I've decided to kick off the very first real tennis blog for DropVolley with a post about my favorite spectator sport - college tennis. Sure, I enjoy watching my friends play USTA matches and I also enjoy pro tennis, but college is by far the most exciting. Couple the generally good weather with the quality of division 1 schools in the bay area and you have some of the best tennis you will find anywhere.

I work in Los Altos, so I have been going to watch Stanford tennis for 3 years now. Don't get me wrong, if there isn't a match at Stanford and there is one at Cal or Santa Clara or USF, then I'm on my way. But Stanford is my favorite. When I'm sitting in the stands at Taube stadium on a weekday afternoon with basically an entire side of the stadium to myself in the warm spring weather, I have to say to myself, "Life is good". Yes, I do take afternoons off to go to matches, men's and women's.  I still get the "where are you going" look from my colleagues at work. Sigh, they just don't understand.

After the baseball season ends, I just have to bear down and wait till the end of January. The tennis season starts with the Australian open and the college season kicks off. I can then just barely make it till the spring without going crazy from the rain and cold.

The Stanford season kicked off this year with a nice banquet for dedicated fans where we had a chance to hit with the players for an hour, watch a mixed doubles exhibition, and chat with the players while  dining on some bar-b-que. This is the only time in my life where I have a chance to hit with current Div 1 players. They are all incredibly nice and were very patient while we shanked our best forehands at them.

The women's season starts this thursday and friday while the men start on saturday. The women's team has the best record of any team of any sport in college history. They have 3 consecutive national championships and are undefeated in that run. If you want to see some incredible tennis, come out on thursday.