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.