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