At the midway point through our week at The Boodles, here at PlayBrave we held our second media clinic at Stoke Park.
Coached once again by CCA performance coach Matt Bell, our group of six journalists, bloggers and social media influencers were all kitted out in full PlayBrave gear before heading out onto the practice courts for a session on the grass.
Elsbeth Carr; a fashion blogger who attended the PlayBrave media clinic was one of the first influencers to arrive and was very quickly drawn to PlayBrave’s all black tennis outfit of a black 'skort', black tennis top and black cap to match.
Carr said: “I think that the clothes are really well designed, I was really attracted to the PlayBrave stand as you can tell, just by looking that the clothes are very high quality.”
On how the clothes felt during the tennis session, Carr continued: “I felt really confident wearing the PlayBrave garments as it felt easy to move in and completely non-restrictive.”
The coaching session lasted for over an hour and it was a surreal feeling for many of the PlayBrave guests as they suddenly found themselves with Nick Kyrgios and Benoit Paire practicing to the right of them and Albert Ramos-Vinals and James Ward to their left!
If there was ever an event where journalists and players would get so close without all of the external drama, it would be The Boodles!
After Coach Bell had run all the players through their paces and gauged how good everyone was, it was time to start to rally.
Yahoo Sport journalist Kevin Palmer was in his element and Palmer stole the show as his twenty + years of playing tennis really came to the fore.
Former Gladiators Wayne Gordon (Doom) and Jenny Pacey (Enigma) also took part in the coaching session at The Boodles and both were very complimentary on the fit and feel of the clothes.
Gordon said: “For me, this is some of the best apparel that I’ve worn. I don’t want to talk about other brands, but this (sleeveless) top, is one of the best pieces of apparel that I’ve worn and it gives you the space to move around. I’ll definitely be using this when I work out.”
Pacey echoed the sentiment: “I love the PlayBrave clothes, they’re very versatile and the functionality is great. I’m not the best tennis player, but I’m playing today better than I have played in a long time and I’m putting that down to the PlayBrave clothes.”
In the first game of the day, Britain’s Davis Cup hero, James Ward defeated Albert Ramos-Vinolas in his last game before Wimbledon next week.
Ward, who has just come back from a yearlong injury has not had the best of the times since his return and will be glad to get at least one victory under his belt going into the biggest and best event in the tennis calendar.
The 30-year-old, who attended every home match at his beloved Arsenal last season, had this to say on why The Boodles is so special: “It’s a great venue, the players love it. Everyone wants to come out and play and spend the day and it’s a great chance to come out and play some games before Wimbledon next week, so it’s a great place to come”
The main event of the day started at 14:30, with a match-up between Philipp Kohlschreiber and Nick Kyrgios. The match finished 6-4, 6-4 to Kyrgios, in a large part due to his serving, going at least three games where no other points were played besides the Australian’s monster serve.
After his win over his German counterpart, the current world number 21 told us why he prefers playing at The Boodles over a normal tournament.
Kyrgios exclaimed: “I prefer to play this to a normal tournament, I can have more fun here. I can control it a bit better, I played Phillipp (Kohlschreiber) today and he’s a great competitor, he’s been around for a long time. I know the quality of players here is going to be as good as anywhere, so it’s a great experience.”
In the battle of the youngsters, Alexander Zverev beat Australian Thanasis Kokkinakis in an enthralling 7-6, 6-7 (10-2) tiebreak victory with both trying to stake a claim as The Boodles most exciting young player.
Kokkinakis, who is ranked outside of the top hundred, but has just come back from an 18th month injury lay off, told PlayBrave about his chances of winning Wimbledon this year.
The 21-year-old smirked as he said: “My chances of winning Wimbledon? I’m not sure, I’m just going to play day by day. Play relaxed, try to play without many nerves and see how it goes. When I’m playing well I’m capable of anything, but we’ll just have to wait and see how it goes.”
After a great day three at The Boodles at Stoke Park, here at PlayBrave we’re looking forward to seeing what the rest of the week has to offer.
So far, we’ve hosted two great media days, seen some great tennis and talked to some of the best sporting talents in the world at the minute. We can’t wait for tomorrow!
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