Stuart's Irreverent and Frivolous Tennis Blog

2009-10-10T13:44:00.000-06:00

Sets 560-562:

Stuart v. K. at Connally HS. Winner: K. 6-7(5), 6-2, 6-2.

2009-09-28T21:37:00.001-06:00

Sets 558-559:

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

2009-09-27T19:23:00.000-06:00

Sets 556-557:

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

2009-09-27T12:21:00.000-06:00

Sets 553-555:

Stuart v. C. at South Austin Tennis Center and Westlake High School. Winner: Stuart 6-4, 5-7, 6-3.

2009-09-20T20:30:00.000-06:00

Sets 550-552:

Stuart v. S. at Williamson County Tennis Center. Winner: S. 2-6, 7-5, 6-2.

2009-09-03T22:41:00.000-06:00

Sets 548-549:

Stuart v. W. at Little Stacy Park. Winner: W. 6-0, 6-1.

2009-08-31T21:32:00.001-06:00

Sets 545-547:

Stuart v. I. at Northwest Park. Winner: Stuart. 1-6, 6-4, 6-4.

2009-08-12T23:11:00.001-06:00

Sets 543-544:

Stuart v. P. at Northwest Park. Winner: P. 7-5, 6-4

Coming Back After Some Down Time

2009-08-09T09:51:00.005-06:00

Sets 541-542:

Stuart v. C. at South Austin Tennis Center. Winner: Stuart 6-4, 6-0.

My Mojo: Steady and Tenacious.

It's been a while since I played. I need to start playing more often again. I don't know why I've drifted away from playing tennis more often, but I need to start trying to play at least once or twice a week again.

I guess I only have a certain amount of mojo to spread out among all of the physical things that I do. Now that I've gotten back into running more often, it seems like that has taken more of the edge off of my tennis game. But I felt like I played pretty well today.

One indicator for me was that my volleys were really on. Every time I came to net, it paid off. I had good directionality, didn't flub any into the net, and had "good hands" on the returns with just the right touch almost every time.

In the first set, I was a little worried. This is the third time I have played C., and he had beaten me both times before. In each of the previous matches, I felt like our play was close, but he just out-ground me. It seems like he is a grinding player, which is a lot like the way I play. Just stay in there and out last if you can, that's the strategy. Three-hour slugfests are the norm for my type of player, and if both of us play that way, it gets long and ugly, with each of us getting to everything, and long, engaging rallies.

But this time I was able to get a little more aggressive play in and cut off more of the rallies. Starting out the match, we were playing a little more evenly, but I felt like I was able to out-finesse him just a little. I didn't make a lot of errors, but I did double-fault a little more than usual, which was a minor annoyance, but not a deal-breaker.

The second set was when I really picked it up. Everything came into focus well, and I was able to have a good psychological outlook on the proceedings. I felt like I controlled the majority of the points, and for most of the games my serve was really on. In the last game, it seemed like he stormed back some, but the last point was definitely mine. This was a welcome comeback, but I probably should practice some before I play more matches.

Ladies, here's a hint. If you're up against a girl with big boobs, bring her to the net and make her hit backhand volleys. That's the hardest shot for the well-endowed--Billie Jean King

2009-07-13T23:30:00.001-06:00

A "first-ever" for my blog...pictures!

The highs, the lows...the ecstasy and the agony...the stupid grins on all sides.

2009-07-13T23:25:00.000-06:00

The Titan and I settle up at the end of the match.

Clash With The Titan (Again)

2009-07-13T23:09:00.003-06:00

Sets 539-540:

Stuart v. TennisTitan in Yonkers, NY. Winner: Stuart 6-3, 6-2.

Traveling around the northeastern quadrant of the country, I stopped by to visit the TennisTitan in our series of back-and-forth matches. We had a little bit harder time this time finding time as I had stuff to do, and he had stuff to do. So my original plan of visiting him on the way up got changed around and I stopped through on the way back instead.

He was ever the gracious host, offering me a night's rest at his place since I was stopping through. Might be the last time for that, though, since he said he was starting to think about selling his humble home, now that he's been an empty-nester for a while. Sounded like he has a lot of memories invested in that place.

When I pulled into Yonkers, I had already visited most of the states in New England. Did my time in Woonsocket, RI. Spent a great time in Boston. Three days in Hartford, CT. Camped in Bear Brook State Park in New Hampshire. Spent a lovely night in Bennington, VT. Hiked the tallest mountain in Massachusetts and the Adirondacks in New York. So the tennis thing was turning out to be the icing on top of the cake; the cherry on the whipped cream.

TT and I went to one of his usual haunts and started smacking the ball around. I was a little stiff, having just gotten out of the car about an hour before. But I started getting into the fluidity of the situation, and loosened up a little. In the first set, we were keeping pace a lot, and he was getting a lot of drop shots and winners in on me. I was not covering the court as well as I should have been, but I made up for it with my usual speed in getting to where I needed to be. And I started getting savvy on the drop shots, and getting ready to rush in if it looked like a shot was going to go soft.

My defensive game was top-notch. My offensive game...well, it's never that great anyway, so I can't really complain. The first set I took 6-3, and the first few games were tougher than the last ones.

In the second set, my serve started getting better, and I won more points from dominant serves. Also, there were more long rallies, which I tend to be able to take. My anticipation improved, and I was getting to almost everything, whereby in the first set I was missing some far-court shots. I won the second set 6-2, and it was off to the Chinese buffet for both of us. A fitting cap on the evening. Of course, the Titan blogged his match right away, and I've been quite the slug once again.

2009-06-11T23:07:00.002-06:00

Sets 536-538:

Stuart v. M. at Little Stacy Park. Winner: Stuart. 6-4, 4-6, 6-0.

2009-06-07T21:16:00.000-06:00

Sets 534-535:

Stuart v. J. at St. Edward's University. Winner: Stuart 6-2, 6-1.

2009-05-18T22:24:00.000-06:00

Sets 532-533:

Stuart v. G. at Vista Ridge High School. Winner: G. 6-3, 6-2.

2009-05-14T22:22:00.001-06:00

Sets 530-531:

Stuart v. M. at Westover Hills. Winner: M. 6-2, 6-4.

Ballroom Blitz

2009-05-13T21:54:00.002-06:00

Sets 528-529:

Stuart v. M. at Little Stacy Park. Winner: Stuart 7-6(5), 7-6(2).

My Mojo: Persistent.

This was one of those epic grinding sagas. You can probably tell from the score that it was seriously close all the way through. This guy baffles me with the kick on his ball. It never ends up where I think it will end up, and it is always different. I've played kick players before, and I usually just adjust to the kick. This time I was reacting almost instantanously, as the kick was different in intensity and directionality almost every time.

But I play a defensive game anyway. So I just ground it out, like I usually do. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. This time it did. I think when a match is close it spurs me on, too, and often I'm able to eke out an extra effort at the end of each set. There's something about pulling an inner energy out of my body from a secret place (no juvenile comments). Anyway, I did just a little better playing my defensive game against a blitzkrieg offense.

2009-05-12T19:32:00.000-06:00

Sets 526-527:

Stuart v. P. at Little Stacy Park. Winner: Stuart 7-5, 6-0.

Don't Slam The Door On Your Way Out

2009-05-03T15:10:00.001-06:00

Sets 524-525:

Stuart v. F. at South Austin Tennis Center. Winner: F. 6-0, 6-3.

My Mojo: Pathetic.

I think I was just too tired playing this match. It didn't go anything like I thought it would. Nothing was working for me, and I just emotionally melted down. I felt like I was covered with a blanket, and couldn't find the way out. Things just got worse and worse. He outplayed me with the game I play.

In the second set, I was able to utilize a Plan B that worked a little better for me, but still did not cook the enchiladas all the way through. I tried for a more offensive game, and tried to pull him to one far side of the court and then hit winners to the other side. I also rushed the net more, trying more of a "chip 'n charge" game (or at least as much as my ability would allow). Like I said, that got me more points, but did not buy my way into a third set. I was a mess when this match ended.

Would You Like Fudge With Your Super Salad?

2009-05-02T16:31:00.006-06:00

Sets 522-523:

Stuart v. B. at South Austin Tennis Center. Winner; Stuart 6-2, 6-2.

My Mojo: Untouchable At First, Then Stupendous, With Intermittent Fudge.

Sweet, merciful pizza, giver of life, you arrive just as my body is completely spent and replenish my fuel and electrolytes. More later when I can hold my fingers up.
__________________________________________________

OK, now I'm back and I'm recombobulated. So here's the back story.

After the previous match, I had a half hour to rest. And it put me back together well enough. But I didn't have time to get anything to eat. I started the match feeling like dynamite--explosive and powerful. The first four games, I just wiped almost every shot, and won 4-0. But he did get a couple good ones in. Two balls got hit over the fence (he slammed shots at me on both that hit my racquets and bounced askew) into really bad places. Not that they were bad places per se, but they were places that I had to walk all the way around the facility to get to. And it was about a ten-minute walk. When the first one went over, we just left it. But when the second one went over, we couldn't just play with one ball.

So I did my "walk of shame," (actually, there was no shame involved, just tedium) and got the balls. Somehow this break seemed to put a spell on my invincible mojo, because when I got back, I wasn't able to do anything right in the next two games and lost almost every point. Everything was all fudging up for me. My shots were erratic, my timing was in the toilet, and my mental state was kablooie. So now the score was 4-2.

Luckily, I tucked it back in, and was able to score the next two games. But they were definitely harder to win than the first four had been. In the second set, I had a major advantage in most games, but he pulled ahead in a couple of games in a mojo-busting fashion; once again, I didn't do almost anything right in either of those games. But I did take the majority of the games, even though it was a little tougher than before.

For the last two games, though, I REALLY started running out of fuel. I hadn't eaten in a while, and I was probably starting to get an electrolyte imbalance. Though I started feeling weaker, I still was getting good shots in, and that helped. So I won the last few games, with somewhat of a fight. But by the time the match was over, I could barely stand up. I had to go report my score, and had to wait quite a while in line, and felt almost ready to pass out. Since I couldn't get the score reported, I sat down away from the tournament desk for a while, and kept going back to try to report, but still couldn't get in for a while. And then when I did report, the guy at the desk turned to somebody else quickly before I could find when the next match was. I was starting to feel at death's door, but finally, about ten minutes later, I got to ask my question about when my next match was, and the guy at the tournament desk, who was filling in, said he didn't know. Then some guy came up and said I was supposed to play him right then.

Well, that would definitely not have worked. Maybe if I could have rested for half an hour or so, I could have pulled it together. I didn't want to play a fourth match today much either. I want inside and lay down for a while on the couch, and when I came back, the tournament director had come back from his game, and told me that I played at 9 the next day. I thought he had said earlier that my next match would be the next day, so I was grateful to get that confirmed. I was starting to strengthen some from the pizza that I gobbled down when I got off the court. I maybe could have played another match. But I don't think I would have been a very happy camper.

Time Keeps On Slippin'

2009-05-02T16:30:00.003-06:00

Sets 520-521:

Stuart v. E. at South Austin Tennis Center. Winner: Stuart 6-2, 6-2.

My Mojo: Confident.

What a difference time can make. This was a guy who had a similar style to the last guy I played, but I felt much better, and handled everything that came at me a lot better. The difference was partially due to my increased confidence. For some strange reason, I felt better about what I was doing. Maybe it's because I was already warmed up and didn't muck it all up in the warmup.

So I did well most games. My serve was on, and that helped. I was a little more aggressive, and that helped too. Plus, my lobs were working really well when he came up to net. My anticipation was decent, my strategy was good enough, and it all congealed into a pretty good game.

I was definitely a little peaked at the end of the match. They told me I'd be playing again in half an hour, and I figured that was OK. I recharged and meditated, and it worked.

