The 4th edition of the Engie Open in Limoges runs from 4th to 12th november 2017 at the Palais des Sports de Beaublanc.  It is ranked the third womens' tennis competition in France after Roland Garros and Strasbourg, and is the number one indoor competition.  The 2016 edition attracted over 13 000 spectators !

I went on the afternoon of 10th november with three friends from the club PhotoLim.   The Palais des sports is well lit so it was possible to photograph with a 70-200mm at f2.8 and 1/500s without exceeding ISO 1600.  Capturing the ball however was not so easy.  130km/hr (the services often exceed 160km/hr) translates to more than 30m/s, so even in burst mode (7/s) the ball has moved over 4m between frames - totally useless.  The only option is to time the shot manually by anticipating the moment that the ball is hit...