Davis Cup

Last Thursday it was raining all day which was pretty disappointing. It was disappointing because Charbeck and I were planning on playing tennis on Friday. Friday morning, however, the sun was out and so tennis was in the forecast. About 130pm I tried calling the public sports facility near my house to reserve a court, but I got no answer like 5 times. I was frustrated but I told Char to come up my way regardless because we could just walk over there if they didn't pick up. Finally at 2pm (and on my sixth attempt) a guy picks up and I ask for a court reservation. Here is our conversation:

Me: "Hi, um, I would like to reserve a court for this afternoon please"
Other guy: "Nope, we don't have any today"
Me: "Really? No courts today?"
Other guy: "Nope, not until 2pm"
Me (confused): "Um, well its 2:05 right now?"
Other guy: "Ok, then just come over and you can get a court"

For me that was heartbreak and euphoria in 30 seconds, but for Spain that was just a normal conversation. Just a guy doing his job, and hating it the whole time.

So when Char shows up at about 2:20 we jog over to the facility to warm up, excited that we have a reservation. Or do we? I never left a name or anything so this should be fun. I go up to the window and begin telling the guy (who presumably I had talked to on the phone) that I was the one who called. He interrupts me to tell us that since we were delayed in getting there he gave the court to two other people. Heartbreak. So he lets the tragedy sink in and then says but you can go over to them and ask to play doubles, and I wont charge you. Euphoria. This must be the guy with whom I spoke on the phone, because he has mastered the art of playing with people's emotions.

So we find the court which he told us to go to (court 6) and find two Spanish kids our age playing. We also find out that the court is astroturf, but the kids are into playing doubles with us.

the court was not quite this bad, but pretty similar

We warm up, and make yet another discovery (besides the astroturf court being the worst surface ever): that the tennis balls are solid rubber, no air in the middle. So, we are not exactly playing tennis, but whatever it is it will be fun.

After the warm ups we get going, and I courteously tell them that they can serve first being that its their home court. By the way Charlie and I had them repeat their names twice and neither one of us had the slightest clue what their names are. So just for fun we will call them Juan-Manzi and Ecildo. That's actually the closest I can come to getting their names.

In any event, Juan-Manzi serves (saque en espanol) first and turns out to be a pretty wicked server. Add the fact that the ball bounces in any direction it wants, and returning becomes tough. I don't think we got a ball back that game. Then Char serves and we lose that game quickly. During the end of that game I came to the realization that this was more than just a casual tennis match. This was USA vs. Spain, this was a poor-man's Davis Cup. I even said it out loud to our opponents. It was then that we kicked in gear.

Down 2-0, Ecildo was serving and it turned out that he sucked, so we just began hitting it to him all the time. We win that game, we win my saque (pronounced saw-kay), and then we win Juan-Manzi's saque too! Things were looking really good for team America, up 3-2 with all the momentum in the world. I think I made some off the cuff remark to Char about not losing another point or something, but I was brimming with confidence. Then we lose Char's serve and we allow Ecildo to win his too! Darn! Were down 4-3 all of a sudden and were letting our country down.

I win my serve in a marathon game in which they had probably 10 break points, but Ecildo could not get my serve over the net. I almost was feeling badly, but I was not going to have mercy in such a big match. Then we win a big game on Juan-Manzi's serve and it looks like we have taken command again. So Char is serving for the match. We lose the first point and then on the second point Char hits me in the head with his first serve and proceeds to double-fault while giggling like crazy. We lose his service game badly, and then Ecildo holds serve again! I don't know how we are letting him win, he is really bad.

So the situation is 6-5 them, my serve. The clouds are rolling in and the match is reaching its climax. I can see the tiebreaker awaiting us. So I hit a couple of good serves, play a couple of bad points and so were now sitting at 30 all, pressure time. I step up to the line, bounce the ball a couple of times, wipe the sweat off my brow, and ready myself. Just then, two ladies walk on to our court and tell us that they have it reserved. Juan-Manzi says ok, walks to the bench and gets his stuff. I was stunned for like ten seconds, then I was pissed. We had two points to win to level the match and Juan-Manzi did not even protest. He just obediently walked off. The ladies were going to stretch and chat for 15 minutes anyways! So we literally got kicked off and Juan-Manzi graciously called it a "tie". Spaniards would settle for that crap. Char and I were in it to win it. It had to be one of the stranger Davis Cup matches of all time.