Sets 91-93 (of 365):
Stuart vs. Q. at Northwest Park. Winner: Stuart 7-6(8), 6-7(3), 6-4.
Ladder Match #8
Sets 94-96 (of 365):
Stuart vs. J. at Northwest Park. Winner: Stuart 6-7(5), 6-2, 6-1.
Barely alive. More later.
Stuart vs. S. at Northwest Park--postponed because of rain.
My Mojo: Error-Prone, Easily Frustrated, But Dug In For Tough Combat
I ended up playing two out of three matches that I had scheduled today. The first two were marked by similar attitudes on my part. I made a lot of errors and could not get it together throughout most of each of these matches until the very end, when I was able to pull out wins. I would get ahead, and then my opponents would catch up, and that was frustrating me greatly. The rallies were, for the most part, very long in both sets with lots of going back and forth from deuce to ad. Both matches ended up going three sets and had tiebreaks. I was easily irritable, and though I don't usually scream or throw my racquet, I was definitely doing feeling a lot of anger inside at times--almost enough to throw a racquet. I muttered several epithets under my breath or to myself at times and even screamed out a cuss word at the top of my lungs once, which is WAY out of character for me.
In the first match against Q., I felt like I was often outplaying him, and when I could get together enough focus, I could win games easily. But I could not keep the focus at all and I kept making error after error. And then he would come back and outplay me. Everything was really close all the way through the match. We were neck-and-neck in each of the three sets. And, to top it off, early on in the first set (I think it was in the third game), I had to change direction quickly to get one of his shots, and I felt my calf muscle pull. It was right near the end of the game, and I couldn't tell how bad it was at this point. At first I thought it might be bad enough that I would have to forfeit. On the next changeover, I stretched my calf a lot and decided to keep playing. Though it seemed bad for the next couple of games, it seemed to work itself out to where I regained mobility after a game or two. Whew. I have pulled or torn calf muscles before to the point that I was on crutches for weeks before, and I was glad that it was not that bad. But it did mean that I had to be careful not to aggravate it, and it also appeared that some other muscles in both of my legs were taking over some of the slack, so other muscles in my legs were rapidly getting sore as well.
We got to TWO tiebreaks in the first two sets. This was really hard-fought, and it seemed like we were mostly alternating wins in both sets. In the first set, I won the tiebreak, but we took it to 10-8.
In the second set, I had been ahead 4-0. Then, in the fifth game of the second set, J., who was playing on the next court from me, asked me, "Are you wearing him down, Stuart?" I answered, "Either that, or he's wearing me down." My attempt at self-deprecating humor seemed to jinx me. I was completely scattered after that, and he won the next five games. Then I won a game to bring it to 5-5, and we each won a game after that to end up in a tiebreak with the score at 6-6. I could not get it together in the tiebreak and lost 7-3.
I was not looking forward to a third set. I was extremely tired, irritable, and my legs felt like raw hamburger from the knees down. The third set was as tough as the first two. Luckily, after we got to 4-4, I was able to pull it out. I won the next game fairly easily, and though the game after that was much tougher, I pulled it out with two points in a row over deuce.
I could barely walk back to my car. I knew I only had a little time before my next match, and I would have to spend every minute in active recovery. I raced home and took a hot bath and then spent just about every minute left icing and stretching. My legs were really stiff and I could barely get up to tape up my calf muscle and leave for the next match.
I got to the site and, though I felt sore, I felt like another match was doable. The first match was more of the same--it was a really grueling fight all the way to another tiebreak. J. was getting to me with a really good net game that I had a terrible time breaking through, though I was a little more successful playing against it in the second and third sets. He was getting lots of angle shots and aggressive control from the net, and there were times where I just felt like there was nothing I could do. My offensive lobs against his net play seemed to go mostly out, though a couple of them worked. I would get ahead frequently, and then he would bear down and catch up. I was cussing under my breath and in my head a lot more this match, and was getting really frustrated.
In the tie-break, I was ahead by a large margin; I think it was 4-1 and then 5-2. Then he relentlessly caught up and I didn't win any more points. When he got to 5-5, I really lost my cool and got scattered. I cussed to myself, and could not get it together for the next two points, so I lost the set. I had thought that it was at that point that I screamed out the cuss word, but thinking about it again, I'm pretty sure it was in the second set.
In the second set, after completely losing my cool in the tiebreak, I was able to channel my anger into focus for the first two games. I was up 2-0, and then he mounted a comeback. He slowly outplayed me the next two games. I lost the last point of the fourth game of the set on an error where I didn't set up well, swung wildly, and hit a ball wide that I should have slammed down an area of the court that there was no way he could get to. This brought the score to 2-2, and I screamed "SHIT!" at the top of my lungs. I IMMEDIATELY (within less than a second) cooled off, chuckled sheepishly, and apologized to my opponent for my outburst. He was good-natured about it. I looked over at the other courts, and they were all empty except for a father teaching his very young daughter on the last court. Yikes! They left right after that.
But when I screamed out, it released all my anger. It made me completely calm for the rest of the set, and I won all the rest of the games in the set. And, though I did get a little impatient in the third set, it was not near as bad as it had been. Although the score was lopsided in the second and third sets, they were still really tough. I didn't win most of the games easily. There were a lot of long rallies and we went back and forth from deuce to ad in many of the games. But I was able to reach enough calmness to keep the pressure on and win the match, though I felt hungry and low on energy.
