Palm Beach Gardens, FL Friday April 22, 2022
We had our first Kitty Godfree team practices today in Boynton Beach, Florida. The weather was warm but not oppressive and very windy. We practiced at the Boynton Beach Tennis Center (aka Barrier Free Park) on the green/gray clay there.
Our team has four players, Diane Barker, Susan Wright, Bunnie Jackson and me. I am the playing captain. We are representing the USA and playing on the Kitty Godfree Cup team (Kitty Godfree was an excellent British player during the amateur tennis era and a member of the International Tennis Hall of Fame (read more here)). This event is the senior equivalent of Billie Jean King/Davis Cups. There are 12 teams in our age division (65+) and the seeded teams are USA, France, Germany and Great Britain. The Captains’ meetings are tomorrow where the draws will be made. The opening ceremony is at 5pm…if you are in the area come on over!
Diane, Susan, Bunnie and I practiced doubles in the morning and again in the afternoon and a little singles. We have a nice team and a strong one. In between practices, we had a picnic in the park and did some exercises (me, shoulder) and stretching (Susan and Jenny Cerff, the captain and #1 player from So Africa who is staying with Susan and me in Palm Beach Gardens.)
One of the best things about this competition is getting to see old friends we haven’t seen in a while, particularly since USA has not participated in this competition since 2019. We caught up a bit with some of the British and German players. I also saw the USA women’s 80 team. It’s a bit weird to play in the “Super Seniors” (65-85) competition since I’ve only been at this event as an official, but I’m happy to be a part of the team playing. It’s also nice but different to be playing in the USA where all is familiar, only a three hour time change to the West Coast and my cell phone works as it should! And the language barrier is nonexistent.
We have team photos tomorrow and all the teams will be together so there will be lots of photos tomorrow. Meanwhile, here are a few from today.
