Sunday 8th May 2011
After the disappointment of losing yesterday Devan responded very professionally today and put in a very tough day’s training which marks the start of our preparation for the Delray Beach ITF.
Early start today; breakfast at 7am and we were on the court warming up at 8.10am. This morning we were in a park just opposite the hotel where they had a pretty good acrylic hard court (wouldn’t find them in a park in the UK!) as well as 3 basketball courts. We couldn’t book the court so we just got there early and then stayed on until we were done! It was a great session; we had an extended warm up followed by sprints and then we trained from 8.30am until around 10.15am working on specifics from Devan’s match yesterday. At 10.15am we moved over to the basketball court and Devan took me on in a very intense game of 1 on 1. It lasted over 30 minutes and I just scraped the win so I was happy! It was humid from the start of the session but by this time it was really starting to get hot and we were both absolutely soaked with sweat by the end of the basketball. From there it was straight into the gym back at the hotel and we spent another 30-40 minutes going through some strength and power work before Devan finished off with her pre-hab band exercises. It was a tough morning but very rewarding and I was very pleased with how hard Devan worked.
After a good lunch at Whole Foods we had a few hours off which gave Devan a chance to do some school work and get out of the heat! We then headed over to the Royal Palm Tennis Club to use their clay courts and get in some important point play (due to the tournament we couldn’t train there in the morning). By this time it was around 3.30pm and the heat and humidity were at their highest – it was great to experience that as it might be similar conditions in Delray Beach and you never know when your match will be scheduled. We completed a full pre-match warm-up and then went straight into a set. Devan performed well and even though it was hard for her to find her training level in the set she learnt a lot (without me commenting at all during the set) and mentally she was very good. By the end of the set we both needed a little bit of ice for a couple of twinges (me a lot more than Devan!) but that won’t stop us building on this tomorrow and for the rest of the week.
For dinner tonight we had a bit of a change of scenery and headed 25 minutes down the road to South Beach, Miami. It was very busy there and it was great to be out in such a buzzy atmosphere – the meal in Primetime was also amazing!
Tomorrow we’re on the move again as we’ll pack everything up and head back up the coast to Delray Beach to prepare for next weekend.