The Big Kahuna Is Out Of Reach

2009-05-02T10:33:00.004-06:00

Sets 518-519:

Stuart v. J. at South Austin Tennis Center. Winner: J. 7-5, 6-4.

My Mojo: Diffuse and Leaky.

Dang, we had some close games. But I just didn't have the mental clarity today. I was mostly scattered to the winds. I was able to pull it together for a few games at a time, but I kept finding myself drifting like a leaf in an erratic wind. Also, he had really big shots that forced me into playing more defensively than I would have liked, and my reaction time was just a fraction of a second too slow at critical times. Sometimes it is about those critical shots. Mine were just landing right outside the lines, or falling just short of the net. You know that the mojo is not great when that is happening. When the mojo flows, the tight shots get you through the maze.

In the warm-up, I was hitting really haphazardly. Nothing was going where I wanted it to. But when I started the first set, I had pretty good focus, and my game suddenly tightened up. I won the first three games 3-0, and felt pretty good. But then came that dreaded mid-set loss of mental sharpness. Suddenly, in the fourth game, I was stranded on a desert island with howling monkeys. He played really well, and I did not react well, and I lost the next three games.

So now the score was tied up at 3-3. My resolve came back, and I was able to play more aggressively the next two games with success. So now I was up 5-3. But then, the mind-drain thing cobbled my psyche, and though we had some close games, I couldn't muster up more than just a down payment. I lost the set 7-5.

OK. I sunk my teeth into the court for the second set. I reacted well, and thought I played pretty good games. But he played flawlessly for the first two games. Though my confidence was down a little, since I had been playing my best but still had not been able to get a good tide, I roared back in the third game through good serves. So I was down 2-1.

Anyway, the plot simplifies at this point. He just broke serve one more time than I did. And I deflated at the end. So through we were both playing well, he dominated most of the games he served, and I mine, but I couldn't catch the right wave to surf my way to the Big Kahuna. C'est la guerre.

Kick Me

2009-04-23T21:43:00.003-06:00

Sets 515-517:

Stuart v. M. at Little Stacy Park. Winner: Stuart 6-1, 2-6, 6-1.

My Mojo: What The ?

This guy had a kick serve like I had never seen before. I mean, I've seen kick serves, but this one had an underspin that just made it bounce in unpredictable directions, and I was constantly hitting it out of position. This gave him a tremendous offensive advantage on me, and I was scrambling to keep up.

In the first set, I was able to take a pretty significant advantage, eve though I was battling some significant nausea. My stomach was goinberserk on me, but I was still able to hold the set together. The weak stomach went away by the end of the first set, though.

But I lost my mojo in the second set, and could not bang his slammers back consistently. And the nausea came back really strongly toward the end of the second set. This time, I couldn't fight my way through it. It was really kicking my butt.

In the third set, I rallied. Although all of the sets were lopsided score-wise, the games really seemed more competitive than it showed in the score. There were a lot of really good rallies and some excellent strategic moves. Also, there were some definite pull-it-out-of-the-can moments for both of us where we had points that went back and forth on returns that nobody would have predicted that either of us would get back. All in all, a very good two-hour tour.

Just Not Quite Good Enough At The End

2009-04-11T15:03:00.001-06:00

Sets 513-514:

Stuart v. P. at Northwest Park. Winner: P. 6-4, 7-5.

My Mojo: Pretty Good, But Winding Down At The End Of Each Set.

I was headed for the courts today and it started raining. Not a lot, but it was more than sprinkling, so I was apprehensive that we were going to be able to play. We were supposed to play at McCallum High School, but when I got there, the courts were hugely wet. Apparently, of all the rain that had fallen in the area, there was a deluge right in the three-or-four block radius right where those courts were. So I waited for my opponent to get there, and suggested we go to Northwest Park, which was a mile or two away. That was a good plan, as the courts there were relatively dry. Plus, I think they were a little more porous and able to deal with rain better. And it did sprinkle a couple of times while we were playing, but not enough to affect the games.

In each of these sets, I was playing neck-and neck with my opponent. But right at the end of each set, it seemed like my focus would subside right as his game tightened up. So in each set, I lost the last two games. I lobbed a lot when he came to net, and my lobs seemed to go long more than usual. That was a little frustrating. But he was good at getting them when they made it in the lines, so I started trying for passing shots at the net a little more. That seemed to be working better.

My serves were not too bad, though I double-faulted three or four times, and had some erratic moments with them. My ground strokes were solidly placed, but sometimes tentative. I think my backhand was really solid, even though it had tanked out in the warmup. I think sometimes when something is not working well in the warmup, I tend to be a little more careful in the actual game, and if that carefulness doesn't translate to tension, then I can get my shots calibrated a little better.

In the first set, I had come on strong the first game but then lost the next four. And from that 4-1 deficit, I managed to win the next three games to tie it up. Then, as I lost focus, I could not get it together for the next two games.

We were both the type of players who get to everything on the court, so it was a very physical game. That is the kind of game I usually like to play, but with somebody else who plays that way, it gets tough. I'm used to tough play, and kept reminding myself throughout the match that it was OK if this was tough and close. But I just could not close each of these sets.

In the second set, I was playing a little better, and was either tied or ahead for most of the set. But he came back from a 5-4 deficit, tied it up, and closed well on the last two games.

Twitching Like A Tasered Cheetah

2009-03-23T18:49:00.004-06:00

Sets 511-512:

Stuart v. X. at South Austin Tennis Center. Winner: X. 7-6(1), 7-5.

My Mojo: Delayed.

The keyword today was "sluggish." I seemed to get to everything just a teeny bit late, and was just reacting to the game rather than being a participant in it. That having been said, I did spectacularly well, considering.

Today was only a bit short of an hour and a half. We took very short breaks between games even though we both did a lot of moving around the court. My serve was a little better than it was in the last match, but not spectacular. I did get in a few whizzing winners, and that set the tone for most of the games that I won.

In the first set, I was getting slowly eaten. Munch, munch. I was down 5-2 due to the fact that my neurons seemed to be vacationing. But I started concentrating on anticipating the ball, and then I was at least able to hit it back and keep it in play. My confidence started crescendoing, and I won the next few games to the point that I was up 6-5. Then I hit the wall; my opponent not only came back to win the next game, but obliterated me in the tiebreaker.

The second set was more neck-and-neck through most of it, chiefly due to my serve having improved to the point that i was able to take charge or dominate in games that I served. But then when he served, I wasn't dealing with it well.

I have a hard time playing against a player with this style. He's got a "short-punch" game that doesn't give me much time to react. His serve was fast with not much backswing, he hit a lot of shots on the upbounce, and took a lot of contemplation time away from me. So, since I tend to play a defensive game anyway, I end up playing almost manic raw reactivity with a player like this.

Also he had a really good angle punch that was nailing me, especially when I hit shots that ended up short. He was good at taking advantage of those. So his serve games were dominant for him, and mine were dominant for me. I thought I'd do well in the second set after I broke his serve, but I was never able to wedge it open, and once he broke my serve to tie the score up at 5-5, my game shattered like a dropped mirror. I lost the next two games as my game spazzed out quicker than a tasered cheetah, and my fate was sealed.

Grueling Even By My Standards

2009-03-21T11:58:00.004-06:00

Sets 508-510:

Stuart v. V. at McCallum High School. Winner: Stuart 5-7, 7-5, 7-5.

My Mojo: Mood-Swingy, But Steady At The Right Times.

Geez, this was a marathon. Two and a half hours of constant running around the court. We had so many games that went back and forth from deuce to ad. A few of the games lasted between ten and fifteen minutes. This was just a wear-down extravaganza. But I actually feel pretty good right now, except for my toes.

When I got to the courts, I realized, to my horror, that I had put on the wrong shoes. I absent-mindedly put on a ratty old falling-apart pair of totally unsuitable shows with holes in the bottom and cracks in the sides. Stupid, stupid, stupid. But I had little choice other than to play anyway. It was time and my opponent was there. Crapola.

So I played the first set, and it was pretty lackluster play on my part. But my opponent was making a lot of errors. Near the middle of the first set I was up 5-3, and then I just lost focus. I lost the next four games before I even knew what was happening. And my opponent played really well, too.

By the time the first set ended, I felt like there was gravel in my shoes under both of my big toes. I took my shoes off and my socks were soaked in blood. I had worn all the skin off of the bottom of both of my big toes from constant bad friction due to my cruddy shoes. Great. That'll teach me to wear the wrong shoes. And it was only the end of the first set. I still had at least one more to go.

The second and third sets were where the marathon play really started. I started out the second set playing well, but being outplayed by my opponent. His net play was starting to really improve, and my serve was not quite on (neither my first or second serves), and I rely on my serve a lot. So I was down 5-3 in the second set. I had also been starting to get really irritated due to having to rub my skin-deprived toes against the courts over and over again, and because of the fact that my piece-of-crap shoes were not letting me change directions fast enough.

But I pulled it together mentally, and managed to go to a calm place. The next two games were probably the longest ones of the who match. They seemed interminable. We just kept going back and forth from deuce, to ad, to deuce, to ad again, over and over. And then the one of us who was ahead would predictably choke, or the one behind would get in a beautiful, unreturnable shot. I was beginning to wonder what circle of hell this was.

I squeaked out these two long games and brought the score to 5-5. This really helped my confidence, and I won the next two games fairly easily.

In the third set, my opponent seemed to get that steely determination that comes from being behind, where you just dig in and say to yourself, "Not on my watch." Of course, I don't know what he was thinking, but his play got really aggressive and error-free. And I was falling apart both mentally and strategically. My errors increased, my toes hurt like hell, and I found myself screaming cuss words upon flubbing points. I got mad in my usual way, though; I would scream out an obscenity and then feel sheepish and stupidly laugh. I rarely hold on to the anger. Next thing you know, I was down 4-1, and the first three games weren't even competitive at all. I think I only scored about two points in the first three games of the third set. Elvis was nowhere near the building.

But then I did the same thing I had done in the second set and just brought it home. I stopped making as many errors, and started playing steadily and methodically. I won the next game to get to 4-2, then lost another game, when my opponent surged. So now i was down 5-2. Then I played really well in the next three games. I tied it up at 5-5. Now I was confident again, but I never would have predicted this outcome from how I started out the third set. By this time, my opponent's body language was starting to seem defeated, and I was feeling like I was in it for the long haul. The next two games were tough, but I squeezed it through the birth canal again and pulled out the set. It was two and a half hours after the start of the match, the pads of my toes were absolutely shredded (hey, what is the worst that could happen? staph infection, amputation, death?), and I did it.

Out Of My League

2009-03-01T21:28:00.001-06:00

Sets 506-507:

Stuart v. N. at McCallum High School. Winner: N. 6-1, 6-0.

My Mojo: Completely Outclassed.

I was so out of my league in this match. This guy was so much better than me that there was probably no way I was going to beat him. I was lucky to win one game.

I mean, I'm no slouch. I've got a pretty decent game, but the strategy N. used against me was so good, I just couldn't get to the ball a lot of the time. And I'm the guy who has the reputation of getting to everything. Blarf.

2009-02-19T22:46:00.000-06:00

Sets 503-505:

Stuart v. I. at Northwest Park. Winner: I. 6-2, 2-6, 7-5.

Close, But No Cigar

2009-02-09T22:11:00.001-06:00

Sets 500-502:

Stuart v. A. at Austin Tennis Center. Winner: A. 6-3, 6-7(2), 6-3.

My Mojo: Weak Like Little Girl At Critical Times.

OK, maybe that's an overstatement. I must have played pretty well to get a match that close. And I played my typical long grueling match; the type of play I'm usually comfortable with. But this time I just could not get it together at the critical times. My play just fell apart when I needed it to be there. My shots were off, my anticipation was fried, and my mental state was not focused enough. But I had the stamina, at least.

