The Long And Blinding Road

Sets 467-469:

Stuart v. K. at The Quarries. Winner: Stuart 6-3, 6-7(4), 6-3. We played a fourth short set, starting at 3-3, andI won that one, too, 7-5. But that one doesn't count.

My Mojo: Keep it Together.

There's a recurring theme in the move "Bowfinger" where one of Eddie Murphy's characters (the main one) keeps saying to himself, "Keep it together, keep it together, keep it together" really fast like an auctioneer or a speed freak. Well, I kept it together. Just barely.

Most of the time, I had a lot of calmness going on. But then, things would suddenly go in a direction that I hadn't anticipated (in other words, I started playing worse and he started playing better), and my calm attitude frayed. But I was usually able to bring it back. I prepared myself mentally a lot for this match. I tried to anticipate my mental state going south and prepared responses to that. I also tried to visualize my shots against the style of play that I thought my opponent would play. And for the most part, it worked

I played pretty well in the first set, and held an edge, though it was close. I kept telling myself thatI had to be ready for it to not be easy, and for this to be a long match. And it was. We consistently had long rallies, and games that went back and forth over and over from deuce to ad. We both play a long, grinding game, so when two people meet who play that way, it is going to be a marathon.

In the second set, I couldn't quite get an edge, and my mental state frayed just a bit. Still, I managed to get to a standoff, but my diminished mojo couldn't take me through the tiebreak.

In the third set, I think Ihadjusta little more oomph than he did. The games didn't seem to be quite as close, and I felt a little more confident about my play without getting to the point of overconfidence that makes it all fall apart.

Even though we had played for two and a half hours, I was ready to play another set, and I asked him if he wanted to. He agreed to play a short set. I had the same mindset as I did in the third set, and the set turned out about the same way.