Forty Love

This past weekend I adorned my tennis gear and headed out to the clay courts at Tennis World to play in their Better Communication Clinic Tournament. Their biggest tournament of the year, it attracts players from Louisiana and Alabama and proceeds go towards pancreatic cancer research.

I played in Women's 3.0 Singles and Women's 3.5 Doubles. After playing only a handful of times over the past 5 years since High School, I was a little worried about playing up to 6 matches in one weekend. In a sense, it was more a test of my endurance and ability to push myself than a tournament to win.

We had great weather all weekend, barely a cloud in the sky. On the courts the sun was fierce, and I could feel my face beating red after every tough point. Saturday, I won my first match in singles but lost my first in doubles. We played the second seed, so our loss wasn't a surprise. After the sun was down, and the gnats began feasting, we played our first consolation match in doubles and won. I dragged myself home to a noisy cat, yelling at me for being gone all day and bringing me her toys to play with her.

I pulled my aching body out of bed Sunday for an early singles match that I easily won. My last singles match, I played a woman who had also beat the other 2 players easily. I was nervous! However, my consistency and control of the ball prevailed and I won the bracket. The local tennis pro presented me with my trophy-- a beer mug waiting to be filled.

As I got off the court from my singles match I was told that everyone was waiting for me to play our last doubles match. My arms were jell-o, my legs could barely hold me up, and all I wanted was an ice cold bath and a beer in my new mug. I took a fifteen minute break and then deliriously played my last match. It was a lot of fun but we were no match for the mother-daughter team.

But I did it! I played 6 matches in just 2 days. And after a couple days of sleeping late, my body is finally forgiving me.