Notes to Myself

Powerballs

Powerballs are quite popular at work and apparently we've got one of the UK's top record holders! I've recently joined in the fun by ordering my own Neon Powerball.

Basically, Powerballs are powerful gyroscopes which once started you accelerate using just your wrist. The interesting part is that the faster it spins the more force it exerts on your arm.

Supposedly, Powerballs can be used at low speeds to reduce the risk of RSI and I can see my powerball help to strengthen my forearm for tennis. To be honest though, most guys (including myself) are purely interested in hitting the highest speeds possible. Personally, I've only managed 10,700 RPM. As a point of reference the world record is 16,553 RPM!

Perfect Form

For a while now I've been in a quandary regarding tennis, though the subject concerns all sports. Should your goal be winning or trying to achieve perfect form?

Being a bit of a perfectionist, I do strive to play elegant tennis and I admire players with beautiful strokes. I also have to admit that I don't like losing to players with less than attractives strokes. I follow the school of thought that if you improve your strokes your game will also improve. It's not that simple, of course, as learning tactics and executing them etc. obviously contribute to development at being 'good'.

Is winning the be all and end all? I was speaking to a very good tennis player today and he thinks that winning is the ultimate goal. As he says, 'You can see somebody play and think that person is a great player. But are players with beautiful strokes and perfect form remembered or really recognised by their peers if they don't win any competitions.' A good point.

According to this new tennis aquantance being a skilled player and being a good player (my best translation at least) are two separate things. I asked whether he thought there were good players who weren't so skilled, or at least didn't have an 'attractive game'. Of course, I knew the answer but still don't like the answer!

Tennis Sketch

Microgel Prestige

Head's Migrogel technology line of rackets has been out for some time now. As is always the case the Prestige version is always released after the other product lines. However, the time of the Microgel Prestige has come!

I'm a Prestige fan owning several models including the Prestige Classic 600, Prestige Tour 600, i.Prestige and LiquidMetal Prestige. A thin 19mm constant beam and classic look, particularly the Classic/Tour 600s, make for attractive rackets, probably beyond my game.

You have to take these new technologies with a pinch of salt, especially when you hear of how many pros are really playing with their old rackets painted to look like the newly released rackets. Also you have to wonder when one technology completely phases another one out.

Lots of skilled players are constantly looking for rackets which feels like old classic such as the Prestige Classic 600 or Pro Staff 6.0. If those old rackets are so great then will a newer racket material really make a better racket? Maybe.

Here's the sales pitch for Microgel:

Rock-solid feel and touch: With the lowest density of any material, HEAD MicroGel™ is a revolutionary new silicone-based material. HEAD has combined MicroGel ™ with stiff and strong carbon composite fibers to create a racquet with incredible responsive qualities. On ball impact, MicroGel™ uniformly distributes the impact load around the frame to provide the most rock-solid feel and superior touch ever achieved in the game.

Having voiced my doubts about new technologies, I am still eager to try out the new Microgel Prestige to see how it plays. They are already up for sale on eBay...

Murray Bashing

The time difference between the UK and Australia meant that by the time I started work this morning Andy Murray had already lost in the first round of the Australian Open in Melbourne.

Of course, this prompted my colleagues to launch into their usual tirade of comments against Murray and indeed poor old Henman. I do my best to defend the British players but I think this just encourages my colleagues to bash them even more.

Murray may have lost in the first round of a Grand Slam but he's still only 20 and is already ranked 9th in the World. Credit where credit is due!

Frosty Sunrise

A frosty winter morning brought a beautifully warm feeling sunrise to London. These photos were taken this morning at about 8:16, just before teeing off on hole 1 (or 10 in our case) at Stockey Park Golf Club, London.

The ground was frostry and our spikes picked up ice like we were walking in a massive freezer. As the sun rose the frost and ice began to melt and by the time we reached the last hole the course was a beautiful green.

Today was the first outing with my new clubs and on the whole it went really well, with a couple of miraculous long puts, in other words flukes, good irons and an improving feel for the driver/woods. My putting in general is awful, though.

My score was approximately 106, though I forgot to mark my score for one hole and another hole was reduced to a par 3 due to green improvements. In any case, it was a marked improvement over scoring 125 last time on the same course.

I think I'll make it my goal to be consistently scoring around 110 before the year is out. Hopefully I'll be able to play golf at least once every six weeks. Practice, practice, practice!

Pain on Ice

Fancy a spot of ice skating just two minutes from Liverpool Street Station in London? Then head over to Broadgate ICE before it closes this coming Sunday.

I took a few photos as I walked by and took a couple of shots (pictured) which showed that it's not all fun and games. Be careful, now.

You can also ice skate at the Tower of London until Sunday 13 January. Just make sure you don't mind shelling out £12 if you go during peak hours.

Golf Clubs

I'm planning a game of golf involving a friend visiting from Japan and made a booking this morning. Coincidentally, later in the day I also went to the Top Golf driving range.

