9^th Match with Marty Kooper

3/07/09  Saturday  1:00P.M.

Chico Racquet Club

0-6, 7-6 (6), 5-7

 

I started out this match rather cold and once again too outcome oriented. (Not having hit a ball since Wednesday morning didn’t help either.) As we ended up the warm-up my ground strokes weren’t feeling very comfortable. The first set score (0-6) seemed to verify that. I was hitting long and wide.  I was putting myself in a quandary!  As I watched my shots fly out, I felt myself get tighter and tighter.  It was getting embarrassing!

 

Fortunately, as we started the second set I had a little talk with myself and decided that I would try to put more topspin on my ground strokes.  Sure enough, it worked!  My shots started falling in the court and I was in the match again.  I started to settle down and hit down-the-line backhands for winners.  I also started to move Marty around more and bring him up to the net where I could try to pass him.  I won a number of points that way.

 

I’m glad that I worked with the option of putting more spin on the ball today.  Actually there were times that it was very effective against my opponent.  Sometimes my spin made the ball jump at my opponent and other times it made the ball bounce up shoulder high and that created problems for Marty, especially on his backhand side.  It’s definitely desirable to be able to produce a topspin loopy ball as well as one that is heavy and jumps.  I’m starting to see that to play more effectively one needs to have a repertoire that is multi-faceted, one that fits different players and situations.  I definitely grew with my experience today of being able to adapt and change my strokes as I needed in order to stay in the match.  I won’t forget this!

 

I also noticed today that Marty was running around his backhand a lot.  I’m glad I noticed that.  I think I will be able to take advantage of that more in the future.  I did somewhat today.  When he was backing up in the ad court to hit his forehand he left the deuce side of the court wide open.  A number of times I unconsciously took advantage and reversed the direction of my backhand crosscourt to go down-the-line and of course at that point Marty couldn’t cover it and the point was mine.  I think that happened three or four times today.  But I see the possibility of building on that with those crosscourt backhand rallies where Marty is going to run around his backhand to hit the forehand and leave the deuce court open for me to hit winners from the baseline.  And this is really fairly easy to do since Marty usually doesn’t’ have that much pace on his inside-out forehand.

 

Another observation, I think I need to start out in a match by hitting more crosscourt balls since there is more distance in the court there and the net is also a little lower through the middle.  I need to avoid immediately going down-the-line.  It’s too hard a shot to control in the beginning of a match.  I need to find my range by giving myself more margin of error by going crosscourt.

 

My serving was quite good today.  My toss is getting better.  I was bending my knees well.  I was paying more attention to my grip in the last set so I could hit my flatter serve.  I had a high 1^st serve percentage today, about 60-65%.  I won some free points.  My double-faulting was minimal.

 

My return of serve needs work.  I’m not getting good forward momentum into my return on the 1^st serve and my footwork doesn’t feel right. I’m not watching the ball from the toss very well.  On Marty’s 2^nd serve I did horrible today.  I will say I was persistent in stepping up to it, but I miss hit it way too many times.  I think I was taking too big a backswing.  I also think I have been forgetting to try to hit that ball short near the service line so my opponent will have to hit up on it to give me an easy volley.

 

Another aspect that didn’t bode well for me in the first set of this match was that fact that I had eaten too heavy a meal before arriving to play.  I felt decidedly lethargic as I played that first set. I will certainly be more careful in the future with respect to what I eat before a match.   (That morning I had eaten multiple pancakes with butter and maple syrup, one over-easy egg, half of a toasted and buttered bagel and a glass of grape juice!)

 

I think I also need to say something about frustration.  In this match I definitely got frustrated when I wasn’t able to finish points that I had set up well.  I showed that frustration by saying things out loud.  I didn’t throw my racquet, but I felt like throwing it, especially at the end of the match.  My question is what’s the best way to deal with that frustration?  I certainly don’t want to create a scene on the court or be so loud that players on other courts are being distracted.   But sometimes you just feel that you need to release your frustration when things aren’t going well.  It’s hard to hold it in.  So what is the best way to deal with frustration on the court?

 

One final observation about my strategy in this match:

 

In the beginning of this match I was getting up to the net fairly consistently.  Some of those points I won.  Others I didn’t.  I got very frustrated with not being able to finish points that I had set up well. This in turn affected my wanting to move forward to the net because as the match wore on I went to the net less and less. (Also, somewhere in the 2^nd set I got a little tired which affected my wanting to go to the net.)  My ground strokes had taken my attention from the start (since they were flying out) and that eventually seemed to change my strategy as I became more and more concerned about being able to hit deep balls that stayed in the court.  I find it very satisfying when I am able to hit deep balls and it just seems easier to attack when that is happening for me.  So when that part of my game isn’t working well I don’t feel like attacking consistently or as much.