Too Cold

It was so cold this morning that our coach decided to have us play indoors. But this meant that it was 30-something players to two courts, and so we didn’t get much hitting in. Practice was only about an hour long which was also disappointing. I really hope the weather gets better soon because I haven’t been able to hit much lately and this hour of hitting with a million people on a court isn’t helping.

But we are back in the swing of things, it’s the second day of school and things are getting back to normal here as more people return from vacation. We have finals next week and I’m sure I will be studying a lot this weekend, especially for Pre-Calculus and British Literature. I think those are the two classes that will have the toughest finals, but I have been working a lot in math so I should be ready for the final.

Back in Florida

Well it’s been a nice break but I’m finally back in florida and ready to play some tennis. Unfortunately I thought we had practice at 6:30 thismorning and it wasn’t until 8am. So I went back to my dorm and fooled around on my computer for a few minutes, before going back to sleep for another hour or so. Practice was a lot different, not many people are back yet only two people from my group were there.

It’s so windy now, I’m not used to it because I’ve been playing indoors back at home for the past few weeks. I hope the wind dies down a little bit because it’s just so different from what I am used to. I am going to start taking private lessons with my coach, he had an injury on his hand but it has finally healed. I am hoping to do two or three lessons a week with him.

Practice Matches and Some Easy Drills

Today we played practice matches and I wasn’t playing well still. I’m not quite sure why but this week so far I have just been a little off, and I can’t find a rhythm. Hopefully the last two days of practice of the year are really much better but I think for now I really don’t have a clue why I am playing poorly. I lost to someone today who I didn’t think I would lose to, but he was playing very well. I am very impressed with my group’s play in the last few weeks, people that I thought weren’t really that great have shown that they surely can play. So I don’t think I should be too hard on myself although I don’t think I should be losing to anyone in my group if I am playing well. But I guess you’re only as good as your worst day, so I can’t expect to play amazing every day.

After matches today we did some drills and they were on clay courts. Mark decided that we just needed to do something fun so we did a doubles drill, a version of king of the court with different variations every time someone got to 11 points. It was a decent way to end the day and I’m probably the only person that would’ve rather just drilled groundstrokes because I want to figure out what’s going on with my groundstrokes.

Finding a balance

I was having trouble today finding a balance between consistency and aggression. I played someone who I had beaten previously and I lost pretty badly. I was hitting well in the first hour when we were drilling being consistent and keeping the ball deep. But when we played matches I think I tried to ease up too much and ended up just being sort of lazy with my shots, not competitive. This didn’t work and I went to the other end of the spectrum and missed too many balls. I couldn’t really dial it in and it was pretty frustrating. I think what I need to do is just play my usual aggressive game, but just be more selective and patient with my balls, but still generally intense. I tried to play too contrasting to my usual game and it threw me off big time and definitely cost me the match.

Practice and Probably Matches Tomorrow

I think we are going to be playing matches for the rest of the week but we didn’t today. I have just heard that last year this time the morning groups played matches and hopefully we will get to do the same this year. I want to play some kids in my group that I haven’t played yet, I have worked on my game a lot in the last few months and have watched them play as well. We only have a few more practices this week but if they are all match days then that will be good, I think the coaches are seeing who they want to move up and down in the groups. I don’t know if I would be moved up, Pauls group isn’t really higher than Marks and the next step up is the IMG group. I don’t think that I would be considered good enough to be in that group unless I did extremely will in matches and beat everyone. If somehow I did get moved up I would be very happy because it would mean that I would get to play with all the best players in the academy as well as not have to wake up that early. Either way I am glad that we are playing matches because I want to compete, and I probably won’t have a chance to play another tournament until after christmas, which is basically an entire month away. Even if it is just against my own group I would be happy if we are able to play matches for the remainder of practice before break.

Practice

First practice back and in the beginning everyone was having a tough time. Our coach had a talk with us about being consistent, how he watched day after day during the Eddie Herr where kids kept winning without hitting amazing shots, or big serves, but keeping the ball in play. It made me think a lot about what I need to do to get a step ahead of these guys.

I really am going to work 100% on consistency for the next two weeks. I am going to hit with a kid in my group in the evenings because he thinks he has to work on the same sort of thing. My coach says I need to play more relaxed, and not go for as much. I want to be a smarter player and I think that I need to learn to be more selectively aggressive, staying consistent yet putting the ball away when I get the chance. Consistency and athleticism are massively important in tennis and in my opinion are far more important than being able to hit the biggest forehand or have the best touch.

Finals and Walmart

The finals was this morning and Alex Domijan really had a tough time. Elias got to everything and looked a lot more professional out there. He started to make Alex miss, and even though Domijan really hit the ball hard from every part of the court he could not keep up with Gastao Elias’ consistency. He ended up getting a little frustrated and Elias never let up, eventually winning the match and the tournament, 6-2 6-1 in the finals.

I went to Walmart and picked up some things for the next two weeks and I don’t think I will have to go next week. I am pretty sure i have all the food and stuff that I need so I don’t have to worry about getting anything next week. We stayed up late for the past few nights so I have to switch gears and get up early tomorrow so I better get to sleep early tonight as well.

Saturday- Semis

The semifinals for the Eddie Herr were today and the two finalists are Gastao Elias and Alex Domijan. They both won their semifinal matches fairly easily and will probably have a good match tomorrow. I’m looking forward to watching because today they both had such an easy time and it would be surprising if one of them ended up winning easily. I think that Elias may have an edge because he is much more experienced, he plays a lot of futures and challengers. and really is competing with the professionals quite well.

Tennis starts up again on Monday and it will be hard to wake up at 5:45 every morning but it’s only for two more weeks so I can handle it. I think I’m going to work really hard for the next two weeks before break, and then relax a little bit over vacation and probably not do as much in terms of tennis and school as well.

Some interesting Matches

Well Filipp Krajinovic lost today in the Quarterfinals against a real tough player. He had an excellent run, he’s only fifteen and it is pretty amazing what he has accomplished this year.

The talk of the tournament however is this Bulgarian kid who steamrolled the 1 seed today. He won sixteen’s last year and fourteen’s the year before, can he be the first to win three Eddie Herr’s in a row? It will be interesting to find out, he hits the ball a million miles an hour and is very hard to keep up with. Touring pro Gastao Elias most likely will be his best competition, who he would end up meeting in the finals.

It has been pretty frustrating not being able to watch all the matches because of school but this weekend will be different and I will be able to watch the semi’s and finals. Hopefully I don’t have anything else going on at the time and can watch all the matches.

Watching Matches

Today I watched a few matches including Filipp Krajinovic who won fairly easily, I believe 7-5 6-2 against someone I didn’t recognize. Tim Van Terheijden lost which is surprising, he did play the #7 seed Bradley Klahn, but I thought he could take him.

Mallory Cecil played Carling Seguso, two academy students and Mallory won in a third set tiebreak. Everyone was watching because it was two of the better girls from here in a long close match.

Ricardus Berankis of Lithuania lost in three sets to a US player who I believe is #3 in 18’s USTA. Berankis recently won the US open but has been having problems with his back so I guess he hasn’t been able to play as well.

I’m not sure of any other big upsets but tomorrow there will be some interesting matches and I think that a few players that have been on cruise control for their first two rounds will finally find some opposition.. 3/4 of the field is out and the level of play has just risen greatly, the rest of the field is entirely players that probably would do well in pro tournaments.