Me versus China

Today I met with LD, his wife LP and 11 year old daughter XX for dinner at their new home in a quaint peaceful neighborhood in Irvine. First LD, XX and I agreed to meet on the tennis court nearby to play some tennis.

This is a sort of big deal for me... LD is a former national #1 player in his home country of China and has competed in Davis Cup tennis, once ranked inside the top 300 in the world now he makes his living as a professional coach in California. I had first met them 7 years ago when they lived in Malaysia as neighbors to my aunt. Back then I had just moved out of Vancouver and was residing temporarily in Malaysia. I asked LD to teach me tennis. He was my first tennis coach and despite his poor English I learned a good deal over the 3 months of lessons.

Then I left for California and figured I would not see them again. I was wrong - a couple of years later I received an email from LD saying that he was moving with his family to California. He had been granted a green card almost instantaneously by the US because of his hefty sports credentials. He asked for assistance about where to live and how to start coaching in the US. I gladly obliged.

When they made the move to California, I volunteered to pick them up from the airport. There were a couple of occasions when they would get hopelessly lost trying to get home in the initial period of adjustment. The confusion stemmed primarily from the road sign convention being reversed, in Asia a sign directly across from you at an intersection referred to the road you were on. But in America, the sign pertained to the road parallel to it. There was an occasion when I had to excuse myself from work in the afternoon to rescue them.

More gratitude came a year later when LP applied for a job at the bank. My boss' wife was actually the hiring manager and I only realized the connection when he mentioned it to me at work that someone that fit the description of my friends had applied at his wife's workplace. And so I became an impromptu reference, LP got the job and she attributed that in part to my endorsement.

I suppose that LD and family see me as a lucky charm of sorts for I sense they have a fond place in their hearts for me because of the role I played in their footing in 'The Wild West'.

And so when I played LD and XX, I resolved not to be taken down easily by an 11 year old girl. I had my concerns, she had been playing a LOT of tennis with her Dad and also winning competitions in her age group. XX was a lot taller than I last saw her, she was turning into a pretty and lanky girl. I had the impression of an Asian Sharapova minus the ear splitting shrieks. As we rallied, she struck the ball confidently and consistently. I couldn't count on her making the unforced errors, I had to be a jerk and rely on my more powerful serve and go for winners at each opportunity. In the end, my brute force won the day.

Then LD stood up in a business like manner, it almost seemed like he pulled up his britches when he got off the bench. "Ok, now we play.", he announces.

We play for the first to win 4 games. I win the first two points and then everything else transpires in a blur of frenzied scrambling and errors on my part. Before I realize it he is standing at the net triumphantly waiting to shake my hand, I walk up and dazedly remark, "it's over already??".