By Brenda and Mike Tammen

G’Day friends & family!
Mike & I have created this distribution list to keep you all updated on the ITF World Championships that are taking place in Christchurch, NZ. Opening ceremonies are this afternoon at 4pm. It’s Sunday here. 🙂
Christchurch is a beautiful little city with a population of about 400K. We are staying in a cozy, one bedroom apt within walking distance of Cathedral Square, which is downtown Christchurch. There are beautiful botanical gardens and an art museum within walking distance of the square. Mike and I have enjoyed several little cafes and a cable car ride which tours downtown in a 2.5km loop. The weather has been a bit on the cloudy side as they are approaching Fall here, but it is still temperate enough to have dinner outside in the evenings.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christchurch
We arrived on Friday morning about 7am and the rest of the team got here yesterday. The team consists of Mike Fedderly, Val Wilder, Peter Markus, and Mike Tammen (Captain). Val’s wife, Kathy, also came down. We had our first team dinner last night, USTA team pics were this morning at 8am and the boys have gotten in a few practice sessions…draws are posted today after the Captain’s meeting and the first matches are played tomorrow. They are a very fun group of guys and it promises to be a spirited week of action and camaraderie.
There are 4 cups that are being played here, at Christchurch. Unfortunately, we are spread out in 3 locations for the team event, and are about 85 km apart, so this year there are 3 separate opening ceremonies. The individual events, which begin after the team events are completed, will all be held here, in Christchurch. The Cups that are being held here are the Fred Perry Cup (M50), the Dubler Cup (M45), the Italia Cup (M35) and the Margaret Court Cup (W45).
Countries competing in the Fred Perry Cup are:
Argentina
Australia
Canada
Finland
France
Germany
Great Britain
Japan
Netherlands
New Zealand
Slovinia
South Africa
Turkey
USA
My plan is to send daily tournament recaps on the progress of Team USA. If there is anyone on the distribution list that would rather not be, please let me know!
G’day, mates!