What a final!!

The Lasers arrived in Washington on Saturday with a huge task at hand. They where up against the Kastle in the finals of the World Team Tennis Championship. The Kastle's would have home court advantage and we knew there would be 3 000 screaming supporters.

On Saturday night the 2 teams had a welcome function where we introduce our teams to the media and Billie Jean King.

Like in every match we played this season I knew if we can get 6-8 games from the 2 men's events we had a shot. Liezel and Vania was the leading doubles team in the competition and Vania the leading singles player. We started with men's singles and Raven lost 5-3. Mixed doubles was 2 nd and we lost 5-4. The men lost 5-4 in doubles and before the women's event we where down by 4 games. Liezel and Vania went down 3-1 but turned things around and won the event 5-3. We where only down by 2 games with Vania to play. We where very confident because Vania was playing well and Olga Putchova had her fare share of problems this season. Vania started of shaky but pulled herself together and with her leading 4-2 we where on the brink of becoming the new WTT Champions when Vania had 3 match points. She was unfortunately unable to convert and ended up loosing 5-4. This gave the Kastles the Championship.

It was very frustrating that we came so close. Vania gave her best and she is the one that got us into the finals. Sport can be very cruel sometimes, but it makes us all stronger.

This was the best WTT season I had. We went 12-2 in the regular season, made the finals and we where involve in 3 super tiebreakers, great excitement. Thank you very much to John, Harry, Bob, Tom and Judie who is the people that makes everything work at the Lasers. You guys are great people. THANK YOU.

I fly back to SA tonight and can't wait.

We are in the finals!!

After 2 losses in a row we had to re group for the semifinals that was due to start tonight at 7 pm. We lost to St Louis Aces with Kim Clisjters in their team and then the following night to The Washington Kastles with world no 10 Nadia Petrova playing for them. Their owner Mark Ein got Petrova to play because the Kastle's needed to win their last 2 matches to qualify for the playoffs.We where up against the Newport Beach Breakers. We played them twice in the regular season. Our 1st match was in Springfield and we won in a Super Tiebreaker after Vania King our no 1 women won 8 games in a row, 4 of them in overtime to clinch the match for us. The 2 nd match was in Newport and we won 23 -18.I knew that our women were our strength and their men were their strength. I knew if the men could get 6 games in the men’s singles and men’s doubles we will win. The match started well for us with the men winning 5-2. This was great for us. 2nd up was Raven against Ramon Delgado who is the top singles player in the league. Raven lost twice this season to him 5-2. Raven played well and was very unlucky not to break Delgado at 3 all, but Delgado's experience pulled him through 5-3. So we got 8 games in the 2 men’s events and now our 3 strongest events were to come. Liezel and Martin played great and served for the match at 4-2. If they won that game we would've had a 4 game lead but unfortunately they lost serve at 4-2 and only won 5-4 in a tie-breaker. We had a 2 game lead going into the women’s doubles. The girls won 5-3 and we where up by 5 games with Vania to play. She has destroyed the Newport Beach girls every time we have played them and we where all obviously very confident that we will win now, but this is team tennis and anything can happen. Vania played the worst match of the season and the other girl played out of her shoes. She beat Vania 5-1 and because the match was tied we had to play a Super tiebreaker. A Super tiebreaker is a 13 point breaker with the 1 st player to get 7 points the winner. Vania played like we know her and won 7-3. We where all so happy. We where through to the finals, Sunday in Washington.We will play Washington in the finals. They beat the New York Sportimes 21-20 in overtime.I was very honored today when I was named the World Team Tennis Coach of the year for 2009. I also received the award in 2007. My record in charge of the Lasers is now played: 30 won 26 lost 4.

Kim Clijsters ready for comeback

Everybody was very excited to see Kim Clijsters play tonight. She is planning to make a comeback and her 1st match would be in World Team Tennis. Martina Hingis also used WTT to see if she was ready to play on the WTA Tour again. Kim is probably the nicest girl out there. You would never say that she was the number 1 player in the world. There is no fuss or ego with this girl. She was out of tennis for more than 2 years. Got married , had a kid and took time away from tennis. I was very surprised when I saw her tonight. She is in great shape and looks very strong. Her trainer told me she is fitter and stronger now than when she was playing on the tour.

