Welcome to the first ever official Warwickshire LTA AEGON Classic 2010 Blog live from the Edgbaston Priory Club, Birmingham. After many months of hard work and preparation the annual tournament began today with everyone in the Warwickshire County Office having had this day marked on in their diary’s for sometime!
Before I left the house this morning with car keys in one hand and toast in the other I managed to grab a glimpse at the weather on GMTV. By the looks of things and with a bit of luck we may manage to dodge the rain and get a whole days play of tennis. Upon arrival at the venue I met up with TDO Rory McCutcheon and new county administrator Sarah Messenger and began to set up the Warwickshire LTA tent where all schools where to come and register prior to attending sessions on our action packed fun filled tennis zones. Today we were expecting over 16 schools and well over 200 pupils to pass through our humble registering tent.
The primary schools sessions are on the Highland Spring Tennis Zone which is 3 courts packed with different stations where children can try all sorts of fun activities from hitting tennis balls through targets to measuring how fast they can serve a tennis ball. For the secondary schools it’s all about being coached by some of Warwickshire’s top coaches and experiencing the fun well run tennis sessions can bring and how tennis is a sport that can be enjoyed by all.
In between meeting and greeting schools we also had the mini tennis orange satellite challenge taking place where some of Warwickshire finest mini tennis players where playing (which just so happened to be on the courts next door to centre court). The event was eventually won by Solihull Arden with Blossomfield Tennis Club a close second.
You may think that with all this happening we would be rushed off our feet however I did manage to take a few sneaky photos of Maria Sharapova warming up. I was also able to meet Ann Keothavong which was nice when she paid a visit to the Primary Schools Mini Tennis Zone. Ann is a little taller than I expected but then again only being 5’ 7”s means most people I meet are a little taller!
Overall Day 1 went very well with a little bit of rain trying to spoil proceedings but thankfully not succeeding, however with Laura Robson through to the second round and Ann Keothavong in action tomorrow I cant wait. To end on a personal note the only down side of the day was my personal favourite Katie O’Brien being knocked out however hopefully she’ll be back and have better luck in the doubles!
Don’t forget to check warwickshiretennis.net tomorrow for all the action of day 2.
To view photos of Day 1 at the AEGON Classic please click here