Sunday October 17, 2021
Today was the last practice day before the Individual World Championships for me. I checked on practice courts in the morning (there were none till after 5pm at the earliest) so I checked on other options in the area, and found available courts at the Canyamel Park Hotel (for a fee, 20 Euros an hour per court). I reserved a court and practiced with Michael Beautyman again. We were given a court in the back that was very beach-like…thick and sandy. There was a steady stream of lessons net to us, all taught in German. On the first court, when we arrived five players were playing “dingles”…though they didn’t call it that.
Canyamel is about 15 minutes down the coast from Font de Sa Cala, and is a beach resort, primarily visited by Germans.
After practice I picked up my racquet I’d had strung and chatted with some of the players. Suella Steel lost a tight match to the #2 seed in the 80s, an unfortunate draw for her. She wasn’t used to all the softer balls and drop shots. Donna Fales (80s), Sheila Palmer (85), Dorothy Wasser (80), George Balch (75), Michael Gurmai (75), Miguel Cordova (M75), Dan Waldman (M65), advanced while I believe in men’s 75, Karl Placek & Les Buck both retired with injuries (the winner isn’t listed but both were hobbled) and Dean Corley lost. In the 65s, Danny Shaw (an American who lives in Austria) and Andrew Stanley (a Brit who lives in USA) both fell. Liana Bryson and Adrienne Sprouse lost in the women’s 70. Warren Mosler, the only American in men’s 70, lost.
The Americans mostly did well yesterday in mixed with Suella Steel (with Peter Pokorny), Donna Fales/Dean Corley, Danny Shaw (with Hildegard Bruggaber) and Andrew/Ann Stanley advancing.
I play tomorrow against a Belgian player, Christiane Deryckere at 10 at Son Besso tennis club, about a 5 minute drive from here. She’s a nice player, should be a good match. I practiced there two days ago and the courts are rather like the ones I practiced on today.