Tonight was the 4th time we played against the St Louis Aces in the season. We won the last 3 times but with Kim playing for them we knew it will be a new ball game. Martin and Liezel won the mixed 5-4. Women's doubles was next and the girls have not lost this season. They where up 2-0 but lost it a bit and lost the match 5-2. Men's Doubles was next and played solid. With the score levelled at 4-4 it started raining and we had a 1 hour delay. The boys came back and won the tie breaker 5-4. Raven started off great but at 3 all he played 2 loose shots and got broken. He lost 5-3. Kim was up next against Vania and we all knew this was going to be very tough for Vania. I thought she played great. Kim was really hitting the ball great. She moves well and she has really improved her serve. It is a weapon now and won lots off free points tonight. I think she will be a force to reckon with and she will be back in the top 10 in the world.Vania lost 5-4.

Tonight was our 1 st lost of the season. We are off to Washington tomorrow where we play the Kastles. They have decided to get Nadia Petrova to play 2 matches for them . It will be a difficult match tomorrow.

7 Out of 7

Tonight was our last regular season match at home. We where up against the Washington Kastles. They are at the moment 2nd in the Eastern Conference and it was a big match for them because they want to clinch a spot in the playoffs.

They are a very good team with Leander Paes and Renee Stubbs in there team. Between them they have won more that 10 Grand Slam Doubles titles.

It was a very wet day and we where not sure if we would be able to play outside.

We are very lucky because the Cooper centre has 12 indoor courts, so it takes us 15 min to go indoors and finish the match if we need to.

Raven was up 1 st and went down 3-1, before he made a good come back and eventually lost 5-4. During the tie-breaker it started raining and we had to move indoors.

We had a 30 min delay because they had to setup the sound and get all the people into the indoor facility. Mixed was up next and this was going to be a great match. Paes/Stubbs and Liezel and Martin are the top 2 teams in the league. This was quality tennis we witnessed. The lasers went down 3-1 and was down 2 break points before making an awesome come back and won 4 games in a row. The score was now 9-8 to the Lasers. Raven and Martin stepped up to a higher gear and won 5-2, this was by far their best match of the season. 14-10 Lasers. Liezel was very fired up for the women's doubles because there is no Love between her and Renee Stubbs. Well liezel got what she wanted and won the match 5-1. Vania stepped on court with a 9 game lead, This was the 1st time this season that she started with such a big lead. She was playing a young Russian Petchkova. This girl hits the ball so hard and clean. It is just a pity that she has no confidence in her serve. She beat Vania 5-4 in a tiebreaker and then Vania won the 1 st game in overtime.

We are off to St Louis next where Kim Clitsjers will make her 1 st come back. Really looking forward to watching her play again. I always loved watching her and she is a great Lady.

3 In a row

This year there is only 10 teams in the World Team Tennis league. We are divided into 2 conferences, Western Conference and Eastern Conference. The Western Conference consist of the following teams:

• Sacramento Capitals


• Newport Beach Breakers


• St Louis Aces


• Kansas City Explorers


• Springfiled Lasers

Eastern Conference:

• New York Sportimes


• New York Buzz


• Philadelphia Freedoms


• Boston Lobsters


• Washington Castles

Each team plays 14 matches in the regular season. The top 2 teams in each conference will then play each other for a place in the finals. This year the semifinals is hosted by the winner of each conference and then the finals will be played in Washington DC.

Our team the Springfield Laser has already clinched the Western Conference and will play Friday night in Springfield. Our opponents has not yet been confirmed. It will be between the Newport Beach Breakers and the Sacramento Capitals. In the Eastern Conference the New York Sportimes has qualified already. The Lasers has a 11-0 record so far in the regular season and we are trying to only become the 2nd team in history to go through the season with out loosing a match. In 2007 in my 1 st year as coach we had a 13-1 record.

