BABY- IT’S HOT OUTSIDE

How far would you go to win a tennis match? Yes, of course, you want to win every tennis match, but to what point?

During the summer months, there are City, State, Sectional and National USTA tournaments. It gets pretty hot out on that court. I have seen ladies push themselves to the end.

In an over-40 Sectionals match, one lady just would not give up. She was actually winning until the opponent, in a singles match, started just hitting the ball back and moving her around. It was interesting watching the changeovers. This person had three or four of her team mates act like little nursemaids. They were giving her towels, they were putting things in her water. Nobody ever requested a medical timeout though, so who knew she was having issues.

It finally got to the point, at one of the switches, that she said she ‘retired’. She then fell to the ground, gasping, crying and having the dry heaves. Call 9-1-1 was my first thought, but she wanted nothing to do with that. Her teammates argued that she was just doing everything she could to win a line for her team.

That’s a pretty tough line to cross, dear teammate.

Then, of course, you have the other side of things. All these ladies in these tournaments, pretty much already know one another. A lot of good friends off the court, maybe even partners from seasons past.

So, when your “friend” that you are playing goes down in a doubles match, what is the right thing to do? Do you feel guilty about making her run around more when you know she is cramping? Is your partner just really a horrible person to tell you that she is the one still on the court and not giving up? Most of the time, it seems to work out better for the person that is having the hard time. You, the opponent, don’t want to look like a monster in trying to make her hurt herself more. It usually ends up in a loss and she hobbles off the court with the win.

Hard to say. Are you a good guy or a bad guy?

Let’s take it to the net, ladies.