2009-02-06T22:09:00.001-06:00

Sets 498-499:

Stuart v. P. at McCallum High School. Winner: P. 6-3, 6-4.

2009-01-24T22:07:00.000-06:00

Sets 496-497:

Stuart v. C. at Vista Ridge High School. Winner: C. 6-0, 6-4.

A Split Decision; Should It Count As A Technical Win For Me?

2008-12-30T22:11:00.001-06:00

Set 494-495:

Stuart v. E. at Pharr Tennis Center. Winner: Split 6-2 (Stuart), 4-6 (E.)

My Mojo: Creaky.

Today, my daughter asked me if I wanted to go out and play some tennis. Which was strange for two reasons. First, she never asks me if I want to play; I always bug her to see if she wants to get out and hit some tennis balls. Second, I was just thinking about asking her if she wanted to go out and play when she asked me! Is that synchronicity or what?

I've really been lazy about playing lately. I think I've only played about three or four times in the last couple of months. I've got to get out on the courts at least a little more often than that. It's not like I haven't been active, though; I've been at the gym almost every day, among other stuff.

We originally were planning to play at the free courts in Patterson Park, but they were full. So we checked on Pharr across the street and they had a court open for us. So we ended up playing there.

The first set, I was holding my ground pretty well. Her groundstrokes were really good, and her strategy was strong, but my serve was totally wailing. I got in some really good serves including several aces and outright winners. My strokes were a bit on the tentative side, though.

In the second set, I wasn't quite able to win my service games through the power of my serve, and she came back from being down in a couple of games early, which put her ahead of me by 4-1. I did manage to make a strong comeback and won the next two games to bring the score to 4-3. After that, though, her strong groundstrokes and strategic maneuvering just got too good for me to overcome, especially since I was a little shaky anyway.

I tried to talk her into playing a third set to break the split, but she wouldn't play. I even tried to bait her by saying, "So you forfeit the third set and I win the match?" but that didn't work and she wouldn't budge. I might have pissed her off more by saying that she was 13 and ought to be able to play forever, while I was an old dude and still willing to play as long as she still was (or, heck, I might have even played with someone else who had walked up and wanted to play, but for the fact that I had to give her a ride home. But who knows, it's not a long walk home from there). Anyway, it was good to get out and play, even if it felt to me like an unfinished match. Also, the good news is that I don't think my knee is giving me problems any more.

Return Of The Clash With A Titan

2008-11-20T17:57:00.000-06:00

Sets 492-493:

Stuart v. TennisTitan at Northwest Park. Winner: Stuart 6-4, 6-1.

My Mojo: Rusty.

I hadn't been playing much, but when I got an email from TennisTitan telling me he was in town, I was definitely willing to play. Actually, I play just about anytime anyone asks me to, but the invitations don't seem to be coming too often now that I'm not playing all the time, and I haven't really reached out to others for games much lately. That has to change.

But I digress. TennisTitan was gracious enough to work me into his busy vacation schedule when he came town to Austin, so I took a couple of hours off from work during the day to play. It was nice having a long lunch and spending time outdoors in the middle of the day on a work day.

In the first set, we went back and forth a lot in the games, and they were close, though I had an edge. Mostly I felt like my own errors were the main thing affecting my game in this set. Like I said, I hadn't been playing much, and my game was showing it.

Luckily, in the second set, I started picking it up. But it seemed like the farther I got into the set, the less he put into it. As the set moved on, I felt like I had a better and better advantage. I won the second set much more easily that the first. Anyway, it was good to see this "invader from the north" again, and I hope to play again, maybe on his turf. And, of course, you can read his much more colorful version of our racquet battle on his blog as well. Titan, sorry I was such a slug about getting this posted.

Got Beat By A Little Girl

2008-10-29T20:52:00.000-06:00

Set 491:

Stuart v. E. at Patterson Park. Winner: E. 6-2.

Man, my daughter was playing well today. Almost all of her shots were accurate, her body movement was great, and I was responding sluggishly. I was really tired, having worked out at the gym for a couple of hours right before this. But she told me I couldn't use that as an excuse.

2008-10-26T22:15:00.000-06:00

Sets 488-490:

Stuart v. R. at Little Stacy Pool. Winner: R. 1-6, 6-2, 6-3.

2008-10-18T22:12:00.000-06:00

Sets 486-487:

Stuart v. S. at Pflugerville High--Winner, S. 6-0, 6-3.

Back Again For An Encore, Send Flowers To My Agent

2008-10-12T14:27:00.003-06:00

Sets 483-485:

Stuart v. E. at Pharr. Winner: Stuart 6-2.

Trying again to come back from my stupid injury. It's not a really bad injury; just a bad bone bruise to the back of my patella, but it is taking forever to heal. And once again, I can tell that it's not fully healed yet. Crap.

Good news, though. My daughter had quit playing tennis about two years ago, and she wanted to play a set with me! She is thinking about joining her junior high tennis team and wants to play some before playing competitively again. Though the score was lopsided, and I won by a large margin, she is definitely a monster-in-waiting. Once she gets her form back, she will probably kill me. I could tell by the great posture she had, and the killer shots that she got on me that were really well-positioned. For the first time in two years that she has played, not bad at all. I mean, she has a different body now; she was 11 when she quit, and now she is 13. And her shots that used to be well-controlled are now erratic sometimes, but I bet with about two weeks of solid practice, she will be back to where she was.

Stuart v. H. at Pharr. Winner: H. 6-2, 7-5.

After my daughter and I played a set, this guy came up to see if I wanted to play. Since I still had the court for another hour, I was happy to pick up another couple sets. Now this was where my rustiness came through. I was not getting it together well at all in the first set. I think the games were closer than the score reflected, but I was a little off on just about every variable. In the second set, I started sharpening my pencil a little, but still could not deal a decisive hand. I was just happy to play after being off for so long.

Back From The Dead

2008-09-13T14:24:00.003-06:00

Set 482:

Stuart v. A. at Patterson Park. Winner: Stuart 6-0.

OK, I wasn't dead. I just had a knee injury that forced me to quit playing for a while. And I could tell during this set that it wasn't quite healed yet. I think it'll be OK in the long run, but I still need to take my time.

No Dang Tiebreak, Period

2008-06-26T22:40:00.001-06:00

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

2008-06-25T20:35:00.000-06:00

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

2008-06-21T19:55:00.004-06:00

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

2008-06-20T19:44:00.001-06:00

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

2008-06-19T19:38:00.001-06:00

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

2008-06-16T22:15:00.003-06:00

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

2008-06-13T22:14:00.001-06:00

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'sa 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

2008-06-11T22:13:00.001-06:00

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.

2008-06-09T23:46:00.000-06:00

Sets 463-465:

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

2008-05-28T20:50:00.000-06:00

Sets 461-462:

Stuart v. H. at Northwest Park. Winner: H. 6-4, 7-6(5)

2008-05-17T20:49:00.001-06:00

Set ...

Stuart v. D. at Westlake High. Winner: Stuart (if you can call it winning) 1-3. D. retired, injury.

2008-05-15T20:48:00.000-06:00

Sets 458-460:

Stuart v. J. at South Austin Tennis Center. Winner: J. 1-6, 7-6(3), 6-4.

2008-05-07T20:57:00.001-06:00

Sets 456-457:

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

2008-04-28T22:32:00.000-06:00

Sets 453-455:

Stuart v. J. at Northwest Park. Winner: Stuart 6-2, 1-6, 6-4.

2008-04-20T21:45:00.001-06:00

Sets 451-452:

Stuart vs. A. at South Austin Tennis Center. Winner: Stuart 7-5, 2-6, 4-3 (retired)

2008-04-20T16:44:00.000-06:00

Sets 449-450:

Stuart v. J. at South Austin Tennis Center. Winner: Stuart 6-0, 6-2.

2008-04-18T22:43:00.000-06:00

Sets 447-448:

Stuart v. J. at South Austin Tennis Center. Winner: J. 7-5, 6-3.

2008-04-06T15:43:00.001-06:00

Sets 444-446:

Stuart v. A. at Northwest Park. Winner: A. 6-1, 4-6, 7-6(6).

2008-04-03T23:42:00.000-06:00

Sets 442-443:

Stuart v. S. at Northwest Park. Winner: S. 7-6(4), 7-6(4).

2008-03-30T16:23:00.000-06:00

Sets 440-441:

Stuart v. M. at Cedar Park High School. Winner: M. 6-2, 7-6(4)

2008-03-21T00:28:00.000-06:00

Sets 437-439:

Stuart v. C. at Vista Ridge High School. Winner: C. 6-3, 6-3, 4-6.

2008-02-28T23:13:00.000-06:00

Sets 434-436:

Stuart v. C. at Vista Ridge High School. Winner: C. 6-3, 5-7, 7-6(3).

What, Me Winning?

2008-02-11T23:10:00.002-06:00

Sets 429-433:

Stuart v. S. at Little Stacy Park. Winner: Stuart 6-2, 4-6, 6-2, 6-2, 6-2.

My Mojo: An Apathetic Wall.

I could not get up any enthusiasm for playing this match. I felt like my affect was completely flat, and I just could not get emotionally invested in this match at all. I really didn't much care if I won or lost and, to tell the truth, I thought I would just get blown out of the water and that would just be the way it was. I felt like I was not moving at all, but I was getting to the ball every time, and not just getting there, but being set up well. I felt like I was not swinging my racquet at the ball, but I got well-placed shots in almost every time. And even though I felt like I was just pushing weakly at the ball, a couple of times I stopped to consider my swing after it had finished, and the racquet was past my shoulder on my forehand right where it should be. If I had any empotions going in this game, it would have seemed phenomenal to me to have my play so divorced from my perceptions. But all the reaction I could muster was something like, "Hm, how about that." The weak point in my game seemed to be my serve, but like I said, I didn't really care. Even my serve was in good form for some of the time.

A couple of times I thought to myself, "Now why the hell am I doing so well in this match?" Then it changed to "Why on earth am I winning?" I was kinda puzzled when I stopped to think about it. But I was coasting too much to think most of the time. It seemed to me that I felt lazy, but my movements were not matching my attitude, as my motion was actually good. Everything seemed to fall into place for some strange, unexplained reason.

Even in the second set, which I lost, I didn't care. So I lose. Maybe I'll lose the next one. Maybe I'll lose the match. I was just an emotional iceberg couch potato who had somebody take over my body while I rested. And I didn't care how I played in the third set either. We shook hands as I guess I technically won the match after the third point.

In the fourth set, a funny thing happened. I got slightly bothered. For some reason, I was thinking that if he won the fourth set, it would wipe out my victory, and we would be back to tied, and I would have to work and worry. This lasted a couple of points, and then I dropped the emotions again and just went back to being a lazy robot, in which domain I stayed for the rest of the match.

So maybe it helped me that I was able to divorce my emotions from my play so much. But I don't know why I felt like I was not doing anything spectacular, yet my shots were good and I got to almost all of the balls without much effort. Of course, I must have been putting some effort into it. After this five set match, on the way home, I could feel the effects of two and a half hours of play. I wasn't exhausted, but I could feel that I had exerted myself. Maybe I was just "in the zone" but completely unconscious about it. Strange.

A Turnaround Barely Puts It Through For Me, Then Puts A Cherry On The Whipped Cream

2008-02-09T17:57:00.002-06:00

Sets 426-428:

Stuart v. S. at Travis High. Winner: Stuart 4-6, 6-4, 7-6(2)

My Mojo: Flipped 180 In Mid-Stream.

