I had a day off today from the tournament, so I went to another venue, the Leonstein courts which are about a five minute walk from my hotel or a 2 minute bike ride and watched two Americans, Hugh Thomson and Bruce Barrett play. Hugh played an unseeded German who actually was down match point against a Swiss player, when the Swiss player retired (he couldn’t play on Wednesday). Hugh won 64 75, rallying from 1-4, 15-40 in the second set. Bruce played Peter Adrigan from Austria, the top seed here and really gave Adrigan a scare and a work out. Adrigan squeaked out the win over the serve and volleying lefty 36 64 64.

Bruce was nice enough to agree to hit with me after lunch, but first I decided to hit some serves at the Leonstein courts. I hit a few serves and then a man who looked to be about 80asked if I’d warm him up…he didn’t look too much like a good player but he was very consistent from the back court and at net as long as I hit the ball to him.  Turns out he was Hans Jell who used to be a top player but didn’t play last year due to health issues.

Bruce and I walked down to the courts where Hugh and I hit yesterday and had almost a two hour workout which was great. I got back and found out I play at 10:30 singles against Dagmar Anwar, a nice solid German player and doubles at 3pm. They have been scheduling matches only at 9, 10:30, 3, 4:30 and 6, leaving the middle of the day open due to the heat. (But they won’t let you practice on the courts during that 3 hour period!).

The player dinner is tomorrow at my hotel.

Here are a few photos of Bruce and Hugh in action and of the Leonstein club.