I am an avid tennis player and always looking for new partners. Male, female, young old, I could not care less. Being a professor, my schedule is fairly flexible — I might be able to play anytime anyday.<\/p>\n
There are various ways to “measure” tennis skill — I am on the border of intermediate and advanced; I am a solid “B” player; I have a USTA rating of 4.0, but probably
\nat the low end of 4.0.\u00a0 I have been crushed by the worst player on the RU men’s team; but I have beaten people who have played on college teams for small schools.\u00a0 I have captained several USTA teams over the last few years.<\/p>\n
If you would like to hit, best bet would be to send me an email message (jussim@rci.rutgers.edu).<\/p>\n
A Tennis Story of Rejection, Gentle Revenge and Vindication<\/a><\/p>\n 1970 to 1982<\/strong> 1983-1984<\/strong> 1984<\/strong> 1984-1986<\/strong> In 1985<\/strong>, we get to the finals of the Ypsilanti Mixed Doubles tournament, where we High point in league play:\u00a0 In 1986, I tear the cartilege in my left knee playing tennis. 1987<\/strong> 1987-1995<\/strong> In the winter of 1991 I tear the cartilege in my other knee, This period was a high point. And, by 5 years later, it looked 1996-2005<\/strong> 2004<\/strong>, I resume play.\u00a0 I cannot fully extend my right arm, so, I adopt an underhanded second serve.\u00a0 Soft, high, loping, with 2005<\/strong>. I start playing more and more.\u00a0 And well.\u00a0 I start first-serving 2006 – Present<\/strong> Lisa and I play in a small mixed doubles tournament, where I also play on a men’s USTA team.\u00a0 The weaker players play 2007.<\/strong>\u00a0 Lisa and I win an early season mixed doubles tournament. I also play on the same USTA men’s team.\u00a0 That team I always got tennis elbow mostly from serving, so I start getting 2008.\u00a0 My tennis elbow begins to return to my right arm.My tennis history (and some stories).<\/strong><\/h5>\n
\nI dabbled in tennis. My main sport was basketball, not that I was particularly good at it.<\/p>\n
\nMy first tennis lessons, through Univ. of Michigan’s (UM) recreation department.
\n(I am now almost 30!).\u00a0 I start playing a lot.<\/p>\n
\nI play in my first tennis tournament.\u00a0 UM holds a lowlevel recreational doubles tournament.
\nI sign up with my wife, Lisa.\u00a0 All other teams are pairs of guys.\u00a0 Format is each match is a
\nsingle pro-set (first to 8 games wins, with a tiebreaker at 7 all).\u00a0 We get to 7 all, where
\nI promptly double fault away the tiebreaker.\u00a0 We lose, and start walking away.
\nThe tournament director comes over to us, and asks “Why are you leaving?”
\n“We lost” we said.\u00a0 “This is double elimination” she said.\u00a0 So, we entered the
\nlosers bracket, where we swept three straight matches and actually made it to the finals,
\nwhere we got whipped pretty soundly by a strong team.\u00a0 “Not bad” we thought, for a first
\ntourney….<\/p>\n
\n1984-1985<\/strong> I play in a slew of local leagues, singles, mixed, men’s doubles,
\nwin once, come in second a bunch of times, and come in near last in an
\n“advanced” league.<\/p>\n
\nget thrashed, 0 and 0, by a team comprised of a guy on the UM varsity men’s team,
\nand girl on the Ann Arbor H.S. varsity team.\u00a0 I take more lessons, start playing in local tourneys, singles, doubles, mixed, whatever.
\nI love the competition, and play well except for my serve, which I continue to double
\nfault too much.\u00a0 My partner always serves first in doubles.\u00a0 Especially my wife,
\nwho has an excellent lefty slice serve.\u00a0 On average, I win a round, then lose
\nin the second.<\/p>\n
\nI recover enough to play in a mixed league later that year, though I am pretty immobile.
\nIf I step wrong, I get a red streak of pain up my knee.\u00a0 Plus, during league play,
\nLisa is 7-9 months pregnant.\u00a0 We win our first two matches.<\/p>\n
\nWe move to Highland Park, NJ in mid-August.\u00a0 The local paper announces
\nthe Highland Park singles tournament at the end of August.\u00a0 I sign up.
\nI get a lucky draw, and get to the final, where I get trounced.
\nIn the semi-final, I had a great match with Neil Weinstein, a famous
\nprofessor in my department at Rutgers, which I won 7-5, 7-5.
