And Second Shall Become First

On weekends I like to watch sports on TV. My favorite is football, but until the football season begins in August, I enjoy watching other sports, including tennis.

Last Saturday morning I woke myself up early, at seven am, to watch the women’s finals at the French Open tennis tournament.

The match was already in progress when I turned it on. I was disappointed that second seeded Coco Gauff, the twenty-two-year-old American, had already lost the first set to her opponent, the top-seeded Sabalenka.

Coco would have to win two sets in a row if she were to prevail in this major tournament. But, under windy conditions, Coco thundered back to take the second set at 6-2, then the third set at 6-4. An excellent start for my weekend.

On Sunday Carlos Alcaraz, a handsome guy from Spain, was one of the two men’s finalists. Carlos can usually outplay anyone in the world, but he was equally matched in this final round by his top-ranked opponent with the intriguing name of J Sinner.  This time I tuned in shortly after six am, just as the Sunday match was beginning.

And quite a match it was.

Sinner won the first two sets 6-4 and 7-6. Alcaraz had previously lost all eight of the matches in which he’d fallen behind by two sets, so this did not look good for him. But I didn’t quite give up.

Alcaraz won the third set 6-4. At this point, alas, I had to leave my home to attend a meeting. Alcaraz would have to continue playing without me cheering him on, in what would become one of the longest finals in French Open history – more than five hours. Obviously both players were young and fit. As I was driving, Alcaraz eked out a win in the fourth set, 7-6. Now Alcaraz and Sinner were tied in an exhaustingly long match where the players were as even as they come.

Then the fifth and final set — winner take more. Throughout my meeting I surreptitiously followed progress on my iPhone sports app.

Ultimately, Alcaraz prevailed by the narrowest of margins, 7-6, in a tiebreaker. You may have seen the photo of Alcaraz lying on his back on the red clay court after he won the final point.

So through the example of Coco and Carlos this past weekend we learned, yet again, that even if we’re far behind, we can still prevail if we persevere.

I spent Sunday afternoon reading a new biography of Mark Twain (an excellent thousand-page volume).

That is, until the NBA playoff game began on TV at 5:00 pm.

Alan

P.S.  Actually, in the entire match, Sinner scored one point more than Alcarez.  It was that close.