Diary for 20^th May 2009

After playing a match on the Wembley courts every second weekend the last time I was in Australia, it felt great playing my first home match for Wembley last weekend. We played the University team who had some good players and whom we have lost to in the past. Last time I played them I played Julian O'donald and lost, this time Julian was playing number 3 in their team, meaning my opponent (their number 1) must be better than him, so I knew it could be another tough match.
We both started well, knowing and respecting each others game I think we both felt we had to get off to a good start (having a chat with the guy after the match, I was right). We held our service games all the way to 5-5 in the first set. There had only been one break point so far in the set which was saved, and at 5-5 I got another one! As I said in my last diary, I've learnt over the last year that on a big point you have to take control and go for it (90% of the time), so I picked a spot away from him where I wanted to hit the return and then looked to attack the next ball. His serve went right into my striking zone and I managed to execute my plan to serve out and win the first set 7-5!
I got off to a great start in the second. I was seeing the ball like a football and broke him twice in a row to go 5-1. I was feeling great on my service games. My serve was normal but my first forehand was really hurting him and winning me most of the points. I then hit a little bump in the road when on match point I broke my string going for a down the line winner. The problem was my second racket had a a broken string as well, and my third racket was in Robs car from coaching that morning (a very un-organised moment for me) and Rob had gone to the shop quickly for lunch, so I had to borrow a friends racket.
Because of my elbow, my rackets are strung and weighted in a very specific way and is far from the average racket. When I hit the first ball with this new racket it felt like someone had handed me a cricket bat :). My first forehand suddenly went to pot and after another match point missed opportunity at 5-3 I was 6-5 down and serving to stay in the second set. To my relief Rob then showed up with my racket, and I swear I've never played so well. I think I lost about 4 more points, holding my serve and won the tie-break 7-3 by hitting aces and winners! :)
The team won in the end of the day, which made it a very happy day for me/us.
I've been really enjoying my training recently. Rob and I have coaching on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday mornings at 7:30, so I like to get up at 6:30 and go for a run along the beach as the sun rises in the morning, and I tell ya, it beats running through the rain along busy roads back in England. So those are my stamina training days, the on Mondays Rob and I do a stair session, which is sprinting up a flight of steps in this park near by, then hopping on one foot up them at the end which is an absolute killer, we struggle to walk back down again because our legs are shaking so bad :).
Tuesdays we do 4 - 1k sprints at the track. Wednesday is a 6k run on the thick part of the beach. After the run I do in the mornings, this is a real killer, but to be honest I sometimes miss out the run in the morning as I dont want to do too much long distance running because tennis is a very short sharp kind of speed. Thursday is court fitness and Friday is a high intensity super set workout in the gym, where you work every muscle with low weight and high reps, and instead of having a break you just go straight into another muscle group. Then weekends are matches and relax :).
This weekend was away at Hensman Park. I was playing a guy who had moved to Perth from Broome while I've been away and I had been told he won a couple of local tournaments and is a top state grade player.
I didn't get off to the best start by loosing my serve after being 40-0 up and missing a shoulder high forehand down the line at 40-30. His serve was really though to break and I ended up loosing the first set 6-4. The second set was allot better and I was starting to get closer on his service games, but when the momentum was starting to swing my way he broke me at 3-3.
I had an opportunity to break back at 4-5 when I was 30-0 up on his serve he hit a good out wide serve that forced me to put up an easy forehand volley for him, I bluffed him by making it look like I was running to cover the open court but suddenly held my ground when he hit the ball right to me (thinking he was being smart and hitting a winner behind me), it was still a hard struck volley at my toes, but I had a clear down the line winner opportunity but I missed it by inches :(. I had a break point later in that game but he hit an ace to save it and then went on to take the match from me 6-4 6-4 :(
It was a good match which only really came down to a couple of points, and if your a tennis player reading this, you would understand that if I had made that forehand, the momentum would have really been with me and I would have been favourite to go on and win. Saying that you never know how your opponent will play in a third set situation, but I feel confident that my fitness gives me an edge when it comes down to that.

Diary for 3^rd May 2009:
Tristan has been very quick with getting me back into coaching and playing for the club again. I haven't even been back for a month and I've already played an away match and now got a few good hours a week of coaching.

