53. THAT WAS THE WEEK THAT WAS!

No week on the tour is ever the same as the next. Each week brings its own challenges and unique experiences. This week was no exception!

The week started at 4am on Sunday and a drive to London Heathrow to drop my player for an early flight to Frankfurt. Sign in was in fact on Saturday evening (6pm) but a flight on Saturday was not possible as my player was still returning home from the previous tournament in the UK – a hard court event in Nottingham, where she played (and won) the doubles final. As a result, there was little time to recover and re group, especially as she was scheduled to play her first match (on clay) on Sunday afternoon.

Needless to say, the journey and early start won the day and she lost her qualifying singles match. A disappointment for her but in reality, the focus for the upcoming week was doubles so that made it easier to bear!

The first few matches went well and much to their delight, my player and her partner, found themselves in the semi finals, after a quality quarter final match on Thursday afternoon.

The semi final was then scheduled for Saturday which seemed strange as the other one was being played on Friday. But my player went with it and had a quiet day training and relaxing.

Saturday came and after practice, my player, and her partner, were called into the Supervisors Office to be told they had a walkover into the Final. Their opponents had been defaulted (and fined)! Apparently they had played in a Club match (for payment) on the Friday and that is against ITF Rules whilst they were still in an active tournament elsewhere. An expensive mistake to make – take note all players. A place in the final was welcome news however, although it is always nicer to play and win a match than be given a walkover.

Unfortunately, the Supervisor had decided to play the Final on Sunday so it meant no match on Saturday (as well as Friday) and it also meant that my player would not be able to make it to the next tournament in time to play the qualifying singles event, which was a little disappointing and annoying as it meant lost income, and possibly ranking points.

The final was duly played and my player and her partner could not pull off the win on this occasion. A good week though and a useful experience being in a higher level final with all the stresses that brings.

At the end of the match, the winners and runners up prepared for the usual, and well earned, trophy ceremony, only to be gifted with flowers and a Jeroboam of sparkling wine (3L) but no trophy! It turns out only the singles winner got a trophy of any kind – not even the singles runner up. This is tough. All the players want a trophy if they have made final. I simply cannot understand why some organisers skimp on this whilst others get it so right (see photo below and earlier blog, “Trophies and Trinkets”)! Flowers and wine are of little use to a traveling pro tennis player. Not only do few of them drink, but to carry a 3L bottle across Europe is a non starter and the same can be said for flowers. Now more often than not, a player will give the flowers away to someone who has been kind and helpful during the week (a hotel cleaner, physio or cafe person, for example) but the wine is tough as your player really wants to go home with something, but a Jeroboam is not an easy thing to carry!

All this said, the week was a good one and despite the ridiculously high amount of German tax taken off her prize money, my player has now moved onto the next tournament in Slovakia with a career high and a smile!

******************************************************

If you have enjoyed this blog, please follow, share and read more at http://www.realitytennis.WordPress.com and subscribe to receive e mail notification of upcoming blogs as they are released. Follow also at:

Twitter: @realitytennis

Instagram: realitytennis

If you have similar stories to share, please feel free to e mail the author at: sallyappleton64@gmail.com