Z-Man
Professional
Last Saturday I drove 45 miles each way to play a league match at Green Island Country Club in Columbus, GA. Things kind of started off on the wrong foot when my opponent tried to rush me through the warmup. Some people need to hit more than one serve on each side before they play a match. Then, he complained when I sat down for 10 seconds to take one sip of water on the first changeover. I don’t care if that’s the rule or not—this isn’t the US Open. He also got agitated if I went back to the fence to get the third ball when he was serving--even though it did not disrupt play.
The first 3 games were pretty close, but I won them all. 10 minutes into the match, he was completely tanking. First, he hit little short balls for me to pound to the corners, but after that, he just stopped trying to hit the ball back unless I hit it right to him. I’d hit a 1st serve long, and he’d call in an ace. On set point (6-0), he caught my serve with his hand and complemented me on my game. Then he had the guts to tell me it was OK to sit down and take a little break between sets if I wanted to.
What a jerk! I think he was trying to get me bumped up to 4.5. Rather than testing his game against a stronger player, he decided to try to screw up my record by losing 6-0, 6-0. Tanking a game here and there to keep the computer happy is one thing, but it would never occur to me to go down 6-0, 6-0 to ruin someone else’s chance to play league tennis. There’s little or no league activity at 4.5, so if you’re bumped up—that’s it for you. I know—I just came back from a 3-year exile at 4.5. The guy has some wins over good players, so I know he can play. Instead of raising the level of his game, he just wasted one Saturday of my life.
The first 3 games were pretty close, but I won them all. 10 minutes into the match, he was completely tanking. First, he hit little short balls for me to pound to the corners, but after that, he just stopped trying to hit the ball back unless I hit it right to him. I’d hit a 1st serve long, and he’d call in an ace. On set point (6-0), he caught my serve with his hand and complemented me on my game. Then he had the guts to tell me it was OK to sit down and take a little break between sets if I wanted to.
What a jerk! I think he was trying to get me bumped up to 4.5. Rather than testing his game against a stronger player, he decided to try to screw up my record by losing 6-0, 6-0. Tanking a game here and there to keep the computer happy is one thing, but it would never occur to me to go down 6-0, 6-0 to ruin someone else’s chance to play league tennis. There’s little or no league activity at 4.5, so if you’re bumped up—that’s it for you. I know—I just came back from a 3-year exile at 4.5. The guy has some wins over good players, so I know he can play. Instead of raising the level of his game, he just wasted one Saturday of my life.