Usually I had played S. at private courts at his apartments. But he called me to say they tore his apartments down to build yuppie food. Bummer. I liked playing there. So we met at a convenience store, and went to Travis High. I guess it's sort of the end of an era, in a way. A mini-era, nonetheless, but still a bonafide era. Travis High was really loud, even though the freeway was kinda far away. I guess the sound just bounced right. But the weather was fantastic.

I started out playing even more of this malaise-ridden, poorly-formed ball humping that I had perfected the last two matches. And, naturally, the requisite depression and self-revulsion accompanied this symphony of miscoordination. The first set was almost completely garbage on my part. At least it was in my mind, but I didn't do nearly as badly as I did in my last two matches. We had a lot of long rallies, and it was really a close set, in retrospect.

Then I was able to push the reset button or something. The second set was much better, and my attitude was not swimming in the toilet. This is the drug I need. Good mojo turned around on a dime. Better than morphine. Well, maybe not; ask me on my deathbed. But it was good.

The third set was highly competitive all the way up. This is the kind of game I like to play. At least if I'm going to lose, let it be close. And let me not shoot myself trying to twirl the gun. Back and forth it went, with every advantage I built up being neutralized back to evenness, and vice versa. So it was at 6-6, and we had to play a tiebreak.

Then I broke out. I felt my footwork start to pick up, and my shots paid the rent, even though they didn't buy the casino. I was able to do what I had to and won the tiebreak 7-2. That was definitely the cherry on the whipped cream at the top of the sundae.

More Of The Same Foul And Ugly Scene

2008-02-07T21:12:00.002-06:00

Sets 424-425:

Stuart v. B. at Pharr. Winner: B. 6-3, 6-4.

My Mojo: Way Low.

This was basically just part two of the match I played with my last opponent. Nothing worked right, and I was even more frustrated with my play than I was in the last match, even though points-wise it looks better. Still, I was off on my rhythm, I was hitting the tape a lot, I was hitting the ball with my racquet badly, and I was misjudging my shots. With me there to beat myself, who needs an opponent? The side of a barn would have beaten me even with most of its boards missing. And most of my boards were definitely missing.

Allow me to explain now that I am not just denigrating my opponent's play by making the excuse that I just tooled myself. B. played very well and was a complete master of extreme angle shots at my expense, especially when he got to the net. There was never any question over whether he would win. And my mood got fouler and more greasy as time went on. I kept exhorting primal screams of emotional agony, and denigrating myself verbally and mentally. I could not rid myself at all of the black cloud above my head. After the last point, when I lost the match, I let out a brutal cry of frustration and threw my racquet, which went much farther than I had intended, flew over the fence, and got stuck in a tree. Well, that made me feel stupid. I saw shock and concern in my opponent's eyes, and I apologized for my outburst and went to shake his hand. Nothing like making an ass out of yourself to bring you back to earth, I always say. My humility was compounded by having to walk all the way around the facility to retrieve my racquet, and then by having to shake it out of the tree.

Digging My Own Grave

2008-02-06T23:10:00.000-06:00

Sets 422-423:

Stuart v. K. at South Austin Tennis Center. Winner: K. 6-3, 6-1.

My Mojo: Doomed.

This was not my absolute worst play, but if this match was a calculus problem, you might call it a "local minimum." Definitely a low point in my portfolio. My rhythm just seemed a bit off for most of the match, so I was hitting the tape a lot and getting a lot of shots that were just barely out. I was also getting an incredible number of mishits on my racquet; I was hitting the rim, miscalculating spin, and missing the sweet spot WAY too much. I was also not able to get to the net much at all, and when I did, I managed to goof it up. I guess it's just brain damage creeping up on me. No wait, maybe it's everything else that is damaged and the brain is watching in horror...

I can't say it all went completely badly, though. I got some good shots in occasionally. Also, when he rushed to net, sometimes I got some good lobs and passing shots when I was able to set my footwork and my body position correctly. But my messed-up rhythm was affecting my attitude more and more, and it all led to a grinding spiral into the drainpipe. Toward the end, I wasn't hitting good shots, and my attitude was deteriorating, so it all created a feedback loop of black noise that wrapped around me and crunched me like a hungry anaconda. I was just doomed from the get-go.

Hallucinations Of Angels With Dirty Faces Dancing In Casablanca

2008-02-01T22:17:00.000-06:00

Sets 419-421:

Stuart v. E. at South Austin Tennis Center. Winner: E. 2-6, 6-4, 6-3.

My Mojo: Viral (Literally).

Note from two days later:

I got incredibly sick about five minutes after this match ended. I thought it was an electrolyte thing, but no, it was pure, weird, evil darkness that has gripped me like a lion with a helpless monkey in its jaws, and has haunted me through the weekend. Maybe I've got cholera or ebola, but more likely, it's just some run-of-the mill viral gungasmudge. So much for a dashingly romantic sudden death.

Anyway, I guess I'll ruminate more on this match later, when hopefully I will have stopped shivering away my mortal soul. Suffice it to say that my opponent was a sweet beacon of pure light who crushed me mercilessly nose down into the pavement at the end when I showed my weak underbelly; sort of like a cop chasing down a meth addict who just called her mother something foul and wretched. She absolutely ate my liver with some fava beans and a nice chianti. But, great fun; when do I get to do it again? And what a dazzling smile and cheerful, kind attitude she had while she mangled my nads on the court. Of all the gin joints, um, tennis courts, in all the towns in all the world, she walks into mine. And so on. Of course, my unexplained hemhorrage of mojo near the end didn't help my case much; I was not leading the dance steps at all by the end, but rather, laying on the ground, cowering, screeching, "Not the face!". Say hello to my little frien'. Quite debonair, if I may say so myself, to have debased myself through my endgame play so methodically.

As my wretched disease seems to have obviously pierced the blood-brain barrier, causing me to go way overboard on the cinematic and theatrical cliches, I think I'll shut up now, at least until my body temperature won't fry bacon. I got it from the toilet seat, I swear. But, E., if you are reading this, I hope we both live to tango another day.

Four days later:

OK, I've recovered now. I got incredibly sick for a couple of days, was shaky for the third, but now I am feeling much better; well enough to have ridden my bicycle to work the last couple days and to have spent nearly two hours doing monjo full-on 85% cardio in the gym last night. Even though I was a little weak and goofy, my attitude, as usual, is one of "Hey, let's see if THIS kills me." And amazingly, it didn't. Kill me, that is. I did wake up kinda dehydrated this morning, but with a massive amount of water throughout the day, I was able to swat that particular mosquito out of the way.

So I guess now I'll blather on about the actual match. I came into this thing feeling pretty good. I was returning solidly in the first set, and getting good directionality on my shots. My play was very strong the first set and I felt like I didn't have much trouble winning most of the games in the first set. My serves were not ultra-magic or anything like that, but they were decent and I had no problem getting aggressive on a lot of points.

In the second set, I started encountering much more resistance from E. Her game ramped up, and I started tightening up too much so I was playing stiffly. In both the second and third sets, we started off competitive for the first few games but then I dropped my game toward the end. But in both sets, when I dorked out at the tail end of each one, it was for different reasons. In the second set, I fizzled at the end because my focus was dwindling, and so I was not able to naturally play with good form. In the third set, I just massively lost energy. I was confused by this, because I hardly ever just drop in energy level. I did keep a good attitude, though, and that helped keep some of the losing games close.

The last point of the match was one of the longest points I have played in a long time. It just seemed absolutely interminable; I don't know how long it lasted, but it was a very long series of rallies. I was frustrated during this point by my absolute inability most of the time to hit the ball anywhere but right in the center of the court exactly where E. was, so my failure to be able to properly strategize probably clinched the loss of the point.

Then, as soon as the match was over, I needed to take a couple minutes on the bench, because my energy was drained. That's when the wave of nausea hit, and the next couple days were absolute hell. I barely made it home and into bed, and was hardly out of the horizontal position for most of the weekend.

Splittus Interruptus

2008-01-20T19:38:00.001-06:00

Sets 417-418:

Stuart v. R. at Westlake High. Winner: Split. 6-2 (Stuart), 3-6 (R).

My Mojo: Tough But Slipping.

I started off playing a strong game. My footwork was excellent throughout most of the match and I was getting to shots that surprised even me when I got to them. Much of the stuff I was returning off the tip of my racquet I was able to hurl back solidly and with decent placement. At the beginning of the match, I was hitting powerful, deep strokes that allowed me to take charge of the carnival. My opponent tried to throw me off balance by hitting me some weak serves and drop shots, but I got to most of them, and I was able to turn the tables on him by playing a strong net game from where I ended up. I even dabbled in his strategy by hitting the occasional dink shot, just for amusement. It seemed to me that my opponent didn't handle most of the unexpected strategically weak balls nearly as well as I had done. So I felt like I won the first set pretty easily.

But in the second set, R, started surging back with strong shots and good strategy. My footwork was still strong, but I failed to maintain the focus on foot and body placement that I had previously had. He started playing good set-up shots for a net game, and then he was playing the net well when he got there. There's a doubles player's strategy for you. To top it off, many of my attempted lobs went embarassingly short, and that allowed him to dominate the net area and slam them down the court like bullets. Many of the second set's games were close, but he edged me out. I still felt like my energy was excellent, and I think I could have brought my focus into play again.

I was ready to play a third set, but he wanted to leave it where it was. There's a cognitive dissonance when the symphony is unresolved; I'd rather go belly up playing the oboe solo than walk away with the power chord hanging in the air waiting for closure. Oh well, next time I play a close contest like this, hopefully it'll be with someone who follows the sheet music all the way to the last trembling movement.

Windsurfing

2008-01-12T17:48:00.000-06:00

Sets 415-416:

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

My Mojo: Lucky Wind Blowing My Way.

I wish I could say that I won this match with absolutely brilliant play, but actually, I felt like I just kind of fumbled my way into a win. It was very windy, and there were gusts that would come up suddenly and even change direction occasionally. I think that I just got the lucky end of the stick with respect to playing in the wind.

My serve was not working the way I wanted it to at all. So I started experimenting with ultra-spin against the wind, and I alternated freakishly overspun serves (both spinning to the right and to the left) with hard, flat serves. Somehow, these seemed to get in the box. I can't say that they were doing what I wanted them to do, but the wind was cooperating to get them over the net. Also, I tried to play to my opponent's placement. Sometimes he would move in, so I would go for a slam serve to a difficult place to reach in the box. Then he would move back, and I would slice the crap out of it, or shoot a reverse slice. Not all of these worked, but it seemed like more of them did than didn't.

I think my opponent was having a much harder time with his serve. His groundstrokes were very solid with a lot of topspin, but once again, the wind was catching them in weird ways so he was getting a lot of shots either long or in the net. When he got in a good, deep, well-placed topspin groundstroke, it either put me on the serious defensive, or it whizzed by as a winner. My groundstrokes just seemed to get a little more lucky. I can't say it was completely luck on my part, because I did close some points really well, and I surged at the end of each set, but it was also in part due to my opponent's errors and possibly his frustration at having the wind take his shots apart. Heck, I'm used to my play in general taking my shots apart, so what's new...I just followed my usual pattern of trying to get one more shot over the net. I did get some good placements in some points. But I couldn't even begin to get anything approaching good footwork with the unpredictability of where the ball would fall, and I was returning a lot of shots late.

A Slow Dropoff

2008-01-11T20:46:00.000-06:00

Sets 413-414:

Stuart v. E. at Travis Country. Winner: E. 6-3, 6-2.

My Mojo: Solid At First, But The Balloon Slowly Leaked Air.

It was just about perfect weather for playing tennis tonight. It was just a smidge on the cool side, so that when I got moving, it felt like optimal exercise weather. When I started this match, I was in a great mindset, and I was moving really well. I had ample time before the match to center my mental gravity, though having a well-toned mindset just didn't seem to be enough as the match progressed.

