Why I didn't win

I didn't win the Provincial Championship tournament this past weekend at the Rosedale T.C. I was knocked out in the quarterfinals. I suppose I could dwell on the many possible reasons for not winning...so I here I go:

Reason #10. My opponent was older and more experienced than I, yet not old enough for me to have an obvious fitness advantage. I saw no evidence of an oxygen mask or a cane in his bag, just racquets. Plus, he had a girlfriend there, not a wife. Being unmarried I knew that his zest for life and fighting spirit was yet unbroken and that I was gonna be in trouble. Tennis is a mind game after all!

9. It was a hard-court tournament, but after my stellar* performance at Donalda three weeks ago, I proclaimed myself Canada's first clay-court specialist!

8. There were sudden gusts of wind all throughout the match. Shots were difficult to control, chairs and debris blown onto the court. It was chaotic. The trees that were meant to break the wind only contributed to the problem, transforming the playing surface from a smooth hard-court to some sort of branch and leaf concoction. Another first for Canadian Tennis!

7. I saw that the schedule for those advancing into the semi-finals called for a 9am start the next day. With travel and prep time, that meant a 7am wake-up call on a Sunday...pfftt...and with that realization I violated Section II, subsection 9, of the OTA Code of Conduct re: failure to give best effort.

6. The curse of being 4th seed. Legend has it that the 4th seed will always fall victim to a lower ranked opponent. Actually, the legend dates back to three weeks ago ever since I had an old Gypsy put a curse on the 4th seed, thus bringing me (the underdog at the time) victory in that match. Never thinking I'd be ranked high enough to be the 4th seed myself, I failed to see that the curse could potentially backfire. Who'd a thought Karma delivers in 3 weeks or less? Well, at least I lost to another seed (6). Time to pay the old Gypsy another visit.

5. My strings broke on two of my three racquets, one before my quarterfinal match and the other during the warm-up, so I had to be careful with the last one and tone it down a bit. I don't get it, I just had all 3 re-strung a few weeks ago. Wtf! I've got some pop in my shots, but I'm not the incredible Hulk. What pissed me off even more is seeing another competitor play the entire tournament having only brought one crappy racquet, and not even owning a back-up. Pansy ball pusher.

4. Another default. My 2nd round opponent failed to show. Everytime I win by default, I end up losing the next match (0-3 now).

3. I was placed on court 4, sandwiched cozily between courts 3, 5, and 6, all of which had ladies matches playing. Now these girls aren't anything like I'm used to at the local club where most are my mother's age or older, and everything seems to go in slow-mo. No, we're talking young, fit, tanned, and ever so loud with all the grunting and moaning they do. I had two options, focus on my furry male opponent whipping balls at me, or sneaking peeks at the girl-on-girl action going on all around me. Totally off topic, but, did I mention I tanked the first set 6-0?

2. When I checked-in at the clubhouse on match day I received a free t-shirt from the hosts as a thank you to all the competitors. Mine read "I played at Rosedale T.C., made it to the quarterfinals, and all I got was this lousy T-shirt." You can't argue with that.

1. I didn't win, because I LOST!

* opinions vary

Major anticipation

The Annual Provincial Championships are being held on Friday. This is not just another tournament...rather it's the equivalent of a major at this level. More ranking points are up for grabs than at any of the other tournaments and as such all the worst players from around the province are expected to show. I'm now ranked 8th overall, high enough to possibly even be seeded. That would be cool, but I'm not that excited about it. I'd rather be the underdog knocking off other seeds. I've developed quite the sweet-tooth for it.

My high ranking may help me avoid the toughest opponents in the early rounds, but it still can't seem to buy me courtesy. I emailed the tournament Director last week expressing my intent to play at his tournament, and to this day I still hadn't heard from him confirming my entry. Maybe I've been spoiled by the classy ways of Donalda, where I played last. Or, maybe with this being the Provincial Championships, the Director is simply too busy preparing everything. Honestly though, I blame it on all the extra "S's, Z's, and ch's" in the spelling of his name. As soon as I saw it, I knew he'd be a difficult man to deal with. What is it with Eastern Europeans and their lack of business courtesy? I guess it stems from the days of Communism. In the absence of a free-market society, ass kissing and good public/business relations were unnecessary. So, I picked up the phone and gave Lukaszszchzs a follow-up call, and eventually got my confirmation. I'm not looking forward to calling him again in a few days when the match schedule is done. Maybe I'll break the tension by telling him about all the seemingly misplaced letters in the spelling of my name. I hope he's got a sense of humour.

It's been almost two weeks since my last tournament, yet I've played more tennis in my time off than I have in a long time. I think I'm really enjoying it again. My game is coming together, and it couldn't be at a better time. I spent my tournament free weeks playing in the city league and the local club. I won my doubles league match in record time to avoid an oncoming storm, and followed that up with singles victories over the top three players at the club. I now sit at #1 in club rankings. Clearly, this fish's gettin' too big for his tank! Could this year be different? Will I finally win the club championships?

Training wise, nothing special. I keep things interesting by mixing in soccer, cycling and other activities. I try not to abuse the body with garbage food and gym workouts...the worst things you can do...but the World Cup has seen me frequent the pubs more often than usual. Oh well. It's only once every four years.