Manifest Destiny

Manifestation is a pseudoscientific self-help strategy based on the idea that merely thinking about something causes it to come to fruition. It also frequently has the opposite effect on me. Last Friday’s post and my subsequent participation in the 18+ NTRP National Championships was a case study of manifesting events through predictions that turned out to be flat-out wrong.

Fortunately, I did manage to get a few things right in “How Much is Enough? (Never Say Never).” First and foremost, writing a post that largely complained about the format before the tournament just in case we did not win it all was a good idea. We did not get the results we wanted last weekend.

The projection of the total time I would spend on the court was spot on. My play was also augmented by an excellent practice match that my doubles partner arranged for the evening before the tournament. Additionally, the quality of the tennis in my Round Robin pool was extraordinarily high. Based on how all the teams performed in the subsequent Championship stages, I would argue that it may have been the most stacked group in the division.

Perhaps one of the most glaring things I got wrong was claiming that the schedule tab on the USTA tournament web page was either not working or yet to be implemented. It turned out to be fully functional. In fact, the system got better and better throughout the weekend. That included an update between Friday and Sunday that added each player’s city and state for the “In Progress” matches. (As an aside, that feature was listed in “Imagining the next USTA Tennis App: Tournament Features,” which was originally published by this site in August 2020.)

I also managed to get the weather wrong, twice. When arriving on site Thursday afternoon, I discovered that the temperature in San Diego was much colder than expected. Despite having a heaping pile of double-weave hoodies and sweatpants at home, I had to go to a local sporting goods store to buy warmer clothes Saturday morning. The weather promptly warmed up for the remainder of the weekend.

Probably my most egregious error in last Friday’s post was mentioning that the USTA has been plagued with scheduling issues in past Fast4 tournaments. My partner and I warmed up earlier in the day. As we checked in for our match, it was with the full expectation that I would have at least 15 minutes to complete my pre-match routine. I was shocked that we were immediately assigned to a court and felt rushed throughout the warmup. My subsequent performance in that match was poor. That is 100% on me.

I will forever believe that the tournament ran close to the schedule throughout the weekend precisely because I implied that it would not. Alternatively, it is a good sign that the USTA organizers are gaining data and experience with the format that helps things run more smoothly.

Tomorrow I will describe one more thing that I initially got right. Unfortunately, I then immediately managed to make a reversal to get it wrong. Fortunately, through that circuitous journey, we may finally have the necessary breakthrough to fix the #1 most pressing problem with the NTRP National Championships.

Meanwhile, my most glaring and costly mistake of the weekend was making Friday’s post in the first place. Its publication prompted many conversations that morning about how much I dislike the Fast4 format used in the event. Merely thinking about it caused almost every reason behind that belief to occur during my match that day. That is negative manifestation at its finest.

I have to own it, learn the lessons, and move on. If I am ever going to defeat the demons of Fast4, positive energy is required.