It was during a trip to Japan in the early 2000’s. At the time, I was ranked #864 in the world, and was playing a series of 10K Futures with my former collegiate teammate—a Brit named Oli. This particular event occurred before competition started, as we’d arrived a week early to acclimate. We were training at a nice tennis club in Tokyo; the club pro, Hubert, had arranged for each of us to stay at different families’ apartments throughout the week. Also, apparently, we were supposed to help teach the kids’ tennis class.
Kumamoto City, Japan, 2003 Oli and I lost in the doubles final of this Japanese 10k Future and I guess we played under a cell phone tower?
That morning—a Saturday—I was supposed to be at the courts at 8:00 a.m. Hubert had arranged for Oli and me to run the kids’ clinic as a thank you for having us at the club all week. We didn’t remember saying yes to this idea, but here I was in a car on the way to the courts.