i just want a game on saturday

That's it. That's the post. I just want a game on Saturday.

Not a lesson. Not a league. Not a "social" where I play a 6-0 against a lovely lady who started in March and then get told off by the organiser for "not easing off" (I was easing off, Bev). Just one game, one hour, someone about my level, Saturday morning.

I have been trying to get this one simple thing for about ten years.

Here's what happens. Wednesday I think, I'll sort Saturday. I message Tom. Tom's at a christening. I message Raj. Raj is "maybe, depends on the kids". I post in the club WhatsApp which has 140 people in it of which 138 have never spoken. Nothing. Friday night Raj says the kids have a party. Saturday I go for a run instead and feel sad about it.

Every week. Every single week.

And asking is the bit that actually grinds you down. Getting a "ah can't this week" isn't a big deal on its own, but get it every week for a few years and you just stop asking. I stopped asking for most of 2024. Played about six times.

People keep telling me "there's an app for finding partners". Yes. I've tried them. You swipe through strangers who all say they're "3.5-4.0" (they are not), you have the awkward "so what level are you REALLY" chat, then you still have to find a court, then you do it all again next week. It's the same problem with more steps.

The ONLY thing that's worked is the ladder. I don't ask anyone any more. I'm just on it, I say when I'm free, and people near me challenge me or I challenge them, and the result goes in and that's it. Nobody has to be brave. It's not me asking Tom for the fourth week in a row. It's just "you're next to me on the ladder, Saturday?"

Ours runs on Rallio now (Jake at our club built it, and also writes on here), and I've played more Saturday tennis this spring than in the whole of last year. I don't really care which ladder you use though honestly. Just get on one. Stop asking. Be the person who's available instead of the person doing the asking.

All I wanted was a game on Saturday. I've got one now. Took ten years.

P.S. lost my first ladder match 6-1 6-2 to a man in his seventies called Derek. he was very nice about it. that was worse.