Out & About August 2017

enjoys a few days in the Algarve, which serves up a winner or two Jonathan Hopson

C ontinuing previous months’ sporting themes of table tennis, skiing, cricket and cycling, and with Wimbledon having run its course for another year, August seems a good time to write a short piece on tennis. My wife Lucy and I were fortunate enough to be invited to spend a few days at a friend’s villa in the Portuguese Algarve during July. Travelling to the villa was very straightforward and involved a two-and-a-half-hour flight from Southampton to Faro, followed by a half-hour transfer by car. Our party included four adults and the villa owner’s 21-year-old son and his partner, plus two of their friends. As most of us played tennis, various combinations of younger and older players bravely battled it out on the villa’s hard surface tennis court, bordered by pink and white bouganvilleas and a small

grove of orange trees. The standard of tennis turned out to be quite high and there were several enjoyably competitive games of doubles, plus a very keenly-contested singles match. All the games were played under a cloudless sky, accompanied by the occasional waft of pine tree, interspersed with ripening oranges. In the sun, the court surface behaved like a frying pan, radiating waves of warm air, and after a strenuous couple of sets in the heat, it was refreshing to cool down afterwards with whole oranges put through an electronic juicing machine, garnished with crushed ice and perhaps the occasional measure or two of gin. I don’t think tennis in the heat gets much better than this. The villa also included a 12-metre swimming pool and interspersed between games of

tennis, I was able to do some swimming training in preparation for this year’s Newbury Triathlon on September 3, (hopefully more details on this year’s Newbury triathlon will appear here in October). Apart from the tennis, one other highlight from the holiday was discovering a new cocktail – a Negroni. This certainly packs a punch and is made with one part gin, one part vermouth rosso and one part Campari, topped with crushed ice and orange peel. However, the delights of the tennis encounters and newly-discovered cocktails were eclipsed when the villa party all clustered around a small tablet screen to watch the recent rugby test match between the All Blacks and British Lions at Eden Park, which ended in a 15-15 draw – a thrilling match which will be remembered for a long time.

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