My Fire Gets Unceremoniously Put Out

Sets 206-207:

Stuart vs. S. at His Apartments. Winner: S. 6-3, 6-3, 2-5 (30-40)

My Mojo: Very Strong, But Drifting As Play Progressed In The First Two Sets.

Today it was stiflingly humid. It wasn't terribly hot, maybe about 85 or so, but the humidity had me sweating profusely even before the warmup had finished, and my clothes were completely soaked by the time the match was over, even before it started raining.

And what a time for the rain to arrive. I had already lost the first match 6-3, 6-3, and it starts pouring rain right as I am at set point on the third set. So I didn't get to finish the set, ergo, I didn't count a third set here. Rats. Not that he might not have come back from set point with a stunning turnaround and won the set 7-5 or taken it into a tiebreak. But I do think my chances of winning the third set were better at that point.

It had drizzled a little bit once or twice during our play, and even dropped just a few big raindrops once, but it never became wet enough to stop the play through the three sets, until the end. Each time that it threatened to rain, it stopped, and what tiny amounts of moisture had fallen dried up quickly, despite the humidity.

Meanwhile, back to the starting line... I started out both of the first two sets playing really strongly. In both sets, I was up 2-0 with very strong and offensive play. I took the initiative with my serves, and played the ball in my kind of game to winning most of the points. And then, in both sets, I just sort of checked out. Not that I still wasn't playing decently, but I was letting him set the pace more, and getting a few of his devastating winners whiz by me because of weak returns. In each of the first two sets, I only won one more game, and he won all the rest. However, there were a few points in which I felt I could not do anything about the winning shot. There were some things that encouraged me about my play, though.

First, I was not getting taken by his drop shots as badly as I usually do. I was doing a halfway decent job of distinguishing between the true drop shots and the deep slices, which is hard to do and takes a lot of accuracy. He only got me on a couple of drop shots, and only when I was pulled way out of position. He did get me on a couple of lobs after he pulled me to net with his drop shots, though the number of points that he won this way was not excessive.

Second, my anticipation was superb. I was getting to most of the shots that he hit back at me, no matter how offensively placed they were. My recovery on each shot was very good, and I was well-positioned the way I should be almost all of the time.

Third, most of the rallies were solid, and did not end with errors on my part. I did make a few errors in mistiming putting my body into the shot, which made the ball go long. But these diminished as the match went on. I also made some errors by running through my approach shots, again making the ball go long. And I made even less errors hitting the ball into the net by swinging flat at the ball instead of coming under the ball and up with my swing and stepping into the shot.

Fourth, I was getting really good shoulder rotation and body movement into my serves, especially my second serves. I think one thing I have figured out on my second serve is that I don't need to put as much arm into it and I can use more of my body, and it makes for a shot that is just as strong, falls consistently deep, and has a lot more control on it.

Fifth, my mental attitude was seriously solid. I didn't get mad or frustrated, and when I was down, I adopted a "one point at a time" attitude where I put the score out of my mind and just concentrated on technique and strategy. My play improved throughout the match rather that diminished, and that is what helped give me such a strong performance in the third set. My opponent seemed to have peaked in the second set and fizzled out in the third, whereas I was playing the best tennis of the evening at the end, and maybe even the best tennis I had played in a couple of months. Too bad the rain put out the fire.

Hey, I just thought of something. Maybe I'll see if he wants to finish that third set next time we play so I can count it. I was up 5-2, 40-30, and it was my serve from the east side. If he does manage to come back and win the set, that will almost be a set in itself, and one of several worthy ends to this story.