When we arrived at Top Golf I was taken in by the massive sale signs and went into the golf shop. I found a very reasonable set of Ram golf clubs on sale. For the price they can't be the best clubs in the world but apparently they aren't bad and are aimed at relative beginners.

I took a few of the Ram clubs out (with paper stuck to the club faces) onto the driving range and hit some fantastic balls. It was clearly meant to be. All I need now is some golf shoes. Maybe a Volkswagen Golf, too!

Marathon News

The Marathon News arrived on my doormat.

'Due to over-subscription your application to run the Flora London Marathon has been unsuccessful'.

At this rate I might get to five years of rejected applications and earn a guaranteed place.

Mount Fuji Golf

The day after I arrived in Japan a typhoon washed out my Saturday plans. On the plus side, after the typhoon had passed the following day weather was outstanding. There wasn't a single cloud in the sky and the temperature was a comfortable 20-25 degrees Celcius. The perfect conditions for a spot of golf.

My friends and I got up early and hit the road heading through Kanagawa-ken on our way to Izu in Shizuoka-ken. As we approached Odawara a magnificent landscape unfolded, dominated by a snow capped Mount Fuji.

I've seen Mount Fuji on numerous occasions but this was by far my clearest sighting so far. Even my Japanese friends were blown away and said that you very rarely if ever get to see Fuji under perfect conditions. Throughout the day we kept turning around, pointing and saying, 'Wow!'

As we got further and further from Tokyo we became surrounded by the beauty of rural Japan. Rice fields skirted the roads and small rivers peppered with huge rocks flowed down from the mountainsides. We drove further into the mountains upon reaching Shizuoka and followed a tiny winding road that led through a small onsen village. If we didn't have a car navi I doubt we would have made it to the course at all.

The golf course was incredible - just check out these views! Can you spot the ball in this picture? I don't think I've ever been surrounded by such scenery, topped off by the ever present Fuji, towering on the horizon.

This was my second time playing on a full-sized golf course. It wasn't all that tiring thanks to our petrol powered cart! Great fun! We whizzed along the little paths like golf playing go-carters. The service and hotel/clubhouse facilities were top notch. You do pay for it though: approximately £75 for one round of golf.

We finished the day off by witnessing a stunning Mt. Fuji sunset and then by bathing in the on-site outdoor onsen. This was one of those magical days that you couldn't have worked out any better.

6-1 4-6 6-2

6-1 4-6 6-2! Against a very good player, L-san. Well chuffed!

Tennis can often come down to something simple: making the fewest mistakes. Shot choice is difficult, balancing consistent tennis with aggressive shot making in the right situations. When your opponent is bombing down serves and hitting heavy spin ground strokes things can get confusing very quickly.

At the beginning of the third set my strings broke, perfectly in the middle of the hoop! The cross strings in my hybrid set are Babolat Excel Premium and unsurprisingly they broke before my poly mains. The orange Signum Pro Poly Plasma mains were still in pretty good condition.

I've been trying various string hybrid combinations and tensions but so far Babolat Excel Premium at 54lbs on the crosses and Signum Pro Poly Plasma @ 56lbs on the mains has worked best. The Signum Pro strings are durable and have a certain soft elastic feel while the Babolat strings are good for spin and comfort.

A few months back I ordered a half set of natural gut. Incredibly gut is better in almost all regards (except durability) than synthetic strings. The difference in play is noticeable - more spin and more power. In fact, there is so much more power that stringing at the same tension as my Babolat strings prooved to be a big mistake. Unfortunately, I should have increased the tension to compensate for this extra power. I've wasted my first set of natural strings!

Japanese Muscle

Is it the same day, the day after or second day after playing sport or doing excessive exercise when your body starts to give you pain? Why can it take so long for this aching feeling to affect us?

I'd always thought that fit people normally felt muscle aching the second day after pushing their bodies. I'm not sure where I got this information from or whether it's just some kind of myth.

On a number of occasions the Japanese people I play tennis with have said that as you get older the pain or muscle ache takes longer to set in. So which is the correct answer? Does each culture have a different idea about this or am I just wrong?

The Japanese have a word for this kind of muscle pain, 筋肉痛 ('kinniku-tsu'), literally, muscle pain. It feels so much easier to say than something like 'my muscles ache from...' though now that I type it out it doesn't seem quite so long winded.

I guess if you were very very fit you wouldn't get this kind of pain at all, though even the best athletes have to watch out for repetitive strain injuries.

Back Pain

I've had back pain for a while now. Bad back pain comes and goes, particularly after lugging around my heavy tennis bag or pushing myself too hard on the crunch machine at the gym. In general though, it's gradually getting worse.

A couple of years back when I was in Japan I never suffered from back pain and always wondered what people were moaning about. Some time after returning to London though, I noticed a strange sensation in my back.

When learning to drive I found the seat uncomfortable and after driving for about half an hour my back would be in quite a bit of pain. In the end I had to bring a towel with me each time to roll up and support my lower back. I thought the seat was designed for much taller folk but perhaps my spine just isn't quite right.

