"Olympic Experience" (Part IV)

I was ready at the baseline to receive the serve. It went to the middle of the service box. I moved towards the ball and decided to return the serve with my backhand rather than running around it for a forehand. The return was just high enough to clear the net but was low enough to get past the racket of the net player. Her teammate (the server) did not get to it. The ball bounced twice.

We won the match!

What an exciting feeling! My partner and I had a big sweaty hug. Meanwhile, our other teammates from the sideline ran towards us on the court and we hugged each other. At the award ceremony, each of us received a medal. We even did the funny photo by biting our medals, like some athletes did at the Olympics.  :)

What a joy! The team effort was most wonderful. Whenever my partner(s) and I had a bad few points or games, we picked each other up. Whoever was not playing came along to cheer on the rest of us. When my partner and I had the tough loss, the rest of the team was nothing but encouraging. When my back hurt, my captain gave me a back massage to help relieve my pain. When we won the championship together, we shared the joy.

Loss and triumph sometimes go hand in hand. Looking back, I was thankful for the tough loss in my second match. It was the most disappointing for the first ten minutes after the match, but learning to deal with the defeat (quickly) made me a better tennis player mentally. The wins that came after also became much sweeter because I had tasted defeat.
 
As I mentioned in my first Olympics post, Chariots of Fire is one of my favorite movies. In the movie, when Eric Liddell's sister wanted him to return to mission work in China instead of going to the Olympics, he said:

I believe God made me for a purpose, and He also made me fast. When I run, I feel His pleasure.

My favorite line from the movie. I am no Olympian, but I think we can seek to glorify God through sports (tennis in my case). I was calm during our second match point in the last match, but the calm did not come from me. It came from God. And the backhand return? Totally God.

Off the court, I also had a wonderful stay with my hostess. Before booking, I was exchanging messages with the lady renting the room. At first, we discussed the room and logistics; but she soon opened up about her family. At her house, we had several great conversations, including one about her salvation. Before I left, she gave me a hug, and even a beautiful doily she made as a souvenir.

What a wonderful weekend.

Don't forget the Paralympic Games began today!

"Olympic Experience" (Part III)

When I woke up the next morning, my back hurt so much from the extra firm mattress that I could not stand up straight. But emotionally, I was healthy. I had thankfully recovered from the loss; and my doubles partner and I played well to win our match. Our team had gone undefeated in five matches. We now came to the final round to play another undefeated team for the championship.

With the brutal sun hanging over the courts, all five matches in the final round went underway at the same time. I played with another teammate in our match. We won the first set nicely. In the second set, we got broken twice and fell behind, but we came back each time. We worked as a team, cheering each other on and developing strategies to get ourselves in winning position. By the time we broke back for the second time, all the other matches were finished. It was only us on the court, and the rest of both teams were looking on.

My partner and I did not know this at the time, but as our captains told us after our match, our teams had split the first four matches, so the championship came down to this match.

At 4-all, it was my turn to serve. We got ahead but the game went to deuce. In the end, we held and moved ahead. Five-four. If we won the next game, we would win the match. We moved ahead to 40-0 quickly and had three match points. We lost the next point to a strong volley from our opponents. Big cheers from their teammates.

Match point number two. It was my turn to receive serve. I told myself before my opponent's serve that I wanted to hit a solid return and put our team in a good position for a good rally. I was ready for the serve and was very calm.

To be continued

"Olympic Experience" (Part II)

The tournament lasted three days. But since work had been busy, I could only travel on day one and play on the last two days. With two matches per day, I played four doubles matches under the very hot sun.

By the time I played my first match, my team had won both line-ups on Friday, so we were in great position to advance (each line-up included 5 matches; a team had to win at least 3 matches to win the line-up). As soon as I started my match, I noticed my back was stiff. But the match went well, and my captain gave me a back message after the win! After this round robin, we advanced to the championships round for another three rounds of matches to play other round robin winners in our division.

I played my next match with another teammate. My back issue remained (it turned out the extra firm mattress was too much for my back) but the pain-relieving patch my captain put on me before the match helped. My doubles partner and I won the first set quite smoothly, but we lost serve and the second set 4-6.

The third set (and the match) was decided by the doubles tiebreak instead of a full set. We lost a few points early, but the tiebreak was fairly even before we saved a couple of match points. Then our turn came. We had match point! However, I missed a volley.  Soon, it was our opponents' match point again and we lost the match when they called my partner's shot out.

After the match, my partner and I were very disappointed. In the end, it did not affect the result, since our team won the other matches and we were still on the winning side of the line-up. Our teammates circled around us to cheer us up. They also told us that they all saw the last shot in. However, because our opponents called it out, we lost.

