On a quintessentially British day of not knowing whether you will need your sunglasses or your rain jacket, ‘The Boodles’ delivered on its promise of a day of entertaining tennis, good food and champagne.
What can get better than a day of watching some of the world’s best players on a sunny day and drinking thousands of pounds worth of champagne with your friends?!
As always, the PlayBrave team were buzzing in anticipation for the day ahead and everyone was in a jovial mood, ready to sell, sell, sell.
Following our amazing media clinic day yesterday, today was always going to feel a little quieter, with less to do, but also enabled us to watch more tennis!
The first game of the day saw Jan Lennard-Struff take on Andrey Kuznetsov in front of a crowd of a few hundred people, Kuznetsov won in commanding fashion as he saw off a late surge from his German counterpart and won 7-6, 7-5.
Following his victory, we caught up with the Russian and discussed why he thought ‘The Boodles’ is such a special event.
Kuznetsov said: “It’s my first experience here. I got an offer and I thought it was a good idea. I haven’t played much on grass this season. It’s very nice practice, very nice experience. Similar conditions and it’s great preparation.”
Kuznetsov’s, 27-year-old opponent, Jan Lennard-Stuff echoed his compatriot’s statements: “You can mean practice here really well. Play some good matches in front of a great crowd. There is no time limit on how much you can practice, which is great and really helps with our preparation.
In the biggest game of the day, Nick Kyrgios, who beat Philipp Kohlschreiber in straight sets yesterday, came back from a 3-0 tie-break deficit to beat Viktor Troicki 10-4 in a set two tie-break.
Kyrgios, who seemed to be suffering with a hip aggravation for large parts of the game, used his massive serve to get him out of jail a few times against his Serbian opponent.
Troicki on the other hand, seemed to put his poor recent form behind him in this match and played some lovely shots down the line, as well as being almost perfectly accurate with his serves.
Following his loss, Troicki wasn’t too downhearted and still told us how much he enjoyed being at Stoke Park for ‘The Boodles’ event.
He said: “First of all, it’s a beautiful site. All the players love being here. We get treated so well, it’s always a pleasure being back here, we get great support from the crowd and it’s just a beautiful event, before a Slam too. It’s great to participate in and it’s great to be back every year.”
In the third match of the day, Roberto Bautista-Agut, took a landslide victory of Frenchman Benoit Paire.
The duo, who are both sponsored by Lacoste were in a complete mismatch on the court as Spaniard, Bautista-Agut dominated in a 6-2, 6-1 victory.
Following his victory, Paire told us that despite the loss, he was in good form and couldn’t wait for Wimbledon.
The Frenchman said: “I feel good, honestly. I made the semi-final in Stuttgart. I lost in the first round Halle, but I was a little bit tired. Now I’m ready to play at Wimbledon and do my best in the tournament.”
In a day of relative sunshine, the PlayBrave tent was bustling with life and it was good to see the staff hard at working selling our amazing clothes!
Hopefully tomorrow will be as warm, if not warmer than today, so that we can round the week off in style!
With only one day left of ‘The Boodles’, it’s a shame to see this prestigious event draw to a close, but it has been an amazing week of tennis, champagne, food and great company.
Saying that, we still have one day of tennis left, so we will try our best to enjoy it to the fullest!
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