The national squad bound for Kuala Lumpur next week for the Asia Oceania Group III battle took to their pre-Davis Cup routine of a short training and fitness camp in the coastal town of Kep last weekend.

The “Kep Therapy” as it is popularly known in the Tennis Cambodia circles also had a touch of spirituality as one of its components. As has been the practice before every major competition in the past three years, the entire squad and a few of its minders paid a visit to the famous Kampoul Phnom Kep nunnery.

The players spent the first of the three days with a mix of on-court training at the Vila Romonea and jogging around town and sprinting with an eye on improving fitness.

It was open-sea swimming the next morning with a boat dropping the team off 300 m etres off shore from the Kep beach for the members to swim back. Then came the harder part of the session.

Footwork drills on soft white sand around the cones set up on the beach followed by pushups and situps on the edge of the waterline.

The afternoon’s visit to the nunnery came as a welcome relief and new to this tradition were two new faces in the team Doeum Samsocheaphearun and Delton Sophana Kim.

The morning workouts on the final day included swim sprints in shallow water and a practice session on court where the focus was mainly on doubles.

In last year’s Tehran campaign, Cambodia lost all its doubles rubbers and they are determined this year to turn this around. The team’s idea of a cool off from this hectic schedule was an evening boat cruise around the bay of Kep.

“I believe it was a great weekend for our team to work hard together and to spend time as a team, which will make us stronger going into this year’s Davis Cup’’ National coach Braen Aneiros said yesterday.

“Tennis is an individual sport, and there are not many competitions where you can play as a team, so it was very important for us to spend the past three days together,” said Braen Aneiros who is also the Technical Director of Tennis Cambodia.