IT was another day of big experiences in Boulder today.

We kicked things off with a yoga session which was a nice change up from everything else we’ve been doing so far.

After that it was on to the weights, before a few meetings.

But there was one pretty big exception to the routine, when a few of us got to have a hit of tennis with former Wimbledon semi-finallist Alexandra Stevenson.

Alexandra is making a comeback after a lay off with a shoulder injury and she has come to Boulder, much like us, to ramp up her training in pursuit of a big campaign ahead.

She should be fine if today was anything to go by, because those serves came at me pretty hard.

I played a lot of tennis as a kid and managed to get to a fairly high level but I was no match for Alexandra, who also happened to be one of the most friendly and engaging people I have met so far on this trip.

Luckily I wasn’t the only one battling to return her serve. Josh Saunders, Jackson Ferguson, David Armitage and Jay Lever all had a hit with her and every single one of them struggled to make an impact.

But it was hard to get too angry about it as she had a big smile on her face the whole time.
She said she’s got plans to play at the Australian Open in 2014 and if she does, she’ll have a fair few of the Saints boys in her corner, cheering her on.

I was pretty tired by the end of the day, there has been a lot of activity and with that comes a bit of fatigue.

Thankfully, that fatigue brings benefits that I hope will be coming through for my second year on the Saints list.