Spirit may have a horrible bag drop process but the plane and wifi were nice, and we arrived in Birmingham, Alabama on time. It’s a really good thing I switched airlines…American had rebooked me to a 7:30pm flight which ended up delayed, arriving in Charlotte at midnight, so rebooked the connection to this (Tuesday) morning! I probably would have made it to Pelham for my match, but it would have been tight.
Yesterday we arrived into rainy, wet Birmingham but by the time we reached the Pelham Racquet Club, it had stopped raining and some courts were dried by around 2pm. Susan and I had a hit. The courts here are much softer than the ones in Palm Beach Gardens. They are above-ground watered but have a lot of clay on them. Today when we hit, Susan’s serve was putting nice divots in the court! On the other hand, the wind is barely perceptible.
Most players had singles this morning. Susan had a bye but we hit at 10:30, and played doubles at 12:30 after lunch against Susan Thompson/Kristen Padberg. We play Terri Thyssen/Lori Robertson tomorrow in the semis (small draw) while Susan plays Kim Dean in the singles quarters.
Most of the seeds start play tomorrow.
The scheduling here is interesting…lots of 8am matches followed hours later by doubles (great later in the tournament though when the singles matches are longer). And a day off between quarters and semis in the 65s singles (but not in the 75s).
Everyone has been very pleasant and the gift bag was really nice, a cooler bag full of cups, a towel, and a few other useful items.
Ann Etheredge, who is a fabulous singles player (with wins over players such as Pat Medrado) and an even better doubles player (think Ros Balodis) came by the Pelham Racquet Club for a visit. She was the tennis director at the Pelham Racquet Club from 2001 when it was built till her retirement in 2020. She is a member of the Alabama and Southern Hall of Fames and a former Masters World singles #1. I was lucky enough to be on some Cup teams with her and watching her play was always a lesson in itself.
After leaving the club Susan and I went to Hoover, AL (to the largest covered mall in Alabama)…for some undergarmets I forgot to pack. I do understand why Macy’s is distressed, the store was empty, rather depressing and understaffed but it did have what I was shopping for.