photo by Hannah Reel

Ryan Wingfield of Natchez and Stephen Carter of Birmingham, Ala., wait for the return from Mark Williams, center, of Starkville while playing tennis at Duncan Park Saturday afternoon. The three are former competitive tennis players and decided to get together for the afternoon and practice.

Tennis trio hits the courts for refresher

By Jennifer Edwards (Contact) | The Natchez Democrat

Published Monday, November 9, 2009

NATCHEZ — Saturday’s weather was perfect for a little outdoor competition, so that’s exactly what Stephen Carter, Ryan Wingfield and Mark Williams decided to do.

When The Dart found the trio of friends in Duncan Park, they were just beginning to warm up for a tennis match.

Carter, 27, and Wingfield, 29, both originally from Natchez, have played tennis for most of their lives, and even played together at Copiah-Lincoln Community College.

The two were pitted against Williams, who isn’t a tennis slouch either — he played competitive tennis at the junior level in Memphis, Tenn., near his hometown of Holly Springs.

While they all have a background in competitive tennis, the point of Saturday’s match was just friendly fun.

Carter, who now lives in Birmingham and works as a respiratory therapist at UAB Medical Center, said just getting on the court and hitting the ball around is why he continues to play whenever he can.

“Tennis is a sport you can play all your life,” Carter said. “That is really the appeal of it for me.”

Carter and Wingfield’s shining moment came when the Co-Lin Wolfpack tennis team was ranked in the top 20 nationally while they were playing for the school.

“Being able to play at the college level is probably my biggest tennis accomplishment,” Winfield said. “We were pretty good back then, now we just try to hit the ball.”

Carter was in town this weekend for his cousin’s wedding, and Wingfield returned to Natchez after college at the University of Southern Mississippi. He is now a CPA at Silas Simons in Natchez.

Williams is dating Carter’s sister and was in town for the wedding as well.

During the warm up it was two-on-one and Carter said he planned on keeping it that way when the real game got under way.

“The red heads are banding together,” he said. “And (Williams) is a lot younger than us.

“He doesn’t have the joint problems us old guys have.”

Williams though wasn’t concerned about being outnumbered and was confident the outcome of the match would be in his favor.

“Shear will and force,” Williams said of what he would use to defeat the red-headed duo.