South Africa U18 ITF Grade 2 (Week 1), Day 1

Friday 28th February 2014

We had a very long 28 hours of travelling and training but now we have finally settled in to our hotel for the next two weeks in Potchefstroom, South Africa.

After travelling across London during Rush Hour (much to the annoyance of the other underground users who had to squeeze in next to my two big bags!), I eventually got to Heathrow Terminal 3 at 6.45pm and met up with Ben Stride. Ben is based at the WIN Tennis Academy at Bisham Abbey and even though I’ve been to many international tournaments that Ben has competed in, this will be the first time that I will be working with him.

Once we had checked-in, we got some food and not before long it was time to board our flight to Johannesburg. The flight didn’t start well as we were stuck at the gate waiting for someone to move a broken down trolley cart but as soon as we got in the air everything went smoothly. I managed to stay awake to watch ‘Captain Phillips’ and ‘Prisoners’ which were both very good films before settling down to get a few hours sleep.

We arrived in Johannesburg just after 10am but after clearing passport control and collecting our bags we had to wait just over an hour before we could get on our shuttle bus as we had to wait for some of the other players to arrive.

I was actually looking forward to the 2 hour journey from J’burg to Potchefstroom as I wanted to check out some of the local scenery … unfortunately I slept the whole way!

When we arrived at the hotel we checked-in, got showered and changed and then walked to the supermarket next door to stock up on water and supplies. Then at 3.30pm we got a lift with another player to the North-West University where the tournament is being held.

The facility is very nice and I was really pleased to see a couple of big sports fields next to the tennis courts which will hopefully come in handy as I continue my marathon training (I’m sure the altitude will help too!).

At 4pm Ben and I warmed up and then had a really good training session for almost an hour and a half. Playing tennis at altitude is very different to playing at sea-level; for a start the balls are pressureless (Ben was very impressed with the cardboard box they came in!) and they move through the air much faster than normal. Players can also find breathing a little more difficult and can get more tired during training but Ben actually found it quite easy to adjust. He was striking the ball well and after the first 5 minutes of hitting a lot long he found his range both while hitting a heavy ball and also while hitting much flatter. We spent around 45 minutes drilling from the back of the court before moving onto volleys and smashes and finally finished the session with a lot of serving and returning.

We left the court at 5.45pm and straight away saw the familiar faces of Lucie Ahl and the GB girls’ team who had just finished training for the day. It was good to catch up with Lucie, Katie Swan, Georgie Axon, Maia Lumsden and Anastasia Mikheeva in the mini-bus on the way back to the hotel and after a quick shower and change we went out to dinner with the girls.

Being a Grade 2 ITF event, the tournament offer full hospitality for main draw players and even though the tournament hasn’t started yet, we still have all of our meals included in the hotel room rate. Dinner tonight was at ‘Beef Boys’ restaurant and the food was good – hopefully breakfast tomorrow will be better than the girls said today’s was!

It’s been a long 28 hours but it’s good to be settled in and feel comfortable with all of our surroundings … bring on training for the next two days!