8th Match with Marty Kooper
2/28/09 Saturday 1:00P.M.
Chico Racquet Club
2-6, 6-4,1-6
I experienced problems with tightness in my strokes today similar to yesterday. I don’t know how many times I hit my backhand into the net. I also hit a lot of balls that just cleared the net and landed short. These balls fortunately had a lot of spin, jumped and stayed relatively low so they weren’t necessarily bad balls. I just felt that they were the result of tightness. My forehand was better today. I decided not to worry about squeezing the racquet handle at impact. I noticed, though, I did squeeze the handle on some shots and a couple of times I actually did get more pop on those balls and my opponent missed.
I felt I was seeing the ball much better today.
I was hitting the ball relatively hard the whole match.
I felt I had some rhythm in this match although not as much as I wanted since I didn’t seem to be able to hit successfully all the shots I was selecting.
I dictated play most of the match. Marty ran a lot more than I did.
I set up so many points, but unfortunately didn’t execute the finish the way I wanted numerous times. That got to be very frustrating. I lost way too many points at the net!
I felt like I could almost come to the net at will. I was slow to move forward sometimes. I don’t think I realized how much time I had to move forward and how defensively I had Marty playing. I was so much in charge! A side note: I wonder if I could serve and volley on Marty?
I put pressure on Marty’s serves. I was stepping in on his second serve which is very weak. In the first set I was trying to do too much with it. I was taking too big a backswing and missing, but eventually I shortened up my swing and hit some great angles that Marty couldn’t return. He told me after the match that my squashing his second serve was putting pressure on him to get his first serve in; consequently, he faulted on his first serve, hitting the net cord I don’t know how many times, especially on the ad side.
My serve toss was quite good today. I especially liked the way I was letting go of the ball in my toss and I was generally getting it high enough. In particular, I served well in the first set. I was serving very loosely and getting a good deep knee bend. I also hit some nice slice serves to pull Marty wide in the deuce court. I was also serving quite well into the body. I would say I double faulted 4 or 5 times in the match.
The score doesn’t really reflect what was going on in the match. There were numerous deuce games. Especially that last set. That set easily could have been different. I won a lot of points, but just couldn’t seem to turn the corner. I had the ad so many times, but would tighten up on those points and not win the game. Another factor in this match was that in all three sets I always seemed to be coming from behind. I was never ahead in the game score. This put more pressure on me.
It’s ridiculous I didn’t win this match, but I guess that’s the way it goes. I’m just not there yet. I think my expectations (of winning) have made me tight the last couple of matches. I have to remember it’s a learning process going on here and that’s more important than winning at this point. I think I must have done more right than wrong in this match, especially in the creativity category. (I hit short balls, deep balls, lobs, drop shots, passing shots, overheads and well angled balls.) I was definitely creative in my style of play today against Marty. Hopefully in the near future I will improve my finishing of points!
Last note: I think when I’m experiencing consistent tightness with my muscles, I need to hit out as hard as I can and I mean literally as hard as I can. (And I don’t think I did that today.) This should help me to hit totally through the ball with a complete follow-through which in turn should: 1) bring the ball into the court;
2) loosen up my muscles; and 3) give me the confidence I need to hit my shots. (Of course I’m not talking about hitting out on just any ball. I’ m talking about balls that are in my strike zone.)