He Mixed It Up, I Stayed Steady, I Hurt But Not As Much As Earlier

Sets 74-77 (of 365):

Stuart vs. B. at Northwest Park. Winner: Stuart 6-1, 6-1, 6-1, 6-1.

My Mojo: Still Hurting, but Consistent and Centered

After the last match this morning, I went home, took a hot bath, soaked in it for a long time to soothe my aching body, and took a nap. By tonight, I was still somewhat sore, but definitely not as bad as this morning. Still, I thought I would not play more than two sets. Little did I know that I'd be able to summon up enough mojo to stay in for four sets.

B. started out really trying to overpower, but by doing that, he was not hitting with a lot of accuracy. Still, I was impressed with the power of his serves, and when they went in, they were doozies. I did manage to anticipate enough to hit most of them, even when they were pretty fast, but he definitely got some by me.

I was ahead in most of the games we played tonight, and a few times, I came back from behind to win. But something happened every set that I thought was very strange. B. got really focused for one game every set, and just outmanouvered me big time to win a gme once every set. In the first three sets, he won one game in each set that was on his serve. But in the fourth set, he broke my serve. It seemed like for each of these games that he won, I was suddenly playing a different player. But then his focus would dissipate, and he would go back to playing the same game he was playing before. His serves were usually hard and flat, but as the match went on, he mixed in more high serves and some with a little bit of spin.

This isn't to say that he didn't mix it up. After losing the first set, he stopped trying for power shots, and went for placement more. I just kept playing for consistency and looked for the perfect opportunity to place a ball where he could not get to it. It seemed like I was able to do that more than he was, though he got a few good placements too.

After the second set, I was starting to ache again, but again, not as bad as this morning. He asked me if I wanted to play a third set, and I said, sure, what the heck. Once again, I was pretty consistent, and got some good placements. I was a little surprised that we had the same score because I was starting to feel more sore and a little weaker. He tried mixing in a few more drop shots, which worked well at first, but I started reading them after a while, and started getting to more and more of them.

Then he asked me if I wanted to play a fourth set. In my head, I was thinking, ugghhh, I really am starting to hurt again. Yesterday took a lot out of me. That's what I get for salsa dancing all night long. But I figured, what the heck. I need the endurance training. So I answered pretty much right away, "OK." We played a fourth set, and he turned into Superplayer for one game this set, just like he had in all the other sets, and then lost focus. I was still running stuff down, though. Even though I was hurting, I was still going to run stuff down as long as my heart was beating. And this set, he tried moving me around the court a lot more. Though it pained me, I got to more than I didn't get to. And I solidly won another set. I really expected that he would get more games this set, and that this one would maybe even just be a gimme on my part. I wasn't feeling so much up to it, but I was able to play pretty well, and that surprised me a little.

After the match, he told me that my shots tend to drop right away and not bounce, and it was hard for him to react to that. It is hard for me to get feedback on how my shots land at the other end, and how they are perceived by the other player, because I'm not there. So that was a rare insight into how my shots fall on the other side of the court.

Woo-hoo, I got to play four sets tonight (even though I never dreamed I would have the energy to do that), so I'm already at my new goal of 75 sets by the end of this month. Maybe I'll take a couple days off. I've been starting to feel a little under the weather, and my ear infection seems to be creeping back too. When I was in the bath this afternoon, I soaked it in hydrogen peroxide and alcohol; hopefully that will help. So my next match for the month will probably be the partial third set with T. that I will be finishing on Wednesday, weather (and my physical condition) permitting. Then I can come into February roarin'.