After a great week in Sweden, it was time to head back to Africa where I linked up with Rayne Roselt, one of my closest friends on tour. His family was kind enough to host me for the week at their home near Johannesburg where we had the opportunity to train twice a day along with access to a gym nearby. I am extremely grateful at their generosity as I felt like I was truly part of the family for the week. Rayne’s mom known as “Auntie B”, “B”, or one of her many other nicknames cooked for us almost every day as well as Rayne’s dad who prepared a South African BBQ known as a “Brai”.

I wanted to highlight a few food pictures before I get into all the intense training discussion and videos!

Training with Siraj, a South African Coach with a Spanish Tennis Background:

Rayne and I both worked with one of his coaches who learned a lot of his teaching methods from a top academy in Spain. I did not know what to expect going into this “mini training camp”, but it was amazing. I definitely forgot what it is like training up at altitude, especially with interval style training… I found myself gassed and out of breathe quicker than usual, but there is something about really pushing yourself past your limits that is so rewarding.

Siraj put us through a ton of dead ball drills, where he either fed balls by hand or used his racket to create various types of shots with different depths, spins, and speeds to replicate different scenarios we might face in a match. Below is a short video highlighting one of the drills we did! 

I also have included a longer video below with me explaining a lot more in depth what we worked on during these drills. 

Quick Stop in Johannesburg to Train:

Rayne’s sister was kind enough to help us solidify an AirBnb in Pretoria, which is a beautiful suburb of Johannesburg. We had the opportunity to train with a couple top South African coaches at an academy there, which actually have produced 15 professional players. Even though it was a short visit before our flight to Mozambique, we had a great experience and learned a lot.

Mozambique Tournaments Next Up:

Rayne and I recently got to Mozambique where we will compete in two tournaments here before heading off to Stellenbosch, South Africa where we have three more tournaments before year-end. I will be giving everyone an update next week from our first tournament here!