After this match, I was really sore and battered again. I went home and spent the whole time on recovery. I iced and stretched, and this time I ate a lot too as I was famished. Once again, I had barely enough time to prepare for the next one. I went out to my car to go to the next match, and when I went outside, I saw that it was misting. Not really raining, just forming light, tiny droplets of mist that looked like just enough to ruin tennis. The streets were definitely wet, and my car was covered with a fine pattern of droplets. But my driveway looked kind of dry. What the heck?! I decided to go ahead and go to the site, since it might just be dry enough to play, and maybe on that side of town, the conditions would be different.
As I drove to the site, I didn't know what to think about what to expect there. Sometimes, the streets looked soaked, and sometimes, they looked almost dry. The mist was relentless and constant, though, all the way there and once I got there. At this site, the streets and sidewalks were definitely wet. But the courts looked dry! And three of the four courts were occupied with people playing tennis.
I didn't know what to make of this. I was definitely ready to play another match, if the courts were dry enough. Sure, I was sore, but I felt about the same way I had felt before I started the second match. I had recovered enough to play and was ready to go. My opponent was not there yet, so I walked around to check it out. As I got close to the courts, I could see that they were almost imperceptibly damp, but maybe still playable? Shoot, there were three pairs of people who were playing on the courts. But they were finishing off what they had started earlier, not starting matches.
I went back to sit in my car and mull this over when my opponent called me on my cell phone. He said it was misting where he was and he thought it might be too wet. He asked me where I was and I told him I was at the site. I told him that it was wet, but the courts appeared, strangely enough, to be dry. I walked over to the courts again while I was on the phone to him and sort of slid my shoe on the court a little. Yeah, I could definitely feel some slippage. And I was definitely NOT in the mood to play on wet courts today. My sore legs could take the wear and tear of a normal (or even another grueling) match, but I could not handle having to slip around to rapidly change directions on a wet surface. I asked one of the players how the courts were and if they had been slipping around. He said it was not bad. My opponent and I talked about it on the phone for quite a while and finally decided not to play. First of all, the mist was not stopping and would only make the courts worse. Second of all, the sun had gone down, so there was going to be very little evaporation of what was already there. Third, the people who were there were motivated to finish what they had started and starting something right then was probably a worse prospect than finishing a match in progress. So we agreed to play again in a couple of weeks.
Sunday, February 11, 2007
Saturday, February 10, 2007
Steady And Solid Does It
Sets 88-90 (of 365):
Stuart vs. C. at Northwest Park. Winner: Stuart 6-4, 6-3, 6-4.
My Mojo: Steady
Well, I broke my record for the highest player on the ladder that I have beaten. This wasn't a ladder match, so it didn't advance me on the ladder, but I couldn't believe once again that I had beaten a player this good. And the last time I played him, he beat me pretty badly.
His strokes were really powerful and he had some monjo topspin. His game sort of ramped up, though. He started off with serves that were not too hard, and groundstrokes that were moderate. But as the first set got farther along, his shots started gaining in power. That seems to be a pretty effective strategy, not only to ease yourself into it, but to get your opponent to not expect a lot of power until it is coming at him. And that's what happened to me the last time I played him. I started out OK, and then just had no idea what was hitting me.
This time I seemed to hold up pretty well. He was not going to flame out on errors like some of the people I played so I really had to control my errors and keep my shots deep. Also, when he got to the net, he was lethal, except for one thing. Almost all of my offensive lobs worked against him at the net. And that may have been what made the difference. It neutralized a good deal of his net game against me. And my second strong point was my net game when I got to the net. I managed to put away most of the points I hit from the net, and when he tried to lob me, they fell short and I was able to smash them. He was a really good returner. My serve was not bad, but it didn't have much of an effect on him. There were a couple that he returned weakly, but most of them were pretty solid. I was impressed that he seemed to be one of the best returners of my serve that I had seen.
So the first two sets I was able to edge him out, and I was a little stronger in the second set. He asked me if I wanted to play a third set, and I agreed. When the third set started, I was on fire for a while. It was mostly because I relaxed, and didn't care how the set turned out. I kept telling myself that I had already won, no matter what, and if I won this last set, it would just be the cherry on top of the whipped cream. I got up 5-1, and then he came back with a fury for a while. The vast majority of points for the next three games were controlled by him. His strategy was really good and he played with very few errors. And also, I started caring. That is usually my downfall. So he got to the 5-4 point that I have always thought is a good psychological advantage for the player that is down after he has won several in a row. But I managed to come back and win the next game to get to 6-4, mostly by relaxing and telling myself once again that it didn't matter. I was able to relax, and follow through more naturally, rather than hitting with tight, jerky motions. Whew. I had visions of losing this set 7-5 and not winning a single game after being up 5-1. I hate that.
I also felt like I didn't necessarily play as defensively as I did the other day against the other really good player I beat, though I did spend a lot of time on defense. But this guy was even higher than the last guy that I was almost constantly on the defense with. I was able to get some offense in on this match.
Stuart vs. C. at Northwest Park. Winner: Stuart 6-4, 6-3, 6-4.
My Mojo: Steady
Well, I broke my record for the highest player on the ladder that I have beaten. This wasn't a ladder match, so it didn't advance me on the ladder, but I couldn't believe once again that I had beaten a player this good. And the last time I played him, he beat me pretty badly.
His strokes were really powerful and he had some monjo topspin. His game sort of ramped up, though. He started off with serves that were not too hard, and groundstrokes that were moderate. But as the first set got farther along, his shots started gaining in power. That seems to be a pretty effective strategy, not only to ease yourself into it, but to get your opponent to not expect a lot of power until it is coming at him. And that's what happened to me the last time I played him. I started out OK, and then just had no idea what was hitting me.
