Tennis and travel, a shared pursuit

To celebrate our 20th wedding anniversary a few years ago, my husband and I booked ourselves a holiday in the Maldives. The first years of our marriage had evolved around passion, while the following ones were about parenting. Then, as our nest began to empty, the next stage of our lives became focused on shared pursuits. So, when we were selecting a resort for this milestone celebration, a crucial element we considered – apart from sun, sand and sea – was access to a nice tennis court.

I brought along Andre Agassi’s autobiography, Open. And when the sun set gloriously on days of swimming, sunning and snorkeling, we donned our tennis togs and hit the court every evening for the sheer pleasure of sending each other back and forth across the baseline, and pounding each other to a pulp at the net – all before the requisite candlelit dinners and romance.

Tennis is addictive, cathartic and exhilarating. How do I explain the inherent satisfaction of a sweet smash or the deft pop of a volley you put away out of your spouse’s reach? How do I describe the swish of a top-spin cross-court drive or, even better, the sneaky thrill of sending a ball down the line with a crisp strike as the hubby makes his way in the opposite direction?

When you win a point – unlike points in an actual quarrel – there is an automatic knowing smile shared across the court by spouses, acknowledgment of the other’s pleasure, joy that the other is happy. The way you announce the score after you’ve just won a point against him is something to savor and even relish. The battle is beautiful because it’s temporary, settled easily with a kiss at the finish.

In the long life of a forever marriage, tennis is, quite simply, therapy.

On the court, a wide range of differences can be settled for the time being. Points of conflict can be tempered and somehow resolved. Feelings can be expressed and individually managed, separately but together. And then, there are the intoxicating endorphins along with the unmistakable peace that comes with knowing you dealt with it, that you fought a good fight and can now move forward. It’s a highlight of any trip we take together – as we’ve discovered at Manila Polo Club, Shangri-La’s Mactan Resort & Spa in Cebu, Claremont Hotel & Spa in Berkeley and Skinner Park in Chicago.

Now that we’re both on the other side of 50 and can quite easily overdo it, we plan our holidays with care, debating on whether a match at this place or that is worth packing the rackets and shoes. This is why we have also turned to the joyful revelry of being married travelling tennis spectators.

After enjoying the amazing WTA Finals and the all-star IPTL tourneys at home in Singapore, it occurred to us we could travel places to watch tennis. So, for our 25th anniversary this year, we bought tickets to our first slam – the Australian Open in Melbourne. It was fantastic. The atmosphere, the learning, the sight of the pros in the flesh – suddenly, we had a new, fascinating tennis travel experience. To watch young guns try to topple those at the top is a heightened thrill way beyond simply watching it on TV. Next year, we want to see Rafa in Paris, and maybe go to Indian Wells or Shanghai or Rome or Toronto.

Forever is a long time, and staying in a marriage is, as they often say, a matter of focus, and a good measure of keeping things fun. Now that passions have evolved and transformed, and active, 24/7 parenting is coming to a close, we are grateful that tennis has emerged as a pure and enduring interest, bringing us, as a couple, face to face and heart to heart in love, in scores.