Moving Around A Lot, But Playing A Successful Offense

Sets 122-123 (of 365):

Stuart vs. D. at Hill Country Middle School. Winner: Stuart 6-1, 6-2.
Ladder Match #11

My Mojo: Average to Above-Average

We tried to play at Westlake High School, but their team was playing there, so we could not get on the courts. Man, those kids are good. I hear Westlake High has one of the best tennis teams in the country, if not the best. I'm sure they are better than some college teams. Those tennis balls were just burning across the net on those courts. And the courts are really nice too, though I am somewhat surprised that they don't have lights there.

So when we realized there was no way we were going to get a court, we headed down the street to Hill Country Middle School. They have two pretty nice courts there. Both of them were in use when we drove up, but we were in luck; one pair of players was just finishing up as we got out of our cars and walked down to the courts.

The weather was just gorgeous. It was probably high 60s or low 70s with just a hint of a breeze every once in a while. D. came on strong at first, but he seemed to have some trouble with his serve that allowed me to play offensively to my advantage. Also, I was able reliably to place my serve almost every time according to where he was standing. Some of the time he decided to stand right behind the service line to receive my serve. I had never seen anyone do that before. That just seems too close to me. So when he started doing that, I just started serving my new serve really hard and flat. After a few of those, he moved back to near the base line again. But then I was surprised to see him move back to mid-court again toward the end of the second set.

He varied the pace a lot, but I was able to keep up with his variations. It also seemed like he had me running more than most players do. I was winded and hardly able to catch my breath between points, as he was moving me around the court a lot, both from side to side and in and out. Though he was hitting to places that I had to travel to, I was able to get there most of the time and get the shots back, usually with pretty good placement. Of course, there were certainly some points that he dominated on, but it seemed like I took the lead on most of them. I felt like I was able to get more offense in than I have been getting lately. I was never in much danger in either set and won handily.

After we finished our match, we ran into a tennis friend of my daughter, M., and her mother. She had played several matches with my daughter in tournaments a couple of summers ago, and also went to a birthday party sleepover my daughter had at Barton Creek Resort. I hadn't seen them in a while, and they sent their regards to my daughter. And later that day, I ran into my friend K. at a bookstore. It was good to see her also as I had not seen her in a really long time. We chatted for a little while to catch up, and then exchanged our latest info.

And, woo-hoo! I've gotten past one-third of my goal of 365 sets...I am way ahead of schedule, but I'll probably need to be ahead to cope with unanticipated tragic events up the river.

"Why has slamming a ball with a racquet become so obsessive a pleasure for so many of us? It seems clear to me that a primary attraction of the sport is the opportunity it gives to release aggression physically without being arrested for felonious assault." --Nat Hentoff