Tennis weekend

I haven't played tennis much since spring 2008 when I injured my thumb. Near the end of the season last year, I was able to play a little in St. Louis. But I haven't played at all since then. I finally had a chance to get on a court this weekend. Saturday evening I played with a friend for a little bit. I definitely need to practice more, but I did decent considering how long it had been.

Tournament tennis
I followed that up with a big tennis day on Sunday. I went to a session of the Legg Mason Classic tennis tournament. It was the first professional tennis tournament I'd ever attended. The Legg Mason is held in D.C. and is part of the Olympus U.S. Open Series, which links nine tournaments, ending with the U.S. Open. I wasn't willing to pay the $60 or more to see the finals next weekend. Instead, I went to see the end of the qualifying matches and the beginning of the main draws.

When I woke up Sunday morning, it was raining. When I checked weather.com, it showed a 50 to 80 percent chance of storms and rain throughout the day. When I looked at the radar, I saw only blocks of green headed across D.C. It didn't look promising.

Instead of getting there before the scheduled 10 a.m. start time, I waited a little later, trying to decide if it was worth going. (No refunds = a greater incentive to at least TRY.) I decided to prepare for a day of rain and hope I could catch a match or two when the rain let up. I ditched my shorts and tank top attire for capris and a raincoat. I ditched my camera and other valuables and brought only what would fit in the (hopefully dry) pockets of my jacket. I ended up getting there around 11. Though it was raining when I headed that way, it had stopped by the time I reached the tennis center.

For some reason, the courts weren't covered with tarps or anything, so crews spent the next hour or so drying off the courts. I walked around the area and checked out some tents, food and displays. Finally, tennis started. About halfway through the match, raindrops began to fall. They cleared the court, and I headed for cover. But the rain never fell hard and quickly stopped. Of course, they still had to re-dry the court for a bit, but then the match continued.

By 1 p.m., there wasn't a cloud in the sky. The sun was out full-blast. I had brilliantly not brought sunscreen since I expected to sit in rain all day. I also didn't have sunglasses. This two things proved to be harmful. I spent the afternoon squinting into the sun, turning red on my face and arms and sweating in my rain-worthy clothes. On the bright side, I saw a lot of tennis and didn't have to sit in the rain! In fact, other than an also-brief sprinkle near the end of the last match of the day (6:30 p.m. or so), it didn't rain again.

The moral: Don't listen to weather.com. (This is actually the second time lately it has given me what turned out to be completely inaccurate radar.)