TENNIS - Less physical, more positive

Northland's top tennis player Jackson Bodle is at a loss to explain why his results this year have been so impressive.
The former Maunu Tennis Club player is now based in Auckland and until Saturday was the only unbeaten player after seven rounds of the Caro Bowl Competition - the country's top interclub competition.
Playing at No1 for his Blockhouse Bay club, he's beaten top Kiwi players like New Zealand Davis cup team player Adam Thompson and the highly rated Matt Prentice but instead of training hard, Bodle has been busy working.
"I think my good form might have come about from the relaxed mindset I've had all this year, I'm more positive even though I've done less physical training and that's helped, I guess," he said.
Bodle has been in some demand as a coach in Auckland and that's kept him pretty busy, giving him far less time to practise every week but the attraction of cash rolling in is not to be underestimated.
"Financial security and financial freedom has allowed me to worry less about things and just get out there and have a good match ... I know it sounds weird but there it is," Bodle said.
His form in the Caro Bowl helped his team into third place after the round robin competition and into the semifinal. On Friday night Bodle tasted defeat in the contest for the first time this year, losing his rematch against Thompson in the semifinal 3-6, 6-7 - as his team narrowly lost to West End 3 matches and 8 sets to 3 matches and 7 sets.
"It was really strange, over the last two weeks we've lost 5-1 and I've been the only player to win a game and this time it was 3-3 and I was the only one that didn't win," he said.
Despite the disappointment, his Caro Bowl form hasn't gone unnoticed.
"It's definitely opened a few doors for me and I've had a couple of sponsorship offers so that's not a bad thing," he said.
Tennis New Zealand's High Performance Coach James Greenhalgh has suggested it's high time to get back into training.
"He wants me to get back into training but right now I'm happy just doing my coaching and making a bit of money and relaxing for a bit," he said.
That won't last long though. Bodle aims to cash in on the summer opportunities before getting back into training full-time.
"I want to get back into training again seriously in March or April," he said.
He accompanied Thompson to the United States and Venezuela during winter this year with some success and has another trip, this time to France, planned for May. He expects to play in around 20-25 tournaments during the European summer and is looking forward to further success, when he gets re-acquainted with his favourite tennis surface: clay.