I was up till 3am doing school work yesterday (Friday) even though I had an event for 9am today (Saturday). I wasn't sure i would play because of my injury, then I was reminded by the TD I hadn't entered after it was obvious I was playing table tennis regardless of injury. So I put in for one event (unsanctioned U2000) with no serious intent of playing. The main goal was still Minor League TT on Sunday.
But I had only hit the ball on Wednesday and i had some critical opponents i was going to face on Sunday. So I decided to use the Saturday event, since it was the unsanctioned first tournament at the new 5 month old full time club in my area, as preparation for tomorrow's matches.
Woke up at 8am, showered and then took the 40 minute drive to the tournament. Got there 20 minutes late and did my best to play without warming up to be somewhat fair to the players.
First match was against a lefty kid I have played a bit too often. Was concerned thus would be another long match but surprisingly the kid had a lot of trouble adjusting to my spin on this day and I won an easy 3-0 (6, 5, 4).
Second match was against a young adult player who has continued to improve. We matchup closely with each other and it often comes down to who wins tight games. He won 3-1 (-10,9,-9,-10). Oh well.
I play my last match against a kid ranked 1440 and I tried to play him like a 1400 kid but I kept getting third balled and stuck in long rallies. I won the first game at 8 or 9, the second game at deuce ans then played the last game seriously to beat him at 3. After, I found out he had beaten the lefty kid 3-0 and was clearly underrated.
I came out #2 and was scheduled to play the top player in another group that my friend was in and I thought I would be playing my friend, who had come in late as well. Unfortunately he sustained an elbow injury in his last match. Before that I got to practice with a guy with long pips, we had tried to meet last month but he couldn't come to the club because of work. We hit for about 15 minutes and then I hit for another 15 minutes with a player in my friends group. It was after this is found out my friend was injured and that i was going to play .... the player i had been hitting with for the last 15 minutes - he had won my friends group, coming back from 0-2 down against my friend.
So I play the guy in the round of sixteen. I expected a tough match from our practice but the guy struggled to loop my backspin serve when it drifted and that is usually the kiss of death against me. Because it means you will struggle with my pushes, I get to open with heavy spin more often than not. And most unfortunate for him was that I started counterlooping his openers perfectly. It was 3-0 really fast, a bit of a letdown vs anticipation of a compeitive match, but I will take it.
The next match was against the #1 overall seed, a lefty chopper with a very spinny forehand. The first time i had played him, I lost to him 3-1 but the second time, I beat him 3-1. I figured out that his pips has good reversal, so I could attack his first push as topspin without hesitation. In this match, he had massive struggles with my backspin serves, I must have gotten at least 8 points off pushes into the net though to be fair, there were times he chopped the serve back deep for winners lol. I won the first two games at 7 and 11, and had match points at 10-8. He saved the first after a long rally and saved the second when attacked my no spin serves with his pips and I didn't make contact with the return. He won the third game 14-12 and the 4th 11-5. So it looked like i might lose this one. Then something weird happened... I got body snatched by an alien who started playing shots that I could not physically play. I don't think I have ever regretted not having a camera for a match like this one. I won the last game 11-6 but some of the cross overs, counterloops, running down wide balls to loop down the line round the net to the corner for winners... probably best kept in my imagination but some viewers confirmed those things happened and wondered where my legs came from to make those shots that I almost never make! I regret that I will never be able to share the footage with my grand kids....
So on to the semifinals, I had to play a guy with short pips on forehand and inverted backhand. He had beaten a guy who i thought was the favorite for the event ans while I don't mind playing pips. I hate playing short pips on forehand because of the impact of smashes. I asked the guy I thought was the favorite what happened and he said this was one of the first few times thr guy had ever beaten him and that the pips player didn't let him get into his game. So I made note to self to be aggressive early and often. I won the first game at 11-9 and then lost the next game at 11-3. I was playing catchup, especially in game 3, because the guy had a good backhand opener and I often countered his openers off the table. Some backhand sidespin serving got me back into the mix and I got to 8-8. Two serves to the forehand i attached, the first long, the second one over the table where I just struggled to make my best attempt to loop the ball (probably had more sidespin than topspin) got me to 10-8! And a backhand sidespin serves he pushed off the table game me game 3. So there was hope now ans I had to win one more game! The last game went back and forth and we got to 9-9. And then two backhand sidespin serves, one topspinned long and one pushed long got me to 11-9 and 3-1. So on to the finals. Not bad for someone who didn't plan to play lol.
In the final, I was playing a junior who i had never beaten before. I did take the firat game from him the last time we played and pushed him to deuce in game 2 but he won 3-1 with the final game also at deuce. I had to remind myself that most of the matches happened when my form was worse but still, it was going to be a challenge.
I came out on fire and won the first game 11-7. Backhand opener was working with heavy spin, forehand was countering. And backspin serve was working. In game 2, I got to 10-8, and we played a long point which I got a killer opportunity but hit it long for 10-9. And then I got ready, thought up a heavy backspin long serve and served the ball into the table. WTF! I proceeded to lost the game 13-11.
My friend said I was playing well and I should.just focus. He wanted me to use my backhand serve more. My coach was watching and he was like the match is winnable for sure. I just need to stop kissing away points and giving him hope like I did at the end of that game. With all the pep talk. I went on to lose game 3 11-6. Was this going to be just like the last time where I lost in 4 games.
Nah. My footwork was better. My forehand was loopong over the table, my backhand was spinning heav openers. I got the 4th game 11-4. It was the do or die 5th game. I went down 0-3 ans aggravated my shoulder chasing down a long ball. Used the time out yo try and recover but I still went down 6-2. And then with my best efforts I was down 4-9. Surely, it was all over. Then the body snatcher came again. And I started loop killing serves. Countering openers. And all of a sudden the score was 9-9 ans i had the two serves coming up!
I set up my backhand serve. It was going to be long side top. I served and it clipped the let and went off the table. WTF! I told the crowd as much...
But I still had another serve. I served the backhand side top and won the point! Deuce. But it was not to be. at 11-12, he pused a ball short into my forehand but slightly high, and I felt i could loop it over the table but ended up clipping the net and losing the match.
Fun matches. Missing serves at criticam moments sucks. But i need to find a way to get that body snatcher to stop taking vacation and to live with me throughout the match lol.
