racket sports, a speciality. Otherwise, anything quirky! Former real tennis champ and tennis tournament player. London based.
More About Me
Real Tennis at Queen's Club
Koh Lanta, Thailand
The world of professional tennis is in chaos right now.
The US Open grand slam, held over two weeks, is due to start on August 31. It’s going to be a very strange affair. No player entourages, definitely no ballboys handling players’ towels and, most significantly, no spectators. Read More
Hunched over, barely visible in the dark room, standard lamp flickering in the opposite corner. She was wearing that saggy old stained dress which she virtually lived in.
‘I’m dying, I’m dying’ she declared breathily, eyes theatrically wide in what I assumed to be feigned terror. It was comical.
’What’s wrong with you?’ I asked flatly. We’d been there so often.
By Katrina Allen
So, Wimbledon tennis this year has been cancelled, for the first time since WW2. The decision came late, leaving us all on tenterhooks, but really it was inevitable. Read More
By Katrina Allen
On Wednesday, the French Tennis Federation announced that the French Open was to be moved to September, one week after the US Open. The tournament was due to be held from 18th May.
The Federation made a unilateral decision on this. No discussion with players or any other tennis sports bodies who were, understandably, aggrieved. Read More
by Katrina Allen
This article first appeared in Languedoc Living
There was some debate as to whether the tournament would actually take place this year. The air was thick with smog from the bushfires during the qualifying, causing problems with breathing and one player even withdrawing part way though her match.
Have you never heard of Claire Fahey?
Well, that’s probably because she’s at the top of the somewhat obscure game of Real Tennis, the predecessor of the sport that we see today at Wimbledon.
Real Tennis was invented in around the 12th century by French monks and the rules are fiendishly complicated.
The balls are hand-made and heavy, rather like a cricket ball but covered in felt. The rackets are not entirely symmetrical and are made of wood. Graphite is banned since the game would simply be too dangerous with those heavy balls.
By Katrina Allen
This article appears on LanguedocLiving.com
It was an exciting Slam this year with a lot of close matches, in particular in the women’s event.
Jamie Oliver has recently employed his former PA, Danny McCubbin, as his Culture Manager.
But what exactly is Culture Management?
“It’s a fairly new concept in the UK,” Danny explains. “Big business used to be just about profit but employees want to feel more connected. Companies are now realising that if they just continue to base their success purely on finances, they won’t succeed. The role of the Culture Manager is to make everyone, from the receptionist to senior management, feel they’re part of the organisation.”
OPINION: Earlier this year, Martina Navratilova, a much-lauded lesbian role model, caused a media storm with her remarks on transgender athletes, saying: “It’s insane and it’s cheating.”
OPINION: At this year’s Wimbledon, the women’s final between Simona Halep and Serena Williams lasted under one hour, ending in a 6-2 6-2 whitewash.
The men’s final between Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer lasted just under five hours in a five set thriller.
It was a reasonably good French Open this year, and although there were some great matches, I wouldn’t call it a hugely memorable one.
We played that game, two truths and a lie. We were drunk of course. Red wine rings on what had been a spotless white linen tablecloth, ash strewn where ashtrays had been missed. Someone had stabbed their fag into the butter. Lesley’s eyes flashed. No-one admitted to it. Not so funny now was it.
This was published in Stuff.co.nz
Endless suffering of Andy Murray raises questions around player welfare
OPINION: Exactly one year ago former world No 1 Andy Murray pulled out of Aussie Open citing a hip injury.
Shortly after, he made a major decision – to have surgery on that hip.
He seemed very positive after the operation, fairly certain that he would make a full recovery and get back to business.
The Australian Open, 2019
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
This article appeared in Stuff.co.nz and The Dominion Post
OPINION: So, the 21-year-old German, Alexander Zverev, won the end of season ATP championships in London, a highly-coveted title, played out by the top eight men’s tennis players in the world.
OPINION: A huge number of fans, (in particular, Americans, since she is, of course virtually royalty there), seem to agree with Serena Williams that the game docked from her in the US Open Final was about sexism.
Loading tweets...