This time I seemed to hold up pretty well. He was not going to flame out on errors like some of the people I played so I really had to control my errors and keep my shots deep. Also, when he got to the net, he was lethal, except for one thing. Almost all of my offensive lobs worked against him at the net. And that may have been what made the difference. It neutralized a good deal of his net game against me. And my second strong point was my net game when I got to the net. I managed to put away most of the points I hit from the net, and when he tried to lob me, they fell short and I was able to smash them. He was a really good returner. My serve was not bad, but it didn't have much of an effect on him. There were a couple that he returned weakly, but most of them were pretty solid. I was impressed that he seemed to be one of the best returners of my serve that I had seen.
So the first two sets I was able to edge him out, and I was a little stronger in the second set. He asked me if I wanted to play a third set, and I agreed. When the third set started, I was on fire for a while. It was mostly because I relaxed, and didn't care how the set turned out. I kept telling myself that I had already won, no matter what, and if I won this last set, it would just be the cherry on top of the whipped cream. I got up 5-1, and then he came back with a fury for a while. The vast majority of points for the next three games were controlled by him. His strategy was really good and he played with very few errors. And also, I started caring. That is usually my downfall. So he got to the 5-4 point that I have always thought is a good psychological advantage for the player that is down after he has won several in a row. But I managed to come back and win the next game to get to 6-4, mostly by relaxing and telling myself once again that it didn't matter. I was able to relax, and follow through more naturally, rather than hitting with tight, jerky motions. Whew. I had visions of losing this set 7-5 and not winning a single game after being up 5-1. I hate that.
I also felt like I didn't necessarily play as defensively as I did the other day against the other really good player I beat, though I did spend a lot of time on defense. But this guy was even higher than the last guy that I was almost constantly on the defense with. I was able to get some offense in on this match.
A Brief Summary of Today's Lesson
Group Lesson at Pharr with K. (6 of 10):
My Mojo: Decent
Today I had another group lesson. This was fast-paced because we only had three players there. H. beat me in some of the games we played, though I thought I was playing pretty well. He got some really good shots in. We got to work on returns, which was good, because we never work on that. And I got to work on topspin serves more, which I needed.
My Mojo: Decent
Today I had another group lesson. This was fast-paced because we only had three players there. H. beat me in some of the games we played, though I thought I was playing pretty well. He got some really good shots in. We got to work on returns, which was good, because we never work on that. And I got to work on topspin serves more, which I needed.
Books I Am Reading
Here are some books that I have recently read (in the last couple months or so):
The Sun Also Rises--Ernest Hemingway (but the copy I bought at Half Price Books had the first seven pages missing, so I'll have to read them in a bookstore sometime)
Lies And The Lying Liars Who Tell Them--Al Franken (which led me to:)
Rush Limbaugh Is A Big Fat Idiot--Al Franken
What's The Matter With Kansas?--Thomas Frank
Bushwhacked--Molly Ivins (R.I.P.)
The Zinn Reader--Howard Zinn
The Da Vinci Code--Dan Brown
Books that I am in the middle of reading:
Freakonomics--Levitt and Dunber
Getting To Know Athens County--Beatty and Stone
Guns, Germs And Steel--Jared Diamond
Writing For Screen And Television--Ronald Tobias
On Food And Cooking--Harold McGee
Books that I just bought in anticipation of starting soon:
One Hundred Years Of Solitude--Gabriel Garcia Marquez
The Great Gatsby--F. Scott Fitzgerald
The Sun Also Rises--Ernest Hemingway (but the copy I bought at Half Price Books had the first seven pages missing, so I'll have to read them in a bookstore sometime)
Lies And The Lying Liars Who Tell Them--Al Franken (which led me to:)
Rush Limbaugh Is A Big Fat Idiot--Al Franken
What's The Matter With Kansas?--Thomas Frank
Bushwhacked--Molly Ivins (R.I.P.)
The Zinn Reader--Howard Zinn
The Da Vinci Code--Dan Brown
Books that I am in the middle of reading:
Freakonomics--Levitt and Dunber
Getting To Know Athens County--Beatty and Stone
Guns, Germs And Steel--Jared Diamond
Writing For Screen And Television--Ronald Tobias
On Food And Cooking--Harold McGee
Books that I just bought in anticipation of starting soon:
One Hundred Years Of Solitude--Gabriel Garcia Marquez
The Great Gatsby--F. Scott Fitzgerald
Friday, February 9, 2007
A No-Show
2/9/07:
Planned Match againd Stuart and J. at Northwest Park. Winner: Stuart (by forfeit).
I hate it when a player who schedules a match does not show up. I get ready, go out to the site, and just wait and wait. Nothing. I had a funny feeling this guy would not show up. I went to a party with my friend C. and he told me that his brother J. wanted to play tennis against me. I told him to give his brother my number and that I'm always up for a match. Didn't hear anything for a while, and then I get a call from J. about a week and a half later asking me some stuff on unemployment, and also, by the way, "C. told me I should play tennis with you." Red flag right there. Is this guy wanting to play or is his brother just setting him up on something that he thinks would be good for him? And does the guy even play tennis? But, despite my slight skepticism, I offer to set up a match with him. He says he's not available for a few days, and sounds hesitant. Another red flag. I suggest Friday night at Northwest Park, and he mumbles agreement.
