Tennis Whites, Queens, 7 Train

I first want to apologize to all my readers for my little hiatus.  You might think I was taking this time off to look for jobs, going on interviews or networking. Now imagine the sound of the X for a wrong answer on Family Feud, because you would have three X's right now. I've been busy playing tennis. Lots and lots of tennis. I know I said a few blog posts back that tennis was nearly impossible to play in the city, and I still stand by that, but I said nothing about trekking out to Queens to play. It actually makes complete sense. I might as well play tennis where the US Open is held. These courts are owned by the USTA, not the city of New York, so the courts are a lot nicer and they have their own rules about reserving a court. None of the Paragon Sports permit bullshit. At these courts you just call up and make a reservation and its actually cheaper than the permits through the city. You pay per hour not per person, so if  you're in the mood for doubles its even cheaper.

I can not take credit for this idea though, its all Phils. I had no clue you could actually rent the courts at the US Open. Obviously not the Ashe or Armstrong courts, but all the others are open. So Phil, his buddy and I go play last Saturday. I don't mind the subway and will pretty much travel anywhere on the subway line (cue to the Belmont fiasco) but I truly hate the 7 train. Not only does it stop every four blocks in Queens, but it definitely lives up to its name as the "International Train". Why go to China, when you can just ride the 7 train a few times? Good news for anyone who lives Upper East or midtown though. The F train cuts the time in half and you end up catching the 7 train with only a few stops to go. (Sorry for the non NYers reading this and confused by this subway lingo talk; deal with it!)

I need to ask Phil how he found out about these courts because it worked out great. The place was empty and the courts were amazing. But I'm really really outta shape. Phil said he could barely raise his arms to drink his Bloody Mary when he got home. I slept for about 48 hours straight afterwards. Now I'm finally re-cooperated and back to my normal self, blogging and so on. So if you want to play, you can find me on the 7 train. I'm pretty sure you can spot me. (No racist comments needed.) "Hey, I'm Retired at 28!"