Carolyn

Hi , this is Carolyn and I'm here with aron , and this is part two of our episode with Eric , who is the 55 plus four five singles national champion . He took a 35 year break from tennis and credits tennis with helping to save his life . If you want to learn more about that , please check out part one , but here is part two .

Erin

So tell us what's the difference between playing individually or doubles tournaments versus a league , in your opinion ?

Eric

You know . So , in addition to playing tournaments , which has been my focus , I'm a captain of a team in four or five men's league in the Naples area and I'm also on a mixed doubles league , and I love to play both formats . I find that they're very different experiences for me , league versus tournaments , and you know when the logistics work out . I think leagues can be like very social , and the teaming aspects is what I really really love I mean like to what we're talking about , erin is that when you're playing a singles tournament , you're kind of out there on your own .

Erin

Yeah .

Eric

And when you're in a league it's very , very team-oriented and social . It's wonderful and it's just got a different level of intensity . So it depends on what you're looking for . Some people love the doubles and the teaming aspects and some people love the singles aspects .

Eric

For me the leagues are a little challenging sometimes with the logistics and the scheduling . Is that , hey , you're trying to get a match going , you say you're going to play and then things change a lot More often than I expected . You know , being a captain or coordinating league matches , it can be kind of a little frustrating scheduling wise . What I like about tournaments the other way is that when you sign up for a tournament it becomes like a priority . You're saying that's the date the tournament is going to be , you've signed up for it , you've kind of scheduled around the tournament , both everything you have to do to get ready for the tournament , be in the tournament and even like the recovery during the tournament and everything . So it has a different context than my experience in leagues and it's just . You know , what you're looking for is an experience and for me I find the intensity of a singles match for me is just . I grew up as a singles player . I'm a singles player who loves playing doubles .

Eric

Usually you know what I mean . So I just I kind of like being out there and I said it's when I get into my flow , it's great when I have doubles . It depends on the doubles partner I'm with when you get to the point where you're just starting to just know what's going on , the flow between the two . So it's just different experiences . But it's really about making a commitment . Some things are leagues are . I think the value of them is that they can be very flexible , which is great for a lot of folks . But with tournaments they are far more . And then if you play a tournament that then says , hey , I know I need to go for travel , I need to go someplace else , well , that's also another commitment , whether it be regional or nationally . Not only the time but the expense . Not everyone wants to kind of like , do a tournament all the time .

Carolyn

Are you lonely playing tournaments like singles tournaments ? Because to me a singles tournament sounds miserable by myself Never . Because that's why I love team . If I'm going to play singles , I want to be there with my team .

Eric

Right , well , you say that , well , I suppose I don't . Well , no , I don't ever feel I've been on tournaments where I go , and sometimes people are supporting me and sometimes I go on my own , like right now I'm actually competing in the USTA Red Court National Championships . But to your point on being lonely out there , I never , never feel more .

Carolyn

No . So the answer is no , he does not . He's not a woman .

Erin

That's why it's so good to have you on , because we do have so many . I mean , we have so many . Carolyn and I have talked about this for years . We love having a man's perspective , because it is so different than our experience . Just personality , wise , no-transcript . You're competing against people . It must be a fun experience .

Eric

Totally yeah , I mean you definitely meet people . That's one of the things about league versus tournament . Sometimes when you're playing a league , you know everybody and if it's the local , it is . You're playing the same people and that's kind of cool . But sometimes it's like , hey , this is my local crew , and that's when you're playing tournaments . I find you're always meeting newer people all the time . And sometimes when you're playing the value , going to regional or national tournaments and you meet people from like all over the country and , hey , you start experiencing and you find like , for example , I was down in Florida playing a tournament and I realized I started playing with people who also have a college background and like , oh wow , when did you go to nationals ? It turns out we were actually in nationals at the same time . Oh , cool yeah .

Erin

You know , yeah , and actually in nationals at the same time .

Eric

Oh cool , yeah you know , yeah , and actually in the same tournament in 1987 . That's crazy . You know like . Wow , you know it was like . So it's great meeting new people . It's very social and it's great meeting folks and learning about their backgrounds and where they're from .

Carolyn

What are the line calls like ?

Erin

It's always , carolyn , I love you .

Carolyn

She's always like . It's always Carolyn , I love you . She's always like what are the line calls ? Like who are the people ? I'm thinking like ? I'm thinking like USTA singles national championship everybody's paying to go to Florida . I'm thinking very intense .

Eric

Yeah , I mean it is . I mean there's no question about that . Um , uh , caroline , it is . It is intense . I think you have it's .

Eric

I don't know , I mean as a singles player , I think I mean I grew up as a singles player for one . That's what I my whole . When I started playing tennis I didn't really doubles was kind of a thing that was fun to do , but I always liked my . I would evaluate my progression as a tennis player , as a singles player , and you get to learn how to play in all sorts of conditions , in all sorts of bad situations , and you have to stay with your flow and sometimes you get bad , you know , I'd say bad calls or opponents that are really not fun to play with , and then you get quite the opposite .

