The Australian Open, 2019

by Katrina Allen 

Andy Murray at Queen’s Club

The big news of the fortnight was Andy Murray tearfully announcing his retirement. Exactly one year ago, he had surgery on his hip and never really recovered. He came back at Queen’s last June but was clearly not in great shape, pulling out of Wimbledon a couple of weeks later and hadn’t won any major tournaments since.

He lost in a tight five-setter against Bautista-Agut and didn’t appear to be hampered but who knows how he felt the next day. He’s hoping to make his farewell at Wimbledon but isn’t sure if he’ll be able to play without too much pain in the months prior. So this may have been his finale . Read More

Nice to get this from a reader:

Hi, I really enjoy reading Languedoc Living every day.   I especially appreciate Katrina Allen’s updates on the major tennis tournaments and I totally endorse her article about Serena’s behaviour in the US Open’s Ladies Final.

 

 I would like to point out that Serena screams racism;  doesn’t screaming abuse at a Portuguese umpire constitute racism?  I would have thought so.

This article appeared in Languedocliving.com

The US Open was filled with controversy this year, making the whole thing rather interesting for reasons other than just the tennis.

For British viewers, the tournament was being aired, for the first time, on Amazon Prime. The whole user experience was dreadful. At one point Amazon was so overwhelmed with complaints that the system crashed and reviews were suspended. Read More

This article appeared in Languedoc Living

Novak Djokovic (photo: Katrina Allen)

Much of Wimbledon was rather flat this year due to World Cup frenzy coinciding with the Championships.

Even some of the players appeared to want to cheer on their teams rather than play their own matches.

Read More

and a mere club game in Bordeaux! Jacques Pouyot finishes with a winning gallery…

The Gerry Weber Open – Der Besondere Profi

THE SPECIAL PRO.

Real Tennis player, Katrina Allen, is at the GWO (The Gerry Weber Open in Halle, Germany) for the first time.

She was the World no. 1. She took part in the British, Australian, US and French Open tournaments in both singles and doubles and she won them all.

She isn’t a big name in tennis history but that’s because we aren’t talking about our game but a different form of tennis “the original game, invented in the 12^th century by the French” explains Katrina Allen, who is working at GWO at a journalist.  “It’s a complicated game with complicated rules”.  But this is what inspired her. “The sport is very challenging. The court is massive, the balls hard and the wooden rackets heavy.  “I loved all that” says the Londoner.  Today Real Tennis is not particularly well-known and is played in only a few countries.

Katrina has come to Halle just to be at the GWO. “This tournament is like a festival.  I have been at many major tennis tournaments, but none as impressive as this one.  The atmosphere is great, very relaxed and informal.  My main reason for coming was to see Roger Federer. He is just wonderful, an exceptional player.”  Roger was the only top ten player she hadn’t seen so she has finally ticked him off her list.