Barcelona ITF MT1000 draws

It was a busy Monday for me. I trained in Mallorca from 8 to 9:30 in the morning.

After tennis, I drove back to my Airbnb, gathered my belongings and drove for the airport. I had enough time, but I hadn’t bought gas yet. That turned out to be a mistake because I made the wrong turn going to a gas station and ended up at the one at the airport. That would’ve been OK if you could pay at the pump. You could not pay at the pump however I didn’t know that I was supposed to pump the gas and then Pay the line was very long because there was one person working at the checkout counter and she was also in charge of making coffees and preparing sandwiches. Also, the person in front of me in line to get gas didn’t move for about 10 minutes at least.

I did get my gas after about a half an hour and proceeded to return my car. I had rented from Roig, a Spanish company and had opted for a self checkout. This involved opening an email taking photos of the gas cage, where you put the keys in the car and taking a photo of the license plate and uploading them after which the app automatically lock the car. I think it could be an efficient way to return the car the next time I use it this time not so much!

The good news was that it was rather late by the time I got to the airport, so there was no line to check in and it was an empty time of day so security was fast. And in the end the plane took off an hour late, so I had time for lunch.

I got to my hotel a little after 4 PM, unloaded my bags, and of course, headed off to the grocery store, the one in the basement of El Corte Ingles. It’s a big department store and the grocery section has everything from a gourmet prepared food department to two aisles of chocolates, and at least that much space devoted to tinned fish products, plus both gourmet and regular fruits and vegetables.

I didn’t go to the tournament last night, but this morning I went over to practice with a friend of mine from Germany, Ellen Neumann. I played at 6 PM tonight which is the first start time.

I took the tram this morning from a stop nearby my hotel. I bought a 10 trip ticket at the ticket machine by the stop then you have to figure out that you have to tap it to this machine inside or else you could get ticketed because it takes one trip off your ticket each time you tap it and record the time and date.

In the mornings, the area is quite deserted, and there were a lot of children on the court when I first got there before we practiced on the same court. There were a couple of Polo players on the field practicing their craft with their horses.

I was scheduled to play singles at 6 PM, but my opponent a local club member defaulted. She was a late entry in a wild card which brought the entry total to 8 avoided Round Robins. So I’m in the semis without hitting a ball and I play the number one Spanish player in my next match. The schedule of play isn’t out for today yet so I don’t know if I played today or tomorrow. I was able to warm up for about 15 minutes with another club member before I knew I had a default.

There are a few Americans playing here. Kline Sack was playing on the front court and ahead 4-1 when I left.