I had a tough week in Turkey, where I decided to go play a 10K on outdoor clay during the season of indoor hard court in Denmark.  I have had tons of team matches on hard cort lately, so it was not a easy to make that transistion from two so different surfaces. 
 
Neverthless I won the 1st round 61 60 against a great Russian girl, Emiliya Gadzhieva, but it was not a easy match.  I was a little tight and still struggled to get used to playing with a little more margin (height) over the net and  patience from baseline. Unfortunately, I lost in the 2nd round to Nadya Kolb 7-5, 3-6, 6-7(4) where I had tons of chances, but ended up being to passive and didn't execute my game.  If I had done a better job of executing, as I should have in order to improve and in the end having much better chances for winning the match. It was a tough loss, but I learned a lot: Where I must work on focusing more on my execution on the court, playing aggresively regardless of the score.

Since I came back from Sweden, I have been playing a ton of clubmatches for my club in Denmark. I have been winning all my matches so far, and have been playing fairly okay.                                                                                                               However, it's not always easy for me to play those matches and play my best as there is always a lot of pressure and expectation for me to win easily.  I mostly play against lower ranked players and juniors (that are top level). So, it's a mental challenge always for me to play those clubmatches, as well, as keep focusing on my things that I worked with Ryan in China, like playing aggressively and trying to go to the net more often. 
 
Little bit about how a Danish club match works and looks like:)
A danish club match consist in total 9 matches - and we are 2 girls and 4 boys - so it's 3 doubles (2 boys and 1 girl) and 6 singles (2 girls and 4 boys). So everytime I'm playing a club match, I'm playing a double first, then a single.  I'm playing #1 singles for my club, so I'm always playing against the #1 singles player from the other clubs.  
 
My next tournament is a 10K in Turkey which is starting next week:) 

Last week I was in Stockholm playing in a $10K tournament.  I had a good 1st round where I beat the 2nd seeded Nadia Abdala 6-0 before she retired.  I was quite nervous, but managed to put enough pressure on my opponent.

During the 2nd round I was playing Sylwia Zagorska from Poland, which I was certain I could beat - but unfortunately I lost 6-7, 6-7.  It was a very close match that I really should have pulled off.

In doubles, I was playing with Julia Kimmelmann from Germany who is a lefty and really good at the net.  We made it to the final but lost in the super tiebreak 10-7.  After that we got tea, body shop products and a mirror :P  What a prize to get!

So again, I learned a lot this week.  I need to be able to relax more and apply more pressure on my opponents so I can play better when it gets close and pull off those tough matches.  

This weekend, I will be playing a team match in Denmark and it will be a good chance for me to practice my game!

An Update from the ITF Circuit for the week of 10/17/11
- Karen Barbat (Denmark)
Last week I was playing a qualification $75K in Barnstaple, which is a little east of London, England. I really did not have any expectations, but felt more confident with my game – which has been improving a lot since I was with Ryan in China – but I still and always will have a ton to improve.

In the 1st round I had to play against a girl from Mexico (Carolina Betancourt) with a slightly higher ranking than me.  It was a steady performance on my part and I won 6-0, 6-0;  Though I was feeling quite nervous from the beginning. The same day I had to play a seeded Romanian player around 200 in the world (Iona-Raluca Olaru), which was a mental challenge, as we always play one singles match at a day. But I ended up winning 75 76 (2).  The match was much closer that it needed to be, but after a little bit of struggle and unnecessary drama – as I was leading 5-2 in the 2nd set – I came out on top. On a personal note, there was absolutely no need for dragging this match any further, but I was just not applying pressure enough to break her down before the tiebreaker.

The next day in the qualification final, I unfortunately lost 5-7, 2-6 to the #1 seeded Kristina Kuclova.  She is currently ranked 194 in the world.  It was really pity, as I was leading 4-1 and breakpoint (1st set) and just wasn’t able to pull it off. As I started to notice that I was leading (and that I might have a chance to win) I felt more willing to win, than willing to focus on my game and executing. It made me play more defensive, giving her too much time and opportunities to put me under pressure and hit winners.  If I had stuck with my game plan, it would have been the opposite.

