A Tennis Player, Unstuck in Time

Were I to come unstuck in time, like a character in a Kurt Vonnegut tale, how would I tell my story as a tennis player? Maybe a little like this:

I am 9 years old and, like most boys that age, a star athlete in my own mind. I have spent innumerable hours with a ball pretending to be Magic Johnson, Ozzie Smith or Walter Payton in the green, spacious back yard of my parents’ country home outside Paris, Tenn.

But now my uncle has introduced me to tennis, a sport he and my dad play two or three times weekly. My uncle, despite his gangly build of 6'1", 155 pounds, is capable of launching rockets on the serve and hitting tremendous topspin on his groundstrokes.

His means of introducing the game to me is to float the ball over to my side of the net and shower me with praise when I’m able to do the same.

“You’re sure better than I was at that age,” he tells me.

I am 15 years old and have been playing for almost six years. Among those my age in Henry County, Tenn., tennis is above all a competition to see who can keep the ball in the court the longest, and in that respect I do pretty well.

I’m enjoying the fact I’m already better than all but a handful of students at Henry County High School and have a good chance of being the best in the school one day.

I am 18 years old, a senior at HCHS and I’m playing for the No. 1 ranking against Josh, a transfer student who enrolled at our school this year. Josh, like me, is about 6'3", but while I’m just south of a 160 pounds he’s closer to 200. Josh is capable of serving at around 100 mph, hitting hard and flat off both wings and showing delicate touch at net.

Rather than attempt to outhit Josh, I exploit his weaknesses—patience and fitness. I keep spinning in my first serves at three-quarters pace, bunting back his first serves, and making him run a lot when he hits a second serve. I don’t so much beat him as provide him the means to beat himself, and he obliges.

I am now the No. 1 player for HCHS, the toughest school in our district.

I am 29 years old, and I recently found out that the baby my wife is carrying is a boy. They tell me his legs are exceptionally long for this stage of the pregnancy, but that his weight is only slightly heavier. Both are sure signs that he takes after me.

A couple of people have already said they can’t wait to see pics of him holding a tennis racket. I certainly hope that he will enjoy the game as I have, but if he plays I hope it’s only because he loves tennis, not for the reasons I did.

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