Life cannot be serious…

Ashel Sandeep Nair

Life cannot be serious!!!

Life Cannot Be Serious Dad, Sania Mirza, and Tennis.

This is a small story from my tennis journey that happened long back ago in Mumbai, India. Tennis has been part of my life ever since I turned 6. Here it goes; this was one of the most important matches for me as well as for her. Literally like a turning point of my career had to win this match! Sania Mirza was the top-seeded player of the tournament. My opponent! Sania Mirza was everything on the tour, everyone talks about her. All the eyes were on her. Additionally, she has ranked number one in India and all the other ranks below her had her as completion in all the upcoming matches. My humble rankings of 5. Beating her is the only possible way out to win matches, tournaments, or to become number 1, who wouldn’t want to be number 1. She already won much higher tournaments this year. Her points are at the topmost. Finally, the draw was put up. My quarter-finals match would be against Sania Mirza, provided we win all the other matches. We won the matches and the day has come arrived. I rubbed the beads of sweat off my forehead and smashed the ball off to the other court. “I can’t let her win”. My dad and her mom went silent as she prepared to serve for the second set. The score was 6–3. You are right, I won the first set. We are playing a 3 setter match. The best of two wins the match. I look back at my couch, “MY DAD” knowing in his head he was shouting at top of his voice. MOVE YOUR FEET! I KNOW YOU CAN DO THIS!

Like I said, Life cannot be serious. Tennis is a sport in which you converse with yourself. Tennis players are the only athletes that have conversations with themselves. Sluggers, bowlers, and goalies, for example, are known to mutter to themselves. Tennis players, on the other hand, converse with themselves — and respond to them. In the midst of a match, why do tennis players look to be arrogant idiots? Because tennis is one of the most lonely sports. Only boxers understand tennis players’ loneliness — and boxers have cornermen and managers. The crowd isn’t supposed to be making any noise,(unlike cricket or football), no managers, absolutely no one with you from start to end. Even a boxer’s opponent serves as a kind of comrade, someone with whom he can struggle and grunt. You face your opponent and trade punches with him in tennis, but you never touch or speak to him or anybody else. Tennis players are not allowed to converse with their coaches while on the court, according to the rules. Tennis employs the language of life, and I believe this is no coincidence. Because every match represents life in a microcosm, the basic elements of tennis are those of ordinary life: advantage, service, fault, break, and love. Tennis’ structure, in which the parts fit within one another like Russian nesting dolls, resembles the structure of our days. Points turn into games, which turn into sets, which turn into tournaments, and everything is so interconnected that any moment might be pivotal. It reminds me of how seconds turn into minutes, which turn into hours, and how any hour might be our best. Alternatively, the darkest. It’s entirely up to us. Back to the game, it was true, I could beat her. But I look at the time, 11.30 am half an hour to mid-noon The Scorching sun smiling silently at me, wishing me good luck. The quicker I win, the quicker I can return to the hotel. Most importantly, Happiest me! Most importantly I can win the tournament because she was the toughest player in the tournament for me. She won the game, I got nervous, not to mention every time I got a point my dad would start screaming my name, “Come on Ashel”. I loved listening to my dad. His cheering always boasts me up and I feel I could do anything in my life. I could see a virtual war between my dad and her mom. The best cheering awards to them. It went to some verbal arguments as well. The game went on and finally, it was 3–3 each. Another three more games to win! My mind says I can do this. There is always a turning point in every match you see, Be it any sport, you know it when all your shots go wrong, plenty of unforced errors. The other player would play incredibly well in these times. It is quite common in any sport. I know I was in trouble. I could feel her game gone a little upper hand now. If she wins this game, It will be hard for me to hold the grip of the second set. It goes for the third set. The deciding set as well. Life cannot be serious. Oh yeah! I played the best I could, alas, I lost the second set. The third set went in a jiffy. I don’t remember what happened. My mind and body were not in sync. I lost the set, match, and tournament. Sania Mirza won the match! The score was 6–3, 3–6, 1–6. I felt miserable!! I couldn’t face my dad. He was so disappointed with me. I couldn’t face myself. Failure is not as easy as you say it. Face it and accept it is a hardship. Winning and losing not only affect the player, but the whole team also goes through it. My hard work, his hard work, all went down the drain. Sania Mirza is just 14 days elder than me, I lost to her so silly. This disappointment and hurt stay with me forever. One thing I realized is that there are so many hurdles that will come in our journey of life. Taking each hurdle as a do-or-die situation is never a solution. Remember, Life cannot be serious! You will succeed and win for sure that’s how life has trained us.