First Win

When I joined USTA last year my only intension was to enjoy tennis and not to bother much about winning or losing. I wanted a break from just to win mentality. I desired to try shots placement and have lots of fun while playing this sport. Initial few matches I lost every single match in mixed doubles just because I tried all possible shots which I have never tried before. Later I realized that I was not exemplifying as a good captain for the team. I tried my best to win at least for satisfying my doubles partner. My health in several matches didn't favor me much to win over the easy and straight forward opponents. As I have been suffering from constant cold and dry cough, I always felt weak and listless. In many matches I lost the confidence in myself for playing tennis so awfully, so was my team. As a captain I did face many challenges such as pairing up people and lining them for the USTA mixed doubles league. I had to ensure the partners were able to co-ordinate among themselves. I tried every strategy to ensure my team won but every match was an eye opener for us. Whenever my team lost a match I had to patiently listen to everyone for their comments saying "Ashwini" why didn't you team me with so and so and why not aim at winning at least 2 out of 3 matches, I have to stay tight lipped and reply back saying we will see next time.

I have been a captain before for other sports, but being a tennis captain is totally a different experience. I learned few good things from other team captain. I liked to play against few teams whereas few others annoyed me a little. There were few serious players in my team whose face expressions changed whenever they lost a match. I am extremely self motivated and love inspiring others. But I had no clue how to pump back the confidence level of my team members and gear them saying that still we have chances of moving from the last ranking to a better one. I had to console myself and my team saying that we are playing USTA for the first time and we are actually doing a great job. I had to filter out few suggestions and orders from the team members and had to find my own way to handle the members in equal manner.

Out of eight matches in fall/winter mixed doubles USTA league we lost 75% of the matches. Yesterday evening we had a resource crunch and had a hard time finding a replacement. I was not worrying much as at the worst case I thought of giving a bye to our opponent. Luckily one of my friends accepted to play and saved me from a complex scenario bit difficult to explain in words. My team today were very intense to win the match, but I never even dreamt that we would land up winning the three matches today. I can’t express how happy I feel now for seeing the improvement of my team. First win always has its significance and so does my team victory.