We have a long week ahead of us. Tomorrow we play the Washington Castles, Tuesday we play in St Louis, Wednesday in Washington we have Thursday off and then the play-offs Friday night. If we play well we will have the big finals on Sunday night in Washington.

Last night we beat St Louis 23-16. This is the 3rd team we beat then this season.

I received bad news on Thursday when I heard that Fritz Wolmarans hurt his back and will be out for 6-8 weeks. He has played some great tennis this year after been out with a knee injury for 6 months. Hopefully he will recover quickly and be ready for the last part of the season.

I will name the Davis Cup Team that will play India in September in this week.

Home semifinals!!

The New York Buzz are this year partly owned by the USTA( United States Tennis Association). The team only consist of junior players that is part of their Development program. This is an amazing opportunity for these young juniors to play every night against world class players. World Team Tennis has been the place where a lot of young tennis stars have made their 1st impact on professional tennis. Sharapova, William sisters, Davenport just to name a few. Tonight we met Sloane Stephens. a 16 Year old girl that beat Venus Williams the other night 5-1. This girl is a great athlete and I have not seen a 16 year old hit the ball that hard and clean. If she gets the right coach and guidance she will be very good.

We did the basics well tonight and the juniors had no answer to the quality play of the Lasers.

Martin and Liezel started of with mixed and won 5-1. Liezel and Chani was next and they won 5-2. Chani is really starting to play great tennis. If she can improve her movement and serve she will get into the top 100 in the world. Vania was on next and she found her match tonight. Stephens matched her shot for shot and after saving 4 match points won 5-4. The match was so close that 8 of the 9 games they played was won on a sudden deaf point. Raven and Martin destroyed the young guns 5-0. Raven was playing the last match and just needed to win the match. He played Alex Domijan who made the quarter finals of junior Wimbledon this year. Raven lost 5-3 and because the trailing team won the last match the match went into overtime. Domijan held serve in the 1 st game of overtime and they moved 1 game closer to us. We where still ahead with 1o games and was going to take the biggest come back in WTT. I knew that was no going to happen. Raven held serve and the Laser won 24-14.

With this win we have clinched a home semifinal play-off and the team we will play will be Newport Beach or Sacramento. Newport Beach need to win 1 more match to make the play-offs.

Tomorrow morning we leave at 5 am to the airport. We play St Louis tomorrow night in Springfield.

Raven spoils the party

20 Years of World Team Tennis for Martina Navratilova, that is what everybody came to celebrate at the Ferncroft Country Club. Matina was in town and will there ever be another women that will achieve what Martina has done in her career. Martina has been a big supporter of World Team Tennis. I was very fortunate to play with her on a team for 5 years. She is a great team player and always put the team first. We played together for the New Jersey Stars in 1994 and we won the Championships.

It was a long day for us because we had to get up at 4:40 this morning to catch a flight through Chicago to Boston. On these flights you have to sleep because it is the only rest you get in the day. We arrived at 2:45 at the hotel and had 1:30 hours to rest before we had to go and warm up for the match.

The Lasers needed 2 more wins to booked a place in the play-offs and a home semi-finals. The Lobsters didn't have a great record but was a team that could light it up when they wanted. We started tonight with mixed doubles and Lizl and Martin had a great opportunity to win 5-1, but couldn't convert on any of their breakpoints. They had 6 and ended up loosing 5-3. Women's doubles was next and I had Lizl and Chani play together. They showed their class and won 5-2. Men's doubles was the 3rd event and the boys lost 5-2. Vania was the 4th event and she struggled tonight. She was down 4-2 and came back to win 5-4. It was 3 crucial games she won at the end and we went into the last match with only 1 game down. Raven played Jan-Micheal Gambil who was ranked as high as 14 in the world when he was at his peak. Raven played the match of his life. He beat Jan-Michael 5-4 in the tie-breaker to level the score and forced a super tie-breaker. He used all his athletic ability to win the super tie-breaker 7-5 and clinch the match for us 21-20.

