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!
After the session we headed up to the gym to cool down and stretch out before we left on a journey into the countryside to find our Bed & Breakfast. The hotels in Manchester were all either completely full or were charging £170 a night as there is a massive concert on his evening with an attendance of 75,000 people so we needed to travel a little further a field to get a good deal. We didn’t mind too much and Dave was actually quite happy with the drive to the B&B as we managed to come across an Aston Martin garage in Wilmslow – he came out with some good lines to one of the showroom staff but then choked a little when she asked him what car he currently drives!!
Tonight we’re staying at the Holly Tree Farm B&B which is right in the shadow of the Lovell Telescope – the 3rd largest movable radio telescope in the world.
The rather daunting sight of the 76m wide Lovell Telescope
Due to a lack of internet and a poor 3G signal we eventually found out the draw and the schedule through my wife (thanks Jen!) and then after watching Murray’s strong 4 set with over Marcos Bagdhatis we headed off to bed.
Schedule for tomorrow:
(WC) Dave Hodgetts (GBR) (UNR) vs (WC) Angus McCaul (GBR) (UNR) – 2nd match on after 1.30pm