My strategy felt really good at the beginning of the first set. My serve was not working as well as I would have liked, but it was decent, though I did double-fault two or three times in the first set. My opponent was playing really well, and seemed to get more energetic as time went on. My energy didn't appear to diminish, but my focus and rhythm seemed to slowly deflate. So by the middle of the first set, I was not getting winning combinations in as much as I had been. It wasn't so much that I was not keeping pace, but I just was not closing the points well, and I also saw my errors creeping up. So at the end of the first set, I was just not getting the games in, though we were having really good and energetic points.

When the second set started, I briefly revitalized and recalibrated, and I was able to get some aggressive strategy going. Also, my serve flared up for a few games and I was getting some well-placed, solid serves in the box with good spin control. That was helping me keep control during the points, though most of my game was baseline play. But once again, the balloon started slowly deflating. Plus, my opponent was getting much better net play than I was. I just couldn't seem to get good approach shots in that would get me to the net, whereas E. was getting there much more and getting some great putaway shots through the domination of the points she was getting by making solid approaches to the net. Also, I was getting to a lot of "impossible" shots just a tiny bit late, and shooting the ball off into the seventh circle of oblivion from the tip of my racquet. One good thing that I had going for me throughout the match was that my mental state was good enough to still feel competitive, even when I was down, and I never did get into that dejected funk that seems to keep a player from putting on a decent three-ring circus. My rhythm was just a a thimble-full off, though, and that put me under the bleachers for the last half of the match. And because of this, my footwork was not happening as well as it had been when the rodeo started. Those factors in my play, combined with the fact that E. seemed to be playing more solidly as the match progressed, just etched the epitaph on my tombstone as I gracefully exited to stage left, leaving the awards for another day.

Unanticipated Fortune And Then A Good Match

2008-01-08T21:00:00.000-06:00

Sets 410-412:

Stuart v. J. at Hunter's Chase. Winner: Stuart 4-6, 6-4, 7-5.

My Mojo: Tenacious And Steady.

Yesterday I had gone to a group lesson at Pharr, and I think I had had the worst tennis day I had since I started this blog. I played like a three-legged frog in a field full of excited hillbillies. And my mental attitude was so melted that I knew a half hour into the lesson that I had no business being there. But, for some reason, I went through the motions anyway, though I was mostly playing worse and worse. And, surprisingly, I got a couple of near-perfect winner shots in. I guess in the scheme of things, it's not too surprising to have two good shots in an hour and a half. But that's how bad I had been playing; I played so poorly that I pretty much gave up. So I went home and went to bed early and comforted myself with the thought that after a good night's sleep and a day's rest, I HAD to do better than I had done at the lesson.

Today when I got up, I felt much better, and figured I would play better tonight. I was right, but I'll get to that later. Strike two happened when I went home for lunch, and on my way back to work, I got in a wreck in my car. It was definitely not my fault at all. Some lady turned left in front of me from the lane to my RIGHT as I was approaching to pass her on the left. She was stopped in her lane, and I started to pass cautiously and slowly, because I had no idea what she was going to do. Then I saw her left turn light come on, and I thought, "Oh, crap!" I slammed on my brake and came to a complete stop, and I thought she was going to change lanes. If she had just changed lanes, she might have cleared my car, but she actually turned left, and the back of her car clipped the front of mine. I tried to hit my horn, and I briefly thought of trying to go into reverse, but I didn't have time to do either of these things. I heard a sickening crunch, and I thought it was going to be worse than it was. Once, when I was in a city bus, I felt an impact that felt about the same as this one, and the car that hit the bus from behind had its front end totally crumpled in. So I prepared for ugliness. But we both pulled over, and amazingly enough, there was only some lightly scratched paint on my car and a panel that was moved inward about a quarter to a half an inch, but I don't think it was dented. There was some denting on her car, but not a lot. She admitted it was her fault, and agreed to work it out with me after we traded insurance info and I called the police. Well, if she doesn't come through, I don't anticipate the repair will be that expensive anyway, but I've got the facts on my side, that's for sure. Man, did I luck out. I mean, to have gotten into a wreck on a major thoroughfare with two cars pointed in different directional vectors, I almost could not have asked for a better outcome outside of not impacting at all. I was just amazed that it was such a good outcome, and thank Mithras that I was defensive and paying attention.

So now to the match. I got there late because traffic was terrible and my opponent told me to get off at an exit that didn't exist. So I overshot it, and then started panicking, because I was not familiar with this end of town at all, and had no idea where to go. Luckily, I backtracked and found it mostly serendipitously. So I was only about seven minutes late; no big deal, really, since I had had many opponents be later than that and I had taken it gracefully. So karma owed me, and besides, I was late because of the directions my opponent gave me.

In the first set, he was hitting some well-placed power shots that were forcing me not only to play very defensively, but just barely be able to return the ball and not place it well. I felt like I was in a box for a while, but slowly started adapting to his game, and relaxing into my responses. Unfortunately, that didn't happen before the first set was over. Still, the first set was very close, with long games and drawn-out points.

In the second set, I strengthened my play in mid-set (but not before I was down 4-1). I caught up, and then won the set by hitting more solid returns and playing for position more. Still, when I caught one of his bullet train shots late and did a barely-return, he usually managed to slam them down my gullet decisively. I benefitted in this set in a few points from rallies that consisted of his whopping power shot, then my weak return, then his well-placed cannonball, then my minimal return from a position that probably both of us thought I would never get to, then an error by him on an attempted put-away. Shots like that probably gave him the edge in this set, and that's really nothing for me to be proud of. But I did win, and it was a solid close. He had this monster serve on ad court that whizzed near the mid-line that he aced me on several times, but I got more and more used to that, and by the end of the second set I was getting most of those rather than missing them. Also, I was hitting a lot of shots on the frame of my racquet, mostly from badly reading the spin he put on the ball.

The third set is when I really shone. My play was getting better and better, and was very low in unforced errors as the end grew nearer. Plus, in the third set, my serve was getting me great advantages, and I was dominating more points on my serve. My returns were also getting more solid and aggressive. I actually felt my energy growing rather than draining. To top it off, I was hitting less shots on the frame as I got better readings on his spin and ball speed, and I was guiding the ball into the sweet spot of my racquet better. When we were at 2-2, I thought my plan would be to keep pace with him and then surge at the close, and that was pretty much what happened. And "keeping pace" is an understatement for what happened; I think we had some of the most drawn-out, nail-biting games of the whole match in the last set. Of course, I would have liked to take a lead early, too, but I figured his serve would give him too much of an advantage at first (which it did), and I would be better positioned to pull out the last-minute burst of energy than he would I think I might have dropped a game or two as his power shots briefly made a triumphant return, but then I played a tough, consistent game to tie it at 5-5, and won the next two games solidly, both breaking his serve, and taking the game I served through power on the serve. My movement and placement strategy had also been getting better throughout the third set, and in the last two games, my strategy was working better than it had the whole match. Another thing that I think helped my game in the third set was that I didn't get tired and frustrated, and I had a lot of patience. I was able to plan things out well, and more often than not, my plans worked. And I was ready for a long, dug-in, close contest.

When the match was over, I felt like I was still ready to play more. I even thought briefly about trying to see if he wanted to play another set just for fun, but I just didn't think he would want to at that point, so I didn't ask. I thought he might be at the point that I was at a half-hour into my lesson last night (discouraged and tired), and if that was the case, what good would playing more do either of us?

Soft Doubles and Hard Singles

2008-01-06T21:30:00.000-06:00

Sets 408-409:

Stuart v. T. at Hill Country Middle School. Winner: Stuart 6-0, 6-3.

My Mojo: Squishy For Doubles, Solid For Singles.

I started out playing doubles, but it was weird doubles. There were five people, and we would rotate one person out and one person in after each game. So after four games, each of us found ourselves on a different team. I don't mind that for practice, but as competition it is just about useless to keep the game score. So we didn't keep score of how many games were won or lost, we just kept the point scores in the games.

After several games of this, I peeled off one of the players to play singles with me, and the other three played two-on-one. At least I guess they did. There weren't any courts open at Westlake High, so we moved to Hill Country Middle School down the street. So I don't actually know what the people we left behind at Westlake did.

When I had been playing doubles, I was very tentative. I didn't feel like I was playing that well, though the games that I served, whatever team I was on won fairly easily and we were able to grab the offense easily and keep it throughout the game. So I guess I must have been doing something right. But I didn't feel like I was very tuned in for doubles, and most of the games that I played the team I was on lost. Of course, once again, it was stupid to think of it in terms of winning or losing since the teams shuffled around every game, but I guess I just can't help compartmentalizing things in that way.

When T. and I started paying singles, it was like the curtain rose and the scales fell from my eyes. I was playing solidly, and in the first set I was able to maintain a pretty good offensive game. My serve didn't seem to be giving me as much of an advantage as it had during doubles, but everything every other facet of my game was really well-congealed, and things fell into place easily. And my serve was not bad, either. For the first set, I took every game, and it seemed almost effortless. I think we had one or two games that were contested, but I was able to close those without too many problems.

In the second set, his game stepped up, and mine loosened a little. For the first six games, we each won our serve so the score was tied at 3-3. The sixth game was also the most challenging game of the match as we went back and forth from deuce to ad a lot and also had long nailbiting points with many surprises. Then I broke his serve, and from then on, I was able to win the rest of the games.

My New Year's Letter

2008-01-01T22:43:00.000-06:00

Here is my New Year's letter that I sent out to close friends and family:

Happy New Year to all of you, and as we enter another new year, each of us grateful to be still alive and kicking, here are some of my thoughts about the passing of time:

The 60s are as far away from our present time as the 20s were from the 60s. My kids like to listen to the Beatles and one of my daughters has said that she likes David Bowie. Isn't that comparable to a child in the 60s being into Rudy Vallee or Sophie Tucker? My 12-year old daughter made a phone call to me this year to tell me that she was excited that she was
actually using a rotary telephone at a friend's house, and that she had for the first time dialed a phone number using the rotary dial! And I heard my other daughter talk about how she liked to watch "old movies" (she was referring to movies like "Pretty in Pink" and "The Breakfast Club" from the 80s).

Anyone who is between 70 and 80 years of age has been around for about 1/3 of the time that the United States has been a nation. People in their 40s have lasted through about 1/5 of the tenure of this country.

Though there is nobody alive who remembers the French Revolution or the American Revolution, there are people around who remember the rise of the Bolsheviks in Russia, the imprisonment of Eugene V. Debs, each of the World Wars, the Great Depression, men walking on the moon, and the first resignation of an American president. And many of us also vividly recall the assassinations of John Kennedy, Bobby Kennedy, Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, John Lennon, Indira Gandhi, Anwar Sadat, Yitzhak Rabin, and recently, Benazir Bhutto.

There is at least one widow of a Civil War veteran who is still alive (or at least was as of September of 2007). Check this link:
http://www.footnote.com/page/1882/maudie-acklin-cantrell-hopkins-last . And just as amazing, check out this article about Revolutionary War widows who were alive in 1920:
http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?_r=1&res=9802E6D9173AE532A25757C2A9669D946195D6CF&oref=slogin . Yes, there are multiple veterans still alive from World War One (not a lot, but still there are more
that you might expect): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surviving_veterans_of_World_War_I .

So many of the things that we take for granted and that are central to the way we live have only been around for a miniscule fraction of the history of humanity: oil, television, the Internet, telephones, computers, automobiles, electricity, microwave ovens...each of these items are used by many of us on a daily basis, but for long stretches of time, people lived without them. Yet one cannot say that the majority of people throughout time lived without them because our planet is so populated that a vast majority of the people who have existed throughout
human history have lived in the last 150 years, well within the domain of time covered by one of these listed inventions. With the population growing and the stores of fossil fuels dwindling, who knows how much longer we will use some of these things?

