source: detnews.com by Angelique Chengelis.

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Detroit News reporter helps driving legend accomplish first career failure

Great partnerships are enduring despite ups and downs and the occasional personality conflicts.

They are built on trust and respect and knowing that success can only be achieved if the partnership is nurtured.

Three-time Indianapolis 500 winner Helio Castroneves, 34, has enjoyed great successes in his life and has done so with great partners. He couldn’t have won those Indy 500s without team owner Roger Penske, for whom he has driven since 2000, he certainly could not have won the “Dancing with the Stars” title in November 2007, without his professional dancer partner, Julianne Hough, and there’s no way he could have welcomed beautiful, weeks-old daughter, Mikaella, without girlfriend Adriana Henao.

And then there’s his tennis mixed doubles partner: Me.

Castroneves and I, both avid tennis fans, played a spirited singles match a few years ago that I’m pretty sure I easily won. (Editor’s note: Chengelis actually lost, 6-2, 6-1, but we can’t bear to remind her).

So, imagine my surprise not long ago when I received a call from Penske Racing’s Merrill Cain, who mentioned Castroneves would be in Detroit for the auto show this week and wondered if I was up for some tennis.

Me? Up for tennis? What could Castroneves be thinking? He needed to be schooled again on the same court with me? (Editor’s note: Please see first Editor’s note).

Ay, caramba!

Naturally, the answer was, ‘Yes,’ but this time I wanted to play as Castroneves’ teammate in a friendly mixed doubles match. After all, how better to understand a highly trained professional athlete than by teaming with him? You learn how the individual deals with the stresses and challenges of competition, his ability to strategize and how he works with others.

I must admit on Thursday morning to pre-match images of us overpowering our star-struck opponents, of hitting dropshots when needed, and un-hittable serves. Yes, I even admit to predicting we would “dance” away with the victory on Court 1 at the Beverly Hills Club.

Ah, so when did it begin to unravel?

Tough to say. It might have started during warm-ups when Castroneves, after hitting for a while with the club’s head pro, Richard Beijer, of the opposing team, walked back toward the baseline with me and muttered: “He’s really good.”

Me: “Um, Helio, I told you that.”

What I think I left out was just how good. Toy-with-you good. Show-no-mercy good.

Me: “Well, he’s won a men’s national doubles title, maybe a few of ‘em …”

Castroneves: No response.

See, there was a reason for non-full disclosure.

Beijer was teamed with my frequent doubles partner, Heidi Strauss. Like me, Strauss had a potential professional tennis career cut short by jobs and family. (Editor’s note: Oh forget it; you already know).

Among the first things I tell Castroneves about Strauss is that her bread-and-butter shot is her two-handed backhand, particularly crosscourt. It can be vicious. I tell him this. I know I told him!

Castroneves served to start the match. The first point was brilliant. A good, deep serve to Beijer, whose return I poached for a winner.

Seriously, for that brief moment, I’m pretty sure the C and C doubles team was convinced of its impending victory.

Hard to say what happened after that, but I do remember early on Castroneves lapsing into Spanish as he started berating himself while waiting to return serve, and I also remember an audible, “Ay, caramba!” after he missed a shot. I’m also pretty sure I remember watching Strauss rip a few backhands cross-court at Castroneves (I told him!). In lightning quick fashion, we lost, 6-1.

But the Castroneves-Chengelis partnership was as strong as ever! We would prevail, he assured me! Who am I to argue with a multiple Indy 500 winner and “Dancing with the Stars” champion?

Nope, the arguing and bickering would wait until the third set, the one that came after the 6-1 loss in the second set that took approximately 12 minutes.

The big rally

So this is when you find out about your partner. This is when you find out how you can dig deep together. Maybe we could “quickstep” our way to victory, to use a dancing term, and maybe we could overcome being two laps down to win.

Or, maybe not.

After being beaten by another Strauss backhand cross-court (I told him!), he started to call her “Gladiator”. Why? Because she swings with force and determination, and she likes to go for the kill. Gladiator. That one will stick.

Beijer had, throughout the match, looked every bit our version of Roger Federer. Smooth, efficient, deadly. There were a few points that involved Beijer and Castroneves almost exclusively and having taken many lessons from Beijer, I quickly recognized the I’m-toying-with-you look. So did Castroneves, who likened Beijer to a cat.

“He’s playing with the food,” Castroneves said, admiringly, knowing he had done similar things on a race track.

And then, the breakdown started within the C and C team. During a particularly spirited point that featured Beijer and Castroneves trading volleys, the ball came to me. I netted it.

“I do all that work, and you can’t finish the point?!” Castroneves says to me.

“Excuse me?” I reply. “Maybe I should remind you of a point from the first set and refresh your memory!”

We are splintering, but Castroneves, a true champion, wants to find a way to hold this together. His serve, and we decide to go all out. Not sure why it took us two sets to make adjustments, but, hey, at least we tried. The plan — as soon as he served, I was to make a cut across the net. Clearly, we intimidated them with this devastating plan and won!

After losing the next game — a forgotten blur — my serve. Castroneves gives me a quick neck rub to get me loose for serving. Too loose. Brutal serves! His fault!

So much promise and hope at the start of the third set. But virtually the same result, this time, a 6-2 loss.

But as good teammates do, even in defeat, there is appreciation and respect. A high-five and a hug. Time for lunch. While dining, Castroneves showed off baby pictures and posed for photos with admiring female “Dancing with the Stars” fans. Our 1-6, 1-6, 2-6 loss is but a distant memory, as is the Castroneves-Chengelis mixed doubles catastrophe.

And so it goes — some partnerships are not meant to be, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t worth trying.

source: detnews.com by Angelique Chengelis.