This was a big win for us because it means that we have now qualified for the play-offs.

We have 2 conferences with 5 teams competing in every conference. The top 2 teams of every conference will play in the semifinals with the winning teams going through to the finals in Washington. If we beat the Buzz tomorrow we will have a home semifinals.

It was great to see Martina play again, and at 52 she can still play doubles better than most women on the tour. Long live the LEGEND!!!!

Vania does it again!!!!

Everybody in the Lasers franchise was very excited because Lizl Huber the no 1 women's doubles player in the world was making her debut tonight against the Sacramento Capitals. The Lasers record against the Capitals was not very good,
but we where on a 7 match winning streak. Today was very hot with temperatures reaching a 100.The weather forecast was 60% chance for rain but we where lucky and was able to play outside.

With Lizl and Martin playing mixed doubles together I was really positive that we will have a good start. They played great and was up 4-1 with a match point in no time. Martin made a great return and Mark Knowles came up with a halve volley lob that landed on the baseline, Martin was not able to get the lob back and the Capitals where back in the match. They won the next 3 games and levelled the score at 4 all. We won the breaker and took a 1 game lead. Raven was up next and it was important for him to get a good start. He lost the last 3 matches and needed to get on the board. He has had a lot of chance but have not executed well on the big points. Tonight was the same with him creating opportunities but not executing. He lost 5-2..Men's doubles was next and the guys lost in a tie-breaker. With the 2 women's events to come and we trailing with 2 games we still had a shot. Lizl and Vania went down 3-1 and we got lucky with a call that changes the match. They won 5-3 and then Vania had to finish it off. We where down by 1 game when she started the singles. She lost serve at 1 all and then broke back straight away. She ended up winning the match 5-2 and the Lasers winning 21-20. It is 8 in a row.Tomorrow night we play in Boston against the greatest women's player ever, Martina Navratilova.

Super Tie-breaker

The season is getting long when you wake up in the morning and feel like you can sleep for 2 days. I felt like that this morning. Your sleeping and eating habits are so bad during Team Tennis. You eat at 11 o'clock at night and then you can't sleep before 1 am. Normally you have to get up by 6 or 7 am to go to the airport and catch a flight. You do this for a month and you are buggered. Our match against the Kansas City Explorers started at 6:30 so we had to move from St Louis. It was a 4 hour drive but took as a bit longer because we went through a thunder storm and there was 2 accidents on the way. We only got to Kansas City at 3:25 and our practice was at 4 pm. This is where you have to learn how to quickly adapt to new courts and surroundings. The team had a 45 min practice and we where ready to play.

The explorers played in the Plaza that is in the middle of the city between all the hotels. You can basically sit in you room and watch the match. The court is surrounded by 5 hotels.

We got of to a flyer with the girls winning 5-0 in doubles, Vania won 5-2 in Singles. The men lost 5-3 in doubles and Martin and Chani lost 5-4 in mixed. I knew that we had to go into the last match leading by 7 games otherwise we could be in trouble. Raven was playing against Michael Russel and lost 5-2 to him in Springfield. Russel is a gutsy player and I knew he was capable of winning 6 games in a row. Raven has struggled this season against the baseline players. Russel played solid and won the match 5-1. Kansas City was behind by 1 game and because they won the last event we had to go into overtime. Russel held serve and the score was levelled at 18 all. The crowd was loving it, as their boys was coming back from a 6 game deficit. I couldn't belief this was happening. A Super tie breaker is a 13 point breaker , so the 1 st player that gets 7 points win. We got lucky with a let cord at 5-4 up to give Raven 3 match points. Russel saved 2 and it was now 6 all. It all came down to 1 point. It was match point for both team. I was tense, if we win this we keep our unbeaten record and go 8-0 for the season. Russel played his 1 st loose point of the match and hit a backhand long. We went nuts. The team was thrilled. this format is more emotional than a marriage. We have 2 days of and then we are back in Springfield Wednesday. See you later

Anna is in Town.

