Author Archives: Tracy J Gates

The frustrating thing about the first few days of the 2011 Delaware Investments U.S. Open Squash Championships is that you want to watch every match, and if you want to watch both men’s and women’s matches, you have to choose. So … Continue reading →

Violet light seeped filmy and translucent through the windows facing east. Birds were warming up their morning voices. The muffled chime of a bell buoy tolled now and again from across the water. And then I ruined it all by … Continue reading →

tired feet It was embarrassing . . . everyone kept passing me—the guy with the head phones and ratty sneakers, the two girls with muffin tops chatting to one another, even the woman with legs half as long as mine. … Continue reading →

Beads of water form and gather on my arms and no matter how many times I wipe the handle of my racquet with my skirt, it’s still slick. Remembering the a/c challenged courts from last year’s round robin, I’ve come … Continue reading →

I am bleary-eyed and sleep deprived when I slide open the door to the cockpit and stick my head out to test the air. Usually, the two person watch shift before me is slumped over at the wheel or sliding … Continue reading →

I am sitting in the gallery of the racquets court at the Racquet and Tennis Club in New York. It is enormous and starkly beautiful, the floor and walls lined with thick slate that is a deep heavy gray, almost … Continue reading →

Walking into the gallery of court one is like wading onto the subway platform at Times Square in the heat of summer. It’s humid, it’s hot as hell, and there are so many people it’s almost impossible to move. Fortunately, … Continue reading →

Ramy Ashour is a showman. This I decided while watching the finals of the Tournament of Champions last night. He comes onto the court prancing like a race horse in his silky green sweatpants, bouncing the ball from his racquet … Continue reading →

The wheel was spinning. Sweat was dripping. And I couldn’t stop grinning. I was back in the saddle again—as they say—and loving it. Between Christmas and New Year’s, I’d put over one thousand miles on my pick-up truck, but very … Continue reading →