Diary for 5^th July 2009
It's been really bad weather here over the last couple of weeks. I didn't get a chance to play at UWA on the clay as the courts were under water, which means the match is put down as a draw. The following weekend was the same story which was even more frustrating because I should have been playing the guy who beat me last time, and I was looking forward to another tough match and to get a bit of revenge, but again we had to say it was a draw.
We had a lot better luck this weekend, the sun was out and we were playing against the number 2 team in the league (we're number 1 at the moment).
I got off to a really good start going 4.0 up (I always play well while Wimbledon is on, after watching lots of matches I find it really helps me get in the zone). My elbow had been bothering me the last couple of days, which could be because of the damp conditions that make the balls heavier meaning more weight and pressure on my elbow. I took the day off before the match with plenty of ice hoping that I could keep it at bay during my match.
Unfortunately, at 4.0 up in the first set I over extended my arm reaching for a backhand return. This has happened to me a few times but turns out to be just a one minute thing and the pain goes away after that and at the time I thought this was one of those times as I didn't feel any pain for the next few points. Then at break point to me I went for a top spin backhand winner cross court and felt it again, I then realised, that was the first top spin backhand I had hit since the dodgy return and that maybe I hadn't got away with it. I served out the first set with pain in my elbow and usually I would pull out at this point to not cause any more damage but it didn't seem to be getting any worse and didn't hurt at all on my forehand so I decided to play on with hitting nothing but slice backhands, rolling over my serve, no volleys and just trying to dominate with my forehand as much as possible. I really struggled to hold my serve but was making up for it but returning really well and being able to grind a lot to break him back a few times. After some very long rallies and a lot of forehands the second set went to a tie-break. I didn't miss one ball in the whole tie-break and we must of hit over 100 shots, he obviously knew my arm was bothering me so he wasn't being very nice by just making me hit as many balls as possible and running me around to try and tire me and my elbow out. Thanks to all those runs and fitness I've done over the years I always felt fresh and fit to stay in the point as long as he wanted until he gave me that perfect forehand or made a mistake and I ended up out running him to win 6.0 - 7.6 (7.4).
Even though my arm was hurting I was really happy as we all needed to win to stay on top of the ladder and everyone in the team won :)!

Training has been going really well in gym, I've become good friends with one of the top instructors in my gym who has been in the business for over 10 years. Usually he charges 70-80 dollars an hour but he's put together a 6 week program for me and a couple of training sessions for free. He said that he had heard good things about me and wants to be a help to someone who is "giving it a go".

This week I will be taking it slow with tennis just to make sure my elbow can heal ok for my next match, as long as I look after it well with icing and my exercises etc I'm sure it will be fine for the semi-finals :).

Diary for 18^th June 2009
It's into the second round of winter pennants now. This is when you play the same 7 teams but if it was away last time it will be at home this time and visa-versa.
Last weekend we Played the last match of round 1 against Cottosloe. Their a really strong team and I had to play a guy from South Africa who hasn't lost a match yet and is one of the knew top guys in state grade. It was a home match with the sun out and our top team all in action. It was also great to have a lot of the club members, a couple kids and parents who I coach and even Darren Tandy come down to watch.
I played really well in the first couple of games with some aces and I was setting up the points well to finish them off with a winner. I knew I was playing a top player as usually if you play a club player, they just seem to loose hope over the first few games and think they cant win, but this guy seemed to fire up and picked up the pace a bit.
It got to 4.3 to me with him serving when I looked to really attack and get a break. I didn't get a chance on the first 2 points as he hit 2 aces, but then at 0-30 we had a really long rally where both of us had our chances to win but then the other one defended well to naturalise the point again, I ended up winning it with a really strange slice backhand down the line, he obviously thought I was going cross court and I just caught him completely off balance. That seemed to be a big turning point and I won the first set 6.3.
The momentum carried on with me into the second set when I broke him in the first game and from then on there was no turning back and after saving 2 break points with 2 aces I went on to win 6.3 - 6.3 :)
Everybody in the team won. Unfortunately Rob and I lost our doubles to their number 1 pair, but the team won the day 5.1, so it was a good result all round!

