Today was my first German Club Team match of the season and first on red clay this year. It was a cool (but neither cold nor windy). The club is about an hour from ETUF Essen. Sabine drove and navigated well and we arrived early.

The format in the 60+ division is 4 singles followed by two doubles. Sometimes all four matches are played simultaneously but today the busy club had two courts for the match. #2 and #4 play first, followed by #1 and #3 on the same courts.

It was drizzling and raining throughout the first round of matches (which started at 11am) but not enough to stop play…the red clay absorbs the rain well and just gets slower (and the balls fluff up).

Carole DeBruin from Netherlands played #2 for us against Dr. Ulrike a steady and fast left hander. Both were in Florida the past two weeks, playing Cup matches and the Individual World Championships. Carole started a bit slow but kept it close, winning 76 and the second set was shorter. I was sitting on the court for the #4 match by then, so I did not see much of it, but Carole won in straight sets. Interestingly to me, at 6-6 the players play a regular tiebreaker and not a “Coman” or “Masters” tiebreak.

Sabine Schmidt, coming back from a knee surgery (and very busy with the University World Games) played #4 against a very fast former volleyball player (who had a serve with a two step start to it) . Sabine won 61 76 (5); she was up 6-1 in the tiebreak but finished off when it was necessary.

Karien Theeuwes, Netherlands, played #3 singles but the match was over quickly, with Karien leading 4-1 when her opponent was injured.

I played Christine Arck, who played the Individual World Championships too in Florida. I played well and kept the errors low…this red clay is much slower than that in Florida for sure. I won to make it 4/0.

After a short break we all played doubles: the Dutch team at #1 and Sabine and I at #2. We had fun points as did Carole and Karien but we both won to make it a 6/0 sweep.

In German team matches, the singles matches start with three new Dunlop Fort balls; and those balls are the ones used for the doubles matches. Some of the balls were quite good, others were somewhat worn out by longer matches and the rain. In all matches a match tiebreak is played if players split sets.

After the match everyone showered and changed and we had a meal together. We left Essen at 8:30 (I left my hotel at 8:10) and returned around 6pm…it was a full and fun day of tennis & friendship.