Well said Sarah!

I'm afraid I couldn't disagree more with you, John!

I find Sarah's blogs absolutely fascinating; she's a very articulate young woman, who writes interestingly and well, painting a very clear picture of what life is like for someone good enough at tennis not to have to give up after a year or two's efforts, but not quite able to reach the level where tennis can provide a real living. I don't think she moans at all, merely telling how it is out there on the road.

Fault certainly lies in marketing, as 'Peter too' points out; the distribution of prize money also seems inappropriate - no wonder so many players appear on our radar for a couple of years before going off into coaching. A popular, world-wide, all-year sport should be able to provide a living for more than, say, 200 of each sex, which seems to be where the line is generally agreed to be. How many Brits make a living- not a fortune, just a living - from playing? A dozen? Twenty at most. Minor sports, in British terms, such as basketball, ice hockey and speedway support more pros than that. Come on, LTA, ATP, WTA, please find a way to give more financial support to the (slightly) lower echelons, those who are the life blood of our sport.

... and if you're reading this, Sarah, I'm sure virtually all of the site's membership will be looking for your results, watching your matches when you play near us, and supporting you for the rest of your career. Good luck with the search for wild cards, too!

That's a good find. I used to think her articles sounded a bit monay too, I must admit (though to some extent that would be understandable) but her recent ones have struck me as far more balanced and she clearly made a very good impression on that journalist.

Anyone know how I can contact Sarah please send me private message or get Sarah to do so.
I have a rare DVD of her mixed doubles match at Wimby 2008 that she might like to reflect on in later years. I also have 2007 against Jamie and Jelena (where she and Richard almost changed history!) but I expect she will have this already as it was on BBC.

Just read the article (after commenting on it...wrong order, I know) and it really is very good. We should take her up on her challenge and scrape some money together to send Sheddie on a tour following some british girls around to report on their activities.

It would be a terrible day if we all started having that attitude of 'let be' for anything that's difficult to achieve.

If 200 people went to see Felixstowe last year without almost any sort of publicity on a national scale, I don't see a reason to believe that you can't get a decent footfall of two or three thousands (in the whole week - not daily!) at every big Challenger in a few years.

You just need to start with it somewhere. The women's 75K, as I was saying in the Felixstowe thread, could be a great event given that it should attract top 150 players. If the LTA could persuade a few players to commit from before, they could use it to give ads/articles and I'm sure that would attract some people to buy tickets priced at something extremely nominal. Maybe that could be turned into a big event in a few years time given that players like Bally or Keothavong are hardly unknown.

You need to learn to make money from money, not just spend money (like the LTA does).

-- Edited by Greenleaf at 14:06, 2008-07-10

I was going to write this blog after my trip to the States, however I find myself stuck, bored and unable to sleep on the floor of Amsterdam airport at 2am, so no better time to write and portray the glamour of tennis! A quick recap of my whereabouts.

After Wimbledon, I came to the decision to stop playing singles, or at least stop preparing for singles and having any expectations. If you remember from previous blogs, I always choose to play Felixstowe because of the family I stay with and have been staying with for the past 12 years. Its a great place to be after such a hectic, mentally exhausting few weeks at Wimbledon. This year at Felixstowe I am happy to say, I came 2nd in the Pairs football-golf tournament, joint second in the battle for the Apprentice (Which team could prepare and make the most money at Olivia Scarfis birthday party), cooked some good meals for 14, lost in the final of singles and took home the doubles title. It was another great week and definitely what I needed, not only for tennis but also for my mental wellbeing. After that, the real tennis began. I played my doubles final first on the Sunday and then followed by singles. We played well in doubles, but with the singles, I was probably out classed by Silva. I have always wanted to win a $25 and thought what better way to do it at my last tournament, but my lack of singles practice and the great play of Silva was enough to stop that dream. After a celebration party at the house, I headed to bed early for a 3am wake up call and a long trip to Austria.

We arrive in Austria to torrential rain, perfect for both Courtney and I because neither one of us looked overly enthusiastic to be hitting any tennis balls. Due to the rain we were able to sleep all day, eat a little and then sleep some more, knowing that we had the following day to prepare for our match! For the first time in my doubles career, I had been given a great draw, a wild card pair, who had obviously never played or even met each other before. The only slip up could have been our nerves, however with a 100%winning record together and coming off another tournament win, we played convincingly and within ourselves, winning 6-0 6-2. To get your first WTA win under your belt is always good and we were ready for the next test, a combined pairing of top 50 in the world! Before the match we knew we had a few positional problems to iron out and thankfully the work Claire Curran put in with me, I was now aware of where I needed to be and what I needed to be doing. We spent 2 hours after that match going over the very basics and the different position and because of this; we were able to record our biggest win! We both played great against the top seeds and even though we had a match point against us, we still managed to continue to play in the way we had been practicing. The semi final match we were very excited for and honestly felt confident that we could beat them and get to the final. We still hadnt lost as a pair and after watching them play, we knew they played like 2 singles players on a doubles court. Unfortunately we didnt really play that well. We should have won, but failed to play the big points well and with the unorthodox way of playing by the opposition, we didnt really impose ourselves enough. One thing I worked out after the match, for the first time in my career I was truly and utterly gutted. Yes, I have had moments with my singles where I feel a bit down, but never like the feeling I had after this match. I sat and had a think about why I am now feeling so down about a loss and I realize that with singles, I never really, deep down believed that I could make it. Yes I had lots of people telling me I should and could be a top 100 player, but I never believed it, so when I did lose to someone who I thought was better than me, I shrugged it off. However, with doubles and for the first time, I know I am good enough and I think I should be higher than top 100. Yes, it will take a lot of hard work and I am not saying I will make it, its not 100%, but I do believe that I am capable of it. I have watched the top girls, competed against them and I dont see why I dont have the same hand skills, doubles ability to be up there with them! With that epiphany, we head back to the hotel at 10 pm, rush to eat, pack and get ready for yet another early morning call!

