My name is Paul Mackie and I’ve been a tennis lover ever since I was a little kid. There were times in my life that I gravitated away from watching and playing the sport, but I’ve always come back to it. It’s my favorite sport and I think, in my wisdom, I’ve made the conscious decision to now always keep playing and watching.
How
long have you participated in your league?
I
became a member in March 2014, but then I didn’t participate between 2016 and
2022. I didn't realize I had taken such a long break, but I guess I was busy in
another local league in Washington D.C. and Montgomery County, Maryland and
also in USTA. I think it was during Covid that I realized I wasn’t enjoying the
competition in USTA nearly as much as I had enjoyed TennisDC and I decided to
get back into our league more regularly and with more commitment towards
playing.
How
did you first learn about it?
I had played several informal matches against recommended it to me.
How
often do you play?
In
terms of matches, it depends how banged up my body is and how busy the rest of
my life is. Ideally I play two TennisDC matches a week if I’m healthy and maybe
one per week if I’m less healthy. That said, even when I’m not playing matches,
I try to go out every other day and either hit around with someone to get a
workout with the sweet Nisplay ball machine I recently purchased. I wrote about my experience with the machine at my
personal website, where I also write about tennis quite a bit.
What
do you like most about the league?
The
price can’t be beat and I love the flexibility of playing wherever and whenever
I want. Probably the thing I like most, though, is the people. Unlike some
other leagues I’ve been in, where some of the players think they’re trying to
qualify for the US Open or even take to cheating in what is supposed to be a
friendly match, I can only remember one time when I had an unpleasant
experience with another player in TennisDC. I’ve met so many friendly,
fun-loving, and interesting people playing in TennisDC.
Tell
us about your most memorable match(es)
There
have been so many. Almost every single one of them is memorable! That said,
I’ll mention two.
One
was definitely in the first season I ever played, back in 2014. Granted, I
started out probably a bit below what my level was at that time, in the 3.25
league, but there were tons of people who made the playoffs in that season and
I ended up winning the championship. It was so cool getting a little trophy and
was probably the highlight of my adult tennis career. I was pretty proud of
myself.
But
not all matches can be winners. My own personal goal of most matches, while
winning is nice, is to have fun and get some rigorous exercise. That happened
one match a couple of years ago at Turkey Thicket. Normally the hurdles there
are the hordes of pickleball players and the people, like at Banneker, who will
line up to wait for courts at busy times. Both those challenges were in place
when I played a match one afternoon into evening, but the real problem was the
100-degree heat. My opponent and I had been playing an ultra-competitive,
back-and-forth match for about three hours when we were headed into a third set
and decided we needed to finish later. We met back the next morning to play for
another hour or so, when the temperature had cooled to a frigid 90 degrees. I
remember we were both happy just to have survived!
Who
are your favorite rivals in the league? Why?
There
are so many that it’s tough to name names. But I will mention one: Nick Bammon.
We’ve played six matches, although not for a while. The first three matches, I
beat him pretty handily in two sets each time. Then I beat him again in three
sets, so at that point I was 4-0 against him. He must have had enough because
he beat me the last two times we played, both in three sets. It was pretty
awesome to see how he had been getting better and better in real time. Tough
player and, even more importantly, like most TennisDCers, a really nice guy.
Do you have any other interesting comments about your experiences with the league?
Just
a shout out to the admin who runs the service. They've done an amazing
job of making it much easier to get out and play competitive tennis. That in itself
is a noble goal and, throughout my life, wherever I’ve lived, it’s been really
hard to always find players until I found TennisDC.
How
did you get started playing tennis?
Before
retiring, my dad was a professor at Southern Illinois University in Edwardsville,
which had some pretty epic tennis teams back when I was a kid. So there were
lots of courts where I grew up. Also, I have two older brothers who, like me,
played on the high-school team and so I was playing with my whole family ever
since I was a little kid, probably 4 or 5 years old.
Do
you play to compete, or for fun?
Both.
What
level player are you? (NTRP rating)
I’m
at 3.5 right now, but I’ve been healing some injuries and improving my game and
I think I’m ready to get placed back up at the 3.75 level, where I competed for
many seasons a couple of years ago.
Who
are your favorite pro players? Why?
When
I was a little kid, I was obsessed with watching John McEnroe. He just felt so
unorthodox and like less of a pro athlete than the other players that I
couldn’t help but root for him. I think worshipping him so much actually hurt
my game a little, because I built some questionable fundamentals that I’ve been
trying to break my whole life. I also had a temper when I was younger and would
sometimes do things like throw my racket. Luckily I’m pretty mellow and chill
now. It takes a lot to make me angry. Through the years, my other favorites
have been Jimmy Connors, Bjorn Borg, Andre Agassi, Guestavo Kuerten, Andy
Roddick, Pete Sampras, Rafael Nadal, Francis Tiafoe, Carlos Alcaraz, Chris
Evert, Steffi Graf, Martina Hingis, Venus and Serena Williams, Iga Swiatek, and
Coco Gauff.
Tell us a little bit about yourself, for example: What do you do? Where did you grow up? What are your hobbies (besides tennis)? (Feel free to share any interesting details about your life.)
I grew up in Edwardsville, Illinois, outside of St. Louis. I went to college and worked as a reporter at daily newspapers in the region before moving to Washington D.C. to go to grad school at Georgetown. I didn’t plan to stay in D.C. but have now lived here for 27 years, where I’ve done strategic communications mostly in the worlds of environment, transportation, and energy. I also have my own consulting firm called Baseline Communications Consulting (see the tennis connection?).
I
love music, have a ridiculously large collection of mostly rock and indie, and
play guitar and sing in a neighborhood collective that gets together about once
a month. I love to write at my own pop-culture website and I read tons of
magazines, novels, non-fiction, and news. I love to ski, bike, and travel, and
I love spending time with my wife, two kids, and extended families and friends.
