It was a long, late day in Boynton Beach, but a fun one.
We started at 9:30 in Palm Beach Gardens with warm up; I played Gundi Weiland at noon and won 60 62, but the match was nearly 90 minutes and we were both soaked by the end…Gundi said she now understands why Nadal takes so long between points, as she was going to the towel after nearly every point. In the last game I realized she was really tired (it was both hot and humid)…and brought out my drop shot. All is fair in love and tennis!
The rest of the tournament the matches are at the Boynton Beach Tennis Center, which unfortunately has no facilities other than restrooms…no showers or food though some sandwiches were brought in for sale to the players, and they looked good. The courts were good in the morning and even at noon, but by 1pm had really dried out a lot and the bounces were…tricky. They use above ground watering and normally get watered at noon daily, but not during this event, and they really needed water. I did manage to get a shower at another venue though and brought lunch.
We played doubles at 4pm, Carolyn Lane and I vs the #2 seeds, Benedicte Legrand and Caroline Glaszmann from France (lots of Carolyns on the court). When we started there was an ominous cloud in the distance…then it was overhead with thunder and lightning. At 4-4 play was abandoned for a while due to the lightning. It did rain also quite steadily for a while but not enough to stop play once the lightning subsided. After a brief warm up we resumed the match and played better, winning it 64 61 to advance to the final against Susan Wright and Pat Medrado of Brazil. They beat Bunnie Jackson and Betsy Savitt.
In singles I play Medrado, (tomorrow at 10:30) in a rematch of last year’s final. The other semi is between Susan and Diane Barker, so three of the four USA Godfree Cup players are in the semis!
Carolyn Lane and Steve Dance (AUS) play the So African pairing of Jenny Cerff/Jacob Klaussen in the mixed semis tomorrow.
There were tons of good matches, but you’ll have to sift through the draws…we finished around 6:45 and had to drive home, hit the grocery store, eat and get ready for tomorrow rather quickly. It’s nearly 10pm as I am writing this.
Thanks to Sabine Schmidt for her help with the photos!