On my journey there I managed to make the sign in deadline
by about 25 minutes. I planned out my trip and I would have gotten there at
about 4pm but one of my trains was delayed and so I missed the next one and was
forced to wait in line for 30 minutes at the ticket office to get on another
train. During the wait I was trying to figure out the timing and panicking that
I won’t get to the tournament in time and getting angry at the people behind
the desk because they were just sitting there not helping anyone. (Like the
USPS - Oh the line is out the door, I think I’ll take my break now.) Finally my
number gets called and the man at the desk puts me on a train that was leaving
in five minutes, so I run out of the office with my backpack, tennis bag, and
big suitcase (thank goodness for wheels) and weave in and out of people and
board my train just as the doors shut behind me. Usually I would rather miss my
transportation than look like an idiot running through the station but I needed
to get to the tournament before six to sign in. So on this next train we arrived about five
minutes late and I’m praying the next train didn’t leave. So I get to the
platform and there isn’t a train so I thought great I missed it but on the
board it said it was five minutes late. Thank goodness. But I managed to get onto
that one, and made all the other trains and got to the tournament with time to
spare.
First round of qualifying I played an Italian, Stefanelli and won 6-3,6-1. It was a
good first round. I served well, I felt like I was hitting well and moving
well. But the only bad thing was the court. There were many bad bounces and
something like a trench right behind the baseline. So when you go to serve it’s
like your back foot is two inches lower than your front foot. But other than
that everything was fine.
After the match another player from Australia, Leah (who I
met at a previous tournament) went to the castle to have a look around. Now for
those of you who don’t care for a history lesson I suggest skipping down to the
next paragraph. So the tournament driver, Günter
(strong German name) tells us he’ll
drop us off and then it is a ten minute walk up to the castle. Well the ten
minute walk was straight uphill. I felt like I was walking on 10.0 incline on
the treadmill. A few minutes in my calfs were burning, then I was starting to
sweat, and then I was huffing and puffing my way up the hill. Once the hill was
over with there were stairs probably 200 steps. I have to say the stairs were
easier than the hill. And after the stairs were over there was one final hill
but not as steep as the previous. Once at the top I felt like holding my arms
above my head and jump around like Rocky. But anyway the castle was part of the
Hohenzollern dynasty, which a book in 1267 described it as the “crown of all
castles in Swabia” (Swabia is the countryside region of this area.) The
Hohenzollern lineage was divided into the Swabian and Franconian after Count
Frederick III. von Zollern’s (around 1200)
wife died and he inherited all possessions and titles. The Swabian lineage
remained in the region while the Franconian lineage expanded. The Franconian
lineage went on to bigger and better things. In 1701 Frederick III (1657-1713)
crowned himself King of Prussia and King William I. (1797-1888) won the
Franco-Prussian War and he was known as German Emperor in 1871. (I remember the
Franco-Prussia War topic coming up in history class, but remember nothing about
it.) The Swabian lineage on the other hand had an inheritance dispute between
two brothers Frederick XII (1443) and Eitel Frederick I (1439) and after ten
months of fighting they destroyed the castle in 1423. Then in 1454 Count Jost
Nicholas von Zollern began reconstructing the castle. Now skipping a few
hundred years the castle was taken over by the Austrians then the castle lost
its military importance and soon was reduced to ruins. Then in 1819 Crown
Prince Frederick William IV of Prussia visited and ordered his men to
reconstruct it. Then because of financial difficulties a contract was written
between the family branches for the upkeep. The crown prince carried two-thirds
of the building costs, and the Swabian lines one third. As of today, still
two-thirds is owned by the Prussian line and one-third the Swabian line. The
castle was finally completed October 3, 1867 but was never a residence for the
Hohenzollern family, up until 1945 family members only visited. It was just a
symbol of the rise of the Hohenzollern… That was a lot of information taken out
of the booklet I got. I feel like I’m back at school now writing a paper. Glad
that part is over and done with. Now when this German history comes up on
Jeopardy you’ll be ready! But the castle was amazing. As you entered the castle
you worked your way up to the courtyard by a ramp shaped like a corkscrew which
covered about 75 feet in altitude. In the three overlapping loops it had three
different drawbridges each with deep ditch below. Once out of the ramp the
tunnel opened into a large courtyard where you would find entrances to a
chapel, the garden, the armory, and the residence rooms. Inside the rooms I was
amazed by the detailing of just about every aspect of the room. We weren’t
allowed to take any pictures of inside but there were marble columns, marble
floors, painted gold and blue ribbed ceilings, three 50 candle bronze
chandeliers, a library filled with oak book cases, murals painted in the 1800s,
colored glass windows, a treasury room that held the red velvet, diamond laced
Royal Prussian crown, three snuff boxes covered in precious gems, and another
that saved the King's life as it stopped a bullet fired at him during one of his battles, medals of honor such as the Order of the Black Eagle, and gold
drinking glasses and tableware. Needless to say, there were a lot of valuable
items. I did manage to take some pictures when the guides weren’t looking, but
they were roaming around like hawks in a field full of mice. It was a great
experience that’s for sure. Going back in time to see how royalty lived is
something I won’t forget. Well I hope I didn’t bore you to death with my
history lesson, or completely confuse you. But now back to tennis.
My second round of qualifying I played against a
Ukrainian and won 6-2, 7-6(0). The day started off a bit rainy so the clay was
very slow and still had water underneath. But the first set went well. I hit a
bunch of forehands and went after my shots. The second set she started to play
better, making more shots in the court and I on the other hand started missing
a lot. I was serving for the match at 5-4 but got broken then managed to get it
to a tiebreaker where I won easily to win the match.
In my third and final round of qualifying I was up against a
tough French player Ramialison who took out the 10th seed in the
previous round. The match started out ok, but I never got comfortable out
there. When serving she just ripped returns deep into the corners to put
pressure on me right away. She also moved really well and took time away from
me by standing close to the baseline and moved diagonally into the court to cut
the ball off. But I just didn’t play well, my shots just weren’t there
and shots were landing short in the court for her to attack. So I was pretty
bummed. But I keep trying to tell myself there is always another
tournament next week which there is, in Ratingen. Hopefully I can put some wins together there.
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| Center Court |
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| Courtyard |
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| View from the top |
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