A tale to tell in which I finally set foot in the state of Alabama for a tennis tournament.
I had the good fortune to be asked in late December 2017 to join a newly formed 18+ 6.0 mixed team whose season began in January. Captain Laurie quickly organized a practice every Saturday at 10:30 am, and low and behold, most of the team came out. Every week. On a Saturday morning.
The season started off a little slow. I had my husband come out and watch a match to give me some advice.
“Bend your knees. Be ready. Just bend your knees and you’ll be better than anyone on that court.”
Noted.
Practice continued and the wins started stacking up. We ended in first place and a spot in the regional championship in Hershey.
A regional competition works like this. #1 plays #4. Win that, and you’ll play the winner of #2 & #3. Three courts play, but this time all courts yield the same points.
I played the first round. We went to a third set tiebreak. The opposing man served to me on the ad court at our first match point opportunity. He served to my backhand, and I nailed the cross court winner. Game over.
Turns out we won all six courts and advanced to Regionals, which would be held nearby but on an unfamiliar surface, Har-Tru. Our coach joined a club so we could practice on it.
We’d play the winners of New Jersey, Delaware, Philadelphia, and Pittsburgh. We won. Again. Nationals here we come.
Nationals were months away, and in the time, I continued to take lessons, play matches, and work out with weights and yoga. I showed up ready to play.
The Mobile Tennis Center has 70 courts. I’ve never seen a club this big, but it’s all outdoors. Due to threats of rain, the Friday matches would be a compressed format – play to four with no ad scoring. Gender to gender service at deuce. Ugh. We started off slow.
Saturday came with wind and cold weather, but the games would be to 6 with ad scoring. We hit our stride. We ended the tournament 2-2 – in 9th place out of 16…in the country.
It was a long trip there, and my flights sucked. I’m definitely glad I made it though. It was fun to learn more about my team mates as people, see a state I’ll probably never return to, and play well.
Me in the red shoes at Nationals, knees bent, ready for action. My husband would be proud.