Ridin' That Train Like Bamboo Under Fingernails

Sets 41-42 (of 365):

Stuart vs. L. at The Quarries. Winner: Stuart 3-6, 6-5, retired

My Mojo: Swung Wildly From Low to High

I hate to win by forfeit. Especially when we were playing such a good match. This guy was major tenacious. I could not seem to get anything by him. He ran down everything and hit back stuff that I thought he would never get to. He was obviously very well-conditioned. His shots were not super-spectacular, but they were solid, and he sure bounced just about everything back. At first, I could not seem to get any kind of mojo going at all. My play was not too bad, but I just could not get a foothold in. I lost the first set by just being ground down.

The second set started out much the same way, only worse. Before I knew it, I was down 5-0. I really thought it was curtains. But my mojo was coming up slowly. I was hitting spectacular stuff, but he was coming back with miraculous moves!

My Hail Mary play was visualizing a train going down the tracks. I won the next game, and the train started going faster and stronger. Then I won another, and another. My spectacular stuff was starting to work more and more. The train was really chugging down those tracks; I was starting to feel like nothing was going to stop it. My mojo was growing like bamboo under fingernails.

I also started thinking about patience. When I lost some points, it was because I had not been patient enough; I had been trying to force something too early. I knew I couldn't afford to not be patient. I also started thinking about the doubles player I played yesterday, and how he got me with so many angles. So I started playing more angles when the right moment arose (patience!), and most of them worked, though a couple did go long or into the net. I did get a high percentage of them to work for me. Now the train was starting to zig-zag.

Next thing I knew, I was up 6-5. I had won six games in a row from 5-0! I was pretty darned sure I was going to win the next game, and I was roarin' to play a third set. But my opponent said that he had to forfeit. He said his tennis elbow was bothering him too much. I've never gotten tennis elbow (knock on wood, throw salt over my shoulder, kiss a shrunken head, whatever...), luckily, but it seems to be a real scourge for some players.