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admin · Site Admin Joined: 04 Jul 2006 Posts: 80

By Jamie Baker:

The last few weeks I have been competing in two of the most well known tournaments on the ITF Junior Circuit, The Astrid Bowl in Belgium and The French Open Junior Championships. I came into the tournaments on the back of two weeks preparation in Barcelona- on clay. So I was well prepared and ready!

I was playing the Astrid Bowl as a warm up tournament for the French. That is the theory but once you get playing you want to win everything. I was finding my form pretty quickly and in my second match I played a Korean who is a top ten, ranked junior. This was my best performance of the week and I came through 6-2, 1-6, 6-3. This most satisfying thing about the win was overcoming a shocking umpiring decision at 5-3 in the third and still managing to serve the match out. In the Quarter Finals my performance was not nearly as good but I earned a really hard fought win against a gritty Moroccan opponent. I ended up booking my place in the semi- finals with a 6-4, 6-7, 6-4 win. At this point, it was perfect preparation. Although my performance was not as consistent as I would have liked, I was competing in tough matches and becoming match tight. Also, you cannot buy the confidence that a couple of hard fought wins gives you! Into the semis, and I got involved in another battle. In fairness, the other guy got his tactics spot on against me and made it very difficult for me to play my own game. Although I was finding it very hard work, I managed to break him down and take a 4-1 lead in the final set. It is always disappointing to lose a match from this position, especially after working to hard for it. He pulled out six of the next seven games to take the set 7-5. The trick to dealing with a loss of this nature is learning to take the positives from that particular match and the rest of the tournament and take it into the next event. You would be a fool to focus on the "ifs" and "buts" after all the positive things you had accomplished.

I arrived in Paris fairly confident from the week before and eager to get started. Fittingly, the draw presented a great challenge for me in the first round. I was drawn against the guy who lost in the final of the Astrid Bowl. However, you don't expect to turn up at Roland Garros and get an easy draw. I started off really well. The experience of playing there last year definitely helped me. I could concentrate purely on my performance without being distracted by the amazing surroundings. I managed to work myself to set point in the first set but just could not take advantage. My opponent then grew with confidence and I ended up losing 7-6, 6-2. It was brilliant for me to have all three members of my coaching team with me. This helped me to learn as much as I possibly could from the experience and as a result I know exactly what I need to do to make sure I am back there in a few years time competing for the Men's title.