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Articles: Humour | Tennis lessons *
- Mr. Giri
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I have been playing tennis at an amateur (amateurish is more like it) levels for over 2 summers now. For work outs, I prefer it to jogging. You don't get to race fellow joggers and if you don't count your adiposity there are no winners or losers - that's jogging. Tennis is a different ballgame.
I learnt a lot during these 2 years.
Firstly..
One thing that comes to my mind immediately is 'it's not always about winning; it's also about how you play'. (which in my case ranges from usually O.K to sometimes outright hopeless)
Do you have it in you?
Don't get me wrong, but it takes balls to play tennis (lots of 'em and racquets too). And then some players of matching caliber.
Players
I played many kinds and found that tennis playing population falls into 3 heaps.
The first, Win at all costs heap. These go-getters believe in winning all the way and display a marked dislike towards rules and challenging opponents. Anything 'out of their reach' is generally 'out of the court' also. Arguing with them doesn't serve much purpose unless you want to make things worse.
On a sidebar, one good way to get back at such people is to get their back while serving in a doubles game; Of course, that requires convincing them to partner with you. But on the downside, you should be prepared for taking the blame if you lose. (This heap plays the blame game to perfection as well).
The second, Win and let win heap: This heap humps on the bell curve**. These part-time go-getters win but let others win too, the latter partly owing to their inadequate tennis skills. I fall into this heap.
The third, Lose always heap: If not for a couple of matches i won last month with a colleague who had just started tennis, i probably would have fallen in this heap; (just kidding! it was more like 9 or 10 matches). Its not much fun playing this kind, they have an unerring focus in making unforced errors but are good help if you want an ego trip.
So, you pick your opponents as suited to the occasion. For instance, if you want to impress your girlfriend, look no further than the third heap.
Help
You need a trainer to get the basics right; But If you're well on your way with wrong basics and play to sweat it out than build technique, you should be OK the (wrong) way you're. Occasional eavesdropping and picking up tips from the trainer next court will help you just fine.
Also, it is not necessary but helpful if you have a bad manager at work; my serving speed and powerful returns can be attributed as much to the training i received in the games i lost, as to my bad manager's irritating behavior. The stress and frustration he helped generate at work in the mornings would somehow come out as speed and strength in tennis games in the evenings.
I no longer work with him and only think of him occasionally when i seem to have lost that speed or power.
Perseverance
During Wimbledon or US Open, renewed interest on tennis turns out to be a deluge on the tennis courts - it is very tough to find an empty court. Though the notice in a corner asks players to limit their playing time, people don't heed to it. There were times i waited 2 hours to play (and lose) in half-hour. That's perseverance.
Weight
All those powerful cross-court shots, quick running across the courts have their good effects. In addition, tennis gets tougher than squash if you have a habit of sticking on to old balls. Good effects are automatically doubled.
Soon you begin to imagine fat melting in your body and feel very light; the psychological aspect of weight watching is taken care of. Physical aspect as usual takes its own saccharine time and in the meantime owing to the psychic bonhomie you tend to polish-off loads of fat laden delicacies.
With such light feelings i actually gained a few pounds in the past 2 years.
Finally..
I can go on and on about this, but i have to go now, been giving tennis lessons to wifey. If there's anything better than playing amateurish, it is teaching amateurish. I discovered the joys of it recently and love it totally. Can't say if wifey shares the feelings.
More later...
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** hump on the bell curve: mathematically speaking, you're a hump on the bell curve (also called normal curve) if you belong to a majority,
* originally published on my blog (http://thoughtstreet.blogspot.com) on 05October06.
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