Also, take into account the number of things that have become virtually extinct, or almost so, by the path of rapid technological change: the telegraph, phone booths, computer bulletin board systems (BBSs), computer punch cards, drive-in movies, the slide rule, the stock ticker, laser disks...I'm sure many of you can think of other things that have become obsolete in the last few years.

Think about your ancestors--you have two parents, four grandparents, eight great-grandparents, expanding by a factor of two as you go back, so when you go back
twenty generations (which could be anywhere between three hundred and a thousand years, depending on the average age of each generation as they had children), you have over a million ancestors! What a paradox this appears to be considering that the human population is growing at an exponential rate, yet as you go backwards, you have more and more people in
your ancestry each generation. Of course, the further you go back, the more you see duplication of the same people in your ancestral lines, so this number may be somewhat (though not completely) illusory. Maybe this helps explain the song, "I'm My Own Grandpa!":
http://www.ziplo.com/grandpa.htm .

Feliz Año Nuevo! Just don't spell it without the tilde or you are talking about a rectal transplant. Feel free to pass these thoughts along to another gaggle of unwitting victims...or not...

Not Enough Tuna

2007-12-30T22:27:00.000-06:00

Set 407:

Stuart v. K. at Westlake High. Winner: K. 7-6(2).

My Mojo: Unfocused And Tired.

Here, it is, the last set of the year. I was already kind of lacka-malaise-ical coming into playing today. I worked out at the gym for about an hour and a half before coming to play at Westlake. The last time I worked out before playing, it energized me, but this time, it sapped me some. Maybe it was because I did a lot of intensive stuff and did more resistance and cardio.

First I played two sets of doubles, and, just in case you haven't read previous posts about it, I don't count doubles. We got some people together to play three games, and my team was ahead 2-1, but then a couple of more people showed up, so we re-formulated and a couple of the doubles players went off to hit singles. With the new teams, we lost the first set 7-5, and then won the second set 6-3. Two of the players who were there didn't want to stick around to play a tiebreak set, so K. and I stayed and played a singles set.

I almost declined to play, which would have been out of character for me--usually I'm up for anything. But I had more go than stop in me (just barely), so I went ahead and played. I knew I would be in trouble, though. I hadn't been playing too great when we played doubles; my anticipation was out the window and smashed on the floor, my serves were not in tune at all, and my groundstrokes were mediocre at best. And every time I have played K., we have played really long, physically demanding, close games with him usually squeaking out the win at the end. I can get frustrated by that, and today, my mindset was a little weak, so my frustration was there in full force. This set was no exception.

My play was not not too different in the singles set from what it had been in the doubles sets, though I did manage to get a little focus for part of it. For the first seven games, I only won two of them, though most of them were fairly close. Then I came back with good offensive play (it offended me, anyway) to win the next three games, but got wiped out the next two. I simply crumbled at the end and I could not come up with enough energy and mental toughness to put the signature on the document. I guess I just ran out of tuna.

Sailing

2007-12-28T18:14:00.000-06:00

Sets 403-406:

Stuart v. D. at Bowie High. Winner: Stuart 6-0, 6-1, 6-1, 6-1.

My Mojo: Just About Perfect, Ebbing At Times To Merely Excellent.

I worked out at the gym doing resistance training on my lower body before I played today. I was afraid that I might sap some of my energy, but I actually was played better than I had played in a really long time. When I started serving, I felt like the motion was just about perfect. I was getting a great swing and good body movement, a superlative wrist snap, and the ball was hitting the sweet spot. Of course, this faded in and out, but still, my serve never dropped below above-average.

My strategy and anticipation were lightning and thunder. I felt like I was doing just about everything as right as I was capable of doing it. I never felt like my energy dropped throughout the games, though it did ebb some every once in a while. But I managed to win most of the games and most of the points.

Getting One More Ball Back Most Of The Time

2007-12-20T20:09:00.001-06:00

Sets 401-402:

Stuart v. W. at IBM. Winner: Stuart 6-3, 6-1.

My Mojo: Holding The Fort Down.

I like playing at IBM; they have really nice courts and also good lights. It is a little out of my way, but what the heck. But you have to work there to be able to use the courts. At night that is truly enforceable because you can only turn on the lights with your employee badge.

For the first set, it seemed like we were locking horns a lot. He was getting some good shots on me, and I got some on him. I even felt at the beginning of the set that he had a slight edge but I was able to raise my level of play slowly and incrementally just enough to take the control of the court toward the end of the set. So I ended up winning the first set even though I felt like we had been close to even at first.

In the second set, I was able to hold most of the games. I think he may have been getting tired, and he seemed to make more errors. So I can't really say it was spectacular play on my part that created the winning margin for me in this set. But it did help that I made few errors, and got most of the stuff back. I guess winning just basically means getting one more ball back than you opponent, and that's what I did most of the time.

Decent Play But Nothing Special

2007-12-16T18:12:00.000-06:00

Set 401:

Stuart v. P. at Anderson High. Winner: Stuart 6-2.

My Mojo: Nothing Special, But On Top Of It.

This was one of the Meetup group meetings, but only two people showed up--me and D. P. was there also for something else, so he joined in on the play and we alternated playing king-of-the-court with two out of three games in singles. I won all of those mini-sets, though I did lose a game here and there. I'm not sure how long we played, but I would estimate we played about six (maybe more) of those two-out-of-three game mini-sets.

Then D. decided to leave, and I played a full singles set with P. I had the upper hand throughout most of the set, though I didn't really feel much pizazz in my play, and he got in some really good wide-angle shots out of my reach every once in a while.

Rapid Deflation At The End

2007-12-15T23:14:00.000-06:00

Sets 398-400:

Stuart v. S. at Northwest Park. Winner: S. 4-6, 6-4, 7-5.

My Mojo: Started Out Energetic, But Lost Momentum At The End.

It was really windy for this match, and it was hard to predict where the ball would go. There were big gusts, and then it would die down. For the first set, I kept pace well, but got barely outplayed. Then I surged back in the second set with good focus. In the third set, I felt at first like I was playing well, but I deflated toward the end and lost the last two games decisively to lose the match.

A Curious Win

2007-12-09T17:01:00.000-06:00

Sets 395-397:

Stuart v. Y. at Crockett High. Winner: Stuart 6-3, 6-2, 6-1.

My Mojo: Able To Do What I Needed To Do.

This guy plays a really good technical game, but so far, I have beaten him decisively each time we have played. Maybe I have a little bit better grasp on strategy and that, combined with consistency, gives me the edge. It has baffled me somewhat that I have won against him with such wide margins each time we have played. Maybe he has been a little off, and one of these days he will come back and wipe me off the map.

Of course, it helped me that I was playing consistently, and I was not making a lot of errors. He seemed to be more frustrated as the match went on; I think he was as baffled that he was losing as I was that I was winning. I ended up solidifying my play toward the end and taking more of a lead.

This was the first time I had played at Crockett High. It's not a bad place to play, but one of the nets is so messed up that the court is unplayable. Maybe it'll get fixed and future generations who read these words will find them obsolete.

2007-12-08T23:15:00.000-06:00

Sets 392-394:

Stuart v. A. at Northwest Park. Winner: Stuart 6-3, 6-3, 7-5.

2007-12-02T21:28:00.000-06:00

Sets 389-391:

Stuart v. Y. at Westlake High. Winner: Stuart 6-0, 6-1, 6-1.

Like A Skier Who Loses Control

2007-12-02T01:03:00.000-06:00

Sets 387-388:

Stuart v. K. at Hill Country Middle School. Winner: K. 6-4, 6-4, 4-1.

My Mojo: Downhill Skiing (Limbs Akimbo).

OK, I hung pretty tough for the first two sets, but I couldn't help feeling like my mojo was falling and hers was rising the whole time. And she was able to bring the energy necessary to the closing of each of the first two sets that I just could not muster. The third set (if you can call it that) just verified that I was losing my religion. Jesus and Buddha were off watching the bake-off instead of cheering me on. My play imploded, and the end, though unfinished, was expected (at least by me), but not accepted happily. Really, I would have taken the whole thing to its grisly conclusion (which probably would have consisted of me losing the next two games decisively), but my opponent had to leave. It was most likely mercy disguised as a beating. This was one time when I probably would not have turned it around at the last minute. Though I do manage to pull wicked upsets off sometimes, this was definitely not the audition that woulda made me a star.

2007-11-27T20:40:00.000-06:00

Sets 385-386:

Stuart v. W. at Pharr. Winner: Stuart 6-2, 6-0.

2007-11-26T19:46:00.000-06:00

Sets 382-384:

Stuart v. J. at Pharr. Winner: J. 6-3, 4-6, 6-4.

2007-11-18T20:45:00.000-06:00

Set 381:

Stuart v. K. at Westlake High. Winner: K. 6-4

Also played Doubles--Stuart and Y. v. K. and S. Winners: Stuart and Y. 6-4, 4-6, 6-2.

2007-11-15T21:56:00.000-06:00

Sets 379-380:

Stuart v. M. at IBM. Winner: M. 6-2, 6-3.

My Mojo: Calm But Not Quite There.

2007-11-13T23:03:00.000-06:00

Sets 376-378:

Stuart v. P. at Pharr. Winner: Stuart 6-2, 2-6, 6-3.

Tenacious S

2007-11-11T17:56:00.000-06:00

Set 375:

My Mojo: Tentative.

Stuart v. A. at St. Edward's University. Winner: Stuart 6-3.

I played a lot more than just the one set of singles. I showed up for this meetup group, and first warmed up with one guy, and then played doubles with five players where we rotated out one person each game, and then played straight doubles (lost the first one, ended up tied in the second one), and then I played a set of singles with A.

My hitting was tentative and I felt sluggish and unresponsive. I was hitting defensively and catching many of my shots too close to my body for good direction. But toward the end of the singles set I was able to relax a little and get more out of my defensive posture. I also rushed the net a little more, but that didn't work out too great for me as I watched a lot of winners and lob winners fly by me. Still, I managed to bring in enough stuff to win the set, mostly through sheer tenacity.

2007-10-31T19:58:00.000-06:00

Sets 372-374:

Stuart v. S. at Bowie High. Winner: S. 6-0, 7-5, 6-3.

It Takes A Couple Of Sets For Me To Reach A Comfort Zone

2007-10-30T21:31:00.000-06:00

Sets 369-371:

Stuart v. E. at The Courtyard Winner: E. (Continuation of last match) Third Set 7-5.

Two more sets: A Tie. 6-1 (E), 2-6 (S).

My Mojo: Constricted, Then Suddenly Free.

The beginning of our play was finishing up the previous match that we had started. I won the first game with some great serves and most of them were not returned. After that my serve got tentative and my whole game became kind of imbalanced. I got down by 5-2, and then I managed to pull together enough game and focus to win the next three games and tie it up at 5-5.

Then my opponent really pulled together his game. He played better than he has probably ever played agaoinst me. He won the next two games decisively to win the set 7-5. Then in the whole second set (technically, it was the first set of a new match, I guess, or just an independent set, since the last set was finishing up the third set of a previous match) I felt like I was completely unable to respond to his game. His shots were almost flawless and error-free and I was mostly completely on the defensive.

It also didn't help that around this time I felt a very slight pull in my lower back; it wasn't enough to keep me from playing, but was just enough to change my balance a little. It wasn't really bad enough for me to consider it an injury, but I can tell it has created a susceptibility to an injury. As I write this, I still feel a slight weakness in my back and I wouldn't be surprised if some little movement at some point injures it a little, or a lot, more. Fingers crossed, and I need to do some strengthening exercises to head this off.

