Bringing In March With A Bang

Sets 128-130 (of 365):

Stuart vs. S. at His Apartments. Winner: Stuart 2-6, 6-3, 6-3.

My Mojo: Steadily Improving

Not only am I steadily improving in my attitude, technique and footwork from the last few matches, I mostly improved throughout this match, until I kind of fell apart at the end. More later on that. S. has beaten me twice before by edging me out in three sets, and this time I was the one who finessed the win.

The first two sets were similar in character. There were a lot of very close games that just fell one way or the other. In the first set, he won the set with a pretty lopsided score, but the play was closer than the score looked. The same was true in the second set, except that one fell in my lap. My footwork was outstanding and I was getting to a lot of the zingers that he was hitting that I could not get to the last two times I played him. Though I still was returning most of his shots with defensive play, I was able to play with offense more than I did the last two times I played him.

In the third set I took a definite lead for most of the set and was up 5-0. Then he started coming back and getting shots in that I just could not reach and that was frustrating me. I started having visions of not winning any more games and losing the third set 7-5, and my mental state just fell apart by the time he won two games and brought the score to 5-2. I regained some composure, though, when I realized that I probably had it in me to win another game before he won four in a row. That helped me relax a little, and though I still felt somewhat jittery, I was able to win a game after he had won three in a row to take the set 6-3, and I won the match.

I don't think I'll go to the group lesson tonight. I'm not totally spent, but I just don't have enough real recovery time before it starts, and I feel just a little more in a not-playing mood than in a playing mood. So I think I'll get friendly with some ice packs for a while and relax for the rest of the night.

"The serve was invented so that the net could play." --Bill Cosby