a movement session for 25 minutes including ladder work and tennis specific footwork exercises. We then made good use of the 3kg medicine ball that I always travel with to work on a leg strength circuit until just before 10am when Dave had a short 5 minutes break to recover before working on his 1st and 2nd serves. From the singles and doubles matches this week we’ve made notes on areas of Dave’s serve that need improvement and we’ve also continued working on the goals that his coaches have set from back in England. This all came together really well in the training this morning; the 1st serve was much cleaner and more accurate and the 2nd serve was stronger and kicking better. The big question was would it hold up under pressure?

Dave working hard during the movement session

We’d already arranged to play a practise set with Jorge Wilton at 11.30am which was just what Dave needed to keep pushing his level and make sure that he’s achieving his goals when there is something on the line. To make it even more interesting (and to add a little pressure) I asked the boys if they were up for the loser buying the winner lunch. They both considered it for a few seconds (as they checked if they had enough money on them!) and then agreed – game on!

Dave and Jorge working hard for their lunch!

It was a good set and both players competed hard; Dave played the best he had done all week and ticked all the boxes of the goals that we had set in the morning. Dave ended up coming out on top and served really well but before we finished for lunch we all did a couple of Fan Drill sprints and I’ve got to mention that I came out quickest there!!

After lunch we watched some of the main draw matches before coming back to the hotel to rest for the afternoon. Often players will want to do more and more training in the lead up to the next event but I believe it’s very important that once you’ve found a good level and worked hard during a session it’s important to let that feeling sink in, mentally give yourself a boost and also give your body time to rest before going to the next tournament.

We had a brief walk around town in the afternoon and then met up with Jorge, Chris, Samm and his dad to have dinner together in the evening. It was a much nicer meal than the last one we had in the centre of town but we couldn’t help but let the local cats enjoy it with us!!

Today is our last day in Mostar, tomorrow we get the train back to Sarajevo and then Dave moves onto Malta and I go back to England. It’s been a good trip, not necessarily in terms of results but there have been much more positives than negatives and Dave’s all set to go for next week.

Here’s one I’ve been meaning to take all week, there are sign’s in town saying “Never forget” and “Remember 1993 ” but there are also more shocking sights like this one of someones home still covered in bullet holes:

Next up for me is 3 weeks in Florida with Devan McCluskey for 3 U18 ITF Grade 4 events starting in Daytona Beach leaving next Thursday – bring it on!

Mostar U18 ITF Grade 4, Day 4

Thursday 21st April 2011

It was a long day at the club today which included 2 training sessions, 2 meals and a tight doubles match!

To be able to get a full court to play a practise set we had to get up early and get to the centre before the main draw players turned up. So we were up at 6am, warming up at 6.40am and started the session at 7am. Dave played a set with his doubles partner Samm Butler and worked hard on his goals but found it difficult to find the balance between pace and weight of shot. After the session we walked back to the hotel for breakfast and reflected on the set planning goals for the next on court session at 11.30am.

We went back over to the club at 10.30am and watched the first set of Chris Throm-Jones before getting back on court with Samm and Jorge Wilton for a very good hour and a half doubles session. Everyone worked very hard and Dave found a much better level than he had earlier in the day which was exactly what he needed before the doubles match. After the session we congratulated Chris on a hard fought 3 set win, had some lunch and returned to the hotel to relax for a couple of hours – it’s always good to try not to spend too much time onsite when you have a late match otherwise you can get very tired from doing nothing but sitting in the sun watching other people compete.

Originally the match was scheduled for 6th round on which was supposed to be 2nd on after 1.30pm but, even though the match before Dave and Samm’s was moved, they didn’t end up getting on court until after 6pm.

Dave and Samm were taking on Stjepan Cagalj & Tomislav Draganja from Croatia and they started well breaking at 2-1 and maintaining the break until they took the set 6-3. In the second they broke early to lead 2-1 but lost their concentration and the Croatians started to gain momentum. At 3-4 Dave was broken and Cagalj held to take the set 6-3. It was quite a turnaround as the Croatians were very erratic for the first set and a half but instead of finishing them off when they were down Dave and Samm just waited for their opponents to miss. Unfortunately the opposite happened; the Croatians found their volleys and returns and increased their level again in the match tie-break. Dave and Samm went 5-0 down, got a couple of mini breaks back but soon found themselves 9-2 down. They then fought very hard to get back to 9-8 but Cagalj found a big first serve to take the match 3-6, 6-3, 10-8. Very disappointing but there were a lot of positives to take from it:

1)      Dave’s level from the back of the court was superb

2)      The boys only missed 7 1st serve returns between them and only 3 2nd serve returns in the whole match

3)      Both of their 1st serve percentages increased as the match went on

By the time they were finished it was after 8pm so after a debrief we sat down with Samm, Chris and Jorge for dinner at the clubs restaurant.

It was a long day with a tough result at the end but the most important thing is that Dave achieved his goals for the day and put in 2 training sessions as well as a match. We’ll back up the learning points tomorrow with more on court work including a practise set on the hard court with Jorge to prepare Dave for his tournament in Malta next week.

Mostar U18 ITF Grade 4, Day 3

Wednesday 20th April 2011

Dave took a tough loss today but responded very professionally and ended the day on a positive note.

It was another early start today, Dave was playing first match on at 8.30am so we had breakfast at 6.20am and then started are pre-match warm up at 7.10am at the club. The physical warm up for some players is often non existent but I think it’s very important and it’s worth getting up that bit earlier to make sure your body is ready to train as soon as you step on the court. Dave’s warm up included some skipping, a light jog, his dynamic stretches followed by his injury prevention band work and then some movement exercises to make sure he is sharp as soon as he hits the first ball. He hit this morning with his doubles partner; Samm Butler, who was also playing first on and they had a solid hit for 30 minutes until 8am. Dave then got ready before we went through the plan for the match and set some pre-match goals.

The match didn’t start well as Zvonimir Podvinski from Croatia broke Dave in the first game and then again at 3-1 to go on to take the set 6-2. Dave hadn’t really got going and it looked as though he didn’t have a clear plan for each point he played. At the end of the set he took a toilet break and it seemed to refocus him as he came out fighting harder and more prepared to stay in the point. The second set went with serve until 4-3 when Dave got the break and played a great service game to take the set 6-3. The third followed a similar pattern to the first as Dave sat back a little more waiting for Podvinski to miss but the opposite happened and he actually hit more winners in the first 3 games of the third than he did in the whole of the second set! After 25 mins Dave found himself 5-1 but he wasn’t about to give up yet! He fought hard and Podvinski started to get a little nervous as his normally solid game started to desert him – up until 6-2, 3-6, 5-1 up Podvinski had hit 28 unforced errors but in the next 5 games he managed to hit 22! He also missed out on 4 match points at 5-2! Dave had also stepped up more but the 22 errors in the five games meant that Dave was now serving for the match at 6-5. The next game took over ten minutes and despite saving 5 break points Dave lost his serve so it was onto a tie-break. Dave went 3-0 up but then a poor choice to hit a drop volley cost him and he then went 3-4 down. It was then close until Dave double faulted at 4-5 gifting Podvinski another match point. Dave saved the first one but a huge serve down the T from Podvinski gave him the match 6-2, 3-6, 7-6(5) in just over 2 hours 30 mins.

As you can imagine Dave was very disappointed but we went back to the hotel, he showered, stretched, went through the match in detail and then we returned to the club for some lunch.

I believe the quote is “It’s not what happens to you in life but it’s how you react to it that matters” and Dave’s response to today’s match was very professional. Once our lunch had been digested we were out running around the streets of Mostar at a pretty quick pace (thanks Dave, I’m going to feel that tomorrow!!) for 30 minutes before going into the park to do some core and fitness until 5pm. It showed real character for Dave to be up for training so soon after his loss and I was up for it too, we pushed each other and got a lot out of the training to finish the day on a positive note.

We met up with Samm and his Dad for dinner this evening by the Old Bridge, the company was great but the food was not – most of it ended up being fed to the local cats!! We then had a walk back to the club to find the girls still competing at 8.30pm!

View was amazing . . . food was not!

An even earlier started tomorrow as Dave and Samm are going to play a practise set in the morning but due to matches starting at 8.30am we’re going to have to get to the club for 6.40am to warm up and be ready to start hitting at 7am.

Schedule for tomorrow:

(4) David Hodgetts (GBR) & Samm Butler (GBR) vs Stjepan Cagalj (CRO) & Tomislav Draganja (CRO) – 6th round on after 8.30am

Mostar U18 ITF Grade 4, Day 2

Tuesday 19th April 2011

Three good sessions banked today and an early start gave us some time this afternoon to learn a little more about Mostar as we explored the town.

The club here in Mostar is really nice but as it only has 4 outdoor clay courts the matches start at 8.30am which means if you want to train you either have to get up early or use the two indoor clay courts. We went for the early option to give us a chance to hit for an hour on the match courts so our day started with a quick bite to eat at 6.30am, warm up at 7.10am and then training 7.30am – 8.30am with fellow Brit Samm Butler. As it was Dave’s first time hitting at the club we spent the whole hour getting a feel for the balls and the courts and just did a lot of drilling from the back of the court. Once the matches started we moved onto the hard court to hit some serves for half an hour which completed a very productive morning. We then went back to the hotel to eat a proper breakfast!

Mostar Tennis Club

We then had around an hour to relax before we made our way back to the club for our second session of the day between 11am – 12pm. As we had drilled so much this morning we planned for this session to just be point based and it gave Dave a chance to work more on his serve and return as well as working on building the points and staying patient. The session went well and we covered all the areas we wanted to so by 12pm Dave felt good to go.

After Lunch we did some fitness on court including a bit of basketball and worked on some movement exercises before taking on the Polish team at a bit of tennis football. Needless to say we won but some points did get very tight! We then hit some more serves and returns before finishing for the day at around 2.30pm.

As we had sometime before sign-in we decided to explore the town and learn a little more about the history. It’s an amazing place that was horrendously bombed by first the Serbs in 1992 and then the Croatians between 1993 and 1995. During the war the whole town was pretty much destroyed including the jewel of Mostar; The Old Bridge.

The Old Bridge

The Old Bridge was originally built in 1566 and immediately became a landmark for the town but it was damaged in 1992 and then completely destroyed in November 1993. In 1997 the reconstruction started, the bridge was formally opened in 2004 and on the 17th July 2005 the bridge and the town was added to the UNESCO World Heritage list. 

Also a diving platform - they must be mad!!

Today we saw some pictures of what the town looked like during the war and it’s amazing to see how it looks now – it’s truly an amazing place but everywhere you look there are many reminders of what had happened back in the 90’s.

Reminders of the past

We made our way back to the club to sign-in, have dinner with the other British players and wait for the draw to be done. After helping the referee sort out the errors he had made with the girls draw we booked practise courts and came back to the hotel to get prepared for tomorrow.

Schedule for tomorrow:

(5) Dave Hodgetts (GBR) (568) vs Zvonimir Podvinski (CRO) (770) – 1st on at 8.30am

Mostar U18 ITF Grade 4, Day 1

Monday 18th April 2011

It’s been a long day today with over 11 and a half hours of travel which included 2 trains, 2 flights, 2 taxi’s and a crazy but spectacular bus journey!

