Tennis, Anyone?

my current game against ally c stands

cook Vs. coz

1st set - 7 : 6 (7 : 3 in the tie break)
2nd set - 2 : 3 (0 : 15, me serving)

I was pretty great (for an amateur). I loved playing VERY VERY hard and letting people RUN (and grumble and sometimes LOSE - roffle).

I love the sound of the racket hitting the ball. So crisp so clean.

Was a member of N0rth Chesh1r3 Tennis Club (grand name for four shale courts and a prefab in Wallasey; could never keep my footing on those courts - always seemed to lose tie-breaks to 50-y-o geezers and never progress up the ladder) and played a bit of doubles with the Poly team (not competitively, of course) when I could get out to Aigburth.

Truth is, I was never very good - hopelessly inconsistent with iffy volleys and dreadful overheads. Decent serve, solid topspin forehand, reasonable sliced backhand. But whenever I've played someone who actually has some talent for the game, I barely win a point.

Played three times last year (including that occasion when I managed to get Jerry, Earwig and Ken C down to Camberwell, only for our court to be double-booked) but not at all this year. There's a lot I haven't done this year.

Greatest moments on court - at 15, beating the PE teacher (a sun-bleached surfer-dude who seemed to have got into teaching purely for the opportunity to flirt with teenage girls) 6-2 6-0 at Harr1s0n Park in front of a gaggle of his lower-sixth admirers; hitting four aces in one game in a doubles match on my first appearance as a member's guest at N. Ches. club.

I had my first lesson! After more than a decade! HURRAH!

Nice! I am taking one tomorrow.

WTF @ Clijsters, back after two years and a kid, winning three matches already at the Cincinnatti open? (just defeated Kuznetsova (WTA rank: 6) ) - next up: quarter final against Safina

kim vs dinara, oh dear.

Solid piece on sliding as a newish thing.

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2023/aug/27/sliding-in-tennis-the-games-defining-evolution-is-gliding-on-to-hard-courts

Enjoyed that, feels like the recovery time from hard-to-reach shots gets tighter and tighter as the years progress.

I play two and sometimes three times a week now. I love it. Moving away from golf. Nothing but frustration there, whereas I've steadily improved in tennis; not a million moving parts to hitting a tennis ball well.

I haven’t played in a decade. Would love to, but I think the lateral movement would destroy my 43 year old ankles that are used to only running in a straight line.

I think you'd be fine for doubles. I have a bit of bursitis in my right leg, and the movement required for doubles isn't too taxing. Now and again I have to run up for a drop shot, but that's about it. I play singles occasionally.

Is there a way to watch the US Open from the UK that doesn't involve Sky Sports?

Nope

I mean there will be some dark web crap, but otherwise

Sadly, I don't think so. Amazon Prime's deal came to an end last year; that's where their tennis coverage started (fairly chaotic screening of the 2018 event) and losing it seems to mark the end - no more ATP/WTA after this year, it seems. I'm still shelling out for NowTV and I can add a £12 one-day pass there if I just wanted to watch the final.

Still, six Brits left... if one or more are still around this time next week, maybe we'll get something sub-licensed to terrestrial :)

(Perhaps there's a way via the betting websites to watch a livestream? I've watched a few US Open finals over the years on dodgy streams (particularly around 2009-12)).

xp

Ah, what a shame, thanks for the info guys.

Oh yes forgot now TV. Might do a pass for the final xp

Surprised there's no ILX pickleball thread. I've never played, and really have no interest in playing unless and until tennis becomes physically too much. In my small town, the tennis players and pickleball players don't particularly like each other because we're vying for the same court space: four courts, two with pickleball lines painted on. I was talking about this with the woman who owns the local bookstore, and we thought there'd be a good script there: small town, old people, lots of chicanery and sabotage between the two factions. Something like Election in tone.

Pickleball Wars are my favorite NYTimes articles.

I play four sports. I'm a good badminton player, pretty good at tennis, okay at bowling, a hacker at golf. I've been getting better at tennis, though--if I were more mobile, without some bursitis and arthritis, I think I'd be good.

Anyway, tonight I was paired with one of the three best players at the club, playing one of the other three best players and another guy who's good--better than me. The other guy is also well known around the club as not being honest on close line calls, making up stuff when he's losing ("That should be re-serve"), and just generally not being a good sport. So I really, really, really wanted to win. That, in and of itself, felt good; to care about the result. That hardly ever happens with me anymore (to actually care, I mean--of course you always want to win).

We were up 5-2 and let them get back to 5-5. We had to stop then for reasons unrelated. I was reminded of that famous George Allen quote: "Every time you win, you're reborn; when you lose, you die a little." When you care, it really is true.