Flex League 2015 Preview

I've been playing Gladiator Tennis since 2012, before my return to tournament singles tennis. Well, 2013 was the year of a bum knee and right shoulder that pretty much put me on the singles shelf. 2014 saw me return to GT at the level I was at in 2012 (4.5). The spring season was an abomination. I got my clock cleaned for 5 straight matches, lost a heartbreaking 3rd set tiebreak, and then won my last match beating the other guy that was probably close to 4.0 in that league 6-4, 6-4. It was a case of well... they can't BOTH lose all their matches. 

In Summer I dropped down to 4.0 and the ugly specter of injury reared it's head again. I was playing my first match on the Northwestern University outdoor courts and I was winning pretty handily but the University was holding a kids tourney so after taking the first set pretty easily 6-3, (shoulda' been 6-1) I had to leave the oohs and ahhs of the tweens and finish the match in Leahy park. Now, leaving the immaculate, topspin-friendly courts of NU for the cracked, dusty, foliage littered courts of Leahy is an adjustment. The thing about my opponent's game is that it was based on slice so Leahy park was beneficial to his game. One loose service game and I was down trying to climb back into the set and take the match. Then it happened, I was up 15-40 on his serve and I go out wide to the forehand to return a serve I pull a muscle in my lower back! I win the game on a double fault and I'm trying to serve to stay in the set. My legs are working fine but I can't twist my torso. I lose the set and the match tie break. Somehow I healed up enough to play the next week. It was a pretty tight affair that saw us get kicked off the court for some timed rules (and threats to call the cops!). It was nice as my opponent streamed the Wimby women's final and we saw Kvitova win her second. I take the 2nd set and a match tiebreak with a WTH attitude and letting the big serve rip!  The rest of the matches were uneventful as I won the season by percentage points!

Fall saw me back at 4.5 where I had competitive losses and some wins. Won a match in in the playoffs and lost in the 2nd round mainly due to darkness. The body held up ok over the Winter now I'm ready to go again! The lineup is out and it includes some old opponents and some new faces, let's see how it goes!