But I learned an important lesson. As we walked off the court, I told myself that I could take the loss. That helped me keep my emotions from overtaking me. Instead of dwelling on the loss or those few points that determined the match, I decided to accept the defeat (as a sidebar, Rafa Nadal is the best role model on how to deal with losses), learn from it, not let it bother me or define my tournament, and move on. I had had tough losses and disappointments before, but I now really understood that the best way to deal with defeats was to accept them head-on, not ignore or run from them.

To be continued

"Olympic Experience" (Part I)

The London Olympics might seem a while ago, but don't forget the Paralympic Games begin on August 29!

I was not watching much of the Closing Ceremony of the London Olympics because I was on my way back from my own "Olympic experience!" :)

I had a state-wide tennis tournament out of town that weekend.  The tournament was the end-of-the-season event for teams that lost in the playoffs earlier this summer. I was unable to at the playoffs because of my research trip to Boston, so I wanted to make sure I did my part for my team this time.

After the Boston trip, I actually could not play tennis for about three weeks (more on that in future postings). So when my doctor cleared me to play three weeks before the tournament, I decided to put in extra time to get myself in the best tennis shape possible and prepare for the tournament as best as I could. So I played more tennis and added extra practice sessions to work on some specifics. I also cut out all unhealthy food for two weeks. Even iced tea (what I usually drank other than water) got on the chopping board so I could avoid dehydration. Thankfully, by the time I packed and left town for the tournament, I felt more ready than I had expected.

One of the commercials during the Olympics was a group of (nameless and faceless) athletes narrating what they had given up to train for the Olympics (no desserts, no leisure reading, no TV etc.). While my training was no where near their rigor, strangely I understood what they meant.

So off I went to the biggest tournament of which I had been a part.

To be continued

London Olympics! (Part II)

I didn't watch the Olympics much this past weekend because I was out and about most of the time. But wonderful moments kept happening so here are some more favorites:

Tennis

As a tennis player, I would do the sports injustice if I don't mention some great highlights from my sport. :)

1. Andy Murray winning gold

What a wonderful moment. Having suffered a number of close defeats in major events for years and coming from a heartbreaking loss merely four weeks ago at Wimbledon on the same court to the same opponent, world number four Andy beat Roger Federer, Wimbledon Champion and world number one (I need to add that I do like Roger a lot!). Winning his first major title in front of his home crowd made it even more special.

2. Rafa Nadal posting picture of medalists on Facebook

This happened outside of London but was nonetheless noteworthy. Rafa, world number three, was out of the Olympics because of knee injury but he posted a picture of the medalists with a warm congratulatory message. Classy.

Track and Field 

How about Oscar Pistorius's 400M races and this wonderful photo?

And how about Kirani James, world champion from Grenada and eventual gold medalist (his country's first!) in the event? In a fantastic gesture of respect, James displayed wonderful sportsmanship after the semi final when he asked to exchange bib numbers with Pistorius and raised it to the crowd.

Cycling

Hong Kong has a bronze medal (third Olympic medal overall and first in cycling)! Great success for Sarah Lee, but the story about her coach is also fascinating. A promising cyclist before losing a leg in an accident in the 1980s, Shen Jinkang turned to coaching. Eighteen years of hard work have now paid off.

Remembering in Hope

Since the early 1990s, I have been "traveling" to New York City every year for the US Open through TV. The US Open takes place at the National Tennis Center in Queens during the two weeks that straddle the Labor Day weekend. I remember quite fondly that when I was still in Hong Kong, because of the time difference, I would get up extra early on the second Monday morning after the Labor Day weekend to catch the men's single's final as much as I could before school.

In 2001, the men's championship match took place on September 9. By that point, I was studying in the United States so I watched the match on TV that Sunday night. Two days later, on the morning of September 11, I was home alone (my roommates were at work). I remember that morning as a beautiful, sunny day with clear blue sky. The TV and the computer were not on, so I was completely oblivious to the tragedy unfolding in New York City, Washington DC and Shanksville, until my friends and family called and I turned on the TV.

Like many, I was shocked, saddened and unsure of what was happening. I had just "come back" from New York City after the US Open. I still remember shots of the beautiful New York City skyline during the tennis programming. That evening, my roommates, friends and I gathered at home to support each other and to make sense of what had happened while wondering what would come next, knowing quite well that life would not be the same.

Just before the fifth anniversary of 9/11, I had a chance to travel to New York and I visited the World Trade Center site. It was a large wound. Life went on, but the site served as a reminder of what had happened. Since then, I had become an American citizen and 9/11 became more meaningful to me. Most of those who died in the Twin Towers, the Pentagon and on Flight 93 were my fellow citizens. So were the first responders who risked their own lives to save others, and the military who had gone on to fight for freedom since then.

