Week 1 Cap D’ail ITF Junior Open - We arrived in Cap D’ail 2 days ago to have a bit more time to get used to the clay before main draw starts today.  This week is a grade 2 ITF and I’m drawn against the no.3 seed from France. I’m on in the morning which is good because the sun shouldn’t be so intense. I start the match well and go up 5-0 and after a bit of a fight back win the 1^st set 6-3. I lose the next set close 6-4 and the 3^rd set starts closely as well but I eventually lose it 6-3. Not the start to the clay court season I was hoping for.

Tuesday

Doubles starts today and we have a Croatian and Macedonian. It doesn’t start until the afternoon so in the morning we head into Monte Carlo and over to the country club for practice. All the stands are up ready for the men’s tournament and down in the city they’re already preparing for the grand prix. In the afternoon we win the doubles 4 and 2. In the evening we watch Barcelona tear Arsenal apart and luckily there’s no Arsenal fan’s among us.

Wednesday

In the next round of doubles we are playing the no.4 seeds from France and again it’s in the afternoon so we go off to the country club where we see Djokovic and Ljubicic practice. We win the doubles in the afternoon 3 and 2 and set up an all British semi final. That night, when United go 3-0 up against Bayern, the moods good in the group, but 45 minutes later and the 4 united fans don’t say another word all night!

Thursday

The semis is an early start today as no one is left in the singles and is doesn’t quite go to plan. We lose the 1^st set 6-2 but recover to take the 2^nd 6-2. We then lose the deciding match tiebreak 10-5. In the afternoon we set up a football match with some French players against the staff and grounds men at the club at the Monaco training ground outside the Stade Louis II.

Friday

Probably the hottest day since we’ve been here and we have a tough training day to prepare for next week’s tournament. We have to cope with 2 Liverpool and 1 Fulham fan in our ear’s the whole day as well.  Not only that but “The Mentor” flies home today as well so the team’s 1 down.

Saturday

We have to travel to Istres today which is about an hour from Marseille but all the trains are on strike! There is one train leaving from Nice to Marseille all day and we have to get on it. We get a bus from Cap D’ail at 10 and when we get to Nice the train is jammed full but we manage to find some seats somehow. After a 3hour train journey we arrive to find our next train is cancelled and we have to catch a bus to Istres which takes 2 hours. We finally arrive at the hotel 9 hours later and with pretty stiff backs.

Week 2: Open d’Istres Ouest Provence

Monday

Having spent yesterday loosening up and getting a bit of a sweat going after travelling I’ve been drawn against a Serbian 1^st round. We’re scheduled to play late today but it rains for the whole day solidly and there is no matches played all day.

Tuesday

Because of the rain yesterday, they have to finish all 1^st round matches by today so the schedule is full. I’m on in the morning today and after a long match before me, I finally go on. I lose 4 and 3 and it wasn’t a good display at all. Not a good day for the Brits all round either, only 2 winning all day! Thankfully there’s no doubles today.

Wednesday

In doubles we face the no.3 seeds and after a good morning of training we found out that we get a walkover as one of them has pulled out of their singles match with a bad knee. More training in the afternoon then.

Thursday

Next in doubles we play against a kiwi and the Serbian I lost to in singles. Again we don’t start until the afternoon so we train in the morning. After a pretty scrappy match we are on the wrong end of a 10-7 match tiebreak. Not a very good week!

Friday

Needing to find some form before next week’s tournament we have another tough training day and a run around the lake by the hotel. With the train strike still on we need to find a plan for getting to next week’s tournament in Beaulieu sur Mer as well.

Saturday

We decide that for 6 of us it would be worth getting a taxi to take us to Beaulieu and after bartering a good price, we set off. After a small detour around Nice due to some bad directions we get to the club in about 3 hours. We get on court to loosen off a bit.

Week 3: Open International Juniors de Beaulieu sur Mer

Monday

This week is a grade 1 ITF. I’m not seeded in the draw so I have to play a 1^st round match against a French wildcard who beat another Brit last week, but I’m not scheduled to play until tomorrow so I train today and get used to the heavier balls and slower courts. This is probably the best of the 3 tournaments although the food is pretty ropey. Everything is within 5 minutes walk so it’s easy and the town, beach and views are amazing.

Tuesday

I’m on 1^st today at 9 so it’s an early wake up call. I know my opponent has been struggling with a shoulder injury but I start the match a bit slow and go 4-1 down but I get it back to 4-3 where we have a pretty long game. He wins it go 5-3 and has a set point but I manage to level it 5all. By this point his shoulder had gotten too bad to continue so he retired. I’m into the 2^nd round.

TO BE CONTINUED……..

It was an all TeamBath MCTA Semi Final at the Barclays TeamBath Under 21 Challenge Event with Taz and Jade battling it out for a place in the final. Jade won a closely contested first set 7/5 before taking the second set 6/2 confirming her place in the final.

Brigit Folland has been successfully nominated for a SportsAid award. 'Sports Aid work with the National Governing Bodies of sport to recognise and support talented young sports people' (Sports Aid).

SportsAid partner, ASDA, fund the award winners like Brigit and work closely with them through the year inviting them to attend local publicity events - particularly with schools and the media. Asda will also help to raise funds for Brig through their Bristol store to help support her tennis training at TeamBath and fund her tournament travel.

To launch this year's programme, Brig has been invited to attend a Regional Athlete workshop where she will receive her award. This will be held at Southampton Football Club on Thursday 25th March. A significant part of the day will be a media workshop where journalists will run interactive sessions to help train athletes like Brig to communicate their story and raise their profile.

This will be an exciting and useful experience for Brig - CONGRATULATIONS!

Jade Curtis currently at a career high of 325 in the world has decided Bath is the best place for her to move forward. The new partnership between the MCTA and TeamBath gives her the perfect combination of travelling with the experience of David Sammel and the touring academy coaches as well as the chance to return to Bath where she spent a lot of time training as a junior when it was an LTA Academy.

Toby Martin started 2010 on winning form by becoming the AEGON Under-18 Boy’s National Grand Prix Masters Champion. The tournament was played at the National Tennis Centre in Roehampton with a draw of 16 of the top British players who had qualified from the previous Grand Prix events held throughout the Winter at various venues.

Having joined TeamBath Tennis in September 2009, Toby has been training very hard to improve his technical and physical game and produced a solid, confident performance to take the title. The victory is especially sweet for the TEAMBATH MCTA Group as it is the second consecutive year they have won the title following Richard Gabb’s success in 2009.