It would make sense to assume that travelling to international junior tennis tournaments in exotic sounding locations is like joining the jet set. NOT quite so!

India, Sid Hazarika, Alex Cockram and myself boarded a seriously overcrowded RyanAir 737 at 7:30 am on 18th of June flying to Latvia for the Riga Open. Instead of mixing with the likes of Richard Branson and Sir Alan Sugar we shared our flight with 150 revellers bound for a weekend of stag parties. One such person was wearing a beautiful silk wedding dress… shame it was a man!

Riga is a beautiful city with an interesting history, and the Latvian tennis federation puts in a big effort to make you welcome. The opening ceremony involved a clown, fireworks, a superb BBQ and oddly a 10 year old boy cycling round the courts wearing hat full of exploding fireworks! British political correctness would never allow for such fun!

Monday 21st June:
After a good weekend of practice, the weather decided to hi-jack the first day of play with incessant drizzle, which flooded the red clay courts. On days like this it is essential to find the optimum place to sit in the club house and occupy this territory for as long as possible. India came up trumps by finding coverage of day 1 at Wimbledon on her laptop so we absorbed ourselves in the Federer V’s Falla match through the afternoon. India and Sid didn’t get to play their first round matches but in the late evening gloom, Dan Elston, who had joined us from Poland finally got on court to play a Latvian with and ITF ranking in the 800’s.

After a promising first set which he won 6-4, Dan succumbed to the fierce determination of the Latvian losing the next two set 6-3 6-1. A disappointing end to a long and very frustrating day.