He complains

Towards the end of my tennis team experience at WashU, it was interesting that I sensed some subtle dissatisfaction towards me from some of the younger players. It was the opposite of when I just started where I had received a very warm, welcoming reception from my older teammates. My hypothesis is that some of the comments I had made on perhaps why I wasn’t playing or at least striving to play was regarded as complaining or making excuses. It was honestly very difficult to play at WashU at the Division III level. My game requires a certain level of conditioning that the Division III experience just didn’t offer. It wasn’t that I wasn’t good enough and I think some of the players sensed that having looked my record up online. I started tennis–and athletics for that matter–relatively late and so I don’t have all the shots. It made more sense to start someone who has the shots since it is a team dynamic, which again is sort of a bizarre thing for tennis.

On that note, however, I don’t think that I’m a person who complains very much. It may have been more of a miscommunication. If you’ve ever watched me play, I rarely get angry. Not never, but I’m a pretty levelheaded player. A part of that is that I really just fundamentally don’t care that much about this sport. My dad is really into it, and he got me started. It’s not a very intellectually stimulating thing for me, especially when it gets too competitive. I mean, what are we even playing for most of the time? However, it is an inherently fun sport and it does tremendous things for my mental and physical health. Thus, I will always cherish tennis and give back to it when I have the means. I hope my children, if I have any, can play tennis. Nevertheless, it is interesting that whenever there’s a win/lose situation (such as in sports), it tends to attract a certain type of psychopathic personality that I don’t necessarily mix well with.