Saturday

Tuesday July 12, 1977


It was a good morning, the series of storms that have pounded us have cleared and we are back to hot, clear days. The morning really flew by past, we worked on backhands with the campers, in the demos Mr. B showed the one and two hander. All the Borg-Connors clones use two, I would say over half of all campers use the two hander. I think you give up too much reach with the two handed backhand, and its very hard to hit underspin. I like the one handed stroke but if I have a player that’s doing a good job with the two-hander I’m not going to change it, I will help them make it better.


After lunch I took a little nap before we gathered up our dirty clothes for the trip to the laundry. Its about a four block walk, I have a big laundry bag that I can put clothes in, This laundry mat is expensive .50 cents to wash and .25 cents to dry. So, I got three dollars in change and leaves me enough money to buy a coke too.


The walk through Mercersburg was fun, I love looking at the houses, they are so ancient and this is such a beautiful town. Bevin chatted the whole time, most of the talk is about her sisters and Dad, about school and her classes. She told me all about her home outside of Philly, a place called Haverford. When we got to the place it was reading time, Bevin is reading the book ‘Valley of the Dolls.‘ I’m still reading Farewell to Arms, and Im at the part where Catherine dies in childbirth. I’m really into Hemingway.


We finished folding and then walked back to the Academy. I didn’t feel like sitting the dorm the rest of the day so I walked downtown to the Fredrick Library and just hung out and read all the magazines and newspapers, then found some great picture books to leaf through. One book had all the photos of Mathew Brady…to think that this was where the war was fought…being so close to Chambersburg, Antedium, Gettysburg. The photos were amazing. I made it back to the Dining Hall just in time to eat.


After dinner I had another counselor tournament match, this time I played Roger Dickinson. We ran each other into the ground, it was a battle and I had the edge down the stretch but he tied it up at 8-8. We played a tiebreaker and he pulled it out 9-8. There were no bad line calls, no controversy, just steady tennis. I have to hand it to him he played well with a deadly topspin lob. Rogers forehand is very steady and he hits it deep, he has a just one weakness, he hits short off his backhand side, I needed to attack off that side but didn’t think of that until it was too late. The match lasted neary 3 hours and we both lost a lot of water, I’ve downed at least a gallon of water tonight, I’m pleasantly tired, I feel good because I played good, I’ve had a bunch of close matches lately, I’m closer to figuring it all out.


Mark and I planning a weekend trip to Washington, D.C. for our only weekend off. It should be fun because on Saturday the Washington Star Tennis tournament gets underway. We plan on attending Sunday and then join the rest of the camp there on Monday. Mr. B rented buses and we’re taking 86 campers. I have never seen a pro tennis match, I cant wait to see how they hit. Mark and I are very excited. The Washington Post reported today that Villas is the number one seed with Brian Godfrey, Raul Ramirez, Eddie Dibbs and Harold Solomon are all scheduled to play.

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