Tuesday 17th April 2012
It was a straightforward win for number 1 seed Eden Silva today against Mia but it could mark a big turning point in the development of Mia’s game.
Due to the weather forecast being so bad for today and the fact that Mia’s match was scheduled for first on at 9am we decided to leave the hotel at 7.15am and get to the tennis centre early to secure an indoor court to practise on. We were actually the first players at the tennis centre so we had a good warm up in the gym and then went straight on court for Mia’s pre-match training from 8-8.30am. Mia was hitting well and feeling good so all that was left to do was go through our normal pre-match briefing before she went on at 9am.
It was always going to be a tough match against a girl who is two years older and 600 places higher in the rankings but Mia started very well against Eden Silva forcing two break points in Eden’s opening service game. Mia was looking strong throughout that game and Eden was looking a little tentative but as soon as Eden fought off the two break points and held serve to go 1-0 up she started to relax more. By the time Eden had broken Mia in the second game she looked more in control of the match and went on to win the next 7 games in a row to take a 6-0, 3-0 lead. To Mia’s credit she was actually sticking to her goals and making Eden earn the points whilst trying to maintain more controlled aggression in her game.
Having lost the last 9 games in a row it was fair to say that the game plan wasn’t working (!!) so Mia changed what she was doing and started to step up and take the ball on more without going out of control. This was unusual for Mia as she often sticks to what she thinks will work whether it is or not so from a developmental point of view this was a huge improvement for her. The change in plan worked immediately; Mia’s winner count increased while she actually restricted Eden to only 2 winners in the next 5 games compared to her 5 winners in the first 3 games of the second set. Mia broke at 0-4* and then again at 1-5* but really struggled to hold her own serve so ended up going down 6-0, 6-2.
From my point of view it was a really good match from Mia; she didn’t go out and try and beat Eden by trying to hit huge winners from the back of the court, she managed to keep her unforced error count within an acceptable range, she leant from what was working / not working on the court and then changed her tactics and she also played a much better second set than first. Mia was obviously disappointed to lose in the first round but there’s never any shame in losing when you’ve played against a good player and you’ve improved a lot throughout the match.
Due to the rain delays it wasn’t possible to get back on court later in the day so after resting and having some lunch we went into the gym in the afternoon to go through a tough strength session followed by Mia’s band and core programme.
It was then back to the hotel around 4.30pm to relax before going out to dinner at Wagamama’s. Last year I took the Portuguese team there and they had a few issues with how spicy the Chicken Katsu Curry was even though I completely disagreed but this year it was Gaby that struggled with it much to my and Mia’s amusement!!
Girl's U18 ITF Doubles Draw
Schedule for tomorrow:
Mia Smith (GBR) & Sofia Segerfors (SWE) vs Dominique Covington (GBR) & Laura Eales (GBR) – 3rd match after 9am (not before 12pm) WEATHER PERMITTING!!!
