Today was a good day to play tennis, sunny mostly, warm and with only a slight breeze. I had a very good warm up with Nora Blom, who won the 60s final on Thursday. She has amazing footwork.

I played my doubles partner, Margreth Beyer, who is a good, steady player. I played well today though and won 60 60. I also watched most of the second set between Lyn Mortimer and Sabine Schmitz. Sabine had leads in both sets, 54 in the first and 52 in the second, but Lyn rallied to win both sets and the match 76 76. They have played a lot this year, since they are teammates on a German team and play most of the same tournaments.

After our singles match Margreth and I went to watch her teammate,from Florida (though she has lived in Germany for a long time and is married to a German). She played a German player who was very vocal and emotive on the court. They split sets and in the third the German took a time out at 2/1 for the trainer, ostensibly for an ankle injury, though it helped her to have a 10 minute break as she was cramping. She rallied from 31 down, taking her time between points and especially on changeovers (about 2-3 minutes I think), but fought well to win. There was a chair umpire, but he didn’t call any time violations or code violations (hitting the ball over the fence in anger, swearing…). It was an interesting match, both from the mental side and the points were good.

Margreth and I won our doubles easily, though at 60 50 when we lost a game our opponents were thrilled. We won the match though 60 61. The interesting thing about that match was that the tournament director didn’t want to give us new balls for doubles. The rules require them, same as for singles, since doubles is a ranking division, but most players don’t ask for them. In fact, the TD told Margreth that most players don’t request new balls for third sets! #tennisballsineuropearetooexpensive; #tournamentdirectorsdon’tliketofollowitfrulesbutrefereeshaveto!

Tomorrow I play Lyn again in singles and then Margreth and I play Olga Markova, my first round singles opponent and Barbora Koutna. They beat Nora Blom and Annalies Simons 76 63 to reach the final.

Below are photos of Sabine and Lyn, an action photo of Margreth and a photo of Margreth and me from Baden-Baden.