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 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!!