Today was the last day of tennis, and a very relaxed on at that, in fact I only played an hour of tennis today. We knew it was going to very relaxed when Rafa said I will pick you up at ten thirty and we can go and look at some good shops. It all started with waking up and today hat was later than normal (10:00) because of this late start I had to get prepared for the day very quickly and I only had time for a ten minute breakfast. Obviously after breakfast Rafa picked us up and we went to two different shops: one was a very good Adidas sports shop that was very cheap as well. I bought a lovely tennis shirt in there for only 15 pounds. The next shop was not as good, It was a unfashionable boys clothes shop and the only person that bought anything was my mum, and that was a belt for my brother. We then went to pick up Rafa’s mother because she wanted to come to the club with us.

At the club the first thing we tried to do was fined a court and that proved harder than we first thought. However after ten minutes we managed to bank a hard court at the pack of the club. Me and Rafa only had time to play nine games and about an hour of tennis before we got chucked off. The set we had played had been played at a slow speed because of the blistering sun and our tired legs after a week of tennis. The score when we came off was: I was serving for the set at 5-4.

As Rafa and I came up through the club Rafa spotted one of his friends from when he was young, it was the owner of the club Guillermos Vilas. Vilas came and sat down with us because he knew Rafa. He was very nice man and was friendly to us. Ten minutes went past before he said something that I will be honoured by for the rest of my life. He said: I want to play with Barnaby, next time you are over in Argentina. It was the highlight of my week in Argentina. I also got a picture and autograph which was extremely cool too.

Once I had finished my steak and chips again we said good bye to the club and headed off to a shopping centre called the Uni Centre. The Centre was huge and it was very unorganised unlike Bluewater. However after two hours of shopping I and my mum bought a tennis outfit two belts and a shirt. It was a successful trip. It was a simple rest of the evening. You know washed eaten and bed ready for the long flight tomorrow.

Last night I did not get lots of sleep, I kept on waking up. I think this was because the heat was unbearable. And at one point I woke up on the floor. So once I woke I was still very tired however when I managed to rise from my covers I was ok. After I had done my daily routine of packing by tennis bag and laptop bag I headed downstairs to have I quick breakfast. I had quite a long time to wait afterwards because my Mum and my coach were e-mailing the airline we flew with to try rescue their bags. That mission was complete about 45 minutes later and then straight away we zoomed to the club.

At the Vilas Club I played Paddle Tennis before physical training with Stephan. The only thing that we did in the lesson was ladder training and stretching. I did not do the ladder training very well at tall. I played Mini tennis afterwards for about half an hour, before having an hour of tennis with Ruben. In my hour we practiced all sorts of my game. It was not the best I have ever played. It was also very hard I keep your footing because the clay was very dry from the sun. Next I changed my clothes and went for lunch where I had steak sirloin and chips with a lovely drink of Gatorade. You know what was for dessert, as always ice cream.

In the afternoon I had my squad. I did not enjoy my squad this afternoon because the people on it were not very friendly to me and the exercises we did were not very fun. However my mood turned when I went up to the restaurant to play on my computer. Sitting on the table next to me was GUILLERMO CANAS! I was just about to go into my bag and get out the camera when I remembered Mum had it and she was in downtown Buenos Aires trying to sort here bag problems out. I started praying that she would come back, luckily she pulled just as he was about to leave and go to the gym. I managed to grab an autograph and a photo! After this moment of my day I had a session with Stephan in the gym. I was unlucky to not get anthers players autograph. This was because in the gym with Stephan I saw Juan Ignacio Chela, he is number twenty in the world. However this opportunity was missed because he left whilst I was in the middle of an exercise.

Once the day’s activities were over we went home washed and walked to Rafa’s sister’s house where we had a beautif barbesue. Rafa’s brother in law cooked the food . He is an artist and I got the chance to go inside his office where he had made lots of different types of statues and creations for different films.
Luckily seeing that I was so tired we got a ride home from Rafa’s friend Edmundo and then we went straight to bed.

It was a relaxed start to the day because we had an important test in the afternoon. I had breakfast in the room; this was because I only woke up at 9:30. We eventually left the room at eleven o”clock, and the only tennis I played this morning was a light hit with my coach and an hour with Rubin where I worked on my serve. After Rubin it was time for lunch. I continued my tradition of ordering the same dish by having steak and chips again; it was just as good as yesterday.

