Like - Tennis

Guest Post by Charlie Hilton

It started as a mere pandemic hobby, the most innocent sampling of a thing. I craved a respite from stagnation and despair, something low stakes, something with a dress code. I never imagined how deeply the sport would soon have its hooks in me. But while there’s a lot I like about tennis (see essay title), there’s so much I don’t like. There on the court, again and again, I confront the depths of my mediocrity. Glaring mistakes are plentiful (unforced errors is the proper term, which thankfully has the soft ring of inevitability). And no matter how often I play (4-5 days most weeks), it never feels like enough. A few days off, and somehow I’ve forgotten to follow through on a swing, or to split-step, or even watch the ball. Yes, I’m finally on a USTA team, but I lose most matches, which leaves a long and biting sting, despite the fact that I previously considered myself immune to the kind of lose-rage my 6 year-old daughter often exhibits (I’m not). I don’t like playing with lesser-skilled people, which means I am often looking to play someone slightly better than I am, which makes me the lesser-skilled player, which is unnerving and eventually frustrating. Securing court-time is a constant challenge. The tennis serve is an impossibly artful maneuver which I will spend the rest of my life trying, and failing, to master. And worst of all, every player starts with a basic rating (2.5 if you can play at all), which I immediately felt compelled to shed, despite the fact that in my lifetime I probably won’t surpass even a 3.5, which is slightly depressing but somehow grounding in that it reminds me that there is only one sensible goal at hand: to keep playing tennis for as long as I’m physically able because I really really really like playing tennis. I like the outfits, the heart-shaped dampeners, the good gets, the solitude in singles, the teamwork in doubles, the ball fuzz on everything, the friendships (when i started private lessons, it never occurred to me that I’d eventually be playing with actual people), the nemesis (plural)(see lose-rage), the indoor courts, the outdoor courts, the coaches (maybe too much), the scoring (which makes no sense), the winning, the losing, the tiebreakers, the goose eggs. I like playing tennis, watching tennis, talking about tennis, and thinking about tennis. I like tennis lessons, tennis trips, tennis balls, and tennis-themed desserts. I’ve realized lately that the key to happiness is to be obsessed with at least one thing. I’ll bet you can guess what that is for me. And just in case you’re wondering, I don’t play pickleball.