Day 5: The Humor in Success (Or How I Won my 1st Tournament Match)

I spent the entire day nauseated, my stomach knotted in anticipation of my first tennis tournament. I was excited! Yes, a bit of a basket case but in a good way. Then after what seemed to be the longest day in the history of man, it was game time.

The news that you have been waiting for is: YES! I did win my first match in this weekend’s tournament: 6-1, 6-0. Thank you. I can now forever claim to have won the first match of my first tennis tournament. Good fallback conversation piece when I’m 80. And if I were smart(er), I would just bask in your accolades and leave it at that. However, as you may well know, that is just NOT in my nature. (Sleeping dogs? Wake ‘em! )

As I explained in an earlier post, I entered myself into the tournament’s “C” category, which includes all levels below a 3.5. It’s also referred to as the ‘Rookie’ category. So while I did absolutely win, fair and square, I feel compelled to make the following full disclosure:

My opponent had:

A. Never played an actual tennis match before.

B. Did not keep or call out a game score.

C. And if I understood her correctly, today’s match against me was the first time she has ever played on a tennis court WITH someone at the other end of the net.

Are you seeing the humor and/or irony in this yet?

But wait, there's more. Let me now present a study in contrasts. This evening I was introduced to my opponent for tomorrow. She, oh – just happens to have a tennis court in her backyard. She has been playing on USTA teams for 6 years. She plays mixed doubles with her husband, and is a member of a certain north- end country club where she plays tennis several times a week. For whatever reason she opted to play down to the C category but more likely is a “B” category (3.5 /4.0) player. She, my friend, is no rookie.

So, yes, my stomach is still in a knot. Don’t think I’ll be getting much sleep tonight. I have decided to let go of all expectations and just play to have fun. Regardless of what happens tomorrow, this first tournament provided an excellent opportunity to learn an important lesson early in the game:

Play because it’s fun. Not because you want to win or you are afraid to lose.


tina signing off.