We hit the road this morning at 10:30. It was a 3:30 hour drive to St Louis. The St Louis team decided to drive back last night after the match and only arrived back in St Louis at 3:30 this morning. They where in a party bus and the battery went flat 10 min from the hotel. The guys in the team had to run to the hotel and get the cars to pick up the rest of the team.

It was nice for me to be back in St Louis. I played for the Aces for 2 seasons and they where very good to me. It was another sold out crowd that showed up to see Anna Kournikova. Even if see was not playing people was there just to see her. She had a clinic with the Boys and Girls club of St Louis, photo shoot with the sponsors, interviews and signing autographs.

The Aces decided on the line up and started with mixed doubles, Last night we lost 5-2 but we turned it around tonight and won 5-3. Vania was on fire and won 5-0. Raven was up next and lost 5-0. At the break we where only leading by 2 . Women's doubles was the 4th event and the girls won 5-0. We where leading by 7 going into the men's doubles and with Martin and Raven winning the doubles 5-3 last night i didn't have any worries. I must give credit to the aces they won the doubles 5-2 and forced us into overtime. Raven served 1 st in overtime and held serve and we won the match. We keep our unbeaten record and head to Kansas City tomorrow morning to play the Explorers tomorrow night.

I played for the Explorers for 4 seasons so can't wait to see all my friends again.

Girl Power

Thunder storms are something that is not unusual for the people of Springfield and this morning we had a big one. Growing up on the Highveld in South Africa, we have the privilege to see some of the most spectacular thunder storms. Tonight we where playing the St Louis Aces and Anna Kournikova was in their team so they where expecting a big crowd at Cooper Stadium. With the thunder storms they where scared that it will keep the supporters away but we where wrong. There was no rain and lots of people. It is amazing to see how people still show up to see Anna. She is retired and don't play a lot of tennis anymore, but spend her time now helping with the Boys and Girls Clubs in America and doing lots of charity work. She is one of the most popular female athletes in the world. She was suppose to play 4 matches for the Aces but hurt her wrist 2 weeks ago and had to pull out. The franchises that payed for her to come to their cities, was not happy but Anna committed to still come and do of court photo shoots, clinic's and entertaining the sponsors. Well Anna was a hit with everybody and she did a great job with the kids.

The Lasers was on a winning streak and we where not planning to do anything else than win our next match. The Aces on paper is not the strongest team in the league but they've had 2 wins already. We where very slow out of the blocks and lost the mixed 5-2. Raven was up next and played a good match. He is improving every match and I really think this will help his tennis. He served at 4-3 to clinch the match but lost serve and lost the breaker 5-4. Men's Doubles was next and Raven and Martin produced their best match of the season winning 5-2. Raven was on fire with his returning and made it easy for Martin at the net. With women's doubles and women's singles our strongest events I am always very confident going into the last 2 events even if we down by 3 games. The girls did the job again and won 5-1. Vania was up next and with a 3 game lead I had no worries, but the biggest mistake you can make is to relax in WTT. She went down 2-0, before she started playing the way we know. She won the match 5-2 and we clinched the match 21-15. After the match we had to sign autographs and with Anna with us it took a very long time. It is not always nice to sit and sign, but when you see how much it means to the kids it is really worth it.

Tomorrow morning we will hit the road to St Louis. We play them tomorrow night it St Louis. Another night with Anna.

Road trip

If you asked anybody about World Team Tennis the 1 st thing they say is that the travelling is a killer. We had a great start with 5 days at home, but that was not going to last. On Tuesday morning at 7 am we where on our way to the airport for a 9 am flight. One thing about flying during WTT is that you never fly direct to a place, it is always via somewhere. I can understand that it cost a lot of money for the owners to host a team, and they want to get the cheapest ticket available. We had to fly through Dallas to Orange County in California. The weather was amazing when we arrived. Driving to the hotel you could see that you are in a place with lots of money. Ferrari's, Poshes, BMW and Mercedes Benz was the only cars we saw on the road.

