The Connolly Cup team won 3-0 over Turkey. I win 60 61 at #2 singles over Nilgun Kececi, Tina won 76 60 at #1 singles over Aysel Ertug and Kerry and Sherri were flawless today in doubles winning 60 60 over Ozkan and Uzman. The Turkish players were really nice, very friendly. They told me that now tennis is pretty popular in Turkey and young children, 7 years old are starting to play tennis, but that most of the people their age didn’t start playing till they were in their 30s. Turkey though has a team in all 10 Cups in Mexico, and the players really enjoy this team competition. My opponent, Nilgun, lives in Ismir, near a lot of the historical ruins in Turkey. One of the nicest things about this competition is meeting and speaking with players from all over the world. The players may have lost a step or overcome an injury or several, but they all look great and enjoy the game.
Tina and I practiced after the doubles match finished for about an hour. I am slowly getting used to the altitude. The courts today were a little better than the practice courts and the lines were swept. The courts were swept and watered between matches. The weather is spectacular today here. The Men’s 55 team beat Ireland 3/0 at our site.
After practice I had a meeting, and then Theresa Bowen from the USTA and I caught a bus about 4:30. It was a good thing Theresa was on the bus, she had to wake me up when we stopped at the hotel…if she hadn’t I would have ended up at the last stop, a 25 minute walk from our hotel. I saw a lot of the American players as I walked in and the women’s 45 team invited me to dine with them. All of the American teams won today 3-0, but the men’s 50 team had three looong matches before prevailing. The women’s 35 team was off and has a tough match tomorrow against Great Britain.
The women’s 45 team members are Gretchen Magers from San Diego, a superb player, former pro, Fran Chandler, the captain from Tennessee (who was very excited that she found a laundry near by), Mariana Hollman from North Carolina and Renata Marcinkowska, another former touring pro, from South Carolina. Mariana is a Cuban native and so speaks fluent Spanish; Renata is a Polish native and speaks half a dozen languages; Fran is a pharmacist and Gretchen a college coach. Gretchen has been finding time to site see after matches and went with Fran’s husband Willie and Renata to the Archeological Museum today. I hope to see some sites before the week is out, but it’s not looking like there will be a lot of time for that in between playing matches and practicing…and of course blogging.
Tomorrow we play Sweden. They beat Turkey 3/0 so will be a tougher team. The person I play slices everything according to the Turkish players which works well in high altitude and should be a challenge.
Here’s a link to the ITF article on yesterday’s play and all results.http://www.itftennis.com/seniors/news/newsarticle.asp?articleid=21022
Location:Cjon. de Don Angel,Naucalpan,Mexico