On the way to work and back each day I can't get comfortable when sitting down, no matter what posture I try. Even if I shove myself right into the back of the seat to support my lower back I feel a feeling of discomfort growing. Not really pain but discomfort. This cannot be a good sign. Even when I sleep on my back I've noticed that I wake up with a sore back.

I tend to blame sitting down all day at work on an uncomfortable seat. I've tried everything to sit properly at at my desk though. I have a foot support, got my desk lowered, have a wrist rest and even use my mouse left handed to protect my tennis arm and shoulder.

At lunchtime today at the gym I thought I'd use the opportunity to stretch out and relax my back on a Swiss ball while doing some crunches. Tonight I realise this was a big mistake!

Or was it the running machine? Can running hurt your back? I always wonder when jogging whether to maintain an upright position or whether this is damaging. Anyone know about this?

Today I was reading how scientific studies show that acupuncture is one of the best methods for the treatment of back pain. It so happens that one of my tennis friends does acupuncture, so I might give it a shot. It's not cheap though.

Racket Rage

People get so upset when they lose to me...

Farewell Henman

Fittingly, Tim Henman's final professional match ended in victory as he won in doubles alongside Jamie Murray in the Davis Cup this afternoon. I felt very privileged to witness his last match live, held at Wimbledon, Court One.

Although I'd prepared myself for sitting out and feeling cold the clouds cleared and the sun beamed down all afternoon. The weather was great and the atmosphere was electric.

I felt sorry for the Croat pair, Marin Cilic and Lovro Zovko, as unsuprisingly the crowd was 95% in favour of Great Britain. Whenever the Henman Murray pair scored a point the crowd roared almost like they'd just won a Grand Slam! Mind you, there was a group of red and white clad Croatian fans roaring football chants, banging drums and cheering their players on with gusto.

The match itself was a real nail biter, especially when the Croatian pair broke Jamie Murray's serve to take the first set. There were some great points with some truly elegant top-spin lobs from Henman and some incredible serve and volleying by Jamie Murray. The Croats played well and at many points I felt they had the upper hand but in the end Henman and Murray came through.

With Henman's final cross court winner the match was won (4-6 6-4 7-6 7-5), as was the Davis Cup tie. The crowd erupted and gave Tim Henman a standing ovation which only died down once Sue Barker had appeared and started to interview the players.

The whole Davis Cup team, including Andy Murray who had watched the match from the second row behind the umpire's chair, took to the court to acknowledge the audience and give Tim Henman a good send off. Finally, Henman lifted his daughter out of the stands and carried her around the court, both of them waving goodbye until they'd left the court.

> Davis Cup Photo Album
> NotesToMyself Photo Galleries

> Davis Cup highlights: GB v Croatia doubles
> Henman thanks crowd after final match
> www.timhenman.org

Turbo Tennis

Turbo Tennis is a super charged high speed version of tennis. Matches last for thirty minutes allowing a mini-tournament to take place within just one afternoon. The aim of Turbo Tennis appears to be to make tennis more exciting and accessible.

The Turbo Tennis rules are quite different to traditional tennis. For example, there are strict time limits between points, sudden death points (no deuce), net cords are fair play even when serving (no lets) and there is only one change of ends during each match.

Yesterday the London event was to be held with James Blake, Andy Murray, Jamie Murray, Goran Ivanisevic, Tim Henman and Pat Cash. Not a bad line-up!

O2 Arena

Yesterday's Turbo Tennis was held at the re-badged Millenium Dome, the 'O2 Arena.' It was my first time there so I was quite excited to see inside.

The O2 Arena is actually a matter of minutes from North Greenwich station on the Jubilee Line. A curved path leads you to the main entrance. Half way along the path a group of breakdances were showing off their skills.

Inside was massive! I had the impression it would be a lot more 'temporary' but the middle was nothing of the short: metal, concrete, escalators, shops... Around the other side though, there are huge spaces with nothing but the signs that further construction is going to take place.

After showing my ticket and presenting my bag at the security station the security gaurd told me that I couldn't bring my camera inside the Arena. He claimed that cameras over a certian size weren't permitted. My camera isn't that big and it's certainly not professional - the Sony H1.

In the end I had to hand over my camera with nothing but a tiny slip of paper with a number on it as security that I'd get it back later. The small print about cameras and recording devices can be found on the back of your ticket. Still, considering that other people were carrying around much bigger cameras and got away with it I was pretty outraged.

Atmosphere

The actual event was a strange experience. The crowd was encouraged to voice their opinions, whether good or bad, make lots of noise and get into the action. People banged together air filled baloons and blew horns continuously. There were annoying children everywhere shouting out the same things over and over between points and some idiots even shouted 'physche' just before the players hit the ball. Double faults were booed!

Tennis

The tennis itself was face-paced and entertaining. The only niggles I had were that the bright orange ball was very difficult to see and the court so fast that some matches became serving shootouts.

