Over the past summer I have had a number of memorable tennis encounters. I'll start with a traveling league match I participated in this past August. When I returned to Charlotte, I rejoined the Sugaw Creek Park team I had played with when I lived in Charlotte in 2002. This group plays a number of matches over the summer across North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia. The match I attended was in Winston-Salem, NC which is 90 minutes from Charlotte.
It was a great day for tennis and I was able to participate in singles, doubles and a mixed doubles match. The Winston-Salem team is a great group of people and they were great hosts. They brought out the grills and had a great BBQ with burgers, dogs and a bunch of sides. Our team had a tough day and lost the overall match, but there were a few highlights.
I lost in straight sets in singles, but with my partner Larry we were able to win our doubles match in straight sets. Our women won two out of three singles matches, but that was really it for us. My big highlight came in mixed doubles.
Our captain asked me to fill in at number one doubles and so we were paired up against a team that included an incoming freshman at Wake Forest, David Hopkins. David is from Winston-Salem and grew up playing with this club. Earlier this year he accepted an offer to attend Wake and play on their squad. I talked with him briefly before we played and told him that I was familiar with the college tennis scene after watching Georgia Tech over the last six years. He said he expects to be in the lineup when the dual match season starts in late January.
David and his partner took us out in the first set 6-2. In the second set we took a 4-2 lead and then we saw a very different team play the rest of the way. David really stepped up his game and led them over the next four games to close us out. I was very impressed with his game. He has great control of his forehand and backhand and was effective at the net. He has a ton of power in his strokes and it takes some time to get used to the pace. It is a great experience to play against a Division I ACC college player when they are giving you a taste of their best game. I loved every minute of it.
When the college season kicks in I am sure I will see him play. I am hoping to get to the GT - Wake match and I may even try and get to one other Wake match if I can. I hope David does well in his role at Wake. The Winston team is very proud of him. I look forward to seeing what he can accomplish in one of the best tennis conferences in the country at a program that has been a Sweet Sixteen team for the last few years.
Time.
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