Today’s post is a short tribute to the people that make tennis happen. Heading into the NTRP National Championships a couple of weeks ago, my doubles partner was working all of her contacts trying to drum up a practice match before the tournament started. In addition to generating more court time, practice matches are great for getting used to local playing conditions before the tournament officially begins.
After her primary contacts were unable to come through, she reached out to a local league coordinator in San Diego for players in the local area who might be willing to play a practice match. That league coordinator came through. She jumped on the opportunity to play and recruited a doubles partner who had previously also played in the same tournament.
We had a wonderful and very enjoyable practice match. It is always awesome to be on the court with people who basically just love to play. Tennis players who are willing to show up to play a practice match with two randos that happen to be in the area for a tournament are my kind of people.
Had we not managed to put together a practice match prior to the tournament, that fact would be added to the long list of mistakes I made over the weekend. However, thanks to my doubles partner, this was one thing that we did absolutely right. It gave us the best chance possible in that first match.
Not coincidently, the team that won the Championship in our division also arranged a practice match before starting tournament play. In fact, that practice match was played against the team that ultimately came in second in our same division.
On-site practice matches are something that every player or team serious about winning the tournament should do.