It was an early start this morning as I had to get a 5.52am train to London before getting another train to Gatwick airport to meet up with Dave Hodgetts for the flight to Bosnia. Our first flight was to Ljubljana on a pencil like plane and it was amazing that the plane stayed in one piece when we landed as the pilot hit the ground with such a force that half the passengers came out of their seats! We only had a 30 minute wait before the next flight to Sarajevo which was much smoother and had some amazing views over the snow covered mountains:

Once we got to Sarajevo we were straight into a taxi to the bus station where we caught a bus for the 2 and a half journey to Mostar. I’d read that the journey was one of the best in Europe and it didn’t let us down as we wound through the mountains and around glacial lakes. The driver didn’t hang around though and some of his overtaking manoeuvres were a little hair-raising to say the least!!

Amazing views driving through the mountains

Once we got to Mostar we quickly found our hotel and then had a walk to the club where we had our dinner. We’ve been told the town was on the front line of the war back in 1995 and you can still see numerous buildings with hundreds of bullet holes in them. I’m looking forward to learning a bit about the town this week so I’ll give you an update as I learn a bit more about it.

We’ve got two tennis sessions booked in tomorrow and sign-in is at 6pm – I’ll let you know how it went and who Dave’s got in the draw tomorrow evening.

Malta out, Bosnia in!

Due to the high number of British coaches and centres going to Malta next week I will now be travelling to The Mostar Open 2011 in Mostar, Bonsia & Herzegovina. If you are entered into this event and would like to join us or train with us during the week please contact me to let me know.

Mostar Open 2011

Nottingham U18 ITF Grade 4 – Week 2, Day 4

Wednesday 13th April 2011

The day started a little differently today as we were woken at 4am by the Fire Alarm going off in the Travelodge and then spent the next 45 minutes waiting on the pavement outside the hotel as the Fire Brigade arrived and eventually announced it as a False Alarm!!

Not the best start to the day at 4am!

We got up for the second time at 8am, had breakfast in the room and made our way to the tennis centre at 9am. Claudia was the first to practise so we warmed up in the gym for half an hour and then got on court to play some practise points out with Farah Abdel-Aziz who was with me in Kenya. Claudia worked hard and addressed a lot of the points that we raised from her match yesterday. She’s experienced a problem that a lot of players find when they’re on the road for a long period of time and that’s when they get towards the end of the trip players tend to lose a little focus and intensity and really need to spend some time working on their game before competing again. I know of a few players who play 30+ ITFs per year and it really doesn’t help with their game development if it’s only to chase points and not to improve as a player.

As Claudia was finishing her session Dave arrived and started his warm up so I went straight over onto the next court to get him ready for his doubles match. He warmed up thoroughly and then spent some time developing his game, working mainly on his serve and returns before playing some points out. We all then had lunch and discussed the plan for the afternoon – Dave was just waiting for his court to become available for his doubles match while Claudia went into the gym to go through her strength and conditioning programme. It’s been a little surprising this week how few players have actually been in the gym whether it was for a cardio warm up, to do any injury prevention exercises or to follow their strength and conditioning programme. That’s always the major difference between the junior and senior tour, how much work outside of their on court training the players complete on a day to day basis. If the juniors did get used to it at an early age it would be a much easier transition into the senior game and the demands that are placed on the body.

Dave and Oliver Plaskett went on court at around 2.30pm and they were taking on 6th seeds Toby Mitchell and Toby Martin from Bath. From the start it was obvious that one team had played / trained together before and one had not. The Bath boys were much sharper at the net and took their chances when they came up. They broke early in the first set and then again at 5-2 to take the set 6-2 and the pattern continued in the second as Dave and Oliver found themselves 6-2, 5-2 down. They then fought hard, served and returned better to hold, break and hold again to level the set at 5-5. Unfortunately at 5-6 they were broken again and went down 6-2, 7-5, not bad for a team who were playing together for the first time but both boys knew they had not performed well.

Again it was good to go through the match immediately with Dave and write some notes that we can look back at next week when we travel to Bosnia for the ITF Grade 4 event.

I’m staying over tonight to watch some of the matches tomorrow and then it’ll be back home for the weekend and back on the road again on Monday.

Nottingham U18 ITF Grade 4 – Week 2, Day 3

Tuesday 12th April 2011

It was a long cold day in Nottingham today and two tough singles matches made things even more difficult.

The day started with an early practise for Claudia who was taking on Bolton’s Sabrina Federici. We had a good warm up and talked about some match goals before she took to the court at 9am. The match started well with Claudia breaking Sabrina in the first game and despite giving up the break straight away she broke again to lead 2-1. Sabrina then upped her game and found a better depth and penetration than Claudia could and because of that she won the next 10 games in a row going from 2-1 down to 6-2, 5-0 up. Claudia kept fighting even though she was down and at 5-0 she produced the kind of tennis you’d expect from someone ranked 400 in the world. She held at 5-0 then saved 9 match points in the next two games and it seemed as though she’d figured out exactly what she needed to do to come back. Unfortunately at 3-5 she played a poor first 3 points of the game and couldn’t come back again from 40-0 down so ended up going down 6-2, 6-3. A disappointing match for Claudia, there were lots of positives to take from it, she did perform better than last week and Sabrina did play a very solid match.

As soon as Claudia had finished I went straight indoors to be on court with Dave Hodgetts to get him ready for his first round match with Jack Findel-Hawkins. Dave was seeded 16 but Jack has been playing domestically very well this year and was coming into the match full of confidence. Dave was broken in the first game and struggled until 3-4 to really make any in-roads on Jack’s serve. Dave couldn’t get the break but was getting closer at 3-4 and at 4-5 but lost the first set 6-4. The second was similar to the first with Dave getting broken in the first game but he was then broken again at 3-1 and didn’t get the break back until he was 5-2 down. He then played a great two games to keep himself in the match but Jack played a solid game at 5-4 to take the match 6-4, 6-4.

After lunch I went back on court with Claudia and worked on the specifics from her match for an hour and then I met up with Dave to go through his match. It’s always good to review matches as soon as possible and then try to either get on court to work on tactical / technical areas or set some goals for the rest of the week so the players can measure their improvement.

It was then back to the hotel to get changed before we went out to meet up with Naomi and the Bromley Team and the Portuguese Team for Dinner at Bella Italia (with a nice 40% off voucher!!). Unfortunately after that the day got considerably worse as Chelsea lost to Man United in the Champions League!

Schedule for tomorrow:

Dave Hodgetts (GBR) & Oliver Plaskett (GBR) vs (6) Toby Martin & Toby Mitchell (GBR) – 4th round after 9am, N.B. 12.30pm

Nottingham U18 ITF Grade 4 – Week 2, Day 2

Monday 11th April

Tough day today as both players fell at the last hurdle in qualifying but a couple of Lucky Loser places have given them another chance.

After driving home on Friday I was making my way back up the M1 on Sunday evening to join up with Ellie Murphy and Anouska Newman. We had dinner yesterday evening in Nottingham and met up with Lewis Whiteley who is back competing after a long lay-off with injury so hopefully this is the start of a good year for Lewis.

Today started with breakfast in our rooms as we didn’t fancy paying £13.95 at the hotel (!) and then we made our way through the Monday morning rush hour traffic into Nottingham arriving at the Centre at 8.30am. One were the first ones in the gym to warm up for 25 minutes before hitting for 30 minutes on court in preparation for both matches which were first on at 10am. The girls then completed their pre-match sheets and we spoke briefly about goals they wanted to achieve as well as how they were going to compete today before they went on.

Both matches were on at the same time and it helped that the matches were next to each other but it was still tough to follow what was going on in every point played. Anouska’s match against Mariella Blackwell started well for the first two games but then she struggled with consistency and very soon found herself going from 1-0 up to 6-1, 2-0 down. She continued to fight hard but struggled to find a consistent way to construct the points and that made life for Mariella quite straightforward taking the match 6-1, 6-1. As I said last week Anouska has been working hard on changes to her game recently and it’s made competing very difficult, she’ll keep at it though and I think by the summer things will be firing again.

As one match was moving at a rapid pace Ellie’s match with Natalie Syme was the complete opposite. Ellie took the first set 6-4 after breaking and holding at 4-4 and looked in control throughout as she kept a good depth and didn’t allow Natalie to move up the court to get a strike in. The second set was a different story as Natalie upped her consistency and managed to neutralise Ellie’s best shot leading to her forcing more and then missing. Natalie took a 4-1 lead before Ellie broke and held to make it 4-3 and at this stage I thought Ellie was right back in the set but two cheap games gave Natalie the set 6-3. The third followed the same pattern as the second with Natalie playing solid and Ellie forcing more and more to try to win the point early resulting in a huge amount of unforced errors. Ellie was 5-2 down when she broke serve but couldn’t serve consistently enough to keep her in the match and after just over 2 and a half hours she lost 4-6, 6-3, 6-3.

As soon as Ellie had showered and changed we headed off site to get some lunch and on return we found out that Anouska had got a Lucky Loser and Ellie was now 2nd reserve for one so things were starting to look up for both of them. While the girls were completing their post match sheets I jumped on court for 45 minutes with Dave Hodgetts for his second session of the day before he signed in ready for tomorrow. After going through the learning points from both of the girls matches we took to the court again at 4.30pm and spent almost an hour and a half doing basket drills to targets to get their matches out of their system and also to work on the specific learning points from their matches. During the session Ellie got called to the referee’s office and was told she’s now in the main draw so it was even more reason to finish the drilling and be prepared for her match tomorrow.

We left site at 6.15pm and drove back to the hotel to shower and change and got back into Nottingham for just after 7pm (great effort from the girls to turn it around that quick!!). Unfortunately we missed meeting up with the Portuguese team but still had a great dinner and then finished the day by picking Frankie up from the train station to make the team complete!

Tomorrow I hand the team over to rookie coach Naomi Cavaday who’ll be looking after them for the rest of the week and I’ll be just focusing on Dave Hodgetts and Kiwi Claudia Williams.

Schedule for tomorrow:

(WC) Sabrina Federici (GBR) vs (4) Claudia Williams (443) (NZL) – 1st round on at 9am

(16) David Hodgetts (565) (GBR) vs (WC) Jack Findel-Hawkins (GBR) (1790) – 3rd round after 9am, N.B. 11am

Nottingham U18 ITF Grade 4 – Week 1, Day 5

Thursday 7th April 2011

It was a big day today for Nicole and Anouska as they were playing for their first ITF points but they had a tough challenge against the number 1 seeds.

We started the day in the gym as normal for a 30 minute warm up and then went on court between 10am and 11.30am to work on specifics from the matches yesterday. The players all identified the areas they struggled with yesterday and we tried to resolve the issues that had come up in both matches. There was a lot of drilling on first volleys, committing to crossing and covering the court as a team rather than two singles players. The players often found it difficult and very challenging but as they started to grow in confidence they bought into the tactics more and more and all of them started to play very sharp doubles.

After the session we had some lunch and went over to court 7 to support Artur who had a tough task of taking on Josh Sapwell. It was the first time I’ve ever seen Josh play but obviously I’d heard a lot about him following his Orange Bowl win last year. I liked the way that Josh played and also liked the confident presence that he showed on the court, he looked a lot older than 15 but as with a lot of British teenage boys his attitude often fluctuated and often didn’t help him. I saw Bernard Tomic at his first two U18 ITFs at 13 years old where he qualified and won the first one in Christchurch and then got a Special Exempt and won the second event in Wellington and while his game might not have been as good as Josh’s today his attitude was much more professional. The first set was very tight today with each player breaking each other 3 times and eventually Artur took the tie-break 7-5. The second set continued at a high level, Artur got on top early taking a 5-1 lead but Josh showed he was prepared to fight breaking Artur when he was serving for the match and commenting “I’m not done yet”. Artur then broke back to take the match 7-6(5), 6-2. I thought it was very interesting how Josh’s response at the end of the first set could have summed up the problems with British tennis while Artur’s response on winning the match could sum up the fighting spirit that is shown across most of Europe (translation was required though and there was something about oranges in there somewhere!!).

