Today's Trifecta

Today, for the first time, I scheduled three matches in one day. Woo-hoo, a trifecta! I am still waiting to hear from somebody who may want to play a fourth match with with me today. I wonder what it would be like to play for twenty-four hours straight? I'd probably have to arrange getting a ton of fluids and food there. Maybe I'll give that a shot sometime.

But today, so far, I've only played for a little less than six hours. That would be a tad short of one-fourth of a full twenty-four hour marathon. Yeah, I could play another match. Banzai.

Sets 35-36 (of 365):

D. vs. Stuart at Connally High. Winner: Stuart 6-3, 6-2

My Mojo: Average to Above-Average

It was a cold morning, about thirty-five degrees. I underdressed, though I did wear long sleeves and long pants, thinking that once I got moving I would warm up. That is pretty much what happened, but my teeth were chattering once we got started. My opponent was wearing three layers.

We started playing at eight in the morning (Is it insane to get up to play that early on New Year's Day? I was up until about one in the morning the night before). The wind started out slow and picked up throughout the match.

I was having a hard time at first. He started out winning the first three games. Then I figured out that his serve was not very hard, but had a lot of spin, so I started positioning myself a little closer in to receive serve. That helped a lot. I was also strategizing well and hitting shots frequently to where he could not get them. He did that to me a lot less, though he did get a few good angles in. He put some pressure on but I just played consistently to win the match. A good deal of the shots that he was able to get me on were shots that were drop shots or close to the net when I was expecting baseline shots.

Sets 37-38 (of 365):

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

My Mojo: Above-Average to Excellent

I had to really hurry to get to the next site and didn't have time to rest in between. I got there barely in time but was about a minute late because I really had to go to the bathroom once I got there. It was a little warmer by this time, but I still kept my long sleeves on. I played solidly and made very few errors. This guy was one of the highest ranked guys on the ladder that I have beaten, and the margin was pretty decisive. Maybe he was having a bad day and some other time he would do much better. I don't know. He did seem to make a lot of errors. My serves were going right where I wanted them and the games I served I was able to stay on the offense with a lot of power in my strokes. Most of my serves in this match had a lot of spin and some got a bit curvy due to the spin. He seemed to have a hard time finding a footing.

Sets 39-40 (of 365):

Stuart vs. T. at Private Courts. Winner: T. 6-1, 7-5

My Mojo: Average to Above-Average

It had really warmed up and I was able to take off my long-sleeved shirt to play in the T-shirt I was wearing underneath. It was probably around 60 by this time, and the wind had died down to less than ten miles per hour. This time I had plenty of time to get to this site as the last match only lasted about forty-five minutes. So I had time to eat also, but had a hadr time finding a place open on New Year's Day. I finally picked up a falafel pita sandwich at Sun Harvest (mmm...falafel) to fuel me up for the next match. And I needed fuel, too, since I had no time to eat anything after the first match.

T. was the best opponent I played all day. He had really solid shots, and a knack for hitting the ball to spots on the court that I was out of position to get to. He retained really good power on the games that he served, and in the first set, edged me out on the games I served. He was excellent at hitting angle shots and got me on a lot of those. He said he played a lot of doubles. Usually when somebody tells you they play doubles, they are using it as an excuse for some perceived weakness at singles. But this guy played really strongly though he did play with a lot of doubles strategy. I got totally wiped out in the first set.

In the second set, I played a lot more solidly; at least on the games I served. He still was able to blow me away on the games he served, but I held serve at first, and was up 5-4, with each of us having won our service games. My serves were really solid and were often winners. I was also throwing in a good mix of spin serves, hard flat serves, deep serves, and serves that pulled wide or to the middle. I was not just tossing over the same serve every time. He won the next game on his serve to even up at 5-5, and then he broke my serve the next game. At that point I pretty much knew it was over. He was just too solid when he was serving, and I could not come up with a plan to break through. He ended up winning the second set 7-5 to win the match.