racquet wanted

It's shocking how little there is to do with tennis when you're just thinking about nothing except winning every point
- Andre Agassi

The match is over when you shake hands. Never before.

I was up 5-1 in the first set this morning against a player who I was actually feeling bad about beating so handily. And then it was 5-2, then 5-3, then 5-4. Fortunately, I was so annoyed at myself that sheer adrenaline helped me eek out the sixth game I needed to close it out. But even so, I had wasted so much time losing games in the first set, we didn't even get to finish the second set (league play runs for 1.5 hours, so whatever the score is at the end of that time is what counts...players move up in the ranks based on how many games they win overall, not necessarily how many sets).

Ugh, to say the least. What happened? Was it nerves? Was it over-confidence? Whatever it was, it was unnecessary.

One thing that didn't help, but that I can't fully attribute all the blame to, was my overworked racquet in desperate need of restringing. You're supposed to restring your racquet something like every six months. Ha - I think the last time I restrung mine was 2+ years ago. And for some reason, or so I thought, I was feeling the effects of it more than ever in this match.

Fast forward to my two-hour lesson, I'm playing against my tennis partner with our coach watching and critiquing from the side. Just thinking about how much I need to buy a player's racquet, or at least restring the one I have, is hindering my concentration. It's getting the best of me, and my game is feeling the frustration.

Then *pop*. The ball goes dead after making contact with my racquet, and I turn it over to look. I popped the strings. Craziness!! It was a dorky, first-time-I've-ever-done-that moment. My thoughts went to Pete Sampras, who used to do it frequently during his matches because of how tight his racquets were strung.

Of course, the reason his strings popped were not the same as why it happened to my racquet. It turns out it hadn't been in my head after all. The strings on my racquet were making their last stand, and I was fortunate to have even gotten through the morning's league match.

What to do then - I was on the court with no racquet. Turns out God does work in mysterious ways. My friend went over to her bag and pulled out the Wilson K Factor racquet she bought a month ago. She's taking a break from the game for a bit, plus, isn't too crazy about the racquet because it has way more control than the power she needs. So here, Melissa, you have it for the next three months.

So yeah, now I have a new racquet - kind of, for a little bit =) When I got home, I looked up the racquet. It is, indeed, all about control, and it was, how cool, Justine Henin's weapon of choice.

Let's see what I do with it...