Welcome once again to BS Friday, one day late. You know the drill; I’ll write it and you tell me if it’s true or just plain old BS. This weeks post is called: Tennis Is Not For Wimps.
I once had a friend who, yes, was a girl, but not necessarily a girlfriend. We did a lot of stuff together off and on for about 2 years but we never decided we were in a relationship.
Anyway, she was pretty cool to hang with. In those days I was into Tennis. Really into it. I would play every day given the chance. She liked Tennis but was more into Basketball. She got a full scholarship to college via Basketball. She was good. I once was practicing with her and she made 57 shots in a row without missing. All outside the key and all in locations where I just threw the ball back to her. No rhythm, no planned spot, no chance for her to get set and shoot. She missed the one and then went on another streak of over 30 without a miss.
One Sunday afternoon she, her sister and I headed to the park to hit some tennis balls around. We got there about 11:30, just before the Little League games started. It was a warm day, maybe 85 degrees. We started just hitting around for a while and then after we warmed up, we started playing real points. At this time I was a pretty good tennis player. I played for the school and played around with local clubs and their tournaments after school. She was a natural athlete and it all just came to her easily. The thing was we were both very competitive so when it came to winning points, we went all out.
Not long into it we decided to play a set. No problem. I ended up winning that first set fairly easily. Naturally she didn’t like that so we played a second set. I won it but not so easily. This annoyed her so we played another. The third set she won. Of course, her thinking was that I had to give her a shot at getting even. I did and she won the next set giving us 2 apiece. Now we had to play a tiebreaker. We did and I won. So next we had to play so she could try to get even again, which she did by winning the next set. Can you see where this is going? Yep, it sure did.
We lost count after a while. We just kept track of who was up on whom and who needed to get even. We kept on playing even though her sister got tired and walked home. Even though 2 Little League games had been played. We took short breaks, just long enough to get a short breather and change sides on the court. Eventually her sister came back and brought us some water. But we kept on playing, each trying hard to get the best of the other.
By the time we were even again, I looked up and saw that the sun was getting low on the horizon. I checked with her sister and found out it was 5:30. We had been going at it for 6 freakin hours! I was ready to quit and call it even but she would have none of that. We had to play one more to break the tie. Then she started asking me if I was a wimp or something. She was saying “C’mon wimpy wimpy. C’mon little chicken boy.” That did it. We played one more.
It took a while to get through it. I was way behind but got a second wind and caught up. But in the end she came through and won the set. We walked to the net and I just looked at her kinda sideways, waiting for her to start gloating. She said nothing. I then casually mentioned that maybe she should give me the chance to get even again. I thought she would finally wimp out but she didn’t. She just said, “Let’s go. I’m ready!” To which I replied, “Forget it. I’ve had enough. I wasn’t serious.” When I said that she slowly sat down and then lay back on the court. She started laughing and said, “Thank God! I didn’t think I could take much more.”
Even in quitting she had to beat me.
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