Nicole and Anouska took to the court just before 2pm and despite going 2-0 down they were playing good doubles and were implementing the tactics we had been working on for the last 3 days. It wasn’t a surprise then when they held, broke and held again to lead 3-2. Unfortunately the momentum didn’t continue as they lost a couple of sudden death deuce games in a row and it wasn’t until 6-3, 5-0 down when they won their next game. Claudia and Mayya played solid together but Nicole and Anouska’s inexperience showed a little as they made too many unforced errors and didn’t test their opponents enough. They both worked hard though and continued to fight taking the next two games at 5-0 down but went down in the end 6-3, 6-2. It’s been a great week for both of them even though they didn’t pick up any points and hopefully they can take a lot of confidence from their matches into their next week.

After spending a long time working out how all three girls were going to get home we eventually got it sorted and were able to join Artur, Pedro and Bruno for dinner in Zizzi’s. Frankie and Nicole impressed the boys with their dance moves (!!) and Pedro finally worked out the numbers trick with the knives and forks!! Something that has been bugging him since Kenya!

I’m going to stay up tonight to support Artur tomorrow so this is my last Blog of the week but I’ll be back up here on Sunday for Week 2. Apologies for the lack of photo’s this week but my camera has been broken but I’ll make up for it next week!

Nottingham U18 ITF Grade 4 – Week 1, Day 4

Wednesday 6th April 2011

The sun finally came out today in Nottingham and with it came a first main draw win for Nicole and Anouska.

We started the day with a warm up in the gym for 30 minutes followed by a very solid hour and a half’s doubles practise which again took the girls outside their comfort zones but also gave them a clear understanding of what was expected from their matches today. We were indoors in the bubble for the whole session and as the time went on it started to heat up like a Greenhouse! The girls didn’t seem to mind though and they worked very hard for the whole session.

After training we had lunch and then at 1pm Nicole and Anouska’s match was moved to an empty court and they began their first ever U18 ITF main draw match. They started very positively breaking twice to lead 4-0 before their opponents held and then broke Nicole. The girls responded very well by breaking straight back and despite being broken again at 5-2 they broke back to take the set 6-3. They really looked as though they were enjoying the match and were combining well as a team. That’s one of the most important things and why it’s so important to choose a partner that you can actually communicate with. Many players choose doubles partners just on ranking but that’s no use if they can’t understand you and you can’t understand them! In the second set Nicole and Anouska raced to a 3-0 lead which then extended to 4-1 and despite getting broken serving for the match they broke straight back to take the win 6-3, 6-2. Top seeds tomorrow and a shot at their first ITF points.

Frankie and Grace went on just as Nicole and Anouska were finishing their match so it was straight over to court 14 to watch them. They started slowly and were broken twice to go 4-1 down but fought back and looked in complete control at 4-4 but a poor sudden death deuce point and then a poor service game gave the Dutch the first set 6-4. After a rather long toilet break (court 14 is probably the furthest from the centre!) Frankie and Grace started the second set much better breaking at 1-1 and held the break until they served for the set at 5-4. Unfortunately Grace struggled with her serve and the Dutch fought hard to take the next three games and the match 6-4, 7-5. It was a disappointing loss in a match that Frankie and Grace really should have won. I think a massive difference today was that Nicole and Anouska had spent three days training together before they played their match where as Frankie hadn’t been able to train at all with Grace so the understanding wasn’t quite there.

Following the matches we trained for an hour on court working on Anouska’s serve and Nicole’s return getting them ready do battle in the last 16 tomorrow.

Yesterday the girls set themselves a reward of eating at Wagamama’s tonight if they won their first round doubles match so we joined up with the Portuguese team of Artur, his coach Pedro and Bruno and introduced them to the delights of Chicken Katsu Curry (Spicy Pedro?!).

Bruno, Frankie, Nicole, Anouska, Pedro and Artur enjoying their Wagamama's!

Unfortunately the day ended on a low when Manchester United beat Chelsea in the first leg of the Champions League quarter-final but next Tuesday it’s going to be a different story (I hope!!).

Schedule for tomorrow:

(1) Mayya Katsitadze (RUS) & Claudia Williams vs Nicole Daisley (GBR) & Anouska Newman (GBR) – 3rd round, N.B. 12.30pm

Nottingham U18 ITF Grade 4 – Week 1, Day 3

Tuesday 5th April 2011

Tough day at the office today as all three main draw players took tough losses and all felt as though they should have come out on top.

We started the day with pre-match warm ups for the main draw players so I warmed up with Sam from 8.15am until just after 9am and by this time Clint had arrived on site with the girls. While Nicole and Anouska took advantage of the indoor courts I took Frankie outside on Centre Court to get used to the windy conditions. We trained for around 40 mins and then went indoors to work on her serve alongside Clint and Claudia. By 10.30am everyone had gone through their warm ups and it was just a case of waiting for matches to finish. Normally in ITFs there are quite a few first round matches that are over very quickly but today that was not the case and it seemed as though every court was going to three sets. 

Eventually Sam got on and he was followed almost straight away by Frankie. They were on the same block of courts so I could watch and stat Frankie’s match while still keeping an eye on what was happening with Sam. Frankie had a solid start to her match and exchanged early breaks with her opponent but at 4-4 Keolliker stepped up her game to break Frankie and serve for the set. Frankie responded well to break straight back but it was taking a lot out of her to win each point as she was hitting quite straight and not moving her Swiss opponent that wide. Frankie was then broken again and Koelliker held to take the first set 7-5. Once that set was over Koelliker grew in confidence and raced to a 4-1 lead. Frankie then reduced her unforced errors and increased her winners to take the next 3 games in a row (7 winners and only 4 unforced in the three games!). Unfortunately Frankie’s consistency decreased and Koelliker upped her game again to take the next two games and the match 7-5, 6-4.

While this was going on Sam was in a right battle with Tommy Bennett. From a distance it looked like a great game with both players giving it their all and fighting very hard throughout. Sam struggled with his serve today and despite hitting better than he had in practise he still found it hard to finish off his opponent once he had built the point well. Sam lost the first set 6-2, responded very professionally to take the second 6-1 but was broken at 4-5 in the third to eventually go down 6-2, 1-6, 6-4.

Claudia was last up and found it very difficult to impose her game on her opponent who always made her play one extra ball and made life very difficult. Claudia worked hard and maintained her professionalism throughout but went down 7-5, 6-4.

Three difficult matches today where each player had their chances but failed to capitalise and in not doing so they allowed their opponents to either work their way into the match or increase their belief that they could win. 

To end the day I teamed up with Frankie and we drilled against Nicole and Anouska to get them ready for their doubles first round match tomorrow. We worked for around an hour on setting up plays, making sure they worked as a team and making sure they had an understanding of what they needed to do when applying their serve and return tactics. It was a great session and all three girls were very positive so let’s hope for some Ws on the board tomorrow.

We’ve now moved hotels and are right in the middle of Nottingham which was ideal for a great dinner tonight at ASK!

Schedule for tomorrow:

(6) Filip Karlsson (SWE) & Sam Matheson (NZL) vs Harry Burley (GBR) & Ravi Patel (GBR) – 3rd round, N.B. 12pm

Nicole Daisley (GBR) & Anouska Newman (GBR) vs Anna Brogan (GBR) & Alessandra Gisonna (ITA) – 4th round, N.B. 1pm

Inge Hendrikz (NED) & Roos Van Der Zwaan (NED) vs Francesca Faulkes (GBR) & Grace Lymer-Sullivan (GBR)  – 4th round, N.B. 1pm

Nottingham U18 ITF Grade 4 – Week 1, Day 2

Monday 4th April 2011

I drove up from Kent yesterday evening to Nottingham to meet up with the Bromley Academy Team of Anouska Newman and Nicole Daisley. Clint Harris, the director of the Academy, was also with them and I drove straight to the restaurant to have dinner with them and discuss the days play. Unfortunately Anouska and Nicole both lost in the first round of qualifying but Nicole had a tricky three set match in which she played well and Anouska had specific goals to achieve this week which she managed to from the start to the end of the match.

The qualifying draws for both boys and girls was very weak this year and I was very disappointed to see 2 byes in the boys and 9 byes in the girls. So far this year all of the junior international events in Great Britain (U14 TE in Bolton, U16 TE in Roehampton and U18 ITF in Nottingham) have had byes in either the boys or the girls qualifying, or in some cases both. If the standard in this country is to improve we really need to be filling our international draws and I think questions have to be asked to the IHPCs and HPCs why their up and coming players aren’t signing in. There were enough players on the entry list but they’re not making the commitment to play in a Grade 4 ITF when it’s on their doorstep. 

A overcast start to the tournament with rain on the way!

As none of the girls were competing today it was a day of training to get them ready for the doubles and then their events next week. We arrived at a very overcast Nottingham Tennis Centre early this morning and watched some of the last round of qualifying matches before the girls warmed up in the gym and then got on court to train. We were joined this morning by Sam Matheson and Claudia Williams from New Zealand who Clint spoke to yesterday and invited them to train with us today. I think it’s very important to train with lots of different players from around the world whenever you can but some players tend to take the easy option of staying in a comfortable bubble and training solely with their friends. It was great for Anouska and Nicole to train with a player ranked 400 in the world and hopefully it will give them confidence knowing that they can live with and compete with a player of that level. We spent an hour and a half training together in very difficult cold, windy conditions (which the Kiwi’s hated J) before the rain came down.

After lunch, and after we had dried the courts, we were back on court for another couple of hours to work on Anouska and Nicole’s doubles. I would have ended up the overall winner if it hadn’t been for some disgraceful cheating from Anouska and Clint!!

Frankie Faulkes came up today to sign in for the main draw and will train with us for the week so we’re all looking forward to cheering her on in her first round match tomorrow.

Dinner tonight was Anouska’s choice so we went Italian (definitely no objections from me!) and ended up at Prezzo.

Early start tomorrow but I think the rain could cause a few problems, not ideal when there are 64 matches to be played!!

Schedule for tomorrow:

(10) Sam Matheson (NZL) (461) vs Tommy Bennett (GBR) (785) – 2nd round after 9am

 Samantha Koelliker (SUI) (925) vs Francesca Faulkes (GBR) (1777) – 3rd round N.B. 11.30am

(5) Claudia Williams (NZL) (443) vs (q) Athena Chrysanthou (GBR) (UNR) – 4th round N.B. 12.30pm

Nairobi U18 ITF Grade 5, Day 8 – Doubles Final

Saturday February 19th 2011

The second week has come to a close and tomorrow the foursome becomes a threesome as I (Devan) am staying in Kenya! Not going to lie I’m definitely going to miss Farah, Beth and Rob. These past two weeks have been filled with amazing memories. Watching the OC constantly and going gaga over Ryan, singing Hey Soul Sister almost every morning as we walked to the tennis courts, Beth walking into poles after dinner or just plain ol’ bonding time every evening.

 Even though Beth and I lost our final 6-4 6-3 today we both are so pleased with what we have achieved as a team. Especially since this is only our second tournament together! Hopefully this won’t be our last tournament together but just the beginning of an awesome partnership!