So I'm getting ready to go, and I'm thinking that I bet this guy is not going to show up. I check my cell phone to try to find his number so I can call and confirm, but too many people have called me since and his number is gone. Rats. Well, all I can do is think the best about the guy, and try to not be negative, and hope he will be there, and we will get to play.
It's kinda cold, so I get all bundled up. I get my tennis gear together, and drive over to the park to play. I'm there about fifteen minutes early. I'm thinking, shoot, if he doesn't show up, that's even longer I have to wait. So I practice some serves and play against the backboard. Of course, I wait until he's about a half an hour late, and no dice. I'm not waiting any longer than that.
So now I have him pegged as an irresponsible flake, and he's on my no-fly list, unless something unavoidable happened. It's about respect, and I gave him some, but he didn't respond in kind. And it's partially my fault too; well, not really, but there are some things I could have done to determine whether or not it would happen before I showed up at the site and just waited. I should have determined if it was really something he wanted to do, and should have stored his phone number in my cell phone to confirm.
So now I've gone nearly a week without being able to set a match, which is the longest dry spell yet (other than the ones caused by prolonged rain and sleet). And I did contact a lot of people in the last week, too. But things are looking up for the next couple of weeks as I already am starting to get some responses filter back to me.
Planned Match againd Stuart and J. at Northwest Park. Winner: Stuart (by forfeit).
I hate it when a player who schedules a match does not show up. I get ready, go out to the site, and just wait and wait. Nothing. I had a funny feeling this guy would not show up. I went to a party with my friend C. and he told me that his brother J. wanted to play tennis against me. I told him to give his brother my number and that I'm always up for a match. Didn't hear anything for a while, and then I get a call from J. about a week and a half later asking me some stuff on unemployment, and also, by the way, "C. told me I should play tennis with you." Red flag right there. Is this guy wanting to play or is his brother just setting him up on something that he thinks would be good for him? And does the guy even play tennis? But, despite my slight skepticism, I offer to set up a match with him. He says he's not available for a few days, and sounds hesitant. Another red flag. I suggest Friday night at Northwest Park, and he mumbles agreement.
So I'm getting ready to go, and I'm thinking that I bet this guy is not going to show up. I check my cell phone to try to find his number so I can call and confirm, but too many people have called me since and his number is gone. Rats. Well, all I can do is think the best about the guy, and try to not be negative, and hope he will be there, and we will get to play.
It's kinda cold, so I get all bundled up. I get my tennis gear together, and drive over to the park to play. I'm there about fifteen minutes early. I'm thinking, shoot, if he doesn't show up, that's even longer I have to wait. So I practice some serves and play against the backboard. Of course, I wait until he's about a half an hour late, and no dice. I'm not waiting any longer than that.
So now I have him pegged as an irresponsible flake, and he's on my no-fly list, unless something unavoidable happened. It's about respect, and I gave him some, but he didn't respond in kind. And it's partially my fault too; well, not really, but there are some things I could have done to determine whether or not it would happen before I showed up at the site and just waited. I should have determined if it was really something he wanted to do, and should have stored his phone number in my cell phone to confirm.
So now I've gone nearly a week without being able to set a match, which is the longest dry spell yet (other than the ones caused by prolonged rain and sleet). And I did contact a lot of people in the last week, too. But things are looking up for the next couple of weeks as I already am starting to get some responses filter back to me.
Thursday, February 8, 2007
Trying To Find Players
It is getting really hard to schedule matches. Playing the matches is not much of a problem. But getting them scheduled seems to be most of the work. The other day I emailed about twenty people and only three of them responded, and I only set stuff up with one of them for sure. I threw some times out to the others and haven't heard anything back, so I have to hold those times open and can't really schedule other matches then. That seems to be the pattern. So it's hard to get stuff happening every night, but then at times, when it rains it pours. I'll get a bunch of people respond to play on a weekend. For instance, a couple of weekends ago, I managed to get in eleven sets. That was about a week and a half's worth of sets in two days! So days like that do me good, and when I can't set anything up for several days in a row, it makes up for it. But it seems like it is getting harder and harder.
I am running up against a finite number of players on the ladder, and some of them may be getting sick of hearing from me. Plus, some of them I would beat really easily, and some of them would beat me really easily. Ideally, I'd like to play mostly competitive matches, with some above my skill level and some below. I'm trying to reach more players that I think would be competitive in matches, but I've been having to adjust where that is upward a couple of times, so I'm still not quite sure where the ideal is. That's the downside of not having a lot of match experience.
When I try to get players off of the CATA player finder, hardly anyone ever responds, though I have found a few people there. I just don't know where else to go other than CATA and the ladder. I'll have to get creative. Also, I bet that I'll find some regulars who will play me once every couple of weeks or so. It's only been a couple of months, and really, that's all the match experience I have; there's really no history before that, unless I go back to high school. And I'm pretty sure I'm a much better player now than I was in high school.
So if any of you out there in Internetland (in and around Austin!) are reading this and want to play, get in touch! At this point, it's almost guaranteed that I'll be able to make time for you within at least the next week or two. And it makes my job of trying to hustle up lots of matches easier. Or send people my way to play. I think my goal for the end of February will be to get to at least 100 matches, maybe as many as 110. I'll be really happy if I get to 110. But I haven't played any matches since Sunday.
