There are teams from four regions at this competition for over 60 women, Mainz is one, Berlin is one and a team from Bavaria, along with ETUF Essen.

The draw was done this morning. The teams didn’t agree on the seeding..some thought the team we played today should be #2 based on players’ German rankings or ratings, others thought Berlin should be #2. Since there was no agreement, the draw was randomly drawn. We didn’t play Berlin..who were finishing #3 singles as I left; Berlin was up 2/1.

We all arrived early, had a photo taken around 9am and then warmed up with practice balls which were very fluffy and slow! The courts here are nice but quite soft and slow…tough to hit through the ball but easy to drop shot.

I played Ursula Geiger who is in the 60s and plays some ITF tournaments. She whacked her forehand quite well but I made some adjustments and won comfortably as did the other singles players. The other team didn’t want to play doubles…they weren’t very happy to play and “international” team (our players were American, Dutch and Portuguese).

Tonight is a gala dinner at the club overlooking the Baldeneysee.

There was a lot of activity at the Club today…the Regatta (boat racing), and another tennis/golf/hockey competition for women. Helga Nauck, the current 60s world champion was playing in the latter competition. And there were people out just walking and biking, temperatures today were in the high 80s, unusual for Germany in September apparently.

Below: Ready to race!