The year started at a high for me with a Wild Card into the $10,000 ITF tournament in Sunderland and a win over the 4th seed Stella Menna from Italy. It was a great start to the year and it just proved that all my training was paying off. I had done a lot of work on my fitness in the December whereas in other years I had never had loads of time to train because of looming modular exams in January.

 

After Sunderland I moved on to Wrexham where I was then currently training (so I couldn't complain that I wasn't used to the courts!!). It was a nice week and I won 4 matches back to back. This was something I hadn't done since I reached the final in Redbridge a few years ago. I also had my good friend Emily Webley-Smith (of fellow-AdvantageGBTennis fame!) staying with me so all in all January was a good month for me!

 

The tour moved to Sutton $25,000 event where the singles was a disappointment but I did reach the semis in the doubles before narrowly losing to a top 10 doubles pairing. This took me to my career high doubles ranking. From there my February turned adventurous! I decided (bravely, I think!) to go over to Nigeria to play in 2 $10,000 tournaments. I was top seed in the singles for both weeks and, with Davinia Lobbinger of Belgium, in the doubles as well!

 

The singles didn't go well!! Whilst there were some players in the draw who were superbly bad, there was also a group of good juniors who were unranked then but have since gone on to make their mark on the senior game and I got 2 of those in my first rounds!! Heigh ho!

 

However, I didn't come back without silverware! Davinia and I won the doubles both weeks and we became local heroes in the city of Benin!!! Those two weeks were surreal: no shower, just a tap and bucket, with the water decidedly brown; playing in 90% humidity; and overdosing on malaria tablets! It was an experience I'll never forget but it certainly felt like heaven, I can tell you, when I got back for some home-cooked meals and a good shower!!

 

After Nigeria, 2 of my favourite tournaments were next. I love playing Bath because I can stay at home and usually have a few players staying with me too. This time it was my good friends Sarah Borwell and Robin Stevenson. Sez and I trained together for a few years and I met Robin over in Portugal a few years ago. I picked them both up from the airport and we headed off to Bath where I had a good week!

 

I reached the singles quarter-finals where I lost to a French girl (who Sez beat in the final) and reached the doubles final (playing with Sez). My winning run in doubles was now up to 11 matches!! Sez and I battled back from the loss of the first set to take it to the championship tie-break (to 10). Sadly, we then found ourselves facing 9 match points! We did manage to avoid the whitewash but it was a brutal way for my run to come to an end!

 

Next was Jersey. We flew from Gloucester Airport (yes, there is such a thing; but it's very very small with very very small aircraft!!) in a 7 seater which I imagine was the nearest I'll get (for a while, anyway...no harm in dreaming!!) to flying by private jet. By coincidence, Sarah, Robin and I were also together on a plane trip in Australia once from Sydney to Adelaide when we were caught up in a thunder and lightning storm and that memory came flooding back. We were just a tad nervous taking off and landing in our 7 seater! A different kind of high!