tennis and chess and old age

yeah, i played my first competitive set of tennis last night in at least three years, and i looked like a 50-yr-old man. i lost 1-6 and worst of all, i ignored exactly what i tell people is one of the most important tennis rules. it isn't about winning every point or even the most points--it's about winning the right points. in points, i really only lost 21-32...doesn't sound near as bad as 1-6, but it was because i didn't win the right points that made the game count so bad. it's like chess...you don't have to capture the most pieces to win necessarily. in tennis, you can actually win in points 34-30 and yet lose a set 4-6 because you didn't win the right points. and in my case, i was just shooting for a decent game count and didn't get it as i won 40% (21 of 53) of the points but only 14% (1 of 7) of the games. if i had won 40% of the games, it would have been a decent 4-6 loss. but maybe a bigger story was the lack of speed, choking on some easy shots, and weak serving i showcased with lack of competitive play in recent years, but also a rapidly aging body.