I am running up against a finite number of players on the ladder, and some of them may be getting sick of hearing from me. Plus, some of them I would beat really easily, and some of them would beat me really easily. Ideally, I'd like to play mostly competitive matches, with some above my skill level and some below. I'm trying to reach more players that I think would be competitive in matches, but I've been having to adjust where that is upward a couple of times, so I'm still not quite sure where the ideal is. That's the downside of not having a lot of match experience.
When I try to get players off of the CATA player finder, hardly anyone ever responds, though I have found a few people there. I just don't know where else to go other than CATA and the ladder. I'll have to get creative. Also, I bet that I'll find some regulars who will play me once every couple of weeks or so. It's only been a couple of months, and really, that's all the match experience I have; there's really no history before that, unless I go back to high school. And I'm pretty sure I'm a much better player now than I was in high school.
So if any of you out there in Internetland (in and around Austin!) are reading this and want to play, get in touch! At this point, it's almost guaranteed that I'll be able to make time for you within at least the next week or two. And it makes my job of trying to hustle up lots of matches easier. Or send people my way to play. I think my goal for the end of February will be to get to at least 100 matches, maybe as many as 110. I'll be really happy if I get to 110. But I haven't played any matches since Sunday.
Energy Steadily Building
Group Lesson at Pharr (5 of 10):
My Mojo: Steadily Better
Tonight I started out hitting really badly but warmed up in about ten minutes and then was hitting well. My consistency was very good, but my power was a little bit tentative until the last twenty minutes or so of the lesson, when I was hitting much better. I like the drills that the new coach brought in because they were more fast-paced. I still was having a little bit of trouble putting my body into the shots, but was getting most of the balls in, just not with the power I would have liked.
After the lesson, A., A., H. and me all stayed to hit doubles. We had some good solid rallies and I was happy with my performance. I think my play was reaching a peak when we had to quit because the facility was closing. If only I could have played for another hour or two it would have been solid practice and beneficial because I felt like I was in a good place. I felt really energized by the end and not tired at all.
My Mojo: Steadily Better
Tonight I started out hitting really badly but warmed up in about ten minutes and then was hitting well. My consistency was very good, but my power was a little bit tentative until the last twenty minutes or so of the lesson, when I was hitting much better. I like the drills that the new coach brought in because they were more fast-paced. I still was having a little bit of trouble putting my body into the shots, but was getting most of the balls in, just not with the power I would have liked.
After the lesson, A., A., H. and me all stayed to hit doubles. We had some good solid rallies and I was happy with my performance. I think my play was reaching a peak when we had to quit because the facility was closing. If only I could have played for another hour or two it would have been solid practice and beneficial because I felt like I was in a good place. I felt really energized by the end and not tired at all.
Tuesday, February 6, 2007
Better Sooner Than I Thought
I had been really sick last night, and then I took the bentonite, charcoal, and psyllium. When I woke up today, I felt just fine! I guess that stuff really worked to draw out whatever it was that was making me sick. Unfortunately, I canceled my matches for the next two days, thinking that I would be sick for a while. Oh, well, I could use a break anyway. It looks like no more matches until Friday night, and then maybe a few over the weekend, if weather allows.
Monday, February 5, 2007
Sick To My Stomach
Group Lesson at Pharr (4 of 10):
My Mojo: Sick And Awful
I am sickkkk...I think I am coming down with a stomach virus or something. I felt sluggish for a couple of hours before the lesson, but thought I could shake it off. It wasn't until I'd been there for about forty-five minutes that I realized that I was definitely getting sick. I tried to play but I just could not hit anything and felt worse and worse as the lesson went on. So I will take a few days off from playing. Gotta go to bed, but before I do, I'll take a bunch of activated charcoal, bentonite clay, and psyllium, and drink monjo water, and see if that helps any.
My Mojo: Sick And Awful
I am sickkkk...I think I am coming down with a stomach virus or something. I felt sluggish for a couple of hours before the lesson, but thought I could shake it off. It wasn't until I'd been there for about forty-five minutes that I realized that I was definitely getting sick. I tried to play but I just could not hit anything and felt worse and worse as the lesson went on. So I will take a few days off from playing. Gotta go to bed, but before I do, I'll take a bunch of activated charcoal, bentonite clay, and psyllium, and drink monjo water, and see if that helps any.
Sunday, February 4, 2007
A Moment Of Synchronicity
This has nothing to do with tennis. But it was so weird that I had to write down something about it.
Tonight I was watching "The Green Mile," which is a prison movie with Tom Hanks (and it's still on). There is a scene with this guy who has a trained mouse in the prison, and he is being taken off to be executed in the electric chair. A sadistic guard tells him something terrible, and tries to mess up his execution to cause him pain while he is dying. As the prisoner is in the chair, they flip the switch for the electric chair...
And the electricity goes out in my house. There is no apparent cause for the outage, but it's really strange. Oh, well, back to the movie. Crap, the outage also messed up my recording of "Cinema Paradiso" on DVR. And it's not playing again anytime in the next week.
Tonight I was watching "The Green Mile," which is a prison movie with Tom Hanks (and it's still on). There is a scene with this guy who has a trained mouse in the prison, and he is being taken off to be executed in the electric chair. A sadistic guard tells him something terrible, and tries to mess up his execution to cause him pain while he is dying. As the prisoner is in the chair, they flip the switch for the electric chair...
And the electricity goes out in my house. There is no apparent cause for the outage, but it's really strange. Oh, well, back to the movie. Crap, the outage also messed up my recording of "Cinema Paradiso" on DVR. And it's not playing again anytime in the next week.
