tennis, life and a few things in between

The City View Tennis Club is near the LaGuardia Community College in Long Island City, inside of a warehouse with large and slow elevator. The surrounding area is very crabby and dirty, and the parking is difficult. The club itself is pretty new, nicely done but somehow, I felt the craftsmanship (bathroom, etc.) is sub par. The little wooden chests that hold hand towels, tissue boxes, etc. between courts are comical. Why don’t they invest more in the chair/seating instead? The white plastic lawn chairs were out of place there.

Unless invited by the opposing team, players may not cross to their opponent’s side of the court to check a mark.

My partner and I finished our match quickly (against two 3.0s) and were playing on court #5 against our own mates. The first doubles on court #4 was still being played out. During a game, I saw our pairs were on their opponents’ side of the court, they were all standing around the net near the middle. I briefly thoughts, oh no, dispute.
After that game, my pair were still there.
How serious could it be?
I wondered and walked over.
No dispute but the young guy had a painful cramp, and he couldn’t move. So the three other players were standing there with him. Good news was that after a prolonged period of time, he was able to move and play, and played well.

I looked over at the opposing captain who was playing with his teammates. This is the third time that an opposing team has injury time out. All three times were cramp and I was there all three times, including my very first league match.

As for the injury time out. At this level of play the rule is that an injured player has a reasonable amount of time to try and recover and continue play. The only circumstance the time out is timed is when an official is present.

Good thing is my team or I had always waited for the player to come out of the cramp. Good sportsmanship should come first.

This morning when I update the scores did I realize that our (last night) opponents were both 3.0. We didn’t feel good at winning such a match and now .. feeling cheated.. .. in light of time we committed and fee paid, we or everyone would want some competitive games for all to enjoy – at least on paper if not in reality.

Only the following pairings are allowed:
6.0 = 3.0/3.0 or 3.5/2.5 or 3.0/2.5
7.0 = 3.5/3.5 or 4.0/3.0 or 3.5/3.0
8.0 = 4.0/4.0 or 4.5/3.5 or 4.0/3.5
9.0 = 4.5/4.5 or 5.0/4.0 or 4.5/4.0

This is not a nice thing to do to my team or any team. If a team doesn’t have the appropriated combo, they should forfeit the court. Dragging us out there to play a such ill fitted match is inconsiderate.

The Manhattan League regular season has concluded and we made the playoffs with the lowest points among the three divisions. The three first place teams/2nd in terms of points:

Div I: 92/82.5
Div II: 95.5/89
Div III: 122.5/83

The wild card belongs to Div II Bricker/Ford. DIII Team 17-Dawes scored an eye popping 122.5 out of possible 130 points (10 matches). My goodness gracious. My 2010 Queens team raked in 122 out of 11 matches (143 possible pts).

Last night our Queens team did poorly, lost first and second doubles. One of the pairs had bagel in the first set and was leading 3-0 in the second but ultimately lost the match. The mates didn’t have a good evening. The opponents played well.

Last night’s match was very enjoyable. The opposing captain was late so I didn’t get to meet him afterward. We filed into court #1, #3 and #5 (bit odd .. oh well..) without exchanging the lineup sheet.
The vibe on the court was positively joyful and we played with great enthusiasm. I served really well but one double fault, made all my overheads (odd too bec I’m lousy at it), and didn’t miss too much volley.
The opposing team’s girl was bit nervous at the match who played well during the subsequent sets when the match was over. She has a pair of endless long legs and made good overheads smashes. For some reason, Kai lost control and accidentally hit her couple of times. We, I felt bad but she was very gracious about it. I knew the feeling when I hit some one. It’s always unintentional but due to my skill that I don’t really have a good control of the ball. In any case, she showed cheerfulness and joked about getting even.
I need to learn how to win a closely contested matches!!
Mental!

There are moments during a match that you could rise to the occasion, meet the challenge. And there are moments that one couldn’t, no matter what. I had that second moment in life last night at Queens first match. After winning the first set at 3, I lost all my mind and will. I was so disgusted … and disappointed; feeling very sorry to have let my partner down, who worked and drove us there .. Over all, the matches were well played and I enjoyed our opponents. (At least someone was happy .. wink .. wink .. wink ..)

