Australian Open Quotes of the Day

"I do feel better on the court. I'm playing much better. I feel like my old self," Ana Ivanovic, trying to make herself feel better after hitting 75 unforced errors in her match against Gisela Dulko.

Good one Anna it matches your game plan! Just plain stupid

"This one tonight was obviously extremely special. It's a pleasure, of course, playing in front of him. He doesn't come around every day." - Roger Federer, on playing in front of Prince William.

"I hope not. Then is not so many like say celebrity guys. I am not Paris Hilton. I don't want to be like this. I don't want to be like Nadal, Federer.These guys I never see by breakfast. They stay in the room and take room service." - Davydenko this time on becoming more of a celebrity.

"I thought today was a little bit better than my match in my first round ... I felt like I was moving better and I had better energy. I felt like I could have actually played a lot better today. She was definitely taking it to me, though. That was really good for me to play a lady like her." - Serena Williams, evaluating yet another day at the office

The eye is in Christchurch for the New Zealand Money Tournament, looks like a wet start to the event, hopefully I will get some reports in from Christchurch.

Australian Open Tennis

The 12s Teams event wound up Today in Hamilton with Southern Girls placing 5th and Boys 4th.Sam Lane continued his great tournament losing only one of his singles matches(teams) with highlight wins over 12s National runner up Connor Heap 5/7 6/2 6/4 and 3rd seed for that event Arash Hafezi 6-3 6-2.Annabel Ellis and Anna Cochrane also excelled at this event and will come back for sure better and wiser players.

Switching from that event to another ....and that being The Australian Open, I will bring you some relevant pictures ,news and of course opinions.

12s Team Event - The Doubles are crucial!

Often the Doubles can decide a match at National Teams events, playing the right combination can sway a tie your way.Get it wrong and you pay the price.The teams event is underway in Hamilton and Southern girls have lost 2 heartbreak ties against Waikato and Central both on count backs.I am back in Timaru after 5 days with Annabel Ellis, Sam Lane and Anna Cochrane. Yesterday Annabel won 5th play off defeating Megan Rogers and Sam went down in a hard fought encounter in three sets to Arash Hafezi.I have to say that these events are great to see where players are at and especially as a coach to see how your juniors compete at this level.Both Sam and Annabel improved their skills and experience immensely from this tournament.It gives me a clear indication on what they need to work on for future development as an elite player.Special mention to Anna Cochrane who is playing her first National event ,in my opinion Anna is gaining a huge amount from this tournament.Watching each of her singles matches I saw a steady improvement ,especially learning to keep technique and concentration consistently at a high level , fall below and you start losing points very quickly.Watching Anna also shows me what is needed to allow Anna to develop to the level of Sam and Annabel.News from the past couple of rounds has Anna winning both singles rubbers she has competed in so WELL DONE ANNA!.Sam Lane reversed his playoff result defeating Hafezi 6-3 6-2,against Auckland, showing that he learned a lot from his loss yesterday,and that juniors is exactly what is meant by learning from a losing Game. Annabel Ellis playing Number 1 singles position is getting plenty of tough matches.


Above picture has Anna in action with the Southern Uniform on show.

Day 4 Doubles Title to Annabel Ellis-Sam Lane tipped out by Top Seed

Sam Lane took the game to top seed Kyle Butters in yesterday's semi final in Hamilton.Lane was on top early in both sets racing to a 3-0 lead in the first.Executing a good game plan ,Lane unfortunately could not keep up his perfect height and length which was eating away at the Butter's Forehand.Dropping the ball shorter enabled Kyle to come forward and dictate play, punishing any ball that was dropped short mid court.A couple of costly double faults and a few "overcooked" forehands proved damaging for Lane.The pattern was much the same for the second set with Sam leading 3-1 and this set unfolded much like the first.Sam going down 6-3 6-3. Sam takes away a lot however from his tournament knowing he is one of the top boys in New Zealand for his age, and this tournament will make Sam a lot tougher player for future events. Annabel Ellis showed better court control in her semi of the 5th-8th playoff for girls defeating Ella Hassall 6-3 6-4.Later that day she teamed with Paige Hourigan to take out the girls 12s National Hardcourt Doubles Title crushing Canterbury duo Gabriela Coates and Olivia Smith 6-0 6-2.Lane partnering Lawrence Darling lost their doubles final to Connor Heap and Kai Lee. Sam and Annabel will be in action today in play offs.

