Wednesday 5th March 2014
Despite winning one round of doubles and then losing in the ¼ Finals, it was a good day and Ben produced some of his best tennis since we arrived.
We were up early this morning to try to get a good practice session in before the forecasted rain came down and our timing could not have been much better! We warmed up just after 8.30am and then from 9-10.30am Ben had a really good training session with Dylan Foo-Kune. Ben found a much more relaxed swing from the back of the court and by doing so he increased his racket speed which resulted in him being able to control the more aggressive shots much better. Ben’s serve was also much more consistent which is just what we wanted before his 1st round doubles match.
Just as the boys were finishing the session the rain started . . . and it just kept getting heavier and heavier!
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At 11am we decided to have an early lunch and then head back to the hotel rather than just sit at the club watching the rain come down! It also gave Ben a chance to complete some school work rather than having to do it in the evening when he’s got less time and is probably more tired!
At 3pm we headed back to the club to watch some of the singles matches including Katie, Maia and Anastasia’s ¼ finals. Maia and Anastasia had tight 3 set loses but Katie played very well and blew the number 3 seed away with a 6-1, 6-1 win.
Once Ben’s doubles partner had finished his singles match he had a short break to get some food before both boys got on court to warm up for their doubles match. Once again Ben was hitting well and we felt very positive going into the match against the 4th seeds.
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At 6pm Ben and David Volfson from Canada went on court to face Courtney Lock from Zimbabwe and David Pichler from Austria. The first and the second set went by very quickly even though they were short sets up to 4. Ben served really well in the first set and after breaking serve at 2-1*, Ben served the set out to take it 4-1. However, in the second set the energy that Ben and David had in the first set dropped a little while their opponents were really fired up which lead to Courtney and David taking the set 4-1.
It wasn’t looking good at 0-2 down in the match tie-break but an unbelievable pass down the line from David following Courtney’s 1st serve really turned things around. From that point Ben and David won the next 5 points in a row to take a 6-2 lead and eventually they closed the set out 10-6. It was a good match to watch and I was really pleased that Ben put in a good performance against a good doubles team.
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30 minutes later the boys were back on court for their ¼ final match against Ben Fatael from Israel and Jd Malan from South Africa. The first set was a little flat from both teams but it was Ben and Jd that managed to hold serve first after 5 breaks in a row to take the set 4-2. Ben and David then raised their levels both on return of serve and also when moving and finishing at the net which resulted in them taking the second set 4-1 . . . on to another match tie-break!
During the 2nd set Ben hit a big first serve at 1-1 and suddenly is right arm tightened up. He initially thought that he had been stung by an insect and as the set went on it got tighter and tighter. During the match tie-break Ben struggled with both his serve and his smash but despite taking a 7-5 lead the boys then lost 5 points in a row to go down 4-2, 1-4, 10-7. It was a tough loss and I thought Ben and David played the better tennis but, like always in tennis, it’s not over until the last point and Ben and Jd kept fighting until the end.
Straight after Ben finished the match he headed over to see the physio who said that he was very tight through his shoulders and forearm which was probably due to trying to hit more spin on the ball to control it at this altitude. After about 20 minutes of treatment we walked over to the restaurant to get some dinner at just after 9pm.
It was a long day today but both Ben and I were pleased with the level of tennis he produced in training and in his two matches. Hopefully his arm will be ok in the morning so that we can build on the good work he has been doing and get him fully prepared for his next match on Monday.
