Dylan’s Tennis in Albury

Dylan wanted me to post an update on his tennis and how tennis works in Albury, and say hello to all of his tennis buddies back home...

When we got here, Dylan asked around to find the best players in town. He quickly found Rodney Wurtz. Rodney is a 50 year old guy that has helped Australia capture the senior equivalent of the Davis Cup. In addition to being a strong player, Rodney is the guy that runs pennant, the enormous competitive league system that is based here in Albury. There are seven sections, section one being the highest and section seven being the lowest. There are many teams that compete at each level. There is also an “open” level that is reserved for the top 10 players in the region (five teams of only two players each). Each Saturday, pennant is held at the Albury Grass Courts, which has about 35 real grass courts. It is an all day affair.

This Saturday, Dylan played for Rodney’s section 1 team. In preparation for the grass courts, Dylan went down to the grass club on Friday and got his first good hit in on the grass. Then on Saturday Dylan played tennis all day. He did not like the grass courts, but he did pretty well anyways. Dylan lost his first singles match, but won his second singles match and his team won the doubles point. His team won overall.

Dylan isn’t sure whether he’ll work on his serve-volley game and keep playing the rest of the grass season, or whether he will wait for the winter season, which is played on synthetic courts. Dylan much prefers the synthetic courts because they play a little slower and more consistent than grass, and it is easier to win points without coming to the net.