Round Robin of Victory

by Christian
(Harvard,Ma,USA)

Back in April 2009, I was playing in a Round Robin. I was #8 on the tennis team and I was playing against #7, #6, and #5. When I was warming up, I knew this WAS a bad day for me because I wasn't my best >_<. So I was thinking what would I have to do? I needed to be fired up. "C'MON!!!" I thought to myself. I was ready and I knew NOTHING could stop me. Since this was a 4 game match, this didn't require any energy.

I took out #7 easily, 4-2. That kid was over-weight. I tired him out by making him run a lot by hitting where he wasn't really slow so he could get to the ball. By staying consistent, I just needed to hit Cross-Court except when he charged the net. I also keep all my opponents off balance by giving no pace. I also like to hit in one direction, then waiting for the opponent to recover to the middle and hit in the same direction. This simple strategy gives me easy points. (That is how I won most of my matches.)

When I was playing #6, I was winning 3-1, 30-Love. But when I stared into his big brown eyes, were like looking down the barrel of a Hot Metal 45. This kid likes to end points quickly by being an "Agressive-Baseliner". He also likes to be in a constant rhythm or he claims to be "scarred". I just hit to his Backhand and he ran around it to his Forehand then made an Unforced-Error. I saw his face scrunching up after I broke him. Then he forfeited. I felt like I didn't accomplish anything, but you have to respect his decision.

Then I got to play the big, bad #5. He has a temper problem. He was a lefty and a pain to deal with. I really disliked this privileged, rich brat. I hit a Topspin Volley into his face. That got him really mad. I drop shoted him then hit my signature Topspin Lob. He claims "That's a wussy shot!" I replied " If its SO wussy, how come you can't return it?" It was 3-3. I was winning 4-0 in the Tie-Break. The first person to get 5 points won. I lost all my concentration. He beat me 5-4 in the Tie-Break. So the overall score was 4-3. I was so close to moving up into the next group. I never felt so embarrassed. But I learned a couple lessons:

1) You can't win EVERY match you play.

2) Doing your BEST will make you some-what satisfied.

and lastly,

3) Competition is the MOST important element to ANY sport because that's what makes it fun.