I grew up in Pennsylvania and have early memories of my dad, a
lifelong tennis player, enrolling me in the University of Delaware summer camps
at the age of 4 or 5. I played casually most of my youth, only two years
doing high school and then went on to play two years of Division III tennis. I
never really stuck with it because of the intensity of practice and having
love for other sports like soccer, distance running, etc. but I always
enjoyed the competitive dynamic and exercise. As I grew older I grew a
greater appreciation for the mental side of tennis and the dedication and focus
required to improve, even more than the physical elements I always relied on.
I have played tennis on and off throughout my life but after
graduating college and being away from the game for several years, I discovered
the Tennis League Network when living in San Francisco, a city where I did not
have many friends or any tennis friends. At this point I was probably a 4.0
player on a good day. TLN was a great way to quickly integrate with the local
tennis community and find players who wanted to play on a regular basis at my
skill level. Many years later after moving around the country, a friend let me
know he had been playing regular matches with TLN and, without even remembering
I had a pre-existing profile (did not put it together that it was the same TLN
from many years prior), I rejoined the tennis community in a new city and it
has since been very fulfilling and an opportunity to steadily improve from
my base as a 4.0-4.5 player to giving some 5.0s a run for their money.
I try to play tennis roughly three times per week but
have mostly been hitting with the same small group of friends at the same
court. One of my favorite elements of playing in the TLN leagues and
tournaments is that I get to see such different styles of play, forcing me to
learn new tactics and continue developing my own game, a challenge I greatly
enjoy. It has also been fun to go to some new courts and see more of the tennis
ecosystem in NYC.
I have been lucky to play some very memorable matches and sets -
one of my favorite was against a player who has very powerful
groundstrokes, sometimes at the cost of consistency but one of our league
matches he was not missing anything. I felt that I was doing my best to
put a deep topspin ball back into play but my opponent continued to crush it
back to me with excellent placement and, while I wish I had found a way to win
the set, there was something nice about not beating myself (which is more often
the case) and instead having to figure out how to disarm a strong opponent.
This is the path to improvement!
Overall, TLN has made it really fun and accessible to play
tennis with many different formats, continuing to have many opportunities to
compete and level up. It is also great that there is such flexibility on
timing, scoring formats, and locations, which works well for the typical busy
New Yorker and limitation of NYC court availability.
