Summer Tennis

Whenever there is a tennis tournament of Mark's  level and on a weekday, we make the greatest effort's to sign up for it as that means we do not have to miss Sunday at church. Pinehurst tennis tournament was one of the summer tournaments held on a Thursday. It was a very hot day in July. I almost want to continue singing this song about three speckled frogs by Raffi.

Katya was at girls camp, so the boys and I drove almost an hour and a half for the tournament. There were three people registered for the tournament, one of them was Mark's good friend, Ryan.



The first match for Mark was with a boy he hadn't played with prior to this day, his name was Rudd. It so happened that Mark lost the first set but won the second set and had to go to a tiebreaker. On the very last point that was a match point, the ball was out and I did not see if Mark raised his pointy finger or said anything so I said out loud, "Was it out?". He nodded and at the same time the mom of the boy who had just lost started arguing with me that I cannot say anything and that means that that is not his point. I explained to her that I did not say an affirmative statement that the ball was out, but instead I was just wondering. And yes it was probably not the right time for me to say that
 (Lesson learned) but she became quite rude asking me if Mark had been in many tournaments (not really, just three) hinting that I didn't know the rule. And then she brought it up to the director of the tournament, who acknowledged  her concern but said that the score was still standing. He did approach me and talked to me about being more careful about commenting from the sidelines. I felt really bad and I was hoping that I didn't mess up, but at the same time I knew that I did not sway Mark's decision to call  it OUT--I was just too anxious to see what he motioned.

Mark played one more match with his friend Ryan. Ryan has always been better than Mark so Mark lost. Somehow it was not a very bitter loss because these boys are good friends and they were fair with each other.  Because there were only three participants, Ryan got first place, Mark got second after two matches they had played (Ryan beat Rudd as well).



Something  tells me that from now on, every July would be a very busy Tennis watching time in our  household. Somehow I managed to figure out how to get Wimbledon matches live on our TV. Well actually I had signed up for Sling TV as a trial and then it was not getting good reception we had to cancel it. Mark wanted to watch every single match so I had to keep him contained. Any guesses who his favorite tennis player is?



Finally, in August Mark played in a tournament in Greensboro, an hour and a half away. It was nice because it turned out to be an event that lasted just one day. I like that kinds of tournaments. Mark won the first match and lost the second one. He was really a good match for the second competitor Jaedan. That was the final match so each got a trophy.  I thought it was a fantastic match to watch as the boys were respectful of each other and fought for each single point. Although Mark lost, we walked away knowing he had done his best.

Clay courts are Mark's least favorite.


Here is a happy boy who did really well and repeated to himself "Winners don't quit, quitters don't win". It was 90 F outside...



And our Tennis journey continues. Still not burnt out. Pretty soon, Mark will be out of Orange Ball/60 ft court and will move onto Green Dot (not the full yellow adult ones yet) and full size courts.