Slow Going Towards My Goal

Set 303:

Stuart Vs. Y. at Northwest Park. Winner: Stuart 6-3, 4-2 (retired).

My Mojo: A Couple Of Shades Above Average.

Dang, another retirement. I haven't been able to play much lately, since it's been raining alternating with heat-that-makes-people-not-want-to-play-weather. And these conditions are probably why nobody's been responding when I ask people if they want to play. I guess they're afraid that it will either be too hot, or it'll get rained out.

I felt like nothing out of the ordinary was going on with my play today, but it was solid enough. My serve was mostly good but fading at times, and my anticipation was decent. One thing that I really had going for me that I usually don't get was my ability to pull my opponent wide and then hit blazing angle shots to his blind shot. Usually people do that to me more than I do it to them, but today I was mostly the protagonist.

As I got to playing better, my opponent was fading. Maybe I was making him run a little more than he was used to, because i was getting pretty good court coverage with my shots. It was pretty darn humid, which made it feel hotter. I think it was only in the eighties, but both of our shirts were soaked after just a couple of games. On one early changeover, I wiped off all the sweat, took a drink of water, and then was covered with sweat again!

He looked like he was having a difficult time recovering during the changeovers, but I was kind of surprised when he retired. I didn't know he was feeling that badly, and his outward cues didn't reflect any major problems. But right after retiring, he went over into the grass and leaned his head over like he was going to throw up. I asked him if he was all right, and he indicated that he was OK, but he took a minute to recover. I packed my stuff slowly to make sure that he wasn't passing out, and left when I saw him gather enough strength to get his stuff together.