Anyone For Tennis?

This week, we took a drastic step: we decided to join a tennis league. Well we had to do something to fill in the gap between the Super Bowl and March Madness (which, until yesterday I thought was some sort of seasonal disease).

There was once a time when I prowled around the court like a tiger in the jungle, pouncing on stray balls and vanquishing opponents with relish – my backhand is still spoken of in hushed tones and accompanied by a general quaking of the boots. Unfortunately, these days I tend to swing a more lethargic racquet and am more likely to resemble a koala on its lunch break than any tiger frisking about in the jungle.

Nevertheless, we decided to give it a go, being under the impression that all we had to do was show up every now and again and hit a few balls. Imagine our surprise (and horror), then, when we rolled up at the courts, to find out that we actually had to try out for the team. The thing is, back home, a whole tennis team is a bit of a novelty - and rarely is everybody expected to be good. Usually there’s one decent player who does all the hard work while the rest of the team forage about in the club house – that’s where all the real action takes place. Anyway, despite our less than scintillating performance, we are now official members of our league. Our first match is coming up soon, and although we’ve been asked to provide a can of balls, there has been worryingly little talk of cake, tea or those Rice Krispies bars that I’m so fond of. I may have to channel my inner Andy Murray and actually hit a ball or two.