Members Login
Username 
 
Password 
    Remember Me  
Link Back -> Andrew Murray message board -> General tennis discussion -> GB Off-Season 2013
Post Info TOPIC: GB Off-Season 2013
Bob in Spain


Tennis legend

Status: Offline
Posts: 19391
Date:
RE: GB Off-Season 2013
Permalink  

Just got back from a fabulous day down in La Manga watching the guys go through their paces.

They are certainly competitive. You would not believe the "discussions" (to use a polite word) that they can get into with regard to "rule violations" during a warm up game of "Footy-Tennis" LOL.

Anyway, after running drills for an hour or so, they paired off into singles matches, where Luke beat Liam 4-6 6-3 11-9 in a match that could have gone either way and Oli beat Evan 7-6 6-2. They all played pretty well in patches but it was clear that they were "running on empty" for much of their matches after a hard 3 week pre-season. Still great to watch though and there was no lack of effort from any of them.

Toby took part in the drills but then sat out the matches as he nurses a slight abdominal strain. He is hoping to test it out tomorrow before deciding whether or not to play in Sheffield next week.

One thing I really liked was the postivity at all times from the coaches. I commented on it to James Trotman as we watched the matches. They have a great way of pointing out a negative and yet still finding a way to make it sound like a positive.

For example, if someone was struggling on the forehand in a rally, instead of saying "you forehand was rubbish", they would say "backhand is looking great, but let's try to bring the forehand up to that level." This would then be followed by technical advice on how to achieve that. I have always been someone who believed in the carrot rather than the stick and this positivity really matches my own ethos in coaching.

Scoop of the Day

And it is not good news. Unfortunately Alex Ward's arm injury is quite serious and he is not expected to play for 6 to 8 weeks at least.

In other news, Oli and Luke are off to Portugal for 3 weeks and Evan will join them for weeks 2&3, whilst Liam will start in the Wirral in Week 6

Finally, for those that don't follow me on Twitter, I will put up a few pics for you to look at.

 



__________________
Bob in Spain


Tennis legend

Status: Offline
Posts: 19391
Date:
Permalink  

Volley Drills with Liam Oli and Luke

Volley Drills copy.jpg



__________________
Bob in Spain


Tennis legend

Status: Offline
Posts: 19391
Date:
Permalink  

Evan ripping a backhand

Evan Backhand copy.jpg



__________________
Bob in Spain


Tennis legend

Status: Offline
Posts: 19391
Date:
Permalink  

Oli preparing a backhand slice (or was he in a forehand follow through?)

Oli copy.jpg



__________________
Bob in Spain


Tennis legend

Status: Offline
Posts: 19391
Date:
Permalink  

Luke running serving drills

Bambo Serve copy.jpg



__________________
Bob in Spain


Tennis legend

Status: Offline
Posts: 19391
Date:
Permalink  

Liam checking his strings - a valuable commodity given the absence of the stringer. (James Rose - La Manga Tennis Director - had to step into that role temporarily)

Liam copy.jpg

 



__________________
Bob in Spain


Tennis legend

Status: Offline
Posts: 19391
Date:
Permalink  

Toby heading for some hard earned R & R after a long session.

Toby copy.jpg



__________________
indiana


Tennis legend

Status: Offline
Posts: 40759
Date:
Permalink  

Great report and pics, Bob, thanks.

I see that Luke notched another win in his head to head vs Liam :)

What's your impressions re Evan ? He seems to be a player well regarded for a long time, but yet to make a real breakthrough.

Sorry to read about Alex.

__________________
RJA


Hall of fame

Status: Offline
Posts: 9639
Date:
Permalink  

indiana wrote:

What's your impressions re Evan ? He seems to be a player well regarded for a long time, but yet to make a real breakthrough.

I hope you don't mind if I butt in and offer an opinion.

If have seen Evan play a few times and there is clearly potential there. He has a "big game" especially on the forehand wing but I don't think he has yet learned to use it as well as he could. I think it is possible, although far from certain,  that he will make a decent challenger level player in a few years time. Beyond that, doubtful but you never know.



__________________
Coup Droit


Tennis legend

Status: Online
Posts: 55267
Date:
Permalink  

RJA wrote:
indiana wrote:

What's your impressions re Evan ? He seems to be a player well regarded for a long time, but yet to make a real breakthrough.

I hope you don't mind if I butt in and offer an opinion.

If have seen Evan play a few times and there is clearly potential there. He has a "big game" especially on the forehand wing but I don't think he has yet learned to use it as well as he could. I think it is possible, although far from certain,  that he will make a decent challenger level player in a few years time. Beyond that, doubtful but you never know.

 

I agree. I saw him in summer and was impressed - good athlete, very 'clean' game, lots of power. He struck me rather as still a junior player, which probably ties in with what RJA is saying about not having learned yet how to use his game to the full advantage.

 

I think it's a huge shame that his US college thing fell through due to that stupid clause but I could see him, in a few years to come, as a top 300 player with no problem (also tying in with RJA's decent challenger definition) and, yes, beyond that, who knows . . .



__________________
Bob in Spain


Tennis legend

Status: Offline
Posts: 19391
Date:
Permalink  

With regard to Evan, I was particularly impressed with his ball striking off boths wings and there is definite potential. I am probably not astute enough tactically to comment on point construction, shot selection etc, but he really pushed Oli hard in the first set that they played yesterday. In fairness to Evan, he more than anyone, seemed to be running on empty in the second set as the toll of 3 weeks pre-season was catching up on them all.

As an interesting aside, I asked "Trotters" if the players had official ranking targets for this year. Evan's target is top 650 whilst Oli's is top 250. He wasn't able to give the the targets for the other guys. I would definitely say that Evan has a good chance of making that target this year.

__________________
indiana


Tennis legend

Status: Offline
Posts: 40759
Date:
Permalink  

Thanks for the feedback re Evan guys. Be interesting to watch his progress.

Re Oli, WR 250 looks to me a very reasonable target and, particularly bearing in mind how he finished last year, about the minimum I would have expected as a target. I predicted y/e WR 240 for him, and would be delighted if even that proved too cautious.

__________________
«First  <  1 2 3 4 5 | Page of 5  sorted by
 
Quick Reply

Please log in to post quick replies.
Link Back -> Andrew Murray message board -> General tennis discussion -> GB Off-Season 2013
Tweet this page Post to Digg Post to Del.icio.us


Create your own FREE Forum
Report Abuse 		Powered by ActiveBoard