By the end of last summer, we were close. We played an epic set on the Har-Tru clay down at the beach. It was competitive enough that spectators accumulated, to see if the little kid could beat the old man. But I pulled it out and won, 6-4.
A few weeks later I hurt my shoulder, and I didn't play competitively for a while.
My older son, who is 16 and played quite a bit of varsity tennis last year for a state championship team, has never beaten me in a set (and he never will. Never!)
My shoulder is now better. I have a new arm friendly Yonex racket. It's awesome. I'm hitting the ball really well. But Ian still beat me. I did nothing wrong. I didn't double fault or hit the ball poorly. I had been working with Ian on hitting the ball deep to the backhand side and approaching the net, and playing his net shots with proper footwork, moving forward in a split step.
He used his training to defeat me.
He was a good sport about it. He didn't gloat. He was probably a little sad. This is how it ends, no fireworks or parade, just some well-executed drop shots, and some cross-court winners. Yesterday, we went over to Birnn and he collected his winnings for beating me: a pound of high-quality chocolate ( which he graciously shared with everyone).
We went out this morning and played, and the first set I beat him 6-4. Then, for the first time ever we played a second set. He's got to build up stamina for the high school season. He beat me 6-2 in the second set. Crushed me. I was tired. So I can hang with him, as long as I'm going full bore and doing everything right. But we all know how this story ends (unless I start doing steroids).
Or I could start playing 8-year-olds.
2 comments:
We arm wrestle and sprint race. I have lost at both with my kids and it's all good. Both are "hold my beer" challenges, good times. Congrats Ian!
i can definitely still win at arm wrestling. i will move on to that challenge.
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