Jamie's Blog

05 May, 2008 | 16:05

Hey guys

So last week I was in Barcelona playing in the Godo Open...briefly it has to be said! 

We got smoked by Lopez and Verdasco for about an hour and that was all she wrote!  We screwed up ourserves in the first set and in the second they came out with some huge shots - particularly Verdasco - and ran away with it...

It's much different playing on the clay as the ball doesn't go through the court so the guys have much more time to line up and hit their shots; it makes it much more difficult for the volleying team as we found out the last couple weeks...
 
On the plus side, I did manage to get some good work done in the gym though as Matty Little was in town...I think it makes his day when he gets to spend time with me in the gym! 
 
The tournament closed off the hotel bar for the players on Tuesday so the guys could watch Manchester United and Barcelona battle it out. Man Utd got the job done...as usual!  The boys are gonna get the double this year and I think they'll deserve it with the performances they've put in, and the football they've played throughout the season!  It's a farce what Cristiano Ronaldo is doing this year!
 
Anyways...on Thursday night we went for dinner with two time French Open finalist, former world No. 2 and Grand Slam cup champion...Alex Corretja!  

That's enough bigging him up for now! 

We had an unbelievable meal....I was literally gonna burst by the time we finished!  He took us to a Spanish restaurant and we had all the Iberico ham which is some of the best out there! ...potatoes and eggs scrambled and a whole load of meat that you cook yourself on this hot stone! 

Alex then took myself, Matty and Ross Hutchins to a couple of bars to check out what Barcelona had to offer, which as it happens wasn't much; it was a holiday in Catalunya and a lot of people had left the city for the weekend.  We went to a live music club where Alex had actually sang a few times, which was pretty cool. The band they had was very good but a bit loud for me...I prefer just an artist and their guitar or piano to chill to.
 
Barca done, I arrived in Rome on the weekend and practiced the last couple days to get ready for the tournament. Max was playing singles qualies but lost to Luis Horna from Peru in 3 tight sets. It means he can concentrate on the doubles ;) 

We drew Wawrinka and Tursunov which is an awkward team to play as they both hit big from the back and probably won't serve and volley; not the most orthodox of teams to play. But we'll fight hard, try to win and get some momentum going because in the second round we'd have our favourite team....the Bryan brothers!
 
Wish us luck!!!