Updated on Wednesday 21/07/10
Friday 16 July 2010
After a much needed and well spent 8 days in London, catching up with friends and getting some good hits, I was on my way to KL. Based in Europe for the last 10 months meant it was my first long haul flight in a while – 13 hours non stop. It wasn’t as bad as I feared. Even though I had trouble sleeping in the beginning, the tiredness kicked in later and I managed to get some good rest. It was only a couple of hours to go when I woke up and a couple of hours after landing I was nicely settled in my room at the Sports hostel conveniently located next to the Squash courts at Bukit Jalil where the earlier rounds are being played. Over the next couple of days I will be settling into the playing conditions and getting over the jetlag as soon as I can apart from practice hits. Steve is good company and an excellent training partner as always. I have been playing well and look forward to the matches in the qualifying draw on Monday.
Monday 19.07.10
Match days are usually different but today is exceptional because of an early start. I got up at 2am and couldn’t go back to sleep - still suffering from jetlag and the 7-hour time difference from UK. This is the worst case I have had as long as I can remember but then again I have never played in Asia coming in from Europe and its always harder from west to east. I am taking it positively in a way because staying up for so long guarantees me a good sleep after the morning session. It worked well and after another good practice session with Steve, I came back to the room and had a good rest and then a good nap after lunch and I was ready for the game. The onsite draw took place at the player’s lounge and I drew the fit Dane Kristian Olesen. I had seen him play before and expected a tough match and that’s exactly what it turned out to be.
The ball was bouncy in the warm Malaysian conditions even with air conditioning. I found it hard to control it and ended up playing too many cross courts. I managed to control the game well overall and won it 11-7. He came back strong in the second and after a few good rallies at the end of the game won it 11-8. I knew I was in trouble because now he had a sniff and knew that he had a shot at the match. The third was bad as I struggled to get length and lost that 11-4. Losing the important third and going 2-1 down meant I was on the way out of the tournament. Kristian started playing very well. He is a very basic but steady player and even though he doesn’t do much with the ball he gets a lot back and it also means he doesn’t make many mistakes. I struggled in the fourth and was down 5-9 and got my act together to win the game 12-10. The fifth could have been anyone’s but it ended up similar to the fourth where he led 9-5 and I came back strong. He had matchball at 10-8 which I saved through an error. Another long rally ended in a let and the next rally ended in him hitting my racket with the ball on returning my serve. The ref gave him a stroke and I pleaded the ball was into the sidewall but to no avail. A stroke was awarded and I was out of the tournament on the first day 9-11 in the fifth after 77 minutes - Disappointing to say the least!
Wednesday 21/07/10
As hard as I try to push away the thought - playing conditions do make a difference. The climate, the courts, tin height and atmosphere at the venue all play a part in the reuslt of the match. Hopefully I can choose my tournaments more according to where it suits me to play. Even though it wont be the ideal situation every time, I can still give myself a better chance by choosing events better. In saying that it shouldnt play on the mind too much.
Oh well, its time to train again and get ready for the next event. After a couple more days here I am off to NZ. I will recover from the travel and play Cousins on the weekend in Napier and get back to business in Auckland to train hard for two weeks for the Australian Open which is a target event for me this year. Look forward to it all - especially being back in NZ.
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