(Staff writer Maria Cristescu and her sister Ana placed fourth in the WIAA Division 1 state tennis tournament Oct. 19 in Madison. She wrote about the experience for the Crimson Aviator.)
I get asked many questions when I tell people I played doubles with my sister.
“How was it?”
“Do you fight?”
“Do you like it?”
The answer is yes, to all of the above.
My sister and I had talked about playing doubles months before the season even started. Although we both have many years of experience playing tennis, being on the same team as my sibling is a whole different ball game.
After two months and a half of playing together, practicing together, supporting each other, laughing together, and crying together, I must say this: playing with my sister has made the highs and lows feel so much more extreme.
For example, I felt like I didn’t need to hide my frustrations with myself and my partner on court because I didn’t care if my sister saw them. Whereas if I was playing with a normal partner, I would feel embarrassed to let my anger be seen so openly. On the other hand, our success felt so satisfying because I got to do it with someone who has been there my whole life.
It certainly hasn’t always been easy – because it is easy to say “she’s just my sister” and let the bad days and exhaustion get between our roles as doubles partners. I have played tennis matches with other partners and I know that seeing my partner as a partner or seeing her as my sister can feel totally different. There were also instances when we were home and questions like “Where did you put my sweatshirt? Are you ready? Did you steal my hair tie?” would turn into full-blown arguments. Then we would have to get on the court, play our best, and try not to let the argument affect our match.
Nevertheless, my sister and I get along in our everyday life – we genuinely like spending time together. I felt like bringing this bond on the tennis court gave us an advantage and no matter how a match ended up, we enjoyed doing it together. This experience made our relationship stronger, and not many people have the opportunity to say that.
So, if I had to do it all over again, I would not change a thing.