Our last night was spent eating dinner with our friends from Portugal and then coming back to the hotel to enjoy some delicious dessert! Hmm, a great way to end the trip! We are all stuffed with smiles on our faces. I’m excited for the third week and I can’t wait to get stuck in but it won’t be the same with out these three. Definitely a memorable two weeks. Can’t wait to see what the next trip holds! Toodle loo itc-tennis website and itc-tennis readers

Heeeey guys, its Farah! I understand Rob told you all about my exciting blister popping experience yesterday… that was fun, almost took Dev out ha-ha! Word of advice, don’t attempt to pop a blister with an earring, not a good idea, it won’t make it better, trust me! Going home tomorrow its going to be weird saying bye to everyone, after so long with everyone, sad times. It’s been a great two weeks, going to miss Beth, Dev and Rob! Not going to lie though, I can’t wait to play on normal indoor courts again, clay is definitely not for me. Can’t really think of anything else to say now so I’m going to hand the laptop over to Beth now, byee! … PS excuse my hair in the pictures, was having a bad hair day, hair is not my priority in the morning!

Hellooo its Beth, a bit emotional writing the final blog of the trip but hey ho its been quite a successful one in some ways and in others its been interesting at times but most of all I feel we have all learned a lot together as a team and individually about ourselves and our games. Me and Devan lost in the doubles final today which was tough for us, we didn’t play our best throughout the match but at times there where some good doubles played by us but just not often enough to take it! My serve wasn’t on today at all so I got broken a few times which wasn’t ideal…Not a bad effort making final though for mine and Dev’s 2nd tournament together!:) All in all it’s been a great two weeks, looking forward to the next event to get my ranking inside the 150 mark by the end of the year!! Going to pack my bag now and get some sleep ready for the flight home tomorrow!!! Until next time… Team Kenya 2011!!!!!! Beth x

Beth and Devan with the President of the Kenyan Lawn Tennis Association

All the winners and runners-up!

Me, Pedro, Artur, Devan, Beth and Farah

Artur

Artur got a bit carried away with the line marker (much to the annoyance of the groundsman!)

Nairobi U18 ITF Grade 5, Day 7 – Doubles Quarter & Semi-Finals

Friday 18th February 2011

It was a great day today with two superb doubles performances as Devan and Beth look to finish the week on a huge high.

It was a standard start to the day today with breakfast at 7am and training from 8.30-9.15am including their pre-match warm up and specific doubles work to make sure the girls were sharp and ready to go from the first point. The doubles is still two sets up to 4 and a match tie-break for the third so you cannot afford to start slow or before you know it you’re a set down.

Before the girls went on we watched our new friend Artur Completo, who’s been destroying the draws last week and this week, take another win in the singles semi-finals and then it was time for us to get stuck in.

Beth had got revenge on Szuppers yesterday and today was Dev’s turn to get one over on Onyancha. The girls didn’t start particularly well with Beth getting broken in the first game on a sudden death deuce but then they went on to win the next 7 in a row to go 4-1, 3-0. The chair judge wasn’t really with it for the whole match and the girls had to remind him that it was the end of the set at 4-1, much to their amusement! At 3-0 in the second Reimchen held but Beth served a great game to take the match 4-1, 4-1. It was a good performance even though the girls looked a little nervous at times but they kept encouraging each other to take the ball on and close the points out.

An hour and a half later they were on Centre Court for the semi-final against 2nd seeds Finch & Shestakova. It was the best performance I’ve seen from the girls as they attacked from the start, dominated the net in every point and both served very well to destroy their opponents 4-1, 4-0.

Devan & Beth played like a strong team throughout

It was a great win that they thoroughly deserved and next up is a tough final against top seeds Mai El Kamash & Julia Grabher; lets see if the girls can get some revenge now for Farah.

After the doubs we tried to relax for a couple of hours but Farah had other ideas!! The blisters on her toes have been getting worse each day and after the tournament doctor tried unsuccessfully to help this morning we took it upon ourselves to try and take away the agony she was in. I won’t go into too many details in case you’re reading this over breakfast but it was like a volcano erupting when Farah managed to burst it with a sterile syringe!! It’s been much better since so hopefully it did the job.

In the evening we met up with Team Bath, Artur and Pedro his coach and had a great meal at the Fairview hotel. We’ve been going there each evening this week as it’s perfect for the players; they can go up to the counter, select their pasta, their meats and vegetables and then watch at the chef cooks it all in front of them. Team Bath flew home tonight and it’s been great having them around for the two weeks. All of the players have been great and it’s so nice to have a group that have supported each other so well throughout the trip.

So . . . doubles final tomorrow . . . bring it on!

Schedule for tomorrow:

(1) Mai El Kamash (EGY) & Julia Grabher (AUT) vs <b>Devan McCluskey (USA) & Beth Askew (GBR)</b> – 2nd on after 9am (N.B. 11.30am)

Nairobi U18 ITF Grade 5, Day 6 – Sinlgles 1/4 Final & Doubles 1st rd

Thursday 17th February 2011

Like last week it was now down to the business end of the week today when the points get greater and the players have no choice but to perform if they want to make Semi-Finals and Finals.

We woke up to a dry morning for once, everyone met for breakfast at 8am and by 9am we were making our way over to the club to warm up. We hit from 9.30am until around 10.15am on what was more like an ice rink than a tennis court! It was very difficult to keep any kind of rally going and Beth managed to end up on the floor a few times!

Beth went on around 11.30am and from the start she struggled to find the form of the last two days. It was a similar match to when she played Devan last week where she was very inconsistent allowing the player to pick up lots of cheap points in every game. Despite the errors she went 4-2 up in the first, her Austrian opponent came back to lead 5-4 but Beth fought hard to hold, break and hold again to take the set 7-5. The second was almost identical to the first; Beth played ok in stages but it was far too inconsistent for a 1/4 Final match. She took a 4-3 lead and then served for the match at 5-4 but played 3 loose games and lost the set 7-5. There was no doubt in my mind that Beth was going to come through the match and win but she had to address the unforced errors as well as the fact she was building up her opponents confidence by feeding her mid-court balls. The third continued the same way as the first two sets; Beth went 4-2 up but couldn’t hold on and lost the next 4 games to go down 5-7, 7-5, 6-4 in over 3hrs. It was a tough one to watch let alone to lose but Beth has performed much better this week and once she gets more matches under her belt she’ll close out these matches even if she’s not performing well.

While Beth was still in the third set Farah went on for doubles and by the time I got there they were at 4-4 and starting a tie-break (short sets due to the rain). They eventually lost the tie-break 7-0 but I found out later they were 3-1 up in the set! With these short sets you have to start quickly and put your opponents away before they get into the match. Once Brigit and Alicia won the first their confidence grew and they took the second 4-2. Farah had been struggling with a big blister on her toe which was causing her a lot of pain but despite losing the match she put in a good performance to end her week.

Beth had an hour and a half to recover from her match and at 4pm she was back on the court with Devan to face the girl she had just lost to and the Italian girl who won the tournament last week. Beth took a couple of games to get into it, which was expected after a tough loss, and Devan did a great job of encouraging her and keeping the team strong. After 4 breaks of serve Beth and Devan held and broke to take the set 4-2. They had relaxed and were playing good doubles and took that into the second set where they won it 5-3. It was a good boost after a tough, long day on court.

The girls ran for 10 minutes at the end of the day and then had a long stretch out before we went out for dinner with the Bath team who are flying home tomorrow.

Schedule for tomorrow:

Devan McCluskey (USA) & Beth Askew (GBR) vs (3) Michelle Onyancha (KEN) & Anastasia Reimchen (GER) – 2nd on after 9am

Winner to play the semi-final later in the day.

Nairobi U18 ITF Grade 5, Day 5 – 2nd Round Singles

Wednesday 16th February 2011

It was another long day today at The Nairobi Sports Club but at least we managed to complete Devan and Beth’s singles matches, the doubles however were not so fortunate.

Following heavy rain, thunder and lightning overnight I got over to the courts at 6.45am this morning to check out the state of the courts – it wasn’t pretty:

Play in 2 hours? No chance!

I then went back to the club to meet the girls for breakfast who weren’t too pleased with having to get up early for nothing! We went back over to the courts and were told there would be no play before midday so we decided to go to the supermarket to get some water. When we got there it was still shut as the manager was stuck in traffic – not the news the girls wanted to hear:

Sitting and waiting - Happy days!

As the sun came out and the courts began to dry we warmed up and went through some specific footwork drills through the ladder for 20 mins. It’s important that the players don’t get bored during rainy days so short periods of activity are great to keep them energised while not wasting too much energy. We didn’t have a chance to practise on the courts before Devan went on but Beth and Devan did hit against the practise wall and then hit some volleys and smashes on the hockey pitch to get themselves warm and ready to play.

Devan went on around 2pm and started a little erratically but managed to take a 3-2 lead before 6th seed Michelle Onyancha broke twice and held twice to take the 1st set 6-3. Devan was quite inconsistent during the 1st set and a change of racket at the start of the 2nd gave her the chance to commit more to her shots. It did the trick and Devan raced to a 4-0 lead before being pegged back to 4-3 but managed to keep her head and take the set 6-4. The 3rd set then followed a similar pattern to the 1st with Devan being too inconsistent and not being able to find the balance between consistency and pace. She did very well to fight back from 4-1 down to 4-3 and had 15-40 on the Kenyan’s serve at 3-4 and 4-5 but couldn’t convert finally going down 6-3, 4-6, 6-4. A very tough loss but hopefully Devan learnt a lot from the match and will use it in her last event next week.

Beth had gone on at the Public Service Club at the start of Devan’s 3rd set so as soon as Devan had finished I had my bag on my back and was off running around the corner to watch her play. When I arrived Beth was 5-1 up on the finalist from last week and was playing very well. She had 6 set points in total and was broken at 5-2 but at no time did she let her head drop and she stuck to her tactics finally taking the set 6-4. The second was just as good as the 1st with Beth playing her strong lefty game taking the Madagascan girl off the court at every opportunity. She again went 5-1 but a little slip in concentration (not helped by the referee who didn’t know what he was doing!) cost her the next 2 games. At 5-3 Beth regained her focus and played 4 great points in that game to take a very deserved and impressive win 6-4, 6-3. Beth’s come on a long way since losing to Devan last week and her confidence is growing everyday.

We got back to the club just before 6pm to find out that the doubles had been cancelled and there were still no practise courts as they were using every one for matches. Beth had a good cool down with Farah around the Hockey pitch, they then all stretched out before we headed back for a quick shower and an early dinner.

Schedule for tomorrow:

(8) Beth Askew (GBR) (872) vs Winner of (4) Dawda (KEN) (662) vs Szupper (AUT) (UNR) – 3rd on after 9am

2 rounds of doubles to follow for Devan & Beth and Farah & Beatrice Lombardo (ITA).

Nairobi U18 ITF Grade 5, Day 4 – 1st Round Singles

Tuesday 15th February 2011

Despite telling the girls that we would have breakfast at 8.15am they were again down early and joined me around 7.45am. I was busy compiling information and factsheets for upcoming trips which was much to their disappointment as they just wanted to use the computer to check their Facebook!

We made our way over to the club at 9.30am and to our surprise court 1 was up and lined and we were told we could hit on it as they wanted to try and start matches a little earlier than scheduled to catch up from yesterday. We jumped on and managed to stay on there until 10.15am, fending off the foreigners and allowing the Bath team to go on when we were done – all the Brits working together, that’s what we like to see!

Farah was 1st up at 10.45am. After yesterday she was 6-3, 2-0 down and we’d had a long chat about the match and what we wanted to try and achieve to get back on track. To her credit she did cut down the unforced errors from yesterday and won the first game once they re-started but she really struggled with her serve and ended up going down 6-3, 6-1. There were lots of positives that came from it and after this week and last week she knows she can compete with top 200-300 players.

