Fast Points, A Score Quandary, And I Just Could Not Stay On Top

Sets 311-312:

Stuart v. R. at Private Courts. Winner: R. 6-4, 6-3.

My Mojo: Decent, But Barely Getting There.

This guy was a hard hitter with the ability to aim with precision with either rapid topspin or wicked slice, though he made some unforced errors that made it a little more competitive than it would have been if his play had been error-free. He put me on the very edge of my senses and I was having to respond very quickly just so I could get to the ball. I could tell it was going to be tough from the warm-up, and it definitely was. Once we got into the match, I was playing mostly defensively, and was at least getting to most of the balls, but he had an edge that just kept up throughout the match. I was just barely getting to a lot of his balls, and consequently, I had a lot of weak returns. I could possibly have done a better job of returning hard, deep shots that didn't let him take advantage of the point as much. Most of the points were cut off pretty quickly and there were not a lot of long rallies, although there were a few.

When we got the the second match, we played one game that got to at least ten deuce/ad combinations. That threw us off on the score, and I had thought the score was 1-1, but that could not have been right, because the serve was off if that was the score. The problem is, neither of us could remember anything about the second game. I definitely won the first one, and he won the long third one, but what happened in between? He finally said that he remembered that neither of us had won serve this set, so I just agreed to call it 2-2. This didn't exactly sit completely right with me, because I didn't think I had lost a game in the second set before the long game, but I didn't feel like continuing to try to figure it out. Also, I really had could not summon any evidence that supported my version of events; the second game, if there was one (though probably there was), was a complete blank to me, and I had no recollection (At least I'm glad I don't have to say that to a Senate subcommittee...). Anyway, I pretty much moved on at this point, and it didn't throw me off enough to really jolt my play, but I did weaken some after this. All in all, I was more satisfied with my play than not, except for the losing part.