Due to the birth his 3rd child, Tim Henman pulled out and was replaced by Greg Rusedski. The first match pitted Greg against fellow left-handed Goran Ivanesivic, which to be honest was a boring match with only a handful of points lasting longer than a second. Goran won by the slimmest of margins.

Jamie Murray, a doubles specialist by trade, took on Pat Cash and they had a great match. Jamie's serve and volley game is incredible. When he got to the net and hit volleys he always won the point. After seeing his game, which I consider more elegant than his brother Andy's, I'm thinking of going back to a pinpoint serving style, myself.

James Blake was knocked out by Goran who was in fine serving form. The match itself was pretty good with a great deal of heavy hitting, particularly on the forehand side. In the end it came down to a sudden death point to decide the entire match! Goran was understandably pleased with beating the number 6 player in the world.

Next up was a battle of the Murrays as Andy Murray played against Jamie Murray. For me, this was easily the best match of the day. Andy plays a careful game largely from the baseline while Jamie plays by chipping and charging in order to put away his perfected volleys.

In the final Goran ran out of steam and Andy Murray returned well to break serve a couple of times and win the match. It was unfair really as Andy Murray got a bye into the second round (semi-final) and is far the younger player.

Prize Money

Andy Murray received $100,000, his highest ever payout for winning a tournament. In order to win that amount of money he played for exactly one hour. That's £50,000/hour while I earn something in the region of £10/hour!!!

Final Thoughts

At first I wasn't convinced about Turbo Tennis, particularly with the 'low class' audience, excess noise and overly exagerrated 'let's make this fun unlike normal tennis' attitude. It's all well and good promoting tennis and getting more people involved, but what type of people do you want to attract?

On the other hand, you do get to see a number of different players in one afternoon and it's much easier to follow half an hour of high speed tennis than a five-set match at Wimbledon. In that respect, Turbo Tennis is pretty well though out and very entertaining.

Football

It'd been at least 10 years since I last played football properly at school but I joined a group of colleagues this evening for a game on a 7-a-side football pitch in Mile End.

Despite my claims of being pretty fit I found it a real lung buster. The movement involved is obviously very different from tennis with greater distances, longer bursts of speed and less lateral movement.

My brief attempt at being a goal keeper was pretty abismal. Obviously I was born to play further up field. Before you ask, no I didn't score!

Football is good fun and a real work out!

Marathon News

The Marathon News magazine arrived on my door mat today. It contains a tempting application form for the London Marathon 2008.

Presumably the magazine is sent to all previous applicants, or failed applicants at least. It's almost like they want me to run for charity or something.

Brutal Power

Somebody in the queue for Centre Court resale tickets yesterday mentioned that Serena Williams was struggling with an injury. Was Daniela Hantuchova, who'd been so impressive on Court 13 on Friday, going to take avantage and move into the next round?

It was then that the rain started to fall. With no tennis to watch, the people who didn't go in search of refreshments joined the queue and it snaked back as far as I could see. I'd timed it just right.

After about 45 minutes the rain had stopped and I'd got my hands on ticket for row K, near to the front and overlooking the court from behind! Could my luck get any better?

A massive guy turned up and sat down a couple of rows in front blocking a quarter of the court. Agh!! It looked like it might not matter as I felt drops of rain falling and within a minute Centre Court was hiding under cover again.

Incredibly, the rain stopped 20 minutes later and while the dark grey sky lingered, play finally resumed.

Mind Games & Power Play

Daniela Hantuchova came out strong and wrapped up the second set tie-break with three straight points to level the match. Serena, wearing her strange leggings/skirt combination, started off gingerly. She didn't bother running for the ball after being pulled wide and everybody wondered whether she had given up hope.

As it turned out, she seemed to move fine in the points when she decided to run. Her main tactic, however, seemed to hit each and every ball with brute force. To give her credit, she was thumping the ball and consistently getting it into play.

However, Hantuchova seemed unnerved or out-phsyched and kept netting the ball or hitting the ball wide, even though many returns were coming straight back at her. In general it was her footwork that was poor during points, despite the cute bouncing on her tip-toes routine between points.

It was dissapointing to see such a brutal and ugly set of tennis. There were about two or three quality rallies in the whole set. The most exciting thing to happen was Serena throwing a tantrum at missing a ball and smashing her racket into the ground. In any case, you have to congratulate Serena's win.

Centre Court

Yesterday, on the fifth day of the Wimbledon Championships 2007, I got to see Centre Court in reality for the first time.

Centre Court is truly magnificent, nothing like I could have imagined. I'd never really noticed on TV before but the court itself (including the space around it) is larger than other courts and the seating towers up around the court. With only two people battling it out below it feels like a gladiator's arena. The sound from high up at first sounds distant and quiet, but after a short while feels close and intimate. I was high up but was surprised at how well I could see the tennis.

I got a resale ticket in the evening and so didn't get to see a whole match on Centre Court, but another one of my dreams came true to see almost a full set of Federer in action. All I can say is that his play is incredible. He defused Safin's power with ease and his own attacking play was a joy to behold. His forehand was brilliant, as was his delightful top spin backhand not to mention his serve which was a lot faster than I'd thought. In short everything was brilliant!

