Match with Dr. George

4/30/09 Thursday 7:00P.M.

Chico Racquet Club

Score:  2-6, 3-6

This was a Thursday night men’s league match.  My opponent was Dr. George.  I consider him to be a 4.0 player although Eldon says he is more of a 3.5 player with the potential of being 4.0 to 4.5.  In other words, his game is inconsistent.  Tonight his game was definitely 4.0.  He didn’t make many mistakes.  He served very well, hit solid ground strokes and put away weak returns at the net.  Did he have a game plan?  No, I very much doubt it.  He just played his strokes the best he could and his game was on this night.  I would also say that the hardness and the pace with which Dr. George hits his ground strokes is unlike a 3.5 player.  He hits harder than most 3.5 players I have ever played.  His ball is relatively flat and penetrates quite well.  I found I had to shorten up my backswing some to stay with him in our warm-up.

In both sets I stayed with Dr. George for the first few games.  In the first set the score was 2-2 and then I faded.  In the second set the score got to 3-3 and then I faded.  So what happened? 

The analysis here is interesting for me.  Fortunately, my coach had seen some of this match and I was able to talk to him later on to get his opinion about what was going on in the match.  I initially told Eldon I thought I lost because of two things: 1) poor serving and 2) poor returning of serve.   These two things certainly were a factor, but in looking back it doesn’t explain everything, especially in light of the fact that I was staying with my opponent through the first few games of both sets.

So what happened?  Poor serving and returning of serve can’t explain it all since I won some games at the beginning of both sets.  Something else has to explain this.  The explanation is most likely in what Eldon mentioned to me:  if I had gotten one more ball back in our rallies I most likely would have seen my opponent start to have trouble emotionally and then his strokes would have begun to crumble.  In some of our short rallies he was already starting to lose some points due to unforced errors.  Some of his shots were sailing long and others were finding the net.

So according to Eldon, the key here really is for me to extend those rallies by one more ball.  I totally agree.  I often try to hit too close to the lines.  This isn’t smart.  In stead of that, I just need to keep the ball in play for one more shot.  Aiming four to five feet inside the lines or even hitting down the middle is going to serve its purpose much better.  Returning that ball one more time is going to pay dividends against a lot of players.  I need to remember this!

After the match was over Dr. George and I decided that it would be good to play again in the near future in the day time so that night time vision problems wouldn’t be an issue for either of us.

Two interesting side notes:

1)  My back was sore the following day which indicates I wasn’t bending my knees enough while serving in this match.  Initially, I had thought my toss was the problem when I kept hitting the tape with my second serve.  I should know better.  Hitting the tape usually means for me that I am not bending my knees enough.  The equation is this:  when I bend my knees deeply, my motion is to hit up at the ball more causing it to clear the net more easily.   So when I don’t bend my knees sufficiently the ball tends to hit the net cord.  I need to remember this!

2)  My left thigh was a little sore the next day which indicates that I was stepping forward into the ball and using a closed stance in my forehand stroke.  That’s a nice soreness!