It's been really poor weather over the last couple of weeks. I think Rob and I must have got soaked at least 4 times when we would be on court and suddenly the heavens would open before we get a chance to pick up the balls.
Coaching has been cancelled a lot, including today. But this has given me, Rob and another gym training partner of mine "beef" a great chance to really get strong and fit in the gym.
Beef is a top W.A rugby player who isn't afraid to sweat. Tennis players and Rugby players do the same kind of movements really (short sharp turning with power and speed). Even though I want to be more agile, being extra strong in the legs is also a big plus so Beef has been training my legs hard over the last couple of weeks. I'm not quite at his standard of leg pressing 400kgs!! but I'm catching up. We're about equal on the squats, dead lifts and power cleans (the main power exercises).
It's certainly made a difference, even though I couldn't really walk properly for the first week, I now feel so much more explosive off the spot and like I'm using my legs more in my shots which is making a difference too :)

This week we play against UWA away on clay. I haven't played on clay since Europe so I look forward to getting back on the dirt. I'll most likely be playing the same guy as before who I beat 7.5 - 7.6 but that was at home and he is apparently a clay court specialist, so I look forward to the challenge!

Diary for 4^th June 2009
Last weekend we had another away match at Higgings Park. Their number one is a guy who used to be one of the up and coming Perth stars from the State tennis academy here, but I've heard he's drifted away from playing now and does coaching more than anything. All that morning the weather was terrible, the team and I were really surprised that they didn't call it off. We thought that because Higgings is a good 30 minutes away, maybe they hadn't had all the rain.
When we got there, it hadn't rained but the wind was so bad it was like playing in a storm, so this obviously made the day really tricky for everybody.

I got off to a really bad start loosing my serve twice in a row. Jarrod (the guy I'm playing) is a bit taller than me and has a big serve which was on fire that day, so I found it really hard to break him. I did get one break back, but it wasn't enough to get back into the set and I lost the first 6.3. I got off to a much better start in the second by holding my first two service games to love, and pushing him a bit on his serve. It went to 4.4 and I went 40.0 down on my serve, I knew this could be it if I didn't hold here. I think that's what made me try a bit too hard in the first couple of points, so at 0.40 I pulled my head back in, and got back to just winning one point at a time. I won the next two points with good aggressive play, but at 30.40 I went for a serve volley and missed the volley off my toes into the net :(. I went on to loose the match 6.3 - 6.4.
The team won in the end, Rob and I were a break up in the second set in our doubles and looking good to win the match when the sun went away and everybody had to stop play because of bad light, but because we were already up, the opposition just gave us the match. So it ended up being a good result for the team :).

I've been doing some coaching in-between training for an old friend Tino for the last couple of weeks. He had to go in for a knee operation and asked me if I could take over all his hours until he's back on his feet. It's pretty much every morning at a girls school about 10 minutes away from me, from 7 to 8:30, then there's a couple in the afternoon all around the place.
I didn't have a car at that point as I was still looking for a good deal. Luckily the next day I saw a great little Ford for $1,400 with low miles on the clock and seemed to be in good condition. I gave it a little test spin and loved it. So now I have a great Ford Lazer 1992 to get me around, which it turns out is earning me more money than costing because I've managed to get some extra lessons in the mornings for Tino now that I have a car and also for Tristan late in the evening.

Training is still going well. With coaching only being in the mornings and evenings, I have from about 9am - 4pm to hit, run, gym and eat. So my days are keeping very busy at the moment which is great for me :).

There was no match this weekend as it was a long weekend. This weekend is a home game, so I'm looking forward to getting back on the match court 'with a nice supporting home crowd behind us :)

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