In the summer of 1988, just out of the Army, I found myself in Gunnison, Colorado, working at Safeway and getting ready to return to college. On a weekend trip to Grand Junction, to serve a weekend drill in the Army Reserves, I came down with the chicken pox (very long story, I will recount at some other time).
During my sick time, spent on the couch in the living room of my parent’s house, I watched serve-to-serve coverage of the French Open on the NBC and USA networks. This was the year Michael Chang won – the first American in decades to win on the clay courts of Paris.
Over time, match after match, I began to recognize the nuances of the game and am now, still, all these years later, a fan of professional tennis. It is the most grueling of sports.
I equate tennis, especially professional Men’s Tennis, to boxing. Two men, in a ring, at the top of the their conditioning. The match will come down to speed, skill and strength, with an occassional ruling from the umpire. Having tried to play some tennis as an overweight, out of shape non athlete, I can attest that play a full Game/Set/Match is indeed taxing. Not for mere mortals.
Yesterday morning I whiled away 5 hours watching Defending champion Rafael Nadal fight his way to advance in the French Open. Five hours of exhilerating tennis. Next to horse racing and the triple crown, I find tennis to be the summer sport – French Open, Wimbledon, US Open, interlaced with many lesser tournaments along the way.
Nadal hadn’t lost a match on clay for 55 matches before facing off with Frenchman Paul-Henri Mathieu. And hours later he bettered that recod to 56 and advances to the fourth round on Monday to battle Lleyton Hewitt. Look for another Federer and Nadal showdown this year, it will be worth the wait.