Myself and a mate at work had a game of tennis the week before I went on holiday, and after weeks of failing to organise it we actually had a good game. Word spread quickly about the fun that could be had from a mid day knock-up, to the point where we now we have six of us playing at lunchtimes, with money being invested in new equipment by some.
It’s a long time since I’ve played a lot of tennis – we’re going back almost ten years here – and I have to say I’m a bit rusty. I’m getting less than 10% of my first serves in, and my lame ass second serves are easy return fodder. Once the ball is in play my shots are a little eratic, too, although I’m getting my eye back in slowly but surely. Fortunately, the fact that none of us have played a great deal has made the games competitive and comical in equal measure, so it’s a good laugh as well as a bit of exersize.
I used to look forward to lunch times so I could play a game at my desk for sixty minutes, but it seems so much healthier to get away from the monitor or screen and run around instead. I couldn’t play tennis every day of the week, admittedly, but every other day would be spot on. Hopefully we can keep the momentum up through the winter now that there’s a solid group of us who are up for it – by next summer I might have gotten that first serve ratio up above 20% ;o)