Tennis Anyone?

Sometimes it is good to step out of one’s comfort zone, which I did last night. A friend is friends with the daughter of a famous, famous movie star, and the woman has box tickets to the PacLife that she couldn't use last night. The courtside seats are always available and offer an incredible view of the action on the main stadium court at The Tennis Gardens, a world-renown venue that will also host an outdoor NBA game this October.

This time when she asked, I agreed to go with my friend to the men’s match, Baker versus Cinquel. It was a fairly evenly matched game until the Frenchman gave up and let Baker win. Prior to that fold, each man fought for and won points, some of which were actually exciting to watch. Baker is ranked 9th in the world, but Cinquel could probably hold his own against him if he displayed more disciplined play. When he missed a shot, he reacted with temper, rather than determination, and it cost him his focus. To be fair, Baker missed a few that clearly irked his ire, but he came back stronger after the misses and made some incredible shots.

I think the match ended so quickly because it was so darned cold! The wind was howling yesterday and blew a massive storm front into the desert, which lowered the temps significantly once the sun set. I had on layers, so should have been warm inside the stadium, but the wind crept over the top of the seats and affected not just the comfort level, but the ability of the player whose back was to my seat to return the ball accurately to his opponent. The wind inside the stadium was so strong that many, many of the shots went long! And had I been the one wearing the shorts and the sleeveless top, I might have been tempted to get the game over quickly.

I wrapped up in the blanket I brought, which helped, but my asthma does not like cold wind and I started coughing (a big no-no at tennis!). I used the inhaler and sat through the men’s match, but asked my friend if we could leave before the women’s match began—unfortunately, a plan shared with thousands of other very cold tennis fans. At least half the audience streamed out of the stadium to head for home, leaving the women to deal with not just the cold weather and wind, but an empty stadium.

On the ride home the winds continued to buffet my car, and when I headed to my little piece of the valley, I drove through rain that continued throughout the night. The good news is that the air is clear today, the winds have died down significantly, and it should be a great day for tennis in the desert.

Addendum: I headed to the post office this morning--and saw that the surrounding mountains are smothered in snow! It's apparent that the snow encompasses the aerial tramway, the ski resorts, the small community at the top of the grade, and then passes through the national park. Wow. It's beautiful and such a contrast to the summery weather a week ago, when we were all basking the in high 70s and low 80s.