Longwood Tennis

I placed my finger strategically over the expired date listed on the ticket and flashed it to the guard. The trick to sneaking into a venue is to look nonchalant, as if you belong. Every summer my friend and I would go to buy one ticket to a longwood tennis tournament opening round, and reuse the ticket stub for the next two weeks by arriving an hour after the gates opened and pretend we were re-entering with that night’s ticket with a finger over the expired date. We saw Agassi with long hair and neon head band, borg who looked like Thor lobbing high backhands and then crushing forehands, mats wilander finessing shots from the baseline... and my perennial bane of the tournament, brad Gilbert.

If you could conjure up the most annoying player ever to step on a court it would be brad Gilbert. He is graced with no physical gifts, he would stick his ass out with a straight back slightly inclined forward, take noticeably large amounts of time getting ready for points by requesting towels and walking slowly. Even with our ‘free tickets’ I hated watching Gilbert play. Somehow he won more than a fair share of games that he wasn’t supposed to. He was the smartest player on the court, using his wits and shenanigans to frustrate opponents, relying on mental toughness to grind more physically gifted opponents down.He had the physical talent of number 100, but the ability to annoy and rattle opponents to climb up to #4 in the world. He had no major offensive strength... just the ability to hit the ball back in play. He kept his awkward open stance with his butt sticking out, and didn’t turn his body at the baseline. This allowed him to control games, ruin opponent’s rhythms. He would hit the ball high and deep into opponent territory and force long rallies. He would talk negatively about himself making his opponents uncomfortable. Click here to see Gilbert’s game

When he retired, he coached Agassi (who called him the greatest coach ever) to 6 grandslam championships. His ability of articulate strategies and develop mental toughness brought the best out of his players.

Over time, I too have come to appreciate grinding out games, winning ugly and smart rather than trying to play pretty but inconsistent.