Alternate Life?

Sonny Boy has really been on it lately. He feels he is not meant to be an average teenage boy living in the Southern flatlands. He is meant to live in the mountains with snow from October - May. He is in reality a cool snowboarding dude. Life is so unfair - if only his father and I would find jobs in some appropriate place, he could live the true snowboarding life. He could be the next Shaun White. He could have enough money that he could totally forget school, and then he could ship me off to Spain or Scotland so that I would totally stay out of his unruly hair. It's so unfair!

Life's not fair, I tell him. No need to mince words in the attempt to be a smothering mother. If my life had been different, I would be a globe traveling tennis commentator after a rather successful tennis career (consistent top 20 player), and Carlos Moya would be inviting me to come to Majorca with him.

Winning Dirty

For many years I have been impressed with Brad Gilbert's ideas on winning tennis dirty. It doesn't mean unfairly - it just means you do whatever it takes (within the rules). This is especially effective when one's mental prowess and tennis IQ are limited by lack of physical attributes. It's my mantra.


I played the other night for the first time in 3 months. With my spring league, there are 2 doubles courts and 1 singles. I gladly took the singles because I didn't want to have to keep apologizing to my partner for incredibly poor and rusty play. And rusty it was. A few shots pleased me - but I mainly just tried to keep the ball in play. It was nighttime, and I started using the lob a whole lot, hoping that my opponent would lose the ball in the lights (and she did a few times). Dirty.


After the match (which I did win!), I was talking with some of my teammates and a couple young guys who are pros. We discussed strategy and interacting with your opponent. I commented, "If I think she's not calling the lines that accurately, I always ask her what she does for a living during changeover, and then I volunteer that I'm a minister. People hate to lie to a minister." One of the pros responded, "Man - that is a great strategy! I'm gonna start doing that." One of my teammates then said, "But she really is a minister."


Kinda fun to see the looks on the guys' faces. But they did agree that saying you're a minister (whether it's true or not) is a pretty good way to win dirty.

Tennis, Animals and NYC

The US Open in NYC continues for this second week. The fashion is not quite as exciting as last week when it was all new, but Bethanie Mattek knows how to keep things interesting. She was defeated in the second round of singles, but thanks to her doubles game, she has been able to reveal more interesting outfits (among other things she reveals).

Skimpy outfits, animal prints, shiny metallics... I think this would be enough to make Sonny Boy a fan.

Stylin' at the US Open

Fashion and NYC go hand in hand, and this is no exception at the US Open. Every year the discussion seems to focus more on some of the women's apparel than their actual game. The men have previously been left in the dust when it came to fashion discussion. My favorite example of this was a few years ago when Tommy Haas was told that he could not wear a sleeveless shirt because it did not fit within the guidelines of what was acceptable. Mind you, this was the same year when Serena was wearing her black cat suit. Sexist? You betcha. But thank goodness times have changed. If not for Tommy, we probably wouldn't see Nadal's guns.

So this year, Sharapova continues her reign as the fashion maven in her red crystal embedded dress. I kinda like it - even though I know I would look utterly ridiculous in it. Think Snape in Neville's grandmother's attire. However, the man who is perhaps the greatest men's tennis player of all time, Roger Federer himself, has been making some noise in the world of style. He appeared last night in an all black Nike ensemble, including tuxedo shorts, socks and monogrammed shoes. One should know that Anna Wintour, of Vogue fame, luuvvvs the Federer Express, so perhaps she talked him into it. Ted Robinson and John McEnroe spent more time commenting on Federer's attire last night than his complete domination of the game. They had never seen him in all black, thought it was almost unrecognizable, and joked that it was his gangsta attire. Those poor guys - they really missed the point. They should have gotten Tracy Austin back in the booth. She could have told them the real story - the man just looked plain hot on a hot night in NYC. Stylin' is not just for the women alone!

US Open!

It's that wonderful time of year again - the US Open Tennis Championships in Flushing Meadows, NY! I was so fortunate to be there for a few days last year with Restless Mama . As much as I am enjoying my new job, I wish I were in NYC. I can listen to the Open over the computer, and I did get to see about 20 mins of live play on tv last night. It was 50 years ago that Althea Gibson became the first black woman to win this great event. They had a wonderful celebration of this last night, with many talented and famous black women participating. Then Serena and Venus played and won handily.

Another aspect I am really enjoying this year is Greensboro native John Isner's splash onto the men's tennis scene. Isner is the very rare bird who went to college (University of Georgia), took his team to a national championship, and then graduated before becoming a pro. He had a great summer, and then won his first match yesterday after receiving a wild card to get into the Open. He proves that a college education does not need to be a feeder for pro sports and that it has real value. Plus, we all need a hometown boy making it big. Go Isner!

Caught

Here's a good story from my weekend at Davis Cup. The interesting thing about watching tennis is that you can't get up and wander around at concessions and bathrooms at will. One has to wait until after odd numbered games or in between sets or matches. Therefore, the time in between matches can create unbelievably long lines for the bathroom. Our line wove through a good part of the concourse and by a concession stand. And you know women - we have the longest line and we always start talking.

A couple women behind me (who were about my mom's age) started talking about the good looks of several of the tennis players. Then they decided that entire Spanish contingent was really hot. I decided to chime in at that point. "Especially Feliciano Lopez," I added. "I haven't minded watching him play at all!"

Then from behind me I heard a voice, "Talking about the hot Spanish players again?" I turned to see Hubby holding popcorn, and then rolled my eyes.

"What makes you think that?"

"You had a particular grin on your face." I rolled my eyes again and let my fellow waiters know that this man was Hubby. Hubby laughed.

"I swear I didn't start the conversation. I just joined in." And throughout the afternoon, anytime I took the binoculars during Lopez's match, Hubby started laughing again. You'd think a women's bathroom line would be a safe place to talk.

USA Davis Cup vs. Spain

Davis Cup is an international tennis competition. Teams play for their country, and the USA team hosted Spain in the quarterfinal this past weekend in Winston-Salem. I can't quite express how excited I was to be able to go. Not only was I seeing professional men's tennis, I was able to enjoy it with my family and with my tennis buddy, Restless Mama, and her two boys. We saw Andy Roddick, James Blake and the Bryan brothers take on a Spanish contingent that included no. 6 Tommy Robredo.

This weekend's Davis Cup was a sell-out. Supposedly George Clooney was even in the crowd (he has been filming in the area). The USA won and the players attributed it in part to the enthusiasm of the crowd. It has even prompted Bob Bryan to request that if they make it to the final it should be played in WS.

I have lots more pics I'll post in the coming days. Being able to see a Davis Cup match was certainly one of the highlights of my life, and being able to see these particular players was an added bonus. Sonny Boy, who resisted our family outing because he thinks tennis is not as cool as snowboarding, was even heard to say, "This was more fun than I thought it would be."