Micah Franklin’s 2013 Australia Tour kicked off in Alice Springs, which is the first of 5 tournaments he will be competing in over the time span of four weeks.
Franklin faced off against South African born Tristan Eysele who is playing under the English flag. Franklin went down in a five setter 11-8,11-3,8-11,7-11,11-7 in just under an hour.
Franklin said, “I am obviously gutted to lose in the fifth after working so hard to comeback from 2-0 down and tie it at 2-2 but I learned some really important things about myself today which I think were very ground breaking.”
Franklin continued, “The first of these is learning to adapt to unfavorable conditions by playing a different game than what you may be used to. In my first two games out there I realized that with such an incredibly bouncy court and a high tin that I really had to stop going for my shots which were either hitting the tin or putting myself under more pressure. Thankfully in the next three games I started hitting with much more of a purpose and really applying some pressure on my opponent with good length and volleying.”
“The second important thing I learned is to not let your brain play tricks on you by thinking your body can’t take anymore. I realized today that I am fitter than I think I am and that I can go the distance and keep pushing even when my brain thinks I’ve had enough. There were several long rallies tonight which really made me feel like I was dying when in fact I should have snapped out of it and realized that I can keep going and push through it. Yes I do have a lot of work to do on my fitness but that can come through time and hard work it’s important for me now to know that I can push my body to places where my brain may think it can’t go,” continued Franklin.
Franklin concluded, “I feel as though these two mental and tactical thoughts are going to make a difference in my game and only improve my next tournament here in Australia.”
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