No More Predictions

It was an absolutely beautiful morning yesterday. Cool, no wind, bright sun. The storm the night before cleared the air and made for a perfect tennis day. We warmed up and got Phil ready to play. The courts were playing a little slower because of the rain the night before and the balls were a little heavy.

The final match was played on the first court, so I settled on the porch of the pro shop to watch what I thought would be a routine match. It was apparent after the first few games that Scott was really on and Phil was off...way off. Phil would make what appeared to be good approaches and Scott was blowing winners by off both sides. Phil then started missing, and missing bad. Routine forehands long, backhands short. Plus Scott had a killer backhand dropshot that he was making at will. The first set was over quickly with Scott winning 6-1. I was beginning to try to figure out how much a cab from Indianapolis to Columbus would be, because if he lost I sure didn't want to be in the same car with him for 3 hours! To Phil's credit, and I've seen this plenty of times in the past two years, he hung in there. Scott started missing some, Phil stopped missing so much, and Phil eked out the second set 7-5.

The first couple of games of the third set were tight, but I could see Phil loosening up a little and going for his shots more. He went up a break early for a 3-0 lead. I still wasn't comfortable yet. At 3-1 Phil played a great game and held for 4-1. I was exhaling only a little. Finally when Phil broke Scott to be serving out the match at 5-1, my pulse rate started dropping and I felt sure he'd serve it out and we'd be done. Phil quickly went up 40-love to have three match points. I figured we were done. I should have known better. In true Phil fashion, he proceeded to lose the next 5 points and lose his serve. YIKES. Luckily, he got it back together and was able to break Scott to win the next game and the match.

I should know better by now that Phil knows how to win no matter what the circumstances are. And if at some point he loses a match like that, it's okay. I love watching him play and I love watching him compete.