Tennis Glory

Tennis Glory
Today when my manager recognized me by saying I head your tennis glory. I was happy but at the same time I didn't want my name be tagged a lot with tennis when I am in office. Probably now is the time to share how I got pulled into tennis. I was a athlete during my school and college days and played every possible outdoor sport but never trained myself dedicately in a single sport. One of my close friend was very keen to learn tennis and desperately approached me to pair with her for a practice session. I was not too interested to learn this sport as tennis being a rich man's sport in India. I was sure my parents would not like spending money for court fee, racquet, balls etc. Accordning to them sports in general is something a gal can not continue forever. I had many fights at home with my parents on this topic. My friend was very determintant than I was to pull me to learn tennis. She kept shuttling between my home and hostel to meet my parents and convince them to allow me to learn Tennis.

Finally I got a nod from my parents on 12th May and that was the first time I touched a tennis racquet. As I respected my coach a lot, I was very sincere and dedicated during my learning period. I slowly got tremendous interest in tennis and was absolutely crazy playing for 4-5 hours on weekends. I never visited my relatives, attended family functions or hanged out, my only chant during weekdays and weekends was tennis and nothing else. Whenever my mother gave me something to cut in the kitchen, I would first toss the vegetable in air as if I was practicing my serve in the court and later would continue cutting them. I was hitting balls on the living room floor to strengthen my wrist. No matter where I stood, I was always kept moving to and fro to get a proper foot work. My parents were bit afraid on seeing me get mad on this sport. They tried putting me off saying Ashwini remember once you get married you have to get along with your husbands interest so better stop getting much involved in this sport. I ignored their words played played and kept playing.

Once I got into a tough project, I couldn't stick to my old routine of having a regular morning practice. This was the time tennis completely faded out of my life. I hardly found time to play during weekedns. I made up my mind saying probably I would never get another chance to touch my racquet. That was exactly the sametime corporate companies launched olympiad. There was mail a seeking participants for different sports competition. I learned tennis as one of my favorite hobby and never ever imagined to participate in tennis tournments. So I ignored the mail and almost till the last day of the registration. One of my friend knowing my strength spoke with me for hours and convinced me to participate.

For some reason I wanted to win the gold medal in this competion. Afer seeing the number of participant I also thought I could win the medal with ease except for one person i.e my opponent. Everyone who witnessed the practice sessions guranteed that my opponent would win the match, as she had a perfect stroke and powerful shots. I had a tough time to gain self-confidence when there was absolutely no sign of hope on me. I was bit shattered at the start of the match. I only said to myself every single point counts and played very hard from the start of the match. After a tough fight I won the match. This event was a big turning point for me. My name topped the list in the e-mails circulated in office. Few of my colleagues on seeing my name, teased me for saying you didn't have much competition that's why you won etc. I pretended deaf when I heard such things as I knew what I faced.

Only afer this incident my parents supported me to play tennis as much as I wanted. Might not appear as big record achieved by Sania Mirza, but given the circumstances and chances I think I have utilised my potential to a greater extent. That is the story behind my tennis glory.