Full marks for court maintenance: Louis Lumière

I've felt quite Parisian this autumn - after a summer spent almost entirely out of the city I finally understand why the French are so obsessed with what they call La Rentrée. It is a concept so French that the English don't even have a word for it. It literally means "the return" - to school, to work, to the city itself - and it's quite a thing here, as much of an event as Easter, Halloween or Christmas in terms of shop displays and marketing opportunities. So after a month spent busily installing everyone back at school, in a new job in the case of my husband, enrolling the kids in sports clubs (football and ice skating) and getting back to work etc we finally returned to tennis this weekend. Most excitingly my daughter has a new racket which she was desperate to try out and after only managing the occasional singles with my son over the summer I was looking forward to reviving the family four. Unless you book a week in advance, the best way to get a weekend reservation is to go on line the morning of the day you want to play and look for a cancellation. I found one for 2pm on Sunday on Court 2 at Louis Lumière - close to home and newly renovated. We'd last played here on my birthday back in June and courts 2 and 3 must have the best surface of any public courts in Paris - and I say that as someone who has played on many of them.

 Court 2 was slightly let down by its poor net with its macramé-style repairs, but after the first set we moved to Court 3 which had become empty and found a brand new net in place. It was a lovely autumn afternoon, perfect for tennis - not too hot and with no breeze. Sophie's racket proved a winner and despite her midnight tour of the city's museums and sights with her friends during the famous Nuit Blanche (another Parisian concept where many attractions stay open all night with free entry for visitors) she was not too tired to triumph on court. She even had enough energy for a 100 metres victory sprint on the athletics track afterwards.

We shouldn't leave it too long for a re-match!

THE WINNER: WHAT A RACKET!