20090814

My Most Lethal Shot in Tennis


I know I shouldn’t be saying this, seeing how Typhoon Morakat invaded Taiwan and claimed 500 lives, but I have to admit that I'd much rather our weather be affected by a typhoon than the notorious, dreaded trough of low pressure. The former usually comes and goes fairly quickly, but the latter brings days or even weeks of gloomy, rainy weather. In the worst case scenario, as in an El Nino year, one trough of low pressure follows the other, and it can keep raining and raining for over a month.

Fortunately, the trough of low pressure that has been hovering over the region has weakened, in time for me to be able to play tennis this evening. My game was a bit rusty today, the result of a lack of practice due to playing sessions being cancelled because of the bad weather.

Talking about my tennis game, I have a lethal shot. I mean literally ‘lethal’ shot. It happened in a session many years ago. After hitting a forehand, I saw, in the split second, a bird flying across the net from one side of the court. To my amazement, and by the slimmest of chances, the trajectories of the bird and the ball met. Perfect timing (awful timing, rather, considering the impact)! Pop it went. The poor bird was hit by the ball and it dropped onto the court. I raced to examine it. Its neck was twisted and some saliva was oozing out of its beak. After some weak twitching of the body, life drained out of the unfortunate feathered friend. I scooped it up, laid it gently on the grass beside the court, and picked up the racquet again with a heavy heart. That was the most lethal shot I have ever played, but not one I am proud of. Of course I didn't mean to, but it was an innocent life that I had taken away.
(Disclaimer: The player in the photo is not me.)

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