You Can Get There From Here: Part 7

No time to process Dad’s latest outburst. Six months in to season and the UCLA tennis schedule had become all encompassing. Matches and tournaments and travel, week after week after week. With little rest for the weary, I had even less time to process Dad’s latest missive. (Click Here.) Just more mental static to compartmentalize. But it was starting to get crowded in my mind’s storage unit. Any more added drama and I might burst. In spite of everything, I remained undefeated. I had a winning streak going, closing in on the UCLA’s freshman record of 22 consecutive victories without a loss, held by none other than my idol Jimmy Connors. With winter quarter’s final exams upon us, the team finally got a few days off from practice. But God forbid have a weekend off too, for Coach entered us in Southern California’s prestigious Valley Hunt Club Collegiate Invitational. The draw was loaded with all the usual suspects. The top players from USC, UCLA, Pepperdine et al. I got a rough draw, pulling the top seed in the first round, Pepperdine’s John Van Nostrand, a stud of a player ranked 2nd in the NCAA. Big guy, bigger game, I might…