As soon as Farah had finished Devan was on so it was straight over to the court to begin our support. During days like these the players have the tough job of managing time, staying out of the sun, watching their court to see when they’re going on be on, eating at the right time and getting everything prepared and the coach has the tough job of going from match to match, preparing and debriefing and making sure the players are doing everything they need to. Luckily the three girls are very professional and it means I can concentrate more on the players on court and less about the ones off the court!

Devan was playing a Belgian girl who is out here as part of a big group from the “6th Sense” Academy and the girls had met before in Luxemburg qualifying where Devan had taken a win. Devan started a little erratically going 2-0 down after two very long games but settled down after that and went from 0-2 to 5-2 by playing some very solid, well constructed points. She was broken at 5-2 but nothing was going to faze Devan today and she regained her focus to take the set 6-3. Two big goals for Devan today were to reduce the number of unforced errors (she set 15 or less in a set as her target) and stay positive throughout. In the first set the unforced errors were a little high but in the second she hit 14 and at the same time hit 9 winners taking the set 6-3. She was very positive throughout and didn’t let either of the two breaks of serve against her bother her in the second set – a very professional performance and a great start to the week. 

Beth was due to be on at the same time as Devan but Court 2 was struggling to dry and eventually at 2.45pm she got moved off site to the Public Service courts which were a 5 minute walk away. The courts there were actually much better and Beth took full advantage. Britt Geukens had made the Semi-Finals last week and it could have been a tricky match but Beth’s been working very hard on her shape and consistency and used it to great effect today taking the girl away from the court before stepping up and hitting the space early. Beth hit 12 winners in the first and 13 unforced errors (I always think a good target is 10-15 winners a set and 10 or less unforced errors) taking the set 6-2. She then kept on top of the girl in the second racing to a 5-1 lead before getting a little edgy and losing a little focus allowing her opponent to get back to 5-4. Beth maintained her professionalism throughout and broke the girl to 15 to take the match 6-2, 6-4. It was a great result and a very good performance from Beth – a lefty on clay, definitely one I’d prefer to avoid!!

We were finished for the day after a long cool down at 6pm and met up with the Bath team for dinner. Farah had a tough match today but hopefully learned a lot, Devan and Beth performed well and have interesting matches in the last 16 tomorrow. Devan plays Farah’s doubles partner from last week while Beth plays the girl that beat Devan last week in the 1/4’s:

Schedule for tomorrow:

(8) Beth Askew (GBR) (872) Vs Hariniony Andriamamanarivo (MAD) (1294) – 2nd on after 9am

Devan McCluskey (USA) (1750) vs (6) Michelle Onyancha (KEN) (772) – 2nd on after 9am  

Doubles to follow unless it rains again!

Nairobi U18 ITF Grade 5, Day 3 – Main Draw Starts

Monday 14th February 2011

HAPPY VALENTINE’S DAY!!

It was a long day today of waiting around after it rained yesterday evening and throughout the night as the courts took all morning to dry out.

Even though we planned to meet for breakfast this morning at 8.30am the girls were down at just before 8am so it gave us time to go through last weeks matches again and make sure they had a clear plan of how they wanted to play today.

Once we got to the courts we realised there wasn’t going to be much play this morning as the courts were still very wet and none of the nets or lines on the courts had been set up. The first change was “not before 11am”, then it was “not before 12pm” and I think some play eventually got going around 1pm. We managed to fight hard for a practise court (as there was only one!) and the girls got in a good match warm up for 30 minutes. All of the girls were looking good and the training over the last three days was starting to show.

Devan and Beth’s matches, which were scheduled off-site, got cancelled around 2pm but Farah managed to get on just after 3.30pm. Farah had the top seed but from last week she knew that it doesn’t necessarily mean she’s a great player and was prepared to make her work hard for each point. Farah started well and wasn’t giving her opponent as many cheap points as she did last week but neither of the girls could hold serve. It was only at 3-4 when Farah’s opponent held for the first time and then broke serve to take the set 6-3. There was then a quick rain delay which gave me a chance to chat with Farah and go through important points from the first set, mainly making sure her opponent is earning the points, that Farah is focusing on the first 3 shots of the rally and that she is using her spin on both sides to control the ball more. Farah responded well and despite losing the next 2 games she played a much better and had game points in both games. The rain then came down very hard and the match was suspended at 3-6, 0-2.

Taking cover under an umbrella!

It was a good time for the rain to come down for Farah and we went over the whole match so far to get her set for tomorrow when the fight back will begin!

Schedule for tomorrow:

(1) Mai El Kamash (EGY) (223) vs Farah Abdel-Aziz (GBR) (1750) – 1st on at 11am TO FINISH 6-3, 2-0

(8) Beth Askew (GBR) (872) vs Britt Geukens (BEL) (1750) – 2nd on after 11am

Maryse Chaboteaux (BEL) (1199) vs Devan McCluskey (USA) – 2nd on after 11am

Doubles to follow later in the day unless it rains!

Nairobi U18 ITF Grade 5, Day 2 – Final Prep.

Sunday 13th February 2011

Madness in Nairobi!

Hi guys! Rob decided to leave me (Beth) and Farah to write today’s blog. Last night I decided to sleep in Farah’s bed because she has a mosquito net and the night before they decided to have me for dinner, but even so I still managed to get bitten about 1,000,000 times, great! 

We had breakfast at 7:15am then went down to the courts to warm up 8:40am. Practise went well; Jim put a 50 shilling bet on the 1st person to knock down the ball can so by the end of the drill Devan was 50 shillings richer!! I managed to stack it for a 5th time in the past few days which wasn’t the most enjoyable experience of the day and I was covered in clay (again) but hey ho we all feel that we are in good form and ready for tomorrow.

After the morning session we went over into some lovely shade and did our IP (injury prevention) and bought some yogurts for recovery, which Farah cleverly managed to spill all over her Wimbledon towel! She wasn’t too pleased! (Don’t see why I would be pleased with yogurt on my towel-Farah!) Whilst doing our IP we all needed someone to hold onto our bands, which is when we discovered Rob is a secret multi-tasking man! 1st one we have ever met, look at his skills!

Rob's multi-tasking skills in action!

We had a few hours off to chill, have lunch and watch some more of the OC, we love it! For our afternoon warm up I thought it would be cool if we played a game of cricket with the guys from Team Bath, it was…interesting to say the least and there was a lot of dodgy bowling going on. 

Farah – Afternoon hit wasn’t great for me, Beth, Devan and Brigit seemed to be playing well but I found it tough! Rob took some interesting photos of us playing tennis … I love pulling weird faces! We played a lot of points and by the end of the session we were all playing well!

 

Wingspan of an Albatross!

Tomorrow I am playing a girl from Belgium last match on, Farah is playing a girl from Egypt 3rd mach and Devan is also playing a girl from Belgium last match…we will let you all know how we get on tomorrow but until then goodnight!

Nairobi U18 ITF Grade 5, Day 1 – Training

Saturday 12th February 2011

It was all about preparation today as we put in a great days training to get ready for main draw which starts on Monday.It was an early start this morning as we met for breakfast at 7am and were warming up around the hockey pitch by 7.40am. We had decided to train early so that we could get on two courts from 8-9.30am (before the matches started at 10am) and make the most of a full day to get more used to the altitude as well as the courts. However, when we got to the courts the grounds men were still putting down the chalk lines on the courts so for the first 15 minutes we were moving from court to court! We were joined this morning by Yasmin Ebada who was top seed last week and beat Farah in the second round. It was good to have her on court so the girls could all hit together and I could go around and work with each of them individually. We ended up doing almost 2 hrs and then moved onto centre court to do some leg work including stair sprints, medicine ball lunges and calf raises; 

We finished off the session with some core work and then had good stretch out before walking across the cricket field back to the hotel for lunch and rest.In the afternoon we were on court again and the players dictated exactly what they wanted to do and how long they wanted to do it for. We trained between 3-4.15pm on the match courts followed by a long cool down to let the legs recover from a tough day on the clay.It was an early dinner this evening as the girls needed to catch up on some internet time! Time was mainly spent on Facebook but I think there was a brief email in there somewhere to their parents to let them know they’re still alive!!

Calendar Changes

Due to the Grade 3 V Torneo ITF Junior Benicarlo tournament being moved I will now be travelling to Norway for The Stabekk International Grade 5 ITF the week of the 28th March.

I have travelled to events in Norway in the past and even though it is one of the more expensive countries to go to in Europe the draws do tend to be weaker. It is therefore an ideal event for players looking to achieve their first points or for players coming back from injury who want to get matches under their belts.

The factsheet for the event can be opened by clicking here and if you have any questions please let me know.

Mombasa to Nairobi by Air

Friday 11th February 2011

It was a bit of a hectic start to the day today, I couldn’t book our flights online as it was within 15 hours of travel so I had to get over to the travel agent at 8am to try and book some flights. The flight that I wanted to get in the early afternoon was a little expensive so I decided to go for the 11.10am which meant we’d have to leave the hotel by 9am – I was really hoping the girls were up and packed! Luckily they were and when I got back to the hotel at 8.40am they were having breakfast and all set to go.

Just before we left I wanted to go and find one of the street boys that we’ve been chatting to all week to give him something. We heard from one of the security guards at the club (who had seen him walking with us) that he got rushed to hospital yesterday as he was ill but fortunately he was ok and when we saw him yesterday evening I went into the supermarket and bought him some food and water (I think he wanted the money more but at least he had some good food!). I found him this morning outside the supermarket and gave him Beth’s broken racket. He was so happy and had such a genuine smile on his face. As I walked away I turned and saw him swinging the racket around in front of a friend having a laugh – something that we all take for granted has hopefully made his day. When I got back to the hotel and told the girls Devan raced straight back to them and gave the other boy her tennis shoes and said they were both over the moon with their new presents!

The flight to Nairobi was smooth and the highlight was definitely seeing the peak of Mount Kilimanjaro through the clouds:

The peak of Mount Kilimanjaro through the clouds

We got to The Nairobi Club around 2.30pm and this will be our tournament site as well as our hotel for the next week. It’s an amazing club built in 1901 and has Winston Churchill listed as a “Member’s Guest” in 1905. Unfortunately the courts look as though they haven’t been relayed since 1901 and they are kind of a mix of clay, soil and stones! As we arrived they were laying the lines of the court with the same machine that they paint the lines on the grass at Wimbledon. Some might not see a problem with that but when the clay moves or you slide across the line it gets rubbed out!! Could be some interesting line calls this week.

The Courts at The Nairobi Club

We trained for 1 hour and 45 minutes just to try and get the travelling out of our system and to get used to the courts as well as the altitude. It was eventful and we had a rule at the start of the session that the first one to fall over bought the drinks at dinner . . . that would be Beth then:

Unforced Error!

Devan was moved up into the main draw as the Special Exempts weren’t used so she now plays on Monday but Alicia Barnett, who won the doubles this morning in Mombasa, had to make sign in and now plays in qualies tomorrow.

We ended a tough day by having a great dinner on the veranda of the club cooked in front of us by the Head Chef:

Mombasa U18 ITF Grade 5, Day 8 – Singles 1/4 Final and Doubles Semi-Final

 Thursday 10th February 2011 

Tough day at the office today as the Team took 2 loses and didn’t perform as well as they have been all week. It was a real shame as this is the business end of the week and places in semi’s and finals were up for grabs.   