Next on the agenda was the most important part of the week, a physical training test at the Boca Juniors Stadium. We did lots of different tests including agility, coordination, balance and flexibility. It was obviously my lucky day because afterwards my dreams came true when we had a guided tour of the whole of the Boca Juniors facility. The facility consisted of a basketball stadium, training pitches, a youth stadium and of course the main Boca Juniors First Stadium. My day was made even better when my coach said that we might be able to go and watch a Boca match on Saturday.

We then went straight to dinner however this took a long time because it was rush hour. Once we got to the restaurant though it was amazing. The restaurant was a buffet of every type of food. The way they laid out the food was quite spectacular and very organised and beautiful. Next as always it was home to bed.

This morning I had a lot of time to relax once I had woken up. This was because it was a public holiday. It was the day that the Argentines had invaded England to win the Falcon Islands. So in the spare time that my Mum and I had we went on a walk down the main street in Buenos Aires. On this walk I bought a Boca Juniors t-shirt worth 179 pesos, in a store called Dexter Sports. When we arrived back at the hotel my coach was waiting for me in are hired car. I took the lift back up to our room where I collected my things and headed off to the club in the back seat of the car.

At the club the first thing that was on my timetable was a match against the number 20 in Argentina for under 13s. After losing six match points and playing the worst tennis of my life the match was finally over. More of the same was up next when I had another agility and coordination session with Stephan. Followed by an easy set of tennis against another Argentine boy, that I won 6-0.

Lunch was to follow, and a change in my daily routine of chicken Milanese to well done steak and chips with of course Coke as a drink. As I was on my way to the toilet I passed a face I had seen on the TV many times before. I t was DAVID NALBANDIAN. At first he looked in a bad mood so I was too keen on asking for a picture and an autograph. However my Mum and I collected up the courage to do so, and it all turned out ok. This was the best part of my day!

After lunch we all went off to a Hotel called the Shelton, where I played another match against a 22 year old man you was very good. But I managed to play extremely well the same day that I had played dreadfully, and won 6-1.

Another long day was nearly over, but before it was over there were two more things that we did. My Mum and my coach went for a facial for two hours, and I went for ice cream in a great shop called Volta. Volta had every type of ice cream you could possibly imagine, it was fantastic. Going out to dinner was the next thing on the list. Dinner was practically the same as always apart from I was pulled from restaurant to restaurant because my coach and my mum wanted me to eat with them.

By the time I got back to the room I was so tired, all I had to do is rest my head on the pillow I was off into a deep, deep sleep.

It was a hectic start to the day seeing as I had to do chores that I had to do last night as we were trudging around Buenos Aires and I woke up a little later than normal (8:30). However once all these chores had been carried out I had time to go down and have a 20 minute breakfast. For breakfast I had four croissants and two glasses of orange juice. After breakfast I went up to my room to collect my belongings and then headed downstairs to where my coach Rafa was waiting in our hired car. Soon after we were pulling into the Vilas Racquet once again.

The routine was pretty the same in the morning: an hour of footwork and agility training. However the second segment of the morning was slightly different. I played an hour and a half with Ruben Puerta who is one of the best coaches in Argentina. He has coached players like Coria, Chela and Mariano Puerta his son. At this moment in time his was coaching two boys from Venezuela. Ruben gave me an assessment on which parts of my game to improve and which parts he thought were good.

By the end of this assessment it was one o’clock and I was feeling peckish so popped up to the Restaurant and ordered the same thing as I had ordered yesterday followed by ice cream again for dessert.

At four the court beckoned me once more for another two hour intensive training session. That was swiftly followed up by a forty five minute core, stamina and strength lesson in the gym with Stephan. After this long day it was home time again and our destination was the hotel, to get washed and head out to dinner.

For dinner we found something very simple. A lovely local restaurant just round the corner so we could not get lost. I ordered steak and chip. The moment of my day came when I dug into that first slice of steak. It was so succulent and delicious. It was the best steak I think I had ever tasted.

The follow this great meal I had some weird tasting ice cream that I ate quickly so I could retreat home to the softness of my pillow.