Victory

It had to happen sometime, and it did last Saturday. My partner and I won a close match at Crow Canyon in 3 sets, 6-4 in the third. It was my debut for the 50 mixed seniors team I signed up for, so I was glad to make a good first impression. And man, after all the losing I've done this year, was it ever good to win. I didn't even hold serve until midway through the second set, but once I got it going we turned the tide. And best of all, my back survived it all. Victory is mine!

Test

I went to the high school and hit the tennis ball against the wall a little bit as a test of my achin' back. The good news was I could make all the shots I needed to make. The slightly bad news was my lower back was a little sore while I played. Then I hit about 20 serves, and the good news there was the back wasn't a problem at all. So overall, I'd say I passed the test. But there was some soreness when I played so I know I'm not 100 percent. But I know I can play, so that's a good thing.

Still

The back is hurting still. Don't know when I'll get back to playing tennis. Bad timing on my part _ I signed up to play in a 3.5 singles league and now I'm on the sidelines. My back feels pretty good at night, but in the mornings _ pain. I'm basically going to shut things down until July, then reevaluate from there.

Ouch!

I must have tweaked my back in my last match, because the lower back hurts like hell. Stuff like getting in and out of bed and in and out of my car is a painful struggle right now. I already canceled my last match for Sunday. I might even have to break down and see the doctor.

Way to go, team

Played at the beautiful Moraga Country Club, and although I lost in my match, our team won the overall match. That's a good win for us, because Moraga had a winning record. I guess they took us lightly! Curtis and I played a fun match, splitting sets then losing in the third-set tiebreaker. Again it was a case of playing well enough to compete but just not good enough to win. Maybe next time.