Liverpool U18 ITF Grade 5, Day 2

Monday 18^th 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.

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 . . .

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) – 1^st match at 9am

Jonathan Gray (GBR) & Jack MacFarlane (GBR) vs (4) Alex Hagon (GBR) & Maksymilian Raupuk (POL) – 5^th match after 9am