Hitting...again

03 October, 2008 | 20:10

There's no such thing as a weekend for tennis players. It follows then that there's no easing off - as many people do - on Friday.

They were all in at 10am to spend three hours on court: Andy, Miles, Matty Little and Ross Hutchins, recently returned from his first ATP tour title...

As is tradition, the session started with a competitive game of tennis/football. It's not the easiest game to look stylish playing, as Matty Little ably demonstrates here...

Warm-up done, fluids taken on board, they were right into it.

The volley drills are an interesting contrast to the more 'baseline orientated' in that they're short, sharp and very intense.

With Ross around, they were able to rotate through a series of exercises: 2 vs. 1; different pairings the whole time.

In this one it's Ross the other side of the net...

It's real rat-a-tat-tat stuff and inevitably breaks down after the receiver finds himself having to pick out a 'ball too far.'

Kevin Ullyett volleys as well as the next guy, but even he had problems with this one on Thursday...

Once they get going, there's a strange metronomic quality as the two players bat each ball back to the receiver at varying heights and with varying pace.

More than anything else it seems, volleying is an instinct that you learn through endless repetition...

They do mix it up a bit though: after the gunfire style exchanges one of them will retreat to the baseline and try to pass the two guys at the net...

There's a complicated set of rules that allow for a load of options - lobs etc - to come into play.

Miles and Ross found themselves on the losing side a couple of times...

So that was that...for three hours, and then they broke for lunch.

The last twenty minutes of morning practice saw a flurry of phone-calls put in to various folks, and lo and behold another game of five-a-side football was born.

By 1:30pm they were out on the astroturf for the third time this week...

To keep things simple, Andy and Jamie have been picking the teams this week: Andy captaining the 'colours', Jamie the 'whites.'

Here's Andy skinning his brother at three-all...

Credit where credit's due, Jamie popped up and scored some crucial goals for his team all through the week.

Miles congratulates him after another...

There was some debate all week as to whether only side-footed goals were allowed, but in the end it was all academic as Jamie's side - including Barry Cowan in goal - celebrated another victory...