| Roxanne blogging from UK |
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| Tuesday, 05 May 2009 07:14 |
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It is incredibly rewarding when you put a lot of energy into the players you are working with physically and mentally and see them soaking all the information in that will help them and then show you how much they are learning on the match court. It is a great feeling and what makes this job special.  Working with Jimmy in Turkey was very refreshing and fun. He is very positive and makes us laugh constantly ☺. After a hard day starting at 7 every morning I did enjoy the evenings sitting with Jimmy chatting away and learning from him and his wise words on life, ha-ha never a dull moment! In the ITF in Turkey I could see Christina’s confidence building from each match, not at first but as soon as her head was totally clear and 100% focused on the job her game and mind was starting to get stronger. It was lovely to see her win a tournament after having a few rocky patches the weeks before. I will say one thing the food in Turkey hmmm lets just say was interesting and challenging at times lol. However it was nice to be able to work outside in the sun and a welcome change from indoor tournaments. It was perfect timing that after winning the Turkey ITF, Nottingham followed because she was on a roll. She showed maturity going into both of the Nottingham ITF’s by not buying into the whole “I’m number one seed therefore I should (need) to win” and just got on with her job, working her way through each match. The 1st week final was tricky her opponent was a fighter and solid, Christina was the better player and found herself with 3 set points in the 1st set but unfortunately didn’t take any of them but she can learn from that match and next time she has 3 set points in a row to really focus and aggressively take it. We also must give her opponent a lot of credit who played some good solid tennis and even though Christina kept making chances for her self her opponent came up with the goods in the end. I was really pleased after losing that match coming into the second week her head didn’t drop and Christina just started the roll again and kept working through each match again. Feeling pretty fatigued and sore her quarter finals was her first test of that tournament because she played a decent player who fights hard which she won that 7-5 in the third after losing the first set and looking very tired. What pleased me is she found a way to win and found her 2nd wind to pull through which proved to me she was tougher now than the Christina we had watched even a couple of weeks before. Her final was also very tough because she was getting more pain and we knew her opponent was good and up for a fight. She went a set and 4-2 down looking quite weak and a bit sorry for herself, but then again she proved she could be tough and not let this girl win easy. By changing her mindset she won the 2nd set and the momentum had switched in her favour. She played much more positive in the 3rd and found that confidence she had been building in the last couple of weeks to pull through and win her first ITF group 4! It was definitely the right thing to pull her out of Bournemouth 10K as you can't just ignore injuries early on as its about the future not all about now. Playing would have of only made it worse and the best thing for her now is a lot of treatment, rest and exercises to keep strengthening the weakness. I am now having a few days rest and also doing some work for Tennishead magazine which will be going to press a week on Friday which will be exciting. I can also catch up with some family and friends and live out of a wardrobe for a few days instead of a bag ha-ha! Its not often you find a great team where everyone in it is wanting the same thing and with a lot of passion. I am really happy to be part of it and I am excited for the future and solving more problems that will come about! Ciao xXx
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Hey all
