Game, set, match!

I have been spending my Saturdays this fall playing in a men's doubles tennis league put on by ALTA (Atlanta Lawn Tennis Association). For $25 a year, I joined ALTA to be able to play with my friend Mark Carter and his neighborhood tennis team. The team participates in a spring and fall league every year, and for 7-8 Saturday's a season, 5 teams of men from the neighborhood each play a match against 5 teams from a competing neighborhood.

Tennis is and has been my favorite sport to play since I was a kid. Both of my parents enjoy the game and taught me the basics at a young age. I also enjoy it because my lack of height and girth is not as big a disadvantage as say football or basketball! But I what most enjoy about the sport is that it is a game of strategy - play from the baseline or volley at the net; hit to the forehand or the backhand; serve out wide, up the middle, or into the body; topspin or backspin! You get the point!

As I started to watch tennis as a kid, I noticed something unusual about tennis - the court surfaces vary! In America, most tennis courts are played on asphalt. I've seen green, blue, and red asphalt courts. However, tennis can also be played on clay and on grass. The ball tends to skid more on grass and tends to travel slower on clay. Footing is also different on each of these surfaces. I have played on clay a handful of times, and it is unusual in that you have to learn to come to a sliding stop instead of a screeching halt! My dream is to get to play on a legitimate grass court some day - I would love to experience it in person.

Have you ever noticed how odd tennis scoring is? When you are serving, say your score first and then the opponent's score. So far, so good. If you win 3 points in a row, the 1st point gets you to 15 love, then 30 love, then 45, scratch that 40 love! I have no idea who came up with that moment of brilliance. And as a matter of fact, I have no idea why love = 0. If you get to 40-40, you call it deuce! I think the foreign sounding terms was part of the intrigue to me as a kid. Getting past the terminology, you have to win by 2, to win a game; then it's the 1st to win 6 games, win by 2, to win the set; then it's the best of 3 sets usually. I'm glad I learned the scoring when I had a young, pliable mind!

Getting back to the here and now, Mark and I haven't been free at the same time this fall, so I have played with 2 other gentleman instead. Bill is a retired tennis coach who hits everything back and is adept at lobbing the ball over people at net. He's so good at it that sometimes we call him "Mr. Lob City." The last 2 weeks I have played with Raj. Raj, like Bill, is a lefty. He takes the left side of the court and I take the right side and we both have the advantage of being able to hit our forehands a lot when we play with each other. I have noticed that when we play he likes to tell me to "chill out" and "calm down". I think most people think I'm pretty laid back, but my "hyper side" comes out on the tennis court. (My Mom always told me I was her hyper child, and in my heart, I know she's right)! In truth, when I do something I love, I get hyper.

To conclude, if you still don't share my excitement for the game of tennis enough to take up the game, make a point to catch a whiff of a freshly opened can of tennis balls. You'll be hooked for life!