Stifling Heat And Humidity

Sets 195-196:

Stuart vs. D. at NW Park. Winner: Stuart 7-6(2), 6-1.

My Mojo: A Little Less Sick Than He Was.

It was incredibly hot and humid. It's hard to believe that it's only April; imagine what it would be like in August! I was wishing that I had brought a cooler full of ice to dump into a towel and put on my face on the changeovers. I guess I need to start doing that.

In the first set, we played mostly tit-for-tat, keeping pace with each others' wins and losses throughout the set, to take it to a tiebreaker. Both of use were playing really tough and not yielding much. But I was able to dominate the tiebreaker and win 7-2.

The heat started getting to both of us in the second set. I was feeling sick to my stomach, and he was just seriously woozy. He could just not keep up the play at all, and after he won one game near the beginning of the set, I won all of them after that pretty easily. Though I felt sick, I usually play pretty well when I am feeling sick, and this was no exception. When I get sick, my shot placement often somehow becomes better to make up for the fact that I can't run as much.

After the match, he nearly collapsed on the court. He was laying on his back moaning. I tuck around for a little while to make sure he was all right. He insisted that he was OK, but seeing him laying on the court, I told him that I would hate to leave and see him on the evening news later. I stuck around long enough to make sure that he was able to get up and got to my car and sat in the air conditioning to recover from my own heat sickness.