We stayed at the Newport Beach Marriott Hotel & Spa, and we saw the same cars in the parking lot. We had the night off because Newport Beach was playing in Kansas City. These guys was on a road trip of Hell. The last 4 nights they played in these cities:

Sunday- Sacramento-West coast

Monday- Springfield

Tuesday-Kansas City

Wednesday- Newport Beach

Hopefully they have a few days off before the next match.

On Monday night they totally outplayed us before Vania made an unbelievable comeback and won the match for us.

We knew that tonight Vania would not play last, but the men's singles would be the last event. This is their strongest event. The home team decides on the order of events, and you want to put your best event last, because in WTT if the trailing team wins the last event you go into overtime. In overtime the leading team only needs to win 1 game then the match is over, but if the trailing team keeps winning games and tie the match you play a super tiebreaker. I knew that we had to give Raven a good lead tonight going into the men's event. Martin and Chani started of well and won 5-3, Vania won 5-2, the men's doubles was next and the boys lost 5-4 in a tiebreaker. The women's doubles was the next event and our last chance to build a good lead. They did the job and won 5-1. Raven started the match with a 8 game lead. Delgado played well and won the set 5-2. The total score was now 21-16 and we went into overtime. So if Delgado wanted to win he had to win 5 games in a row, tie the score at 21 all and then win the tiebreaker. Well I knew this was not going to happen tonight and I was right, Raven held serve and we won 22-16. We are know 4-0.

Tomorrow morning it is back to Springfield. With the time change it will take us the whole day to get there. We leave Orange County at 9;15 in the morning and arrive in Springfield at 5;45 tomorrow night.

Today we heard that Brandon Klein, The Australian player that called Raven a F***ing K....R

in Eastbourne received another $10 000 dollar fine, this on top of his 10 000 Euro fine and was suspended for 6 months by the ATP. Go ATP. That was the 2 most expensive words that kid will ever say in his life. Hopefully he will learn from his mistakes.

Vania is " KING "

Vania King made her 1st appearance on Sunday night against Kansas City Explorers and played solid to give us a win in Mixed and Women's doubles. Nobody knew that she will have such a big in pact in our team like she did tonight.

We where schedule to play Newport Beach. They had to fly from Sacramento where they played last night. When they got to Chicago they realised that they where book to fly to Springfield ,Illinois and not Springfield Missouri. There are 14 Springfield's in The United States. They had to make different plans and only arrived at 7pm in Springfield. The match was supposed to start at 7:05 but they where given extra time to warm up and the match started 45 min late. We started of well and the men was leading 3-1 at the 1st change, but things changed quickly and they lost 5-4. Next Raven played Ramon Delgado that was ranked as high as 53 in the world in his playing days. Ramon is retired but plays WTT every year and this guy is still playing great tennis. Raven was out played and lost 5-2. Mixed was next and Newport continued to produce great tennis. We lost 5-2. I still had hope because the girls was up next and they have been very strong in doubles. Surprise!!!! Newport was unstop able and won 5-3. Well with 1 set left and we trialling by 8 games I knew that it was possible for us to come back, but Vania will have to play unbelievable. In 1997 I played for the Kansas City Explorers in Men's Doubles with Wesley Whitehouse. We where trailing by 9 games against Richie Reneberg and Brian Macphie and made the best come back in the history of Team Tennis. Winning 9 games in a row and also winning the super-tiebreaker.

Well Vania just did that. Winning 8 games and also the super tiebreaker.

It was just amazing, what a night. We stay unbeaten and play Newport again on Wednesday, but in Newport. Stay positive, Later

I really feel for Andy

Andy Roddick stepped onto the centre court of Wimbledon today and he knew that if he wants to become Wimbledon Champion, he will have to beat a guy he had lost to 18 times before this match. Anybody else would think this is not possible, but over the years we have got to known Andy Roddick as a very positive guy and one thing stands out" He believes in his own ability". Wimbledon is the one tournament that have evaded him. With one of the biggest serves in the game people thought that he will definitely with Wimbledon. He came close on 2 occasions before loosing to the King of Grass Roger Federer. I was really surprised how well Roddick was playing. He was a man on a mission. After winning the 1st set and up 6-2 in the 2nd set tiebreaker we all thought it was Roddick's day. That backhand volley he missed will haunt him for the rest of his life. I must take my hat of to him that he didn't fall apart after loosing the 2nd set. He stayed composed and played some awesome tennis. At 8 all he had 2 break points and that was his last chance to break the Federer serve. Federer couldn't ask for a better place to win his 15th Grand Slam title and become officially the greatest player ever to play this wonderful game we call tennis. Wimbledon was his backyard and with Sampras, Laver and Borg in the stands, it was meant to be his day.

