My team from the 2008 FACC Tennis Tournament

This tournament is a promotional event hosted annually by the French American Chamber of Commerce (FACC NY) and sponsored by French companies. Like Volvic - oooh, an ice cold bottle of orange flavored volvic spring water is too die for on a hot tournament day - i'm forever a fan and will always buy their products as long as they continue to sponsor my favorite tournament.

It's held at the West Side Tennis Club which is the site of the former US Open and has both Har-tru and Grass (yes!) courts. The main part of the tournament is played on the Har-tru, then the one-point tournament (whoever wins the point advances) is on grass.

Heres my team (L-R): Ronzo (i already told you about him), Guy (he used to work at Mck as a java programmer) and me. The second photo is of me and Guy's wife who was the fourth on our team. The photo was taken on the patio where they were serving a barbeque dinner with complementary champagne.

(now you know why it's my favorite tournament?)

Rotating on the forehand

Doesn't Ron's forehand look like Andre's? Ron's always said so but I never new what he meant.  I've always remembered Andre pointing at the ball with his left hand.  But I guess he sometimes let's his left hand follow his racquet back also.  Which results in a lot more power. 

Ron, the human backboard

Here's Ronnie, someone that I've been playing with since Day 1 at midtown tennis (that's at least 14 years at a minimum).  He's very deceiving.  In fact a lot of people don't like to play with him because they think he's a pusher.  And of course because they usually loose to him too.  Ron's a bit heavy but has great court sense.  And his ground strokes are super solid.  The only problem is his serve.  It's a low, weak slice sort of like Dementieva used to have.  She's finally faced her problem and has fixed it so that she could continue to move up.  But he hasn't.  That's my only complaint against Ron (aside from his sometimes bratty attitude).  He's just not willing to address his serve.  Says that it's so low to the backhand that no one can attack it.  May or may not be true but he's definitely not winning any easy points with it either.   Don't just rely on your groundstrokes.  Build your others skills too so that you continue to improve.

Jeremy, the one-hit wonder

A young kid who must do weights. Late 20's and married. He's very slim and doesn't look like a body builder but you can see a few muscles. His serve goes up to 120 mph, or so he said. But I believe him. Because there is a LOT of power in his serve. Clearly the most powerful one in the club, second only to the big banging pro. Only one problem - it almost never goes in. And he doesn't have a second serve at all. It's worse than a powder puff.

He's a 3.0 - 3.5 player. Mostly because he balls usually go out. But he has a game. Just needs to practice. When he was at the top of his game last year he was definitely in the 3.5 range with a potential to make it to 4.0. But when I played him again after a long time last Friday it looked like he hadn't played in a while. Because he was 100% streaky all over again. Back in the 3.0 bracket.

Naira, the Stewardess

A 40 something woman with a great figure who dyes her hair. 3.0+ level womens player. I only played with her once in December last year. But she's a bit forward. She asks everyone for their number. And most people usually agree because even though she doesn't play very well, she's really hot.

She showed up again last Friday. I saw her in the distance and she was wearing this slim white fitting tennis outfit. Looked like she was 20. I thought it odd that she was wearing a knee brace. Because girls who dress as well as that usually don't know how to play. And the knee brace showed that she has put a few miles on her body. But when I finally got on the court with her I recognized her face. She's the one that I played with almost a year ago. The one that asked me to take off her knee brace because it was too tight. It was a very odd request. I had to kneel down in front while she was sitting so that I could pull it off. Never again. Too much sweat. Gross. There are just somethings that outweigh the excitement of running your hands up a woman's leg.

Setting the stage - Introducing the characters

This post starts the introduction of the characters in my story. The various people of note that I have played with. Mostly from Midtown Tennis but not all. I'm sure all die-hard players has a similar batch of people in their lives. Let me introduce them to you one by one.

Practice Schedule

Wanted to give you a flavor of what it takes. Or at least what I am doing (which obviously isn't enough or I would be there already).

• Friday, 6/13 - 3 hrs @ Midtown Tennis Party

• Saturday, 6/14 - 2 hrs USTA match at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center (where they play the U.S. Open)

• Monday, 6/16 - 2 hrs USTA match again at the Billie Jean King NTC

• Thursday, 6/19 - 4 hrs French American Chamber of Commerce (FACC) Tournament

• Friday, 6/20 - 3 hrs @ Midtown Tennis Party

• Sunday, 6/22 - 2 hrs @ Fort Lee Tennis Club in NJ

And yes, I did say "Practice Schedule". It's a pity but I'm not getting in enough high quality matches to toughen me up before tournament matches. My Midtown matches are fun but not consistent. I go there for the people. So I'm left with using my USTA matches as a part of my practice.

Oh well. Did I tell you that my USTA team sucks right now? We're near the bottom so we expect to loose. But it's our first year as a team and as 4.0's. So it's ok. If you want to follow my rankings check here.