Exercising with the one you love

So we all know I love tennis. And we all know I love Andy, my husband. What could be better than joining the two? And fortunately, I have a husband who is all about playing tennis with me, even if I do beat him 99 out of a 100 times. He smiles, works hard and has a ball! Today, he had the day off and when I got home from work at 2:30, our boys were on a field trip at summer camp and wouldn't be back until 4:30, so we grabbed my racquets and headed down to my old alma matter and to the newly refurbished courts.

It was a lovely 79 degrees with a slight breeze a blowing. We warmed up for a few minutes and off we went! One hour later, I'd taken the match at 6-2, 6-0. My body bugg told me I'd burned 611 calories! Whew! That's one great workout and I felt like I could go another hour or two. Andy looked a little worse for wear so we headed over to pick up the boys. (Truth be told, he could've gone another hour or two also. He actually gets better the longer we play! That's why I have to beat him early!!)

It was a lovely afternoon getting sweaty and tired, playing the sport I love with the man I love.

Rafa shatters Andy Murray's dreams of Wimbledon

Well, Rafa Nadal shut Andy Murray down in straight sets this afternoon, shattering Murray's hope to finally win Wimbledon. Straight sets sounds deceiving - Murray played hard throughout and had a couple of opportunities to take the lead, but was unable to convert. He had a set point on serve in the 2nd set tie break but Nadal took down his 2nd serve down quickly. Murray was up a break in the 3rd but let Nadal break back a couple of games later and the rest is history.

You can't fault Nadal though. The guy is incredible and there is no one in the sport who gives as much heart and soul in EVERY single match he plays than Rafael Nadal. Not to mention he seems like a genuinely nice guy! He's a true champion and I hope he beats the pants off Tomas Berdych on Sunday (no offense to Berdych).

Now if Spain can breeze past Paraguay in the World Cup and move into the semis, it would be nice to see them clinch the title and have an all-Spain win in tennis and soccer!

Federer out of Wimbledon

Roger Federer lost his match yesterday making this the 2nd grandslam semi-final he's not played in for a long time and the first time since 2002 that he won't play in the finals! The media is calling it the end of an era - saying his day has come and he won't win any more majors. I'm not prepared to count the king out just yet, though. Federer has so many tricks up his sleeve that I wouldn't be surprised if he was able to come back in August/September and take the US Open crown.

I'm hoping Andy Murray beats Rafa Nadal and eventually wins the Wimbledon crown. It would be great for England who hasn't had a English champion since 1936. We'll have to wait and see!!

Not much to say on the ladies side - Henin and Clijsters were my favorites and they are both out. Yawn - Serena will win another one.

What a match!!

My favorite time of year has begun! It's Wimbledon season and the world takes a collective sigh of relief from the stresses of jobs, families, bills and the like and turns its head to the All England Club to watch the world's best compete on tennis' most prestigious stage. This was what I dreamed about when I was a kid and pictured myself playing professional tennis. It's not just the stunning Centre Court, now equipped with a retractable roof, or the crisp English accents coming from the chair umpire - "quiet please" - or beautiful green grass courts that play like no other surface, or the electricity in the air that seems to draw out previously untested players and propel them through to the quarters, semis and even the finals. It's not just the luscious thought of strawberries and cream for Breakfast at Wimbledon. It's all of those things and so much more. Wimbledon is a time-honored tradition dating back to 1877. It's like no other tournament. Even the dress code of predominately white attire sets it apart from the other grand slams.

Wimbledon always provides for some exciting experiences. Last year, Roger Federer was crowned king of all tennis players when he won the coveted title for the sixth time and gained his 15th grand slam title, breaking Pete Sampras' record. America sweetheart, Melanie Oudin made an impressive run to the fourth round, defeating former number one Jelena Jankovic along the way and setting her up for her even more impressive run at the US Open later in the year. But this year's craziness has already begun and has smashed countless records along the way!

Enter American John Isner and Frenchman Nicolas Mahut for their 1st round match. Starting on Tuesday, Isner and Mahut entered court 18 and began what was to be the longest match in tennis history. In fact, it destroyed the previous record by over four and a half hours! The two began their match and got to 6-4, 3-6, 6-7, 7-6. They entered their fifth set, which according to Wimbledon tradition, cannot end in a tiebreak, which means that the two would duel it out until someone wins by two games. Then began the craziness!

The final set alone lasted 8 hours and 11 minutes! Add this to the previous 2 hours and 54 minutes and you get the grand total for the match: 11 hours and 5 minutes. The match lasted over three days because they kept having to call the match for darkness. These two men, being called gladiators, heroes, incredible athletes and the like, dueled it out to a final set score of 70-68! This is an UNREAL score! Consider that last year's final with Roger Federer and Andy Roddick had a fifth set score of 16-14 and this was heralded as epic! How do you even label this more recent showdown? These men played 980 points! They each held serve for 169 games before Isner was able to convert a rare match point! Isner deliverd 112 aces, many still being clocked at 135mph near the end, and Mahut putting up an impressive 103 aces on his own.

I was privileged to watch a portion of this match. This was top-notch tennis, each man going for his shots and giving all he had. Mahut bounced around the court, sprinted up the steps after a bathroom break and looked fresh throughout the match. Isner, 6'9" and 250 lbs. lumbered around the court, deliberately taking his time and pulling himself up by the railing after the break. But put a ball in his hand and he looked unstoppable. It was sad to see this match come to an end, but someone had to win, right? It was a proud day, or days for tennis and I'm glad I got to see part of history! Can't wait to see what else happens next...wouldn't it be awesome if Isner made a run for the title? It couldn't happen anywhere but Wimbledon!

Want to read more and see some video? Follow this link: Wimbledon

Tennis lover

I played sports since I was a wee thing and have loved many a sport, most notably, basketball, that is, until I fell in love with tennis one day, watching Boris Becker and Stefan Edberg on Centre Court at Wimbledon. Since that day, I was absolutely taken in by the sport, but we lived an hour outside of any sort of civilization and when I begged my mother for lessons, she told me I'd have to wait until we moved closer to town...which sadly, might be never. So I watched every tournament I could get my hands on, and cut out newspaper clippings and stored them in a green plastic jar covered in stickers that I'd pull out every so often and read. I'd visualize myself on the court, racquet in hand, serving like the pros and winning every match.

Magically, one day, my mother informed us that we were moving to WA state and into the city (as much of a city as Puyallup can be). The first words out of my mouth, other than, when can we go to a Beach Boys concert, was, now can I get tennis lessons? Happily, she agreed, and the rest is history!! I played all through high school and a little into college. Even now, my love for the game has not diminished, even though I don't get to play the 20+ hours I used to play a week.

As a small substitute, I'm writing a novel about an aging professional tennis player, aptly named Karen Keeler (yes, I purposely spelled her name wrong!) and it's been a joy re-living some of my matches, and doing research on line (watching youtube videos of old matches, watching after-tournament interviews, reading tennis biographies, etc...) The novel is about 1/3 of the way finished. I'm planning on entering it into the Christian Writer's Guild annual contest in October, but to do so, I have to get to 75,000 words. I've completed one other novel, but it was only 50,000 words, so this will be the most I've written all at once.

As we near Wimbledon season (late June, early July), I'm pre-warning you in advance that I will be making some commentary on the pros as they battle it out for the most prestigious of tennis prizes! And hopefully by next year, I'll be able to tell you that my book, Ace, will be getting published, followed by the other two books in the series I'm planning to write next!