This year, as usual, I have "come back" to New York for the US Open. The skyline is not the same as the one I saw ten years ago, and in many ways, our lives have not been the same. However, God is still the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. As we remember 9/11, the victims and their families, we can remember in hope, knowing that while we experienced much sadness ten years ago (and even now), we can hold on to the eternal hope that comes through Jesus Christ alone.

True Champion

I just watched a piece of tennis history unfold not in the way I had hoped to see, but I witnessed once again the character and class of a true champion.

Rafael Nadal lost his 4th-round match at the French Open, where he had been undefeated (!) and was the four-time defending champion. Until today. Coming into the French Open, the ultimate clay court tournament in tennis, Nadal was the overwhelming favorite to be the first player ever to win it 5 times in a row. He played great tennis in his last match. But he lost a tough four-set match to an opponent who showcased absolutely stunning tennis.

Nadal has been my favorite player in the past two years. At 22, he has rewritten tennis history in many ways in the past year, including winning the greatest match of all time over 5-time defending champion, Roger Federer, at the Wimbledon final. He has already been regarded as the greatest clay-court tennis player ever, and is undeniably one of the greatest tennis players of all time.

I like to watch him play not only because of his tennis, but more so his character and humility. He is a class act in victory and in defeat, and how he dealt with his shocking loss today once again spoke loudly and clearly about him.

Nadal had always said that there would be a day when he would lose at the French Open for the first time. Of course, nobody in the tennis world predicted it would come today, but true to his words, he accepted the defeat, and he did so with such a level of grace that is no less stunning than his defeat.

He said in his post-match press conference -

"I have to accept (the defeat) with the same calm when I win than (sic) when I lose. After four years I lose here, and the season continue(s)."

"Well, all of us athletes, we know that when we walk on the court we can either win or lose. I know it for a fact anything can happen, and I have to accept them both in the same way."

He had nothing bitter to say about the match, gave credit to his opponent and congratulated him, did not make any excuse, and simply admitted that he did not play well and thus lost the match. He even commented that he hoped Federer, whom he defeated at the French Open in the past four years, would win the French Open (which would level Pete Sampras's record of 14 grand slams and undoubtedly make him the greatest player of all time).

After the French Open comes Wimbledon later this Summer. At the All England Club, where Wimbledon takes place, is a quote from Rudyard Kipling's poem If -

If you can meet with triumph and disaster
And treat those two imposters just the same

Nadal did it today. Even though he lost the match, he is a true champion.

Tennis (Ball) Fan

As the French Open is well underway, I thought I would post something about tennis. :)

After a league match a few Saturday mornings ago, I gave Hanes a tennis ball to see if she would like it, since she liked the ping pong balls.

Here is what she did with the tennis ball -






She held the tennis ball tight, ignored her mouse and played with the tennis ball for at least 15 minutes!

She is quite a fan!

With All My Might

I lost my last two tennis matches, but that was not the end of this simple story.

During the first of these two matches, my partner and I fell behind 3-5 in the first set. It happened to be my turn to serve and we quickly fell to 0-40, down three set points! Yikes. I really did not want to lose the set so easily so I told myself to keep fighting, one point at a time, even though the chance of coming back from behind and saving the game was rather slim. But I served and we won the next point, and in a blur, we somehow won five points in a row and the game! It felt so great. We were now at 4-5 and would eventually play the tiebreak to decide the set.

On the second point of the tiebreak, I was at the baseline as my opponent placed a very short ball with a sharp angle that was out of my reach. I knew I would not be able to get to the ball in time, but I decided to run after it but ended up scraping my knee quite badly and bruising my pinky because of not-so-ideal movement (I did not get to the ball in time). It was the first time I had ever hurt myself playing tennis. In the end, we lost the tiebreak and went on to lose the second set 4-6. Close match.

The following match, my partner and I lost two tiebreaks so the match was even closer. I did not hurt myself, but I was fighting the entire time. We were behind in the first set, ahead in the second, even though we lost in the end.

Around the same time, I was doing a Bible study on the life of David entitled Anointed, Transformed, Redeemed with my Bible Study group at church (great study!). Right before I played the match in which I scraped my knee, we were studying how David danced with all his might as he brought the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem. After a deadly mistake, David returned to God and did his best in following His lead.

As I was chasing down balls on the tennis court, trying to play the points the best I could, trying to come back, I was doing it with all my might as well. Although I lost the matches and had some trouble walking for a couple of days, I felt really great because I knew I had done my best in doing what I was supposed to be doing at the moment.

A fundamental rule in tennis is to fix one's eyes on the tennis ball during play and go after it. The Bible says that we are to love God with all our heart, our soul, our mind and our strength. When we fix our eyes on God, pursue Him and give Him our all, we might scrape our knees a little along the way, but it is well worth it.