Tennis anyone?

Mt. Pleasant, SC

I played casual tennis as a teenager, but never seriously and I’ve never seen any high calibre tennis live, so today was another first on this NFANA Tour. I was treated to attending the Volvo Car Tour being held in Charleston until April 10th.

Back in September you will recall that I headed off to the Balkans for a break in my NFANA Tour. My travel buddy for that trip and many of my travels was my friend Nanci. Nanci has several siblings and one of them, Marsha, lives in Charleston (well Mount Pleasant just over the bridge from Charleston) Nanci connected Marsha and I by email and we emailed back and forth to set a plan in place and today it came together and I met both Marsha and her husband Al.

Marsha regularly plays tennis and this week she is volunteering for the Volvo Car Open. It features many of the top seeded women players and is one of the top money events on the women’s tour. She was able to get me a pass for today’s activities. And of course, of special interest to Marsha and I was Canadian player Genie Bouchard.

I joined Marsha at the venue on Daniel Island and while she finished up her volunteer shift I wandered looking at the sponsor exhibits and the rest of the venue. It was all very interesting, having never been to a tournament before. We watched a match between two powerful young women from the front row. Being that close you can feel the speed and power of the game, see them sweat and hear all the grunts and squeaking of their shoes on the clay court. One of the players had an unusual double handed forehand as well as backhand.

After Marsha’s shift was over we went to watch a doubles match between a Canadian/Croatian team and a US team. It was very different watching the speed and strategy involved in a doubles match and to see the differences between the two teams. The US players are not usually doubles players and while individually they are really strong, as a team they struggled. The Cdn/Cro team were disciplined and you could tell they had played together a lot. They ended up winning the match.

We grabbed some lunch and then headed for the main stadium court to watch the match between Canadian Genie Bouchard and a Romanian. Bouc******** the first set and in the second she struggled but eventually won the match. Hopefully she does well in the rest of the tournament.

Then we picked up Marsha’s husband Al and headed over to Sullivan’s Island and Isle of Palms. Al took us on a tour of the islands where the homes range from old small cottages to huge beautiful homes with attached docks, complete with yachts. Sullivan’s island has a lot of history, both as a major point of entry for the slaves coming from West Africa, and as a battleground in the American Revolution. And in 1989 Hurricane Hugo passed directly over the island, knocking the bridge completely off its footings.

Al and Marsha treated me to drinks and dinner at a great restaurant right on water looking out at the boats, and the neighbouring islands. Very nice! It was a great day that ended back at their lovely home with me loaded down with tourist materials and recommendations about exploring Charleston and routes home.

The southern hospitality is overwhelming. A huge thanks to Marsha and Al for everything.