Mixed Mayhem

Spent a bleak afternoon at the tennis center watching some finals of the South Canterbury closed senior champs.Above pics left to right show Gabrielle Grady serving and partner Tyler Begg-net on their way to a 9-0 victory over the young combination of Sam Lane and Annabel Ellis.In the lady's doubles final Mother and daughter combination Rachel Ellis and Annabel Ellis went down to Gabrielle Grady and Geraldine Prisk 6-3 6-1.Both Grady and Prisk have made successful comebacks after injury's sidelining them for most of the year.Tomorrow the trials and tribulations of the junior closed champs will be held.Over the years I have become accustomed watching the juniors compete and their parents on the sideline battling with expectations.Sometimes its the junior player thinking they have to do well because they are expected too and on the other hand the parents expectations can be somewhat higher than what in reality will transgress during the days play.It wont be a day with out the odd tear and the drop of head as some junior players give way to the pressure of one on one competition.Some juniors wont even make the event tomorrow as the fear of competing is far too great,having too grind out and concentrate for a whole day is often beyond some juniors.Tennis matches and how you deal with them is a little like life itself, put things in the too hard basket and you will find that that will happen in everyday life situations that will confront you and you will take the easiest option most times outside the sporting arena.Drop your head and give the game away to your opponent without a fight and in doing so one wonders how that player will handle far more "life situations" outside the tennis arena in future years.Tennis matches are a continual learning process accept you will win some and lose some, but take what you can from a win and more importantly a loss.