No, I’m not trying out for Survivor. Jenny would kill me. =) I picked up a tennis racket for the first time in a few months on Saturday and went to the court with a Belgian chemist friend of mine from our apartment community, actually the same floor of our building. Just five minutes from us lies an excellent tennis facility with 16 well-maintained courts, available lessons, leagues, and tournaments, and a pro shop. It’s like a country club except I paid less than $3 for the match.

Anyway, all this Wimbledon talk got me in the spirit, so when I ran into Dirik at the pool earlier this week, I suggested we go play Saturday afternoon after I woke up. We left around 5:00. The temperature was about 98. For reference, the last time I played was probably in March, with a high of maybe 75 or 80, and I haven’t done much since then except walk-jog a bit on an indoor treadmill. Dirik, meanwhile, plays at least 2-3 times per week.

I started off playing decent tennis (for me), going up a break and giving a good effort. We seemed to be pretty even in level of play. But Dirik figured out quickly that my conditioning was, to put it nicely, sub-par. We ground out a few good rallies, but most of the points didn’t last too long, and I felt myself fading quickly. Dirik felt fine, running around well, and giving himself good-natured scoldings after a bad shot. Since I didn’t even bring enough water (his first clue that this match wouldn’t last long), he generously offered me some of his in between the beatings. He emerged with a 6-3 victory, and I left with a really sweaty shirt. We plan to play again later, which means I’ll need to spend a little more time on the jogging trail.

After work this morning, I plan to sleep briefly and then wake up for the highly anticipated Federer-Nadal Wimbledon final. I predict a Nadal victory. Yep, I said it.