Stinking at singles.

After finishing the USTA Tennis Apprentice program with my friends, I was feeling confident enough to get back into competitive play.

I signed up for the singles Spring 2021 season of T2 Tennis. It’s a great way to get back into tennis as a solo player. It’s a little more structured than a ladder, which is helpful if you’re not confident in scheduling matches. It’s 5 matches over 6 weeks against pre-determined opponents. As an added plus, you can play on any court you choose, and my complex has a court, so I can host matches.

Many of my qualms with T2 lie with the “flexible” scheduling within the allotted week+ isn’t as flexible as one might think. Although the system gives you one late pass, many of the women I’ve encountered have insisted on playing outside the allotted window and asking for “forgiveness, not permission” from the coordinators when they’re out of late passes. I’ve had seasons, including this first one, where I end up playing a majority of my matches within a couple of weeks. In this case, I played 2 matches on my first day.

Match #1 - April 18, 2021

My first match was against Julie, and while I lost pretty badly, I didn’t bagel. I couldn’t have asked for a better first match to get me back into tennis. Julie was super kind, and we still keep in touch occasionally now, almost 5 years later.

I lost 2-6, 2-6 in two sets.

I fared worse in my second match of the day, losing 1-6, 0-6, and was utterly exhausted at the end of the second set. I definitely didn’t have the stamina for multiple matches a day. I’ve had a lot of matches since then where people have said something like “the score doesn’t reflect the level of play” but in this match, that definitely was not the case. I lost not only the match, but each game pretty decisively.

To be honest, even after almost 5 years in, I still can’t play two matches in a day, so that makes me feel a bit better.

My third match (technically match #4 of that T2 season) went similarly, 3-6, 0-6.

Then was the match that nearly broke me. My fourth match (Match #3 of the season schedule) was against an older woman. I still don’t know her name. She was on the season roster simply as “C.” She was 15 minutes late to our match. Our first set went on forever, as she stretched it out, having a sit between each game – something I didn’t know was against the rules in my first season. To my shock, we went to a tie break, and I took it 7-6. Then she asked to use the bathroom in my home, as she didn’t want to walk the extra distance to the complex’s clubhouse. Halfway into game two, she asked me to call my husband and have him bring her ibuprofen and ice. Thrown off by her requests, I lost the second set 5-7. We were now creeping over the 3-hour mark of the match.

She took a 15-minute-long break between sets 2 and 3, and spent the whole time hyping me up. Saying that she’s too old to play 3 sets. That I’ve definitely got the win, because she just doesn’t have the stamina to play for so long anymore.

Well, I tell ya what, she definitely did have the stamina. We played for another hour and change, and I ended up losing the match with a third set score of 4-6.

She departed, and I didn’t even make it off the court before I dissolved into tears. I was mentally and physically exhausted, and I was questioning everything about getting back into this sport.

I hobbled my way home, and my husband found me sitting in the entryway and probably thought something was horribly wrong with the way I was crying like a baby.

He made me a snack, gave me a Pocari Sweat, and gathered me up into his arms. I asked him if I should give up. He asked if I had fun, before the end turned out how it did. And… I did. I didn’t like that she threw me off my game by insisting on coming into my home or that Taylor be her errand boy, but prior to all of that, winning my first set since getting back into the game was exhilarating. It was hard fought, and I felt incredible about taking that win.

After taking a couple of weeks to recover from being beaten both mentally and physically, I played my final T2 match of that season. It was against Amanda, and while I lost 1-6, 4-6, we had a fun time together. I’m glad I mustered up the courage to return to the court, because she invited me to play with her team later that year for the Fall ALTA Season.

C. still haunts me sometimes. Especially after a hard-fought 3-set match, or an especially long one (although none have gone as long as that one did). And I bet she doesn’t even remember I exist.

The good news is, it could only go up from there.