Tennis brought father and son closer together

In 1940, I was born into a tennis family in Northeastern Oklahoma. My father was a college tennis coach and a darn good player. My uncles were all good players as well as a great uncle, who had originally taught all of the others to play. My grandfather had built a tennis court on his property, which was just a big slab of concrete. This was a big gathering place for all the neighborhood kids in the 1930s and 1940s.

At first, I really did not want to play tennis. I fancied myself a basketball player. A future Michael Jordan I was not. So I got back on the tennis court.

From 1956 to 1958, we never lost a match as a team and never lost until the year after I graduated high school when the string had reached over 40 wins.

After high school and college, I played tournaments every weekend for years. One division that I played in was father-son doubles with my father, playing other father-son teams around Oklahoma and neighboring states. My father and I had an often times rocky relationship while I was trying to grow up.

When we started playing father-son doubles, we developed a great relationship and enjoyed some success on the tennis court.

The old saying comes to mind: “The older

I got, the smarter my father became.”

We competed for years until his death at age 83. Lots of guys can say they enjoyed having their father as a coach. But very few of us can say that they had their father as a teammate.

David W. Kisner