Tennis

Every time I play a real tennis match I get this butterflies in my stomach. I don’t know why but I’m always like that. Of course, it does affect how I play because I tend to play it safe. What I mean is I don’t hit the ball as hard as I use to (like in practice). Any advise that you all can give me?

Anyway, I had my first official tennis singles match last month and surprisingly, I won! It was a 3.0 USTA Mens League and I actually couldn’t believe it myself. I won on a 3 set match, 7-6, 3-6, 6-4. I even twisted my ankle a lil bit on the second set. But I kept on playing, didn’t feel it really during the match but afterwards, I couldn’t even walk. But yeah, singles is a lot of fun. I like playing singles better than doubles now! lol

We played at Baker Park last weekend for the districts, we won the Baltimore County 6.0 League Mixed Doubles. Our team gets to compete with the other counties in Maryland and it was a great experience. This was the second time our team gets to the districts and last year, I lost my match. I think the score was 3-6, 4-6. But this year, I did a lot better. That’s because I had a lot more confidence on myself and I have more experience (considering I’ve only started playing tennis 3 years ago!). So we won my match, the scores was 6-3, 6-1 against Frederick County.

Congratulations, by the way, to Roger Federer for winning the French Open this year. He has tied with Pete Sampras with the most grand slam titles. I was hoping he would win it when Rafael Nadal got crushed by Soderling in the 4th round. With Pete Sampras not winning a French Open title in his career, in my opinion, Roger just became the best tennis player ever. Also, with Roger winning the French Open title, he also became the 6th player to achieve a Career Grand Slam.

Roger Federer winning the French Open 2009

Roger Federer winning the French Open 2009

my tennis history

I love playing tennis. I’ve been playing tennis for just about 2 yrs now, on and off. Ate Gigi and Kuya Roger gave me and Alou a set of tennis racquets as Christmas presents back in 2005. We started playing tennis spring of 2006 for fun. Without any formal training, I got pretty good at it. Then I found out that my friend from college, Jeanine, also plays tennis regularly. She introduced me to the tennis leagues and all. Having said that, I’ve started joining leagues in 2007.

The first league I joined in was a USTA league, Men’s 3.0 level. I didn’t really like that one at all since we never practiced so our team practically sucked. We had no chemistry at all. Although me and Mr. Rick did win a match, and it felt great! That was my very first taste of victory of real tennis, and that was my last game of the league. I remember I was battling with cramps that day but we still pulled a W.

The second league I joined in was from work. I participated on a mixed double tournament and we came in third place. That was a lot of fun because I actually got to play against people that are one level above me (league is for 3.0-4.0 level). It was a good experience.

Then the last two tournaments I played in was with Jeanine. She recruited me to play for her team (she’s one of the captains). We came in second overall on the Summer Adult Mixed Double League, losing only 2 matches. Then on the USTA Winter Adult Mixed Double League, our team only lost once and we won the league. We are scheduled to play for the Districts on June, can’t wait! We are competing against the winners of St. Mary County, Howard County and Montgomery County. Wish us luck!

And if you’re wondering who my favorite male tennis player of all time, it would be Pete Sampras. Currently, I really don’t have any favorites. As for the ladies, I used to like Steffi Graf, but now, Maria Sharapova is on the top of my list.

Pete Sampras  Maria Sharapova

Thanks for reading this boring blog. =)