Today was all tennis in Bordeaux (as opposed to other days which were 90% tennis). I played Lyn Mortimer from Australia (whom I played in the Essen final). In France, the tournaments schedule differently from other countries…we were third match on Court 1 not before 11:30. The first match started at 9 am. This means two quick matches can result in match #3 starting about 11:30…or a long one, such as the three-setter on Court 1 which finished at 11:30, can delay the start of matches on that court all day. We started around 1pm, following Roger Taylor.

(Roger Taylor from Gr. Britain is a former Wimbledon semifinalist and US doubles champion who plays now in the 70s. He injured his left (playing) shoulder and rather than give up tennis, he learned to serve righty and then switches to hit groundless and volleys with his left hand. He lost today in the 70s semis to a swifter player, but still has lovely strokes and demeanor. )

Lyn came out playing well, aggressively as always but with few errors and a very high service percentage. We went on serve to 4-3, but then Lyn broke and held, winning the last 10 or so points of the set and the set 63. I played a little more aggressively at the start of the 2nd and went up 4-0 before Lyn fought back to 43. I dug out the last two games to even the match. The third set I won 61 after dropping the first game but the games were long and the points were too. It was a good 2 hour final and I’m sure we set the schedule back a bit more. Several hours later we teamed up for doubles though and won through to the final which is tomorrow afternoon/early evening (second match after 3:30).

Champignon means mushroom by the way in French.