Outplayed—Monday night ladder 05 Nov 2007

I will make this post real simple. I won a total of 5 games out of 21.

I played against players who are more consistent than me. Opponent #1 (frank) is slightly older guy and employs slice of both wings. I had trouble whenever he went to my backhand and he picked my weakness very early. Honestly I have more than enough game to beat this guy but I didn’t play right. I went for shots too early and I lost lot of points. Out of 7 games, 5 games went to deuce and I didn’t win any of them. I employed Volleys and won 50% of those points. My first serve percentage was way off (30%). In total I won 2 games against this guy.

Opponent #2 (Andy) is a better player than me. It’s as simple as that. He can play off both wings and he killed me with his volleys. I couldn’t lob over him as his approach shots are good and I was always out of position. I served good enough to win 1 game. 3 games went to Deuce but I didn’t win any of them.

Opponent #3 (Paul?) is better than me but I felt was beatable. He has a nasty spin on his serve whenever he got in and that troubled me a lot. He is again very consistent off both sides. I won 2 games against him both on my serve. There were like 4 Deuce games and I won only 1 (on my serve).

Disappointing performance? YES. I really didn’t have a clue of what exactly is happening. I played with out any purpose and chose wrong shots at the wrong time. I played catch up all night. I tried being aggressive to see if I can impose my game but that failed miserably. Towards the end I felt very bad about my game.

The good part is I didn’t “PUSH” yesterday. I played positive tennis. I could see that I have more firepower in my forehand than these players (supposedly on top bracket) and a decent serve (albeit not as Spinny as #2 and #3). I didn’t have any fitness issues. It’s a matter of putting it all together. Yes.. Backhand is a liability and I don’t think I can win big matches with out improving that.

(I had a cold attack yesterday and spent a miserable night. However I don’t think that has any bearing on the match)

I won’t be playing the next two weeks. My next session is on Nov 26. Given yesterday’s performance, I will be relegated to the Bottom cellar of the ladder. When I open on Nov 26, I will start with players at the bottom of the draw. Hopefully a good performance then can put me back on top bracket. I would like another crack at the top bracket opponents.

For now the focus will be on Badminton and fitness.