My fall season Mixed doubles USTA thing kicked off yesterday at Arlington Y. We played Net Force One on court #1. Court 1 is usually the toughest team and it was cool to be hitting on it. We won 6-2 7-6 (3) in what was an eventful 2 hours. During warm up I was trying to figure out the opponents strengths/weakness and get into the hitting groove. I had a few mis-hits and my opponent "sternly" indicated that i should be hitting the ball at him. Instantly i knew he wasnt the "benevolent, have fun during the match" kinda guy. I also had the misfortune of hitting him in the unmentionable areas during one of the points and I got a look that accused me of doing it intentionally. I felt like saying, "Dude, If I could hit something that small so accurately from over here, I would be a pro". But being the nice guy that I am, or atleast one that I pretend to be, I patiently waited until his timeout was over. The second set was an emotional roller-coaster with us breaking their serve twice and then getting broken twice to set up a tie-breaker. But we pulled up our socks to race ahead to 7-3. A couple of cold hand shakes later, me and my partener were giggling happy and making cheap remarks about the events that had unfolded.
I realize now how difficult it might be for arch rivals to shake hands after a hard fought or even humilating result. If anything, one would want to rip the arm off during the shake. What thoughts cloud the mind during these exchanges? "He is so cold after losing, I have to wear gloves before shaking hands"-thats a good one. But its a ritual thats religiously followed nonethless. Its understandable, You cant have sport without competition and cant have competition without bitter emotions, however transient.
So all's well that ends well; else grit your teeth and swear to get even some other day. I know I have done that on more than one occassion.
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