Before entering Centre Court I saw many other matches and players around Wimbledon on the outer courts. I was privileged to witness both the men's number one in the world and the women's number one: Henin Hardenne blew her opponent, E. Vesnina off Court 2 with impressive style depsite a rain delay mid-way through the match. Her backhand is just unbelievable!

In other matches I saw T. Haas Vs. D. Tursunov, Daniela Hantuchova Vs. K. Srebotnik. Lubicic was also in action playing doubles and I watched Marcos Baghdatis doing drills on the practice courts. Expect a new photo gallery to follow!

> Wimbledon Tennis 2007 Photo Gallery
> All Photo Galleries

Round One

After coming back from lunch I quickly checked the BBC website and saw that Henman had resumed play following the cliff hanger finish to last night's match against Moya that ended at 5-5 in the fifth set.

It was hard to concentrate on work as I kept checking the score. 6-6, then 7-7... 11-11! In the end I tried to watch the UK only live feed from the BBC website but I think half the working nation must have been doing the same. The 'streaming' video became more like a slide show, presumably with the site not having enough bandwidth.

Suddenly some other tennis fans in the office shouted out that it was match point and they ran off to the staff area to see it on the TV. A few seconds later and I ran after them, just in time to see Moya double faulting and losing the match .

What an epic match! Henman's matches are always so nail-biting but you can't put the fellow down. Can you believe that was only the first round? Another colleague said, 'Yes, he won, but he'll probably go out like a lamb in the next round.' Come on, give the guy some credit!

Tim Henman's Wimbledon dream lives on after he finally overcame Carlos Moya in their delayed first-round match at Wimbledon on Tuesday.

Social Night

Gratefully, I accepted an offer to an open night at a tennis club in East London. The well-kept courts were beside a small lake and on the other side of the courts a cricket field with men dressed in white completed what should have been a very picturesque scene.

Unfortunately, the wind was wild and it wasn't long before raining started to fall. Before the rain really started coming down I played a game of doubles.

As you might expect on a social night the tennis wasn't of a very high standard and most of the people were aged 40-60. There was just one young man, 20 or so, who seemed to be a Nadal fan with his latest Babolat kit. Though the club was welcoming it had a distinctly local feel to it.

The rain washed out any chance of continuing so everyone headed to the bar. I couldn't believe that a huge glass of fruit juice cost just 50p!

It's a nice little club, but a bit far for me to consider joining.

Extravagance

When I went to pick up my racket from the tennis shop earlier today I witnessed some pure extravagance.

There were two Indian guys at the till, talking to the manager as he rung up their purchases. I looked at the cash register and was shocked - the total was £842!

After seeing this I realised that the Prince racket on the counter wasn't the only purchase. The two guys had a total of six brand new expensive rackets and at least two pairs of shoes.

One of them said something about playing in two days and he wondered what the weather would be like. I got the impression that they were extremely wealthy individuals who were about to play some tennis for the first time in their lives.

I'm sure those rackets will be wasted on them. What pure extravagance!

In the Zone

Have you ever experienced being 'in the zone'? Perhaps this is most applicable to sports but I'm sure it occurs elsewhere, too. You experience a period where you don't have to 'try' or even think, you simply 'do' and spectacular results come naturally.

I experience this very rarely but it happened yesterday playing tennis. For a good few games I simply couldn't miss. Every shot I hit seemed destined to land in, if not be a winner. The timing of my strokes seemed perfect no matter what shot I hit. My friends stood in awe, but so did I. It was fantastic.

Typically, after a while I started thinking about how long it would last and then I started feeling a slight pang of hunger. Once you doubt yourself, it's all over. I hit three returns into the net and returned to a normal level of play.

I once heard a professional player, Agassi I believe, describing a match where everything went right. He described the ball as if it were the size of a basketball! Was this a similar experience as I had, albeit at a very amateur level?

What is being in the zone? I'd hazard a guess that it happens when you are relaxed and let your 'muscle memory' from practice take over, as if you are on auto pilot. Wouldn't it be great if it happened more often?

194 BPM

As Rocky might say, 'The beast is gone.' The gym is great for getting rid of pent up frustration, isn't it?

Today I ran hard for a good ten minutes on the running machine at the gym and managed a fine heart rate of 194 beats per minute. According to the chart that is well over 'intensive.'

I started to wonder is it dangerous to push your heart rate this hard or is it quite normal?

Soccer Shoes

The designer got confused after being asked to make unique women's soccer shoes.

Masters 2006

On Tuesday I went to see the opening evening of the BlackRock Masters tennis tournament.

I booked some time in advance and had a feeling that the best day to book would be the opening right. My intuition proved right when I found out that Henman would play Philippoussis in an exhibition match for charity!

I have to say that Henman was inspired. Seeing him in real life playing so well, I've changed my opinion about his tennis. He triumphed over Philippoussis (whose arms were bigger than Henman's legs) 7-6, 6-4. Philippoussis himself was playing well too and his serve was thundering down at 135mph. Not bad!

