Upgrade!

The tennis racquet that I have been using, a Head Liquidmetal, is 15 years old.

I bought it shortly after I signed my divorce papers. It was a gift to myself in celebration that the drawn-out and confrontational divorce process was over.

Over the years I watched other players get new racquets, but I kept my metallic blue racquet. There was really nothing wrong with it, and I couldn't see spending the money to replace it.

Then a couple of weeks ago it hit me that 15 years is a long time. I was ready to upgrade.

George brought me four demos last Wednesday at practice. I liked the Prince red 105 ex03, and George said I played best with it. Wouldn't you know, it was the most expensive of the batch.

Michael (the owner of the club) said it is the  Cadillac of the line. What the heck, I'll probably keep it for another 15 years. It has a bigger sweet spot than my old racquet and is supposed to give you more power, which I could use.

It was waiting for me Wednesday, and I have to say it is beautiful. It's black and red... really bright red, like it could glow in the dark. When I played with it that night, George kept exclaiming over its "pop." And, he said, "It really knows what to do."

"You mean I could just close my eyes and the ball would go where it needs to?" I asked.

Well, not exactly.

It does feel really good to play with, though. After we finished our hour and a half practice, I went over to the next court and talked for a few minutes with the women from my team who were waiting for their fourth. She never showed, so I played about an hour with them. That night my legs and feet ached, but I had to play the next morning with another group in which I was subbing. Actually, I wanted to play, and it turned out to be a lot of fun. I joked with my partner that if the racquet is so good, maybe I can program it to do all the right things.

This morning I skipped my usual Friday round robin and went to yoga, figuring I needed it to stretch and balance out. At times my mind drifted to tennis and how I'd much rather be playing. But I think it was a good idea to take a break, plus I saw how stiff I was. I can make up for skipping tennis by keeping the racquet on the table and just looking at it.