Ardentes: Day 1 and most of 2

Not much time to write because I play in the finals of the Tournoi Ardentais in about an hour. Frankie and I both our won our first round matches against 5/6 players. We both won in straight sets and its nice that we're finally both beating players we should with relative ease. Frank had a close first which he took 7-5, before going into cruise control and winning the second 6-3. I won my first set 6-3, and then dropped the first 3 games of the second before rallying to win it 6-4. There was a bit of controversy on match point when my opponent and I had a long exchange which ended when I hit a passing shot very close to the line. My opponent looked at my with disgust, as if he could not believe I had just won on that particular shot. Since he looked at me for so long I assumed he was calling it in and walked up and shook his hand. After the match he was quite pissed and insisted the ball was out. I can't understand why he didn't just call it out then. But alas, the French can be confusing. 

Testing out some saddles in the local sports store. 

Earlier in the day we had learned that there was a free Julian Marley concert in the city of Chateauroux, a larger city about 10 kilometers from where we're sleeping, so we went to check it out. I can say with a great deal of confidence that Julian Marley would not playing music for a living if he was not a Marley. He was extremely mediocre and the highlight of the night was that the entire show was in English and it was clear none of the audience had any idea what he was saying. Nonetheless it was quite funny to see French Rastafarians.

Julain Marley concert. Julian needs to work on every aspect of his performance except his dreadlocks. He has fantastic dreadlocks. 

This morning Frankie and I played in the semifinals. It's unfortunate that we had to play before the finals, but because of the way the seedings worked out that's how it had to be, and the tournament director couldn't change it. I won 6-4, 6-4 in two ugly sets. It's hard for us to really compete when we play against each other, especially when it's not in the finals, so here's to hoping that doesn't happen again. I play a 1/6 in the finals, he's in his mid 40s and has a wicked forehand, as well as a collection of fancy polo shirts, so we'll see how it goes. I'm feeling pretty good, so I'm fairly confident I can take him.

Post lunch slumber. 

The town we are in, Ardentes, is only about 25 kilometers from where are last tournament was and we are being treated quite well here as well. Free meals from the club, a nice play to sleep (just a camping spot by a river), and everyone is very kind. Unfortunately this is our last tournament in the region. Tomorrow we go about 100 kilometers east and we play again on Saturday. We are both looking forward to the 25th when we will head down to Spain and get a bit of a break from tennis. We are enjoying playing a lot, but I've played almost 20 matches in 30 days. Mucho, mucho tenis.

-Max