I had a similar experience yesterday when I was invited to play a
(practice session) doubles match with tree oldtimers - one who hits
as hard as I do (we've had a couple of very hard singles matches
lately - even though he turns 60 this year and I'm 36) - lets call him "A",
and two other oldtimers who is 5-10 years older than he is. One
the the two older guys suffered a stroke about a year ago (lets call
him "B") and has been working on his playing abilities
this winter. He used to be a *really* good tennis player though.
I felt kind of confused/stressed on how to play these guys (player A and B
played together against me and player C). Sure I could blast away as usual
against A since I knew he could handle it (and would "return the fire"
but
oing the same against player B wouldn't have been fair. On the other
hand - avoiding hitting balls against him wouldn't have been fair either -
especially since he used to be such a good player.
I ended up easing up on the speed when hitting against him, but he
still had problems reaching some of the balls - and my game kind
of deteriorated since I had to spend time thinking on how to be
"nice" (without it showing *too* much) to him.
I think it would have been easier if player B had been a real newbie
instead of a really good player once. (If he keeps practicing I think
he'll be back on the tennis court in full swing eventually).