Tennis in the Time of the Coronavirus

March 2020 – a pandemic has swept around the world – a dangerous contagion that if not contained may kill millions of people. As we write this blog USTA Tennis Leagues are cancelled as are Movie Theaters, Dine in at restaurants, Schools and most gatherings of more than 10 people. We are now practicing a new concept of social distancing to slow the spread of this deadly virus. At this point we do not know how this story will end for each of us or for you……. but we still gotta play tennis.

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Prior to the coronavirus we acquired two special rackets for a blog that would highlight the day Japanese Motorcycle manufacturers attempted to rule the tennis world. In the 60’s and 70’s both Kawasaki and Yamaha entered into the rapidly growing racket manufacturing business. By the early 80’s you could buy their products in most U.S. tennis shops. Ultimately they were not successful and both stepped back from tennis manufacturing.

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For this blog we were able to obtain a Yamaha Ceramic Racket and a Kawasaki Graphite Ruler. Kawasaki claims to have produced the first carbon tennis racket kicking off a new era of rackets. Match rules are straight up 2 out of 3 sets. Due to the Coronavirus special rules are in effect. No switching of ends on odd games and players stay 6 feet apart at all times.

Unexpectedly the weekend before our match was to be played St. Louis County shut down tennis at all County Parks to slow the spread of the virus. We decided to sneak on the two beautiful courts at Brentwood Forest Condominiums. Brentwood Forest is a historic condominium conversion of the Audubon Park Apartments and is a beautiful project centrally located at the intersection of Highway 64/40 and Highway 170. The courts are in fantastic condition and were unoccupied when we arrived.

Our first challenge was spinning the racket to see who served first. The Kawasaki Racket had nothing on its butt and the Yamaha had the three pointed Yamaha logo which we finally figured out could be used. Scott won the spin and chose for Stan to serve. Stan picked the Yamaha Ceramic and Scott wielded the Kawasaki Graphite Ruler. Stan’s father Kircho from Bulgaria was watching on the sidelines keeping an appropriate distance.

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Stan fired his first serve in to Scott’s forehand and Scott hit a diving down the line return which hit half the line and cause Stan to hit the ball long. Next serve was to Scott’s backhand and he hit a vicious sharp short angle return causing another error. It was beginning to look like the Kawasaki was a good choice. Scott broke and Stan went to work and broke Scott right back by hitting some deep topspin shots and successfully returning each serve. Each player only held one point on their serve. 1-1. Stan served again starting out with an blast up the middle almost acing Scott and held serve. Scott followed suit with the Ruler and also held. 2-2. Stan served the 5th game and held again for a 3-2 lead. The match changed in the 6th game when Scott served several deuce points. On Stan’s Ad an excellent long point ensued with both players running all over the court and finally Stan broke with a sharp angled forehand winner to lead 4-2. As the point ended we heard spontaneous applause from several walkers who were watching! Stan finished out the set 6-3.

We took a quick break and noticed the Yamaha grip was deteriorating onto Stan’s hand making it orange. We also noticed these courts were extremely popular on this beautiful afternoon and we had three groups waiting to use the two courts. We decided since we were not residents that we better wrap it up quick. A 10 point tiebreaker was decided upon for the second set.

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Scott blasted in a first serve which Stan charged and hit a perfect drop shot to leave Scott speechless. It did not get any better from there as Stan rushed out to a 6-0 lead. At which point Scott reminded Stan that he has recently come back twice from 0-6 in Tiebreakers. Of course Scott then won the next point – was he up for the comeback. Not even close Stan finished it out 10-3 to win the match and win the Battle of the Motorcycle manufacturers. We are sure news of this will make its way to Yamaha headquarters in Japan!

We talked to a couple of young kids who were taking over our court (from an appropriate distance) and they asked, “Have you guys ever tried playing with the new larger rackets?” we just smiled at them as we left the court.

The Location and condition of these courts is fantastic. 10 on location and maybe a 8.5 on conditions. There was an open grass area on one end of court which forced Stan to walk a lot between points and the fencing has some gaps so you are constantly pulling balls out from below the court surface. Minor inconveniences for some beautiful courts in a great location.