I played my first round match at the MT 1000 in Mallorca against Cathie Clarkson from New Zealand, who is a member of the NZ Kitty Godfree Cup team. She was an interesting player, big topspin forehand that was lethal when she connected…but I outsteadied her and won 2,0. Everyone is given a 1.5 liter bottle of water (room temperature or cold on request at least at the Beach Club), a towel and banana before the match and the courts are swept and watered by Beach Club staff before each match which is very nice. The tournament staff here are great too, many the same as the ones who were in Feld am See a couple of weeks ago in Austria.
I play Jenny Cerff on Sunday…we don’t have a match tomorrow, as there are three matches that are only in the round of 32 which have to be played tomorrow.
Doubles pairing and sign up is a bit different here. than in the US. The doubles deadline is only tomorrow evening, two days after the singles starts. For players who do not have a partner, there is a get together tomorrow at 6pm at the Beach Club for players to meet and pair up (the doubles “dating service”). Fortunately I have a partner for doubles this week!
Before our 1 pm warm up we went to Mueller, a combo drugstore/cosmetic/perfume store. Susan needed a hair curler that was 220 volts, and I got oatmeal…I’m trying out various types here in Spain! It had a little of everything. We then visited Mercado to check out what they sell…they had an impressive fish department and I’m going back tomorrow to buy some squid, which looked very good.
And then they had packages of chicken feet (only about $2 a pound)…along with lots of ham, produce and the normal grocery items.
We warmed up at Son Besso Club which is where the Kitty Godfree Cup will be played starting a week from Sunday. It has 11 courts and is strategically located (for us anyway) next to the Lidl market. The courts were quite different from those at the Beach Club, much softer with a lot of clay topping so the bounces are…interesting. It should be heaven for dropshotters. I hit with Michael Beautyman from the men’s 75 team and Jenny and Susan hit.
Tomorrow we are hitting early then going to the Cala Ratjada weekly market…should be fun.
First post, i discovered your site and I very inspirational and informative. I am 52 mostly 4.5/5.0 most of my life but I am looking now to start participating in the Senior Circuit. I decided to have a goal in getting in amazing shape and living the dream of traveling and playing tennis full time in a few years, but I will start playing nationals next year. have fun and good luck
That is fantastic, enjoy!