Tennis is my drug for a lifetime

What is it about tennis that makes me like playing so much? It certainly doesn't make financial sense. Tennis as a sport is relatively more costly than some others. For example, you need quality shoes to protect your feet, rackets, racket strings, large amounts of water, tennis grip wrap, and sunscreen. In addition, I've had to do more laundry since I run out of socks and shirts so quickly. Laundry costs money too! All the expenses add up making tennis just an unrealistic hobby. Unlike poker with potential for monetary gain as well as self-satisfaction, tennis has no potential for monetary gain.

The obvious benefit that I reap is exercise. I know this cannot be the only or true reason that I play tennis since there are many more inexpensive ways to get exercise, such as swimming. Another benefit is competition and competing. But I can get that same feeling from poker or any other sport.

The only think I can think of is how tennis makes me feel. The feelings of pleasure I derive from hitting a well placed shot or a clean passing shot. A crisp volley, a well placed serve, or even a long rally. No wonder they call the center of the racket the sweet spot. Hitting the sweet spot feels so sweet. Tennis is almost like a drug to me. Like all other drugs, it's self destructive in a financial sense, but highly rewarding in the euphoric feelings for the user.

I also think a prerequisite to playing tennis well is coordinating your body to work together. I can think of few sports that require the full and successful coordiation of all the muscles in your body while on the move and watching a moving target. Eye-hand coordination is a premium. Also, its a sport unlike football, that doesn't require brute strength, but a lot and a lot of efficiency. The better you work all your core muscles together, the more accurate and powerful your strokes. For example, to hit a powerhouse forehand, you need very good footwork, knee bend, and the flexing of all your leg muscles at exactly the right timing. The weight shift along with the complete torquing of your upper body then rapid uncoiling of your entire body generates so much power and racket head speed that the tennis ball can be hit at tremendous speeds and still be kept in the court. Strong oblique and durable abdominal muscles as well as back muscles are constantly called upon to generate this kind of power. The feeling I derive from successfully coordinating all my muscles and hitting the sweet spot of my racket is undescribable. Shoulder muslces, rhythm, a lot of leg thrust allows for powerhouse serve. Chest muscles and leg muscles coordinating very quickly due to how fast the ball comes to you while you are at the net is also very difficult. There's such a variety of shots in tennis, it is hard to work on all of it. For example the touch and feel required of hitting a dropshot is completely different from hitting a running forehand yet requires every bit the same muscles used in fantastically different ways. The eye hand coordination, reflexes, and sheer athleticism that goes into each and every shot makes tennis, in my opinion, the most enjoyable sport.

Tennis also teaches discipline. I know of no other sport where not playing punishes you so dramatically. Tennis is a year round sport requiring constant honing. Nobody can coordinate their body so efficiently, move so swifty, or time their shots so accurately without constantly honing those skills. You simply cannot coordinate all the intricate muslces in your body so well without some finetuning. I think there's something musical in the rhythm of tennis.

Another one of tennis's biggest appeals is how important strategy is in tennis. You're constantly playing the percentages. Hitting your high percentages shots as often as possible while forcing the other person to hit low percentage shots. Protecting your territory while widening the opponents. While the actual dimensions of the court does not change much, sound placement and variety of spins can make the court feel like a football stadium. How can you ever reach every ball before it bounces twice when you have that much space to cover? Anticipation, sound strategy, and even an intuitive understanding of game theory would be immeasurably helpful to any tennis player at almost all levels of the game. Only true beginners with barely the ability to strike the ball or direct the ball where they want it would not be able to work much of a strategy. As you improve and add more dimensions and variety to your game, the more strategies you will have available to you. The more you think about how your opponent likes to play versus how you like to play, the more you can match yourself in a way that becomes frustrating to your opponent. I would know how frustrating it is because I've played people who have worked me like a puppet in a puppet show that sometimes you just have to scream and still you'll lose. At the same time the feelings that I derive from working another player with sound strategy is also undescribable. While there will be very few times that you can work an equally skilled opponent like a puppet in a puppet show, the long waits in between and the dream and goal of doing so makes me want to play everyday.

Unlike football or many other sports, tennis is often played into very old age. I can't think of any other sport that holds tournaments for people of age 30+, all the way to 80+ years of age. Strategy and efficiency from sound technique allow even aging players to be ageless on the court. I remember when I was at tennis academy, there was this one 12 year old that could play as well or sometimes even better than I could. He could generate more pace than I could as well as place his shots more strategically. It was scary and shocking watching the ball come off his strings. He simply coordinated all of his body so much more efficiently than me even though I was probably stronger than him in every aspect. Tennis, for me, is a sport I can improve at and play for a lifetime.