CarolynNichols.com & SeniorTennisBlog

Yesterday was a relaxing day in Baden Baden. I warmed up Carole, packed up and wandered around the old town and down Lichenthaler Allee and did a bit of shopping. It was a gorgeous day.

In the evening I took the train to the Frankfurt airport since I had a very early flight today to Klagenfurt via Vienna. As soon as I arrived in Austria, even at the airport, I could feel the difference from Germany. The greeting becomes “Grüß Gott”. The chocolate changes from Ritter Sport to Mozart kugelen (involving chocolate and marzipan). The bread rolls shrink in size. German though is still the lingua franca.

There were three Swedish players on the same plane to Klagenfurt from Vienna today, Sunday, so we shared a taxi. We had a detour because of  a bike race and ended up o some pretty narrow roads!

I went over to the courts  and ran into some Aussies watching a men’s doubles final. The final was quite entertaining and quite international, Max (AUS) and Bruno (FRA) vs Quentin (NZL) and Keith (CAN). Max and Bruno won in a match tiebreak. I lost my doubles partner, Nora Blom, but  found a new one, Heidi Eisterlehner, so all is good.

I also hit on the courts here with Luis from Brazil. It was good to get on the courts. The balls here are light, like the Babolat balls I practiced with in the USA (except here they cost 6 euros, nearly $7 per 3 ball can). The balls also bounce very high. The tournament venues have had successively lighter balls and higher bounces. Baden Baden was lighter and had a higher bounce than  Bournemouth and here the ball was really flying. It’s warmer and less humid here.

Just behind the courts is the Worthersee which is a lovely lake with mountains around it. From my balcony I can see both the courts and the lake, and when the sun shines, as it did today, it’s gorgeous.

Draws are here. 

Photos are here. I’ll be adding more during the week.