Hello DTT CCers!
Went to the club last night. Hit/played with 2 people.
1) Played F. I have never seen him at the club before. Good steady SH strokes ... good footwork and good fh loops. He's my level or better.
I confess I don't understand some of the terminology used in describing some of the rubbers like dwell time, etc. However, last night my hitting with F. I don't know how to describe this other than, the ball seemed to stick to his paddle a second or 2 before it came over to me... and when it came over to me, it had a topspin "kick" to it... accelerated after the bounce. He gradually amped up the speed and power of his loops as I steadily blocked for him. Then I let loose with my longstroke loops.
Mark Berg called next. As a reminder, he's 65 yrs old, lefty SH with anti on his BH. Good ball control and moves partners side to side.
So F. and i played a match. Since my summer break, and coming back to fairly regular 1x/week play (hope to make it 2x/week soon), I have only hit/practiced. Have not played any matches. Felt good to play a match again.
I found out quickly though that F. had problems reading my serves. I didn't think too much into what I was trying to work on some months back, namely controlled spinny 3rd ball loop, shorten my pendulum stroke on serve, serving no spin and serving pure downspin, shorten the FH loop stroke and meet ball earlier, etc.
I just let the old oldschoolpenholder in me flow... long pendulum stroke serves... smashing/flat-hitting lowballs/highballs... serve rocket serves and 3rd ball punch down the line or smash, not gonna lie, it felt good. And i made quite a few RPB loops! WOOHOO!
I would've loved to just hit and practiced with F. Great practice partner! But last night, many members showed up so we played matches.
2) I have not beaten Mark Berg before. But believe it or not, i have no interest beating him, per se. I know him from the old firehouse club in nyc chinatown in late 70's and early 80's. He knew me since i was a teenager! I'm 52 now. He's 65. We chat when he shows up at the club, and he constantly reminds me that when he was in his 50's he jumped from 1600/1800 to 2000 and that if he could do it, i could too. Peaked 3x at 2000.
I find it challenging to play him because he's a lefty, uses anti (i suck bigtime vs junk rubbers), and he has a ball control game which moves partners side to side. I use my matches with him as a barometer of my progress. Beating him is inconsequential to how I'm playing him
I can happily report I have improved a bit despite my summer break. I played with the american hinoki wrc-9mm with 2 tenergy 80-fx setup. I made quite a few RPB loops which surprised him and added a crucial aspect to my game. At times, I played steady to just return the ball and won more than I lost where prior I was looking to always attack and rush my game. I only gave him 2 points off my serve, cut that down from 4 or 6 last time we played a match. These 2 points could've been the deciding factor. I had a few smash winners, a few fh loops... but i missed a few fh loops also.
All in all, happy with my performance. First game, cruised to a 7-0 lead. I was on fire. Won it 11-3 or so. Then reality set in LOL i lost the next 2 at -6 or -8. Close enough games. During the 2nd game though, I almost sprained my left ankle. It was a little tender, was not as mobile, well I'm not mobile to begin with LOL. 4th game i won at 14-12! All i had in mind that 4th game with tender ankle was one point at a time. Win just this one point. Think of nothing else. Just be in the moment. Win just this one point.
5th game, ankle felt better, but i was behind most of the game ... i don't recall exact score, but he had 10 while i had 4 or 5, think i lost at 7 or 8 at most.
Sadly no video of either match. But felt good playing matches last night.
Addendum: commented i would try my old Avalox P700 with the DHS H3 tacky rubber before, tried it last night. After months of getting used to a tensor rubber, I couldn't hit with the H3 LOLOLOL
