Today here in Chandigarh we firstly enjoyed watching the Road to Wimbledon juniors play their matches.
Unfortunately the weather has been poor and rain meant the grass was wet so all matches were transferred to the Chandigarh tennis academy hard courts.
There were some really good matches from some of the top junior 14 & under players in India. The rule in India is that once the play switches from one surface to another due to weather the tournament must stay on that surface. Even in ATP events in the UK the rule is different in as much as a change of surface is allowed and easily returned to the next day. The quarters, semi and finals will therefore be played now on hard courts.
Chats to parents and an impromptu clinic by HSBC Ambassador Tim Henman and Dan on one of the outside courts was welcomed.
In the afternoon we had a memorable clinic at the well-known Shivalik school in Chandigarh.
A school for 10 pupils was started by the founder Mr Devinder Singh Bedi back in 1970 and now there are four Shivalik schools with nearly 8,000 pupils.
We had 70 pupils to watch and take part in a clinic by Tim and Dan involving everyone in physical activity and tennis demonstrations by the school players and the CILTA academy players with their coaches.
The school, with 1,600 pupils aged from 3-17, boasts many top sports pupils from wrestling, cricket, badminton, volleyball and academically very strong.
Behaviour, character, discipline within a holistic approach is high on the agenda.
The Head Teacher welcomed us and gave us all the support required to promote tennis, The Road to Wimbledon concept and HSBC and on two days entertained us to a typical India tea and savouries which was much appreciated.
Victory with determination is the school motto and we could all see how relevant and apt that motto was.
Tomorrow is the quarter-finals of the Road to Wimbledon and as ever the circuit points are important as the top 16 boys and girls after the four tournaments receive invitations to the Masters in April.
The top two boys and girls are then invited as wild cards to the HSBC Road to Wimbledon finals, during the week of 10 August 2015 at Wimbledon.
Everything to play for.
