Nuefchatel en Bray

Daniel: "Aye! Escuchar a la nueva versión de nuestra canción! Verso de Fercho es la mejor!"
Gregario: "No, no, no! Hay que leer el texto de una de las seis novias de Fercho."
Fercho's 'girlfriend': "Fercho, je te veux dans mes bras! J'envoie beaucoup de baisers! Avoir une bonne nuit!"
Fercho: "Si! Si! Bang! Bang! Bang!
Gustavo: "Ah, Fercho used to have to many girlfriends, but I introduced to him to his real girlfriend. They are getting serious."

I imagine you have no idea what's going on. Me neither. Welcome to life with the Columbians.

Seamlessly transitioning between Spanish, French, and English, spending more then ten minutes in the Columbians' room makes one confused what country he is in. There is the aforementioned Gregario and Daniel, their 27 year-old coach Fercho, 17 year-old Juan, 14 year-old Phillipe, and Gustavo, the 30-something director of the 'camp'. And all of these people are a little crazy (especially Fercho). Obsessed with perfecting their homemade rap song, playing FIFA 2014, and tennis, you can't help but enjoy your time in their room. Why is this relevant? It's not really. However, we just returned from their room and we laughed so hard it's worth mentioning that these people exist. Nonetheless there was also a full day of tennis.

The apparently famous Nuefchatel cheese.

The day's activities began at 13:45 when we hopped in a car with Gregario and Pedrito, Gustavo's father and our chauffeur for the day. We drove 46 kilometers, about 25 minutes, to the town of Nuefchatel en Bray (pronounced nev-CHAtel). On the way we got our daily history lesson from Pedrito who informed us that the region of Nuefchatel is famous throughout the world for their production of a heart-shaped cheese, aptly named Nuefchatel cheese. Unfortunately for us, Pedrito's knowledge of cheese did not match his knowledge of the GPS. And despite our GPS clearly having an incorrect address inputted, Pedrito exited every several kilometers because the GPS instructed him to do so. Even though the highway signs cleary continued to point us in the correct direction. Nonetheless we eventually made it to the town, and what a town it was. I have no way to confirm this, but I'm fairly certain a new building had not been constructed in Neufchatel in the last 100 years. Every building was constructed with beautiful 19th century brick architecture, with the pride of the city being their beautiful cathedral in the town center. Frankie informs me that every city has a cathedral as, if not more impressive than Neufchatel's, however I'm still new to Europe so I was blown away. Unfortunately we could not stop and explore right away as we had to race to the courts when we arrived because Gregario was a bit late for his match. Of course, we didn't have the actual address for the courts so we had to roam the streets yelling at strangers until they could direct to "Le Piscine" (the pool) which is apparently where most French cities also have their tennis courts. An interesting note about French tennis courts is that there are very few privately owned clubs. Instead, clubs are owned and maintained by individual cities, and tournaments and general play is much more of a social event than anything you're likely to see in the states.

Arriving at the courts. Frankie walks behind Gregario.

Pedrito (left) and Frankie (right) watch match play.

The ranking pyramid. 

When we got to the courts I was very impressed with how beautiful the club was. Not beautiful in a sense that the club was luxurious, but instead how perfectly in fit right in with the cityscape. There were three outdoor red clay courts, one outdoor 'hard' court, and several indoor 'turf' courts. I put 'hard' and 'turf' in quotations because the courts are not truly hard nor turf but instead are some odd surface which I've never really seen. Fortunately for us all the tournament matches are played on the red clay. First to play was Gregario, whose ranking is 3/6, he quickly dispatched a 5/6 player 6-1, 6-0. I suppose this is a good time to try and explain the French ranking system. The system is difficult to explain, but I'll try my best. Every player in France is given a ranking. The worst players in France are 'N/C' which stands for non classé or no class, while the best player in France is ranked #1. Numbers 1-60 are ranked in straight order of ability with #1 being Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, who is top 10 in the world. After the top 60 players are ranked, the rest of the players are given a generic ranking. The highest ranking you can achieve outside of top 60 is -30, followed by -15, -4, -2, 0, 1/6, 2/6, 3/6, 4/6, 5/6, 15, 15/1, 15/2, 15/3, 15/4, 15/5, 30, 30/1, 30/2, and finally N/C. The rankings are also based on a pyramid system (see the picture on the right). Meaning that there are approximately 50 players ranked -30. 100 players ranked -15. 200 players ranked -4. 400 players ranked -2, 800 players ranked 0, and so on. Frankie and I are ranked 2/6. Once you are 0 or less, you are considered very good, and those rankings are quite hard to achieve.

