Saturday 24th March 2012
Today marks the start of my first “home” international event – the U16 Tennis Europe event held at the National Tennis Centre in London, England. The NTC is only about 22 miles from where I live but due to the horrendous traffic each day through South London I have to use the country’s busiest motorway; the M25, to get there. That journey on a Sunday morning could take 1 hour but on a Monday morning could take over 3 hours!!
I met Mia Smith at a local train station this morning just before midday and we arrived at the NTC just after 1pm following a smooth journey without any problems. We then warmed up on the outdoor courts for half an hour before training from 2-3pm – Mia’s not been too well this week but has been working hard on and off the court so I was quite happy with a much lighter session today where the main focus was just to get used to the court surface. By 3pm we were both happy with her level so it was then time to sign in, cool down and stretch out and then get some food.
The National Tennis Centre in all it's glory
By 4pm we were all done and so Mia left site with her uncle who lives locally in Barnes to stay there for the evening and for me it was another drive back around the M25 to stay at home.
Mia had a relaxing evening with her uncle and cousins at the cinema which was only interrupted by me texting her through the draw and the schedule for tomorrow so that she could decide when she wanted to practise in the morning.
The Boy’s draw was completely full but the Girl’s draw was once again disappointingly weak with 5 byes in the draw – I have no idea how there can still be byes in the Girl’s draw when there are 6 High Performance Centres and 2 International High Performance Centres all with in 2 hours drive of the National Tennis Centre – questions to be asked maybe???
Even though there were lots of byes in the Girl’s draw the referee decided to schedule all possible matches for tomorrow rather than waiting until Monday for the last round matches.
U16 TE Girl's Qualifying Draw
Schedule for tomorrow:
(2) Mia Smith (GBR) (920) vs (12) Olivia Horn (GBR) (1694) – 4th match after 9.30am (not before 1pm)