The other match I saw featured Pat Cash and Jeremy Bates. I was excited to see Pat Cash playing in real life for the first time and expected him to thrash Bates. Unfortunately for Cash, however, he didn't seem to be on form and made too many errors, particularly at the net. Things improved in the second set but in the end Bates prevailed in a championship tie-break.

Marathon News

The Marathon News magazine was delivered to my house. The front cover reads,

"Sorry! Due to over-subscription your application to run the Flora london Martahon has been unsuccessful."

I may have to think of another challenge to set myself for spring.

Festive Tennis

This weekend the group of people I often play tennis with are holding a small mixed doubles tournament. Though I've played in these kind of events before this one is a little different. Entrants are supposed to wear something related to Christmas!

As much as I think about it, all I can come up with is a Santa hat or perhaps a red T-shirt with some kind of logo drawn on. It has to be non-restrictive in terms of tennis - ruling out entire Santa suits before you say it! - and not too embarassing to step onto a public tennis court wearing. Any ideas?

No Clothes

At the gym today I suddenly realised that my locker key had vanished from my pocket! As much as I searched, I just couldn't find it. It hadn't been handed in to the reception, either.

After some thought I then realised that my colleague who had gone to change might have it. I had held her iPod and keys for her while she was on a machine and I had stupidly handed back her things along with my key!

At one point I started to have images of working in the office the entire afternoon in my shorts, T-shirt and trainers! Phew..!

Top Heavy

A serious gym go-er was strutting about the gym yesterday wearing his leather gloves and looking confident. He looked like he'd seriously worked on his upper body - huge arms, shoulders etc. The only strange thing was that his legs were like toothpicks compared to his arms! Seriously, his arms looked bigger than his legs. Note to myself: don't ever do this.

Bare Gym

During the week I did indeed make it to the gym for my first look around.

I was pleasantly surprised by the amount of equipment and the facilities in general - there's even a (very) small pool, sauna and jacuzzi for those days when you just want to chill out.

Because it was lunch time I only had time for a short jog on a running machine followed by a burst on a rowing machine. I hadn't used a rowing machine since doing my GCSEs at secondary school! I'll be looking to try the other machines one by one each time I go.

Not having been swimming or anywhere else with similar changing rooms for years, I felt a little awkward. There are so many naked guys just chatting like it's no big deal. You have to be careful or you might accidentally catch sight of things you don't want to. The shower block seemed just as uninviting. Before you crack a joke, it's not that I'm ashamed of anything, I'm just not used to that kind of situation anymore.

It got me thinking about Japanese onsen, but there the showers tend to be separate to some degree and there's always the little towel to conceal your bits! Plus, there's not much talking in the changing room or washing area.

Gym Gym!

As soon as I was eligible for a discounted gym membership from work last week, I applied. Today I picked up my shiny new gym card!

It was a little bit of a rash decision, considering I've only peeked into the gym from outside. However, after hearing of the many members at work and the tempting discounted membership for the year, I just had to sign up.

My worst fear is that I end up not going often enough to warrant my having paid the membership cost. At least once or twice a week would be enough on top of weekly tennis. It's time to work out!!

Tennis Fever

What an incredible weekend of tennis! I joined a group of like-minded tennis fanatics for a weekend tennis break at the Hampshire Centrecourt Hotel in Basingstoke.

The hotel is spacious and features an excellent leisure complex having no less than 5 indoor and 4 outdoor tennis courts! It was a good idea deciding on a facility with indoor courts as it rained on and off all weekend. Although the court fees are not inclusive, £30 to share a twin room seemed like a great bargain.

It would have been perfect but for the cold that hit me Saturday morning. Still, a slight fever has never stopped me from playing tennis. I've noticed on numerous occasions, how strangely, sometimes it's easy to focus when I'm not physically at 100%. Is there a scientific reason for that?

Mainly we played lots of doubles matches but at the end of the second day we played a few singles matches as well. Our best player stood undefeated after numerous short singles challenges. Frustratingly, it looks like I've got some way to go before I'll even be able to take a game from him. One day!

In total we must have played for about 10 hours over the two days - now that is what I call a fun weekend!

To finish off with we ended up putting on more weight than we lost playing tennis by pigging out at a lovely Korean BBQ restaurant back in London.

Like Tennis?

Run of Dreams

After a little browsing at Lillywhites, the sports shop at Piccadilly Circus, I was just about to leave when I caught sight of some free magainzines on the 5th floor. I picked up a copy of 'Marathon News', the official magazine of the Flora London Marathon.

On the train home, I read a few of the articles about the London marathon and it got me dreaming again. For some time it's been an ambition of mine to run a marathon. This is rediculous considering the fact that I'm not even a regular runner. I do enjoy running, but tend to do it sporadically at best.

'If I had some goal to work towards, maybe I'd achieve more with my running,' I began thinking. I have a feeling it's just one of those ideas that will never materialise, but you never know! Anyone up for a pretty hard-core challenge? The marathon isn't until next April. How long does it take to train properly for a marathon, anyway?

