Yvetot: Day 3

Today Frankie played a 1/6 ranked Frenchman who was in his mid 30s. After the match he told us that in 1999 he was 800 in the world in singles and near the top 100 in doubles, so he could definitely play. He was left handed and 99 percent of his shots were looping forehands to Frankie's backhands. Normally, this pattern is not so good for Frank but the match started off well anyway.

Pascal on the far left. About 5 sheep graze in the middle of the picture while Frankie plays on the far right.

 After dropping serve to go down 0-1 he broke back and held to go to 2-1. Neither player could find a way to win a game on the side of the court closest to me and when Frankie came back to my side he dropped the next two games to go down 2-3. When he went to the other side he went back up 4-3. And went he came back he was down 4-5. He left again and went up 6-5. Finally the Frenchman broke the curse and held to take the first set to a tiebreak. Frank played sloppy and went down 5-2 but somehow clawed his way back to 5-5. And that's where the video below begins...

5-5 in the tiebreak. What happens?

After the odd curse of the near side in the first set, the second set was much more normal. Both players held until 3-4 when Frankie was broken. He had chances to break back but the Frenchman held to grab the second set 6-3. Frank didn't play any worse in the second but the Frenchman stopped going for shots and just did not miss anything. With so many balls going to Frank's backhand it was tough for him to get on the offensive.

The third didn't start out well with Frankie going down a break 2-4. He played a solid game and at 40-30 hit a nice backhand pass that clipped the outside of the side line, right near, but certainly in front of the baseline. The Frenchman ran back, called it out, and then circled some random mark beyond the baseline. When Frank came over to inspect the Frenchman started to appeal to the crowd for support of his call, which was an odd thing to do. This tactic of calling the ball out and then circling a random mark was a common one for the Frenchie as he did about 3 or 4 times and there's really not much you can do about it. Frank fought hard but dropped the third 2-6 to lose 6-7 (5), 6-3, 6-2. He played pretty well and this was not a bad result for playing a solid 1/6. He certainly had chances and hopefully can get the next one.

We're staying at Pascal's again tonight and then tomorrow we will head north to Vueles-Les-Roses, the coastal village where our next tournament is. We don't play until Saturday so we'll have a few days to relax on the beach which will be fantastic. Once again, I'm writing this blog from the Yvetot Tennis Club where our buddy Pascal left us in charge because he had to go dinner. Right now we have the keys and are going to lock up here shortly. It seems it doesn't take too much to gain the trust of the French. 

The sheep were about 10 feet from the court. 

-Max