Tennis Dunois: Cagey business on the roof

On holiday in Rome last week I'd thought ahead and booked a court for our return. In the warm Italian sun I dreamed of playing in the dappled light of the Luxembourg Gardens and was lucky enough to bag a 9am slot. I'd even had a practice run the day before to find out how long the journey would take door to door and we'd enjoyed a picnic lunch by the courts in the shade of a chestnut tree.

However, last night after a rather too sociable evening sharing some Rome reminiscences with a friend in Paris I knew we'd never be out of the house for 8.15am and so I rescheduled in the early hours to the far less bucolic surrounds of the 13th arrondissement. It's high-rise heaven in this part of Paris, not far from Place d'Italie (nothing at all like the Italy we'd seen on holiday) - in fact the main point of interest is the Metro line which runs overhead here, presumably to break up the monstrous architecture.

Tennis Dunois was down a side street off the main boulevard and was clearly signposted. The entrance was between two huge blocks of flats. We paid at the kiosk and were directed to the tennis court entrance - through the men's changing rooms. I don't advise anyone to use the showers during court changeover times! A narrow spiral staircase (where we had to stand aside for a man carrying a hoe) led out on to a roof. We were up in the air, but certainly not above the rooftops. The court surface was a green carpet - like a green oasis in the sea of concrete all around. There was netting around the side of the court and also over the top - presumably to stop any rogue balls flying off the edge - which gave the effect of playing in a cage. This meant any lobs or looping overheads from my daughter (her speciality shot at the moment) would be brought down short with the result that we kept having to replay the point. There was also plenty of potential for balls to get caught in the netting - now I knew what the hoe was for! An excellent game nonetheless - and we definitely played better for having an extra two hours in bed (although the Luxembourg Gardens would have been much more scenic).

Tennis Dunois

70 rue Dunois

75013 Paris

Tennis Thiéré: New balls please!

April in Paris, chestnuts in blossom and perfect weather for tennis. It was warm and sunny and I didn't have to think twice about whether to wear a skirt - in fact I was even brave enough  to wear it to walk to the court which was in our neighbourhood along a little back road behind Bastille. I'm not sure why we've never played there before because it is probably the closest court to our apartment.

The court was bathed in sunshine when we arrived at 10am. It was the perfect time to play - not only did we pay the reduced rate (€5.40 for an hour) but the sun was not yet at its height. Although my partner moaned like mad at being disadvantaged by not having his sunglasses - needless to say I had mine.
 The biggest problem with this court (and there is only one court) is that there is no netting around the outside. The wall of a neighbouring building forms one boundary and there is a high fence to separate the court from the road, but otherwise there was just a low, metal bar - the kind of thing you might tie your horse to if you had arrived on one! This led to lots of scrabbling around in the surrounding undergrowth and ducking under the bar to retrieve balls.
The court surface is the ever popular concrete block construction which was in a reasonable state this time, but marked out for handball as well as tennis which was sometimes confusing. Another distraction was provided by a huge crane delivering an air-conditioning unit to a neighbouring building - not the sort of thing you expect to see dangling over your head when you look up to hit your serve.

On the whole though I loved this little court surrounded by windows and balconies - I'd love a flat with a view of a tennis court. Maybe it was the warm sun or the blue sky or the magnolia on the court side, but I felt as if I was on holiday. And in fact the stray ball problem turned out to our advantage as we went home with an extra ball! And I won again too...

Tennis Thiéré

9-11 passage Thiéré

75011 Paris