Adam Lownsbrough, Blog #2 (Adelaide)

Hello again and happy new year!

We have been in Adelaide for a week at the $25,000 ITF Pro circuit event at the Playford tennis centre. The venue is new with 16 courts and nice facilities for the players. Alongside the women’s event there is an ATP Challenger $75,000 event running at the same time. Most of the male and female players are going to melbourne next week for qualifying so the tournament here is extremely strong for that reason.

In the Men’s you have players such as Danil Medvedev, Bjorn Frantangelo, Sergiy Stakhovsky, Tommy Paul and Ricardo Berankis to name but a few. The women’s event is just as tough with Vera Zvonereva, Alexandra Dhulgheru and Laura Robson. There is also a young Canadian player here, Bianca Andreescu, who is definitely one to watch for the future who is coached by Nathalie Tauziat a former top 5 WTA player.

It’s a nice part of our job travelling to be able to watch the guys compete as well as the girls. As a coach I believe you never stop learning and it’s important to research and keep your eyes open for fresh ideas which may be useful. Obviously what works for one player may not work for another but tennis is continually evolving, so experiencing and experimenting with new ideas is important.

We had a few days good practice here with the other players playing plenty of practice points. It was important for Ipek, after a long training block, to get back into the rhythm of playing points and being competitive.

Unfortunately Ipek lost yesterday 1st round to Laura Robson 62 67 64. It was a tough draw for both players first round, but always good to face a strong test before a slam and the level of the match from both players was very high. Looking at the stats after the match there was not much in it, just a few “moments/points” which didn’t go our way that could have made a difference, but that’s sport. You can often learn more from a defeat than a victory so we will keep going with out preparation for Melbourne.

Today we are having our last day in Playford and will have a light hit before flying to Melbourne on Friday morning. The qualifying event for the girls starts on Thursday the 11th so we have time to get a feel for the environment in melbourne and enjoy the city.

Thanks everyone for reading and best wishes for 2018!

Adam