Dehydration

Before tennis today I guzzled down a bottle of water. Then during tennis, I downed two bottles of Lucozade Sport and then another 1.5 litres of water. It wasn't until finishing the last of my water did I feel that my thirst had nearly been quenched. Until that point I was so sluggish and playing tennis of the most crappy quality.

It was quite hot, but I don't know why I needed to drink quite so much. Lately I've been drinking more and more water, particularly at work. Then when I come home I gulp down at least a pint of apple juice or again, more water.

Can your body get used to drinking a certain amount of water and then increase your thirst level? A bit like over-eating giving you the ability to eat more? It seems odd how thirsty I am, pretty much all of the time.

Agassi

Legend Agassi makes tearful exit

Andre Agassi's 20-year career ended in a 5-7 7-6 (7-4) 4-6 5-7 defeat to German qualifier Benjamin Becker at the US Open on Sunday.

What an incredible tennis player! One of the older generation, and one of my personal favourites, Agassi is finally bowing out of the professional game. Played.

Tenniszine

The first blog I've seen devoted to tennis, Tenniszine. An interesting read and worth a look if you're into tennis.

Sports Cafe

The end of another week already! I spent the evening in the Sports Cafe in Piccadilly Circus again. It's a good place to relax and watch a bit of sport on the TV - I got to watch both Nadal and Ljubicic in the Cincinnati Masters, incidentally, both of whom lost. At the same time I kept my eye on another of the TVs to see the Pete winning Big Brother 2006 - not that I was interested...

Rainbow Effect

We had showers on and off all day today. I went along to tennis anyway, and in the end we played quite a bit. The balls were soggy and heavy with water and an incredible spraying effect could be seen whenever a spin shot was hit - occasionally with a rainbow effect in the sunlight! Funky.

Tennis Heel

Tennis heel. I thought I'd just made it up but the term seems to be already in use. I've just returned from tennis and have minor pain in the outside area of my left heel. Actually, I've had it for a few weeks now.

I can't work out whether tennis is to blame, because although the first time I felt the pain was while playing tennis, the previous day I'd gone jogging for the first time in a while. The pain was quite bad but since then has much improved.

Perhaps it's related to the tennis shoes which I bought over Christmas in Japan. There were two pairs that I considered, one a wider fitting shoe, the other was very stylish but narrower. Stupidly, I chose the good looking pair. Since then, I have stretch them umpteen times and now they are OK, but now I'm wondering about the heel/arch support.

Many people play tennis to keep fit, but a regular player has to keep fit to play tennis.

Federer Wannabe

It feels like ages since I've been able to sit down at my computer with a few minutes to spare. Let's catch up a little, starting from the weekend.

On Sunday morning, I went to play tennis with friends. Probably owing to Wimbledon and the promise of warmer summer weather, the number of participants was more than double the usual number. It's funny how many people pick up their rackets for about two weeks of the year. Actually, it's not funny, just plain annoying.

As it was men's Wimbledon finals day, we went in search of a pub which would be showing the Federer - Nadal showdown. We found a decent place, ordered our food (I'd recommend the sausages and mash) and sat down just in time for the match.

I should have put down a bet on the score because I predicted a three sets to one victory for Federer. After Nadal winning the French Open and his dominance over Federer this year, I was rooting for Federer and he didn't let me down.

The match inspired many of us and a spur-of-the-moment decision had us heading back to a local park for another hit. Just by watching the pros you start to feel that you can hit the same shots. Our evening tennis session was great, apart from the fact that I broke another string and missed the World Cup final.

The good news is I've found a way to improve my backhand; the bad news is that inspite of my ongoing efforts to strengthen my shoulder, experimenting with what I believe to be an improved service action - similar to an older one - brought back that familiar onset of pain.

Wimbledon Visit

We arrived at day three of Wimbledon yesterday by about 7 am to join an already lengthy queue (my number was 2007). The queue started moving quicker once the gates opened at 9:30 and we finally got our £17 ground passes by about 10:30 to 11:00. Those seeking the more expensive Centre Court, Court 1 and Court 2 tickets queue up all night for a chance to buy tickets before they sell out. But the ground ticket is well worth the cost, especially early in the tournament when there are so many great matches taking place on Court 2 (standing only) and Courts 3-19 (all unreserved seating).

One of the highlights was going to the practice courts where I watched Maria Sharapova and Justine Henin-Hardenne warming up. Seeing Sharapova in the flesh was different from seeing her on TV, with her amazing height and trim figure. Henin-Hardenne has to be one of my favourite women players because she's not a giant, yet her game is so powerful and see has that killer one-handed backhand. As I left the practice area I was lucky enough to catch a glimpse of Rafael Nadal!

I saw a large part of a five set battle between Marcos Baghdatis and Alan Mackin (GBR) but saw so many other matches it's hard to list them all. Some of the more famous male players I had saw in action at the Championships included James Blake, Lleyton Hewitt, Mark Philippoussis, J C. Ferrero, Xavier Malisse; famous women included Justine Henin-Hardenne (amazing!) and no less than three Japanese players: A. Sugiyama, A. Morigami and S. Asagoe.

