The grass is always greener...

I have begun my Tournament Programme and am three weeks in and things are going steadily. Unfortunately my lowly rating did not qualify me for entry into my first scheduled tournament at Winchester, so I exchanged that event for a weekend grade 4 event at the Totton & Eling Club. I had a bye in the first round and played quarter finals against a 6.1 on the Saturday morning. Unfortunately we've not exactly had a Summer just yet this year, and I arrived at the venue to heavy rain. As with many of these tournaments though - they like to press on regardless, and we began play as the rain began to ease. My opponent was a steady player who was weaker on his one handed backhand that he hit very flat and I knew that I would have to play solid but I should have a good chance at winning through.

I started well winning my service game comfortably. The rest of the set was a battle that lasted over an hour, despite my losing it 6-1. It was a tussle of deuces and missed opportunities and my opponent simply stayed more solid than I did, and on his feet more often, in the wet conditions. I went out in the second set determined to stay with him longer and stay aggressive. I was unable to find my game on the day and I lost the second set, again in over an hour 6-1. I came out of that match with a 6-1 6-1 loss that lasted over two hours and fifteen minutes so I knew that I had at least given it some fight despite not being able to find any real form. I was to play the consolation draw after which I was able to win comfortably with 6-1 6-0 and 6-1 6-4 wins that I was always in control of. I was happy to have found some winning momentum albeit a little late but I knew that I could go into the next tournament with some confidence found.

My next tournament was at the University of Bath - a fantastic facility catering for so much sport, and many of the olympic teams were basing their preparation for the London Games there. I played a 7.1 in the first round, knowing that a win would set up a showdown with the number 1 seed which made the win even more enticing. I went into that match feeling comfortable that once again providing I could simply produce a solid display I would get the win but once again I felt extremely tight on the court and struggled to relax and play my game and I lost. This again put me in the consolation draw where I again received a bye through to the quarter finals where I would play a 5.2 on the Tuesday. I felt a lot more relaxed and comfortable and was able to win a comfortable match 6-1 6-0 before losing a tight three-setting in the semi-finals against a real grinder. I came away from that event disappointed as I know that when I perform in practice I play at an extremely high level, but at the moment I cannot reproduce that level on the match court which is extremely frustrating but something we are working hard on to change.

I had a couple of days break before getting back on court to prepare for the AEGON British Tour at Tunbridge Wells where I would play the 3rd seed in qualifying. I went into that match playing good tennis in practice and looking forward to playing a good standard on the grass at Tunbridge Wells. My opponent was obviously a good player, but I had been informed that he was something of a grinder and providing I could stay aggressive and dominate the rallies I would have a good chance against him. Once again it was a long match despite the scoreline as I lost 6-0 6-1, having game points in every service game and several break points as well. I was simply unable to take my opportunities when they arose despite creating them. My first serve percentage was way too low and I didn't make enough returns into court - bread and butter of winning matches. I also found it extremely difficult to adjust to the quick surface and on the spot vowed never to again go into a tournament without having trained on the specific surface prior to the match as it is simply preparation for failure.

I have withdrawn from next weeks British Tour event in Newcastle as this is not only on clay courts, but also the opposite end of the country to my home base. Instead I am very excited to be competing at the Devonshire Park LTC Open which is a fairly high profile grade 3 LTA event on the grass courts at Eastbourne - home of both the ATP and WTA event earlier in the year. I am much happier with my preparation and looking forward to going out and winning some matches!

Lensbury Open & Tournament Schedule

It's been a while since my last post and in that time whilst continuing my training I have played my first warm up competition. The Lensbury Open tournament is a grade 4 LTA event that I played a few years back and having been out of competition for around six months I was looking forward to getting a few matches under my belt.

I have been training very well and was very happy with my preparation before the tournament. I feel like I am striking the ball better than ever and my fitness levels continue to get better and better. We had been playing a lot of practice sets and point play scenarios in preparation and I was looking forward to going out and testing my ability on the match court.

I started on the Monday and had a comfortable 6-2 6-0 win in my first round. Having lost the opening 2 games which I would simply put down to a bit of nervousness, I found my game and was able to win the next straight 12 games without any real concern. I had my 2nd round match that afternoon and I was able to get straight out of the blocks a lot quicker against a tougher opponent to win 6-1 6-2 on a surprisingly sunny evening.

I had a rest day on the Tuesday and would play my quarter final match against an old friend and hitting partner of mine on the Wednesday. On the Tuesday I had a light hit but found that I was struggling with some pain in my right arm, something that had troubled me a little in the previous month or so. On the Wednesday I knew I had a very good opportunity to take a victory over a higher rated opponent and would stand a very good chance of making the semi finals. Again I had the pain in my arm during a light hit in the morning which was of some concern, but I was determined to give everything I could that afternoon.

