Week 23 - Futures F5 ($10K) - Karuizawa, Japan - Clay

steven · Tennis legend

Week 23 - Futures F5 ($10K) - Karuizawa, Japan - Clay

seagull · Hall of fame

Fitz playing 3 events here and according to ITF are on clay, hard, and grass respectively!

steven · Tennis legend

So that'll be artificial grass with lots of sand, worn artificial grass with hardened sand and artificial grass with a bit less sand then? wink

-- Edited by steven on Sunday 5th of June 2011 06:05:20 PM

steven · Tennis legend

This is what the courts actually look like:

http://www.karuizawa-tennis.com/futures/index.html

steven · Tennis legend

More importantly, another point for Fitzy

... though it got a bit tight after a storming start!

L32: Andrew Fitzpatrick WR 985 beat Koshi Watanabe (JPN) WR 1460 by 6-0 3-6 7-5

L16: Andrew Fitzpatrick WR 985 v (7) Hiroyasu Ehara (JPN) WR 715

Shhh · Challenger level

Well done Fitzy. A long trip, lets hope for a decent points return. Would 4pts from the 3 weeks be a decent minimum to aim at?????

Fitzy · Intermediate Club Player

hi, yeah you are right, the clay is not really clay its basically sand. The court gets so dry you cant really stand up, so they water it with.......wait for it....a watering can....WAHEY!
who said that Japanese were ahead of us with technology?
Well i dont need to tell you that it doesnt work, and it leaves massive puddles across the court, i fell over the point after they watered it, at 2-1 in the third 15-0.....what sort of timing is that to decide to water it?

Then then chucked a load of fresh clay onto it apparently saying that would work. A full 10 minutes later we re started.
I won the first set dropping 4 points in total, and then lost a bit of concentration in the second and dropped my serve once.
Broke him at 6-5 in the third and it was just big serving all around.

slightly at altitude this week, 1000m infact so i guess quite high, and im serving big so hopefully that will help on weds.

Apparently the last week being 'synthetic' its awful and you cant move, and foreigners hate it so the japanese tell me.

Ive just got doubles tomorrow as they have split the draw.

Im hoping to make a semi's in one of the weeks, playing more than good enough.

steven · Tennis legend

Well done and thanks for the report - I was hoping we'd see a bit of you on here while you're in the Far East

goldfish · Futures qualifying

Well done - pleased to see you back earning points. Hope it proves to be a good trip.

S&V · Club Coach

Great result keep it up!

Drew · Jun 7, 2011

Fitzy an enjoyable post as always.

Fitzy · Intermediate Club Player

so i just got back from my match.

I won the first set 63 and was serving at 53 in the second and decided to not find a first serve. I guess you could say i bottled it as i played a few slack points which completely let him back into it when i was dominating everything.
Lost the second 57.

So start of the third set, good 2 hours elapsed by this time, first game i went to hit a high forehand and got cramp in all my fingers and my right forearm, if there was to be one place i wouldnt want cramp then it would be there!
Horrendous and its left me feeling so frustrated as anyone that knows me, knows i put more effort in off the court than anyone else i know. So to get cramp like this is very unexplainable.

I tried to hit through it, but i was fighting a losing battle not being able to grip anything and fingers seasing up. lost the final set 62.

Not in the best place now, but will take a few days and gather myself and head to next week.

63 57 26.

Every match today went to 3 sets.

Madeline · Admin:Moderator + Tennis Legend

What a shame! All the best for next week.

steven · Tennis legend

What a weird thing to happen and so frustrating. Still, hopefully it's a one-off and if you would have beaten the 7th seed if it hadn't been for that problem, it suggests you've got a good chance of picking up quite a few points over the next couple of weeks.

Drew · Jun 8, 2011

Fitzy wrote:
so i just got back from my match.

I won the first set 63 and was serving at 53 in the second and decided to not find a first serve. I guess you could say i bottled it as i played a few slack points which completely let him back into it when i was dominating everything.
Lost the second 57.

So start of the third set, good 2 hours elapsed by this time, first game i went to hit a high forehand and got cramp in all my fingers and my right forearm, if there was to be one place i wouldnt want cramp then it would be there!
Horrendous and its left me feeling so frustrated as anyone that knows me, knows i put more effort in off the court than anyone else i know. So to get cramp like this is very unexplainable.

I tried to hit through it, but i was fighting a losing battle not being able to grip anything and fingers seasing up. lost the final set 62.

Not in the best place now, but will take a few days and gather myself and head to next week.

63 57 26.

Every match today went to 3 sets.

Thanks for the honest appraisal mate....you take care and we are all rooting for you.