4am and we are hurtling through the quiet streets of Bad Gastein towards the train station for our 5am train to Slovenia. Due to the adrenaline the night before I managed to get 2 hours sleep, so I was looking forward to getting on to the train and passing out. Unfortunately, the train was packed and the only place we could find to sit was on the floor next to the toilets, yes, it is a glamorous job I know! So at 5am, sat with my hood up, I pod on, trying not to inhale the stench of stale urine, I try and get some rest for my 6pm match that evening! We are picked up, driven an hour to the hotel, scramble into breakfast and then launch ourselves into bed for a few hours sleep. Obviously sleeping during the day, knowing you have a match later in that evening is never easy and it never seems to make you feel any better. Waking after 2 hours, feeling dehydrated and disorientated, I leave Courtney to sleep some more and I head off into the heat of Portoroz. Wandering to the tennis center I was wondering how I was really going to motivate myself for the match. I had just come from altitude and cool weather, to a sea side resort and 80 degrees, not the most inspiring day for tennis. I make it to the courts, tell everyone I made it, eat lunch, seethe physio for my ankle impingement (Voltarol, greatest drug in the world if you want to play through pain!) and head onto the court for my match against Brianti! Im not sure if it was the colour of the court, the fact that there was a massive run back, or I was used to playing on half a court, but it seemed absolutely massive. Slightly perplexed by how far I was going to have to run and how tired my legs felt, I decided to use the match as a training exercise for my doubles. I actually played quite well, serving and volleying and heading to the net whenever possible. I was never going to win it, what you may scream, why not. Mentally I wasnt prepared to stay out there that long and physically I was shattered.

Our doubles once again proved to be very good. Even though we were playing the 2nd seeds, we had watched them before and we honestly believed we had a good draw. We demolished them in the first, playing simple, yet affective doubles, completing each of the plays we had repeated in our practices. At 6-1 2-0 up and deuce point on my serve, which we lost, we thought a bit of where we were and they started to up their game. We allowed it to get to us and unfortunately didnt continue playing at the standard we are used too. Nevertheless, after taking Courtney out with a second serve (it was very windy and 11pm) I pulled myself back together and we won it in a tensely fought tie break. We were excited and happy again to beat such strong opposition, but to be honest we both believe that we should and are capable of doing it week in week out. Unfortunately, in the next match, which should have been a little simpler, we lost to a pair who were similar to the pair the previous week, 2 singles players playing doubles. We seem to have a slight problem enforcing our game on pairs who leave the court wide open and play quite unorthodox doubles. We have been working extra hard on it however, so hopefully it wont become a massive problem.

After Slovenia I decided to head through London and spend the night, which perhaps wasnt the greatest idea. On Saturday I had booked a taxi to leave at 1130am from Reigate, unfortunately, the car didnt turn up till 12.10. With a crash on the M25 I spent and hour and a half frantically calling round different travel agencies, talking my parents through how to book online, calling Sweden to check if I was signed in and whether I could get a later match tomorrow. I was close to tears, hang on, not close, I was sobbing in the backseat of the taxi, trying hard to be polite to the taxi man who was telling me just flash my PROFESSIONAL TENNIS PLAYER card at them and they will let me on! Not sure what planet he was on, but obviously not the I am only a tennis player planet. After being told I had lost the $700 flight and to buy a new one would cost me $1200, but wouldnt get me there for my match, so I would incur a fine for no show, I started to panic. I arrived at Heathrow and still couldnt find any other options, until I called STA Travel, possibly the greatest travel agency in the world. I found a flight for $560 which meant waiting there from 2pm till 8pm at night, getting to Amsterdam airport at midnight and sleeping on the floor till 5am, boarding another flight and arriving in Stockholm at 10am, ready for my match at 2pm. So here I am now, sat on my computer in brightly lit, freezing cold airport lounge. I had been sleeping on the floor with a few other stragglers, until these 3 Russian boys came and sat down and failed to realize it was 1am and people were trying to sleep. I slipped off, found the meditation room, with no one in, and tried to sleep there, until I heard the cleaners trying to lock the door and I jumped out of the corner I was hiding in. Would just be my luck to miss the next flight because I was sat in some religious hang out, slightly ironic. After that, I gave up and found a comfy seat to sit on and to write to you. Oh the glamour of tennis, I could certainly contemplate a 9 5 job at the moment, as I sit and wait for either sleep to overtake me or sheer and utter boredom! Really cant wait for my singles match, against the number 80 in the world!!