My love affair with tennis has been a resurgent one. It began soon after losing my dear father Ajit in early December of 2017. He taught me to play.

Following my workaholic 40s, and the loss of my mother in early April of 2015, I’ve had a growing urge to visit some of the smaller pro tennis tournaments, where I could get a court-side seat and between matches, mingle with other enthusiasts. I just returned from my first tournament. I attended the debut Oracle Challenger event in Houston. Many good things happened the day before the event started. My flight from SFO was on-time, my checked bag was first on the carousel, and there was a change machine, right there in baggage claim. I then took a 75-minute bus ride from George Bush International to my delightful host’s Airbnb. Olga, a Welsh grandmotherly type lives in a charming neighborhood alongside Rice University. She could not have been nicer, and had two lovely dogs.

The fact that my first pro tournament was in its first year came with some additional promotional benefits – free food! The tennis and the burgers were fabulous. Before leaving Houston, I took several long walks around Rice University’s campus and college town, and spent an hour at Houston’s Museum of Fine Arts. It was such an enjoyable four days, that I already have my sights set on the larger Delray Beach Open in Florida in early 2019, and a few months later, an equally intimate Oracle Challenger event in Newport Beach.