Coach Newman's Corner

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April 13, 2009

Ashley's Update About Barcelona & Croatia

Hola!

My time in Barcelona was brief. I signed in for the WTA event on Friday, but didn’t get in. The qualifying cut off was 248 which is quiet different than the 3 byes they had last year. I signed in as an alternate on Saturday just incase someone got sick or was still in the tournament from the previous week and couldn’t make it to Barcelona. I ended up being the 4th alternate and I believe the first 2 alternates got in because a doubles team was still winning in Marbella, Spain and couldn’t play their qualifying singles match also. I spent a large portion of my time in Barcelona at David Lloyd - Club Turo where the tournament is hosted. It was a great club with a very nice gym, indoor/outdoor pool, spa, squash courts, clay and hard courts, and a big stadium court. They had a nice player’s lounge where everyone ate and hung out. Audi was the official car sponsor and they drove us to and from the courts. Life in the big leagues isn’t too bad at all. It rained Wednesday-Sunday off and on. I was able to get a few practice sessions in, but it was raining during some of them. On Saturday night I went to the F.C. Barcelona futbol game. Aranxta Sanchez-Vicario (3 time Roland Garros Champion) was the co-tournament director and she had a few tickets available for the players and I was lucky enough to get one of them. I went with Camille Pin, Biljana Pavlova, and a couple other people. That stadium is incredible and we had great seats. F.C. Barcelona scored in the first two minutes of the game and ended up winning the 2-0. I never would have thought that I’d be going to two futbol games in two different countries within six days, pretty cool I must say. After the game we walked back to the hotel and got some food along the way. Then I had to pack for my 6:55am flight. So I only got a few hours of sleep.

Now I am in Hvar, Croatia. I don’t know what country is harder to travel in…Italy or Croatia. It was another difficult trip. My early morning didn’t start off too pleasant. The check in line was an hour long for one flight. Then when I got to the desk I was informed that Lufthansa airline only allows 20kg (44lbs) total of baggage between 1 or 2 bags. So that was a bit of an issue on top of me running thru the terminal because I almost missed my flight because the check in line took so long. I changed planes in Frankfurt, Germany and arrived in Split, Croatia. From the airport I had to take a bus to the Split port, buy a ticket for the ferry, find the Catamaran on the other side of the port, board, and dozed off. The ferry ride to the Island of Hvar took a little more than an hour. From there I found the tournament hotel, but they didn’t have any more rooms available so they told me to go to the 3rd tournament hotel on top of the hill. So I dragged my bags another million miles thru town ha-ha to the roads where I found a taxi thank goodness. I made it to the hotel and got myself a room. I’m going to say there’s much more too be desired at this one…no TV, no internet (I’m posting this from another hotel lobby in town just down the hill) and no heat/air conditioning. After I threw my bags in the room I went to go find the tournament site with another player I just met. It’s a hike up to the club, about a mile or so. There’s bus transportation to the courts, but that’s back down the hill about 15 minutes to town so I’m not sure which is better. Neither sounds very good to me. This trip doesn’t seem to be getting any easier. Alright, I’m going to stop complaining now ha-ha. I checked out the courts and tried to find a doubles partner, but was unsuccessful. Sign in closes tomorrow at noon, so I’m going to go over to the courts early tomorrow and try to find someone to play with. I’m also going to practice twice tomorrow, main draw starts up Tuesday. I need to catch up on some sleep, more updates later. Goodnight!

Posted by Jack Newman at April 13, 2009 2:29 AM