Played an event today. Prep was compromised and work and life have gotten too busy so I couldn't go to a club to train this week. Also got only 4 hours of sleep so this was going to be interesting. But it is always fun to play since I don't have any big stakes anymore.
I was the #3 seed in the event. Had 2 other players in my group. I got there and realized I wasn't in the mood to play with a fast racket - I wanted to hit shots so I used an all wood setup to adjust for my lack of training.
The C player came late so I played the B player first. He was a guy who I had seen play before and he had actually beaten my lefty training buddy when my buddy was cramping. I remembered him being very aggressive against long serves vs my buddy so I mostly tried to avoid those. I went up 10‐6 in game 1 and then proceeded to lose 6 straight points. Was that a premonition? Not really, as I won game 2 without much problem. The biggest thing I had to realize was that he had a very consistent counter when you looped to his forehand, he would serve and step back, and then I would King Kong loop into his forehand and have the ball countered back before I could recover. So I had to stop going hard there. I didnt fully embrace the lesson as in game 3, I lost 11‐9. But I won the next two games at 1 and 3, and I also got lucky that he didnt open up with spin against push so he netted a lot of my pushes off his short returns.
I then played thr C player. He used a Yasaka all wood blade either Sweden or Sweden Extra and MarK V and Tenergy 64 fx. The setup seemed to lack spin in the warmups and this carried over to the matches. I lost the the first game at 4 testing a lot of different serves and trying to see what might work. Then I decided that it just made more sense to serve a long serve, largely with light spin but sometimes a regular spin serve, and then since he would roll it with dead equipment, I would practice attacking that ball hard. This strategy worked well as I won the next three games over tough, unconventional opponent (he beat the B player).
In the next round, I faced a lefty who some of you might have seen in the doubles match from an event in May (maybe I didn't post that). He has very tricky serves. I got a big lead in game 1, slowed down at the end but managed to win 11‐7. Game 2, I was up 7‐3, and the a combination of my opponent's inspired play and my lack of mobility led to a tied score at 8‐8 and a loss at 8‐11.. I was now in a dog fight.i started to serve more no spin backspin combinations. I think I also need to develop a mental camera of snapshotting all my opponents shots not just serves. I won game 3 but also realized that if this went 5, I would have to deal with his serves and I should try really hard to win in 4. I went down early but managed to get it back to 6‐6. He took some high risk shots but I ran down the ball and he missed a couple of put away. Opened with heavy spin and did a windmill thirdball to win the 4th game. On to the QF.
In the Quarters, I was playing a guy who had short pips on his backhand. I was expecting him to be aggressive but he had a really mid tempo game. The first game I almost lost after having a lead and it sent to deuce. But I think he pushed my no spin serve off the table. The second game was close but I won that 11‐9. And then I finally began to pay the price for lack of self care and running on cortisol. I just didn't sustain anything and started missing a lot of pushes to my forehand. Lost my aggression as well. I went down badly in game 5 and tried to mount a comeback. Played some good shots down 9‐6 which forced him to pop the ball up and then it hit the edge... didn't save any match points and that was the end of my day.
I only recorded the last match and will post when I find time to edit maybe next weekend. The good thing about being done early is back to the grind of work and home. But it was a great break. And it definitely has me thinking that I should be an all wood player again unless I get fit enough to run around as control on some shots closer to the table was much better. To be continued...
