Tennis, you say?
In this 21st century era of short attention spans, instantaneous information, automated recreation, online addictions, and trends toward the sophisticated metrosexualizing of society, why would anyone choose to play tennis?
Tennis, you say?
A Sports Illustrated writer by the name of Mark Kram once described tennis as being afflicted with “Hilton-by-the-pool indolence and striped tents scented with gin-and-tonic and thick with private school inflection.”
Tennis does carry a whiff of Gatsby-esque clubbiness.
Isn’t it a mom-and-pop throwback sport? Stuffy and effete? You can’t understand the rules or the strange scoring. You’re out in the open court and on your own, alone.
Alone.
The court is cramped and confining. People gathering at the fence at the moment you don’t need them there, all of them watching you.
Did I mention the strange scoring? And where are the cheerleaders?
Yes, tennis.
Lots of people play this sport . . . in fact, enough people play this sport for enough different reasons and with enough searing passion to fill an entire volume on that point alone. And hundreds of books have already been written on the many facets of this great game, which is deep and nuanced and complex beyond the ken of those sometime kibitzers of the occasional Open tournament featuring the professional tennis babe or hunk du jour.
In North Carolina, more than half-a-million people play tennis.
And right here in Charlotte? There are approximately 4,000 United States Tennis Association (USTA) members in our area. That of course does not include all those tennis players who simply aren’t members.
Depending upon the study cited, the nationwide pool of players consists of between 11 and 25 million people. Of these, 5.2 million are considered “frequent players.”
And the sport continues to grow. In fact, tennis was the only traditional sport to grow in the first half of the decade, with participation growing 10.3 percent between 2000 and 2005.
Yes, tennis.
Playing tennis extends far beyond simple enjoyment of the sport itself on an idle weekend or the worthy goal of exercising legs grown sluggish with age and neglect. Something magical about the sport touches those who embrace it.
At its most mundane, tennis satisfies the basic urges of speculative recreation. But at its most sublime, tennis brings out the magnificent and the graceful in all of us.
It penetrates an inner core of competition, physical exertion, emotional investment, intellectual stress, and even noble sentiment. Tennis tickles and tantalizes, and eventually it fulfills many of our inner desires as human beings. The physical, social and emotional benefits to tennis are boundless.
The challenge of the sport teaches us how to grapple with and overcome the challenges of life. For my own part, I cannot imagine where I would be without tennis. The doors that have opened to me and countless players I have interviewed through this sport substantiate that this is true across a broad spectrum of personalities who spend weekends and weeknights with racquet in hand.
Something about this sport brings out the warrior in all of us.
Even in those softer personalities, the killer instinct emerges when they stride onto the tennis court. The sweet little lady swathed in fine fashion, in powder and lipstick – now with weapon in hand, she forgets she is out for a casual game leavened with a bit of exercise.
Casual? What’s that?
She now sees the soft floater. It’s transformed into prey. And all she wants to do is kill it! After all, this is a game where it is quite expected to deal the ball a lethal blow.
Or take the hard-driving businessman.
He’s negotiated on the phone, struggled with spreadsheets, and fended off salesmen with a vengeance. He has dealt with surly superiors and even surlier subordinates. He must unwind and expel a day’s, sometimes a week’s, frustration. He looks to his 7 p.m. USTA match to sublimate his aggressive instincts and to slake his competitive thirst.
He determines that it must go better than his 3-hour board meeting earlier in the day when he was compelled to suffer fools gladly. Most likely, he will take out his frustration on that fuzzy yellow ball. It’s a guilty pleasure.
Studies demonstrate how exercise enhances our well-being, and with the constant movement and smacking of a tennis ball, the reward is great. The endorphins released from a rigorous game of tennis suffuse us with a great sense of well-being, alleviating much of the routine stress in life.
And that’s what I love more than anything else about this game, its soul-healing and physical restorative powers.
No matter how low my mood, I always emerge from a game of tennis rejuvenated; the feeling of renewal is almost palpable – carefree and unburdened from stress. If I have played a formidable opponent, win or lose, I am mentally and physically spent. But it is a satisfying fatigue that clears the mind and heart and provides me the focus to handle the day’s other challenges. If you search for a sport that satisfies so many of your needs in this life, consider tennis – you’ll not regret it.
And for the lucky among us who have already found tennis . . . let’s continue the journey together.
Here, in Charlotte.
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