One weekend I was playing doubles with Dennis Alter who ‘owns’ Advanta Bank and I casually asked him whether he was still sponsoring a four week Advanta Tour for different age groups in Florida. He said indeed he was and invited me to play in one of his 60’s age bracket tournaments. My wife and I were going to be in Florida that week promoting our summer programs already so with the easiest of changes I arranged to fly out on Sunday and play in the Boca Raton 60’s at the Polo Club.
My first match was Monday at noon (of course they could not play at a hotter time!) and I arrived at the Polo Club an hour beforehand as an unseeded dark horse (who is this Krinsky who says he has not played a singles tournament in 25 years?). My first match was against a Czechoslovakian and while I was up 6-1 5-0 he retired due to soreness in his back.
The second round was a tough matchup against a teaching pro from Connecticut whom I was able to beat 6-4 and 6-1. Winning in straight sets gave me the chance to see the number 4 seed in action before I played him in the next round. He was up 5-1 in the third set and I went home mentally preparing to play against Fong, a hustler who seemingly ran down every shot. Lo and behold, the next day I arrived and instead found his opponent waiting to play me (he had come back to win the match 7-6 in the third).
This gave me an easier round and allowed me to conserve some energy for the semi-finals match against the number 1 seed.
The number 1 seed was a really nice guy who was a full time player from Sarasota, Florida. He had a big serve and volley, a powerful cross court forehand, a solid slice backhand and a good volley (I want to play doubles with him in the nationals – I will put him in the deuce court).
I managed to win the first set and was down 5-2 in the second set before winning 4 straight games to make it 6-5 me with three separate match points. Unfortunately, I did not remember how to play them (in Johannesburg you served and volleyed the match out) and rushed each of them and ended up losing the set.
Now, as you know, I do not like losing and I did not want to blow the third set after having three match points in the second so I turned up my focus and won the third set 6-3. I was onto the finals!
Awaiting me there was the number 2 seed in the tournament, another great guy from Ibiza, Spain. Again, I won the first set and lost the second. I was up 5-3 in the third, he was serving up 30-0, and I decided to chip and charge for four straight returns and the match was mine.
So after five matches (and typing now for an hour) I am pleased to tell you I won the tournament!!!!! Ah the smell of victory and the very annoying thought of defeat. I am off in Asia now where, of course, I am still limping around – when did any of us last play five matches in a row?
-Julian
