This morning I played in the US Embassy’s Tennis Championship at the Novak Tennis Center on the banks of the Danube River. The US Ambassador to Serbia, Michael Kirby, is a keen tennis player and he organizes a social tennis outing a couple of times a year. I was invited to play this year as a substitute for a player that backed out. I am not a diplomat, so was grateful for the opportunity to play. The Novak Tennis Center is located underneath the fortress of Kalemegdan in the downtown Belgrade suburb of Dorcol. Serbian superstar Novak Djokovic has a gift shop, a trophy room, and a nice cafe. There are 14 clay courts, and with him playing in the finals of the French Open today, I was pumped up to play. It was a 25-minute round-robin, “speed-dating” doubles tennis format, which was fun, because you got to meet a lot of people and play against and with many different styles and levels. I really enjoyed the rounds with four strong players. I ended the day with a 22 wins – 20 losses record. There was bright sun and temperatures in the 90s (32+ C) so was glad when my final round ended around 1:30 PM.
I really love playing tennis and would like to play more often. It is stress relieving, challenging, active, and a great way to interact with people. I would like to work on my game this summer a bit, I need a better second serve, better fundamentals at the net and just overall, work on all my strokes. I didn’t grow up playing the game, and only picked it up in my 30s. I would like to thank Ryan from the US Embassy for asking me to play this year. Hajde Nole!!!!!!
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