As I watch Serena Williams decisively overpower the Czech tennis player, Lucie Safarova, in the French Open Final at Roland Garros, I remember when she won her first title on the red clay: it was thirteen years ago when she was a 20 year old and she had to beat her big sister, Venus to claim the title. I remember because we were there! Several weeks before our 20th anniversary, June 5, 2002, Larry and I started a conversation about what we should do to celebrate. It was mid May, and with our kids being 7, 9, and 11 years old, we were up to our eyeballs in end of the school year activities and kids' sporting events. Larry floated the idea of spontaneously flying to Paris for the weekend to watch tennis on the red clay. It took me 2 seconds to say, "yes!". We went on line and booked fights, bought tickets to Roland Garros, and found a hotel. And most importantly, we found a wonderful, available babysitter: Jessica Floyd (now Jensen), who said she would love to stay with our kids for the weekend! Ahhhh, Jessica was in a class of her own when it came to babysitters; we never worried, the house would be cleaned up when we arrived home, and the kids would have had a wonderful time playing games or doing crafts, and Jessica would thank us for letting her stay with our kids! Now she is a wonderful mother to her own little, lucky guy.
We flew overnight to Paris, arriving Friday morning. We watched a lot of tennis, ate fabulous food, were bleary with jet lag, and then flew home on Sunday. On Saturday, we had tickets to the women's final, which happened to feature two American sisters, Serena and Venus Williams. When you watched these two youngsters play, you knew that, barring injury, Serena and Venus would be on the tennis stage for many years. And younger sister, Serena, had to beat big sister, Venus, for the privilege of hoisting that glorious French Open trophy high over her head. We were proud to be present and watch history in the making.
While I have been writing, Safarova has shown the volatile nature of tennis, and has taken the 2nd set from Serena's grasp. Now there will be a third set to determine the 2015 French Open Champion. I would still put my money on Serena; she is the best female player there is, as she has shown so often over the past thirteen years.
Meanwhile, we ourselves prefer green clay to red, when we are swinging racquets at our local Manker Patten Tennis Club. Often on weekends, you will find us there, chasing a little, yellow ball. Both of us are highly competitive, one overtly, and one a closet competitor. If you have to ask which description belongs to whom, you don't know us very well. We have worked out a system that allows us to play together, and mostly, no one gets angry. We play games, but not sets. And we do not keep track of the number of games won or lost. I promise, Larry, I have not been keeping track, and I assume that you have had the same mental blackout. Its best for tranquility on the home front. And there was tranquility and love last evening, as we celebrated our 33rd wedding anniversary. Congratulations to us and to Serena!
