Hi everyone,

Long-time no see!

I have just come back from an international competition in Liverpool, where I went with other national tennis academy players.

It was a very positive experience, showing me the different areas in my game that I need to improve. One of these areas is my mental strength, where I need to learn how to not get angry and stay positive in tighter matches. I got to the quarter finals before losing in a tight 3 set match . I served extremely well in the match which was a bonus but just wasn’t enough to get though it. However, to get to the quarters I played two really good matches against a German and a Greek girl. I played the German girl first round and beat her 6-4,6-0 then I played a Greek girl which was a match and a half! It lasted almost 3 hours and is one of my best matches that I played in my whole career so far. My mental strength was very significant in this match which played a critical role in my ability to win under fatigue.

I also played doubles with one of my closest tennis friends, where we got to the semis. Playing with her actually made my movement and skills at the net improve massively. We tactically played well which I think helped us in the important points which we needed to win.

I also played under 18s county cup over the weekend for Gloucestershire which was incredibly fun especially because I was playing for a team instead of individually. I think that this was good for me personally as tennis is an extremely individual sport and so being part of a team for once was a nice change. I won all of my matches (3 singles and 2 doubles) apart from the last doubles against one of my fellow academy players.It was a really good match but I think overall I could’ve been more active at the net, especially on tighter points, which I need to go away and work on.

See you next time!

Amalia