Sri Lanka U18 ITF Grade 5 (week 1), Day 3

Tuesday 6th October 2015

We had the same start to the day as yesterday but a very different outcome which saw Toby not only get on court but also beat the 5th seed from India.

I woke up at 6am this morning to a very wet and overcast Colombo (no change from yesterday then!) and, as there was no way we were going to get on the clay courts, plus the fact that Toby’s not been feeling very well for the last 24 hours, I sent him straight back to bed while I headed to breakfast. I then got a Tuk Tuk over to the club at 7.15am hoping that the referee would be there by 7.30am and give us a decision on what would be happening with the matches. Much to mine and all of the other player’s and coach’s frustrations the referee didn’t actually get on site until 9am when he immediately said the next update would be at 12.30pm.

With that I headed back to the hotel where Toby was still asleep in the apartment so I left him there and hit the gym. As he was still feeling quite rough I let him sleep until about 10.45am but needed to wake him in the end so that he could get some breakfast before it closed. He wasn’t very hungry but managed to get some breadsticks and cereal in him which was much better than nothing!

At 12pm we went back over to the club and were told that the clay was drying well and his match would be first on court at 2pm. Straight after getting that updated we both went through our own 30 minute warm-up routines and then hit the (very soft) practice courts. Despite the fact that the courts didn’t have any lines, the net probably wasn’t the right height and the court was so soft that our serves left big divots in the court, we actually had a very productive 30 minute pre-match hit and even though Toby still felt rough he hit very well.

At 2pm Toby went on court to face 5th seed Christian Cummings with the clear plan to give it everything he had, even if it meant he had to be carried off the court at the end!! And to his credit he did just that …

From the first game to the last Toby worked very hard and maintained a discipline and focus that 12 months ago would have been non-existent. I knew it was going to be a real mental battle for him today as he wasn’t feeling well but we spoke before the match about playing one game at a time and not thinking about if he would have the energy to compete for the whole match.

The first six games went with serve but, like in a lot of tennis matches, one player can often be building momentum despite the scoreline being even. At 3-3* Toby had won all three of his service games without losing a point and had created breakpoints in 2 out of 3 of his returning games. That led to him raising his level just slightly in the seventh game to break his opponent for the first time and then hold serve with the loss of just one point to take a commanding 5-3* lead. The break and hold gave Toby a big confidence boost and he went on to break Christian’s serve to Love to take the set 6-3 after 27 minutes.

We know that none of the players out here are going to just roll over after losing the first set, especially a seed, so it was really important that Toby maintained his hitting level and mental application at the start of the second set. There were a total of 26 points played in the first two games of the set and I was very pleased to see Toby fight off break points and game points to win 15 of the 26 to take a 2-0 lead. He then served very well to hold to love before Christian was able to get a game on the board. At *3-1 with Toby serving I was a little concerned that the heat and humidity was starting to get to him but he fought very hard and played some smart tennis, especially at Break Point down, to hold serve and take a 4-1* lead. Winning that game was even more important as it meant he now had the end with a lot of shade at the back of the court to try and close out the match. Toby took his time and used the shade well between points to take the next two games (with the loss of only one point!) and the match 6-3, 6-1.

Winning that match was a big achievement for Toby as not only did it give him his first ITF singles points, but it was the first time that he had won through to the Last 16 of an ITF and also the first time he had beaten a seed in the Main Draw – all of that on a day when he probably felt less than 50% fit!

After the match we cooled down and had a little stretch at the club before heading back to the hotel to go through a pool recovery session to make sure Toby recovers well for his doubles match tomorrow.

We then ordered room service for dinner and relaxed for the rest of the evening.

Schedule for tomorrow:

Toby Huffer (GBR) & Ondrej Styler (CZE) vs (WC) Avindra Perera (SRI) & Vibudha Wijebandera (SRI) – 5th match after 9am