Monday 10th March 2014
It was a very good day today as Ben won his first round singles and is currently a set and 4-1 up in the doubles when rain stopped play.
We had our earliest start of the trip this morning when Ben and I met for breakfast at 6.15am. Due to the early start we had to have breakfast at the hotel rather than at the restaurant as breakfast only started there at 7am and that wouldn’t have given us enough time to warm up. The hotel breakfast was still good and it meant that by 7am we were at the club warming up for our 7.30am practice session.
We only had a short training session on court as we didn’t want to aggravate Ben’s arm before he played his match. We still went through everything that Ben needed to and included some specific work on Ben’s groundstrokes. The only thing we really cut short was the amount of serving and returning we did as that was the area that caused Ben the most discomfort.
After talking through Ben’s goals and tactics for the match, he went on court at just after 8.30am to play lucky loser Hubert Badenhorst from South Africa. Ben’s tall opponent looked a little dangerous in the warm up but after the first 3 games went with serve, Ben got a break and then took control of the set. Ben was hitting well from the back of the court and anytime that Hubert came into the net Ben passed him with excellent accuracy. The only bad game that Ben played in the set was when he served for the match at *5-1 but he responded professionally and broke straight back to take the set 6-2.
The second set was a little closer but I always felt that Ben was in full control of the match. At *1-1 a few too many unforced errors cost Ben his serve again but he again responded well and took the next 4 games in a row to lead 5-2*. The games up until that stage had been quite close so it was no surprise when Hubert held serve and then went break point up on Ben’s serve in the next game. Having worked on Ben taking his time between points and ‘re-setting’ after unforced errors over the past week, I was really pleased to see him do that in a match and I think that helped him to save the break points and close out the match 6-2, 6-3.
Having only had 1 singles match last week it was good to get through the first round this week and I’m sure as the tournament progresses Ben’s performances will get better and better.
Following his singles match I did want to get Ben straight on the practice court to work on a few specific areas but his arm was a little sore so we thought it was best to see the physio instead. We then watched the majority of his next round opponent’s match which saw Isa Mammetgulyyev come through a very close match with 7th seed Xander Veys from Belgium. We trained with Isa yesterday and the boys had a very close practice set so we’re feeling confident going into the match tomorrow.
After a good lunch of chicken wraps and salad, we went back to the tennis centre to get ready for Ben and David’s first round doubles match. Ben saw the physio again to get his arm warmed up and strapped and then we hit for about 10 minutes just to test it out – Ben was actually hitting a great ball and he said his arm felt much better.
Boy’s Doubles Draw
At 1.30pm Ben and David went on to face Hubert Badenhorst (again!) and Michael Copeland from South Africa. Ben and David started unbelievably well and won the first 14 points in a row with some very good returning and very sharp volleying. They were in full control at *5-1 up but all of a sudden Ben was broken and then their opponents started to gain a bit of momentum. At 5-4* it looked as though Hubert and Michael were going to level the set but, for a third consecutive time, Ben and David won the sudden death deuce point to take the first set 6-4.
At the start of the second set the rain started to fall lightly but all four players were happy to continue so Ben and David didn’t waste any time in taking a 4-1 lead. They were back to playing like they did in the first five games of the first set but then the rain go a lot heavier and the referee stopped play.
As soon as the rain came down the referee announced that there would be no play before 4.30pm but soon after that the rain continued to get heavier so play was cancelled for the day. Rather than waste the afternoon, Ben and I went straight into the gym; I had a good run on the running machine while Ben did some light weights and then both of us had a long stretch out.
The rain was still pouring down as we waited for the 5pm bus back to the hotel but luckily we managed to get on the first bus back – it’s becoming a bit of a scrum-down to get on the shuttle buses this week but we seem to have our tactics sorted now!
At 6.15pm we headed off to dinner and even though neither of us was looking forward to chicken thighs and drumsticks, it was actually much nicer than last week – especially as we had some roast potatoes with it!
Schedule for tomorrow:
Isa Mammetgulyyev (TKM) (285) vs Ben Stride (GBR) (251) – 1st match at 9am
Ben Stride (GBR) & David Volfson (CAN) vs Hubert Badenhorst (RSA) & Michael Copeland (RSA) – To Finish (6-4, 4-1*), Not Before 1pm
Winner of the Doubles to play either (3) Lloyd Harris (RSA) & Brandon Laubser (RSA) OR Tiago Cacao (POR) & Alessandro Ricci (CZE)
