Hello again Toronto!
The last time I was in Toronto was in 1999 coaching Canadian, Vanessa Webb (#206), at the Du Maurier Open. Vanessa had a nice win over Barbara Schwartz (#56) in the 1st round of qualies before bowing out to Emilie Loit (#90) in 3 sets. We stayed with Vanessa’s parents, Ian and Cynthia, who loved having Vanessa at home for a tournament. Ian and I would spend the evenings hanging out on the back verandah, where he introduced me to – in his opinion – the best bottles of red wine under $15 on the market – Wolf Blass Red Label Shiraz and Wolf Blass Yellow Label Cabernet Sauvignon. Thank you Ian! You were right on the money.
Wow – how times fly! It’s now 11 years later, and I am back with South African, Kevin Anderson at the Toronto Masters. Also here is Kevin’s full time travelling coach, Louis Vosloo, from South Africa. It is our 2nd tournament all together (also Atlanta), and the team atmosphere we have is pretty darn good. This is the beginning of a new relationship for me – not being anyone’s full time coach, but rather a resource for players, coaches, clubs, academies and federations with my Brain Game business. Exciting times!
Kevin beat Slovakia’s Ivo Klec (#293) 6-3, 6-3 in the first round in a fairly comfortable match. It was on a back court, and Kevin’s improved forehand return was doing really well. I met Ivo after the match, and he could not have been a nicer guy. We chatted for a while in the player restaurant, and I look forward to seeing more of him on tour.
Kevin defeated American Tim Smyczek (#206) 6-2, 6-4 in the 2nd and last round of qualies to advance to the main draw. Tim is one of, if not the most, improved players in 2010. Tim has been struggling to put some solid wins together on tour for a while, but not anymore. Tim took out Kazakstan’s Andrey Golubev (#36) in the 1st round of qualies 7-6, 6-3 in convincing fashion. Louis and I watched most of the match to scout for the following round and were very impressed with Tim’s new game style and confidence on the court. Kevin played a very aggressive game against Tim, winning 85% on 1st serves and 61% on 2nd serves and was not broken for the match. It was a tough match-up for Tim, but look for big things from him for the rest of the year!
I am staying downtown, and really enjoying some early morning runs around the city and down to the lake. Toronto is such a cosmopolitan city, just like Melbourne, and has a great feel to it. Definitely a place to bring the family back for a vacation…