Hi Crimson Racket Club!
Here’s your next Alabama Women’s Tennis Summer Update from Kim Gintrand – a Junior from Angers, France:
Hi everyone! I hope you’re having a great summer so far!
My summer has been very exciting, I’ve done a lot of things! To begin with, I finally got to see my brother who I haven’t seen since Christmas. I had four really fun days with him. We did some biking, running and swimming together (really sporty family for the ones who didn’t know.
I got to practice with my old coach and we worked really hard on my game. Since we are practicing in a small club everyone is stopping to watch my practice so it is really fun and I have a lot of support (can’t equal Bama though). I then played tournaments and did really well. All of my efforts paid off and it is very motivating. After my tournaments and practices period, Smith Hinton came to visit me for 2 weeks! We went to Paris, London and then went back to France in Biarritz where I have my beach house. We had so much fun visiting and seeing all the beautiful architecture and different cultures. It was fun for me to see how Smith was reacting to European things! She understood how hard it is to be in a country that is speaking a different language and she was not familiar at all with the jet lag!
We also had the chance to go to Wimbledon and watch Georges we saw Madison Keys, Petkovic and Svitolina in the Wimbledon village! We got to see Erin Routliffe too as she was getting ready to play her first round in the main draw! It was really fun!
After that we went back to Biarritz and Smith coached me during the week she was in France and she had a lot of fun using Jenny’s quotes. It was a little Bama spirit on a French tennis court. After she left I played some other tournaments and played some good matches. What’s good in France is that with your French Ranking you’re getting into the tournaments further. So from the first round the level is very high which is very challenging and I love it!
I came back home this week to Angers and got to practice to prepare for my last tournaments of the summer. I love being in Angers because there are so many spots to run. When I don’t feel like getting out of my house to run, I get into my car drive around the city and when I see a nice green spot I jump out to run and I feel in another world and there is no better place to work out.
I also got to spend time with my parents and do some sports together. This past weekend we went on a bike ride with my mom and dad and then I got to play tennis with my mom. I also got to see my dad at work. They were organizing an event about the story of Angers. Angers was governed by Kings a long time ago so they represented the life at that time with Knights and horses and they also did a film projection on the castle. It was beautiful!
I hope everyone is having a great end of summer!
I can’t wait to be back in Tuscaloosa !
Roll Tide !!
Kim Gintrand