ON TO BUDAPEST...

After some time sightseeing in Prague, a beautiful city to behold, we travelled by train to Budapest to play against Hungary IC. The train journey took us through mainly the farming and countryside and also included a stop in Bratislava.

Again we played on the clay courts of the Grand Slam Lawn tennis Club in a beautiful woodland setting lending the atmosphere to be idealic for tennis. The Hungarian IC members were using their home ground advantage as their experience of playing on clay was the telling factor in most of the matches. Their players were sharper than us in the rudiments of the different game on clay compared to our extensive play on the hard courts and for most of us also using the altitude as a bonus factor. At sea level on clay it is not only a totally different game but a totally different mindset.

Having said that some of the games were closely fought and in a couple of matches we lost the deciding tie break but all credit to the home players for giving us the opportunity to play against clay court specialists and it is another lesson learnt by our players as to what the game has to offer. 

We were royally entertained both during the day and in the evening when a supper was enjoyed sitting outside in the most perfect surroundings. 

Our sincere thanks go to Hamori Tomas their President and also to Vilmos Kozary who was instrumental in organizing the tour from their side. 

We presented both Hamori and Vilmos with South African IC ties as well as a book showing Scenic Cape Town to Vilmos in recognition of their hospitality and friendship.

Before we left to return home Vilmos had organized for us to have a half day sightseeing tour of Budapest.