Caroline O'Donoghue: Tennis —the speed of it, the physics, the fact that you could get hit in the face at any moment
Caroline O'Donoghue
I started tennis lessons this week. I think it’s the last square on my lockdown bingo card, right above ‘baking’, right below ‘becoming suddenly obsessed with your own memories because you’re not making any new ones / waking up at 2am to Google an old friend’s baby sister who must be in her 20s now’.
Tennis lessons come under that elusive heading of ‘new skill’. I have avoided ‘new skill’ for as long as possible. Let’s be honest, who actually likes learning a new skill? It’s a situation ripe for humiliation, not to mention expense and faff. New skills usually come with new equipment, and if the skill is truly new to you, you will be plunged into a world of uncertainty, online bargains, and unsolicited advice. It’s that classic dilemma: do you spend money on good quality stuff (in my case, a tennis racquet) that will give you the best start, or do you buy some cheap crap and wait to see if you actually like the thing you’re learning to do?