I learned a lot after this tournament. What you focus on is very important – and even more importantly, that you apply pressure in order to break down your opponent – especially when you play against better players!!!

My next tournament will be a $10K in Sweden, which will start Tuesday.  Hopefully, I can take the lessons I learned from this tournament and apply them there!   - Karen

Last year I was lucky enough to get to watch Sabine Lisicki play a against one of my players at the 2010 Bell Challenge in Quebec City, Canada.   She was just coming back from a horrific ankle injury she had sustained on match point during her 2009 2nd round U.S. Open match against Radionova seen here....http://youtu.be/6lTX2frhoUc

The Bell Challenge was one of many tough tournaments during this come back period for Sabine.  She struggled with every chapter of the match.  The warm-up looked pained and tedious, she looked like a fish out of water.  Her father, a balding, sort of gentle giant whom I believe is a doctor in Germany (don't quote me on that!) was sitting a few feet to my right.  The anxiety that his daughter was feeling was apparent and his parental concerns written all over his face.  After a short struggle Sabine was ousted in the first round by my student at the time Alexa Glatch 6-2, 6-4 and she bowed out with class. Her lack of confidence and match play had been obvious.    

Sabine handled this rough patch in her career with class.  She is a soft spoken, well mannered, hard working professional which is not as common as one would think.  Each Player handles difficult times in their careers differently.  Some throw tantrums and rackets, others look at it like a math problem and figure it out with hard work and hard hat mentallity.  

Fast forward to this years Wimbledon where Sabine has now advanced to the second week of the third grand slam of the year, her best result in a major to date. It is refreshing to see a player who was struggling to find their game a little less than a year ago, experience their hard work paying off in a big way!  There was no crystal ball for Sabine, there was no guarantee that if she worked hard she would see the results.  But she had belief.....belief in the unknown.  As Larry Bird said “I've got a theory that if you give 100 percent all of the time, somehow things will work out in the end.”  Sabine Lisicki's eyes welled up with tears of joy after her win against Li Na in the second round of Wimby.  Her hard work payed off!   I am a fan of Sabine Lisicki........

As a tennis coach you often hear the following from your players: 
"I feel like I am not progressing fast enough", "I can't believe I lost that match, I am so much better than he/she is", "How is that player winning matches, they aren't that good."  

It has been said that 7 out of 10 junior matches are pre-determined.  In general players get what they deserve.  Instead of going through the many examples of players who didn't put in the work and then were surprised when they didn't get results, I will tell you about Kaia Kanepi.  

I remember watching  Kaia Kanepi at last years French Open during the qualifying rounds going through her warm up routines.  Her attention to detail was impressive and there was structure to everything she did.   Before the first round of qualies the player I was coaching at the time had the opportunity to practice with her.  We were all waiting outside the fence for the court to open up and Kaia was going through the routine I am sure she had done a million times, but there was definitely something different about it, something you see in all players who are on the rise, heading for great success.  She was doing this boring, monotonous routine with focus and a sense of determination.  There was an extra bit of energy and hop in her step to everything that she did.  She went on to qualify and took world #4 Jelena Jankovic to three sets before falling.  She is currently #16 in the world.  

Kaia's rise to the top 20 in the world is not a new phenomenon but far too rare in the tennis world.  Examples like hers have been seen in many different walks of life.  It's like eggs and bacon.  The chicken was involved but the pig was committed.  Kaia Kanepi was committed and ready to do whatever she needed to do to achieve her goals. 

 If you are a junior player currently not getting the results you feel you should have, look yourself in the mirror and ask yourself if the level of work you have been putting in will lead to the results you desire.  Remember it's not how hard you are willing to work, but how long you are willing to work hard.