Welcome to the club newsletter, Grant

This is the first issue.

I wasn't sure what it should be. I knew what it shouldn't be. It shouldn't be tips: there are enough people on the internet telling you to bend your knees. It shouldn't be drills: you know the drills, you're not doing them, neither am I.

What I think it should be is a letter, once a month, from one of us to the rest of us. The people who book the 7am court. Who own three rackets, even though we only need one. Who watch a Challenger match in Antalya at 2am because the main draw is over. Who, when asked what they did on holiday, say "a bit of tennis" and mean six hours a day, alone, against a wall.

A few things from the month
Men's league started on Tuesday. It always starts on a Tuesday. If you've never played club league tennis, the format is essentially this: turn up, find out you're playing the guy you've been quietly avoiding for six months, lose 6-3 in the first, drive home wondering if you should have eaten more for dinner.

There is a man in our division who looks like he should not be very good. You know the one. He's not wearing the right shoes. His grip is wrong. His takeback is something his dad showed him in 1986. He gets every ball back. Every single one. You hit a forehand into the corner, the kind that ends rallies against people you respect, and he is already there, gently slicing it back with what appears to be amusement. I lost to him in two. I will lose to him again.

The other end of the same problem: the 14-year-old. Every club has one. Ours is called something like Theo or Felix and he is being scouted by an academy. I played him in a friendly. He is almost half my age and he beat me with what I can only describe as patience.

A short note on the rackets
I've been stringing with Luxilon ALU Power for a few months. I'm not going to do the thing where I tell you what tension. We all know each other. ALU Power has done what I needed it to do, which is mostly stay out of the way. Whether the issue is the strings has, in my experience, never once been the strings.

That's it for this month. Saturday's coming. Court Two if you can get it. Bring your own balls. Don't bring a hopper. 

See you on the court soon, Grant