Thursday morning, toast.

So yesterday's exertions having taken their toll on my body and specifically my ever fragile back. This morning I woke up with a shooting pain in my back only to realize the rest of my tennis playing wasn't going to happen.

The morning wasn't a waste however as I found the Qatar open streaming online so managed to watch Tsonga, Federer and Nadal play some awesome tennis.

I also spent the morning looking over my tournament schedule and with a little over 6 weeks remaining to the my first tournament, I'm already devising a rehab program to ensure this doesn't happen again. Being injured sucks!

Signing off from a sorry stay in Saddlebrook, until next time....

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.

There wasn't a whole lot to be said for today's session if the truth be told. It was a case of rewind and repeat from yesterday's session. Lots of balls, multi-person drills and a very, very cold morning.

A summary of which is a follows:

The GOOD: Shawn McGee came over first thing in the morning and presented me with a signed ball from James Blake. He must have heard I was visiting and decided to send a ball my way as I was too busy practicing at the time to stop and chat.



The BAD: Our rehashed session from yesterday. After some of the amazing sessions we had last year and the expectations we had coming in to this years excursion, today's session was a real let down. We have had few real technical comments made of our strokes yet and while it's great to hit a lot of balls to get the groove on, we didn't need to fly all the way to Florida to achieve what we did today.

The Ugly: My strokes after 5 hours of hitting and some half hearted effort towards some of the drills. I hope tomorrow proves to be a little more productive. At least the weather was an improvement this afternoon.

Saddlebrook 2012

Our 2012 experience kicked off today with Mark Magone. A well seasoned southern chap who always has a story to tell.

The word for today is DRILLS. Drills, drills and more drills. It was a day filled with lots of balls and lots of hitting.

We started out hitting baseline drills, forehand to backhand down the line, forehand to forehand cross court. Then it was into volleys, one at net - two baseline, one sitting out. Then rotating clockwise until all had been at the net.

Next was points as double teams, then singles (max 3 points) before switching out with partner. Then we introduced serving to start the point, alternating singles players on each team with a max of 3 points again.

With the cold start (45degF) this morning we started a little late. 2.5hours in to the morning and we were done for lunch.

The afternoon session was another 2.5 hours of drills. No points this time, we were focusing on consistency. Typically playing 2 on 1 with the instructor feeding from the singles side, we had to get 20 balls in row. Miss a ball, the count returns to zero. We managed 48 with the first ball but struggled by our third rotation. It was a really good way to focus on your shots and play with margin.

So, after 5 hours of court time we went for a well deserved massage. We have another later start tomorrow at 9am so hopefully, the muscles would have recovered a little and we can move onto something a little more technical. Here's to day #2....

Goodbye 2011 Season

Well, the season is over for 2011. Another year down and I'm still rated 4.0. To be fair, I have played better this year than last. I have won more matches, competed better and yet I still feel that I haven't achieved my goal.

But what was my goal?

Truth is - I didn't really have one. I guess I wanted to get bumped to 4.5, I also wanted to win tournaments and I wanted to qualify for the end of season Grand Prix.

This season saw a number of new faces and a lot of activity in tournaments. Draws were deep with players seeking points for the Grand Prix which made qualification a struggle towards the season end.

Thankfully, I made the cut albeit through players above me withdrawing. Not the way I would have liked to qualify but I made it all the same.

So, for the new season it's going to change. There will be a single focus that's maintained through the year and that is to finish the season ranked as high as possible. In turn, that will lead hopefully to securing promotion to the 4.5s.

Looking forward to the new season my friends!!

Ocean? What ocean?

...Happy times were spent here previously.
Despite the slow start with damp courts. The day turned out to be beautiful.

A solid win at 6-2, 6-1 capped off a great start to the season.

Looking forward to a quater final tomorrow.

2011 tournament season begins...

...This years events begin at the site of previously good results.

Let's hope this year starts on a positive note...

And then it was no more...

So all good things must come to an end but there will be many good memories that will endure from this trip, not least of which is the tennis.




It has been a whirlwind week of thousands of balls, aching muscles, tired legs and cold mornings but I would definitely come back.

Thanks to Patti for inviting me!


Here are a few parting images as I sign off from Saddlebrook.

Day five: Horse men of Rohan

OK, no horse men at all, just some part time coach who showed up today to put us through our paces. Rohan had some great strokes - we saw him demonstrate the service return at the start of the session and he had an awesome forehand. The one handed backhand was rockin' too. Anyway, on to today's lesson.

The day started out with some steady hitting - down the line then cross court. The theme for the day was 'repetition'! We hit lots of balls. Lots of drills, all aimed at grooving our shots.

The tips from today started to sound familiar from previous days. Stay lower on ground strokes and volleys. Turn shoulders into volleys. Don't change the direction of the ball too early in rallies.

One new tip was on the serve - throw the ball straight up above the head. Currently, I'm tossing the ball too far out to the right. In addition, I need to raise both my arms at the same time to achieve the trophy position a little earlier.

Here is a little footage of a few serves I hit at the end of the session.

Day four: Rest Day....

Well, technically it wasn't actually a rest day but compared to the previous two days, it sure felt like it! We had another member to our little group today, Barret. We also had a new coach - John. It was a day more focused on playing point games and drills. We spent more time going through the rules of games than playing them or just chatting in general but a couple of tips that I did pick up:

Forehand:

1. When hitting open stance, keep the right foot (back foot) behind the left to be able to load up on the back foot and drive through the ball.
2. Keep the center of gravity low - keep the knees bent and drive through the ball.

Backhand:

1. Release the back leg after hitting - the left leg side should turn into the court after contact.

Volley:

1. Keep the center of gravity low - bend those legs!!
2. Split step on contact and move towards the ball.
3. When playing dubs, move left and right based on the ball position in the opponents court.
4. Turn sideways at point of contact and move forward to the ball.
5. Shorter swings and punch the ball.

Point Play:

1. Keep hitting in line with the ball until there is an opening for a change of direction.
2. Don't pull the trigger too early - stay relaxed and hit rally balls.
   

Day three: Shawn McGee...

The day started out wet, very wet! We were on standby to play due to persistent rain but after a couple of hours, the courts were dry enough to hit. We were down to 2 people today so we had Shawn all to ourselves. We went straight into some baseline exchanges and picked up on an issue with the backhand. We went onto volley drills, overheads and serves. Here are the key notes from each drill.

Backhand key notes:

1. Plant the leading leg heal first then transfer weight onto toe.
2. Keep the weight going forward through the point of contact.
3. Make the swing go around the plane of the ball, not in line with the ball.
4. Extend the tip of the racquet towards the target after making contact.
   

Volley key notes:

1. Keep the nose level with the head of the racquet and watch the ball onto the strings.
2. Push the head of the racquet through the line of the ball.

Overhead key notes:

1. Get in the trophy position ASAP.
   
2. Hold the left hand open and watch the ball into the hand.
3. Hit the ball at the maximum height.
4. Snap the wrist at point of contact.

Serve key notes:

1. Take both arms up at the same time.
2. Open the racquet face earlier on take back.
3. Bend knees and extend when ball is at high point.
4. Accelerate racquet through point of contact.
5. Snap wrist at point of contact.