Eric

There's sometimes , when you play people that it's just like this is the most fun I'm having . I might even be losing , but we're just pulling out the best in each other . I love that and we're like in some places like and this is maybe more of a mental thing Like a lot of times people don't want to say good shot to each other . You know , hey , you just hit a great shot and I think what I'm playing now . I find it's far more like if you hit a really good shot , people acknowledge it to each other .

Carolyn

Yes .

Eric

And that kind of sets the tone of like hey , you know we're out here both doing our thing Only jerks , don't you know ? And there's always situations where it can get a little difficult . But you know , you kind of work it through and I've never had a situation and to the point about like being in a national tournament , you'd think that there would be an official .

Carolyn

Right , right . There's no officials . There's no officials .

Eric

No officials , and maybe that's going to change with Swing Vision or something like that and AI scoring and all that stuff . But you know , sometimes I really think that for players who are competing at a national level , and you talk about just adult recreational , or even the fact that there's no officiating at college level games is kind of amazing . Okay , and it takes a little bit of the . You've got to focus on your flow , you've got to focus on what you know and you've also got to be an official .

Carolyn

Yes .

Eric

Which no other sport really has that kind of context .

Carolyn

So it's so hard .

Eric

Yeah , and you know , sometimes you know I'd say , look , nine times out of 10 , you're going to get the calls right on both sides and then if there's that one that you don't know , then you kind of work it through with the other person and it's just , you just work it through , just like anything else .

Carolyn

He's such a man .

Erin

I know Well , I think . But he has such a good mental state too , I think , staying in that flow , like if we can remember that , then like I , just I I always tell myself I don't have I have as much energy to play a match , I don't have extra energy to be irritated with people , or it just takes too much , right so , but but , but some people are looking for a fight .

Erin

You know , that's just how they are . They're just looking , they're looking , they , they , they think they go into it , think they're going to be cheated , and so they're looking for a fight . But those are usually the people that you can beat too , because they're the first ones to implode , because they're so hung up on you know being treated a hundred percent , you know making a hundred percent correct calls and nobody cheating them that , um , they're easier to beat .

Eric

I feel like yeah Well , I mean , listen , I kind of feel like when I was a kid on Long Island or whatever you know , between high school and all the terms , I felt like I was playing street ball .

Carolyn

You know I mean like you know I mean it's like you're built to fight .

Eric

Well , I mean and there's a part of it which is physical , but it's the mental part Like , okay , well , all right , look if , if , if you're going to call bad lines on me right then , when I was a kid , stan Smith was like one of my idols .

Eric

Okay , I mean . And so I'd heard about the story where they're in a Davis Cup match and they're getting , and with professionals and everything around , they're getting bad line calls in a Davis Cup match against Elon Nastassi and all this sort of stuff . And I'm like , so what do you do ? And he's like , okay , well , I'm not going to hit the ball close to the line , I'm just going to do other things to win . And if that's what you're going to have to pull , this is the line calls . Well , I'm going to take that out of the equation , I'm just going to start working in another way , and okay , and then you get to the point where , and then when they to your point on just the tipping point of an opponent , and at that point , if they still can't win or can't get through that stuff , then you're just , you know , you're just kind of just have to stay consistent and be in your moment and let them fall apart .

Carolyn

So , eric , can you tell us the craziest thing that's ever happened to you playing tennis ?

Eric

Sure , well , it has to do with the tournament . And I show up and I said do with the tournament . And I show up and I said I had a noon match . Okay , so I go into the tournament , you know check-in place . I say hi , I'm Eric , I'm here for my noon you know match . Okay , I'm thinking nothing of it . She says , great , she's got it on there , Go good . And she comes over and says all right , go off on court five or whatever and start your match . Great , I'm playing the match , played it , won it . Come back , check in the score and then realize there was another Eric and there were two Erics at noon . And I thought , I kind of naively thought I'm the only Eric in the world who's playing in this tournament at noon . And so then I came back and then the other Eric was playing for me and had started a little late and they were in the first set somewhere and I asked the tournament director to say please stop the match . And they did , and then we restarted the real match . Did you win the second ?

Erin

one , I didn't oh bummer , I didn't .

Eric

Oh , bummer , I didn't . So you know , and maybe , look , I don't know if this guy would have gotten a better result than I did , but it was just funny , it was just an awkward thing . And so now I'm like , oh , it's like all these things you have to think about , like , okay , well , I have to be there at 12 o'clock . Well , I got to travel . You know all these different things you got to deal with now . Now I have to go and think about , well , I have to say my first name , my last name , the match number , who my opponent is to make sure that I'm on the right court .

Erin

That's funny . You're like I need to channel the other , Eric .

Carolyn

Thanks again to Eric . We have one more episode where he tells us what he does to stay in flow on the tennis court and his opinion on sandbagging at 4-5 . Thanks so much for listening and hope to see you on the court soon .