A Tough, Close Match

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...