I managed to win exactly 8 games – the target I originally set for myself. I had mixed results overall but there is certain upswing in my game and hopefully it will continue.
I started out with Carl. During the warm up I noticed that he has far better game than I thought he did. I won the toss and elected to serve. I quickly fell behind 0-40 but then pulled 2 great serves and a second serve winner to get it to Deuce and a service winner to pull out the game. From then on we went with Serve and I ended up with 4-3. There were some engaging rallies and I played some great defense to put pressure on him.
The toughest assignment for me was with Andy. I played him last year and managed to win 1 game. Well I ended up with the same result this time. Simply put he is a better player in every aspect except serve where we are even. I served very well but couldn’t get enough spin on the ball and this allowed him to bunt back the return. I only managed to win couple of rallies as he is really very good with volleys, overheads, approach shots, backhand, topspin forehand, etc. While I lost badly, I lost to a better player and I also fought very well. More importantly, he realized that he had to attack my backhand to win the points and that gives me further encouragement that my forehand and serve do belong in there with some of the best.
Last match is with Paul. This is when I ran out of steam and didn’t get good serves in. I quickly fell behind 3-0. I then made some strategic adjustments. I basically slowed down. I used my second serve as first serve and then also controlled rallies well with slow paced shots and some decent placement. This was enough to win the rest of the games and the end the night with total 8 game win.
I will stay at 7 pm even though all players showed up as Paul managed to win only 7 and hence he is most likely to drop down. Jack though achieved his target of 6 games in the prime time is going to drop down as that number isn’t enough to keep him up. So next week it will be Carl, Jack, I and some one from 0830 (or a sub). On paper Carl has the best chance to move up next week followed by Jack and then me. However if I play like I did yesterday against Carl, I will have a shot at prime time if I am lucky.
So the serve started kicking in. Forehand is improving. If I can get some more efficiency on them, I am golden.
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Monday, October 27, 2008
Badminton 10/22 and Tennis Preview 10/27
My confidence hasn’t been too good lately and I am not sure how to fix my game woes. So I went to badminton with very limited expectations—after all just about everyone is beating me at just about every sport these days. I don’t think I have that much left in tank either after Monday tennis and Tuesday Swimming.
To my surprise, my badminton showed some signs of revival. My signature shot – Forehand smash came to life and I started enjoying the game. I rely on few shots (and I am not skilled enough to have a lot of shot options) and if they don’t work, my goose is cooked, boiled, fried and roasted. I dominated with Smashes and with my movement and though I didn’t count I probably ended up with a winning ratio of 80% or so.
I am not sure if I can fix my Tennis troubles so easy. I am missing easy forehands and I am way off mark on my down the line shots. My tennis game relies on 3 important factors. Movement, Forehand and Serve. Though painful, my game can usually handle if serve or Forehand goes off but not both. My game cannot handle loss of movement. Last year around this time, I am whipping forehand passing shots off net rushers and hitting inside-ins like crazy. I also had few good serving days which allowed me to dominate most of the opponents—sometimes serving them off the court. Now that’s past. For the past few weeks, I cannot buy myself a decent forehand pass or a reliable serve (except for a moment or two).
I still play at 7pm this week due to technicality (I may remain at 7 next week as we have a Sub this week). I will be playing Paul /Carl and Sub. I have won handily against Paul and Carl last season though Paul handed me a 5-2 drubbing last week. My game plan is pretty much to try and enjoy the game. I don’t expect to dominate today and my target is to win 8 games.
It is a long winter season and I have plenty of time to rebound and enter into the prime time. For a change I won’t be playing Jack, the Tennis Samurai this week. He entered into the prime time for his excellent play last week. Who knows it may be a while before we play- especially if he sets up a base at the top quarter.
To my surprise, my badminton showed some signs of revival. My signature shot – Forehand smash came to life and I started enjoying the game. I rely on few shots (and I am not skilled enough to have a lot of shot options) and if they don’t work, my goose is cooked, boiled, fried and roasted. I dominated with Smashes and with my movement and though I didn’t count I probably ended up with a winning ratio of 80% or so.
I am not sure if I can fix my Tennis troubles so easy. I am missing easy forehands and I am way off mark on my down the line shots. My tennis game relies on 3 important factors. Movement, Forehand and Serve. Though painful, my game can usually handle if serve or Forehand goes off but not both. My game cannot handle loss of movement. Last year around this time, I am whipping forehand passing shots off net rushers and hitting inside-ins like crazy. I also had few good serving days which allowed me to dominate most of the opponents—sometimes serving them off the court. Now that’s past. For the past few weeks, I cannot buy myself a decent forehand pass or a reliable serve (except for a moment or two).
