ANNI plays "Tennis"/tennis.........

Hi everyone……its been a long long time since I blogged……mainly because I couldn’t find a topic which didn’t include someone getting lost :D ……….hope you like this…...and here it goes…...

“Macchaaa…..ill be playing tennis today….yipppiieee ke yayy!!!!”, exclaimed Anni. ”Relax mate….its not that big a deal”, replied Madhu, one of Anni’s friends. Yes, it was a big deal a huge deal for Anni. Firstly, he is crazy about tennis….when I say crazy im not being metaphorical. His obsession is magnified by his attitude when any discussion is going on which has an infinitesimal amount of tennis in it, even like tennis balls, or some discussion about Reebok shirts etc. Today, he would be going to Best club in Rajarajeshwarinagar, Bangalore after his college to take part in tennis selection for the college team. The main event is a week ahead. The surprising and a real unfortunate thing is that, this guy HASN’T PLAYED ON A TENNIS COURT.

Anni’s brother had got him tennis racquet years ago. As, there was dearth of space to play this game, he had used the racquet for some other purposes, namely trying to hit stones and small coconuts as far as possible, playing cricket once a while etc. After he shifted to the current house, he started to play “TENNIS”. This is how he played.
There a house which is built behind anni’s and attached to his house. It is a floor higher, and as a result you have a high wall attached to your terrace. The scene is much like a squash court but an open one. Hit the ball to the wall and just keep doing that with no sense of court size, the angle with which you hit or whatsoever. He learnt forehand, backhand and what not but on a TERRACE. Good thing was Anni practiced a lottttt, he thought himself being in a grand slam match and stuff, tried to simulate his behaviour accordingly, mannnn he is crazy about this game. He has markers on the wall which is supposed to be areas where if hit gives you a winner…… :D…..He used call his friends often to play “Tennis” and was usually praised for his “Talent”. He had the Federer backhand, the Nalbandian slice and all such stuff. He was a very confident person when it came to playing tennis even though he had played “Tennis”.

Yesterday evening he had been to the sports room with his friend Anirudh to give his name for the selections. “Hello sir, im anni and I want to take part in tennis selections”, said Anni brimming with confidence. “Okay kid, do you practice still? Have you any tournaments earlier?”, enquired the sports guy. “Hmmm…actually I practice a lott nowadays and I have not been in tournaments”, replied anni, struggling really hard to not look at his friends face as he was bursting with laughter. But Anni was careful not to lie. “Do you practice in any club?”, asked the sports guy. “No sir, not now….but I can play really well……you can just see once…..i play well”,replied Anni with ease. Looking at his confidence, “Okay….then fill in your details here, ill give you a call later”, said he. Yes…..the first hurdle was crossed. Anni was doing all this for the primary reason that he wanted to play on a court once. He went back home and practiced his game for an hour or so. That night he went to sleep with thoughts nothing other than him hitting big forehands on the court.

“Hey....im Sandeep from mech. And you must be Anni?”, asked Sandeep near the coffee shop after the college, he was the guy who was to conduct the selections. He had been to tournaments before. He was a lean guy, shorter than Anni with a bit overly gelled hair and collarless t-shirt which said ‘Global issues’…..you cant tell he plays tennis if you look at him “Yeah….im im Anni….so when are we leaving to the club?”, asked anni with pure passion for tennis in his heart. “Wait up dude…..there are 3 more people to come…..and if anyone misses…..let the four of us go to the tournament….what do you say?”, said Sandeep. Anni was never this happy for months. “Yeahhhh….suuuureee…..lets do it….”, Anni almost shrieked. “Relax man”, said Sandeep. “Sooo…..do you play doubles….or are a singles specialist?”, enquired Sandeep. “You can say im singles specialist…..but I would really not mind playing doubles”,Anni said….Watttttttttt u r a singles specialist???????...Anni thought….Anni was standing near the coffee shop waiting for others to come. “Hi….are you waiting for tennis selections?”, asked a girl. “Yeah…yeah…im Anni and you have to fill your details in this form”, anni handed her the form. “Okay…thnx…”,said she and left. She came back with the form filled. “Do you play competitive tennis?I have not been in any major tournament before”, the girl asked. Yeah……I have played many majors like Wimbledon….haha…Anni thought…”I do play tennis very competitively…...but I haven’t played any tournaments”, replied Anni. The girl giggled and left. Unfortunately, Anni didn’t know what competitive tennis meant. The good news is that tennis girl couldn’t come to the selections as she didn’t have any doubles partner. One person down…which meant Anni could enter the tournament without being selected....Another guy showed up, and another guy didn’t. So it is Anni and the other two. Sandeep brought his car and picked up Anni. The other guy had a bike. Anni didn’t talk much with Sandeep other than occasional yeahs and more yeahs…They arrived at the club by 4:30pm. It was a peaceful locality with two clay courts. There were already two people playing.

“Okay, anni lets warmup”, said the other guy. “Okay”, Anni said. His first step on the court felt soooo good and his stomach started doing somersaults. His first shot caught and edge on the bat and went high in air. “Cool down dude”, said the opponent. Anni started playing very slowly since he didn’t want to hit the ball out of the court. The first time he hit the ball flat felt so exhilarating but the ball went flying past the base line. Anni couldn’t serve properly as the net was there. His “Tennis” had no nets. His forehand were going out of the court 5 out of 6 times. He couldnt even switch to backhand as he was terribly slow. Once he hit the ball out of the club. He even forgot the rules about the second serve and such stuff and was given reprimanding looks from people there. His markings on the terrace, his upper and lower limit lines were meaningless now. He hit the ball very hard once and the guts gave away. Many of them came out. He borrowed Sandeep’s racquet. But found no improvement. All his im a singles specialist thing was being revealed. . Tennis, his favourite game turned into a nightmare.

“Hey…anni…why don’t you sit down and watch how we play”, said the other guy. “Okay”, said Anni utterly disappointed. He watched them play gracefully. They had very good backhand shots in store. Their forehand never left the court. They didn’t perspire like Anni while playing. Mannnn…..this is tennis….Anni thought. Im deceived by my terrace….he thought. They played for around 45mins without even thinking that Anni is there. Later, they talked about going to the tournament and asked Anni to go home and learn some tennis. “Dude….you should practice a lot…its not easy”, said Sandeep. “Yeah”, said Anni. His confidence was blown away. He was very much embarrassed to stay there. “Ok….all the best…im getting late…I’ll better leave”, said Anni with moist eyes. He started heading back home and realized he hadn’t eaten since 1pm. He took a bus to Vijaynagar and had a masala dosa, dahi vada. The boarded another bus to his house. It was 7pm when he reached home. He was in no mood to speak to anyone. Completely dejected, added to that the effect of dosa took him to sleep in no time.
Sooo……this was his first experience with real tennis.

P.S: Tennis is hard……