Like most of the people in the country I was hoping that Tim Henman would be able to put up a fight against Roger Federer on Centre Court. Surrounded by the great atmosphere at Henman Hill, I watched most of the first set on the large screen. I went to look around the other courts with a plan to return to watch the latter part of the match, but before I knew what had happened it was all over!

There was a nice end to the day when Boris Becker and Pat Cash appeared on top of the Broadcast Cenre building. There was a camera so I presume they were doing work for the BBC. There were so many ignored shouts of 'Boris' that eventually Pat Cash grabbed Boris Becker's wrist, turned around and made Boris wave like a puppet!

Rainy Wimbledon

Were you looking forward to the start of Wimbledon today? The weather was cool and dreary here in London and after just 44 minutes of play, the rain brought a halt to proceedings. Such a shame considering the form Federer was in. Incredibly, refunds will cost the Championships approximately £1million!

Top Golf

Now, I've been to golf driving ranges before, but Top Golf is something slightly different. It feels like a cross between golf and ten pin bowling in which you are awarded points for hitting the ball near to flags placed in different positions on the driving range. Effectively, the greens themselves are gigantic holes which catch incoming balls and register ball distance and give appropriate scores. Scores are automatically displayed on a bowling like screen after each shot. This is possible thanks to a tiny microchip inside each golf ball!

It is definately fun, but it doesn't seem to be a game of skill - balls can bound and bounce past one hole an on to another; you don't specify which flag you are aiming at and so on. I suppose that for really good golfers it could become a game of skill because points are awarded depending on how close to each flag the ball lands. In other words to score highly, you have to hit balls directly at the flag (unless you had a very lucky bounce before the 'green'.

Apparently Top Golf is set for international expansion so it might appear in a town near you soon enough.

Flag Bearer

English flags stuck to cars are becoming a common site. You would have to guess it's for this summer's World Cup. Would you like a flag for your own car?

Tennis Torrent

The weather has been showery for the past week and planning a game of tennis has been a nightmare. I've given up checking the weather forecast because it seems to change so often.

Some friends invited me to play tennis this evening from 8pm. Would the weather hold out? Just as I left my house a fine rain started to fall. The weather gods didn't favour us: when we started to play the rain got steadily heavier. Some time later, I laughed when one friend said, 'It's stopped raining.' What he should have said was, 'It's not quite such a downpour.' It wasn't exactly warm either, but it was certainly a lot of fun.

The court surface was a little like Japanese 'omni' courts, minus the sand, so even in the rain it wasn't too dangerous. The rain pounded down making for very poor vision. The floodlit lighting added to the atmosphere and keeping up with the ball, which zipped through the court, was difficult. A lot of the time I lose concentration easily, but these tough conditions helped me focus and play good tennis.

Though the evening may not have surpassed what I described as tennis heaven in Japan nearly three years ago, especially considering the cold soggy train ride home, it has to rank as one of my more memorable tennis experiences.

TV Inspiration

With the 888.com Snooker World Championships on TV, some friends got excited about playing snooker again (the last time being over six months ago), so we set off to play in Central London.

Normally, I don't like playing sport around the time of a big tournament - I hate it when English people suddenly become interested in tennis for only a month or so following Wimbledon - but this time I found myself doing the same thing. Of course, if I keep playing snooker regularly then I would be able to forgive myself.

Snooker is such a tough game, and can be especially disappointing when you think you are half decent at playing pool. For some reason, I started off playing well but things got worse instead of better as the frames went on. Till next time - within a month!

MRI Scan

It was quite a waiting list, but the three months until today's Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) scan flew by. This week I was quite excited about it, but this morning I started getting a little nervous.

Before going into the scanning room you have to remove any metal objects you are carrying and put them in a locker. Magnetic cards can be wiped by the scan so be careful with things like your Oyster Card. I wondered what I'd do with the metal locker key, but I was told to leave it on a ledge in the actual scanning room.

There was a thin bed, if you could call it that, in front of the MRI machine. After receiving some snazzy yellow ear plugs, I lay down and was secured in place by a couple of velcro straps. In my left hand I held an emergency squeezy bulb (not the technical term) just in case I had any problems during the scan.

'I'm not going to lie to you, it's loud,' said the machine operator as he slid me into a tunnel like opening. He wasn't kidding. What a strange experience. The machine seems to power up slowly, emitting odd clicks before it really gets going. There are loud pulsating sounds which last for a few minutes before stopping and then starting all over again. Each time, however, the sound was slightly different. I started to lose my awareness of how long I was in there for, but it seemed to go on forever. In actual fact, though, it was just 20 minutes.

Aparently it takes approximately one week for the results to reach the specialist dealing with my shoulder problem. In any case, my appointment with him is not for a good few weeks. I'm looking forward to seeing the images produced by the MRI scan and hope it was worth it.