I spoke to Slabba yesterday about last week's 10K in Portugal.

Alex said "In the last tournament I lost in the 3rd qualies round to a Nadal lookalike. It was weird, he was an absolute copy. The same technique, an identical face and the same vamos screams. He was pretty good too and the courts really suited him. They're so sluggish and low bouncing, it's really hard to make headway in the rallies against the Spanish grinders."

"Unfortunately the courts this week in Lagos are exactly the same. They're higher bouncing but even slower !  The town's nice though, it's very sunny here and we're all topping up our tans !"

"I'm going to try and adapt my game style to suit the courts more this week, going to try and play more like the clay-courters - hit with a lot more topspin to get more of a loop shape with my shots."

"We've had our coach from Sutton, Nick Weal with us over the past week. It's been good as he can tell you off after your match and in practise when you're not doing things right with your tactics ! Unfortunately he goes on Monday."

"I'm staying in Portugal for another week after this tournament as I've made the main draw in Portugal F3. Then I'll return to Britain for the 15Ks, haven't decided yet when I'll play abroad again. Might head to the jungle with Seator !"

"Flanagan had a great draw last week, the top seed who he beat in rd2, was injured. However, he's also playing really well at the moment, so it was a combination."