Worthy Opponents: Julie Schwartzberg and Marcy Rosewater

Julie (left) and Marcy: Just two bricks in The Wall.Usually in doubles, at my level, there's one person on the team who's really good at net, one person who you and your partner agree to never hit the ball anywhere near them.

This rule applies to both of my Worthy Opponents, Julie Schwartzberg and Marcy Rosewater. This meant that my partner Lucy and I were in the J&M pressure cooker from the get-go.

These two relish the putaway volley at net.  They feast on the defensive lob.  They've got consistent serves.  What the hell were we going to do?

It took Lucy and me a set to figure it out.  They trounced us pretty soundly, 6-1.  We showered them with a Whitman's Sampler of unforced errors, especially on my serve.  How would you like your double fault, Marcy?  With or without a cherry?

Lucy and me, contemplating Pink Floyd lyrics: "Tear down The Wall!"I trotted back to the baseline to confer with Lucy.  She shook me off.  "I just need to find the rhythm on my groundstrokes," she said.

And she did.  She hit some screamer returns that put Julie and Marcy on the defensive right away.  I was able to do some damage at net with volleys down the middle.  We won the second set, 7-5.

They were up a break early in the third set when I had to go to work.  That's right, Haters, not good enough yet at this tennis thing to quit my day job.   

Year to Date:

Marcy and Julie: 1.  Me and Lucy: 0