Sets 560-562:

Stuart v. K. at Connally HS. Winner: K. 6-7(5), 6-2, 6-2.

Sets 558-559:

Stuart v. TennisTitan at Northwest Park. Winner: Stuart 6-1, 6-3.

Sets 556-557:

Stuart v. TennisTitan at Northwest Park. Winner: Stuart 6-3, 6-1.

Sets 553-555:

Stuart v. C. at South Austin Tennis Center and Westlake High School. Winner: Stuart 6-4, 5-7, 6-3.

Sets 550-552:

Stuart v. S. at Williamson County Tennis Center. Winner: S. 2-6, 7-5, 6-2.

Sets 548-549:

Stuart v. W. at Little Stacy Park. Winner: W. 6-0, 6-1.

Sets 545-547:

Stuart v. I. at Northwest Park. Winner: Stuart. 1-6, 6-4, 6-4.

Sets 543-544:

Stuart v. P. at Northwest Park. Winner: P. 7-5, 6-4

Coming Back After Some Down Time

Sets 541-542:

Stuart v. C. at South Austin Tennis Center. Winner: Stuart 6-4, 6-0.

My Mojo: Steady and Tenacious.

It's been a while since I played. I need to start playing more often again. I don't know why I've drifted away from playing tennis more often, but I need to start trying to play at least once or twice a week again.

I guess I only have a certain amount of mojo to spread out among all of the physical things that I do. Now that I've gotten back into running more often, it seems like that has taken more of the edge off of my tennis game. But I felt like I played pretty well today.

One indicator for me was that my volleys were really on. Every time I came to net, it paid off. I had good directionality, didn't flub any into the net, and had "good hands" on the returns with just the right touch almost every time.

In the first set, I was a little worried. This is the third time I have played C., and he had beaten me both times before. In each of the previous matches, I felt like our play was close, but he just out-ground me. It seems like he is a grinding player, which is a lot like the way I play. Just stay in there and out last if you can, that's the strategy. Three-hour slugfests are the norm for my type of player, and if both of us play that way, it gets long and ugly, with each of us getting to everything, and long, engaging rallies.

But this time I was able to get a little more aggressive play in and cut off more of the rallies. Starting out the match, we were playing a little more evenly, but I felt like I was able to out-finesse him just a little. I didn't make a lot of errors, but I did double-fault a little more than usual, which was a minor annoyance, but not a deal-breaker.

The second set was when I really picked it up. Everything came into focus well, and I was able to have a good psychological outlook on the proceedings. I felt like I controlled the majority of the points, and for most of the games my serve was really on. In the last game, it seemed like he stormed back some, but the last point was definitely mine. This was a welcome comeback, but I probably should practice some before I play more matches.

Ladies, here's a hint. If you're up against a girl with big boobs, bring her to the net and make her hit backhand volleys. That's the hardest shot for the well-endowed--Billie Jean King

A "first-ever" for my blog...pictures!

The highs, the lows...the ecstasy and the agony...the stupid grins on all sides.

The Titan and I settle up at the end of the match.

Clash With The Titan (Again)

Sets 539-540:

Stuart v. TennisTitan in Yonkers, NY. Winner: Stuart 6-3, 6-2.

Traveling around the northeastern quadrant of the country, I stopped by to visit the TennisTitan in our series of back-and-forth matches. We had a little bit harder time this time finding time as I had stuff to do, and he had stuff to do. So my original plan of visiting him on the way up got changed around and I stopped through on the way back instead.

He was ever the gracious host, offering me a night's rest at his place since I was stopping through. Might be the last time for that, though, since he said he was starting to think about selling his humble home, now that he's been an empty-nester for a while. Sounded like he has a lot of memories invested in that place.

When I pulled into Yonkers, I had already visited most of the states in New England. Did my time in Woonsocket, RI. Spent a great time in Boston. Three days in Hartford, CT. Camped in Bear Brook State Park in New Hampshire. Spent a lovely night in Bennington, VT. Hiked the tallest mountain in Massachusetts and the Adirondacks in New York. So the tennis thing was turning out to be the icing on top of the cake; the cherry on the whipped cream.

TT and I went to one of his usual haunts and started smacking the ball around. I was a little stiff, having just gotten out of the car about an hour before. But I started getting into the fluidity of the situation, and loosened up a little. In the first set, we were keeping pace a lot, and he was getting a lot of drop shots and winners in on me. I was not covering the court as well as I should have been, but I made up for it with my usual speed in getting to where I needed to be. And I started getting savvy on the drop shots, and getting ready to rush in if it looked like a shot was going to go soft.

My defensive game was top-notch. My offensive game...well, it's never that great anyway, so I can't really complain. The first set I took 6-3, and the first few games were tougher than the last ones.

In the second set, my serve started getting better, and I won more points from dominant serves. Also, there were more long rallies, which I tend to be able to take. My anticipation improved, and I was getting to almost everything, whereby in the first set I was missing some far-court shots. I won the second set 6-2, and it was off to the Chinese buffet for both of us. A fitting cap on the evening. Of course, the Titan blogged his match right away, and I've been quite the slug once again.

Sets 536-538:

Stuart v. M. at Little Stacy Park. Winner: Stuart. 6-4, 4-6, 6-0.

Sets 534-535:

Stuart v. J. at St. Edward's University. Winner: Stuart 6-2, 6-1.

Sets 532-533:

Stuart v. G. at Vista Ridge High School. Winner: G. 6-3, 6-2.