We had a small tournament today in our borough, whose winner of each category would qualify to be our representative for all-Tokyo competitions.
We were only 8 in our age category, first divided in 2 groups of 4.
My first opponent is my teammate, which i win more than 90% of the time 3-0 or 3-1. But he was playing a bit better than usual today, and even caused an upset just before playing me, and i was really nervous, thinking already stupidly about set-average in case of ties etc... As a result, i won only 3-2.
Next i played a leftie guy who used to be my nemesis and i couldn't even take a set for more than 10 years, but I won our last 2 encounters 3-2 , 3-1 (tournament final), and today wasn't his day at all, he lost 3-0 to me. He lost his 2 other matches before playing me so probably he didn't have too much heart to fight, especially after i was 2-0 up. i won 3-0 (4 10 4), not as easy as it looks because if I lost the 2nd it would have been another match. I think I played a very good match.
Next i played the #1 of the group, a Korean guy who was our representative last year. He has got SP on his BH and plays a classic attacking game. I've played him twice before in tournaments, losing 0-3 both times. Still I felt confident because i know I'm stronger than last year. In the first set, I found out quickly I didn't have too much problem receiving so it boosted my confidence because I'm good in rallies. Also, i got the better of him in BH rallies despite that being his strength. I got the 1st set easily 11-7. In the 2nd i was also ahead all the time, but he was starting to close on me, fortunately for me i got 2 net-ins for the last 2 points to win it 9.
In the 3rd its the reverse scenario. He takes the better start, i'm always behind but manage to come back 9-9. Then he got the lucky net-in and manages to close the game. His confidence is back and despite some good play for me, he is more consistent in the 4th and dominates this set.
However I felt that he was a bit in overheat mode and that couldn't last, and I just tried to make less mistakes in the 5th and time my returns to take the ball a tad earlier. perhaps only 1/10th of a second, but that was enough to change his timing, confuse him and force some errors. I took an early 6-1 lead, then 9-5. he came back but I managed to close it 11-8 (or 9 ?) on a point where i was in defense for once.
So I'm first of my group. The formula of the tournament is that the #1 and #2 of both groups of 4, make a new group of 4, taking into account the results of the match already played.
I then play another teammate E, whom i beat in our only tournament match in November, but who's made me feel miserable in most training matches since. However he is not in form, he lost a game in his group to a small guy that he usually never loses. Indeed he was lacking some confidence and back to his bad habits of going away from the table. I was the more offensive player in game 1 and 2, but in the 1st, i made some unusual mistakes in smashes, to lose it 9. In the second, i was playing well and 10-8 ahead but alas then started to choke and lost 11-13. 3rd set i won easily 11-4. it really could have been 3-0. Then some incident, my nose is bleeding. i sit down and wait a few minutes for the blood to coagulate, but when im back at the table, my body cooled too much, and i lost some focus momentum and influx. My teammate played much better in this game, got a good start, and despite trying to fight back , i couldn't make back the initial deficit, and thats a 1-3 loss.
Last game, I play against the short guy, he's a PH with SP I have a lot of troubles receiving his fast serves because i believe he is not throwing the ball high enough. The referee doesn't see any problem at all. This is affecting me mentally, and I'm losing my nerves and my confidence, I'm not helped by my receiving mistakes and by the fact I never won this guy. Instead of focusing on how to win, I'm focusing on the height of this serve. Basically mentally i failed totally in this match while the other guy was very determined to win. Even though i never beated him, its more a matchup and mental issue because i SHOULD be able to beat him - provided i can receive !!!
Anyway the match was a disaster 0-3. It was not just about his services obviously. I lost my temper after the match, and started arguing with everybody. Call me a sore loser. I was. For the first time i can recall, playing more than 30 years TT !!!
Final result, the Korean guy whom I beat, finished 1st, because he beats the short guy and my teammate (who lost the short guy). short guy is 2nd, my teammate 3rd, and I'm 4th....
Thats TT ... :-/ but I'm happy overall with my performance.
Video coming soon