The Triumphant Return of Captain Fall-Apart

Sets 22-23 (of 365)

S. Vs. Stuart at Connally High. Winner: S. 6-4, 6-0

My Mojo: Started Out Above-Average, Then Crashed and Burned, Depleted.

It was still windy, but it had died down some from this this morning. The wind didn't seem to affect the shots too much. I started out playing very well. I was anticipating terrifically, hitting good shots, getting serves that were not too shabby in with a lot of variation on spin and placement, and quickly ran the score up to where I was up 4-1. Still, there was a chunk taken out of my mojo even though it was above-average at first. I played a really tough round this morning and don't think I quite recovered from it. Plus, I didn't eat anything in between this morning's match and the afternoon match, which I think contributed to the triumphant appearance of:

CAPTAIN FALL-APART!

Yes, after the fifth game of the first set, I stepped into a phone booth (as if those even exist any more), stripped away my mild-mannered secret identity, and put on the costume of Captain Fall-Apart, hero to opponents far and wide. Ta-da!

Able to make me smash face-first into tall buildings with a single shove. More powerful pain than getting shoved in front of a locomotive. Look, down on the ground! It's my mojo...collapsing faster than if hit by a speeding bullet.

I didn't win a single game after being up 4-1. I just suddenly could not get to the ball, could not find a strategy that worked, and just flubbed from then on. My shot anticipation went into the toilet, and Captain Fall-Apart used his amazing super-powers to flush hard.

One good thing I had going for me, though, is that I did return almost all of his blazing serves. I didn't place them well enough to get the advantage, usually (I did get in a couple of zingers), but I got them back decently. I had some weak returns, but I did get to some that I didn't think I had a chance of getting to.

My opponent did not call out the score once. I wonder what is up when people do that? I know the Code clearly states that you should, but every once in a while you run into somebody that just steadfastly won't call out the score. I still do it faithfully anyway, and I don't want to impute some sinister reason why somebody won't do that (I like to give people the benefit of the doubt until they prove me wrong), but, hmmm...

All in all, he played well, I didn't play well enough, and I probably could have done with a little more recovery after the first match. Today I definitely feel like I have reached a physical limit. For the first time since I started this blog, I don't feel like playing tennis again today after my last match. I don't feel like going to the gym afterwards (which I sometimes do when I feel like i could play more tennis). I haven't felt this way since I played three matches of tennis in one day, totalling about eight hours, in near 100 degree heat and near 100 percent humidity close to Houston this last summer. Time to rest up so I can play tomorrow night's match. Hopefully, I will be well-renewed by then. It's good to empty your mojo cup every once in a while, and then just lay back and relax.

As far as my pace goes, I'm not doing too bad. I've really picked up the pace in the last couple weeks. I've gotten to 22 sets in a little less than a month after being kinda behind on my pace. Still need a few more, though. Hopefully, I'll still be able to find opponents over the holiday season. If I can get in about 10 more matches by the end of the month, I'll be about even with par.