Tag: Tennis

Lessons learned from an unexpected doubles tournament

Tennis is a big part of my personal life. Playing competitive level matches since 2006, I have won a few tournaments in the “club” level. Ironically, I have never played in a doubles tournament ( never a fan of doubles game, and often complain about not even getting sweaty), nor have I played in a game organized by the companies I worked for (tennis might be such a “minority” sport that didn’t get much attention).

I broke both rules last week.

It was the 1st “3M Open” tennis tournament – featured only doubles matches. One of my colleagues in the lab signed me up for it. We have played together a few times in the past but never played doubles as partners. For both of us, the original goal was very clear –

“Enjoy the sunshine and have some fun. “

In the end, we brought the “3M cup” back home by winning three straight matches in a row. When I look back today, the experience was 100% memorable. But “fun” is not the appropriate word. Instead, it is more of the mix of drama, pressure, heartbreak, teamwork, and a sense of relief.

Let me tell you why:

What 2017 Australian Open Men’s final means to me

I recently found out one benefit of handling parenting duties early in the morning – watching sports happening on the other side of the globe. The game I watched, is the 2017 Australian Open Men’s final tennis between the legendary Roger Federer, 17 time grandslam champion and arguably the “greatest of all time” tennis player, versus Rafael Nadal, a 14 time grandslam champion, my early 20s “idol” for his toughness and mastery of top spin.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mFIOGpIQtVU]

Going over the game detail is not the intention of this blog post. (This link will guide you to the official game recap). I’d rather share what I have learned, or more specifically, what inspired me from this match.