British Tennis Forum - Celebrating 20 Years!

Watched on and off yesterday and today from Queens on BBC, seem to be a reasonable number of empty seats in the main arena - is that really the case? Fewer spectators than past years?

The blog goes on

So I arrived in London on a late-night flight on Thursday to prepare for the opening of the grass season. The traditional grass tournament at Queen's Club is on my calendar for the third time, and I've spent quite a bit of time in London in recent years. The tournament uses a so-called per diem system, which is exceptional for an ATP tournament, where the tournament gives players 290 pounds per night, and they have to find their own accommodation. Based on the good experiences from a couple of years ago, this time too, I found my own accommodation in the Kensington area, a fifteen-minute walk from the tournament venue at the Resirence Inn by Marriott hotel, where the apartment has a separate living room and kitchen in addition to just a bed. A bit more of a homely atmosphere.

Compared to previous years, the courts and player facilities are largely unchanged, but the main sponsor has changed, as has the colour scheme of the entire venue. Last year at the Cinch Championship, the courts were edged in purple, but this year the main colour of the HSBC Championship is the more traditional red. The women's competition is also on the programme for the first time in 50 years, a week before the men's competition. The courts were a little worn out when we arrived, but fortunately that hasn't caused a major problem. However, these are probably some of the best grass courts in the world, with surfaces even smoother than those at Wimbledon.

The weather in London has been absolutely summery, so we've been able to do the training really well according to plan. On Friday we got a feel for it with Henry alone and again in the afternoon when Luke Johnson joined in as third. From Saturday onwards, the training program has also included playing points with other teams. Arevalo/Pavic, Salisbury/Skupski and Cash/Glasspool have already been challenged in training games and it's gone quite nicely. In addition, we've also continued doing our own exercises with Henry, and I've also managed to do some traditional serving practice.

The conditions have seemed really fast to almost everyone, and especially the players who came from 's-Hertogenbosch last week have said that at Queen's Club the ball seems to slide twice as fast over the grass. So apart from the serve and return, there haven't been many other shots to hit in the foursome. Maybe one longer rally per set has been achieved. I personally have nothing against fast courts, and especially in singles it's nice to see a bit of different tennis than just backcourt cannonade. But the very short grass in the foursome makes it quite difficult to break the serve.

The soft grass surface is actually really gentle on the body, and my back pain has stayed at bay really well. My glutes and hips are always tight for a couple of days when I switch to grass, but I'm starting to get used to that too. The Slazenger balls also feel pleasantly soft after the rock-hard French Open balls. However, the slippery surface of the court has its own challenge, which has already caused a few injuries, especially on court 1, which is shaded by the center court in the afternoon. The grass surface feels prone to getting wet in the shade, and several players have already collected themselves from the court surface after slipping in the shade. This is not the first year that the same court has caused problems, but that probably doesn't comfort Luke Johnson, another player coached by Calvin, when a wrist injury from a fall ended the games right at the start.

Four days of training are now behind us, and we still have one more day to complete with honor before the real games begin for us. We will face Ebden/Thompson, the pair who won last week's Dutch competition, and knowing their grass success, we couldn't have faced a much worse pair in the first round. But we are ready, of course, and it has not been very common for anyone to beat us in the first round either.

The serve and return game is emphasized on a fast court, but somehow it even feels like you can score points on such a fast surface with even mediocre serves. In returns, it's not worth just trying to get the ball into play, because without proper aggression, the point will easily go unwinnable. In the return game, you have to look for a solution with a little risk from the beginning and believe that at the latest in the tie break, those shots will hit. And otherwise, keep your concentration high and your net game sharp.

The weather forecast shows nothing but heat for the rest of the week, so if the games go smoothly, it will definitely be a sweet week. But let's humbly move forward one match at a time. We're fine with being on grass, but the differences are minimal.

Dan being really helpful and encouraging young Henry :)

indiana wrote:

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Very sharp turnaround from Dan after his singles!

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 Yes, god knows what they would have done if Dan's singles had gone to three sets 

(well, not played the doubles now, obviously , but you know what I mean )

 

Dan & Henry save four BPs, with some nifty serving from Dan and an amazingly aggressive crosscourt backhand from Henry 

Henry+ looked a little un-amused