Idiotic people should be banned from tennis courts.
written: 4:32 p.m. on Saturday, Jun. 27, 2009

To me, the NUS courts are public courts; no one checks whether you're actually a student there so there are always strange people playing on the courts. But I don't care where you're from or whether you go to NUS; as long as you can play decently well, i.e. keep the ball in your court at all times, if not most times, then whatever goes. That's not my problem.

But your shitty level of play - no, make that your utter inability to hit a tennis ball properly - becomes my problem when your fucking ball keeps flying into my court. There were five jokers at the court next to mine this morning who really tested my patience. There were two guys, one of whom who could sort of play (though I find people with half a back swing - no back swing? How do you hit a ball when you're dropping your racquet? - really weird), and three girls, all of whom totally wasted their money buying a tennis racquet (two of them had matching red hair. It was disturbing). They were utterly useless. The sort-of-can-play guy seemed to have the intention of teaching them, but when he told one of the girls not to let the ball bounce before she does an underhand serve, and just hit it immediately after dropping it, I was totally all "what the fuck" in my head. There is nothing wrong wih letting it bounce first. I do it all the time, and I get the ball over to the other side just fine.

And, oh my god, it was so annoying. I cannot stand it when people walk behind me when I'm playing; at the back of my mind I'd be wondering if I'd hit the person with my racquet when I'm drawing it back to hit a shot. I also cannot stand it when people walk behind my partner when I'm playing, because I can see them, and it's really distracting when there are people moving around. I totally understand now why everyone is supposed to remain still and seated during professional matches; even the slightest movement is capable of breaking your concentration. It kept happening today, and it got even worse when their balls bounced into my court. And that was like, all the time, because the three girls absolutely could not play for shit and were just doing nonsense on the court.

I mean, if you can't play, please don't book a middle court if you absolutely have to use a public one. What kind of idiots book a court smack in the middle of two courts when they can't even hit the ball straight across the net? Even now I try to book courts at the side 'cause my ball still flies to the adjacent court from time to time. Of course, I'm past the stage where every other ball I "hit" flies to the adjacent court; nowadays my ball only intrudes upon the adjacent court when I'm super tired and have lost the ability to focus, or when I'm trying to hit a high backhand back (which I find damn hard) and I'm too early for it and hit it way wide.

Other than that? My shots are pretty consistent. And yet, I still insist on booking a court by the side so that I don't piss too many people off. These jokers today...every time their ball flies or rolls to my court when I'm in the middle of a rally, there's a 50% chance of me losing concentration. And when concentration is lost, your shot goes haywire at worst and into the net at best.

And the worst part? The absolute worst part? The absolute worst part about having idiots play on the court next to yours is that the said idiots are so fucking idiotic that they don't even fucking know it's fucking rude to run to other people's court to retrieve a ball. The other guy today did that - twice. He ran onto my court to chase after a ball, and may I ask for what reason? It wasn't like his opponents could play. It wasn't like he could play that well.

It was SO annoying and obnoxious, and SO rude. The ball-flying-into-my-court thing - probably inevitable. A small part of me sympathises because I used to be one of them, and now I can appreciate quite well how I probably used to piss a lot of people off too. It's annoying, but some people just can't play (the counter-argument here, of course, is: If you can't play, please don't even think of trying).

But running onto a court that is not yours? That is just downright rude, and idiotic, and fucking - FUCKING -irritating. Who does that? What a stupid obnoxious twat.

The guy who could sort of play felt bad about the fact that the balls from his court kept flying to mine though. When I went to retrieve one of their balls, he quickly rushed over and said it was okay.

But it's not nice not to help the idiots next to your court get their balls back. Even if it annoys the crap out of you to do so, it's not nice not to.

Okay, rant over. Anyway, I played close to three hours today. I had the court from 10 to 12, and when no one chased me off at 12, and when the sky turned grey again, my partner and I kept on going until I absolutely could not take it anymore. I think the two bananas I had in the morning really helped in terms of providing me with enough energy not to faint after an hour. Very good. (In all seriousness though, playing tennis without enough food in the tummy makes me nauseous. Literally. Therefore, a banana on top of breakfast is absolutely essential.)

The weather was wretched. At one point, at around 10.30, the sky turned pretty dark and it started to drizzle. An hour later the sun was out in full blast, nearly giving me a headache. Half an hour later it was dark again. Thankfully the strong winds didn't last; at one point the wind was so strong that it blew all the balls on the floor to the side of the court, and I was also in the middle of trying to hit a ball back and the wind blew it away from me. It was thoroughly unpleasant. I was, however, really glad that the sun kept away for the most part though.

Anyway, if it wasn't already obvious before, today it became plenty obvious: my favourite shot is absolutely the cross-court backhand, especially somewhere around the service line. It works better around the service line when I'm trying to pass someone (speaking of passing shots, in my humble opinion, it's way easier hitting a passing winner than a winning volley). Unfortunately, when I'm trying to hit a backhand crosscourt from the baseline, it usually goes way wide and long. WIDE AND LONG. It is very tragic indeed.

