Day two with James Blake

Sadly, we were only watch James Blake but it was good to see a top pro in action. Many people think we have seen the best from James already but he can still hit a great ball and you can always learn a thing or two from watching the pros in real time. That was our lunch time entertainment so lets start at the beginning....

After an early night last night, the 6.20am alarm call still seemed too early. I wasn't too tired from the previous days activities but the body was certainly a little banged up. We had bought some provisions yesterday so as to avoid running up unnecessary food expenses. I cooked up a sausage scramble to get us on the way and that did the trick. At the courts again by 7.50am for the routine stretching session. This is something I have enjoyed as I think it's something that is vital if we are to stay injury free with all this hitting.



Today's players board had the same pairings as yesterday except that Patti, Karl and I would be working with Shawn McGee today. Shawn seemed to be a little more intense than Evan and so it would prove to be the case. We started out with some down the line ground strokes followed by cross courts.

The first drill had two people on the baseline one on forehand side, the other person on the backhand side. The third person was on other side of the net hitting forehands. The idea was to was alternate cross court and down the line forehands to learn how to change the direction of the ball. This proved to be an easy drill on the forehand side but really tough on the backhand side. We followed with some intense work on the backhand side which proved really helpful.

We then followed with point play but the point only began when the single player was able to hit a corner, then the ball was in play. First t0 15. sounds simple but someone went through around 200 balls before we reached a count of 15!!

We finished the session with a drop shot recovery drill. We started at the baseline and had to run down 6 drop shots, running backwards to the baseline between each attempt. We had to reach the drop shot and get it in play on the other side of the net for it to count. After nearly 3 hours of tennis, this was a brutal exercise.


For lunch, we took some time to go watch James Blake hit some balls. He practices each weekday from 10-12 then from 1-3 in the gym. Not a bad life really but I wasn't a fan of his silver Porsche. Come on James - you can do better than that!?

The afternoon session started with a similar drill from the morning, with one person hitting volleys from the down the line, the other person cross court forehands. The third person was alternating down the line and cross court feeds. The idea of the drill is the different timing from hitting a ball from someone at net compared to the baseline as well as the change of direction.

We followed with some volley drills - really working on movement and consistency. Then it was some quick service practice then some points. Phew, what a day......