A Marathon Match

Sets 296-300:

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

My Mojo: Enough To Do The Job.

This was a marathon match. We played for nearly three hours, but luckily, the points didn't go long most of the time; if they had, there probably would have been no way we could have played five sets. We were playing a game that cut off the points quickly, either in my favor or his, but I was the beneficiary of most of the treasure.

Most of the play was pretty straightforward. I managed to pull him out of position a lot and then shoot bullets to unprotected areas of the court. In most of the sets, he got in one or two games where he took the lead, but I was pretty confident in my ability to win. It wasn't that my play was superb or brilliant, it was more that I just managed to hit one more ball into the court than he did. And we both were holding up well enough to agree to more sets. It's been a while since I played five sets.

By the time it ended, I probably could have even played more, but he said that the set ended just in time, because he had pulled a calf muscle. It must not have been too bad (at least not crippling), because he was walking OK back to his car, but I know how it feels to have an injury that makes you stop playing.