The individual world championships began on Sunday April 27th. None of the women’s divisions (other than mixed doubles) began on Sunday, so I practiced with my doubles partner from NorCal, Pam Cooke. We met up with other NorCal players, Tracy Houk and Anne Kerwin-Payne and played some doubles, then some singles, at a public park in Jupiter, just north of Palm Beach Gardens. We also checked in over at PGA National, which took quite a while, but that’s where we saw Tracy and Anne, so the time went quickly.
At 5pm, we went to the opening ceremonies, which were in the Gardens Mall, in the center. There were lots of food stations courtesy of sponsors Brio and PF Chang, and at 6pm, some speeches and a parade of flags of the 50+ participating countries through the mall. It was fun to catch up with other US players all wearing red white and blue.
Today, Monday, Pam and I practiced again, this time at Frenchman’s Creek, a practice venue, then we scouted my potential opponents for tomorrow, a French player vs an Aussie. The French player was on the Connolly Cup team, the #4 player and is a nice lefty player. After a competitive first set, she won 64 60. I ran into a lot of players I know from all over the world, plus some Americans. I got my racquet strung, regripped my racquets and now am just waiting to see when I play!
One big difference between US and ITF tournaments is that the schedule is done each evening and posted online and at the tournament hotels. Today the posting is very late, and until the posting is done, no one knows when or where they play.
