Following the
Canberra Challenger tournament Greg decided he needed more training and fitness
before committing to playing further tournaments. He arranged to be based at
home in Sydney to be able to team up with Matt Barton, who is also from the
Northern Beaches, and to train at Homebush Tennis Centre, with the help of Australian Davis Cup
coach Wally Masur and NSW coach Dave Moore. They had an excellent start to the week but unfortunately on
the Wednesday Greg awoke to a stiff and very sore left elbow. He was unable to
train and once again had the tedious routine of rest and recovery. As a result
he was unable to play in either of the ITF tournament in Wollongong, nor in the
first or second Challenger tournaments in Japan.
After about a 10 day lay-off he was back on the courts, training his butt off with Barton. Then he faced an agonising decision - was he well enough prepared and fit enough to incur the expense of travelling to Toyota in Japan for the last Challenger Tournament of the year, on the off-chance of getting a decent draw. Or should he stay in Sydney and continue training and hitting and getting first rate coaching, as he was in a good cycle and presenting injury free and fit for the first time in a long time. He needed the points, as he was now unranked with no points, having lot his hard earned points garnered last year due to the string of injuries this year and he did not want to start the New Year unranked. His protected ranking also expired in December, making the points even more critical. Greg discussed the matter with the coaches and Masur advised him that from what he had seen he was fit enough and striking the ball well enough to compete at Challenger level. All good advice but if he copped a high seed first round, maybe he was not at top 100-150 level just yet?
After about a 10 day lay-off he was back on the courts, training his butt off with Barton. Then he faced an agonising decision - was he well enough prepared and fit enough to incur the expense of travelling to Toyota in Japan for the last Challenger Tournament of the year, on the off-chance of getting a decent draw. Or should he stay in Sydney and continue training and hitting and getting first rate coaching, as he was in a good cycle and presenting injury free and fit for the first time in a long time. He needed the points, as he was now unranked with no points, having lot his hard earned points garnered last year due to the string of injuries this year and he did not want to start the New Year unranked. His protected ranking also expired in December, making the points even more critical. Greg discussed the matter with the coaches and Masur advised him that from what he had seen he was fit enough and striking the ball well enough to compete at Challenger level. All good advice but if he copped a high seed first round, maybe he was not at top 100-150 level just yet?
Greg agonised, weighing up the permutations, then backed by his family, decided to roll the dice, travel to Japan and see how it played out. At worst, if he lost first round, he would be able to get back from Japan, a few dollars poorer, but with time to get back to Melbourne and represent Kooyong Tennis Club in the ATL competition. At best he wins his first round and gets the points needed to compete in ITF competition next year, or progresses even further in the tournament.
Now for a favourable draw... and some good tennis by a hopefully injury free Jonesie.
No comments:
Post a Comment