Draws are here.

Friday June 21, 2024, Lima, Peru

Weather report: No change to the weather but there wasn’t much misting this morning…lows in the upper 50’s and highs in the mid 60’s, overcast and calm. Good playing weather, but a bit chilly for watching…very much like San Diego in the winter…or in May.

I warmed up at 7am with Marc Pepin of Canada who has been nice enough to get up early and warm up with me this week (and himself, he’s still in the men’s doubles). I then played my singles at 9:30 and we actually got on court a bit early. It was a pretty quick match, but Elizabeth Mercado whom I played was a nice woman, and we had a pleasant match. I think I play Graciela Donoso in the final. She was having a first set battle and had just won it when I left…I was told later that she had won.

It is quite the choreographed process to prepare a court after a match…sweep, line, water, rinse and repeat all day long.

Then I watched Toni Novack play her last 75s match and she won against someone who was in the 80s but looked more like early 70s at most. But then tennis does keep one young. Toni played great and moved even better. She ran down one drop shot that was so close to the net Toni had to sidestep off the court to avoid hitting the net. Needless to say she won the match and the women’s 75s.

I went back to my apartment for lunch, and to change, then walked back for my “not before 2pm” doubles. We got on around 4:30…the tournament put an additional match on our court and though the score was 64 64, it lasted hours. We played Annabel Durand (PER) and Maria Righi (BRA), the #2 seeds. It was an easier match than last night and we had figured out how to play together (I hit the first ball and ran to net; Tita Zea stayed at the baseline and ran/grinded out points. It worked and we won 2, 1 to win the title.

There aren’t many Americans here. James Ward played in men’s 75, beat a seed and lost in the quarters.

Tidbits if you come to play here:

• Not much practice time is available and most days, till the last day, only from about 7-7:30 am.
• Make sure no cars or motorcycles are coming when you cross the street…they do not stop for pedestrians, regardless of whether they are in a marked cross walk!
• Try the ceviche, it’s really really good
• Take a walk along the promenade (or rent a bike from the Lacomar mall to bike along the promendade) and do some people watching
• Brush up or learn some Spanish…few players speak any English here unless they are in the much younger divisions…or travel with a Spanish speaker!
• Be careful with belongings…and if in a taxi don’t have purse or phone exposed (or lock the door and raise the window)