Welcome to all our readers from sunny South Africa where Jade and Naomi competed in the Soweto Open, a $100K tournament in its second year. Soweto is short for South Western Township, is famous as the birth place of Nelson Mandela and the hotbed of activity during the apartheid years. I left SA in 1979 and naturally Soweto has changed immeasurably (for the better) and is now a very vibrant and colourful suburb of Johannesburg that also houses the new impressive centre piece stadium for the 2010 World Cup.

The new Arthur Ashe tennis centre is excellent and the whole experience has been wonderfully hosted, with arguably the best player's dinner for any Challenger in the world. The food, wine and entertainment was first glass in the lekgotla resturant situated in Nelson Mandela Square, Sandton a popular area for eating and hanging out with numerous bars, resturants and cafes.

We arrived 3 days early and both girls practised well, but Jade at present is struggling to put her practise form onto the match court and lost her first qualifying match. Naomi struggled to a 4-6 7-5 6-4 first round win over American Courtney Nagle. She breezed through the last round into the main draw to face the 5th seed  Mariya Koryttseva of the Ukraine who has been top 50 and currently is 105.

‎​It is not often I will say a player is robbed but a poor line call at 5-4 30-30 after a nails point was crucial. Naomi still has to recover faster from such a setback. She dropped serve at 5-5 but again fought back to level for the tiebreak which  she lost. The 1st game of the 3rd also hurt as Marya was struggling and Naomi double faulted at 40-15 letting her back in and ended up losing the game. All in all a brave effort showing incredible fighting qualities. The final score after 3.5 hours was 64 67 76. She deserves a lot of credit for the effort in hot conditions. Even at 0-6 in breaker she fought continued to fight eventually losing it 7-2. She will again hit a career high ranking next week so its going in the right direction.

The younger players were in action in Nottingham where Toby Martin fared reasonably well making a quarter-final. Richard Gabb had another disappointing week in Istres, France in singles but is faring better in doubles. 

Today was the start of main draw. I was first on court 13 against a Swede girl ranked mid 500's. It wasn't the best conditions to play tennis in but it was quite normal weather for Nottingham, swirling wind! I lost 6-4 6-3. I feel I didn't play my best tennis but not bad, a bit too patchy for my liking and that's what cost me the match. I finished the day with a speed session and watching the boys play their matches.

Wednesday 14th
I started the day will a killing 2mintue on 1minute off interval session on the treadmill and 9am. Nice way to start. Today I start doubles with Dena Daly (a.k.a. Stik to me!) who I also played doubles with first week. We were 3rd on Centre court against Kennel (Swiss) and ..............(..). We won 7-6(8) 6-2. We got in a argument with the mum a bit as she kept shouting out. 

Thursday 15th
By now the club starts to thin out as people who have lost doubles and singles start to go home. We were 3rd on again but this time on court 7. Playing second seeds Melrose (GBR) and Konig (AUT). We won 2-6 6-4 10-6. We got off to a rather bad start going a set and 3-0 down, missing our chances and making too many errors on important points, sudden death deuce. We decided to get ourselves into gear and string a few games together putting ourselves back in the match. We got pumped for the tie and got off to a good start of 5-3 up and continued to win. Our evening entertainment was cinema with Dena and Roxie to watch ' Dear John' which Me and Dena laughed as Roxie was sobbing whilst giving us a running commentary!

Friday 16th
Today is the quarter finals of doubles and me and Dena are 2nd on court 7 again against the Watt twins (GBR).  We started well winning the first set 6-3 but the 2nd set was a bit different. We went 3-1 down before a spark of energy from a satellite breaking yellow tops kicked in again giving us break point for 5-3 sudden death deuce. Which my smash somehow hit half way up the back fence. So there we were saying bring on another tie break. We stepped up to the challenge to win with my crossing volley winning 10-7.

We unfortunately lost in the semis 6-2 6-7 (5-10)after a solid week of good doubles. I am feeling more confident from this and want to now take this in to my next tournament and keep building on my forehand and performance.

The Physical Block – March 2010

March has been a tough month for eight of the academy’s leading male players. They have followed a vigorous training block and given themselves an excellent physical base in preparation for the clay court season.

Every morning the players recorded their height, weight, resting heart rate, nutrition/hydration and mood score profiles to keep a track of how they were standing up to the demands of the block. Morning sessions looked to correct and develop posture and focused on increasing mobility, balance and stability across some key muscle groups. Yoga sequences, gymnastic movements, soft tissue release and various forms of stretching were all used to tackle the challenge of improving the stiffness and immobility within the group. Shoulder, trunk and hip exercises were also completed everyday to increase the stability across some key joints and increase the efficiency of the way the players used their bodies.

During the afternoons, the intensity was raised to new heights as the players were exposed to strength, endurance and movement sessions. The testosterone was always flying high in the gym where the likes of Helliar and Hazarika were pumping out some seriously deep squats accompanied by equally impressive grunts!

The group was split in two for the strength sessions, where half followed a double leg programme and half followed a single leg programme. Players were assessed on rate of force development (power), change in direction and acceleration before and after the block to gain an idea of the physical gains of each individual. They will all experience another three week block in May where they will follow the other strength programme so we can compare the effects of double vs single leg strength training for each player.

The guys found themselves completing repeated 400 metre runs on the athletics track for their endurance sessions. This was a real test of character and endurance as each player was expected to maintain a specific lap time for every run. Dan Elston provided some entertainment on lap eight when he claimed to still look sexy despite his crazy hair and bright red face!   

The movement sessions included some of Jez Greens’ foot placements, looking to develop large efficient strides accompanied by medicine balls and bungees. The players really felt the benefits of learning to move more efficiently across the court.

It is no good putting in all this hard work if the correct fuel and recovery strategies are ignored. Powerbar is the official ‘Sports Nutrition Partner’ of the TeamBath MCTA Tennis Programme and therefore the players were fortunate to have access to Powerbar products following their strength, endurance and movement sessions. The Powerbar recovery drinks proved to be very popular with the players as were the energy bars when they needed that extra boost! The players also paid a couple of visits to the ice bath to aid recovery and prevent muscle soreness!

All in all, the players have experienced what it is like to train as professionals in a building where Olympic champions and International athletes surround them. Bring on the clay……

Here at TeamBath / MCTA IHPC we have just finished hosting the Pro Tennis Series 15K for mens and 10K for womens. The event always creates a great buzz around the centre and the University, with players worldwide coming to Bath to compete in the event.

We had a good showing from TeamBath/MCTA players with Sid, Toby, Rich, Dan C, James H, Chris H, Anna and Jade all competing. Notable performnaces in the qualifying event must go to Rich and Toby with Rich being within a point of the main draw and a match vs Dan Evans (GB Davis Cup Player). Toby/Sid and Dan C/James H partnered up and recieved wildcards into the doubles draw. Toby and Sid held a set point against Dan Evans and Sean Thornley in the second set and I think both boys would agree it was very useful experience first time out. In the women's event Jade and Anna made the final of the doubles event winning their semi final on a champions tie break before going down to a team combined from Denmark and Poland 3-6 2-6.

For some of the younger players competing for the first time at this level helped them to experience first hand what is required to compete on the professional circuit.

The tournament went smoothly. The mens champion was Andrej Martin (SVK) who defeated No.1 seed Igor Sijlsling (NED) 2-6 6-2 7-6 and Katarzyna Piter (POL) won the womens event beating Lenka Jurikova (SVK) 6-2 7-6.

The series has moved on to Jersey and we wish Jade and Naomi the best of luck! Until next year.