Today we had an early morning practice because it was supposed to rain in the afternoon. As it turned out, the threat of rain was bigger in the morning…we had thunder throughout our practice, but no rain. We were out there for two hours though, and done by 10:30! The courts here are pretty soft and extremely slow. Dropshots will be a valuable tool this week I think. There were a lot of employees working on the courts in the morning, rolling them, sweeping and they used a stick to get the clay off the lines. It’s early in the season, so the courts are softer than they will be later in the year.

We ran into a lot of USA women’s teams today and seemed like the entire Canadian and Australian teams and quite a few Brits, and it was fun to see old friends. Tomorrow’s post though will have more people photos.

After practice I went to the gym and ran into Ellen Dawson from Texas…her husband Tony now plays for the Australian team. And the women’s 70 and 75 teams…part of them, walked in too.

I finished my exercises and met up with my team, Anne, Carolyn & Susan for lunch. The photos are just of the lunch buffet…dinner is more elaborate. But there are lots of vegetables, fish, various stews, soup (popular today, it’s cold!), and deserts from fruit to cake to Middle Eastern desserts to vanilla ice cream (and all the fixings for a sundae), along with Pide (Turkish pizza), breads galore, and French fries and tater tots.

After lunch I hit the wall and had a long nap…it’s been a lazy afternoon before a super busy day tomorrow…practice, captains’ meetings, opening ceremonies, team photos and more.