had a mini tournament today organized by a TT school. a limited number of players, no elimination, everybody plays 5 rounds like in Chess. its pretty cool, and there is also a mobile app for the scoring (and database)
my first 2 matches are against lower level veterans, and its 2 easy 3-0 wins.
My 3 next opponents are much more serious and have all at least 200-300 points in level than me.
The first one is a defender from the coaching staff of the club. I lose 3-0 with wide scores. I was a little too much impressed in the beginning and was exterminated in the first set 11-2. the guy had excellent serves (some of which i had never seen b4), and would also punish with a FH or BH attack any chance ball. I was more spirited in the next 2 sets, and managed to hit some nice winners but still 0-3 with very wide scores (-2 -5 -4)...
The second one is an young PH attacker. I am more spirited, but i lose -5 -4 the first two sets. I feel i was too shy and not taking enough risks. In the 3rd, i play a bit better, move better, and maybe he lost a little bit his focus, i manage to win it 12-10 after saving match point at 9-10. But in the 4th, he ups his game and its soon over 1-3 for me (-5 -4 10 -4).
The third one is a colleague from this guy and attacks from both wings. No surprise effect, he doesn't want to give me a set. i fight but i lose it straight again -4 -5 -5.
Of course these guys are much more skilled than I, but i think what i lack most is playing more matches with this kind of players. I don't know from the start the rice pace to play. i need to be able to reproduce more often the good things that i did during those matches, because there ARE some (very) good things from time to time, BUT not consistently, because of pressure, and lack of rhythm. Last Thursday i beat my friend at training which is I believe around the level of those guys (in a totally different style) but because my replacement after my 3rd ball attack and receive was very good that day.
After the mini-tournament, there was some time left, and i played with the young girl (hirano clone) who finished 3rd, beating 2 of the guys above... we did a best of 3 game. She killed me 11-2 in the 1st, but from there i finally found rhythm. I think also she was less focused than during the tournament, still, i managed to get the 2nd set, and win largely the 3rd up 10-2 and winning 11-5. So i think its a positive message about my potential of play, but I need to be able to play better under pressure, and move better after serve and receive, because it makes clearly a huge difference. *IF* I can do so, I believe i can produce results that i haven't been able to achieve so far.
