No Dang Tiebreak, Period

Sets 479-481:

Stuart v. J. at South Austin Tennis Center. Winner: S. 6-1, 3-6, 6-0.

My Mojo: Uneven; On And Off And On Again, With A Touch Of Drama.

I played really well during the first set. I made very few errors, and just got the ball back every time, even though he had a majority of the power shots. And also, in the first set I was able to place the ball well so that he could not get tactical winners past me.

Sometimes a tennis game can be like one of those Russian eggs that has a number of eggs nested inside each other. There's the first egg, and then you open up the first egg, and you play your "first egg" game for a while, and then you come to a point where the next egg opens up. Often the next egg opens up at the beginning of a new set, but sometimes it can open up mid-set. Sometimes both of you open your next eggs at the same time, and sometimes one person gets to an advantageous next egg, while the other is still on the first (ever lost a set where you were up 5-0?).

My next egg opened up at the beginning of the second set, and was much weaker than my first egg. On the other hand, my opponent's next egg, which launched at the same time, was much stronger than his first egg had been. So I struggled throughout the whole next set, and I think the score was closer that the game was. I felt like I got whomped in the second set. I was returning the ball defensively and weakly, and that played to his strong point of hitting winners out of my reach.

When we finished the second set, we had about ten minutes left. My opponent wanted to play a match tiebreak, but I was not going along with that. I wanted to play a third set. I always let everybody know before I play that I don't like to play at the tennis centers, because we often can't finish the match. He tried to pressure me into the tiebreak, but I held firm, and I think it made him mad, and possibly made the quality of his game go down. So I won the third set in the next ten minutes (actually, we went a couple minutes over, but the next players got there late, and let us finish out a couple of points). So we were able to finish the set in the time allotted even though our play was kind of rushed. Our third eggs seemed to have emerged, and mine was consistent while his was half-hearted.

Now, I'm all for going along with the other player and playing a friendly game, but I don't like being pressured into a tiebreak. The rules of the ladder say that we play three sets unless both players agree, and I'm probably not going to agree to a tiebreak. I have done it before when I've been pressured into it, and I don't like it at all, although I wasn't completely happy with the way I won the third set in this match. But if you're reading this, be on notice; if we split, I want to play a third set!

Bad Weird Mojo

Sets 477-478:

Stuart v. J. at Austin High. Winner: J. 6-0, 6-1.

My Mojo: Horribilis.

I played worse than I have played in a long time. I couldn't even hardly get my racquet on the ball at all, and I had trouble getting to the ball. I knew I would get a lot of short balls from this guy, but I couldn't seem to get to the ones that he hit; they all seemed to be out of my range. His serve was also better than it had been every other time I had played him. So he played great, and I played crappy, and it was reflected in the score. I was dehydrated and the heat was getting to me, also, and my mood deteriorated. I left the court completely disgusted with my play.

Keeping The Edge

Sets 475-476:

Stuart v. A. at Northwest Park. Winner: Stuart 6-1, 6-3.

My Mojo: Just Over The Line.

I feel like I am on a hot streak lately. Or maybe I am coming off of a dud streak. For a long time, I couldn't seem to get my game together, but for the last few matches, it has really coalesced. Today, I was hitting pretty well, and my strategy seemed to be one of error-baiting. I have played against enough people thatI felt did that with me that I put it into play. I just played consistently, and didn't hit super-hard, but hit shots with medium to high-medium power and mostly playing to my opponent's position. The games were actually closer than the score reflected, but I felt like I had an edge for most of the match.

One thing was a slight distraction. My back was really messed up, so I was wearing a back brace. It has been messed up for the last three days, and I have worn the brace for each of the times I played in the last three days. Also my left knee has been giving me some problems. So I have been good buddies with ice packs and hot baths for the last few days. Hopefully none of this will get worse.

A Mental Game That Briefly Crumbles

Sets 472-474:

Stuart v. C. at Vista Ridge. Winner: Stuart 6-2, 6-7(3), 6-2.

My Mojo: Solid Granite Turning To Sandstone For The Tiebreak.

This guy has beat me before both of the times we have played. But I really enjoy playing him, because we had really close and long matches and push each other to the limit. Tonight was no exception, except this time I won.

Throughout most of the match, I had good ball control and great consistency. The first and third matches I played much better, but in the second match, my error rate went up, andI made enough errors (and he hit enough winners) to go into a tiebreak.

Then the unexpected tiebreak we played messed up my mental state. I usually do a lot of mental preparation before a match, especially if I have had close matches with somebody that I have lost to several times. I visualize playing against that person's playing style for several days before the match, try to see myself hitting shots with good form, and get into a mental zone before the game. And that is what I did this time. It mostly worked, except he asked me to play a tiebreak that I wasn't familiar with. I figured I would end up having to play that tiebreak at some point anyway, so I agreed. But it really just crumbled my concentration. So I lost the tiebreak. I guess I can't completely blame it on that, because he played really well during the tiebreak.