This weekend was my first match back in Perth playing for Wembley Downs. It was an away match against East Freemantle, and my opponent was a guy who I've played before whom I have a winning record against. Although the last time we played I only just beat him 7.6 in the third and apparently he has been doing very well in Perth since I've been away by winning the summer pennant league and beating some good players. But, I like to think I've had a pretty good year as well, so I was looking forward to playing him.
I had been fighting off this cold all week, and to be honest I wasn't up for a tough match in the heat, but we didn't have any reserves, and the team would have struggled if they had to go in 2.0 down before even hitting a ball, so I thought I might as well do my best and see if I could get a win.
The team ended up not needing any help at all really, Tristan won his match 6.2 - 6.2. Rob won his match 6.0 - 6.0, and Craig won his match 6.1 - 6.3. I was happy with my performance as well, I won the first set 6.2, but then got broken in the second to go 5.2 down. I was a bit unsure on how to play the match at this point, as he wasn't very consistent or fit and I felt I could out rally him and tire him out by moving him around a bit which is when he started making errors. On the other hand I wasn't feeling that great and the sun was getting to me a bit and running around wasn't the best thing I could of think of, plus my game style is at it's best when I dominate the point by attacking early and going for winners. I ended up going for plan A, knowing that I could out run him seemed like the better option and even though it took me a long time and 2 fresh T-shirts and sweat bands, I won the match 6.2 - 7.5 :)
Rob and I won our doubles match 6.3 - 6.1 and Tristan and Craig won their match 6.1 - 6.2. So we had a great start to the winter season with a 6.0 victory!
When we got home I couldn't even do a warm down stretch or anything and ended up just passing out at 4pm. But I'm all better now :)

I've joined up with the "Fitness first" gym. I cant remember seeing any in the UK but I know there's fitness first's all over the world, and if your a member of 1 your a member of them all, and considering last time it cost me a bit to keep going into gym's, this will now save me money for next time I want to workout while travelling. All my mates go there as well so I've pretty much always got someone to train with, and to make things even better, it's only a 10 minute walk away :)

Training was going strong until I got ill last week. The gym has everything I need, Rob is hitting the ball really well now days and is a great training partner.
JJ and a couple other non tennis friends have become fitness freaks since I've been away and go on loads of beach runs etc, so I've now got people to run with, which is always good.

Diary for 15^th April 2009:

BACK IN AUSTRALIA AGAIN

I'm back to sending my diary updates from over seas. I'm now in Perth where I plan to make a good solid base for myself so that I have somewhere I can call home, can have definite training at a high standard, my own bed to sleep in and somewhere where I feel relaxed and comfortable :).
The Martin's ( the family with whom I'm staying ) already make me feel like part of the family and it's just like I never left.

I had a great last couple of days in Bournemouth. I spent Saturday having lunch with James, Tim and a couple other of mates, then spent the rest of the day in New Milton with Tim playing a bit of Rugby and having a BBQ with everyone on the beach. My mum came down to pick me up on Sunday when I said all my goodbye's and thank you's to everyone who had helped me while I had been back, then I drove back up to where mum lives just outside of reading. I spent all Monday with Mum. We had a little hit on some courts right next to where she lives and without sounding like a mummy's boy or mushy, but out of everyone I ever play with, I enjoy playing with her the most, it always brings back memories of when she first showed me a racket and how much she's done for me since then. I never want our hits to end.
The next day she took me to the airport and after a long sleep and a couple of movies on the plane I was getting picked up by Rob and Andrew in Perth on Wednesday 8th April :).

Rob and I got straight into training on Thursday morning, having a little hit to find my legs, then some stair sprints to loose them again. We met up with JJ for lunch and a dip in the sea then spent the rest of the day unpacking and winding down.
Everyone from Wembley Downs (my club) had organised to go to an outback town about 2 hours away to play an Easter tournament for the long weekend. I thought I might be able to get some games even though I didn't enter and it would be perfect to see everyone in one spot again, so I tagged along.
Jet lag ended up getting the best of me that weekend, and as good as it was seeing everyone again and the weather was great, I don't think I was that good a company as I pretty much spent the whole weekend sleeping in the sun :). I got a couple of mixed and normal doubles matches as someone had to pull out, but it was all friendly and only for one day, but even so it was nice to play on grass again and I won all 4 of my matches.

Since being back in Perth I've had to do all the little jobs such as set up my bank account, phone ect, which by tomorrow should be all done.
Rob and I are putting together a training programme for the next 6 weeks and I'm also getting in touch and on court with all my old training partners, so starting from Monday I will be back into the full flow of things!

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