An Easy Win
Sets 86-87 (of 365):
Stuart vs. K at Northwest Park. Winner: Stuart 6-0, 6-0.
My Mojo: Steady
This was a pretty easy win. K. indicated that he hadn't really played many matches, and he just couldn't come up with the strategy to get a game in. He did get a few really good shots in, but he just was outplayed for the most part. I'm sure that once he gets some match experience, he will be a more formidable opponent. We did get to a couple of games that went to deuce, and went to a couple of ads. I played steadily though I had sporadic problems with me serve. My serve does seem to be coming back, and I was able to use it to good effect to get a few shut-out games.
Stuart vs. K at Northwest Park. Winner: Stuart 6-0, 6-0.
My Mojo: Steady
This was a pretty easy win. K. indicated that he hadn't really played many matches, and he just couldn't come up with the strategy to get a game in. He did get a few really good shots in, but he just was outplayed for the most part. I'm sure that once he gets some match experience, he will be a more formidable opponent. We did get to a couple of games that went to deuce, and went to a couple of ads. I played steadily though I had sporadic problems with me serve. My serve does seem to be coming back, and I was able to use it to good effect to get a few shut-out games.
Getting My Opponent Back Up To Speed
Sets 84-85 (of 365):
Stuart vs. Q. at Riata Park. Winner: Stuart 6-2, 6-4.
My Mojo: Average, With Slightly Damaged Service
Boy, this place was hard to find. I had never been there. I looked it up on Google maps, and I think it gave me the wrong exit. So I passed it, and had to double back around and go one exit back. Then I found the street it was on. I went down the street and didn't see it. So I did a U-turn and came back, and turned around again. Then I saw it, tucked way back among some trees, but couldn't figure out how to get there. So I doubled back again, saw it again, but still didn't see a place to park or stop. So I turned around AGAIN, and finally turned into the parking lot of an industrial park next to it that indicated that parking was only for "customers or tenants". Bingo. That was where the parking next to the courts was. Geez. Good thing I had the sense to leave early enough. And after all that, I got there about fifteen minutes early.
Q. had sent me an email saying he was rusty and hadn't played in a while. So I would be geting him back up to speed. In the first set, his serves were tentative, like he was just trying them out again. His shots were also peppered with errors, but he tightened this stuff up quick in time for the second set. I bet, though, that after playing five or six matches, his errors will decrease a lot because I could see some real good strategy and shot dynamics throughout the match that in some cases just didn't quite make it. But my serves were still not quite doing it for me in the first set. This was the same situation as yesterday. I think trying to practice topspin serves in the lesson yesterday really mangled up my serve, so I'll have to work on getting it back to snuff.
The second set was much more competitive. His serves were still mostly not very powerful, but he did throw a few suprisingly strong serves in to mix it up. I had a really hard time playing against him this set. My serves did seem to recover a little this set, though. We got to 4-4 with some really tough struggles and many long games that went backand forth from deuce to add and had long rallies, though there were a couple of easily won games for both of us sprinkled in. My perception was that he was getting a lot of angled winners in on me and shots that were to areas that I couldn't get to fast enough, but I think this was a skewed perception, because I was getting some in on him too; I was getting probably just as many or maybe even more. Then I rallied back in the last two games; the first one was my serve, and the last one was his. I won both of these games. The game that was my serve, I won with a lopsided score, and the one that was his serve, I won two points after deuce to win the match.
Stuart vs. Q. at Riata Park. Winner: Stuart 6-2, 6-4.
My Mojo: Average, With Slightly Damaged Service
Boy, this place was hard to find. I had never been there. I looked it up on Google maps, and I think it gave me the wrong exit. So I passed it, and had to double back around and go one exit back. Then I found the street it was on. I went down the street and didn't see it. So I did a U-turn and came back, and turned around again. Then I saw it, tucked way back among some trees, but couldn't figure out how to get there. So I doubled back again, saw it again, but still didn't see a place to park or stop. So I turned around AGAIN, and finally turned into the parking lot of an industrial park next to it that indicated that parking was only for "customers or tenants". Bingo. That was where the parking next to the courts was. Geez. Good thing I had the sense to leave early enough. And after all that, I got there about fifteen minutes early.
Q. had sent me an email saying he was rusty and hadn't played in a while. So I would be geting him back up to speed. In the first set, his serves were tentative, like he was just trying them out again. His shots were also peppered with errors, but he tightened this stuff up quick in time for the second set. I bet, though, that after playing five or six matches, his errors will decrease a lot because I could see some real good strategy and shot dynamics throughout the match that in some cases just didn't quite make it. But my serves were still not quite doing it for me in the first set. This was the same situation as yesterday. I think trying to practice topspin serves in the lesson yesterday really mangled up my serve, so I'll have to work on getting it back to snuff.
The second set was much more competitive. His serves were still mostly not very powerful, but he did throw a few suprisingly strong serves in to mix it up. I had a really hard time playing against him this set. My serves did seem to recover a little this set, though. We got to 4-4 with some really tough struggles and many long games that went backand forth from deuce to add and had long rallies, though there were a couple of easily won games for both of us sprinkled in. My perception was that he was getting a lot of angled winners in on me and shots that were to areas that I couldn't get to fast enough, but I think this was a skewed perception, because I was getting some in on him too; I was getting probably just as many or maybe even more. Then I rallied back in the last two games; the first one was my serve, and the last one was his. I won both of these games. The game that was my serve, I won with a lopsided score, and the one that was his serve, I won two points after deuce to win the match.
