Off The Screen: Championship Edition
Who won? Who lost? Who wrote a melancholy Substack post?
It ended with a weak backhand that died at the net. That’s how my season finished.
Three sets, another defeat, no championship.
But it was a fun season and a successful season for our team, Winnetka Series 36. We finished second and played the No. 1 team, Evanson, in the championship, losing 9-5. If my partner and me would’ve won our three-setter, we would’ve likely had the games to clinch a 7-7 tie. But it really wasn’t close in the end.
We played some tough games in that third set — I served at deuce down 4-2 for so long that one of the Evanston players on Court 1 said he was distracted by it — but we didn’t come out on top.
It reminded me of my last high-school match in the second round of our sectional tournament. Afterward, at the net, my opponent said, “You won every point except the important ones.” Even then, I realized that kind of defined me as a failed athlete.
I might be wrong, but I don’t believe I’ve ever won anything, in terms of a championship, as an athlete, individually or as part of a team. Does the Steubenville city spelling bee in eighth grade count? Probably not. I think the closest I came to winning was my high-school tennis team finished second in our conference tournament when I was a freshman. Mostly, my teams lost. Not always a lot but pretty consistently. Maybe it was me, I thought throughout the years.
As someone who turned 46 during this season, I felt a twinge of youth, despite steady back pain and that time I fell like an old man while backpedaling, because we won so often.
So that’s what it feels like?
It was a great time with an awesome group of guys and it was a much-needed rebound for many of us after bad seasons prior pushed many of us down to 36. While I wasn’t happy with how I played down the stretch, I think I improved a great deal this season. It was invigorating to see how much my teammates improved, both in PTI and actual play.
I’ll work on my weaknesses — screen play, slowing down — over the spring and summer, and will be ready for next season, wherever I am placed.
We didn’t make it to the Glen View Club for the season-ending party, preferring to drink away our sorrows at Evanston Golf Club and then Stormy’s in Northfield. Our Series 18 team showed up in their hats at Stormy’s, celebrating their 9-3 win over Skokie Country Club. Seeing the hats did not make me envious, but their happiness did.
Winnetka Series 18 was one of 29 CPTC teams to win both the mug and the hat, by defending its regular-season title with a playoff one as well. That’s six more than last season. (Check out the chart below.)
In all, 27 different clubs won a regular-season title and 29 won a playoff one. That’s pretty good parity. According to the CPTC, there were 545 teams across 53 series (including Legends and the Sunday Series 99) in the CPTC this season.
My club, the Winnetka Platform Tennis Club, won the most in each category, with nine regular-season wins and seven playoff ones. Six Winnetka teams swept. The club’s newfound discipline in creating teams paid off as 30 of our 31 teams made the playoffs. Twelve of those teams made the finals.
Prairie Club had the second-most playoff wins with five, followed by Wilmette and Evanston with three. Evanston, impressively, went 3-for-3, winning at 9, 23 and 36.
Eight clubs won two playoff titles: Bryn Mawr, Skokie CC, Medinah, Glenbrook RC, Valley Lo, Glen Oak, Hinsdale Paddle Club and LifeSport-Lincolnshire.
If I’m doing my math right, that means 17 clubs, from Sunset Ridge in Series 2 to Inverness in Series 37, won one playoff crown. Twenty clubs (including five from the southwest series) failed to win either a regular season or playoff title.
As the great writer said, “So it goes.”
I have some ideas for offseason newsletters. Next week, before I head out for spring break, I will send the captains a form to fill out to pick the superlatives for each series. Be on the lookout for it.
I’ll leave you with the words of a competitor spoken to me solemnly during the playoffs: “I don’t know why I let this sport affect me so much.”