Matches started at 10am today so we warmed up from 8.40-9am, hit from 9 – 9.30am and then went through Dev’s pre-match talk before she took to the court. Her pre-match hit had been really good but when the match started she really struggled to get into a rhythm and tactically found it hard to move the girl off of the court enough before attacking the space. The Madagascan girl was tough, very solid and worked extremely hard during the rally and didn’t seem to have any interest in sitting in the shade at the change of ends (unlike everyone else in the tournament!!). Both sets were very similar with Devan trying to dictate the points but her opponent neutralised very well causing Devan to push even more resulting in too many errors. Devan continued to fight hard and broke back in the second at 2-4 but was immediately broken again before Andriamamanarivo took the match 6-3, 6-3.

Doubles was up next at 3pm with Beth and Devan taking on Alicia Barnett and Brigit Folland from the Bath International High Performance Centre. Beth and Devan started very well playing sharp aggressive doubles and really took it to their opponents taking the first set 6-2. In the second the Bath girls became more consistent and Beth and Devan had the same problem as the second set yesterday; they could break but just could hold and the unforced errors were starting to mount up. After breaking back at 4-5 to stay in the set they then gave up their serve and Alicia held to take the set 7-5. The match tie-break was again disappointing and a bad service point at 4-5 gave the Bath girls a big boost and they went on to take the set 10-4.

A disappointing day but it’s been a great week overall with all of the girls picking up points in both singles and doubles. Felix has been continually working hard and the time will come very soon when he gets his ranking on the board.

As Devan is still in the qualifying for Nairobi we will be leaving here tomorrow afternoon to take the one hour flight before signing in before 6pm. It’s at altitude next week so the balls could be flying – I’ll let you know how the first session goes on the clay tomorrow evening!

Mombasa U18 ITF Grade 5, Day 7 – Singles and Doubles

Wednesday 9th February 2011

Very tough day today, one of the hottest since we’ve been here and it was the day when everyone decided they were going to go to three sets!

It’s always hard to play a friend, let alone one that you’re currently sharing the same hotel room with but Devan and Beth were both very professional with their approach to the match. They warmed up on the same court as each other but Devan hit with Felix and Beth hit with Farah and by 8.30am they were both ready to do battle. I let the girls prepare by themselves, they filled out their pre-match sheets but because they were playing each other I didn’t go through pre-match talk, it was just down to them!

The match started with Beth playing the more solid tennis but the unforced errors were soon creeping in – unforced errors are ok as long as you are hitting the winners to balance them out but neither girl was. Beth took the first set 6-4 and in total their were 51 unforced errors and only 10 winners from both girls. In the second Devan continued the aggressive tennis she showed in the first set but this time she reduced her unforced errors by a third and that made a massive difference. Beth was trying to be aggressive in response but too many errors came and Devan took the set 6-3.

At this point is was anyone’s match, it was really down to the player who could step up, force the other player to miss or hit winners while controlling their emotions so that they didn’t get over excited and over hit. Devan did this the best and now she was hitting two thirds less unforced errors than she did in the first set while Beth’s errors had climbed considerably. In Dev’s first round match she was a little nervous and showed it but today she kept calm, stayed focussed and put in a very professional performance to close out the match 4-6, 6-3, 6-2.

It was tough after the match as one player was very high while the other was very low so I had to two different hats on in the post match talks but the girls put the match behind them very quickly, had lunch together and starting preparing for the doubles.

The girls both started very well against the top seeds, confidence was very high and they raced to a 5-0 lead. Their opponents then fought back hard and showed why they are tops seeds by taking the next 4 games before Beth and Dev went back to basics, played simple doubles and took the set 6-4. Beth and Devan struggled in the second and the momentum was really shifting to Cuk & Ebada. There were numerous breaks of serve and Devan and Beth just couldn’t break and hold resulting in them losing the second set 6-4. So it was all down to the lottery that is the match tie-break – great for the spectators and players, a nightmare for the coaches! Beth and Devan made 3 unforced errors in the first 3 points and at 4-7 it wasn’t looking good, the girls however did what they did in the first set and just went back to basics – lost of 1st serves, every return made, loads of activity and movement at the net and played proper doubles. They took the next 6 points in a row to take the match 6-4, 4-6, 10-7. For some reason the referee has put Cuk & Ebada through on the draw sheet so that could be interesting tomorrow!

Beth and Devan teaming up after their tough singles

Farah was last up for the day and from the start her and her opponent didn’t really gel as a team. They came through their first round as their opponents were quite weak but this time they were up against a couple of tough young eastern Europeans who weren’t going to give them an inch. Farah tried hard to move and cross at the net to put their opponents under pressure but her partner was very static and it caused the team to be a little flat. Team work, energy and activity are what doubles is all about and this was lacking throughout the match. Even though the score doesn’t suggest it, the second was actually better doubles than the first but Farah and Michelle went down 6-3, 6-0.

While Devan stretched out Farah, Felix and Beth were back on court after until almost 7pm for a good basket drilling session to end a long tough day at the office.

Some notable performances today from the other Brits include Alicia Barnett winning her singles match in over 4 hrs, Scott Clayton going down 7-6 in the third and Isaac Stoute winning 7-6 in the third all in very hot, very tough conditions. Credit to Scott, who was really struggling to stand at the end of his singles, he came back on court later in the day to win his doubles quarter final.

Schedule for tomorrow:

Girls singles Quarter-Final:

Hariniony Andriamananarivo (MAD) vs Devan McCluskey (USA) – 1st on at 10am

Girls doubles Semi-Final:

Beth Askew (GBR) & Devan McCluskey (USA) vs Alicia Barnett (GBR) & Brigit Folland (GBR) – 3rd on after 10am

Mombasa U18 ITF Grade 5, Day 6 – Singles and Doubles

Tuesday 8th February 2011

The crows were flying low over head all day today and they were lucky to escape without getting hit by a couple of flying rackets (not in anger either!!)

We started the day with our standard eggs, bread, banana and random juice drink for breakfast before heading over to the courts to warm up and hit from 8.30 – 9.00am. Within a few minutes of hitting the first racket was flying . . . straight out of Beth’s sweaty hand from the Ad side past Farah, who was hitting with me, onto the next court! All good though and no broken frame. 15 minutes later Beth was warming up her smashes when it went again . . . BOOM! Straight into the floor and this time there was no recovery:

Cracked in 2 places . . . ouch!

Beth managed to complete the warm up without going through anymore frames and it wasn’t long before Farah was on for her singles.

The more experience players get the more they realise that at U18 ITF level the ranking of a player is only really a measure of how good they are once a player is inside the top 50. Outside of that anyone is beatable and today was a great example of that. Farah’s opponent was ranked 299 and Farah was easily capable of taking a win today but a slow start to the match and a poor 3 games in the third really cost her the match. After losing the first set 6-0 she came back with smart consistent tennis to take the second 6-3. She then played well to come back from 3-0 down to 3-2 before she finally lost the match 6-0, 3-6, 6-2. Interestingly the player ranked almost 1400 places higher in the rankings only hit 2 winners in the third set – play the player not the ranking.

Felix was next up and has been struggling with an illness that he’s had for a few days now, so much so that he decided to miss the pre-match warm up to try and conserve all of his energy for the match. He did a good job today, despite feeling bad, he fought hard and played some good tennis but Isaac Stoute (a fellow Kent boy!) played well throughout making sure that Felix was going to have to work very hard for every point. Felix came back in the second and had points to level the set at 4-5 but went down 6-2, 6-4.

In the doubles Beth and Devan used their “get out of jail free card” as they were a set down, 2-1 up when India Sanders had to retire due to difficulty breathing. She had the same issue in her singles match yesterday, it’s unfortunate and I hate to see another Brit having to pull out but Beth and Devan live to fight another battle!  

4th seeds Farah and Michelle cruised through their doubs 6-3, 6-0 but had an interesting moment at 6-3, 5-0 when a parent of another player decided to go up to Farah at the change of ends and try and arrange a practise match with her daughter for tomorrow – some people have no idea!! 

Felix was last on court  for his doubles with Rishi Shah and again despite feeling unwell he was one of the strongest players on the court but went down 6-3, 7-5 – I’ve never seen so many breaks of serve or returns down the line in a boys doubles match in my life (not from Felix I might add!!).

We trained again until 6.30pm and I’ve been very impressed with how much the four players have wanted to do at the end of each day. I love getting the players back on court so they can work on things from their matches when it’s fresh in their minds and these four have always jumped at the chance of more training. Many other players are looking for an early end to the day but it’s the ones that stay out there, work on things and go through their stretching and pre-hab that are going to be the best they can be.

Dinner was great this evening, lots of banter amongst the team after a tough day, Felix showed us some of his moves which Justin Timberlake and Michael Jackson would have been proud of and we all had a little sing song to some classic cheese, well . . . maybe I was on my own there!!

Schedule for tomorrow:

Devan McCluskey (USA) vs (8) Beth Askew (GBR) – 1st on at 9am

(1) Pia Cuk (SLO) & Yasmin Ebada vs Devan McCluskey (USA) & Beth Askew (GBR) – 3rd on after 9am

Kasandra Kozub (POL) & Anastasiya Shestakova (UKR) Vs (4) Farah Abdel-Aziz (GBR) & Michelle Onyancha (KEN) – 3rd on after 9am

Mombasa U18 ITF Grade 5, Day 5 – 1st Round Main Draw

Monday 7th February 2011

Great start to the tournament today with all 4 players taking a win in their opening matches.

Felix was up first and despite going 2-0 down in the first set he fought back very hard to win the next 5 games in a row and then close out the set 6-3. The second set didn’t go as well as the other boy stepped up his game and became a lot more aggressive than in the first hitting 13 winners and only 6 unforced errors to take the set 6-0. To his credit Felix kept fighting and with a strategic change of seating position from me (to directly behind the court beside his opponents coach!) he started to turn the tables. For a 14 year old Felix’s opponent was a strong boy physically but mentally he was weak and when his coach was prevented from coaching him (by me!) he didn’t know what to do. Felix regained his composure of the first set but this time didn’t give his opponent an inch taking the final set 6-0. Next up for him tomorrow is 3rd seed Isaac Stoute.

Farah started her match as Felix was going into his third set and both matches were almost over at the same time as Farah cruised past local wildcard Sonia Radia 6-0, 6-1. These kind of matches early in a tournament aren’t the best thing to have as, even though they are cheap points, it doesn’t prepare you the best for the next round. Farah however made sure that she developed her game during the match and even finished off match point with a serve and volley. Next up for her tomorrow is top seed Yasmin Ebada from Egypt.

Farah in 1st round action today

From Farah’s match it was straight to the practise court to join Devan and Beth warming up for their matches and it wasn’t long before Beth was on and off the court with a 6-1, 6-0 victory over Ivy Nafula Rahedi from Kenya. Again it was one of the matches that you would prefer to be a little tougher but Beth did very well to improve her game throughout taking on every return of serve and finishing the match with 68% of quality 1st serves in (we’re not mentioning the match point are we Miss Askew?!!).

As Felix had gone to 3 sets and the next match had taken a while Devan was made to wait around for her court to become available. It’s always tough to judge meals when you’re scheduled on around lunch time and as Devan was about to get something to eat the Referee decided to move her match to Beth’s court! We had enough time to go through her warm up, do some reaction exercises and then she was on. Devan started a little erratically but soon was in full flow taking the first 9 games in a row against a young Russian who was not going to go away without a fight. After a couple of tight games at the end of the second Devan came through it 6-0, 6-2 to secure her first singles win in an ITF. Devan will now meet Beth in the last 16.

