Eric in San Francisco

Over September and October in 2007 I got to do a road-trip up the west coast of the US to Vancouver, and then from Toronto across to Montreal then down through New England to Martha's Vineyard and Boston. During that time I put up a $50 challenge on the message board of the Tennis Warehouse website to anyone that wanted to play me at tennis and beat me. I got some excellent games as a result and met some terrific people. The following are the write-ups of each match.

Match 1

Opponent: Eric "EVW"
Opponent Rating: 5.0
Date: Labor Day, 3 Sep, 3pm
Location: San Francisco, Harbor Point Club
Surface: Hard
Result: 6-2 3-6 6-3

A superb match to start off the tour. Whatever happens the idea of trying to get some tennis during this trip will have been worth it for this game with Eric.

It took me an hour to find the right bus out to near Eric's club, nearly another hour for the bus to get there, and then I had to call from a friendly dry-cleaner to let Eric know I'd made it. About a minute later he sailed round the corner in his open top sports car and we shot off to his club. It was a beautiful California day and a very attractive club, with 6 perfect hard courts and a pool round the corner.

We had a warm-up during which I could see that Eric hits very hard. I had to hope he gave me a few errors when the match got going!

First set - my luck was in as I managed to get a few of Eric's big serves back (first and second serves both equally big) and he gave me some presents on the big points. 6-2 to me. But I could tell that a bit more consistency from Eric could turn the match around as he hits so big.

Second set - Eric proved my hunch correct as he steadied up and started to paint the lines. My level of play didn't really go down but it was soon 6-3 to him.

Third set - went with serve till 3-2 to me. I then broke, with Eric throwing in 2 doubles, but Eric broke straight back to love with some huge returns. I broke again to get to 5-3 up. We had some great rallies in the final game but I managed to close it out to take the set 6-3.

Big relief for me as Eric seemed to have all the momentum at the end of the second set and I thought I was going to be $50 down in my first match. I was very happy with how I played and I think if Eric were playing at his full potential then he'd take me as he hits harder and just gave me a few too many errors when it counted.

We relaxed with a beer afterwards. Got a photo of us both looking a bit ragged after the match. It'll have to wait till I'm home to put it up on the site though.

Due to play Max tomorrow in Golden Gate Park. Will post how that one goes. Hope this great weather keeps up.

By the way - San Fransisco is a huge culture shock after 10 months in New Zealand! So big and so busy. Outside the centre of town it's beautiful though.