Charity Tennis Tournament, 9/22/07

Phil of the HYD softball team put together a tennis tournament for novices. The entire $10 per person entry went to Kenya, so it seemed a good thing to do. Along with fellow HYDer Molly, I went out to play.

My foot and ankle were still tender from the softball stuff but I thought I would give it a shot. Unfortunately, even in warm-up I knew I would not be playing long. But I gave it a shot.

A couple things happened even before we started to play. First off, the courts he had reserved, somehow the message had not trickled down and the club had not reserved them. So instead of inside, we were outside for the games. Second, a lot of people no-showed, so instead of all mixed doubles teams there were a few guy-guy teams.

In the first set, Molly and I were matched up against Phil and Nick, both fellow HYDers. So the first set was all HYD all the time.

They got the first serve. About one shot in I knew I should not be playing. So I did exactly the worst thing I could...I played half-way...just hard enough to get to balls but not hard enough to hit them right. We only one one of the first 4 games and were down 3-1 with Phil serving. So I decided to go all out for the rest of the first set and then quit...but I knew I was into my "competitive" mode where I refuse to be beat so if we lost, I was playing another set.

I started getting to every ball, playing the net aggressively, and, unlike the first time where I just lobbed my serves, I started actually playing...getting a couple aces off Phil and a couple more off Nick. Even the returns they got were weak since I was putting a barrel full of spin so they struggled to handle them. I did a lot of network and a few baseline shots. We broke Phil's serve, won my serve, broke Nick's serve, then Molly won.

During that stretch the key play was one where I started at the net, Molly moved up to the net during the play, Nick was at the net and Phil was playing baseline. After several sharp shots Phil lobbed one over Molly's head. I came all the way across court from front left to back right, got it on the first hop, and sent it back to the far corner. Their weak return was easy pickings for Molly who put the point away. It was a fantastic save that turned the tide completely.

Suddenly, from down 3-1 we were up 5-3 and Phil was serving. He unleashed his best serves at me but I was so dialed in now that they were easy returns. I played them like a banjo, running them from side to side and then putting the ball where they weren't. We won that won to finish the set 6-3.

And I was done. My ankle is toast. It is questionable whether I will be able to make it to softball. But for a few brief moments I was "that guy" again, the one who is so competitive that he will do any legal thing he can to win, will get to every ball, make every shot...I like the pressure of being the man. To be honest, we beat a better team. If we play 10 times they probably win 6 or 7 of them...but not this one.