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 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!!

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.

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)