Tennis Anyone?

My partner Natasha and me (taken by Matt)


OK - this blog entry is more for my tennis cronies than for anybody else but I still felt it was worth talking about. For the last two weeks here at Laburnum (where we live) they have hosted the 6th Annual Tennis Tournament. I had no intentions of signing up (I had no one to partner with) and the boys said "no way" to the kids portion of the tournament which I understood since I kind of felt the same way. I was actually surprised they even had a tournament since there is only one court and other than the kids classes in the evening - the court seemed fairly inactive (except when I was playing!). As usual, I had no idea what I was talking about.

The tourney started out slow and they were clearly actively recruiting folks to participate (the tennis guy who teaches kept asking me to sign up and even had a form delivered to my apartment). So, still I didn't believe there were many players here at Laburnum. But in the second week, the tourney picked up speed and "the talk" (who's in the finals, who beat who etc. etc.) really picked up. I was assigned partners in both the womans doubles and the mixed doubles and I thought it was a great opportunity to play and to meet some other players. Little did I know.

The womans doubles turned out to be only three doubles teams so they had a quick round robin to determine the "champions". I happened to fall into that category that morning and received the title with my partner Natasha. It was all very casual. Next came the mixed doubles and I knew it was going to be different when I showed up on a weekday to play my match at 7:30am only to have SPECTATORS! Huh? It's Wednesday morning at 7:30 - I could barely figure out how the men playing had worked it into their schedules let alone the spectators. I didn't think my partner and I stood a chance against our rival team who included one of my regular weekend players, Mahesh, (very athletic and competent) and Leena but my partner Deepok and I gave them a strong match and lost in the tie breaker. Mahesh and his partner Leena won the title which was great. It was fun.

The reason for mentioning all of this is because I continue to be amazed at what great friendships tennis has brought into my life since I started playing. Both in Ann Arbor and now here in India. Who would have thunk? There was a large crowd at the finals Sunday evening - the Laburnum has a really nice family environment - all the families were out and watching. There was food, drink and friendship even for those who don't play but came to watch. I felt welcome, had many nice chats, was invited for drinks back at Mahesh and wife's place (the one who beat me) and had a great evening. Since this tournament has begun, John and I have already had a beautiful evening out with my doubles partner (Natasha and her husband), we were invited to a playdate today by another couple who has 3 boys, and I have 3 invites to play tennis this week. Amazing. All because of a crazy game called tennis.

The boys were really cool about the fact that I won a trophy and even took pictures of me getting my trophy - they were proud of me (instead of embarrassed by me!). Seriously, that was the best part of the whole thing.