It was in exceptionally windy conditions that I lost the first set 7-4 on the tiebreak having had plenty of opportunities despite struggling to put any pace on my first serve due to the arm injury. Instead I was having to roll my serve in and try to dominate from my groundstrokes attempting to keep the rallies short to prevent the pain in my arm. The match was extremely up and down mainly due to the conditions and the numerous breaks of serve as a result. After the first set I had treatment on my right arm including some serious painkillers in an attempt to simply be able to complete the match. Unfortunately I wasn't able to play my game in the second set at all as I lost it 6-3. I was very disappointed with this, mostly because I knew that it was a very good opportunity for me to gain some winning momentum and I felt that I was definitely able to do this had I been able to perform to the standard I know I can when fully fit. I don't like to make excuses and I accept that my opponent was better on the day as a result, but it is very frustrating to have this happen.

However, as all good tennis players know, next week there is another opportunity. Having been back to training for three weeks since that tournament and having seen a physio and a specialist I am in rehab for my arm and am now able to continue my training proper. Unfortunately, to see an Orthopaedic specialist is either an extremely long wait on the NHS, or an extremely large bill should you go private. So I have had to make do with the diagnosis I have got and have sought advice from anywhere I can get it. I am now working on strengthening the forearm as much as possible.

Now I am very excited to know that I have a big bulk of tournaments coming up as I have around nine weeks scheduled on the tour. This will be a variety of national grade 3s and British Tour events and will hopefully culminate in several futures qualifying events towards the end of the nine weeks. For now, I will be remaining in the UK and hoping to get travelling a little more from September. Here are the first few weeks of my schedule that I hope to be competing at:

15/7 - Winchester Babolat Open (g3)
22/7 - Team Bath Compete Open (g3)
29/7 - AEGON British Tour Tunbridge Wells
5/8 - AEGON British Tour Newcastle
12/8 - AEGON British Tour West Worthing
19/8 - AEGON British Tour Sutton

I will keep you updated as to my results at these events and my schedule after, but for the time being - COME ON ANDY!

Competition Time

Long time since I last posted a blog. Mainly down to the fact that whilst things have been very busy and going very well it's been very much a solid training routine the last few weeks. Not too much to report back upon as a result.

The training has been going very well and I'm striking the ball better than ever before. The majority of the technical changes we wanted to make when we started three months ago have taken place and we are now really focusing on the tactical side of things. This means lots and lots of practice sets and lots and lots of point scenario drills. Despite constantly being dogged by the rain over the last few weeks this has been going very well and I cannot wait to start competing, and start winning!

As we near the end of the three month training block period I am very excited to say that I will be playing for Wyvern in National Club League where I will hope to get a few matches under my belt as serious preparation for the British Tour. I hope to be competing on this circuit within several weeks time as it is a very good platform to then go onto play futures towards the end of the Summer from. As soon as I know my tournament schedule for this in a few weeks I will post it here so that it is easy to track my progress.

I hope to be playing British Tour in June so that I can kick this 2012 Summer off well and get going towards getting ATP points. I am very happy with how I have been playing in practice and know that if I can take this onto the match court I will give myself the best chance of achieving my goals. Now for all this rain to get out the way so we can get working on the tan too!

That's all for now and I will report back with how the next few weeks of NCL go and all the training, ice baths and rest days in between!

Getting Pumped!

So about time I updated the blog! It's been a very busy few weeks and huge progress has been made in lots of different areas of the game. In fact it's been so long since I last updated that the weather has gone from freezing cold and snow to a much more enjoyable sunshine and 20ºC which is unusual for this early in the year, but far from unwelcome!

We have really pushed on from the initial progress we made in the first few weeks of training and as we feel like many of the technical issues have now been resolved the focus has turned more and more to tactics and matchplay. Again we have continued working on raising the level of intensity throughout points but also at the right moments throughout a set and a match as well. This has lead me to bring a lot more emotion onto the court allowing me to get more 'pumped' and 'psyched up' - which in turn results in a greater level of intensity and a reiteration of the desire and motivation to win every single point. It also helps to show your opponent how motivated you are and how much you want to win.

There have been a couple of things that we have been working on technically as well including the take back on my backhand which we have been making smoother. But ultimately I am striking the ball better than I ever have and I am showing a lot more confidence in all my shots as a result. This means I can go into matches and match situations feeling like I am much more able to use my big forehand to control points whilst also knowing I can begin to rely on my backhand to stay in control and stay in the point. 

