I played a doubles tennis match two weeks ago.

My partner was a spry, wonderful 75-year-old gentleman named Morris (Mo) Levy. He is an institution at the Hamlet condominium where I live. When playing tennis he has an uncanny knack for lobbing the ball back to his opponents. The harder they hit the ball to him the higher and the more accurately he lobs it back to them. The point usually winds up with the other team hitting the ball into the net, or out of bounds, due to sheer frustration.

As for myself, I classify myself as a backboard. I return the ball but with no pace (speed), strictly defensive!

Mo and I were playing against two hard-hitting tennis players. They smoked the ball over the net, never more than one foot from the top cord.

The game started slowly. The other team whacked and wailed at the ball with brute force and Mo and I returned the sphere softly, accurately but consistently. During some intensive rallies we stood at the baseline together and returned ball after hard-hit ball.

Mo, with his unusual two-hand backhand and two-hand forehand, learned his game on the paddleball courts of Cantiague Park and the East Bronx. His quickness is amazing.

Never underestimate a septuagenarian!

As the game proceeded, and Morris and I took the lead, grumbling was starting to be heard from the enemy camp. "Stop lobbing and hit the damn ball" in angry tones came across the net.

As our lead over the hard-hitting opposition increased, we heard in aggressive shouts, "Powder Puff! Stop the dinking and play tennis."

I must admit that the team of Morris Levy and Stanley Greenberg can be baffling and annoying to power players. They smite the ball viciously and exactly, and lo and behold the ball is back in their court in a matter of seconds.

A burning question!

As long as you stay within the rules of the game, aren't you allowed to play in your own style? In baseball must every pitcher be a Nolan Ryan, a strikeout artist with a 90 mph fast ball?

I remember Eddie Lopat and Preacher Roe who threw slow stuff, but won with finesse. Must every hitter be a Jose Canseco or a Mo Vaughn, swinging for the fences? I loved to watch Phil Rizzuto bunt his way on base, and little old Pee-Wee Reese didn't always crush the baseball.

Not everybody has power and muscles!

Can't we play and win or lose even though we don't perform at top speed?

Everybody remembers Vince Lombardi's famous statement, "Winning isn't everything. It's the only thing." He didn't place a caveat against winning ugly.

PS: Mo Levy and Stan Greenberg won the match and eventually the grumbling and complaining subsided.