An Early Finish

Set 285:

Stuart v. D. at Northwest Park. Winner: Stuart 7-5, 1-0, D. retired

My Mojo: Strong And Tenacious.

I felt pretty good this match. The last couple of matches I had not been feeling too good; I didn't realize it, but I was kinda sick. I think I had some bug that got to my left kidney; I didn't realize it because my back had a muscle spasm and I thought that my back just was taking a long time to get better. But it has been definitely more than that, with the chills, weakness and cramps that I had been feeling. So I drank a bunch of fluids, got some pure cranberry juice and started chugging that, and got some antibiotics from the doctor. Now I'm much better, but still have some pain in my side that is starting to diminish.

I got to the park early and all the courts were open. I picked out the court next to the shade tree. I figured it was hot and we would want the shade. The problem was, there was a little bit of ground water percolating up into that court. It wasn't a huge problem, but there was a line about two feet long that was kinda damp. With all of the rain that we had been getting in the last few months, I guess the ground water is getting close to the surface there.

When D. got there, he didn't like that court because of the water, so we moved one court over. Okay, I thought, but it's going to be hot. I was worried, too, because of my recent weakness. But I held up with my customary resilience to the heat, so I must be over my recent malaise at least enough so playing a vigorous round of tennis won't sap my strength. D. seemed to have a hard time with the heat, though. His shots were really good when he lined them up. He had great ball control, and used both topspin and slice well. My advantage was my consistency and ability to get to the impossible-looking shots. My hard serve did not seem to be working for me that well, so I switched to a higher serve with more spin, which seemed to at least get in the box more.

In the first set, I took an early lead, getting to 3-1, and then 4-2. Then his play seemed to surge and he was overwhelming me strategically for a few games. He got good momentum going and I felt briefly frustrated by my inability to break through in any of those games. From 4-2 he won the next three games, so he was up 5-4. Then I managed to come back in the next game, which was a good psychological point because I broke his momentum and evened it up. After that, I won the next two games pretty easily. He seemed to be not handling the heat too well; he asked for longer breaks on the changeovers, which I didn't mind. I felt cool as a cucumber, and strong in the heat. I could definitely feel the heat bearing down on me, but it didn't bother me at all and I held on well. I was doing some mental relaxation exercises on the changeovers to stay cool and focused.

After the first set, he said he was having a hard time in the heat, and he needed a break even though we were on an even game. He said he might have to forfeit, but he'd play at least another game. In the first game of the second set, I won every point, and he threw in the towel, conceding at that point. We sat in the shade of the tree by the first court for a while and talked while he recovered. He would probably have a better game against me in cooler conditions.