The Laser's was up against the Kansas City Explorers tonight in our 2 nd match of the season. The Explorers is also in the Western Conference so was very important for us to win. They where without one of there women's players and had to fly in a substitute. She was a 15 year old, Eugenie Bouchard. She is ranked 85 on the ITF Junior rankings and the no 2 u/18 player in Canada. With the young player in the line up I really thought that she will be the weak link in the Kansas team, but was I wrong. We started with men's doubles and won 5-3. Raven was up next and started really well taking a 2-0 lead, Micheal Russell picked up his game and won the next 5 games to win the set 5-2, Explores leading by 1 game 8-7. Next it was the mixed doubles and with Martin and Vania we have one of the best teams in the league. They didn't let us down and won 5-3. Now we where leading 12-11 with women's sigles and women's doubles to come. I was very positive that we had the match. because we have 2 great players in Chani and Vania. Chani was very nervous and played a horrible match loosing 5-3. Now we where down 17-16. I was still very positive but that quickly turned into an horrible night for us. The girls went down 3-1 and Chani was down 3 break points to go down 4-1. They suddenly started playing and end up winning the set and match for us. I was so relief and happy. We played horrible and had no business winning but we did. This is World Team Tennis for you!!!!

Cricket vs Baseball

Friday was a rest day for the team, and we got to go to the Baseball game and watch the Springfield Cardinals. They are the local team and play in the AA League. They made it very special for the team, introducing us to the crowd and we got to pitch the 1st pitch and hit signed balls into the crowd. People say cricket is boring but nothing comes close to baseball.

On Friday I was running around trying to find out where we can watch the 3rd test between the Boks and the Lions. I was not going to miss this test match and Raven and Myself went to John Cooper our team owner's house to watch the game. It was so disappointing to see the Boks play below average rugby. It is such a talented group of guys and it is a sin for them to loose. I compare it to a coach that shows up at Wimbledon coaching Federer, Nadal, the Williams sister and Roddick and can't win one title. I can't see how we can beat the All Blacks playing like that.

Tomorrow night we play our 2 nd match of the season against the Kansas City Explorers. Vania King our doubles specialist will play her 1st World Team Tennis match . It will be nice to play again after we had 2 days off. It is suppose to rain but we are very fortunate that they have great facilities at COOPER stadium with 12 indoor courts. I will be back tomorrow.

Chani brings it home!!

We played our opening match against Philadelphia last night. It is always very important to win your home games and the opening game of the season. The crowd at the Cooper Stadium have been really great and very supportive of the Lasers Team. The great thing about World Team Tennis is that it puts the players on stage every night, and you are out there playing for your team and not yourself. Here is a quick run down of a match night and some rules:

• 2 Men and 2 women in a team


• 5 Events are played, men's and women's singles, men's and women's doubles and mixed doubles


• The scoring is different from normal tennis. You play 1 st to 5 games with a 9 point tie-breaker at 4 all.


• No ad scoring, at deuce the returning team can decide which side they want to return from, and in mixed Doubles Gender serves to Gender.


• Before the match every player gets introduced to the crowd, and they play the national anthem.

The most important thing is that it is about the total amount of games and not matches that you win. The home team decides on the order of play. Last night we decide on the following order.

Mixed Doubles, Men's singles, Men's doubles, woman's doubles and we finished of with women's singles. I like to finish of with Chani because she is really good in this format and had a good season for the Lasers in 2008.

