We are accustomed over the last year, to see our leading player, Jonathan Eysseric, between his great world tournament efforts, practising his hard-hitting tennis on Centre Court, but yesterday involved a special surprise.
Fresh from his successes at Wimbledon, Benoît Paire, at present number 27 in the World ATP ranking, gave us a short demonstration of how he hits the ball. A crowd of tennis-stage pupils watched carefully to see what they hoped to be doing one day in the future.
The demonstration continued between these two high-level players, using the vigorous practice scheme known as 'short tennis'. A point starts with one player holding a ball on the top of the net, & then letting it fall........... Movement of both players is rapid from this moment on. Each in turn tries to put the ball as far from the opponent as possible & in the most inaccessible spot in the limits of the service areas. Hard-hitting is out in this game: it is a battle of dexterity, precision, & delicacy of touch. Also, as this was played on clay court, long slides were necessary to arrive at the far distant places! Here's one of them:
And now look carefully at the two players in action:
You get the idea! Well make sure you try it out one of these days!
Many players & friends were watching by the time the demonstration finished, here's a good collection of those that had been on court:
And finally, Jonathan & Benoît, relaxing with a game of boules.
(pétanque to you southeners):
And don't forget the summer event next Saturday, posted to you
separately & to the ladies in particular.