It wasn’t the best time for traveling/driving due to the icy condition last night. But the road was rather empty at around 7pm, normally would be crowded with rush hour traffic.

It ain’t over until the fat lady sings ..
I’ll mull this over and over for a while.
Second string for our 9th match of the season. Our opponents were he 4.0/she 3.0 combo. During the warm up, he hit so hard that I called him to the net and joked begged for my little dear life:
“Please don’t kill me.” ha ha ha .. very funny.
Somehow we played well and won the first set at 6-4. Then she was severing at 2-4. I played aggressive, hit a smart backhand and .. .. we suddenly put ourselves in a pretty secure position: they were 0:40.
What happened next?
Lord knew.
We lost that game.
Change over.
I was severing.
For the first time, I couldn’t hold.
4-4.
The 4.0 killer took next game pretty easily.
At change over, Kai said … “.. oh .. I have to hold .. ” because it’s 10:21. Only 4 minutes remained before the cut off time.
For some reasons unbeknown to me, my mind wasn’t at the court.
We watched a point being played at Court 6. The girl hit a deep shot to the ad court. It’s a very close and my girl called it out. Court 6 change over ensured. Our opponents disagreed on the call and the 4.0 Killer went on to their court telling them the ball landed on line; and he even questioned my guy at water fountain as he was getting a drink.
Hmmmm .. .. not a good right thing to do. I said nothing because the atmosphere was very relaxed and friendly last night. Thanks to all players. On our court, no bad calls on my part (great). Oh, wait, actually there were two out calls I didn’t yell out when Kai was expecting me to shout (not good) .. and he constantly had to save me from behind (when I was too lazy to even try .. .. super bad).
It was an enjoyable match but .. we lost the second set at 4-6. Time was up.
I felt yucky and kicked myself well into the wee hours. I’m speed dialing my shrink now.

Missed opportunity. It’s ours match to lose and we lost it.

Does everyone grab the opportunity by the neck whenever, as in life? It’s the mental part of it separates the good and the better, from time to time. The great has it together all the time.

• Register Online using your USTA membership # and 10 digit team code
• Registration deadline: March 1, 2011
• Team Match Fees ($29 per player per match) – all fees must be paid in full by February 21, 2011. Failure to pay team fees by the deadline will result in match cancellation and/or players being excluded from future Metrotennis CTA league play.  NOTE: Matches played prior to the deadline must be paid for by 3pm the day prior to the match date.
• Match fees are paid online: USTA League Tennis -> Queens League -> Pay for matches.
• Rescheduling Courts: Each team may request to re-schedule a maximum of 3 courts per season. NOTE: You can only re-schedule one court per match — 3rd doubles. All re-schedule requests must be submitted no later than February 10, 2011. One date will be given for the re-schedule. If either team can not make the re-schedule date, the requesting team must forfeit.
• Warm ups may take no more than fifteen minutes, including service practice. If a player arrives on court prior to the default time, they are only entitled to a 5 minute warm-up. Under no circumstances may a match start more than 20 minutes past the match start time.
• FIVE MINUTE RULE: if 5 minutes or more remain before the end of the match, you MUST start and attempt to complete the next game. If less than 5 minutes remain, do NOT start a new game.
• Tentative Playoff Dates
  The playoff schedule is determined at the sole discretion of the league coordinator and may be altered. All teams will be notified of the exact dates once they are finalized.
  1. District playoffs: tbd (National Tennis Center)
  2. Regional Playoffs: May 14 & 15, 2011 (National Tennis Center)
  3. Eastern Section Championships : June 3 – 5, 2012 in Schenectady
  4. National Mixed Doubles – Tucson AZ. : 6.0, 8.0, 10.0 – November 18-20; 7.0 & 9.0 – November 11-13

.
Queens 2011

一个和尚挑水喝，两个和尚抬水喝，三个和尚没水喝
To drink water one should carry it by himself, to drink water two would carry it together. Unfortunately, there would have no water if there are three people.
This saying implies when there are too many people involved in one task without clear definition as who is doing what, the matter ends up unaccomplished.

