tennis, life and a few things in between

We were able to join the Manhattan 2011 mixed doubles league at last second only because a team was problematic and had to drop out. The three clubs we’ll be playing are all out side of the city limit (not the wall tho .. like those medieval cities with thick walls .. )
Randall’s Island Tennis
Westside Tennis Club
Roosevelt Island Racquet Club

Parking won’t be an issue. Last year in Queens, we played at Westside Tennis Club few times and the match fee was $27 for two hours. However, this year, the Manhattan league’s match fee at the same club is $30 but only for 1.5 hours. I don’t know how the math works here (I don’t know how the league negotiates with all the clubs either..). The city slickers are different from you and me – “the very rich are different from you and me,” said F. Scott Fitzgerald. It reminds of my travel in Egypt, the locals instantly jack up the price whenever they saw an foreigner. China was indeed like that too. Very third world mentality.... Ok, probably other clubs (RIT and RIRC) cost more.

Kai and I lost the first doubles, 6:4, 6:4. #2 doubles team came from behind in the super tie break to win that court 6-3, 3-6, 1-0. #3 doubles was a timed match 7-6 and 2-3: our pair was up a break (not on serve). So we split the point. The opponent was the home team so they get the win.

The warm up allows 15 minutes and there is this 5-minute rule (the last 5 min of the match), so the actual playing time is only 1:10. There will be a lot of timed matches in the Manhattan league, so winning the first set becomes paramount.

My first taste of it wasn’t a good one: after we lost the first set at 4, suddenly our opponents (the same player would do it again ..) began to procrastinating. They conferred on every single point with their backs to the net, either on their own serve or on ours – beyond the reasonable time. This is NOT a good faith sportsmanship. After the match I asked the coordinator who recommends that the players remind the other team that there is only 20 seconds allowed between points. (page 4 of the rules document). Other than that, there really isn’t much we can do.

Maybe wear a watch with the second arm .. and use it as a watch, not as a bracelet?