Tennis Tournament: Houston, TX

I have been out of town since Thursday to participate in a tennis tournament in Houston, TX. I went to the event last year with disastrous results, but this year was far better.


I came back with some hardware to add to the collection. My doubles partner and I finished in 2nd place in our division, and I feel good about our pairing. This is only the second tournament together and we made the finals each time.

Our final match yesterday we won our first set 6-0, but in the beginning of the second set I became injured. It wasn't bad at first but it progressively got worst to the point were I couldn't run or move as agilely as I did in the first set. I kept it hidden as much as I could until the third set when I told my partner. He didn't care whether or not I retired from the match, but I still wanted to play because I still wanted to make my opponents work for the win. I strapped my knee/calf injury with tape and continued to play but my injury was now apparent and the opposing team used it to their advantage. And, you know, I don't blame them. They played really well and deserved to win the match. Congrats to them!

I also made the semifinals of my singles division, which I lost 6-1, 3-6, 4-6. My opponent found a weakness in my game and used it to his advantage. My weakness: slow, high-arching lobs. It makes me have to generate my own power which could create a lot of unforced errors on my part. I have to practice taking the ball out of the air to take time away from my opponent. This is one of many things I will be working on before I move up a division in January 2008.

There was a bit of drama in one match, but this is the second year I had some type of drama in Houston. My quarter-final opponent basically called me a cheater and requested the official to judge line calls. Which was fine with because all the questionable "out" calls were four or more inches out of bounds, so I didn't sweat it. I began not to like this guy when after he won the first set 7-5 and then condescendingly told me what a great player I was and I should be winning everything. That is such a head game. I tuned him out, and won the set second in a tie-breaking 7-3 after a two hour rain delay.

I won the third set 7-5 but I was not excite with my overall experience. This by far was the worst experience at a tournament. This guy repeatedly yelled and screamed obscenities, took a minute or more between points (when the max. allotted time is 20 seconds), and I never said a word ... until he pissed me off. He twice called the official during middle of a game, thereby delaying it, and once refused to wait for the official to arrive before resuming play. I called him out on all his behaviors in front of the official. I took some satisfaction when I won this match with a couple a fist pumps, and shook his hand. To make things worst, this dude had the audacity to come to my semifinal match AND try to give me tips. Instead of reading him before sending him on his way, I decided to be polite because I was representing my tennis club in Dallas since I am a board member. Luckily he left before he pushed me over the edge.

Overall, I had a great time in Houston. I had some delicious Greek food at Niko Niko's, got to hang out with some great people, did a bit of clubbing, and developed a crush on this very handsome guy from Austin (who I think was giving me "the look" during our banquet). Unfortunately, this was the second time I didn't get a chance to explore the mall to which our host hotel was attached.

Maybe next year.