20 October 2022

A Day In The Sun - LTLxTB10

Heather Tidy

Is there anything better to do on a sunny, Saturday afternoon, under clear blue skies, then play a bit of friendly, competitive tennis? As a tennis player, I think not!

Saturday 10th September was such a day.

Meadows tennis courts, Edinburgh – set in the beautiful green Meadows Park in the shadow of a mix of old and new architecture, with the Castle and imposing Salisbury Craggs in the distance – this was the venue for the Local Tennis Leagues x Tie Break Tens competition. The sun shone brightly in a clear blue sky, in the background were the sounds of children playing, people milling around and chilling in the park, and in the far distance the beautiful haunting sounds of bagpipes playing. After a minute’s silence to remember our dearly departed Queen, play began with a short ten-minute warm up.

A totally new experience for me – my first TB10 tournament, on courts I had not played on for some years, with a partner and opponents I had never met. The courts were a definite challenge. Being used to the artificial turf courts of my club, I found the bounce of the ball on hard rubberised courts a lot more generous than I was used to. That said, my partner and I did have some brilliant rallies and a lot of fun. We even managed to engage the passers-by by hitting a few balls over the back fence in error and ‘employing’ them to return the balls. We ended up somewhere in the middle – not first but not last either! To our delight we were both presented with the much-coveted LTLxTB10 medals – my partner, for a comment made about his serve and myself, for wearing the best t-shirt.

All said and done it was a fabulous afternoon – a great environment, well run tournament and interesting people. A big thank you to LTL for facilitating it and to Adele for running it.

 

Jump on court right now with your Local Tennis League! Find yours here.