After Gregario played, I was up next. I was up against a French teenager ranked 5/6. I quickly dropped the first two games before turning things around and winning the first set 6-3. After that I really found my groove and played a very solid second set with almost no unforced errors. I was fortunate to get a couple of lucky breaks as well and won my first match 6-3, 6-0! A great way to start my time on the French tour. Unfortunately, after hitting so many backhands yesterday my left arm was too soar to use, so I only could hit my one-handed slice. But I hit it very well and was very satisfied with my match. I play my next match tomorrow at 16:30 against an older man named Julian whose ranking is 3/6. We watched Julian play today and he hits several drop shots every game, and I mean that quite literally. It should be an interesting one.

My first win! I was 'visiteurs' and won 6-3, 6-0! (forgot to flip the scorecard on the final changeover)

Another view of the club.

Stella Artois on tap at the tournament!

As soon as I finished my match I swept the court and brushed the lines, a custom I find more and more relaxing every time I do it. I reported my score to the tournament desk and quickly realized one of the best aspects of French tennis. This club, and apparently almost every other club, have multiple kegs on tap so you can pick up a beer right after your match. For only €2.00 I grabbed an ice cold Stella Artois and sat and watched some other matches. The best part is, I'm not the only one drinking. The tournaments are actually a hugh social event for the cities and there are about twenty to thirty older men and women sitting around drinking beer and watching tennis. Whenever a good point happens they all politely clap and it's very cool to be a part of. This was only the round of 64 and as the quality of the tennis increases more and more people come out. I think I could get used to this.

My match finished at about 17:00 and Frankie was not set to play until 20:00. I figured this was a good time to head into the city and look around, and also try and find a baguette. I walked about 1/2 mile from the courts and was fortunate to find a path straight into the town center. Once I got into the town I downed an espresso and poked around the cathedral. Neufchatel's cathedral is apparently quite famous and is known as Basilique Notre-Dame a Neufchatel. Right as I walked in a man came up and told me they were closing, but after some hand gesturing he agreed to take me on a 5 minute tour. The cathedral was spectacular and I would love to tell you some facts about it, but the tour was in French and I understood none of it. 

Basilique Notre-Dame a Neufchatel

A monument to the residents of Neufchatel who were killed in North Africa in World War I. Pretty random but I thought it was kind of cool. 

After my tour I wandered back to the courts right as Frankie was going on court. Frankie was up against a 20-something lefty whose ranking was 5/6. Although Gustavo and Gregario agree he plays much more like a 2/6 or a 3/6 than a 5/6. Frankie and his opponent traded service holds until 5-4 in the first when Frankie was able to get a tough break and win the first set 6-4. In the second set Frank's opponent dug in tough and used his clever knowledge of the clay to force more errors out of young Allinson to win 6-3. The highlight of the set was when Frankie came into net and stuck a volley deep into the far corner. Frank's opponent was unable to tell if the ball was in or out so he went up to examine the mark. The mark provided no further clarification so he called Frankie over to his side of the court to see what Frankie thought. After some discussion Frank's opponent decided that the point was his, and that was that. Fortunately I did manage to capture a rather comedic photo of the discussion.

Frankie and his opponent discussing a line call. Very funny to watch.

In the third set Frankie's opponent was too tough and won 6-2, resulting in a 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 win for 'Le Messieur'. All in all Frank played okay but had a tough time adjusting to the Frenchman's nasty slice and we'll both have to continue to work on our clay court footwork if we want to find more success on the clay.

Just to try and give you a little more sense of how these tournaments work here is a look at the draw sheet. Frankie's on the upper third, while I'm pretty much right in the middle. You can see some of the players rankings next to their names, while others feed in from having won rounds earlier in the tournament. Because Frankie and I have relatively high rankings we get to start in the round of 64. Some players, like the guys Frankie and I played, have already played several matches to get to where we are. It's an odd system if you're not familiar with it, but it's actually very cool.

Draw sheet. Frankie's in the upper 1/3 and I'm just below the middle. 

A final intriguing aspect of the tournaments is that because the matches are based on rankings and not ages you get some interesting match-ups. Today we watched the #1 12 and under French girl (who is only 10!) play a match against a 40 year old woman. The 10 year-old lost 7-5, 6-2 but damn was she good. Every single ball was right in the middle of the strings and she hit some rocket forehand winners.

The #1 12 and under girl in all of France! Playing some 40 year old woman.

We've been eating a lot of baguettes.
At least 2 a day, but more often 4.
They're delicious, and only € 0.50.

-Max