Lane reaches 12s National Hardcourt Singles Semi Final

Sam Lane will this morning play one of his most important matches of his young career when he takes on top seed Kyle Butters in the Semi Final of the 12s National Hard courts in Hamiliton. Yesterday Sam demolished Bernard Van Der Spuy the 9th seed 6-0 6-1.Lane as he did in his pevious matched kept the pressure on throughout and unleashed some huge forehand winners.Which ever way the match goes today Sam has showed this tournament how much he has improved his game in many departments.His commitment to focusing by playing tournaments and matches is an important factor to why he has developed and I would hope some good advice and training from yours truley! Annabel Ellis self destructed in her quarter final match up against second seed Rosie Cheng 6-0 6-2.Ellis from the start failed to establish a pattern and played a poor tactical match trying to win the point far too early in the rally.I am sure that Annabel will learn a lot from this outing……….and this is why you can learn more from a losing game than a winning game. Anna Cochrane is also learning lots from nationals and has been involved in some very long matches. Yesterday to reach a consolation Plate final she defeated Claudia Maddren 4-6 6-1 6-4 , she went on to lose the final in another close match 7-5 6-4 to Katie Antsupova. In a close Quarter final Doubles match Anna and her partner lost a third set super tiebreak late on day three.Annabel and Sam will also feature in doubles Semi Finals today with partners. The above pictures are Sam top frame, Annabel in doubles action and Anna Cochrane right.

Sam Lane and Annabel Ellis reach Quarter Finals

South Canterbury juniors Annabel Ellis and Sam Lane swept into the National 12 Hardcourt's singles champs quarter finals in Hamilton with resounding wins yesterday.Lane defeated Lawrence Darling(Canterbury) 6-0 6-1.Lane played a near perfect game ,controlling play and then unleashing winners at the right time.Lane used the drop shot to perfection exploiting Darlings lack of mobility forward.Sam's ability to maintain and execute his game plan for the whole match enabled him to record in the end a very comfortable win.Annabel Ellis defeated Olivia Smith 6-0 6-2. Ellis had too much fire power winning the first set 6-0 as she unleashed a barrage of forehand winners.The second set was much the same with Ellis continuing to serve strong wrapping up the match 6-2.Anna Cochrane played a 2 hour match to go down in her consolation singles plate match 3-6 7-5 7-5 to Southlands Kim Allan.The first set saw Cochrane dominate with powerful forehands ,played in hot conditions Allan plugged away and Anna lost some energy and failed to capitalize on short balls losing the second and third sets 7-5 7-5.In all a very good match in which Anna will learn a lot from.All three South Canterbury Players had Main draw doubles wins also yesterday.The above pictures show Anna Cochrane top frame,Annabel Ellis and doubles partner Paige Hourigan left and Sam Lane right.

National 12 Hardcourts underway -Hamilton

The National 12s kicked of in Hamilton today. I am here with Anna Cochrane (pictured top) Sam Lane (Left) and Annabel Ellis (right). Both Sam and Annabel had comfortable wins today, with Anna losing her match. Sam is seeded 4th in the boys and he had too much class and power winning 6-0 6-1.Ellis seeded 6th won 6-2 6-3 but lost momentum a few times. Its all learning experience in this age and juniors must not be too hard on themselves during a match, you should save all your energy for your opponent and not have a running battle with ones inner self at times during a match. Anna Cochrane played a good first set against Jessica Shaw( Canterbury)losing it 6-2 after some hard fought rally’s. Feeling more pressure from her opponent Anna stopped being aggressive in the second set and allowed her opponent to dictate, losing the second set 6-0. Play continues tomorrow with some great match ups,after a day you could say which was very uneventful.

Robredo Top Seed For Heineken Open -Auckland

This Afternoon I popped down to Stanley Street and caught a glimpse of Tommy Robredo ( Spain) who is Top Seed for the Heineken Tennis Open in Auckland which starts tomorrow.Robredo was warming up on center court with coach.I have posted some highlights of the session and my Students may be familiar with one of the ball feeding techniques!.So juniors this type of feeding is still relevant to someone ranked in the top 20 male players in the world.Good Luck Tommy for the tournament!

Day 2 14s Teams Nationals.

Tom Deeley(South Canterbury - Southern) showed why Team event matches can produce different results than Main Draw, Tom scored a 3 set win over the guy who beat him in two sets first round of the Main Draw. The advantage of having coaches speak to players at the change of ends is a great benefit to players.Southern Boys are locked in a Battle with Northern at 2 rubbers all after singles wins from Henry Hailes and Tom Deeley pictured above in action.Earlier yesterday Southern Boys lost 5-1 to Waikato with Henry Hailes picking up the only win.

14s National Teams Event Auckland

Straight off the plane and into action!Southern 14 boys played top seeds Auckland yesterday and were thumped 6-0.Taylor Allan(Southland)was the pick of our players yesterday losing his number 2 singles in three sets and also partnering Henry Hailes(Otago)to go down in a third set tie break 10-8.Pictured above Taylor serving Henry Net.Watching the standard of matches being played in this age group was somewhat disappointing with no player showing exceptional form in this age group.The Boys singles was won by Cameron Norrie,Auckland over Finbar Argus from Canterbury 6-0 6-0 ,that result says it all.Whilst the girls event was won by Pang SUWANAPOSEE 6-0 6-4 from Paige HOURIGAN.

