11^th Match with Marty

5/3/09  Sunday  11:30A.M.

Chico Racquet Club

Score:  2-6, 7-6 (4)

 

This was another windy match:  wind blowing from the south, randomly moving balls in and out of the court.  With the wind at my back, balls I hit from inside the baseline were easily and often flying long while balls I hit from behind the baseline had extra pace and penetrated the court nicely. 

 

At the same time going against the wind was tough.  I felt like I had to swing a lot harder to get anything on the ball.  I did hit some winners going against the wind, though, especially off of my two-handed backhand. 

 

At times the wind blew at an angle which meant going down either line could be very unpredictable.  I remember hitting a backhand that was going wide which the wind brought back to paint the line for a winner.  Another time I hit a forehand shot down the line that the wind carried out at least two feet wide.

 

To say the least playing in the wind was challenging!

 

The rhythm of this match was interesting.  I started out slowly, losing the first set quicker than I wanted.  I was creating a lot of opportunities, though, and I was dictating points.  I was stepping in on short balls and I was getting to the net.  I had my chances.  I just didn’t execute the finish consistently enough.

 

In the second set, though, things began to turn around for me.  I went up 4-1 and was serving well.  I kept moving forward and I got on a roll finishing points nicely.  At one point I stepped up near the service line and sliced a forehand sharply behind Marty as he was moving from the ad side of the court back to the center.  And then I did it again, the same undercut slice into the ad court behind my opponent.  I was like, wow, where did this come from?  It felt so natural.  I just pulled these shots off without even thinking.  I was on top of the world after that game.  I was executing my strategy to completion while I was being so creative!  Now that’s what tennis is all about!

 

But then, as life would have it, my ego stepped in and my focus switched to the outcome of the set.   Before I knew it the score was 5-3, then 5-4, 5-5 and 5-6.  I was behind, hoping not to lose.  I served to make it 6-6 and then the tie-break ensued.  Fortunately, I went up 4-0 and eventually won 7-4.  Needless to say I was relieved that I had won that set because I had played so beautifully through the first half of it.

 

Lately, I have been battling my ego which is constantly asserting the importance of the outcome and moving my focus away from just having fun hitting my shots. As a result, I’ll tighten up some and not play as well as I’m capable of.  The thing is, though, I think this behavior will eventually fall away with opponents like Marty because as my mentor, Eldon says, with more experience I am going to put away a lot more of those short balls and volleys and will consequently have sufficient confidence to finish off my opponent without worrying about the score. 

 

Right now, though, the big positive is that I am creating abundant opportunities to practice finishing points in a match situation.  The execution will come with time.  This is all about getting enough repetitions in match play to get past the overexcitement that kills my execution of a winning shot.  And this is something to be happy about.  Progress is being made.  What Eldon is teaching me is definitely starting to bear fruit!

 

That’s all for this commentary.