There was less drama today on the automobile front. Though having one’s tires stolen does result in a lot of comments in social media! My second, very anonymous rental car (Susan and I now have matching cars as well as matching tennis attire for the week) made it through the night with its tires connected to its rims. Chevy Malibu for the win, though the week is young.
Susan and I practiced in the morning and played a doubles set against Vicki Buholz and Lori Robertson which was fun. The weather was nice but much windier, which conditions look to continue throughout the week.
After practice, Susan and Tim Wright and I hung out for a while and also checked in for the tournament. This year we received a nice backpack and of course a meal card, good for a terrific breakfast and lunch every day. We also received a flyer that supposedly was good for a $25 gift card at Tennis Express though it was really for $25 off any purchase of $75 or more (only after signing up for it using a QR code). I returned to Tennis Express to return my too small shoes (and found the same shoe a 1/2 size bigger in different colors and on a good sale), along with some string savers, dampeners, and the Wilson balls we will be using in Turkey (just 3 cans, one for each of my teammates… have some at home.
The tournament begins tomorrow but Susan and I have byes so start play on Tuesday. I just looked again at my draw and it had changed! The 7th seed, Sally Smith, pulled out and my first round opponent which was to be the winner of a match between Ann Young (Pellow) and Melanie Boyd is now Boyd (Young was drawn into Smith’s slot, but then the numbers were removed from the 5-8 seeds as there are now only 23 players in the draw). The doubles seeds changed a bit, with Cindy Abel/Shannon Gorden Carney replacing Smith/Kim Dean as the 4th seeds. Dean is now playing with Ann Young, also a good team, and they are our potential second round opponents.
I returned to the club after leaving Tennis Express and ran into some old friends, Kathy Langer and Lyn Tietz, who are playing in the 85s (11 in singles and 7 doubles teams in the 85s). It was great to catch up.
Above, Lyn, Carolyn & Kathy. Below, National Women’s Tennis Association booth.
The Houston Racquet Club has a terrific gym, complete with an outdoor workout area, all sorts of equipment and two large rooms for classes, stretching, etc. I spent about 90 minutes there, doing some prehab work, stretching, and foot exercises.
And that’s a wrap on day 2 in Houston. Tomorrow is the last day of practice (8am!) before play begins.