Saturday, February 3, 2007
It's How You Play The Game
Set 83 (of 365): Stuart vs. T at Northwest Park. Winner: Stuart 6-2, 4-6 [these two sets played earlier at Pharr and also to 2-2 in the third set], 7-5.
Ladder Match #7
My Mojo: Overconfident Until I Dropped The Attitude, Though Serving Poorly, Then Steady Enough
When we last left our hero, he was tied to the railroad tracks...No, seriously...
Ever since we left this set where it was earlier, I had been thinking, "Man, I am going to WIN this match." Every day, when I thought about it, I just thought that winning was just a sure thing. I mean, I had challenged a guy 10 rungs up on the ladder and beat him pretty easily in this same round. And last night, I beat a guy who was more than 15 rungs higher than me, though just barely. But as I've been told, there is no barely. You either win or you don't. It feels more complicated than that to me, though. Sometimes I squeak out a win and it really takes a lot out of me. And sometimes I lose but still feel powerful.
So I had all this confidence coming into this match. It really didn't turn out as easy as I thought it was going to be, and I probably only won by dropping my misplaced overconfidence. Starting off the day, we were already at 2-2, and I won the next two games. So far, all was going according to my plan. One problem was that my serve was not working well, so I had to work around that. And that made everything a little harder. And it got worse as the games progressed.
Then, he came back and did just about everything right and won the next two games, to tie it at 4-4. I started getting really perturbed. What is going on? I'm supposed to win. Oh yeah, I have to earn it. But my serve was still not getting power or placement.
So I tried to back off of my frustration and just be in a calm space. Also, I just started hitting serves with the intention of getting them in rather than to gain an advantage. These things helped me win the next game to get to 5-4. Then I got back to misplaced thinking and fixated on how I just need to win the next game. But it didn't happen. I tightened up again, and flubbed most of the shots. So now it was 5-5.
At that point, I just kind of gave up on thinking that I would win, and just started accepting that if I lost, it wouldn't be the end of the world. That helped me get to the one-point-at-a-time calm demeanor that won me the next two games, and the match. Both games were terrifically close for a while, and then I just won the last two points. So how can I beat people way higher than me and then struggle like crazy against someone at my level? That's just life, baby. Ya wins some and ya loses some; I guess it really is how you play the game.
Ladder Match #7
My Mojo: Overconfident Until I Dropped The Attitude, Though Serving Poorly, Then Steady Enough
When we last left our hero, he was tied to the railroad tracks...No, seriously...
Ever since we left this set where it was earlier, I had been thinking, "Man, I am going to WIN this match." Every day, when I thought about it, I just thought that winning was just a sure thing. I mean, I had challenged a guy 10 rungs up on the ladder and beat him pretty easily in this same round. And last night, I beat a guy who was more than 15 rungs higher than me, though just barely. But as I've been told, there is no barely. You either win or you don't. It feels more complicated than that to me, though. Sometimes I squeak out a win and it really takes a lot out of me. And sometimes I lose but still feel powerful.
So I had all this confidence coming into this match. It really didn't turn out as easy as I thought it was going to be, and I probably only won by dropping my misplaced overconfidence. Starting off the day, we were already at 2-2, and I won the next two games. So far, all was going according to my plan. One problem was that my serve was not working well, so I had to work around that. And that made everything a little harder. And it got worse as the games progressed.
Then, he came back and did just about everything right and won the next two games, to tie it at 4-4. I started getting really perturbed. What is going on? I'm supposed to win. Oh yeah, I have to earn it. But my serve was still not getting power or placement.
So I tried to back off of my frustration and just be in a calm space. Also, I just started hitting serves with the intention of getting them in rather than to gain an advantage. These things helped me win the next game to get to 5-4. Then I got back to misplaced thinking and fixated on how I just need to win the next game. But it didn't happen. I tightened up again, and flubbed most of the shots. So now it was 5-5.
At that point, I just kind of gave up on thinking that I would win, and just started accepting that if I lost, it wouldn't be the end of the world. That helped me get to the one-point-at-a-time calm demeanor that won me the next two games, and the match. Both games were terrifically close for a while, and then I just won the last two points. So how can I beat people way higher than me and then struggle like crazy against someone at my level? That's just life, baby. Ya wins some and ya loses some; I guess it really is how you play the game.
New Teacher For the Group
Group Lesson at Pharr (3 of 10):
My Mojo: Solid But Not Even Close Against The New Guy
Today we had a new teacher for the group, K. R. was not there, and he hired this new guy who was from Orange County. He told us that he had played professional tennis for a while. We started out with some regular drills, and I felt like I was hitting really totally bossa-nova solid. On most of the games we played, I was on the winning side. Then at the end, we played this kinda weird two-court king-of-the-court thing, and once again, I stayed an as the king on the top court for most of it. But he jumped in to play with us, since we only had five people on two courts and he made the sixth. I could tell he was only using about forty percent of his effort playing against us. But he was making me run all over the place, and he was making it look so effortless. I guess that's pro stuff for you. He beat me a few times, and H. beat me a few times, and I beat both of them too, and like I said, I stayed on the king side most of the time. But when he beat me it was like an adult was playing a five-year-old. I at least had my moment, when in the last point of the drill, I was on the challenger side on the top court, and the pro was on the king side, and I ended it by acing him twice, once on deuce court, and once on ad court. Woo-hoo.
