The 35-85 USTA Category I National Hard Courts begins tomorrow at the Chamisal Club in Salinas, CA. Chamisal is really between Salinas and Monterey, nestled in a small valley or canyon, surrounded by hills, a very pretty and private club and a friendly one.

I flew up Friday night and my flight was on time. I ran into Shelly Works and Monica Salazar from San Antonio at the airport. I was supposed to hit the next morning with Anna Zimmermann, but her flight had been cancelled (she lives in Indianapolis and got as far as Phoenix). So we rescheduled for the afternoon and we got in an abbreviated hit on Saturday night and another one today.

Since I had the morning and early afternoon free yesterday, I drove down 17 mile drive to Pebble Beach, and took in some of the scenery. 17 mile drive is beautiful, but it was overcast yesterday. There were hoards of tourists nonetheless at most every stop along the way. I continued to Carmel (again, packed with visitors) and went on to Chamisal.

Today, later in the afternoon, I practiced with Manola Colter from Albuquerque, NM. She’s the #3 seed in the 45s…and has happy feet and rarely misses.

Tomorrow I hit with Susan Wright, then Pam Cooke, my doubles partner this week, arrives and we’ll play a practice set or two of doubles.

The draws are here: http://tennislink.usta.com/Tournaments/TournamentHome/Tournament.aspx?T=138598#&&s=7Draws4

This tournament is exceptionally strong in the 55s with Susan, Diane Barker and Tina Karwasky asll playing singles, along with Canadian Erin Boynton, Tracey Thompson and Leslie Murveit and a host of other strong players.

In the 45s, Julie Cass is going for a doubles gold slam; Alissa Finerman and Erika Smith will be among the teams trying to derail her.

Susan Wright is going for singles and doubles gold slams.