A Taste of London

Now fully recovered from her recent illness, Maria Bueno has been getting back into the public eye again.

Last week she attended the Aegon Championships at The Queen’s Club in London, another of her several honorary memberships, and had a thoroughly enjoyable day as the guest of Stephen Raphael, a member of the tournament committee and a former tennis chairman of the club.

“I like to support my various clubs whenever I can and I am extremely fond of Queen’s,” she said.

“I spent many hours practising there on the old wooden indoor courts with Emmo [Roy Emerson] and Newk [John Newcombe] before my matches and then we’d eat there before going out to Wimbledon.

“I had a lovely day with Steve and was shown around as well as enjoying the tennis.

“Seeing how the club has developed into an ATP 500 event is amazing and very impressive. They have used every possible space to cater for the players, public and corporate guests to make this a must-go to event in London!

“So there I was!”

Maria watched the second round match between Giles Simon and Thanasi Kokkinakis followed by the demise of French Open champion Stan Wawrinka at the hands of eventual finalist Kevin Anderson.

“It must have been the grass but it seemed like they were playing in slow motion!” Maria said.

“It is such a contrast to clay court tennis and it takes a while to find your feet, which is why they [the authorities] have extended the grass court season.

“The match between Stan [Wawrinka] and [Kevin] Anderson was way more exciting and we all now know that Anderson was starting a great run on the grass since he made it all the way to the final.

“I am really pleased for the organisers that Andy Murray played so well to take his fourth Queen’s Club title. They were pretty concerned when they lost Rafa [Nadal] in the first round and then Wawrinka but they needn’t have worried since the place was packed out from day one to cheer on Andy!”

Queen’s is also hosting the Davis Cup quarter-final tie between Great Britain and France the weekend after Wimbledon and Maria hopes to be back there to see that too.

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A Taste of London

Last Friday evening, Maria went to the Taste of London, the largest food festival in the world held over five days in Regent’s Park.

“It was an amazing thing to see,” she said. “An enormous tented food village offering everything you could think of!

“I was fortunate to be invited to a four-course dinner in the VIP Enclosure and to meet the chef who produced it.

“I must admit that it was all very different and not entirely to my taste but it was interesting to see what is ‘in’ these days, food-wise, and the place was packed!”

Maria met Simon Rogan, one of the most accomplished and well respected chefs in the UK, whose technical approach paired with his relationship with nature has inspired a style of food with deep roots to its surroundings.

He runs a number of successful restaurants around the country and his latest enterprise is Fera at Claridge’s, an experience inspired by the rhythms of nature.

The name Fera, which means ‘wild’ in Latin, reflects both the primal influence of nature and the highly seasonal ingredients used in Simon’s cooking.

Click HERE to see the menu from Fera that Maria tasted.

Click HERE for more on Fera at Claridges

“It was a lovely evening actually, with exceptionally good company and a lot to see. Something rather different!”

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Back to the tennis

Maria has returned to the court to hit after an absence of over a month and is quickly finding her range.

“See how keen I am?” she laughed, as rain threatened to curtail her latest hitting session with Woodfield Grove Tennis Club pro Josue Valles Madera.

“We got a small window of opportunity and quickly dried off the court but, the minute we got on, it rained again so we just played through it. Apparently that is what the locals do!”

Maria is an honorary member of that club too and on Saturday she presented the prizes there for tournament finals day.

“It’s a bit of a contrast to what we see at Queen’s and Wimbledon but they are my friends and it is good to support them too.

“They had a great barbecue and afternoon tea, which I love, and although rain stopped the last match in the second set, it was a really good day!

“The best thing of all is that I am feeling well again and looking forward to Wimbledon!”

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Any predictions yet?

“Well, we haven’t see [Novak] Djokovic yet on the grass but he is the defending champion and world number one so has to be a clear favourite for the title.

“We also know Andy and Roger [Federer] are playing well because they have both won the tournaments last week, at Queen’s and Halle.

“And you can’t ever write off Rafa either. He won on the grass at Stuttgart and will have a tough draw at Wimbledon on account of his seeding, but he is always a contender.

“I’m a bit disappointed in the so-called younger generation, the likes of Dimitrov, who I really thought would be coming on way better by now after winning Queen’s last year, but then you never know when the real break-through will come.

“In the women’s, we have to go with Serena, who seems to find something special at the Grand Slams. She came through in Paris playing badly but on the grass, I think she is un-stoppable. Maybe someone like Lucy Safarova can do something but I rather doubt it. She seems to maintain her status as head and shoulders above the rest.

“It’s a long way to the final, though, and anything can happen so we will have to wait and see, won’t we?”

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