Monday 28th August : Day 25

Greetings from New York . Main draw play starts at the US Open today , if it ever stops raining .

We've had a great time so far , shopping and eating to excess . Our hotel is being used by some players, but mainly the USTA , and I'm going to try to sneak into a talk being given by Jimmy Connors tomorrow .


See you soon!

Friday 18th August :Day 24

Well here I am with the ball and chain , and guess what , the photo was taken at Wimbledon this year .

Monday 14th August :Day 23

The dream is over .2-6,3-6 in about an hour and twenty minutes . No complaints,just too good . But for once it felt good to compete and the fitness is there .

Quite a few of my fellow club members are still in the tournament ;good luck to you all.

Great Britain is playing against Ukraine in Davis Cup at the end of September , and whilst I am not playing well enough to get selected Mrs.F and I might well make the trip anyway .

'Regular'readers may recall my fear of flying . Well, you can imagine what I'm going through with this security scare....we're flying to New York in 10 days time . I guess I'll be popping some extra diazepam .

Goodnight , comrades .

Sunday 13th August: Day 22

A momentous day : I won my first match in a national competition today , at the sixth attempt . A hard fought three setter and my reward is a tilt at an opponent with a far higher rating than mine .

Tonight I savour the victory , but these celebrations are short lived and by this time tomorrow I will probably be out of the event .

I'll let you know how it goes.

Saturday 5th August : Day 21

It didn't go well . Playing my friend and neighbour Martin , I lost 4 and 2 and the scoreline flatters me .

The ball and chain read yesterdays entry and according to her I am a 'parks'player . But despite these insults I am supposed to take her shopping for the day tomorrow . She's damn lucky I love her so much .

Laters

Friday 4th August : Day 20

Had a hit with my good friend Tim last night . Afterwards I could not help but reflect on where I was after playing the game for 25 years ; the sad conclusion is nowhere . For a quarter of a century I have played tennis at least twice a week , having many lessons and straining every sinew to get better . Henman says rankings don't lie , and he is right . After a brief flirtation with 6.1 , I have had a 7.2 rating for the last few years . I have not won a set against my wife for months . She laughs at me , calling me a 'recreational' player . That really hurts , although 'agricultural ' could be just as appropriate .

So , as ever , it comes down to the dichotomy so elegantly expressed by Dickens : tennis is the best of times , it is the worst of times . And with every passing hour I get older , slower and more useless . But it is better to have played and lost than never to have played at all .

I'm playing again tomorrow , I'll let you know how it goes .


Hasta Lasagna!

Thursday 4th August : Day 19

So the dream team won their first match together : Murray beat Ramon Delgado in straight sets last night . Ego notwithstanding , Gilbert is professional enough to make the relationship work . In fact the pressure is entirely on Murray , because he really has been given all the tools to succeed . He has had a miriad of wildcards and now Brad Gilbert , so anything less than top 20 would surely be perceived as a failure .

I've been playing quite a lot lately , but I seem to be getting slower . Must be old age. In a couple of weeks I play qualifying for the Grass Court Nationals . I am 0-2 trying to get into the main draw , and it's hard to be optimistic . You never know, my tremendous mental strength might see me through .

London in August is a great place to be ; traffic is light and it's easy to get a court . I guess Beirut is quite similar right now .


See ya soon!