I'm quite surprised that I can actually control the direction of the shot when I think in my head that I want the ball to go in a certain direction. Of course, I almost never get the ball in, especially down-the-line ones; but the fact that I can dictate where the ball goes is quite an achievement in itself, considering I used to be hopeless at this sport. Yay! Happiness is me.

What is not as happy, however, is the fact that I still panic and can't decide on time which way to go when the ball is coming straight at me. Those are the hardest to return (after high balls and slices) because my split-second indecision - actually my indecision is like, two seconds long - takes away a lot of time from me - which is why when I eventually choose the forehand, it's really awkward, as if I'm hitting with my body perpendicular to the net. It sucks, simply put. And of course, the feet aren't quick enough to get into position, and in the light of my knowing how difficult it is to be quick enough to get yourself into a favourable position to hit a winning shot, or just a shot, I can only appreciate Roger's ability to do just that even more - especially when he's running around the backhand and going to the forehand. That takes tremendous speed and some seriously high-skilled footwork. His inside-out forehand is just...too gorgeous for words.

So yeah I'm really super tired right now. Going out at night, as always...and I just realised it's almost six.

In other news, I'm totally $2000 richer! I haven't actually checked though. Maybe I should before I go out. I have like, 2 bucks in cash on me, and I'm relying on the promise of having $2000 in my bank account to survive the night. I totally need to withdraw half of that and put it elsewhere for safe-keeping; otherwise, my $2000 would be gone within the month. Or within the fortnight.

In Wimbledon news, Tsonga didn't do his job. He was supposed to take out Karlovic. I can't believe he lost. Poor thing, having to play three tie-breaks, losing two, and losing one set 5-7.

Ugh. Karlovic better lose to Verdasco. I FUCKING DO NOT FUCKING WANT TO WATCH HIM PLAY EVER A-FUCKING-GAIN. Too bad his game - basically serving and nothing else - is so effective on grass. Dammit. This guy has no groundstrokes; all he needs to do is to serve effectively to win. I watched him play three times this year and once last year, and all three times this year I couldn't help but marvel over how amazing it was that he's playing tennis competitively and professionally when he has no groundstrokes. If Murray didn't exist, Karlovic would top my list of most hated tennis players.

(How I wish Andy Murray didn't exist. Oh I'm so mean.)

***

Something personal, just so this journal still has some of that to boast about:

Despite my genuine conviction that I am a modern, independent female who demands respect from the opposite sex and believes in gender equality, though never in a militantly feminist sort of way, I like guys who have an alpha male streak in them. I cannot stand soft, emo types who whine all day long about their feelings and how conflicted they feel and how sad they are. By all means go ahead and talk about your feelings, but please, at least have the decency to know when you're going overboard and are whining too much about it.

Simultaneously, girly guys are also quite gross. I cannot feel like I'm manlier than the guy I'm with, because in such instances, I wouldn't respect him. I wouldn't feel protected, and if I don't feel that, then I'm never going to reveal my vulnerable side to him (I'd like to pretend it doesn't exist, but alas...it does). What's the point then, right? I know.

I like guys who embrace their maleness and assert their authority - under appropriate circumstances, of coure. Like being decisive - where to go, what to do, where to eat, what time to meet. Things that I take forever to decide on because I'm a girl and therefore I am indecisive. Guys who know that they actually wear pants, not skirts, guys who know that they have a dick, not a vagina. Seriously, the number of guys I've met so far who actually have a vagina is...pretty shocking. I don't know why, but oh my god, I cannot stand emo guys. I just want to line them up and slap them all - collectively.

I don't know what this says about me, about my supposed independence or whatever. Clearly I have a hidden desire somewhere, whatever it is, if I'm attracted to alpha male types. Maybe that's disturbing. Maybe it isn't. And of course, maybe this has been the case all along but I just never realised it.

OH WELL!

Also, since I'm on this subject, my girly side has been creeping out bit by bit over the past month and I must side I am very, very disturbed. Like I told Mag last night, I'd prefer to pretend I'm not a girl. Okay, that's not true; what I meant is...although I know I'm a girl, I'd prefer to think that I'm not a girl. You know, with all the annoying and inevitable insecurities and jealous tendencies and propensity to whine and let irrational emotions take over...it's so tiring. And I hate it - absolutely hate it - when I display such tendencies. I'd like to think I'm above such petty nonsense, but the truth is...I'm not.

Boo hiss, right? I know.

before sunrise // before sunset

Previously:
- - Tuesday, Aug. 29, 2017
I'm moving. - Sunday, Jul. 11, 2010
In all honesty - Tuesday, Jul. 06, 2010
What I want for my birthday... - Sunday, Jul. 04, 2010
On Roger's behalf. - Friday, Jul. 02, 2010