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Sideline opinions.

Often times when I tape I am asked what the call was, as if my view from the sideline is better then those playing. But I hold no sideline opinions. I know that the person who's call it is to make knows what is the right call, and they have the choice to make the call they know or to doubt it. In fact when I am playing a person and they call a ball out that looked in to me, I also do not hold any opinion as to whether or not they were doing wrong or not. If they see the ball is out and make the call, the ball is out, and I do not entertain any "Thought" coming to me trying to get me to believe I know the call they should have made. That is the challenge, to overcome such "Thoughts." A number of them came to today as I played both matches and if I had chosen to believe these lies then I would walk away with the false opinion that I was cheated. But I did not believe the thoughts and I know for a fact that I was not cheated.

That voice just wants to get you to believed and hold opinions to bring you into a state of being bothered. And each of us has the choice to believe in it and be bothered or to see it for what it is; a lie...and let it pass.

Overcome the lie. That is the game. And as is the case in all events some people walked away from the Desert Palm Tournament Lie and conflict free, while some may have done otherwise. Myself, I enjoyed the whole thing. Playing Bruce Merrin in the first round and won. Playing Troy Wolf in the second round and won played Jason Zimmer in the third and final round and lost. I can say I had the same satisfaction at the end of each match. And in telling a person of my last match loss they looked at me with eyes of pity as if I might feel bad about it. Why would a person feel bad if they went and played and did what they know to be right throughout the event? I could see a person not being satisfied because they had compromised themselves by making wrong calls or had allowed themselves to mentally break down. But if you stay aware and play with integrity what is there to be bothered about? Nothing. I got beat in the finals 6-1, 6-3. Now I could make and share the excuses that came to me after the match, but I know excuses are a lie and there is no benefit in sharing something I do not believe. There is no excuse. Sometimes you just get beat. Such was the case today as Jason Zimmer took home the finalist trophy in both of the category's he played in. The men's 3.5 doubles and the men's 3.5 singles. He played me in the singles and played with Troy Wolf in the doubles in what Howard Tubin said was the best match of the tournament. Filled with great Volley's Troy and Jason were able to beat the other finalist team of Steve McCrary and Greg Moore in a very close two set match 6-4, 7-5.

On the tournaments opening night for 3.5 men's singles Robert O'Sullivan was out to play against Jason Zimmer in his first tournament in 23 years. He said he recently decided to start playing a sport he enjoyed in his youth and the only place he found on the web was VegasTennis.com. He has been listed in the "Find a Match" section where you can contact him and other players to play with. Robert has also used the list to contact and play against a number of other players. In fact when I asked him how he knew about the tournament he said he found out about it from the VegasTennis.com web site. He lost but had a good attitude about it; meaning he did not get upset and make excuses. This too was the case in the rematch between Steve Spelman and Brian Lashley. Brian won the Lorenzi men's 4.0 tournament weeks ago, yet Friday night Steve said he was a shadow of the player he came against just weeks earlier. And walking off the court it looked like Brian had won as he was smiling and seemed to not be down. And when I asked him about the match he simply stated "He out played me."

Another very close match was between Steve Larembowski and John Hempel. I have seen John play before and his Grey hair and rather slow gait are not the full picture. He has a way of placing balls in tight places like a tennis surgeon. Rarely hard hit but often well placed chess moves. Steve Larembowski on the other hand has a lot of power and playing him in the past he had often over hit the ball and one could count on getting points by letting him over hit. Yet just recently he injured his left arm. And by doing so he was forced to slow it down and something about the injury made him more aware, less erratic, improving his game dramatically. A guy who would often over hit easy put aways now hits a finesse shot with ease. This type of play can not be achieved by reading the latest tennis books or someone else's advice. It is something a person either chooses to see or rebels against. And in this case Steve was helped into being more at ease and aware by the injury. Now the key is to keep this calm and awareness even though the injury is no longer there to hold him back. And from what I saw today he is doing just that , forcing John Hempel to give it everything he had in order to beat him. The match started before my match began and ended way after I did. It was two sets and both were extremely close at 7-5, 7-5.

On another court were Desert Pam teammates now opponents Victor Cardoza and Steve Spelman. Howard Tubin said Steve played some of the best tennis he had ever seen him play beating Victor 6-0, losing the second in a tie breaker 6-7 (4-7) then winning the last set in minutes 6-0.

So in the final 4.0 men's was Steve Spelman and John Hempel, who went neck and neck. But in the end, Steve was able to take the last set 6-3. Steve's wife Janet was also on hand to watch the match.

 Meanwhile Shari Smith won all three of her matches to get the finalist trophy for the woman's 2.5 division. Patty Hougen, who also won the Lorenzi 2.5 trophy weeks ago, won the runner up trophy losing only one match to Shari Smith 3-6, 3-6.

Again, Howard Tubin was there the whole time from morning till night. There is not a tournament Director in town who has done the whole tournament 100% themselves, there the whole time. To me the tournament was the perfect size. Not too big, not to small. As Howard says, "It was just right." He said he enjoyed the whole thing. As did I.

Desert Palm tournament  call 368-2800 for more information