Default in Roland Garros

followed by on court whatever, starting at 9:00am. My dear friend Carlos asked me if I could go with him to do his laundry relatively close to the courts and of course I said yes.

 

Those days I was not all too clear about the priorities of a tennis player. I still needed to learn that.

 

I had to learn it the hard way that day. We spent maybe two hours as we walked the long street outside of Roland Garros to the next laundry and back. We talked and laughed about trivial things, normal for two teenagers. I calculated, 1.5hrs to 2 hrs per match, so if I was going to play 4th match it was going to take at least 5 to 6 hrs. That day things went in a different way.

 

The first round went by with a quick 6/1-6/1, the second with someone retiring because of an injury and the third match went also very quick.

when I got to the club the first thing I saw was my partner waiting for me at the gate, really upset at me…with a good reason!!! At the same time I got an invitation to a not very friendly conversation with the tournament director. He was also not so happy about my match preparation.  He said that many kids would have been happy to have my spot and I wasted it….

 

It was a very important day for me in order to learn a great lesson. Always be ready and prepared!

 

Unfortunately I had to repeat the course…