Devan taking on a backhand

Devan finished her match at 3.45pm and as I hadn’t eaten since breakfast at 7am we went to get some lunch. Unfortunately they had closed it all down so it was a Cheese and Tomato sandwich for me and a Salad Roll for Dev, which was actually some salad wrapped in a lettuce leaf!

I then went through the post match analysis with each player before we were back on the practise court until 6.30pm – 11 hours at the club – and tomorrow is going to be much the same but I love it!!

Schedule for tomorrow:

Farah Abdel-Aziz (GBR) vs (1) Yasmin Ebada (EGY) – 2nd on after 9am

Felix Taube (SWE) vs (3) Isaac Stoute (GBR) – 2nd on after 9am

Devan McCluskey (USA) & Beth Askew (GBR) vs Emmanuelle De Beer (NED) & India Sanders (GBR) – 2nd on after 9am

(4) Farah Abdel-Aziz (GBR) & Michelle Onyancha (KEN) vs Ivy Nafula Rahedi (KEN) & Gloria Rotich (KEN) – 5th after 9am

Felix Taube (SWE) & Rishi Shah (GBR) vs Christain Barbera Martinez (ITA) & Isa Mammetgulyyev (TKM) – 5th after 9am

Mombasa U18 ITF Grade 5, Day 4 – Final Preparation

Sunday 6th February 2011

Today was our final day of preparation before main draw starts tomorrow so the players had a lie in until breakfast at 8.45am and we began our warm up at 10.15am. The plan for today was to play right in the middle of the day between 11am and 1pm to experience the midday heat in case anyone got that kind of match time. As it turned out 2 of them did!

We warmed up on the football pitches this morning as all of the tennis courts were busy and there was a match on the cricket field. We went through our standard dynamics and then I sharpened up the players with short sprints and fast feet through the ladder:

Tennis specific footwork through the ladder

We then trained on court from 11am until just after 1pm and today was really about the players making sure they were ready and happy with their levels before tomorrow. Apart from two drills at the start the players owned the session and by doing this it allowed them to work on areas that they feel they needed to. There’s no point in me setting up everything if it’s not helping the players preparation, all the hard work has been done at home and in the first 3 days training so now it’s time to just put the icing on the cake. The players responded really well, the ones that were struggling yesterday played much better and the ones that were confident yesterday just continued to stick to the same goals and they all ended the session when they felt they were ready for the tournament.

While we had lunch we watched the cricket match and then prepared mentally by going through some pre-tournament questionnaires and I explained how our pre and post match analysis sheets would be completed before and after they play tomorrow.

A local cricket match at the Mombasa Sports Club

 We managed to have a break from the club for just over an hour before coming back to sign in and have dinner while we waited for the draw to be done (4 times in the end before they got it right!). Dinner tonight was on the outfield of the cricket pitch while they showed “Transformers” on a projector against the cricket screens at the side of the pitch.

The Oven for my dinner tonight

Dinner under the stars

Draws: 

Felix Taube (SWE) (Unr) Vs Arnaud Koutentakis (BEL) (Unr) – 1st match at 9am

Farah Abdel-Aziz (GBR) (1745) Vs (WC) Sonia Radia (KEN) (Unr) – 2nd match after 9am

(8) Beth Askew (GBR) (872) Vs Ivy Nafula Rahedi (KEN) (Unr) – 4th match after 9am

Devan McCluskey (USA) (1745) Vs Mariya Luss (RUS) (Unr) – 4th match after 9am

Mombasa U18 ITF Grade 5, Day 3 – Training

Saturday 5th February 2011

Another great days training today as the temperature got hotter and the balls couldn’t handle the pressure!

We were up early again for a 7am breakfast which consisted of a banana, a slice of Watermelon, a slice of fresh mango, some scrambled eggs, two slices of toast and some very thin looking corn flakes. The girls were in a better mood too (which is always a bonus) except one of them said they struggled to sleep because the room was now too cold! I did explain that 17 degrees is pretty cold so they might want to turn it up a little.

We met Felix at the courts at 8.30am, went through some tough skipping followed by going through our dynamic stretching and finished the warm up off with 10 sets of sprints. Just before hitting we used a wall by the side of the court to really sharpen up the players reactions and then got stuck into the session. We trained for just over two hours with a few “friends” looking on;

Apparently not as scary as the one in the girls bathroom!

After the session we went through some band work, cooled down and had a thorough assisted stretching session for 20 minutes.

After lunch we were back on again and even though the wind has been picking up in the afternoon so has the temperature. The concrete courts haven’t been helping either but we’re here early to acclimatise and get used to the surroundings and all four players have been working hard to make sure they’ll be ready for Monday.

Warming up for the afternoon session with Team Bath

We teamed up again with Jim, Craig and the Bath players for points in the afternoon but due to there not being a qualifying event in either boys or girls (due to lack of numbers) there were a shortage of practise balls. Jim decided to buy some from a local sports store and despite them being pressurised in a standard “Wilson US Open” tin the balls just didn’t seem right:

Look ok so far!

They looked more like the kind of balls you get down at the beach rather than official Wilson balls and after literally 20 minutes this happened:

Was it the balls or Beth's huge forehand?!

The temperature really picked up and made training very tough but we stayed on the court for over two hours and everyone was happy (in the end!) with the quality of their hitting. We stretched out again and left the club at 5pm to get ready for a well earned dinner.

The day ended by watching Man U lose 2-1 to Wolves – Jim’s not going to be happy tomorrow and hopefully Chelsea can close the gap with Torres getting a couple against Liverpool.

If anyone has any questions about the trip or playing ITFs please drop me an email via the “contact me” page and I’ll get straight back to you or add the information into the blog.

Mombasa U18 ITF Grade 5, Day 2 – Training

Friday 4th February 2011

At a nice early 7am breakfast this morning I was greeted by 3 very tired and unhappy players! According to them the air conditioning in the room wasn’t working so the room was roasting all night and they hardly got any sleep. On checking the air conditioning it was working fine, the girls just forgot to put their key in the switch which operates the air con and just thought it would work on its own!

We got to the club at 8.30am and met Felix Taube who is the 4th member of our team for the week. Felix had already been in Mombasa since Wednesday but was unwell and unable to train yesterday so today was his first session on the courts. It took him a while to get used to them and even though the girls struggled yesterday with tiredness and travel the session we had meant that today was much better. We warmed up for 20 minutes and did some ladder and medicine ball work for another 20 mins which really got the players sharp and ready for the tennis session. We then trained for an hour and a half, again getting used to the courts, drilling 100’s of balls and getting used to the heat.

It’s was very hot this morning and the players went through almost 3 litres of water each. It was also so hot that the plastic Wilson ball cans were too hot to hold to put the balls in at the end of the session! We finished the morning with some core work and a run around the cricket field before stretching out and getting some lunch back at the hotel.

At lunch the girls had a chance to catch up with some sleep in a cold air conditioned room and I had a chance to go and buy a modem to connect to the internet as there is no WiFi at the club or the hotel (and I really struggle to go more than a day or two without internet!!).

The sun was out in full force this afternoon so everyone was pilling on the sunscreen, especially Beth who went a bit over the top with my Zinc Oxide:

We joined up with Jim Edgar and the Team Bath players for the afternoon session and we managed to get a great afternoon’s point play banked which made the players more aware of areas they need to focus on to get ready for their matches on Monday. Drilling is always very beneficial but it’s points where things are really highlighted so drilling in the morning followed by points in the afternoon is a great combination.

It’s great to have another British team out here and especially Bath. Barry Scollo is doing a great job down there and with Dave Sammel and Jim Edgar on board it’s one of the most experienced teams in the country.

ITC Team of Me, Farah, Beth, Devan and Felix with Jim and Team Bath

We finished the day with a cool down and a long stretch out on the cricket pitch whilst we watched Jim try and bowl the Kenyan players out in the nets! We then all met up in the evening for dinner and some good old banter!

Aims for tomorrow:

  • apply more sunscreen especially to shoulders and back of knees (girls!)
  • get through another 6/7 litres of water
  • survive the first tournament lunch and dinner buffet!

Mombasa U18 ITF Grade 5, Day 1 – Travel

Wednesday 2nd – Thursday 3rd February 2011

After meeting up with Beth Askew, Devan McCluskey and Farah Abdel-Aziz at 7pm at Heathrow airport we checked in and made our way through security without any hitches. Check In – Clear – Beth’s been a bit worried as she was told that U16’s don’t need a Visa for Kenya but everyone else had one so she was on edge the whole way! After a quick bite to eat we boarded our Virgin Flight to Nairobi. It’s always a nice to travel with one of the bigger airlines and even though Virgin’s not the best airline in the world it’s in my top 5 and it is British!

The flight was ok except we ended up getting dinner at around 10.30pm and then all the lights came back on at 4am as it was 7am local time and they wanted to feed us breakfast. We all managed a bit of sleep and I got to watch “127 hours” which I thought was pretty good, bit graphic in the middle when he’s chopping his arm off but all good!

We landed in Nairobi at 8.40am, luckily we all got through security and Beth did make it without having to pay despite having to wait twice as long in a separate queue! We got the bags and checked in for our internal flight to Mombasa. I was really looking forward to seeing Kenya from the air and despite not seeing any wildlife the views were pretty amazing (once the cloud had cleared!)

Kenya from the window of our Nairobi - Mombasa flight

We were met by Joe, a tennis coach from Nairobi whose car was covered in Arsenal flags, posters and cushions, and he took us on a direct but frantic drive across town to our Hotel. After checking in and sorting out the rooms we walked the short 5 minute walk to the club.The club was much nicer than expected with a huge cricket pitch and nice clubhouse, the courts however were pretty rough! They are very old, very slow and bouncy and are made in blocks so as they’ve got older the blocks have moved and now there are big cracks on almost every line – at least you know if it’s on the line! We trained for an hour and a half to try and get a bit of a feel for the courts, to get used to the 30+ degree heat and to try and get the long journey out of our system. The first session at a new venue is never going to be great and the girls did a good job of accepting their tiredness and working hard for the whole session even though it was still very hot and humid. It was then a good stretch out, a walk back to the hotel, dinner and an early night for a good nights sleep – well, for some of us anyway . . .

Teen Tennis U14 Tennis Europe Grade 1 Qualifying, Friday 14th January 2011

Following a training session yesterday morning the ITC team of myself, Mia Smith, Milo Bargeron and Lucas Percy left Kent for the long journey to Bolton to sign in for Teen Tennis. Mia was already in the draw but when we left Milo was 13th alternate and Lucas, who hadn’t entered, was going to be bottom of the list. It’s always worth turning up to these events to sign in even if you’re a long way down the alternate list as there are always loads of players who don’t bother turning up. I’ve been to events abroad in the past where players have been over 40 places out on the alternate list and then easily got in once the sign in deadline had past – Mia actually started as 60th alternate for this event and then moved into the draw a couple of days ago!

I was surprised that there were no courts available for practise yesterday afternoon / evening but we managed to get a good session in this morning from 8am – 9am. It’s amazing to look around and see that some players have not been taught the importance of the pre-match warm up and seem to just view it as a chance to hit a few balls before they play their match. It’s a vital part of the match and something that should be practised just like technical, tactical and mental goals. Probably 50% of the on court pre-match hitting this morning was poorly structured or of poor quality and unfortunately most of those were from the British players. I sat my players down this morning at breakfast and talked them through how we would go about the pre-match warm up and it ran quite smoothly but as we sat down on the court to have a chat about how it had all gone I noticed an American girl hitting on court we were just on. I got the players to watch her for 10 minutes and comment on how well she was going about her business – it was very impressive. Not a word was spoken by her coach (who was hitting with her) in the time we watched, she was very active, very focused and didn’t miss a single ball for almost 9 minutes. Players can learn a lot from watching each other train as well as compete and this definitely had an impact on the players I was with. Maybe check out how well she does this week . . . her name was Nicole Frenkel.