Sam Lane Finishes 14 Nationals in Style

Sam Lane won the 14s Boys Plate singles final in Auckland today.Lane( South Canterbury) defeated Lawrence Darling( ex South Canterbury and southern rep now Canterbury) in the final 6-0 6-4. Lane was brilliant in the first set executing his powerful forehand after setting up the point.Concentration lapsed a little in the second set but he still closed out the set and the match 6-4.Lane will now focus for his next tournament starting in Hamilton in a few days....the 12s Hard court Nationals.

I fly out tomorrow morning to Auckland to coach a very inexperienced Southern 14 boys team at the National event.It will be tough going against some of the best juniors in the country and getting the boys to believe they can compete will be the first task.I will then move on to Hamilton where I will be looking after South Canterbury players Sam Lane,Annabel Ellis and Anna Cochrane who is competing in her first nationals.

Junior players and parents have to come to terms at some stage on how far they want to go with their tennis.Nationals is a good place to sit and listen to Parents trade stories about how much court time their child is doing per week.It is true that the main contenders will have done a lot of training as well as playing a lot of matches and tournaments.The key to success at the end of the day is however how much of this training is parent driven and how much does the child really want to do this?There are so many story's of failures stemming from parent driven motivation..the player must have the self motivation to succeed.As a coach I have seen parents trying to live their dream through their child and their sport.Parents play a huge role but the way i see it! its support with a capital S and sacrifice with another capital S , because to reach the very top you have to forgo at times family holidays,sometimes go without certain luxury goods as indeed tennis at the elite level is expensive.

I believe the junior player that works hard , willing to go out and serve buckets of balls on their own,wanting to hit at every spare moment will end up achieving.I also see junior players turning up every two weeks with another new pair of shoes, new shirts and new racquet's every six months,Parents booking lots of hours with the pro coach each week because their child couldn't be bothered to put in other practice outside their coaching hours.In so doing it creates a player that just will not be able to stand on their own when the level of play increases....we all know this syndrome the picture below says it all.

Action at The Center- Timaru

Well back from Wanaka, The summer tennis season is crazy in New Zealand, so many events jammed into January ,Open Tournaments, National Juniors , Pro Events etc etc.Tyler lost his semi's to Tournament winner Alastair Hunt 6-2 6-3 in a reasonable match.Tyler managed to break the serve of Hunt twice but could not capitalize and hold his own.Alastair Hunt has had wins over Paradorn Srichaphan,and Richard Krajicek.Hunt beat Perry Crockett in the final 6-1 6-4.Pictured above are some players practising hard for upcoming tournaments The North Otago Open Grasscourt Champs in Oamaru are at the weekend and the South Canterbury Junior Tournament will kick off tomorrow!

Wanaka Day Two -Tennis Open Rain Rain Go away

Wet weather meant a late start for competitors today at the Wanaka Tennis Open. The clouds lifted by 1pm and play was under way by 2pm. Tyler Begg continued his winning way with a hard fought 7/6 6/4 against fellow Canadian Ryan Chow who is training with Wanaka Coach and second seed Perry Crockett. Begg gave a solid workman like performance against the power and unpredictable style of Chow. Begg and Chow exchanged service breaks until a tie break first set decided the set. Watching I always felt Tyler had the edge and he came out and won the second set 6-4. He played solid in most area’s but from my perspective on the sidelines needed to up the pace of his three quarter paced serves and allowed chow to dictate on some points at crucial times.But Definitely an improvement since Invercargill for Tyler and a more positive approach which is what we have been working on. Pictures above are action from Tylers match today.In other men's match ups Alastair Hunt Beat Saunders of Christchurch and will play Begg in the Semi’s tomorrow, whilst Crockett defeated Hornby of Christchurch also and will meet Vaughan Kingi of Canterbury.

Wanaka Tennis Open-Location Location

I guess being a tennis Coach one does get to travel to some unique tennis locations,and Wanaka ,New Zealand on a hot still summers day there's few places in the World that would create such a picturesque backdrop for a tennis tournament.I'm here with Canadian and South Canterbury Coach Tyler Begg who Ive been doing some work with over the past weeks hopefully fine tuning his game and keeping the motivation for hard work up.Tyler won his first round match today against Cantabrigian Jamie Poole 6-1 6-1.He plays another Canadian in the quarter finals tomorrow Ryan Chow.Favorite for the men's event is former Davis Cupper Alastair Hunt.Local Coach Perry Crockett will also throw his hat in the ring for the title.Tyler is pictured above from his first round match today.