I still play at 7pm this week due to technicality (I may remain at 7 next week as we have a Sub this week). I will be playing Paul /Carl and Sub. I have won handily against Paul and Carl last season though Paul handed me a 5-2 drubbing last week. My game plan is pretty much to try and enjoy the game. I don’t expect to dominate today and my target is to win 8 games.
It is a long winter season and I have plenty of time to rebound and enter into the prime time. For a change I won’t be playing Jack, the Tennis Samurai this week. He entered into the prime time for his excellent play last week. Who knows it may be a while before we play- especially if he sets up a base at the top quarter.
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Monday Tennis Oct 20
I managed to get just 5 games out of 21 games. I have no reasons/explanations. I didnt play too bad but didnt play right or used the right shot at the right time.
Against Paul i started well broke him the very first game only to surrender my serve.
The worst was yet to come. I dont know what happened but i left court open or didnt put the shots deep enough. I managed to win just two games. one on my serve and one on his.
I played a Sub Henry. Very good consistent player with excellent Topspin forehands and a decent backhand. He held his serve and i held mine (for the first time with some booming serves). Then i lost the plot. Towards the end, i realized a mistake i made all summer and tried to correct it--too late. i ended up with 1 game.
Against Jack, more or less same story though this time it was based on my intention to stay aggressive and practice the forehand. I know i could have slowed down the game and played defense and probably win more games but i more or less decided to focus on long term. I won two games.
Part of my problem (apart from Serve) is the diminised winners from Forehand. Usually i get 4-5 winners a set (thats last season anywayz). I dont remember hitting any in recent times in any match. While some of it can be attributed to better play from opponents, it has also to do with a shift in technique.
In order to hit a good topspin forehand , wrist has to stay loose and have a smooth low to high motion. All summer i hit forehands with tight grip and tight wrist. This helped my defense but hurt my offense. I should have caught it during my ball machine sessions but i had very few of them and most of them are to practice backhands. It occured to me yesterday as i was watching Henry and i tried to match his forehands.
So, now i know how to fix some of my issues. Whether it will be enough i dont know. Yesterday's results are hard to swallow. I doubt that all other players have improved so drastically and i have fallen so much behind in one summer.
Given the recent results, i need to start slowly and build up. Do the Hard work and Start focussing more and win more games. Focus on hitting forehands. My game can withstand loss of serve or loss of forehand but not both. In any case i rather have my forehand back. The serve will come in.
I may stay at 7 pm mostly due to Technicality than my performance. If i do drop to 0830 its no big deal. Afterall i didnt play well enough to be at 7pm. I will try to climb up again.
Against Paul i started well broke him the very first game only to surrender my serve.
The worst was yet to come. I dont know what happened but i left court open or didnt put the shots deep enough. I managed to win just two games. one on my serve and one on his.
I played a Sub Henry. Very good consistent player with excellent Topspin forehands and a decent backhand. He held his serve and i held mine (for the first time with some booming serves). Then i lost the plot. Towards the end, i realized a mistake i made all summer and tried to correct it--too late. i ended up with 1 game.
Against Jack, more or less same story though this time it was based on my intention to stay aggressive and practice the forehand. I know i could have slowed down the game and played defense and probably win more games but i more or less decided to focus on long term. I won two games.
Part of my problem (apart from Serve) is the diminised winners from Forehand. Usually i get 4-5 winners a set (thats last season anywayz). I dont remember hitting any in recent times in any match. While some of it can be attributed to better play from opponents, it has also to do with a shift in technique.
In order to hit a good topspin forehand , wrist has to stay loose and have a smooth low to high motion. All summer i hit forehands with tight grip and tight wrist. This helped my defense but hurt my offense. I should have caught it during my ball machine sessions but i had very few of them and most of them are to practice backhands. It occured to me yesterday as i was watching Henry and i tried to match his forehands.
So, now i know how to fix some of my issues. Whether it will be enough i dont know. Yesterday's results are hard to swallow. I doubt that all other players have improved so drastically and i have fallen so much behind in one summer.
Given the recent results, i need to start slowly and build up. Do the Hard work and Start focussing more and win more games. Focus on hitting forehands. My game can withstand loss of serve or loss of forehand but not both. In any case i rather have my forehand back. The serve will come in.
I may stay at 7 pm mostly due to Technicality than my performance. If i do drop to 0830 its no big deal. Afterall i didnt play well enough to be at 7pm. I will try to climb up again.
Monday, October 20, 2008
Tennis Oct 13 and preview of Oct 20.
I started my Tennis ladder last Monday. It is a disappointing start to say the least. I won a total of 8 games. Though I still stay at 7 pm because I scored two more points than other regular Jack and we also have a Substitute player. So all of us at 7 pm last week……stayed at 7 regardless of the results.
The reason why I called it disappointing is because I put in decent amount of hard work in the recent weeks in terms of conditioning and matches. I expected to play better than I did last season (in all honesty, I didn’t play a single match this outdoor season that matched my performance last season) and came up short.
