I hit one backhand after another crosscourt but could not get the ball where it was supposed to go. I couldn’t bring myself to cross the line, to hit my shots wider, into that dreaded doubles alley on the tennis court I had always avoided.
I am a singles player. I last played doubles in 1982 as a sophomore on the Midwood High School tennis team. I like watching doubles but believed singles was the superior game, requiring more fitness, skill and strategy. Starting with my first lesson, I quickly learned I was wrong on the latter two points.