My Mojo: Solid But Not Even Close Against The New Guy
Today we had a new teacher for the group, K. R. was not there, and he hired this new guy who was from Orange County. He told us that he had played professional tennis for a while. We started out with some regular drills, and I felt like I was hitting really totally bossa-nova solid. On most of the games we played, I was on the winning side. Then at the end, we played this kinda weird two-court king-of-the-court thing, and once again, I stayed an as the king on the top court for most of it. But he jumped in to play with us, since we only had five people on two courts and he made the sixth. I could tell he was only using about forty percent of his effort playing against us. But he was making me run all over the place, and he was making it look so effortless. I guess that's pro stuff for you. He beat me a few times, and H. beat me a few times, and I beat both of them too, and like I said, I stayed on the king side most of the time. But when he beat me it was like an adult was playing a five-year-old. I at least had my moment, when in the last point of the drill, I was on the challenger side on the top court, and the pro was on the king side, and I ended it by acing him twice, once on deuce court, and once on ad court. Woo-hoo.
Friday, February 2, 2007
Squeaking It Out On Defense
Sets 80-82 (of 365):
My Mojo: In The Doghouse At First, Then Calm and Defensive, Barely Holding
Stuart vs. T at Private Courts. Winner: Stuart 1-6, 7-5, 6-4.
Honestly, as I sit here in front of my computer, I am still amazed that I won this match, and I have no idea how I managed to pull together enough mojo to do it. This guy was really good, and seemed to be getting the best of me (at least to me). I was constantly on defense, and returning his shots seemed right on the cusp on my reaction time. I definitely feel like he is a better player than me; the last time we played, he beat me decisively, but I did give him a run for his money in the second set. He was the highest player on the ladder that I have beaten so far; I am inching my way toward the rarified air at the top of the ladder, but I bet there's a wall to stop me much not much higher than T., unless I either get incredibly lucky, get better, or pull a miracle out of my pocket. But maybe every time I perform one of those "miracles," it helps my game a little from then on.
The first set was pretty much what I expected. I was no match for his great offense, and could not get to almost anything that he hit. My serve was decent, but not keeping the power on my side enough for me to win games. I came in winning the first game on the strength of my serve, and then didn't win another game that set. I was just on the run and helpless for the whole set.
In the second set, my serve helped me, and I broke his serve just enough to squeak out a win. I felt like I was losing, and in fact, for a while I was behind. We got to 3-3 winning our respective serves. Then he broke my serve and held to come ahead 5-3. I thought that was the end, but I did what is effective for me a lot when I'm behind, I just "relaxed into the loss." That is, I thought I had nothing to lose, so I concentrated on shots and strategy instead of where we were in the set. And it worked well enough that I won the next four games, which astounded me. He was hitting so many shots that were to places I could not get to, but it was definitely happening less than in the first set.
The third set had a similar feel to me as the second set. I think, though, that I was just a tiny bit more confident. But my confidence was mostly extending to feeling happy that I had won at least one set and thinking he would now come back with a vengeance and punish me for that second set. But he never did get ahead. I think I would have just been happy to win the second set, and if I had stopped to think about it, I don't think I would have contemplated I had a chance in the third set. But I was looking at it with blinders and just taking it one point at a time, and not thinking about the big picutre much. I broke his serve early to come out ahead 2-1, and then squeaked out two of the next three games to get to 4-2, and then I just held to win at 6-4.
My Mojo: In The Doghouse At First, Then Calm and Defensive, Barely Holding
Stuart vs. T at Private Courts. Winner: Stuart 1-6, 7-5, 6-4.
Honestly, as I sit here in front of my computer, I am still amazed that I won this match, and I have no idea how I managed to pull together enough mojo to do it. This guy was really good, and seemed to be getting the best of me (at least to me). I was constantly on defense, and returning his shots seemed right on the cusp on my reaction time. I definitely feel like he is a better player than me; the last time we played, he beat me decisively, but I did give him a run for his money in the second set. He was the highest player on the ladder that I have beaten so far; I am inching my way toward the rarified air at the top of the ladder, but I bet there's a wall to stop me much not much higher than T., unless I either get incredibly lucky, get better, or pull a miracle out of my pocket. But maybe every time I perform one of those "miracles," it helps my game a little from then on.
The first set was pretty much what I expected. I was no match for his great offense, and could not get to almost anything that he hit. My serve was decent, but not keeping the power on my side enough for me to win games. I came in winning the first game on the strength of my serve, and then didn't win another game that set. I was just on the run and helpless for the whole set.
In the second set, my serve helped me, and I broke his serve just enough to squeak out a win. I felt like I was losing, and in fact, for a while I was behind. We got to 3-3 winning our respective serves. Then he broke my serve and held to come ahead 5-3. I thought that was the end, but I did what is effective for me a lot when I'm behind, I just "relaxed into the loss." That is, I thought I had nothing to lose, so I concentrated on shots and strategy instead of where we were in the set. And it worked well enough that I won the next four games, which astounded me. He was hitting so many shots that were to places I could not get to, but it was definitely happening less than in the first set.
The third set had a similar feel to me as the second set. I think, though, that I was just a tiny bit more confident. But my confidence was mostly extending to feeling happy that I had won at least one set and thinking he would now come back with a vengeance and punish me for that second set. But he never did get ahead. I think I would have just been happy to win the second set, and if I had stopped to think about it, I don't think I would have contemplated I had a chance in the third set. But I was looking at it with blinders and just taking it one point at a time, and not thinking about the big picutre much. I broke his serve early to come out ahead 2-1, and then squeaked out two of the next three games to get to 4-2, and then I just held to win at 6-4.
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