I played doubles yesterday and my partner and I won 6-0, 6-2. So, guess which of these excuses my opponents gave to us after the match to explain their poor level of play:
1. I'm sick.
2. I've been sick for a while and need to be on bed rest and antibiotics.
3. I haven't played much this season.
4. Actually, I haven't played in a really long time.
5. I don't play much tennis. I mostly play golf.
6. I don't play Champ level tennis.
7. We've never played together before.
8. In fact, we've never met before.
If you guessed that they gave ALL of these excuses within the space of about 5 minutes, you would be correct! I think they were suffering from what I believe is known as “Serena Williams Syndrome.” They seemed to have plenty of excuses to explain why they lost but they never once said anything nice about why we won. I mean we did have to do a little bit of work on the court even if the score makes it look like it was a cake walk.
All I'm saying is don't just be a graceful winner. Let's all be graceful losers too. Don't detract from my win by telling me all of your excuses for why you played so badly when there is some remote shred of possibility that my partner and I just happened to play well. Or, if you must give me an excuse, go ahead. Just don't give me 8 of them.
© Kim Selzman 2011 All Rights Reserved
That is my pet peeve right there! Just be gracious about it if you lose… I lost in 3 sets yesterday afternoon. My husband said “you should have told her you had just ridden 43 miles on your bike before the match”. I thought, why? She was the better player and she won. The fact that I had to squeeze in training beforehand was just an excuse. Why make her feel slighted in her accomplishment, you know?