Back on home turf

03 June, 2008 | 22:06

At around midday on the second of June, Andy strode out onto a rather heavy Court 19 at Southlands and hit his first ball on grass of the summer.

Just for the record.

It was so low key it’s strange to think that every man and his dog will be following his every move within the next few weeks.

There was literally one teenager and his dog watching; no centre court roar, just a few grass strimmers buzzing away in the background.

No surrounding drama, but a big smile from the moment he slapped on the pimpled grasscourt sneakers.

Even popping the ball tubes before practice smacks of British summertime....

Seeing as it was Day One on the surface, practice was pretty light: players want a chance to feel their way around the idiosyncrasies of grass; understandable seeing as it's light years away from clay.

If ever there was a bonus of not competing in the second week at Roland Garros, extra prep time ahead of the grass is probably it....

Hitting partner for the day was one of Andy's old friends, Dani Vallverdu. Dani's one of the top college players in the States and a very decent player.

On the pretty damp courts he wasn't the only one having to get used to the much lower bounce...

Another thing for the players to get their heads around in the summer is the weather.

It's strange heading out to practice knowing that you might only have an hour before it starts pouring down.

Everytime the guys sit down to grab some water the eyes inevitably turn to the sky. If they're not trying to look their best that is...

Big Chief Sitting Diesel (AKA LTA coach and resident spiritual weather advisor James Davidson) predicted rain for 2pm, and true enough, it started to fall lightly at arounf 2:15.

Fortunately, not before they'd smacked a few more balls around...