after months of bad results, finally i had a decent tournament day. in a veteran 50+ tournament
I gave more rest this week to my arm and trained only twice in shortened sessions on Thursday and Friday. Friday i had very good feeling with the ball, one of my best training sessions ever, with a very high % of quality BH opening.
in phase 1, i was in a group of 4 of which i was the seeded player thanks to a good result last year.
the first match of the day was a tough one, the kind of match i lost a lot recently. The player was far from exceptional he couldn't put much spin but he had a solid BH block, good flat attacks, and his serve combo no-spin / underspin was good with good placement variation too. We shared G1 and G2, but he played better and outplayed me totally in G3 with his serves. But what looked like a probable 1-3 defeat turned into a 3-2 victory when suddenly i could read better his serves and return well and play more agressively. I fought hard to win G4 in deuce, saving a few match points, and the opponent collapsed in G5.
2nd match was easy. 3rd match was a LP blocker. I trained a lot recently against this style against which i struggle traditionally and I was very happy to win 3-0. G1 was tough but G2 G3 were comfortable
in phase 2, i was in a new group of 4 players who all won their morning group. Never won a tournament match against my opponents, not even a set against the first 2, actually scored maybe 5 points on average per game.
But i had no pressure, and i played really good TT. I lost both matches 1-3 but I had good chance to win.
1st match after losing as usual -3 and -6, opponent started to lose a bit focus, i had a good start and won 11-5. got into the zone and a 7-4 lead in G4 but as its common, hesitated on the next 2 points and the other guy started to focus more and play with more variation, and i got out of the zone. lost 8-11 in G4
2nd match, leftie J-Pen attacker, won G1 after a fantastic start 11-9. guy was tired from his previous match. But thereafter he made less mistakes and found a J-pen "BH" serve with fast execution down the line with a lot of sidespin and sometimes topspin or underspin, i couldn't make a decent receive against it. so it was a 1-3 defeat +9 -8 -8 -6.
3rd match. another leftie attacker (2 BS) against the odds, he won his 2 other matches and would finish 1st of the group (and me 4th) whatever the result. Probably he played cooler than usual. it was an open match and a bit hectic +5 -5 -6 +6 before G5 that I won after a long deuce. Still a good win, i lost 2-3 and 0-3 in our last 2 encounters, and i only once won him in a training match. IIRC i won against him long ago in a tournament but he wasn't as strong as now.
4W2L. but I played really good TT today above my usual tournament level with a lot of very good rallies, i also had good plans. My serve game was good. The only serve i got sometimes punished overall is when my topspin BH serve (from FH side) down the line straight to leftie FH wasn't spinny or fast enough. but i didn't do it often. Half long serve and high toss underspin serve to short parallel serve were effective in addition to the usual BH serves.
Still feel pain in the arm / elbow but i've been learning to deal with it and prepare well.
Okay, after reading your post, let me to talk about my day yesterday (Saturday).
rock up at a place I haven't been to for few months
A place with 12 or so tables, and went straight the "play table" (match only).
Warmed up at the next table for few mins, and the play table was available - my turn to play.
opponent - no idea who, cpen medium pip one side, H3 blue sponge other side, and he twiddles.
pretty strong I believe, seems like the best player there on the day..
Well, I never enjoy playing penholders or pips, it means I just need to work harder. With no tt time for the past 30 days or so (other than coaching 12 hours in the week prior).
So, the match table and my warm up table has different bounce, match table was slower. So i choose to warm up for 5 mins than the normal 2 mins.
I lead 6-0 before dropping my first point. I win 11-4. A problem with 5-4 being the last 9.... with me trying out different things - including higher risk play.
Match 2 was neck to neck and after leading 8-6, I lost 5 on the trot. That match really took the life out of me and I know that my battery went from 100 to 80% in game 1, and down to 50% after game 2. Without winning game 2, its not going to be easy.
I feel that I can still be young and still went for crazy youthful strategies. Well, can't remember much, but last 2 I lost with 7 in the 3rd and 9 in the 4th.
Close contest, with a couple of good rallies both ways. The guy attacks with both sides of the blade, only traditional push (no rpb), and has a monster FH.
His pips didn't cause any threat to me, other than misjudging only a couple in the 4 games.
I was really struggling with moving, especially he keep sending me to the right (my fh). Mind was there, but body can't get to it (for a good return)
Overall, good work out and if only I was 10kg lighter and fitter.
played a bit with weaker players for 30 mins, and went back to play this penholder
I was drained by then, and lost 0-3, all with around 8.
With the 7 games against the same guy, I relied on my serves to gain me a lot of direct points, I guess that is my last strength I have that doesn't involved moving, but at best, that is only a deuce lol.
After 1.5 hour of game time only, I decided to call it the day.
He told me to come again, he is only there on Saturdays, but I won't be available at least for another 4 to 5 weeks... hopefully I can revenge my loss in the future.
Other than that, need to work on loosing weight first, as my shirts seem to shrunk a bit.... lol