Unfortunately Lucas was 2nd alternate after the draw was made so he didn’t get in but it was worth giving it a go, if he had entered he would have got in! In the girls there were actually 3 byes and I think someone should question the HPC’s as to why they haven’t all sent up their U12 girls to sign in – this is a grade 1 event, the highest in Tennis Europe, players like Henin and Murray have won this, it’s right on our doorstep and yet last year there were 4 byes in the girls and this year there were 3!

Milo was 2nd on this morning, this was his first U14 Tennis Europe event and he came up against a much taller, much stronger and much more experienced player in 5th seed Jonatan Lundstedt from Sweden. Milo wanted to be aggressive and try and take his game to his opponent but struggled to deal with the Swede’s pace of shot going down 6-0, 6-1. It was hopefully a great learning experience for him and he’ll be able to work on the areas of his game that he struggled with today in his matches this weekend.

Mia was scheduled 4th on court 6 but due to some very quick matches her court was changed and she managed to get on just before 2.30pm. It’s always difficult for the referee if there are lots of rounds of matches and one court goes a lot quicker than others but Tom Kinloch and Pete Grimsdale were very organised and let us know about the court change early enough so we could prepare in time. Unfortunately Mia struggled with consistency today and her opponent, 13th seed Apolline Rassat, took full advantage and took the match 6-2, 6-0. The games were closer than the scoreline suggests and Mia competed with the French girl in every game but I think a lack of matches at this level was the difference today.

Even though both players lost today and Lucas didn’t even get into the event they all have learnt a lot about themselves and a lot about the areas in their games that need to develop to be able to compete at an international level. Champions aren’t made at U14 or even U18 level but these events will provide the experience that players need to develop and show them what they need to do to move onto the next level.

Teen Tennis, U14 Tennis Europe Grade 1

I will be travelling to TeenTennis on Thursday 13th January with Mia Smith, Milo Bargeron and Lucas Percy.

Please check out the Blog page from Friday 14th January to read the daily blogs from Bolton.

U16 National Tour Qualifying, 27th December 2010

It’s been a rather disappointing day at The Bolton Arena today as the standard of tennis was not what I expected. I was last here for an U16 Winter Grand Prix event 4/5 years ago and the standard then was much higher than what I witnessed today. 

I know it’s a difficult time of year being just after Christmas but I was amazed by the poor entry and the amount of withdrawals for an LTA Grade 2 event (only Nationals is a higher grade). One of the boys that I spoke to was 17th alternate 5 days before the event and was comfortably in the draw – out of a possible 24 players in the qualifying the boys had 22 and the girls had 18. I often hear a lot of parents complaining that their son / daughter does not have a high enough rating to get into the “bigger” events – it’s definitely not the case in this event.   

In the boys event there were 19 matches with players rated between 6.1 and 7.1. Only 3 of these matches went to 3 sets and 12 out of the 19 (63%) were won without dropping more than 5 games. I would have thought that for this level of event the standard ought to be much better or at least a little more competitive.  

The girl’s event was even more disappointing, they only managed to fill 6 out of a possible 8 boxes meaning that there were only 18 out of a possible 24 players. The ratings ranged from 6.2 – 8.1, 11 out of the 18 matches (61%) were won without dropping more than 5 games and not a single match went to 3 sets. 

During the day I was getting Twitter updates reporting that it’s only the second time since the ATP rankings began in 1973 that Britain will end the year with only 1 man in the top 200. We’ve had some fantastic results on the junior circuit recently, notably George Morgan and Josh Sapwell who won their respective age groups at the Orange Bowl, but surely to be successful at a senior level we need to increase the numbers competing and to do that events like this should be full. This isn’t the LTA’s fault either, the event is scheduled, maybe it’s not at the best time of the year and the weather isn’t helping, but it’s on and it should be full. We shouldn’t have to reward the better players to get them to play in these events, if there are 24 players in the qualies and 32 in the main draw we should at least have the top 60-65 U16 players competing – the last entry in the boys has an U16 ranking of 180 and the last entry in the girls is ranked 984! 

One thing that stood out more than the standard was how quiet it was on the balcony today. None of the parents or coaches seemed to be encouraging their players and no-one seemed brave enough to be the first to do it! Again, I know it’s cold and it’s 2 days after Christmas but if the players are struggling then the coaches and parents can play a small (or in other countries a huge) part in their performance. 

Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day and the main draw will be of a U16 “national” level.

U16 National Tour event, Bolton

I will be in Bolton on the 27th and 28th December if any parents or coaches want to meet with me to talk about any of the upcoming events.

Hope to see you there.

MERRY CHRISTMAS

International Travelling Coach launch

Sunday 21st November 2010

Today is the launch of International Travelling Coach. 

The first tournament trip is to two grade 4 U18 ITF events in Sweden in January 2011. The closing date for the first tournament is Tuesday 7th December 2010 and all the details for both events can be found on the trip factsheet. Click here for more details.

Please have a look around the website and if you have any questions please contact me either via the “contact me” page or by emailing Rob@itc-tennis.com.

Wrexham U14 TE, Sunday 12th December 2010

It was an early start this morning leaving at 5.15am for the 225 mile journey to Wrexham. The roads were clear as you’d expect on a Sunday morning and the journey was going well until I hit Wales and the fog came down and reduced visibility to about 10 metres!

I finally got to the tennis centre in Wrexham around 9am and was pleasantly surprised to see that the indoor centre had been extended last October so now they have 7 indoor hard courts and two indoor mini tennis courts to go with the 11 outdoor hard courts. It’s a great centre; I just wish it was closer to Kent!!

I spent the next 5 or 6 hours watching the matches and talking with the other coaches and parents explaining my plans to try to make travelling to these type of events more affordable and therefore more accessible to more players. A lot of coaches and academies have said that they would like me to add U16 & U14 Tennis Europe events to my calendar so I’m going to look into that for later next year.

There were some great performances today from the British players and the attitudes of all the players that I watched were much better than I’ve seen in the past at these events. Harry Simpson was only a few points away from taking out Denys Gevel, the top seed in qualies, after he took the 1st set 7-5 and lead 5-2 in the second before the Ukrainian tightened up his play and took the next 9 games in a row to lead 4-0 in the third. To Harry’s credit he remained professional even though his play at the start of the 3rd set was quite erratic. His head never dropped and he continued to flight hard taking the next 3 games to get the set back on serve. Unfortunately the top seed upped his game coming out with some massive passing shots when under pressure and took the next 3 games to take the match. Harry remained professional in defeat and I’m sure we’ll be seeing more of him in the future.

Another notable match was 11 year old Anastasia Mikheeva who took out no.1 seed in qualies Helena Kuppig. Anastasia was very focused from the start and her intensity and desire made her a very tough competitor today – I look forward to her match tomorrow against fellow qualifier Anais Gabriel.

There were also notable wins for Nicholas Nugent who beat the no.6 seed, Joe Woolley who beat the no.7 seed, Olivia Tomkins who beat the no.3 seed and Bethan Taylor who destroyed the no.8 seed 6-0, 6-2. All in all 10 British players qualified; let’s hope the extra matches in qualies will help them to gain Tennis Europe points in the main draw tomorrow.

It was great to catch up with some of the coaches that I haven’t seen in a while, John Hicks is still going strong for Win Tennis – any time you get a chance to chat to John take it, he’s so passionate and positive and he’s been there and done it at all levels. Dan Sanders (who runs the academy at Wrexham and is individual coach to Lisa Whybourn) is always welcoming and we have some great debates over British Tennis! It was also good to catch up with Mark Winship who explained how MY Tennis has taken over from the former Tennis Midlands setup at Loughborough – great to hear that things are back on track there.

There were quite a few coaches from various academies in Great Britain there today but I was still surprised at the number of British players that were there without a coach. It’s events like these where coaches need to see their players compete and if  the parents can’t afford to pay the coach then the coach really needs to be doing it for free. Yes it’s a Sunday and it’s out of the way in Wrexham but this is an international event and coaches working with this level of player need to see the standard and be there to see how the players react under pressure. Hopefully they’ll be more there for the main draw tomorrow.

Wrexham U14 TE, Monday 13th December 2010

Another good day at the North Wales Regional Tennis Centre today. I didn’t get to see a lot of the matches as I was meeting with various coaches to discuss the international events for 2011 but the matches I did see were of a high standard. 

Qualifier Rebecca Smaller played a solid match today taking out no.2 seed Pippa Carr 7-6(5), 6-1. I watched Rebecca in the last round of qualies yesterday and today, she’s a clever lefty who uses her heavy forehand well to push her opponent back and then takes on her backhand when she gets the chance. In both matches she’s competed hard and showed a good attitude throughout. 

Other notable wins in the U14 girls include 11 year old Anastasia Mikheeva beating fellow qualifier Anais Gabriel from Switzerland to gain her first Tennis Europe points and Wild Card Eden Richardson taking out the 4th seed and fellow Brit Patricia Valimaa. 

In the boys Sam Rice had a great win taking out the top seed in 3 sets. The first two sets were tight and Sam had to fight hard to stay in the match in the second set but once it got to the third he looked much more confident and ran away with it 6-1. Qualifier Nicholas Nugent won a tight match 6-4, 7-6(6) against a German boy ranked over 500 places higher and there were also wins for British qualifiers William Archer and Ben Stride who both achieved their first Tennis Europe points today. 

It’s good to see the British players doing well today. This is the stage where all players have to start showing the types of game styles that are going to make them into professional players. They have to be physical and have to impose their game on their opponents. Many players win at U14 / U16 Tennis Europe level and even at U18 ITF level by having solid games without any weapons but these players rarely have an impact in the senior game. I’ve seen players lose yesterday and today that will be at a higher level in 3/4 years time than the players who have beaten them purely because they seem focused on developing their games and are not afraid to take risks. 

Winning at this level is important but I would much rather have a player who develops as they progress rather than be successful as a juniors and then fade away in the seniors because they’re still playing like a 15/16 year old – we’ve all seen many of them in the past. When was the last player to win under 12 Nationals and then go on to win U18’s? Let me know if you find one because I’ve not been able to. Who was the boy that beat Oli Golding in the final of U14 Nationals? I was there and I can’t remember but I know he’s nowhere now!

I always ask the players I work with “How much did you improve today?”. If they win the match but respond with a 2/10 then I’m never as happy as if a player lost the match but scored their improvement at a 7/10. There’s a time for winning but there’s also a huge amount of time as a junior player that has to be spent developing.

It’s been a great couple of days, it was just a shame to get caught up on the M25 (after 4 hours in the car) at 7pm tonight! 

The factsheet for both Kenya U18 ITF Grade 5’s should be available from Tomorrow (Tuesday) and if you have any questions please let me know.

 

ABOUT I.t.c.

Since 2010 my aim has been to make it more affordable to travel to international tournaments with a coach. Over the past 20 years I have coached players at over 250 international tournaments ranging from U12 Tennis Europe events to a semi-finalist at a Grand Slam.

 

For more information please click here.

contact

Rob Smith

Tel: +44 (0) 7866 362251

Email: rob@itc-tennis.com

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