But I didn'tlet that get to me, and I got my mental state back for the third set. I was able to hit a few more shots that were winners than he did in this set (though it did seem like he got some really good ones in, especially when I hit shots that came up weak and short that he was able to get an extreme angle on), and I also made less errors. I especially managed to avoid hitting shots long and got most of them right inside the baseline.

One thing that I lamed out on was my lobs when he came to net. They almost all seemed to come up short, and he returned them with overheads that I was rarely ever able to get to. But my serve was really on tonight.

Easy Money

Stuart v. C. and two other guys. Winner: S. 5-0, and various two out of three mini-matches.

Ok, there was really no money involved. But if there had been, it would have been easy money. I played a guy who was really rusty and not nearly as good as I am. I beat him easily and ran him around the court probably a little too much. He begged off after the fifth game and just about that time, two guys who looked about college age showed up. I offered to play them alternating two out of three mini-sets for king of the court. I won all those matches, too.

One of the guys had pretty good topspin but not much control over the ball. The other had a wicked extreme-angle serve that he also didn't have much control over. I won most of the little sets easily, but they each won a game occasionally. Of course, I don't get to count any of it here, because we didn't play any full sets.

Out-Endured, Just Barely

Sets 470-471:

Stuart v. D. at South Austin Tennis Center. Winner: Stuart 6-3, 6-3.

This guy was a good endurance player. Fortunately, so am I. The last time we played, it ended prematurely with an injury. But that time, he was outplaying me. This time, I just stayed in the rallies a little longer.

The Long And Blinding Road

Sets 467-469:

Stuart v. K. at The Quarries. Winner: Stuart 6-3, 6-7(4), 6-3. We played a fourth short set, starting at 3-3, andI won that one, too, 7-5. But that one doesn't count.

My Mojo: Keep it Together.

There's a recurring theme in the move "Bowfinger" where one of Eddie Murphy's characters (the main one) keeps saying to himself, "Keep it together, keep it together, keep it together" really fast like an auctioneer or a speed freak. Well, I kept it together. Just barely.

Most of the time, I had a lot of calmness going on. But then, things would suddenly go in a direction that I hadn't anticipated (in other words, I started playing worse and he started playing better), and my calm attitude frayed. But I was usually able to bring it back. I prepared myself mentally a lot for this match. I tried to anticipate my mental state going south and prepared responses to that. I also tried to visualize my shots against the style of play that I thought my opponent would play. And for the most part, it worked

I played pretty well in the first set, and held an edge, though it was close. I kept telling myself thatI had to be ready for it to not be easy, and for this to be a long match. And it was. We consistently had long rallies, and games that went back and forth over and over from deuce to ad. We both play a long, grinding game, so when two people meet who play that way, it is going to be a marathon.

In the second set, I couldn't quite get an edge, and my mental state frayed just a bit. Still, I managed to get to a standoff, but my diminished mojo couldn't take me through the tiebreak.

In the third set, I think Ihadjusta little more oomph than he did. The games didn't seem to be quite as close, and I felt a little more confident about my play without getting to the point of overconfidence that makes it all fall apart.

Even though we had played for two and a half hours, I was ready to play another set, and I asked him if he wanted to. He agreed to play a short set. I had the same mindset as I did in the third set, and the set turned out about the same way.

An Untimely End

Set 466:

Stuart v. J. at Austin High. Winner: Stuart 6-2, retired.

My Mojo: Edgy; Willing To Take Some Risk.

This started out really weird. For some reason, I thought the match was at South Austin Tennis Center. I got there, and he was not there. Shoot, I thought, I don't have his phone number. But the tennis center had it, and they let me call him. I felt like an idiot when he told me it was at Austin High. So I rushed over there in awful traffic, but still only managed to be about ten minutes late. Well, I've had people be much later that that with me before, so I'm doing OK on the lateness karma thing. Still, it was my goof.

When I got there, we warmed up quickly, but I waspretty much ready to play. My lateness made me feel kind of edgy in my play. Not a bad, jittery edgy, but a fun, willing-to-take-risks edgy. I hit of experimental shots that were not my usual style at all, but still managed to hold onto consistency. I won the first set. I wouldn't say it was all that easy, but the score was kind of lopsided.

Then my opponent said he felt sick and couldn't continue. I told him I hated to win that way, and he said he just didn't feel like he could keep going. So I won by forfeit/retirement. Too bad we didn't get to play it out; maybe another time when he feels better.

Sets 463-465:

Stuart v. H. at Private Courts. Winner: Stuart 4-6, 6-0, 6-1.