As we are nearing the end of the proposed three month training block prior to tournaments I am excited to say that I will be competing in National Club League for Wyvern throughout the next few weeks. These will act as my first few matches in the UK in order to be able to boost my rating so that I will be able to start competing regularly on the British Tour in a few weeks time. This will also act as very valuable court and match time in both doubles and singles which will allow me to put into practice the things that we have been training. The biggest obstacle for many tennis players is having the ability to take your practice game onto a match court and this is our main focus at the moment. I am able to play at a very high level on the practice court but I have to work a lot harder to bring this into matches. Initially there were just flashes of it few and far between; but I am now able to sustain a higher level of play for longer. The next step is to be able to sustain this high level of play throughout the match and once I get to this level I know that I will be able to compete for my first ATP points on the futures tour. 

Off court the weather has made training on the gym rings a little easier and I have been doing a lot of core and stability work in the gym which is definitely paying off on the court. I am feeling very fit and quicker around the court as a result of some of the interval and sprint training that I have been doing and this can only improve my confidence and ability in practice and in matches. I'll keep you posted both on here and on my twitter as to how the training and the matches go over the next few weeks. Thanks for reading!

The Pink tennis article

Take a look at this article published today in The Pink sports paper.

The snow must go on...

We are now nearing the end of week five of the new training programme. Unfortunately due to the snow we were forced to cancel some of the outdoor hitting sessions over the last couple of weeks as the picture above was what greeted us on Monday morning. As a result I made sure I was getting in the gym a lot and got a few decent sessions of Ashtanga yoga in as well; which is a more strenuous and fast paced version of yoga. It's really good for improving core strength and flexibility and is a lot tougher than expected so I highly recommend it - you really feel it through your core the next day! It's also very good to do something that isn't cardio based or particularly focused on one area of the body so you can continue to train to your full on a tennis court. After a pretty big effort from the coaches to clear the courts around four hours later they looked more like this though.

And so we were able to get some really good training sessions in over the next few days, despite the freezing cold. The primary focus of this week has been on intensity of footwork in all situations. Every ball hit must have a purpose and we have been working on the depth of the ball on every shot ensuring that you never give an opponent any opportunity to attack. On top of this we have also been doing some sprint work which I really enjoy. In tennis sprinting is very different to what most people think of sprinting as it is more about a few big powerful steps and a lot of change of direction. This week we have just begun work on improving that first step and discovered that one thing I was doing that was holding me back was almost taking a step back first to get in the right position to sprint forwards. We have started to work on getting rid of this habit so that my first step is really powerful out of the legs going straight forwards which I can already see is going to improve my movement up and down the court massively, as every second counts on a tennis court! 

Finally we have continued work on the footwork patterns that have been implemented in the previous weeks and this is beginning to work better and better. Along with a greater intensity of the footwork it means that I am getting in a better position to hit the ball as I am beginning to get in line behind the ball before my bodyweight comes forward and through to strike the ball. Our next step is to make sure I am doing this on every ball, no matter how much pressure I am under.

On top of this I have also done the usual gym programme workouts including a very good bodyweight and core day that allows me to use the gymnastic rings. Despite them being absolutely killer they are really, really good for a vast array of core exercises that not only improve your strength throughout your body but also your balance, stability and coordination. I will get some pictures of these exercises for the next blog if I can! Today snow has hit yet again, so I'm about to hit the gym for a big session before an hour of Ashtanga yoga this afternoon and a much needed rest day tomorrow! 

Magic Number 3

So we are into week four of the new training programme and I have had two tough weeks of training. The focus has come off technique ever so slightly and we are beginning to introduce more tactical developments to my game.

Since my last blog, the first week was a tough one and I was feeling the effects of both tiredness from the work that I had been doing and frustration with over thinking of technique. As a result I had one day in that week that was particularly tough and it was more about working through it and putting the effort in than seeing a great deal of progress. Since then however, I have been extremely happy with the levels of progress that has taken place with my game. After the particularly difficult day, I was determined to ensure that the following day I was able to get on court and just make balls. I focused less on specific technique areas but made sure I was able to raise the level of intensity I had on court and was able to put a lot more balls back in court.

This last week has been even more positive as I have seen significant developments in my forehand. I am beginning to get a lot more confidence in the technical adjustments and feel like my forehand is developing into a real weapon now and I look to dominate points off that wing more than ever. My backhand is taking a little longer to adjust and I have been focusing my attention on my footwork to ensure I get into a better position, with my body behind the ball, through every shot. I have also been working on my serve and am seeing progress to a much more fluid shot. I have included a couple of short videos below that give you a little idea of what I have been doing.

As a result of the improvements technically we have been able to do a lot more point work and are beginning to work on a higher level of intensity through each point. We are also working on my court positioning depending on the shot I have hit and really looking to dominate and dictate each point off the ground.

Despite the freezing cold here in the UK, we continue to train hard each day this week outdoors in all weather conditions and for more regular updates and photos please follow me on twitter here: twitter.com/jacksaunders

We also had an interview with The Daily Echo on Friday and I will ensure I post the article as soon as it appears in the paper! Thanks for reading and here's to another week of progress! :)