Nairobi U18 ITF Grade 5, Finals Day!

Friday 8^th 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.

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 1^st 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).

As had been the case all week the 2^nd 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 2^nd 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 2^nd 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.

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 3^rd 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.

For only the 2^nd 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!!

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!