There is very good reason why I have this article titled as it is. Have you ever read the book or if your like me and prefer to watch the movie, “The Bourne Identity”. A story based on a man who has lost his memory but manages to get it all back while kicking butt and taking names? Same Plot, only difference is, my stories character is a girl named Aleks.

We were pleasantly surprised upon arrival with blue sky’s and an ocean view at the grand hotel. We were accompanied by giant seagulls everywhere we went. I’m actually puzzled as to how they got to be so big? They must have scavenged through one of the tennis player’s bags and stole a bottle of steroids mistaking it for bird seed ;)? There is something about the sound of soothing waves and the smell of salt water that brings instant tranquillity to ones self. Walks along the board walk and fishing on the pier are just added bonuses. The scenic views in Eastbourne are incredible. All country side views outlined with cliffs overlooking miles of ocean. I can go on for days but I’m going to cut my self off as I’m starting to make this sound like little house on the prairie.

The courts were just a few minutes walk from our hotel. I had Aleks carry me each day on her to the courts for added fitness. She has now learned to balance bags on her head which will be a great addition for her future in the circus after her tennis career. There were 13 well maintained courts with a large stadium court and a side grand stand. Aleks had the opportunity to kick off the tournament on stadium court knocking off the 2009 French open champion Svetlana Kutnetsova 6-0, 6-3. We had a couple days to prep for this match up. I kept it very simple, two 45 minute hits a day. One with me hitting full out and her only objective to be focused and alert looking for the first ball to strike on and aggressively countering everything else, and the second hit playing a quick set with one of the girls now giving her a little more time but with same objectives on looking for the first ball to strike on keeping it simple and going up the line. I had never seen Aleks so focused since being together. She executed her plays perfectly. She was the first one to create short balls and strike them dead. Svetlana was completely thrown off guard by A.Woz’s aggressive game plan and at how consistently she was able to maintain it and stay on top not allowing her to gain any timing closing her out in under an hour.

She had a tough follow up match against the 14th in the world, Jie Zheng of china. We both knew it would be a very tough match as she loves to hit hard, flat and deep as much as possible. We knew that attacking all second serves was going to be key to send a message that Aleks was the one putting the pressure and dictating play while throwing a lot of wide serves on her service games as Zheng is of a smaller size opening up the court right away and ripping the ball into the open court. They both came out swinging as if they were heavy weight boxers. Aleks was able to maintain her ground better in the first taking it 7-6. Alek called me on court after she had won the first and all I simply said was “Keep firing away and she will fold if you get a quick lead” as she very much did giving alek a 5-1 lead in the second. Zheng was able to compete very well to put two more games up on the board but was closed out by a huge service game by A. Woz. Did I mention we ate Chinese food the night before? I think this might have had something to do with the win as well. Get a little taste the night before of things to come ;)

Her quarter final match up was against Vera Duschevina of Russia. The match lasted about 30 minutes taking the match 6-1, 6-0 due to the fact that Aleks thought she was the terminator that day. She played the cleanest most aggressive tennis I have ever seen any girl play. I actually thought for a moment that she could be a guy and this whole “im an innocent cute little girl” theme is a scam. She was on top of every single ball ripping at full force making the other girl look as if she was 450 in the world. Let me just say that Vera is a very solid top 50 player so to make a girl look as if she was 450 takes some serious skills. Aleks ended up falling to the Caroline Wozniacki the following day in the semi’s in a three set thriller. She had her but unfortunately came up a little shy that day. I can assure you that the two shall meet again for another show down.

It was an incredible week for Aleks as she was not only able to get some incredible wins in, she was able to take her physical and mental game to another level only assuring herself of the goal to break the top 20 and keep moving forward towards the top 10. It was a great warm up week leading into the Historic week of Wimbledon. With this being said, I look forward to what’s in store for our last event before heading back home to the wonderful world of ‘EH”.

Stay tuned…………