The predicted rain arrived today in Feld am See, though for the most part it did not stop tennis from being played. I played Karien Theeuwes, with whom I am playing doubles this week and it was another tough match. We started at 1:30 with the sun going in and out and I was wearing sunglasses some of the time. We started with six straight holds as the balls were flying. Then the clouds darkened and it began to sprinkle, then really rain during the last few games. The balls were fit at the end for one’s dog to play with…they looked as if they had gone swimming in the lake. The referee called stop when I was up 52 in the second set and I go to match point then, but did not convert, but did win the next game when Karien’s drop shot fell just a bit short. I think at that point there was a delay in play for a while, but I left as we were scheduled to play doubles at 4:30 and it was after 3pm. I play Cornelia Keller tomorrow…she took out last year’s winner in the first round. Luisa Gouveia, with whom I have been warming up won a tough match and plays Wanda Howes of Australia in the final.
I returned at 4:30 for doubles but we were the last match to go on, and the referee called us into his office at 6pm to let us know it was too late to start play, so we play tomorrow, after the singles final (for me) and consolation final (for our opponents).
I watched an American, Steve Willoughby, playing in the 55 singles semis for a bit….I had not seen him for years, but he’s a good player. I had heard an American voice from Court 5 while I was playing my singles, so looked at the draw to see who it was. He lost but 76 in the third, very good match in the rain, and immediately dashed off the another venue to play doubles.
Below, waiting for courts and the women’s 30s winner and finalist.
In the morning, before my match, I went to Radenthein, a small village about three miles away for some berries and chocolate and wandered around the store for a bit. There were lots of giant Austrian dumplings, eggs (unrefrigerated of course), California pistachios, various sauces that are different from outs (sour cream sauce for potatoes for example) and mustard and other condiments in metal tubes which are quite convenient.
There was a Gala Dinner tonight at the main hotel which was very nice. A buffet with lots of meats, chicken, shrimp, pasta, soup, salad bar, desserts, something for everyone. I sat with the Aussie/American/Portuguese contingent which was fun, and as I left ran into Catherine Morgan from USA who played in the 55s. She used to live in Europe and speaks fluent German (handy for traveling around Germany/Austria/Switzerland.
I play singles at 10:30 tomorrow, followed by one or two doubles matches depending on whether we win our first one and whether anyone wants to play three matches.