Yes, it was another beautiful day in Mallorca. The tournament started today, draws were posted yesterday.

There are only 3 Americans here I think, John Powless, Mariana Hollman and me. We had dinner last night outside the Beach Club. John is the top seed in the men’s 75s, Mariana is the 4th seed in the women’s 45s and I am the top seed in the women’s 55. The biggest women’s draw is the 55s, with about 40 players. I play a German woman tomorrow who had a tough 3 setter over a Swedish player. Mariana won today over a German player. I play at 1:30, but we are first practicing at 8am…the only time we could get a practice court.

The majority of the players here are German. Tournament announcements are made in English, German and from time to time in Spanish. There aren’t that many Spaniards in the draws. I’m sure Germans outnumber Mallorcans here except in the winter!

Today I was able to practice 2x for an hour. There’s a court fee, even for the tournament courts, everywhere but at the Beach Club, where practice courts are hard to come by. The court fee here is 12.50 Euros, and that’s really for 50 minutes, since we are expected to groom the court and water it after playing! Balls are Wilson German Clay Court and are much heavier than their US counterpart US Open Clay court balls. They play more like an American hard court ball. The price is 12 Euros a can (4 balls) here…about $16! So don’t complain about paying $3.50 a can next time you forget to buy balls at Costco ($2 a can).

Mariana and I went into Cala Ratjada for dinner…real Spanish paella, which was good (with mariscos…seafood).

Here’s a link to the draws. http://www.mallorca-seniors.de/results/results2010/mallorca2010.htm