Playing Though Pain

Sets 320-322:

Stuart v. K. at Riata Park. Winner: K. 6-7(5), 6-3, 7-5.

My Mojo: Resistance Is Futile.

I hadn't played in quite a while, since I had been on vacation, travelling up through Washington D.C to New England and then Quebec, so I had been out of the loop for a while. This was the first match I had played since I played in New York. I had been to a group lesson the night before to warm up and started getting it back a little, but today I could definitely feel a little rusty.

In the first set, it was extremely close. He took the lead at first, then I caught up, and we got the score to 6-6 and played a tiebreak. In the tiebreak, at first Itook a lead, then he caught up, but I managed to squeak it out by a score of 7-5.

In the second set, I dropped games early, and he started playing really good strategy, moving in for the point and often finishing with a winner. I thought I had a chance of catching up, but in the middle of the set I started having minor cramps that hampered my ability to get much going. I got a few good games in, but he mostly dominated this set. Before I knew it, I was down 4-1. I brought it back and kept pace the next couple of games, but it was too late, and I lost the set 6-3.

The third set was when the cramps really started kicking in. At many times, just about every muscle in my body was cramping up badly. My right hand kept clamping around my racquet, and I had to constantly keep stretching to just be able to remain standing. I thought about retiring several times, but then again, I wasn't dead yet. So I kept playing.

Early on in the third set, he took a big lead. We had much more difficult games than we did in the second or first sets and there were a lot of long, grinding games. I got the bad end of most of the first ones and once again was down 4-1. I really don't know how I remained standing, I was in so much pain from the cramps that were getting more and more intense. But I actually started coming back for a while. I won the next game to bring it to 4-2, then won the next one to get to 4-3. The next game was very close, but I lost it, so I was down 5-3. Physically, Iwas a complete mess, howling in pain occasionally when a bad cramp came my way. But, like I said, I wasn't dead yet. You're not having fun until you drop dead, I always say. I managed somehow to take the lead on points and win the next two games to bring it to 5-5. I just couldn't get it happening for the next two games, though. Not only did the continual cramps turn into a virtual hurricane in my body and mess up most of my shots, but he got some great line drives in that I could not get near in my state of muscular near-failure. By the end of the match, I was just glad I was still able to stand (barely), and made the drive home constantly seizing up. When I got home, I started chugging Pedialyte and vinegar, and after about 45 minutes, I was good enough to at least fall asleep.