Beaten Down by a 13-Year-Old.

Today I met with my hitting partner at 3 p.m. for our usual Sunday heat-fest. We had an absolute killer of a first set that I lost in a tiebreaker, but the real story here is that I was just incredibly tired toward the end of the set. I'm in pretty good shape these days, so that was the first time I've felt tired in a first set in a long time. Afterward, we were sitting on the bench, resting before heading to round two, and a couple guys walked to the court next to us that I had seen before - a father/son combo, where the son appeared to be fairly young but incredibly talented. I asked them if they wanted to play doubles, and we commenced.

It turns out that the son was 13, and he was ridiculously awesome. My partner and I were soundly beaten by him and his dad, which wasn't really surprising since I play doubles once per year or so (and I don't really like doubles). But man - the kid was just incredible for 13 years old. When my partner or I would fire a 100-mph rocket at him, he would yawn, take a nap, then stand up and guide the ball with laser precision wherever he wanted to hit it. He didn't have much power on any of his shots, but then again - he was 13.

Afterward I got details from his father on what I had already noticed, that the son is sponsored by Adidas. These days when the big companies see a lot of potential in a prospect, they lock them down as soon as possible because they might be the next Andy Roddick. (Apparently Nike had a shot at Andy when he was 16 or so, but they passed on it. He got huge, Nike regretted not grabbing him - now all the companies are getting in earlier.) Once the son signed with Adidas, they sent him a shipment of clothes in various styles and sizes to try on and see what he liked. So what came in the boxes? 80 shirts, 40 pairs of shorts, and 15 pairs of shoes. And his dad gets free stuff as well for coaching him. Wow.

So, I'd like to publicly announce that I'm not currently sponsored. For those of you from Nike reading this (no one), leave me a comment with your contact information so I can begin the bidding war between you and the other companies that couldn't care less about me. Actually, it would be pretty detrimental to Nike's revenue streams to sponsor me since I currently drop ridiculous amounts of money on their stuff each year. Damn you, new products that demand color coordination!