Given how obsessed I am with tennis, you’d think I’d play a lot.

But I’m pretty sure I’ve made more LinkedIn posts about Unforced Error than I’ve stepped foot on court in the last 12 months. Read: not a good time at the bars

But that changed on Friday — our USTA 5.0 team had a league match, and I had one metric ton of fun. Two hours where my one job was just to see ball, hit ball. No emails. No house chores. No to-do lists. Basically a trip to the spa.

But my brain doesn't really do "spa." It continued its onslaught of mostly-unhelpful and unhinged thoughts. Let’s look at the transcript:

I don't think I've ever stepped on court before a match without this thought. Or the opposite — “I hope I don’t completely embarrass myself and make it somewhat close”

Not helpful whatsoever. But no matter the matchup, it comes up.

So you’re telling me that if I suck during this game, that I might lose this set? Ducking genius.

Improbable as it might seem, the same brain generating these simple-jack thoughts also scored a 45/100 on his very first college exam. The prof advised that I should drop the class. It was only up from there in ECON50.

This thought, immediately after a backhand down-the-line winner. It's 8:46 PM. The viewing area is full of USTA 2.5 moms and dads drinking beers after their matches. And the narcissist in me is desperately hoping at least three of them caught that winner.

Toweling off at the back curtain hoping I hear a did you see that shot?

This thought is why God invented unforced errors. I immediately play the worst game of the match — four errors, my opponent gets a pulse, and suddenly he has glimmer of hope. Meanwhile I'm already mentally upstairs in the viewing area, meeting our captain's newborn, making small talk with the other team.

So HoW’s WorK?

The loose game naturally spirals into: Oh god what if he finds some momentum here and we go to a super-tiebreak and my brain is still stuck on that second set and I lose 10-4 and everyone thinks I've regressed and I'm no longer a reliable singles guy and—

And then I hit a backhand screamer to close it out. The USTA 2.5 moms and dads definitely saw it. I made sure of that.

Two hours of tennis. My brain went from roughly 400 active concerns down to about 17. And the 17 it kept were completely useless — not a single one about anything that actually matters.

But I'll take it. A Friday night well spent.

Oh, and Jannik Sinner won his fifth straight Masters 1000 title on Sunday. 23-match win streak, $5.5 million in prize money this year. Rome now, Roland Garros soon.

Which of the following players holds the record for the fastest forehand ever hit?

A. Fernando Gonzalez

B. James Blake

C. Gael Monfils

D. Juan Martin del Potro

Find out at the bottom!

We’re staying on theme here folks!

“I have doubts every day. The doubts I think are good, because the doubts give you the possibility to work with more intensity, with being more humble, and accepting that you need to keep working hard to improve.

So for sure I have doubts. During [the last] 3 years I had doubts, I had doubts this week, and I gonna have doubts in a few days. Because in tennis, every week is a different story. That’s part of the beautiful thing of our sport.

Life is not that clear, so if you have no doubts, probably it’s because you are too arrogant. I don’t consider myself arrogant at all.

I think the doubts are very very good. [They] let me work so hard during my career. And probably for that reason, I am having the success that I have.” - Rafael Nadal

Some of the best tennis content I found on the internet this week…

🤌🏼 The music overlayed onto Musetti in this video is just so beautiful. It feels like a love letter to the clay court season

🛎️ The Madrid Open media team really crushed it with the red button bit

🏃🏻‍♂️ I’m fascinated by warm-up routines, and am always amazed by how much body work players do before they even hit a single ball. Check out Sinner’s routine, just before he took the court for the Madrid finals

B. James Blake

The sickest part about this wasn’t even the speed (125 MPH). It’s that Blake did it on match point at a US Open night session. One swing. Lights out. Like a boxer making his opponent go night night with one final haymaker. The reaction says it all.