My OrangeCoach
Halle Day 2 with Thiemo de Bakker
9:00: Breakfast with Thiemo at the player hotel (sportpark hotel in Halle).
10:15: Fitness & warming up. We started with 10 minutes cycling on the bike, followed by some abdominal and back muscle exercises.
11:00: Match preparation on grass court. It looked liked it was going to rain any time but we managed to play for 25 minutes.
12:00: First match of the day. Thiemo had to play the next match against Rohan Bopanna of India. Rohan is known for his expertise on grass courts and with his powerfull serve, he is a very tough opponent for Thiemo. The match was played on court 1 and "Thiemo The Dutchman" beat Rohan Bopanna 6-4, 7-6 (11).
The tournament in Halle is big business. It has a very nice center court, two clay courts, two hard courts and 2 grass courts outside. There is also a special hotel for players, sportpark hotel, where players stay during the tournament. This hotel is also the home for many players who train here during the season. The adidas team has several training bases around the world but Amsterdam (Frans Otten) is where we train the most during the season.
19:00: Grass courts are closed which means another end of a great tennis day.
Cheers,
Mats Merkel