Tennis de la Porte de Bagnolet: Net discord

 Court 2 at Tennis Porte de Bagnolet was the only court available in Paris for the timeslot I'd selected on Saturday. We'd been before, in error, when looking for Tennis Louis Lumiere which is just five minutes along the same road. I remembered the impressive sports facilities - football pitches and athletics track - though we hadn't actually checked out the courts last time. What a disappointment! It wasn't hard to see why Court 2 was the only option available for a last-minute Saturday booking. As we approached along a sad-looking pathway lined with broken benches I could see straightaway that the net was sagging in the middle. Not in a "The net's too low" kind of way requiring me to take a measurement with my Queen's Club measuring chain (thank you Charlotte!) No, this net was quite definitely dipping and the winding mechanism was broken so it couldn't be adjusted.

Not only that it was full of holes and practically falling to pieces. There was no excuse for any serves going in the net and in any case they were more likely to go through the net. In fact I lost count of the number of disputed points which had to be played again for this reason.

And if that wasn't bad enough there was nothing to attach it in the middle so it would occasionally blow up to a 45-degree angle in a gust of wind - the only time I've ever played a game where it has been possible to serve or hit the ball under the net. The three other courts were fine - we'd definitely drawn the short straw this time.

To add to the general air of neglect our court had a huge hole in the netting at the back leading to lots of trips through to collect balls that had gone out of play. All in all a somewhat dispiriting experience. On the plus side it was a lovely day,  great to be playing outside and no one had booked for the end our our hour so we were able to play on - it's the first time I haven't been overjoyed to do so.

Tennis de la Porte Bagnolet
72 Rue Louis Lumière
75020 PARIS