Stepping Into The Path Of A Moving Train

Sets 189-192:

Stuart vs. S. at his Apts. Winner: S. 6-3, 6-1, 6-1, 6-3.

My Mojo: Solid, But Not Good Enough.

I felt like I was playing some of the best tennis I had played in months for this match, but I still could not pull off a win, or even a close result. I did get a little demoralized in the second and third sets, but managed to bring my mental state back for the fourth set, where I though I played the best I had played all night, though my opponent thought my first set was my best play. Throughout the entire match, I played with more offense than I usually played against S., as I am usually forced into playing defensively with his type of game. But though my shots were phenomenal, his were miraculous. He consistently got to shots that I never thought he would get to, and even though out of place and off-balance, returned them with precision, often with winners.

In the first set, I was throwing everything I had into the mix. But I was trying just a little too hard. My shots were phenomenal, and I got more winners than I usually do, but he was just throwing back a wall of lightning at me. When I got a really good shot across, he returned it with an even better shot. I lost many points that I had absolute control over just by trying a little too hard for the winner. Some of my overheads that I tried to hit at an angle went a little wide, and some of my lobs went a little long because I didn't put enough spin on them. But he got most of my lobs with great overheads, too, if they got in. In past matches, he had been luring me into the net so he could get take control of the point and keep me off-balance, and he didn't seem to be able to do that as much during this match.

In the second and third sets, I became frustrated by my inability to break through in the first set. Still, it didn't affect my play too much. What happened mostly was that his level of play increased tremendously, and there was almost nothing I could pull out to win a game. In each set, I did manage to muster enough strategy to win one game, but the rest were just lost as I got seriously outplayed. His backhands were getting almost flawless, and almost indistinguishable from shots used by the pros as he uncoiled with precision and slapped the ball with ferocious intensity just over the net. The topspin that he got on his backhand made the ball pop up so high that it was hard to get that waist-high return, and I was returning a lot of them a little out of my comfort zone. I was afraid to move too far behind the baseline to get to a more comfortable return spot, because I knew if I did that, I would start getting drop shots and short angles.

The apex of my frustration was probably the last half of the third set. I managed to infuse myself with some relative calm for the fourth set, and this was the set that I thought I had played the best. My offensive play was at its maximum during this set. My shots were technically more solid, and my footwork was more precise. Usually I don't come back mentally this well from frustration, and I was happy that I had done so, even though he was playing so well that there was just no way I was going to break through that. S. told me that his level of play had been very high against most of the players he had played lately, and that he had reached lopsided scores against just about everybody he had recently played. Playing against him was like tonight was like stepping into the path of a moving train. I did get frustrated again on the last point of the four sets, as I hit one of the worst flubs I had hit all night to lose the last set. I tossed my racquet into the net, and it bounced over. Once again, immediately I felt sheepish at this display of frustration, and calmed down some.

The pain of my finger was bothering me, but not enough to affect my play or my mood too much. At the end of the match, though, I had to peel my fingers off of my racquet carefully, and I had to shake hands again with my left hand. I still cannot play the piano or type with my right middle finger, as I can't bear weight through the tip. But lateral incidental movements with the rest of the hand seem to be working decently.