Stabekk U18 ITF Grade 5, Day 4

Monday 4^th November 2013

It was a good day at the SEB Arena in Stabekk today as, despite a loss to the top seed, Alex produced a good performance and for a large proportion of the match had his opponent very worried.

We started the day with breakfast at 6.30am before getting the 7.19am bus to the tennis centre. When we arrived, Alex and Zeki signed in for doubles and then warmed up from 8-8.30am before we got on court for Alex’s pre-match practice session. Alex has been hitting the ball very well since we arrived on Friday and he continued to find a very good level throughout the warm up this morning.

 

 

As Alex was scheduled for 3^rd on today we had quite a lot of time after he had finished hitting to prepare for his match and also watch some of the other first round matches. Then, at just after 11.30am Alex went on court to face top seed and his doubles partner; Antonio Sabugueiro from Portugal.

Despite a ranking difference of over 400 places Alex started the better of the two players; he was very aggressive from the back of the court and dictated play in almost every rally which resulted in him breaking Antonio in the opening game. Alex was then broken straight back but he immediately raised his level to take a *2-1 *40-15 lead and looked in full control of the match. Unfortunately Alex couldn’t hold onto his serve in that game and despite continuing to play at a very high level he wasn’t able to convert any of the game / break points he had in the following 4 games.

It must have been difficult to be 6-2 down after playing so well but after a toilet break at the end of the set Alex came out fired up and ready to start again. Alex once again took control at the start of the set and, in a similar way to the first set, he led *2-1 *40-0 but he again couldn’t convert when it really mattered. Each game from 2-2* until the end of the match was very close and it was obvious from Antonio’s body language that he was struggling to deal with the level that Alex was producing. The only problem was that Alex once again just could not convert the game break points that he had. Throughout the whole of the 2^nd set Alex had a total of 13 game / break points but could only take 3 of them which resulted in Antonio taking the match 6-2, 6-3 in almost 2 hours.

When we spoke after the match Alex knew that he had put in a very good performance which is always a massive positive but he also knew that if he had been able to capitalise on the amount of opportunities he had then he could have taken the match. It was a great learning experience for Alex who was playing a top seed for the first time and hopefully he can now build on that in the doubles to prepare him for the Liverpool ITF in a couple of weeks.

Despite a lack of practice courts at the club today Zeki managed to get on court from 2.30 – 3.30pm with fellow Brit Lucas Taylor, who did not play today due to being drawn against a qualifier. Both boys worked hard for the whole session and it gave Zeki and I another chance to work on some specific areas of his game that he had been struggling with.

 

While we were on court we found out that unfortunately Zeki and his partner didn’t get into the doubles but there is still a chance if they sign in as Alternates tomorrow.

After the session Alex and Zeki cooled down and stretched out before we got the bus back to the hotel. The plan was for Zeki to do some school work before dinner but I’ve got a feeling that most of the time was spent watching the Inbetweeners movie!!

Lucas joined us for dinner this evening and once again the forfeits continued! I think the boys were actually more nervous tonight than they are when they play matches and I was shocked to see Alex end up losing two games in a row! Last night I had the balsamic vinegar challenge but tonight it was chilli oil and star jumps in front of the chefs for Alex!!

Schedule for tomorrow:

Troy Dixon (GBR) & Peter O’Donovan (GBR) vs (2) Alex Hagon (GBR) & Antonio Sabugueiro (POR) – 3^rd match after 9am