I am off to Germany for the European Open Senior Championships in Baden Baden. This is the third time I have played this event and it’s a nice venue. The tournament is held at the Rot-Weiss Club, (Red/White) which is a sister club to the La Jolla Beach and Tennis Club.

I had an early flight from San Diego, connecting via Chicago and landing in Frankfurt at about 5:30 the next morning. I took an early flight because there is only one morning/early afternoon train that is nonstop to Baden Baden from the Frankfort Airport and it was at 7:53am. I booked my train online before I left, Deutsch Bahn has a good website and booking in advance saves about 50% on a lot of trains. Everything was on time today, the only glitch was that my phone was doa, but a Skype call to ATT (and a long hold online!) got it fixed just as I got on the train to Baden Baden.

The weather today was gorgeous, mid 70s, sunny, calm and I biked around the town, confirmed my hit for tomorrow at the tennis club, stopped at a farmer’s market for bread and strawberries (it’s strawberry and white asparagus season here…the berries are great, but I don’t get the appeal of weis spargel…white asparagus).

The draws have been posted here: http://www.itftennis.com/seniors/tournaments/tournament/info.aspx?tournamentid=1100027837 (click on “order of play” then the appropriate category). Doubles draws will be posted later in the week. I don’t play till Wednesday unfortunately, the tournament starts on Tuesday.

Below are a few photos from today.