This week I was lucky enough to be the first one to grab a co-worker’s two extra tickets to the Pilot Pen Tennis Tournament in New Haven, CT. I used to play a bit of tennis with my dad when I was a kid, but never anything serious. We lived on a canal off of Lake Osbourne and there was a tennis court across the canal. Sometimes on Saturdays, we’d get in my dad’s old aluminum canoe and paddle across the canal to play tennis. Growing up, my dad played once a week with one of his best friends, Rod. Sometimes I went along to be “ball girl,” running across the net as fast as possible retrieving lost tennis balls. Oh man, did I want to be a ball girl when I grew up. But, this was usually my dad’s night out. Every Tuesday (I think?) they’d meet at his friend’s house and play tennis, then hang out and drink beers. Although the game gave them exercise, it was the social nature of it that I think they really enjoyed.
How nice to have a once a week date with a friend or even a spouse? I know a girl, now out of college, who eats dinner with her grandparents and siblings every single Sunday. How nice! I feel like I can’t fit that into my life right now. I don’t really drink, but I sure do have a lot of happy hours to attend lately.
Anyhow, back to tennis. I also loved wasting away a Saturday afternoon watching tennis on TV with my dad. He taught me the scoring, the calls, everything you’d need to know to really watch and enjoy.
So, when I heard that my friend from work had two free tickets to see a live match, I jumped at the chance to go. We had a great time at the Pilot Pen. It was really exciting to see it in person. I also thought it was super cool that I actually understand tennis – the calls, the scoring, pretty much everything. Unlike baseball, I really paid attention, and knew when to clap and what was going on! The US Open is next week and Ryan and I were even thinking how fun it would be to surprise my dad with tickets and have him come up. I think I might be hooked on live tennis matches now.
Pilot Pen Tennis Tournamanet 8.25.09
The True Story of What Was 
glad you had a great time! I was there the day after and the rain caused about a 45 minute delay (until we decided to head out) so we only saw 1.5 sets.
Great idea for your Dad!
any sporting event is better when you are there in person, glad you had such a great time!
i would do a weekly date with you if it didn’t take a week for us to get to each other! i would love to be able to have a weekly date with jasey, but right now it seems that other people have that luck, oh well, i still love him, can’t help it :)