Tennis

When I gave up work one of the things I vowed to do was get back into tennis which I enjoyed hugely during my school years.  I was never particularly brilliant at it and in fact I moved onto squash whilst at University playing for the University team (we weren't very good but had a lot of fun!).  I don't particularly like exercise - I can't run for toffee and I can't stand working out in a gym when it's so beautiful outside - but I don't consider tennis to be exercise and am perfectly happy to play it 3 or 4 times a week for approximately 2 hours each time.  At the moment I do squads on Monday and play in 2 different competitions on Tuesday and Wednesday.  I occasionally play social tennis on a Friday and I'm always trying to persuade the kids to play with me on the weekend.  Sadly Tess flatly refuses claiming she doesn't like it although she clearly has the Gidney genes for tennis (I didn't get them as strongly as everyone else) and Tom, who would happily play with me, never has time in between surfing and water polo.  

I've had a number of partners for the Tuesday comp that I play down in Manly and I have enjoyed playing with all of them.  Last term I was partnered with a lady called Jacqui who is a little older than I am and a very consistent player.  We hit it off instantly and she has done wonders for my confidence which has had a huge impact on my game.  Tennis, after all, is a mental game 80% of the time.  We came top of Division 2 last term and have just repeated that feat again today.  I don't care so much about winning - I'm more interested in playing the best tennis that I can - but gosh it does give me a little boost!  And the competition organiser is now considering putting us up to Division 1 which is very scary as the Div 1 players are all very serious which isn't really our style.  Although Jules often takes the mickey out of me and my tennis he is secretly very grateful that I play it as it has had a huge impact on my mental health - a happy wife = a happy life 😜

Jacqui and I after today's win - we try to colour co-ordinate where possible!