colinflemingonline.myfreeforum.org

admin · Site Admin Joined: 23 Jun 2006 Posts: 88

I said before it all started that I was looking forward to playing at Wimbledon and it lived up to my expectations. In the end, the only thing missing was the winning feeling... this time. But, after losing to Zack Fleishman and Robert Smeets, Colin [Fleming] and I now have the motivation to keep improving because we want to be back here next year, winning matches.

We know we played pretty well, especially in our service games, but those guys had a lot in their serves and that made it tough but we were pleased that the progress we had been making in the past few weeks, thanks to Louis Cayer's coaching, was obvious in the match.

We are still learning, though, so although we were disappointed at losing, we weren't too down about it. We know we played some good tennis and the experience has left us wanting more. It was great incentive to get out on the practice court and to play in as many tournaments as possible so we can improve our game. After all Wimbledon is one of the biggest, if not the biggest, tournament in the world and we want to be playing here every year, without having to rely on a wildcard. That's why we might not hang around for the second week. We are trying to get entry into a tournament in Spain or Dublin, but won't know for certain until later today.

I have to think of my own career and know that the best thing is to play as many competitive matches as possible and to try to move up the rankings. That all makes sense as far as our doubles career is concerned but I know that if we are away competing elsewhere, there will be a part of me wishing I was back at Wimbledon. It's a great occasion and it will be hard missing out on it, especially if Andy is still playing.

At least my family won't have the same problem they had on Thursday when the tournament schedule made life tough for them. The way it worked out, Andy's match was going on Centre Court at the same time Colin and I were getting started on the second set of our game. It meant some had to stay with me, while others had to go and watch Andy. But the crowd we did have were very good to us.

Colin and I knew there was no way we were going to get on to a show court, so all we could hope for was a good support and we couldn't complain. They were right behind us, especially all the Scots in the crowd. It was funny to hear so many Scottish accents at Wimbledon but between Colin's family and my family and our friends, we had a quite a few people in the crowd onside. It was a little taste of what it could be like if we ever get to the stage when we are in the latter stages at Wimbledon and playing on the show courts.

If I am here I will definitely be going to watch him play and giving him my support (remember, he's still in the mixed doubles). Colin and I will also be going to see other doubles games as we don't get the chance to see the top guys because we are not ranked high enough to be playing in the same tournaments as them on a regular basis and it's not as if doubles get a lot of TV coverage. So when we have had the chance here it's been good to see how they work together and seeing what we have to aspire to. I know that the Woodies [Todd Woodbridge and Mark Woodforde] will be playing in the over-35s competition this week. They were the best doubles pairing for years and I would love to see them but only if we are still here. If I'm not, I will put my career first. Hopefully we will get the go ahead to play in Spain and I will be on a plane by the time you read this.

To read the full article go to: http://sport.scotsman.com/tennis.cfm?id=965512006