Melbourne here we come!!! - January 17, 2009

Hello everyone from Melbourne Park.

We arrived last night after Shahar finished her final in Hobart. The flight was not very nice as there was a nasty front that had moved in from the south and boy did the tail of that plane move when we were landing.

Thankfully we arrived well. Transport met us at the airport and took us all to the hotel. In Hobart Shahar’s psychologist joined us so I have a roommate for the next few weeks.

I like Ruben a lot as he is a very close friend of mine and so it is nice to have someone to talk to and share my time with, as it can get very lonely on the tour at times. I particularly enjoy being with Ruben as we have much to speak about and share many common values and philosophies.

Over time I have come to appreciate how important is to have a few close friends we can trust and rely on for support at times when we are low. How similar is this to the relationship a player and a coach need to have in order to find that magic that can ignite a professional relationship where two people can combine their gifts to create an environment where both the player and coach can maximize each of their potentials by working with each other.

This environment is very easy to speak about but not so easy to create it. This takes time and much effort from both people. Each player I have worked is very different from the other so it is important that I listen a lot, learn, and understand how they are what they like and how I can compliment them. The key to the success and in my opinion the most important element in a females player repertoire is her emotional stability so with that in mind I focus very much in making sure that the player is happy and feels like she is being cared for and is receiving the best possible help in order to achieve the success every player desires.

As they say is the little things that make the big difference in life so I will wrap up here as I need to meet Shahar for lunch as she wants to talk about a few things which in my opinion are not that big of a deal, however because they are in her mind I must make sure that I listen and show interest in them as this will make her feel good and keep her happy…which will hopefully mean a good start in our first Grand Slam of the year.

Tomorrow we start to practice again as we are having a much needed day off today.

Enjoy yours too.

See you tomorrow.
Pablo