I haven’t had the chance to play tennis in Malmö and Copenhagen. That’s not to say courts don’t exist in Scandanavia. In Malmö, I staked out the courts my second day in the city and met Connie, a teaching pro at the local club. He offered to hit with me on Friday afternoon but it rained almost all day. We left for Copenhagen early the next morning. Here in Copenhagen, I found four complexes with at least 6 courts each within a 15 minute bike ride of the hostel. I finally had some free time this afternoon but it has been raining most of day, soaking the courts. We leave for Odense tomorrow morning. Maybe I’ll have better luck there!

Malmö

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I have finally played on red clay! Here is the story: I caught bits and pieces of Wimbledon my first five days in Stockholm. The boat (hostel) the class calls home has a lounge on the upper deck with a TV that has been showing the matches. Since Stockholm is one hour ahead of London, there is almost always a match on when I get back from class for the day. On Friday evening, I was watching the final set of the Nadal-Murray semifinal when I met Joachim Hammarström. He was searching for a few of my classmates he had met two nights earlier at nearby bar. The guys he was looking for weren’t around so he hung around to watch the end of the match. We got to chatting and he happens to be a tennis player and lives right here in Stockholm, a 10 minute walk from the hostel. We went out for a few beers that night and made plans to play a match on Sunday. Joachim booked two hours on a clay court at Hellasgården, a recreation area just a 15 minute bus ride southeast of the city.

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