At USTA league, the rule says that the captions should confirm match few days prior and should enter the score within 24 hours upon the conclusion. Well, most captains were really good, always do it but there are few who don’t. And I think some time one captain might think the other is doing it hence s/he isn’t doing it .. To eliminate the confusion or expectation, the league should just make it clear which team is doing what. Make the loser entering the score seems compounding the sorrow .. so let the winning captain to relive the joy once more 🙂

Being new and fresh, here are few of my thoughts ..

1. Make the language straightforward
2. Auto fills the Q16
3. 4.5 plays as 4.0 due to year end rating
4. You can’t really search me on the site because my last name has only 3 letters – 4 letters is the min
5. Be a hardened computer-rated veteran to go onto the Championship level
6. 3 strikes you’re out .. make putting up an illegal pairing a strike
7. The home team captain to confirm the court and winning team captain enter the score

Due to unavailability of our de facto chauffeur yesterday ( 赶场 .. did I tell you that all my players are super hot and in demand??), so I offered to drive. But my teammates politely told me no because, well, my car isn’t posh enough for them.
Sight.
One of the couples even bought a mini van – their kids are all grew, mind you. Guess my little diggy car isn’t really up to their standard.
So that’s an embarrassment #1.
The embarrassment 2: my ancient tennis racket. After I broken this one in the autumn, they breathed a relief thinking finally I’ll buy a new one. Ha .. I have two, inherited from my kids. To appease them, I forced Pumpkin let me use hers. High five, good Mom.
(The embarrassment 3 .. had been fixed.)

The embarrassment 4 .. ok, I shall stop here. The list is long.

Having just lost badly last Tuesday with only 3 more matches to go in the regular season, we were under pressure heading into our 8th match on Friday night. I don’t really recall anyone on the team, except: they’re the #1 team at the moment in our division with 59 points; I vaguely remembered they have a giant man player who’s really really good. And .. I was told that they were the team who filed complaint against us that resulting four bump ups last season. (The complaint did not disclose the identity of the team/individual instead the coordinator filed.)

Kai and I played the second string on Court 9. The guy aced me on his second serve to start the game. Then Kai lost his serve. Within a few minutes, we were down to 0-2.
2-2
..
5-3
5-6
Then we found ourselves down 0:2 in the tie break .. finally we won the first set tie break. It was a very exciting set. We both had our chances and misfortunes. I had two bad line call on his serve (too fast for my aging eyes!!) and Kai corrected me. Glad he did. (.. actually the second one wasn’t an out call but my grunt!!)
We started the second set down 0-2, again. Errrrrrrr… Then the guy came over to our side questioning his first serve, which was clearly out. He pointed to a mark that’s closer to the net when his ball landed actually closer to the service line. I even gone as far to ask the girl, who replied that she didn’t see it. In any case, the match was well played. And he never once hit hard at me, which I appreciated very much.

During the second set, their guy on Court 8 had the cramps and my girl was on the floor giving him medical treatment. Glad she did. Good sportsmanship should always come first.

Court 10 was the last one to finish. They were down 1:4 in the third set tie break but came back to win at 10:8. Lum has cold so she wasn’t moving well. She said she was extremely tired during the second set.

..

About our 7th match on Jan 14.

This email started on a total different subject but then my teammate replied with the following ..

.. .. Opponents were kind of tricky and did a lot of talking so after they won the first set, they kept talking so we ended up in second set at 5/5. At one point I had to say let’s play.
..

“Oh no ..” As I was reading it because I had exact experience when I played them on Nov 7, the first match of the season. The girl was teamed with a different partner. After they won the first set, they began talking excessively on their own serve and on ours when they would turn their backs to the net. We just had to wait. At one time, I called out.. “please let us play ..” The girl held up her hand, “just a second.”
Tennis is really being played in good faith. I really don’t appreciate such conduct.
I said nothing after the match, because I was new to the timed match format and we finished just as time was up. I probably should have.