From Atlanta to New York City to Denver to Atlanta

I am visiting my sister and her family in Seattle for the Christmas holiday. I had a great e-mail from a friend of mine in Denver, CO this past weekend. This is certainly not the time of year when you really think about playing tennis outside in Denver. Recently they've had temperatures in the high 20s and consistent snowfall in the area and we'll all agree these conditions are less than ideal for working on your forehand or backhand. Weather like that won't stop some people. John recently returned to Denver from a trip to Mexico and got together with a group of tennis friends to clear the nearby courts so they could get three days of tennis in. I love it!

I met John this past September while I was on a business trip in Denver. John knows a group of people I had met at the US Open in New York. You know how it goes when you meet people. You start talking with them over a common interest, share some stories and some laughs, make small talk about your life and then you move on. It happens all the time, but not in this case.

I traveled to the US Open this year with my girlfriend Lisa, as it was her first time to the Open. We met my good friend Eric in New York. This was Eric's fourth consecutive Open and my 12th. Eric was staying in a separate hotel from us and on day one of the Open we took different train routes to the National Tennis Center. Upon our arrival on the grounds of the tennis center, we met up with Eric at the bar outside Court Five. On his way in, Eric started talking with a group of people on the train about tips they should consider in order to get the most out of their first visit to the Open. Matt, Brock, Steve and Polly were in from the Denver area and were really pumped up to be taking it all in. Over the next two days Eric spent a good amount of time hanging out with the group of four. We all just hit it off.

On their last day as they were discussing going home, and leaving some great tennis behind, they talked specifically about where they lived in the Denver area. Interestingly enough, I had to make a business trip to their hometown the following week and so we shared e-mails and phone numbers and I said I would get in touch with them.

When I got to Denver the weekend prior to my business meeting, I got in touch with Matt. We went out and hit for a few hours on Saturday morning and he let me know that later in the day Polly would be having a group of people over to watch the Super Saturday tennis matches from the Open. Great stuff! During the early afternoon we even called Eric to make sure has was watching the matches. It was a gorgeous day in Colorado and later in the afternoon Matt and Brock took me over to a park in Boulder where we played shuffleboard with Polly's son and his good friend. Brock brought along his personal shuffleboard equipment set. So we got a few games in and headed back to Polly's for a cookout and watched the women's final where Henin dismantled Kuznetsova. I met John for the first time at the cookout and we talked about getting out to hit during the week.

A few days later I got in touch with John and we went to hit at a park near the hotel I was staying in. We had a real nice workout and when it was over he let me know Steve had invited us over to his place for a cookout. Not only did Matt come over for the cookout, but Steve's parents were driving through Denver from California and joined us for dinner as well. It was unbelievable how well it all worked out.

I had a great time with the gang over that week and we talked about keeping in touch. I'm glad we have done that.

I have been traveling for a number of years, but I don't think I have had a tennis experience quite like this one. These are great people and they were so friendly and it was really easy just hanging out with them. These are the type of people you meet that make you feel like you have known them all your life. Thanks to them I was able to get a few days of tennis in and it also gave me the chance to get to know them all a little better. How can it get any better than that? I know they are considering getting back to the Open, although I don't know if it will be next year.

It doesn't matter if or when they get back to the Open. I've met some great people in a great part of our country and I am looking forward to the next time when I will see all of them. If it isn't at the Open it will be somewhere else. And we'll all have a good time.

Time.