Martin and Chani started well and won the opening match 5-2, Raven played awesome tennis in his 1 st match of the season and won a close tie-breaker 5-4 (total score 10-6), At this stage I was very relaxed because I knew that if we can go into women's doubles with a lead, we had a good shot of winning the match. Martin and Raven come out and played 2 loose points and suddenly they where in trouble, and lost the match 5-1. Suddenly after been up by 4 games and cruising the total was now tied at 11 games all. I was getting nervous because our women's doubles on paper is one of the best in the league , but we where missing Vanis King who was still at Wimbledon playing in the quarterfinals against the Williams sisters. Our sub for the night was Blair Henley a college player who was now coaching at the local club. This was going to be very tough. The beauty about women's doubles is that you never know what is going to happen. Well Chani decided that it was going to be her night and she stepped up and produce a awesome display of doubles skills. the girls won 5-4 giving us a 1 game lead going into the final set. She carried on with her great performance in doubles, and won the singles 5-3 and clinching the match for us 21-17.

This was not the only excitement we had yesterday. In the afternoon Raven and myself where very lucky not to get injured in a car crash we where involved in. The owner of our team John Cooper took us to get our sponsored cars when some idiot came out of a side street without looking to the left and we hit him. He only realised we where there when we landed on top of his car. Thank goodness we where driving in a big SUV.

We have 2 rest days and play our next match on Sunday night against Kansas City.

2005 all over

Can this be a repeat of 2005 for Wesley Moodie. Who will ever forget the qualifying team of Moodie and Huss,who took out 5 seeded teams on there route to become the 1st qualifying team to win a Wimbledon Doubles title. Well this year he didn't have to qualify and came into this tournament with 2 finals and 2 wins under his belt in just 4 weeks. Yesterday they where up against Mahesh Bhuphati and Mark Knowels. This would be the 3 rd time that Moodie and Knowles would meet in the quarterfinals of Wimbledon, each of them getting a win. The previous encounters was very close and they did't disappoint yesterday with Moodie-Norman winning 6-4 in the 5th set. This was the 2nd day in a row that Wesley and Dick played 5 set.They are now up against the no1 seeds The Bryan Brothers who they beat in the semifinals of the French Open a few weeks ago. Go Wesley.

Last night we had the introductions of our World Team Tennis Team to the people and sponsors of Springfields. It was a nice function and was good to meet all the people who makes it possible for us to play in this great competition.

I will keep you up to date with each match we play. Our Season opener is tonight against Philadelphia. Go Lasers

Moodie on a roll

The Moodie- Norman show continues with another thrilling win at Wimbledon yesterday. One of the exciting things at Wimbledon is that there is now 3rd or 5th set tie-breaker. So with the modern game of Powerful serves and forehands it is no surprise that we have seen a lot of men's doubles matches go the distance. I had to sit through a few this year. Poor Jeff Coetzee lost 9-7 in the 5th in doubles and then 15-13 in mixed doubles. Wesley Moodie lost his mixed doubles 11-9 in the 3rd. On paper Moodie and Norman was the favorites against Pavel and Tecau but the standard of mens tennis is so high that nobody has an easy match these days not even Roger Federer. They showed great character to win 14-12 in the 5th set.

Channel Simmonds our no 1 junior player unfortunately lost 64 in the 3rd set. She was part of the ITF Squad and it really helped her tennis. She got to play 6 weeks in Europe on the clay, get exposure and also compete with the best juniors in the world. It is a great opportunity that the ITF gives these kids and hopefully they will continue doing it. She had some great results on her trip. She made the quarterfinals at the French Open and the semi finals of the Bank of England Championship.

Yesterday was a travel day for me and I am in Springfield at the moment. The World Team Tennis season starts on Thursday night with our opening game against Philadelphia. This will be an exciting 4 weeks. The team I coach is the Springfield Laser. Every team has 4 players, 2 men and 2 women, our team is Martin Damm, Raven Klaasen, Vania King and Chani Scheepers. We will also have Lizl Huber for 7 matches.

I will keep u up to date on the season.