Finally

It was a frustrating week last week not having my computer working. Seems it was eaten up with bugs and viruses, but it's on the mend. Hopefully the links to the draws helped everyone keep up with Phil's results in Atlanta.

In a nutshell....

I arrived on Tuesday afternoon and was able to see all his matches with the exception of his first round, which he played on Tuesday morning. The second round singles match on Wednesday was the beginning of a tough draw. Phil beat a very good player, Oliver Scott, in three hard sets. He and Tom followed up with a great three set win over a very good doubles team from the Atlanta area. Needless to say by the end of a six set day my nerves were frazzled! Thursday Phil started his round of 16 match against Keith Bannister and was up a set and 2-2 when it started raining. Doubles were cancelled for the rest of the day and singles resumed later in the afternoon. Phil won 4 & 4 against Keith. On to Friday and the quarters of both singles and doubles. In singles Phil played Rob Castori, a first year 55's player who is strong and physical. Unfortunately Phil was struggling with his serve and lost a hard fought three setter against Castori. Not a bad loss, but certainly a winnable match for Phil. Later in the day Phil and Tom played Sal Castillo and Claude England, a pick up team, since Sal's partner didn't make it to the tournament; so Claude substituted in. It was the best doubles match of the tournament with Phil and Tom losing in the third set in a tiebreaker 9-7. Soooo close! My ulcer and I were disappointed they had lost, but it really was a match that could have gone either way.

I know Phil was disappointed not so much in how he competed, because he played his heart out, but just that his serve wasn't there as he needed it to be and that kept him from playing his best. He was away for almost 3 weeks and was ready to come home. He had a great winning week in New York, five days of great practice in Atlanta before the tournament started, then had some great wins and some tough losses at the clay courts. I've said it before, but I am so proud of Phil and his competitive spirit. I love being at his tournaments and watching him not only play, but just hanging around and watching him interact with all his tennis buddies is so much fun. They obviously have a tremendous (and well deserved) amount of respect for Phil not only as a player but also as a person. And it's obvious to me that he feels the same way about his fellow competitiors. As we've said many times before....."it's what we do".

In the car ride on the way home on Saturday, Phil finally exhaled and was exhausted. It took a couple of days for him to rest up, recover and feel better. The weather in Destin is great now and fall tennis is starting to crank up at Hidden Dunes. My foot is healing, but still in the boot. I hope to maybe start hitting again next week. We're not sure what our next events are, but I'll post again soon once we figure it out.