February - Friday 10th February Part 2

I forgot to mention earlier - Dave and Fiona were unfortunately running a little late and so missed the start of Dan's match....not entirely sure if they were to blame for this: Glasgow disturbance news story ;)

Anyway at Dave's request here is a photo of them after they arrived :) 

Moving on.....

After Dan's win, I had high hopes that James might be able to take us into Saturday witha 2-0 lead.

Unfortunately, that hope was dashed pretty quickly :(

James was not playing well and didn't seem to have any idea how to trouble his opponent...and given that the rankings were a lot closer this was disappointing.

The match was rather dull I have to say and apart from a brief glimmer of hope when James took the third set and went a break up in the 4th...but it was not to be :(

He got broke back and eventually lost the 4th on a tie break.

This was a very disappointing end to what had been a good day.

By this point Rob was about ready to chew his arm off and so we headed over to xscape to get some food.

We were going to join the rest of the gang in Bella Italia but Rob wanted Nando's and as he had sat through all that tennis....off we went :)

So, 1-1 at end of day one - what about day 2?

February - Friday 10th February Part 1

So, we were a little disappointed that Andy was injured and not able to play at this tie...but we were all ready to cheer on Dan and James.

I was hopeful that we could get one win out of the two matches today - this would leave Colin and Ross in a good position for the doubles and then...well who knows?

So, Dan was up first against Lukas Lacko - there was a huge gulf in the rankings...and so I am not afraid to admit that I didn't hold out much hope that Dan would win (sorry Dan!)

Dan had never won a DC tie and so we were all quite nervous as he started the match. He was really holding his own against Lacko and got a break in the first set.

He kept going and sealed the first 6-3....I will admit I was stunned and in the back of my mind wondered how long it would be before Lacko came through....?

Anyway, the second set was quite close and both players were under pressure on their serve at times....Dan came through a few games which I would have expected him to lose (again, sorry!)

He sealed the second set with a break 7-5 and now we were all starting to hope that he could pull off an unbelievable win!

Another close set followed and I was on the edge of seat. I was sat next to Pabbers today and I was attempting to channel our collective positive energy to help Dan.

Pabbers had a different approach - sending negative vibes to the opposition....trying to make them serve double faults and hit bad shots!

We also had some issues with the line judges - some of them just didn't appear to understand which shots they should be calling out (Lacko's) and which were clearly in (Dan's)...!

Eventually though our collective good vibes (!) won through and Dan sealed the set 7-5!

I was so thrilled for Dan and he seemed really pleased to get the win!

February - Background :)

So, after all the fun in July I really wanted to go to Davis Cup again.

Unfortunately, the September tie was a week before our trip to Florida and was in Braehead again so completely out of the question :(

So, as soon as the dates for February were announced I booked the travelodge and time off work so that I could go!

Got a bargain on the hotel as by booking each night separately it only cost me £67! I did wonder if they would make me check in every day but I figured it was worth it!

As is the pattern I was super busy at work in the days before the tie. We had auditors in and I had to do my accruals :(

Finally though, work done and I headed home at lunchtime. Rob had already dropped the dog off at kennels and tidied the house so we were soon on our way.

The weather was a bit rubbish but the journey went quite well...until we hit Manchester when there was hail and lots of horrible traffic :(

We got through it though and stopped for dinner at about 6 or 7. I was receiving regular updates via Twitter from Pat giving advance notice of traffic conditions!

Final stop was in Carlisle to get some diesel and then the final stretch into Braehead. We arrived at about 10pm which given we left home at about 1.30 and stopped twice was quite good.

Checked in at the travelodge - booked a family room this time so at least we got a sofa! All clean and tidy so no problems here