'GETTING STARTED CHAPTER 6

The idea behind the European tour of 1991 was to witness and play the game at the highest possible level that I could. If that meant getting a series of beatings then I was prepared for that, I was chasing an experience that I would never forget. I had finished training at the Coops tennis facility in Brisbane, Queensland as an 18 year old and had joined the work force, albeit in stages.
I did some coaching assistant work plus some odd jobs to help pay the bills but during those years I never gave up on the idea of one day having a look at tennis in Europe. Some of the guys I trained with regularly in Brisbane namely Peter Trammachi and Andrew Kratzmann were forging out careers in the game overseas. My standard was well up with both of those players so I gave myself a silly chance of perhaps making some sort of an impression on the clay in Europe.
My nickname at Coops was 'Mats' as I copied my hero's style.
 I didn't really own a weapon apart from a reasonable forehand so I simply looped the ball in play with as much spin as I could generate. It worked at a junior level so I thought that perhaps it could find me some wins in Europe.
It was just by coincidence that I heard about the travel plans of both Brett Patten and Peter Gerrans who were planning a trip around the same time that I was looking at going. The European Money Tournament Circuit was well known by the guys who trained at Coops so I had heard numerous reports about it, they all seemed to be positive.
I got in touch with both Brett and Pete and I organised a training session with Brett before we left and I spoke to Peter on a few occasions to sort out some travel ideas. The whole plan of travelling to Europe to play tournament tennis was so outrageously appealing that I put all of my eggs into one basket and quit my job. I was hooked on the idea and did plenty of training for around three or four months before we left.
I was a tennis mad 21 year old who simply had to see for himself what the whole European scene was all about, if nothing else but to say that I had finally done it.
Initially I flew direct to Germany to inquire about Team Tennis that some other Australians had played regularly and then I flew to Paris to meet Brett and Pete to play our first tournament together.
The Team Tennis idea in Germany was one that I didn't receive many answers on as the player who's name I was given who organised it just so happened to be on vacation at the time. Germany could wait a bit longer, I was off to Paris to catch up with my touring party....