\nWe went on to play together for 25 years, till he retired to parts
\nsouth and west.<\/p>\n
\nI have an unbroken streak of at least one trophy in at least one
\ntournament each year for 9 years.\u00a0 (winner and runnerup usually
\nget a trophy, so not all of these are wins).\u00a0 These are usually small tournaments.
\nHigh Point: Lisa & I make it to the finals of the Franklin Township
\nMixed Doubles Tournament (no longer being played) four consecutive
\nyears, winning twice.\u00a0 But our best match in this period was a loss.
\nIn one final, we played a team of a 4.5 guy and a 4.0 woman.
\nWe had played them years earlier, and they had beaten us 6-1, 6-0.
\nI went in there with a goal of winning 4 games.\u00a0 We lost the first set
\n6-2, right on track.\u00a0 But then we started winning games. We actually
\nwon the second set 6-1.\u00a0 Then the third was a brutal knock down
\ndrag-em-out, which we lost 6-4.\u00a0 It was a loss but I do not think
\nwe had ever played better together.<\/p>\n
\nbut the surgery is less extreme, and I recover quickly and resume
\nplay full hog that summer.<\/p>\n
\nlike it would be THE high point of my tennis career.<\/p>\n
\nMy tennis dark ages.
\n1996, begin long battle with tennis elbow. Reduced play.
\n1997: Tennis elbow becomes so bad, it hurts to brush my teeth,
\nI stop play for 8 months, do cortisone, physical therapy, etc.
\n1998: I resume trying to play.\u00a0 This fails.\u00a0 Bad tennis elbow returns.
\nI stop play for another 6 months. Do one last cortisone shot and more physical therapy.
\n1999: I resume play gingerly.\u00a0 I now have two problems.
\nI still have tennis elbow, and I have to be careful to avoid a nasty
\nflareup.\u00a0 And my game sucks from lack of play.
\n2000-2002.\u00a0 I “manage” my tennis elbow by playing no more than 2-3x\/week in the summer.
\nNo tournaments, leagues, etc.\u00a0 My game begins to come back.
\n2003.\u00a0 I pulverize my elbow falling off my bike.\u00a0 I get emergency surgery
\nto try to put it back together, including two pins and a wire in and around
\nmy elbow bones.\u00a0 I can’t use my arm at all for 2 months.
\nI do, however, start dabbling in playing lefty …<\/p>\n
\nalthough I can hit a ground stroke and volley, I can’t serve.
\nI have the amazing fortune of advising a graduate student, Stacy Robustelli, who, in a prior life,
\nwas a terrific tennis teaching pro.\u00a0 And she teaches me how to serve lefty.<\/p>\n
\na lot of topspin.\u00a0 Guys try to tee off on it.\u00a0 They occasionally
\nhit winners.\u00a0 Usually, they make errors.<\/p>\n
\nrighty as well as lefty.<\/p>\n
\n2006<\/strong>.\u00a0 I play in my first tournaments in 10 years.\u00a0 I play a USTA singles
\ntournament, where I win my first round, and lose my second.<\/p>\n
\nwe win the first round, and then play another epic
\nfinal against a teaching pro and his wife, where we lose
\n6-3 in the third.\u00a0 We again played about as well as we could.
\nIs this a new trophy streak about to begin?<\/p>\n
\ndoubles, so I played doubles, but I win almost all of my matches.
\nThis team wins its division and goes to playoffs, and loses
\nseveral heartbreaking matches and fails to advance further.
\nStill, it was a good season.<\/p>\n
\nI get to the semi-finals of a competitive USTA 3.5 tournament early in the
\nseason.\u00a0 I win my first singles tournament in over 10 years, the
\nMarco Mazzoncini 3.5 tournament in Hamilton NJ.\u00a0 The centerpiece
\nmatch for me was the semi-final.\u00a0 I lost the first set 6-3, and
\nwas down 5-3, 30 love, in a match that became a war of
\nattrition.\u00a0 I stopped making errors.\u00a0 He did not make very
\nmany either, though.\u00a0 I went on to win that game in a tiebreaker.
\nFormat was instead of a 3rd set, we play a tiebreaker, and
\nI won that too.\u00a0 So, I won 3-6, 7-6, 1-0 in a match that took
\nalmost 3 hours.<\/p>\n
\ndoes very well, but the Captain decides I can’t play.
\nSee
\nA Tennis Story of Rejection, Gentle Revenge, and Vindication<\/a>
\nfor more details.<\/p>\n
\nit in my left arm! So I start going back to mostly righty serves.
\nI try to go to a regular second serve, with mixed success.<\/p>\n
\nI finally bag it, and decide that, permanently, I would:
\n1. Rotate righty and left serves
\n2. Use an underhanded second serve.<\/p>\n