I continued my theme from the match with Y. about not being able to convert advantages in the games, as I got up 40-15 or 40-love and then watched the games evaporate away. Once again, this affected my mental state a great deal, and I started making more errors, especially on shots that should have been sure winners. This was driving me nuts, and the score quickly got to 5-0 in his favor. I did manage to serve one game toward the end in which my serves were focused again and powerful enough to win the game easily. So at least I didn't get bageled. But he took the next game pretty easily and won the set 6-1. To my credit, I was getting to shots that seemed almost impossible even though the ball was just coming off the tip of my racquet. I even remember seeing one serve thatI thought there was no way I would get to, saying "Good shot" as I thought it would be an ace, and expressing a cry of surprise as it actually got returned by my racquet as I got there just in the nick of time. But he managed to hit too many great shots to diverse places on the court, and eventually I would miss one and lose the point. The problem for me was once I barely got there, I was not able to direct the ball well, and I was just returning it into the court weakly, allowing him to take command. He was really getting good strategic direction on his shots and my defensive game was tried to the limit.

In the next set, I managed to get some focus back. I was catching more shots in front of my body instead of at the side or behind, and following through better. This was allowing me to be more aggressive and also close in to the net more. For the first four games we kept pace with each other, though I felt more confident in my play. Then I won the next four games to take the set 6-2. Some of these games were pretty easy, and some were tough. I asked him if he wanted to play another set as I felt pretty good physically (even though we had been playing some long rallies; this last set had probably the best rallies of the match). But he cited other commitments and could not play.

Just A Little Off

2007-10-27T22:04:00.000-06:00

Sets 366-368:

Stuart v. Y. at Avery Ranch. Winner: Y. 6-3, 4-6, 6-3.

My Mojo: Uncalibrated But Determined.

Sometimes you play a match where everything falls into place; your shots go right where you want them to, the stuff you aim at the line hits right on, your net bounces go right over the net, etc. This was not one of those times. My line shots were all going long, lots of my shots crashed into the tape on the net instead of going over, and I had to struggle for any kind of strategy. Still, what I did have in my favor for most of the match was perseverance and grind.

In the first set, I struggled to maintain parity, and crumbled at the end. I got a little behind, then caught up, then could not win any more games. It was frustrating me that my "edge" shots were not working, for the most part. I was also just a little bit slow on response, and that hurt me as I was catching too much stuff late. Another thing that was really frustrating me and affecting my mental state was that I was failing to convert advantages. There were many games in which I was up 40-15 or 40-love that he came back to win as I scattered when I needed to consolidate. My opponent seemed to be closing in more than I was, though I did manage to close in more toward the end of the match. My serves were decent but not spectacular. They were getting in the box, and where I wanted them to go for the most part, but didn't have a lot of oomph.

In the second set, I had a little more concentration but still was a smidge off on the money shots. My mental attitude was a little better, and my opponent seemed a little diminshed from what he had been in the last set, which allowed me to step up a little. Though we were neck-and-neck throughout most of the set, I broke out at the end, which improved my confidence (at least for a short time). The games were much more competitive in this set, and the fifth game of the set, which I won to get ahead 3-2, was very long, with Herculean rallies and many changes of deuce and ad points. I think winning this game gave me an edge in the set that I managed to hold on to.

I felt good going into the third set. I dominated the first game, but after that, I seemed to just about immediately deteriorate for a few games, and then again at the end of the set. Before I knew it, I was down 4-1, but I managed to win the next couple of games to take it to 4-3. I didn't win any more games, though, as my general malaise and lack of focus returned and scattered my play once again. Despite my inability to coalesce my game skills for most of the match, I felt that for the most part it was a very close match.

365 Sets, Or The Big Kahuna Shows Its Ugly Face!

2007-10-24T18:52:00.001-06:00

Sets 363- 365!!!!!!:

Stuart v. S. at His Apts. Winner: Stuart 7-6(4), 6-2, 7-6(6)

My Mojo: Not Bad.

Well, I did it. I reached 365 sets in less than 365 days time. I thought that this would be a huge milestone for me, and that it would be an occasion to ding the bells and toot on the whistles. Fireworks in the living room, and all that. That's all I need, to terrify my family. But actually it is kind of anti-climactic. No parades for me down Main Street. I just go to work tomorrow an put on my shoes and shirt just like I do every day. Oh, and I'd better not forget my pants, or I might get fired.

But I'm not going to stop. First of all, I'm going to keep playing anyway. Maybe after the end of the year I won't play as intensely (or who knows, maybe I will?). I think soon I'll start incorporating more drills and lessons--the kind of stuff I've neglected while I played straight sets. And maybe I'll play some doubles for a change of pace. Second of all, recall that I "cheated" by starting in mid-November of 2006. Though I did get to 365 sets in less than a year from that time, I think I'll keep playing to get 365 sets during 2007, so it will actually be a New Year's resolution fulfilled. Which means I still have 34 sets left to go. I'll probably try to overshoot it; I'm just that over-the-top kinda guy.

Third of all, is there anyone who actually reads this crap I write? Actually, I know there are some folks who do drop by, because I hear about it, and sometimes from the most unexpected sources.

But I guess I should talk about the actual match, instead of sucking on a popsicle of nostalgia and reflection. Geez, it was windy. I knew the wind would be blowing, but it was whipping around every which way, and rising ferociously and then dying down, and doing all kindsa deceptive stuff. But I felt like I was reading it well, and getting into my wind-vector mode, where I try to figure out on the fly what kind of arc I need to put on the ball, what spin I need to use, and how far I need to correct to get the ball where I want it to go. I'm pretty good at that if I can remain calm and not lose my cool buzz.

I think one of my actual disadvantages today was that it wasn't hot as hell, it was cool and temperate, and the wind made just about any sweat that came out evaporate pretty quickly. For some strange reason, I do well under seriously adverse conditions. I shine when it's so hot that everybody else is passing out, or when I'm just on the verge of a serious hurl, or when I'm just injured enough that I can keep playing, but not too bad to need hospitalization. Really. Read my previous entries if you don't believe that.

A couple of things helped me, I think, in today's play (and have also helped me in the last few sets I played). One thing was having a coach show me how I tend to move sideways on a shot instead of lurching into it. I've been moving forward a lot more, and I think it's added some power as well as control to my stroke. The next thing is having soft hands on the volleys. That has improved my directionality at the net immensely.

During the first set, I got behind at first by 4-2, but then caught up to 4-4. We both played very tough for the next four games to tie it up at 6-6 and play a tiebreaker. I was trying to hit hard and deep as much as possible so as to avoid getting weak shots over that S. could take advantage of, which he does well. At first, he was able to move in on the net to advantage, but I tried my best to neutralize that by being a little more aggressive toward the end of the set. In the tiebreak, I took a lead, then he crept up a little, then I was able to take the win.

S. was getting a little more frustrated about the wind than I was, and I think this affected his confidence in the second set. I never felt seriously challenged in this set, and I think i not only had some of my best strategy, but also my best ability to second-guess where his shots would go, and my best use of the wind.

His frustration went away, for the most part, in the third set. He told me that he relaxed because he had already lost the match and had nothing to lose. This was probably his toughest play, as he once again began closing in well and also breaking out winners when necessary. But I still think he wasn't reading the wind as well as I was (with the exception of about three games where he really broke out and seemed really in sync,while I briefly got scattered). I pulled it back together toward the end enough to keep pace, and the tiebreak could have gone either way. He was up at first, then I eked out a point ahead, and at 7-6, he hit a topspin hotshot that the wind just caught the wrong way an put about an inch and a half outside the line. Which was probably just blind luck for me, because I don't think there was any way I would have gotten that shot, and if the wind had not been gusting, it probably would have been in. So instead of tying up the tiebreak at 7-7, I squeaked out a win at 8-6.

All in all, my play was not bad. It was much better than my average match a year ago, for sure. I definitely see improvement in my game. My power and directionality have increased a lot, as well as my ability to anticipate. My recovery is much smoother, on the whole, and I don't get intimidated by power games.

It Hurts!!! The Story Of How The Groundhog Almost Saw His Shadow

2007-10-19T21:20:00.000-06:00

Sets 361-362:

Stuart v. M. at The Quarries. Winner: Stuart 7-6(3), 6-3.

My Mojo: OK Once I "Went."

The first set was ugly. I knew that before I started, I, um, needed to eliminate some of my earlier meals. But I tried to summon the demons before the match, and the love was just in the wrong place in my tubular bells to come out to party. So I had a feeling it would come to what it came to.

I'll spare you grisly details for the most part, except what is integral to the tale. Suffice it to say I've been on a huge fiber kick and have been gulping down at least fifty grams of all manners of sawdusty grit every day. And that's in addition to the huge amount of fruits and veggies (mostly raw) that I eat. It's all well and good, but when judgment day comes, it is immediate and swift, and there is no room for mercy.

And come it did. Around the second game of the match. I felt the sickening gurgle rear its ugly head and communicate to me unequivocally that the groundhog was trying to see its shadow. Actually, it was amazing that I hung on for the whole first set after that. I was in a huge amount of pain, which expanded exponentially as time went on. Try to imagine inserting an uninflated basketball where the sun will (hopefully) never shine, and then pumping it full of jello. That will give you a mental picture of exactly where I was right then (though that may be something you really don't want to picture). I just concentrated on blocking it out, and converted my close-to-rupture moment into intense focus on the tennis ball. I guess that gives Freud's whole trip a new meaning.

It definitely didn't help that there is no bathroom at these courts. I managed to stay with it enough to shimmy up a win in the first set (by a nose), and then I knew that drastic, immediate action was called for. I begged off to take a "bathroom" break. Of course, since there was no bathroom, I went off to an abandoned wooded patch, traipsing through poison ivy and beggar's lice, to eliminate my bad energy (matter converts into energy, right?).

Now, I thought that after I gave unholy birth to Satan's little brother I would immediately feel better. But my insides were still roiling. For the next three games or so, things felt like they were seriously "adjusting" to get back to normal. But after that, my man-womb calmed down, and I was able to concentrate on my play. I just tried to outlast the rallies, and break out for winners when I could, and make less errors than the other guy. And it worked, for the most part.

Game, Interrupted

2007-10-16T21:07:00.000-06:00

Sets 359-360:

Stuart v. E. at The Courtyard. Winner: To Be Determined. 6-3 (E), 5-7 (S), 2-1 (E), S to serve.

My Mojo: Off, Then On, Then Tennis Interruptus.

The last time we played, it was very tight and intense. There was a lot of intensity to this match as well, but I felt like I was flowing a little smoother, and not as tight through the whole thing. My serves were working decently, and his were doing what they needed to do as well. It was another closely matched group of games. In the first set, I dropped my pace a little at the end of the set, and he picked up the slack to put the set in his pocket.

In the second set, I played with more assertiveness and aggressiveness and moved away from my usual defensive game to take the initiative a little more. It seemed to do the trick toward the end. We kept tying it up repeatedly, and I was up the odd game for a while. Then we traded leads around game nine, but I won the next game to tie again at 5-5. The next two games were very close and had some of the longest rallies of the match (so far, of course we haven't finished), but I squeegled it out for both games to win 7-5.

Shortly after that, we ran out of time on the court. I hate these places where you can only reserve and hour and a half of time; so often my matches just don't finish in that short of a period of time as I'm just a born grinder. I'm not proud of it, but there it is. So we tried to get on whatever empty courts we could to attempt to finish up the match. We kept getting repeatedly booted after just a few points and it was jarring my mojo big wild. We played the next three games on three different courts before I finally said it was enough. I have to get into a groove, and this was not doing it for me. So we'll just have to finish up some other time.

The Wizard Of Oz Shows Up For A Game

2007-10-14T11:57:00.000-06:00

Sets 357-358:

Stuart v. S. at Caswell. Winner: Stuart 6-0, 6-1.

My Mojo: Decent.

