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By Jamie Baker

April 2005:

MY ODYSSEY round the tennis world continues. The Roman city of Bath was my next stop, via a three-day training break in London, although as I still cannot afford private transport I had to take my three bags by train, Tube and eventually foot to my hotel in Earls Court.

The training experience at Queen’s Club was even better than expected. Not only does the volume of people around make it a healthy environment, but the fact that players who are not committed to training there permanently can still “tap” in gives the place a very open feel.

The two weeks in Bath were fairly successful for me. I came through qualifying in the first week and beat Igor Zelenay, of Slovakia, who is ranked No 305, in the first round. This is my best win to date. I then lost to Michel Koning, from the Netherlands, in both the second round of the first week and the first round of the second week. The first one being a close two-set match and the second a close three-set one.

“Don’t you get bored just playing tennis all the time?” I am occasionally asked. That I can be playing a match in Bath and then ten days later I can be doing the same thing in Mexico, where I am now, hopefully gives you an insight into why I find this question slightly amusing. There is so much more to playing tennis for a living than two people deciding to stand either side of an obstacle and bat a ball to each other.

I am in the second week of a six-week trip: two Futures events in Mexico followed by a satellite tournament in Venezuela lasting four weeks. Speaking from experience, playing on a clay court in Guadalajara at altitude is very different from an indoor court in Bath. The balls fly through the air a lot quicker, the balls bounce higher, it is about 20C warmer and it is physically much harder work as there is less oxygen in the air. Although we are still hitting a ball over a net, the challenges involved are very different.

I felt as if I adapted to the conditions well, but lost in the first round to Felipe Lemos, of Brazil, ranked No 619, 4-6, 6-1, 6-4. It was tough to deal with, but my next challenge is to learn as much as I can from it.

To read the full article go to : http://www.timesonline.co.uk/newspaper/0,,175-1591108,00.html