Why I love Georgia’s great outdoors: Tennis
I remember the day vividly, even though it was more than 40 years ago.
My father was a high school football player and tried to get me to follow in his footsteps. After a few scrimmages, I realized the sport wasn’t for me, so he introduced me to tennis instead. At a run-down tennis court in Milledgeville, with a broken net that no one thought to fix, cracks all over the surface, and cigarette butts along the entrances, I whacked my first forehands as a 14-year-old.
Within moments, I was hooked. I was on my high school tennis team, and the game became an important part of my life. When I moved to Atlanta from Athens after college, I became a real tennis junkie. I was a solid 4.0-level player, and on the right day could hang with the 4.5 players. Tennis fascinated me, and I went overboard, playing in as many leagues as I could—ALTA, USTA, K-Swiss, Atlanta Team Tennis Association—as well as various tournaments. I loved every sweaty second of it.
It did not, however, love me back. I wore both knees out by the time I was in my mid-30s. Various knee surgeons (and my husband) told me to stop playing, but I refused to listen, and my cartilage pretty much evaporated. I’ve heard the expression “bone on bone” (with no cartilage in one’s knees, the bones literally scrape against each other) so often that I’ve thought of using it as a middle name. Over the course of 25 years, I’ve had surgery five different times on both knees, but those were ultimately just Band-Aids, as were the cortisone shots I received. It got so bad that I had to stop playing 10 years ago.
I finally got up the nerve last October to have a total replacement of my right knee, and part of my motivation was the chance to get back on the courts. The surgery was traumatic. I am healing, but surgery differs from person to person. Oprah Winfrey had one knee repaired, and three months later did the other. I’ve come to realize I am not Oprah, but I’m on a hopeful path to recovery. I’m walking fine and doing stairs. The arthritis is gone, but there is still constant pain, and I’ve not regained the strength I need in my knees and quads.
When people ask me what I love about the sport, I say that the social aspect of being on teams was always nice, but for me, the real joy was the challenge. Doubles was a lot of fun, and I learned how to adapt, but my jam was singles. At 5 foot 4, with a stocky physique, bad knees, a bad back, and something always aching, I had no real power. I had to work for every point and try to win with grit and mental toughness and speed. Sometimes it worked. Many other times, it did not. I liked the puzzle of trying to figure it out myself, the warrior aspect of pulling out a 7–5 victory in the third set after a three-hour match on a scorching Atlanta day. Psychologically, knocking forehands around was also very therapeutic.
Those days are long gone, but I still cling to the belief that I can heal enough to get on the court again. There will be no league play, no singles, and whatever I do will be a social, noncompetitive version of the fierceness I used to bring to playing the game. Yet after so much time away, I burn with the desire to get back on the court and whack a forehand winner down the line.
Three great places to play tennis
All three of these tennis centers offer one-on-one instruction and group drills for both aspiring and experienced players.
Sandy Springs Racquet Center
The center is home to over 130 USTA and ALTA teams, with 18 hard courts, 4 clay courts, and 8 permanent pickleball courts.
Bitsy Grant Tennis Center
With 28 courts, including 13 clay courts, Bitsy Grant is Atlanta’s largest tennis facility, and pays homage to the greatest tennis player the city has produced.
South Fulton Tennis Center
This southside tennis oasis has 20 hard courts, 4 clay courts, and 4 pickleball courts.
Jim Farmer is an Atlanta-based writer whose work has appeared in Georgia Voice, ArtsATL, and Atlanta magazine. He is the festival director of Out On Film, one of the largest LGBTQ+ film festivals in the world.
This article appears in our August 2024 issue.
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I was a tennis warrior until the game wore out my knees; after surgery, I yearn to get back on the courts.
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