I almost hate to play someone when it's this mismatched. But I figure if it was me getting the short send of the stick here, and somebody was whomping me this badly, that I'd not only want to squeeze every drop of juice out of the match, but I'd be wanting to play four or five sets. But I'm just a "Thank you, sir, may I have another?" kinda guy.

And I always get something out of a match. If I'm the higher ranked player, and I'm not in danger, then I try new stuff. Here I was mostly trying out some extremely weird serves to see if they worked. Most of them kinda did. And I figure unless I'm winning every single shot (or the other player is), then there is still room for improvement. My opponent did win one game. She told me to talk about that one in my blog. So here it is.

I had won the first set fairly easily, with no real flashy shots, but just trying for solid stuff that got across the net. In the second set, I was up by quite a bit; I think it was 4-0. Then S. just came back and started hitting really solidly. She started returning everything and for some reason I was on the defensive through the whole game. It was as if my play just melted away for one game--the Wizard of Oz in his full glory came to threaten me with his intimidating bluster before I discovered the man behind the curtain. I was really trying hard, too, and before I knew it, I was down 40-15. I thought I had a chance to catch up, even if it meant winning four points in a row, but NOOO... I lost the next point and lost the game. I know that kind of thing would provide a moral victory for me if I was being outplayed that badly, and I bet it did for my opponent.

Anyway, she said she would sic her husband on me, as he is really good. I'm waiting for the email...

I Finally Hit Stride In The Third Set

2007-10-12T20:59:00.001-06:00

Sets 354-356:

Stuart v. D. at IBM. Winner: Stuart 3-6, 7-6(4), 6-1.

My Mojo: Shaky At First, Then A Gradual Crescendo, Then A Surge At The End.

All day, I had felt terrible. I felt not quite sick, but at the very least, super-dehydrated. i had been to a group lesson the night before where I was really fatigued for most of the night and couldn't even grasp the rules of the drills we were doing. I actually got in an argument (not really heated, just a dispute) about something that I was totally in the wrong about, and it took a long time to sink in because my mind was just not grasping anything; that's how tired I was. I never quite recovered and felt cruddy the next day, but I spent all day drinking a LOT of water. I almost canceled the match, but about a half an hour after I got off work, I suddenly felt better. I guess that I really just was dehydrated and the water worked.

Starting out this match, I felt like I was having a difficult time getting my bearings. My serve was complete crap. This was strange, because during the warmup, my serve was dead-on. But it just keeled over dead as soon as the first game started. At least my second serves were getting in (even though they had virtually no power at all) and I only double-faulted a few times. My ground strokes were not that great either, and I was hitting my backhands with slice just to get them to the point where they were fairly accurate. This was probably the high point of my game--the fact that my unusually sliced backhands were going just about right where I wanted them to. My service problems were really frustrating me. The first set was really lackluster, and I dropped the last half of it with an inability to get anything decent happening. My opponent was really moving in well, also, and was deadly accurate when he got to the net.

The second set started out much like the first, and before I knew it, I was down 4-1. I thought it was pretty much over, but I just took some relaxing breaths on the changeover and determined to try to be a little more aggressive and play for position. I squeezed back by my fingernails in a couple of games, but won the next three to bring it to 4-4. Then he won the next game. I simply steadied myself, prepared for everything as early as possible, and I managed to win the next game just by making less errors than my opponent did. We had a lot of long rallies in this game.

So it was 5-5 at this point, and then he surged back and won the next game. Now it was 6-5. My serve was still failing me. I resolved not to let that get me, and just decided to play a game that started with groundstrokes instead of serve. Once again I won another game to take it into the tiebreak.

Suddenly, in the tiebreak, my serve came back. I walloped off a few decent serves when I had the serve, and got advantageous positions off of them. I also managed to break his serve enough to get ahead. Though he started catching up for a couple of points, I kept the edge, and won the tiebreak.

So we were in a third set. I felt like my game was just starting to warm up at this point. My serve got a little better and I managed to pop off a few good ones, but it didn't completely get solid; it just faded in and out. But I was able to get advantages in most of the rallies and I won more easily that I had won the second set. Plus, my physical condition felt better than it had the whole match, and I had no problem sustaining long rallies and running like crazy to get to far-away shots.

A Tough, Close Match

2007-10-10T23:24:00.000-06:00

Sets 352-353:

Stuart v. T. at Pharr. Winner: T. 7-6(3), 7-5

My Mojo: Steady But Outfinessed.

We had a very close match all the way down. He got ahead by 3-1 in both sets, then I caught up to 3-3, and then he got ahead by 5-3 in both sets, then I caught up in both to bring it to 5-5. It was kind of strange that both sets followed that same pattern. He was really good at closing in for the point, and when he got to net, or whenever I put across a weak shot, he managed to usually put away the point. The last few times I played him I felt like I was right on the cusp of my reaction time in responding to his shots, but I didn't feel like that this time as I tried to play a little more aggressively. I didn't think that the match would be able to be finished as we were running out of time at the tennis center, but nobody came to take the courts when our time ran out, so we were able to play for about fifteen more minutes. This worked to my detriment as I was late to a meeting and I was trying to rush it, so I lost the last two games of the second set to make the set 7-5.

Wow, i am coming down to the wire now. I've gotten to 352 sets out of the 365 that I amtrying to play. I am pretty sure, barring something really unexpected, that I will make my goal of 365 sets in a year. As I get to the end, I have been slowing down on the number of matches I play. It's not that I mind playing; I'd probably play just about every day if I could just show up for matches. It's taking all the time and energy to set up matches that I am burning out on. Also, less people are responding as I move along. Well, I plod on, and as a guy in a wheelbarrow in a Monty Python movie once said, "I'm not dead yet!" A noble sentiment...

Five Sets Taking It From Light To Dark

2007-10-09T19:34:00.000-06:00

Sets 347-351:

Stuart v. P. at Perry Park. Winner: Stuart 6-1, 6-0, 6-2, 6-0, 6-1.

My Mojo: Pretty Solid, But Wavering A Little.

This was kind of along night as we decided to try to get in five sets. I don't think we set out to play five sets, but it just turned out that way as we kept trying to squeeze in another one. In the first three sets I played well and most of the points I lost were aggressive plays that I got overzealous on. In the third set, I decided to play even more aggressively. I hit a good number of my second serves really hard, but I didn't double-fault any more than usual. That was a good sign. I also rushed the net a lot more, and it usually paid off. But right nesr the end of the set he picked up a couple of games. It was getting dusky, and the lights were not too great. There was also a light that was right in my eyes when I served from deuce court on the north side--it was right behind my opponent's head on the building south of the court.

In the fourth set, I was playing more solidly than aggressively, and I won all of the games fairly decisively. For the fifth set, darkness definitely settled in, and the lights were really crappy. Still, I took most of the games, even though I couldn't see too well. But when I was up 5-0, he suddenly surged back and smoked me out for one game where I didn't win any points and it was over faster than I knew what was happening. It seemed to be just a surge, and I won the next game fairly easily.

Big Time At The Meetup

2007-10-04T23:00:00.000-06:00

Sets 345-346:

Stuart v. ? at Westlake. Winner: Stuart 6-2, 6-3.

My Mojo: Increasingly Strong.

I just cannot remember this guy's name. I wish I could. This was the first time I had gone to this tennis meetup group online, and there were a whole bunch of people there. The first thing I did was play a singles match with this guy. He seemed like a decent hitter, but just could not get behind the ball as much as I did, so I felt like I mostly had the advantage. He had good serves, but not a lot of accuracy behind them. When they did get in, though, they were formidable. Mine were only working for me when I put spin on them, for the most part. I could spin my serves every which way, side to side, up and down, and they would get in the box with some goombah, but most of my flat serves were not diddly.

I was pretty steady through the second set as well, and even felt like I had a little more control in it even though I lost one more game. Such is life on the laykold.

Afterwards, he and I played a doubles set against two guys who kicked everybody's butt that night, and we were no exception. I felt like I was getting some good shots in, and it seemed like I was even playing better than I had when I played singles, but 'twasn't good enough. I think we lost 6-2. But doubles doesn't count here (on my long-winded blog); I might as well have been playing mah-jongg.

My Opponent Surges Toward The End

2007-10-02T22:30:00.000-06:00

Set 344:

Stuart v. P. at Caswell. Winner: To Be Determined? 6-2 (Stuart), 5-5.

My Mojo: The Reverse Alchemist: Gold At First, Then Lead.

OK, so I have been somewhat of a slug about blogging lately. But I have had some unexpected stuff come up that has taken up all my time. You know what they say about life being something that happens while you are busy making other plans. Right now that seems to be an understatement, and right now it seems to be just about all I can do to carve out the time to just play the darn things. Plus, it seems that playing tennis all the time is putting me behind on about a year's worth of chores and errands, which I am slowly starting to catch up on. At this moment, I have about fifteen minutes of time to blog. Then I look forward to launching into another busy day where I work all day, play some tennis, deal with the matter that is taking up more of my time and life energy than I would like right now, and hopefully sit down to blog again. But I digress.

P. was a hard hitter who put a lot of arm into his stroke. I am fairly used to playing people who play with that style, and so my methodical play of getting it all back and watching closely for the tough shots so I could get to them served me well for most of the match. Though he had a blistering first serve that, when it got in, gave me some trouble in returning a little more than half of the time, I felt like the first set and (I thought) the second set were going my way fairly easily.

In the second set, I was up 5-1, and we were about to run out of time on the court we had reserved. Then I made two critical mistakes. The first mistake was to try to rush things to get the match over with. That probably led me to make more errors that I would have liked to have made, when previously I had not been making a lot of errors. The second mistake was to fail to notice and respond to his change in strategy fast enough. Previously, he had been playing to try to cut off the points quickly. Now he was going for longer rallies, and my rushed play and greater error rate was making those rallies work in his favor. By the time I realized what was going on, he had evened it back up at 5-5, and I had no chance to respond, because we were out of time. Hopefully we will get to finish later.

Crappy Days Are Here Again

2007-09-20T21:06:00.000-06:00

Sets 341-343:

Stuart v. P. at Perry Park. Winner: Stuart. 6-4, 6-1, 6-1

My Mojo: Tinged With Melancholy Bile, But Present.

I've played this guy a bunch and I usually get the upper hand. But what I respect is that he is willing to play monjo numbers of sets. Now that's like my style. When I am getting creamed, I want to play even more.

Tonight I felt like crap while I was playing. I had felt vaguely under the floor all day. I'd been grumpy, and though I didn't quite feel cruddy enough to count it as sick, I was definitely not in top form. I almost thought about blowing it off, but just felt good enough to remain standing, maybe.

I somehow can play well a lot of the time when I'm feeling like steaming turds. the first set, I was a little more down that I was for the next two, but I still pulled my head out from the dark moist place loud enough to hear the pop. In the next two sets, my play was just steady enough to take a solid lead, but my stomach was not. Normally I would have played on, but this time I had to bow out after the third set. I almost thought about dumping after the second set and I don't know why I played a third or where the energy for continued vertical integrity came from. But, there it was, and here I am, still alive.

Intensity

2007-09-19T20:34:00.001-06:00

Sets 339-340:

Stuart v. E. at Austin High. Winner: E. 7-5, 6-4.

My Mojo: Driven, But Drooping Near Each Set's End.

This was an intense match. I felt like we were both very focused, and wound tight. I know that at least I was. I was trying not to make missteps, but I kept subtly getting the short end of the strategy stick. There was a good deal of strategic interaction, and like I said, I mostly swam in the shallow end of the pool.

Not that it was a complete blowout. I was pretty competitive and close through most of each set, and then just kind of petered out at the end. He hit wit a lot of topspin and when he moved in, he was able to get some good angles and winner on me, whereas I mostly won more defensively. It didn't turn out to be good enough for me to take home the brass ring, but it was close.