Tennis

When I was on my late teens I used to go to a place called “La Ola” near Sondika airport in Bilbao with my two Iker friends. Watching the Roland Garros and Winbledom games inspired me to go out there and try some lame serves and forehands of my own. It seems so easy on television. Agassy, Sampras, Becker, MacEnroe, Sabatini, Sanchez Vicario, Navratilova, etc. These professionals make the game seem so easy to play. I even used to stand in front of my TV holding an imaginary racket and mimicking their every move. After watching a couple of marches I had gained enough confidence to go out there and prove myself I could play like they did. how wrong I was!, how fooking difficult is to serve, even from low, and how hard is to predict the bounce of the ball as it comes to you. How could I suck so much at such apparently easy game?. The court seemed so big when I stood on it, the ball so hard to hit properly, it drove me crazy!.

I know that with some formal training I could have mastered the basic strokes but I never did get that training so I have been sucking at this beautiful sport all my life. I had I had played more often but a lack of nearby facilities and the fact that soccer was always a priority over all other sports made that impossible.

Every time I go back to Spain for a visit I promise my friend Zigor to go out and play a few tennis matches at the sport complex near his old folks house. So far, I have played tennis with him only two miserable times in seven years, how could I ever get any good at it?.

But I know that whenever I get the time again I will play in Txurdinaga with my buddy. It is just one of those things you know you will always enjoy doing in spite of sucking at it.