I started out with Jack. I raced to a 2-0 lead and was hoping to close out the match early. Jack came back strong and I didn’t help myself by poor serving. Just about every service game of mine I had opportunity to close out but allowed opponent to get back to Deuce and then lose the game. I was in some way lucky that I wasn’t serving at 3-3. I broke Jack even though he was up 40-15 and win the match at 4-3.
Next Match is with Dan and the scouting reports I have are bit inaccurate. He has an excellent topspin lefty forehand (as opposed to moon balls I originally assumed) and an average net game. In my own assessment, His game resembles mine in so many ways except that he puts more action on the ball and he has better net game. However I have slightly better serve and backhand than his and some non tangibles like strategy, mental aspects etc. That said, I only managed to win 2 games against Dan. He served 4 times and in 3 games I had game points that I didn’t cash. On my serve , I lost serve once having game points on my racquet. I failed in execution of my shots and of course I never got a first serve in. I lost 5-2.
I played the last match with Mike H who is substituting. I have won against him last year. I thought he improved a lot this year and added some variety. Despite me not getting any first serves in, I played very tight and stayed 2-2. However on the 2 game, I had a game point and Mike hit a volley tad long towards the side line. It was clearly out but he called it in and I gave him the point. It is my belief that a point will not make or break my result and I don’t give lot of credit to a result if it comes down to a single point as luck can play a role. I kind of lost the plot after 2-2 and couldn’t hold a service game despite staying 40-0 up. On his serve I would go 0-30 several times but couldn’t finish it. The last service game of mine (7 game) was pathetic and I lost it with out winning a single point.
With Jack, I know the games could go either way and we played way too many times and our rallies aren’t a big surprise to either of us. There were several long engaging fast paced rallies with Dan and Mike and it is different from what I played during summer. I am particularly happy with how I was rallying though I wasn’t happy with my offense.
Fast forward to today, I am going to play Jack, Paul and a Sub. I have won against Paul last year. Let’s see if I can continue my streak. I am positive I can serve better this time. Incidentally there is a little secret. Whenever I do lots of weights, I cant serve well.This is something I observed over several years. I am not sure of the reasons though I am guessing it must be something with flexibility of muscles or with my stretching. So I changed my work out routine last week and reduced the weights portion for the shoulder. Hopefully it will work out. Because of the Substitutions today, perhaps I will stay at 7 for next week.
A quick word on my Badminton season. It’s already 3 weeks into the season and I guess my performance is slightly below average. May be I will get better as season improves.
Summary (win- Loss) 8 -13 .
The reason why I called it disappointing is because I put in decent amount of hard work in the recent weeks in terms of conditioning and matches. I expected to play better than I did last season (in all honesty, I didn’t play a single match this outdoor season that matched my performance last season) and came up short.
I started out with Jack. I raced to a 2-0 lead and was hoping to close out the match early. Jack came back strong and I didn’t help myself by poor serving. Just about every service game of mine I had opportunity to close out but allowed opponent to get back to Deuce and then lose the game. I was in some way lucky that I wasn’t serving at 3-3. I broke Jack even though he was up 40-15 and win the match at 4-3.
Next Match is with Dan and the scouting reports I have are bit inaccurate. He has an excellent topspin lefty forehand (as opposed to moon balls I originally assumed) and an average net game. In my own assessment, His game resembles mine in so many ways except that he puts more action on the ball and he has better net game. However I have slightly better serve and backhand than his and some non tangibles like strategy, mental aspects etc. That said, I only managed to win 2 games against Dan. He served 4 times and in 3 games I had game points that I didn’t cash. On my serve , I lost serve once having game points on my racquet. I failed in execution of my shots and of course I never got a first serve in. I lost 5-2.
I played the last match with Mike H who is substituting. I have won against him last year. I thought he improved a lot this year and added some variety. Despite me not getting any first serves in, I played very tight and stayed 2-2. However on the 2 game, I had a game point and Mike hit a volley tad long towards the side line. It was clearly out but he called it in and I gave him the point. It is my belief that a point will not make or break my result and I don’t give lot of credit to a result if it comes down to a single point as luck can play a role. I kind of lost the plot after 2-2 and couldn’t hold a service game despite staying 40-0 up. On his serve I would go 0-30 several times but couldn’t finish it. The last service game of mine (7 game) was pathetic and I lost it with out winning a single point.
With Jack, I know the games could go either way and we played way too many times and our rallies aren’t a big surprise to either of us. There were several long engaging fast paced rallies with Dan and Mike and it is different from what I played during summer. I am particularly happy with how I was rallying though I wasn’t happy with my offense.
Fast forward to today, I am going to play Jack, Paul and a Sub. I have won against Paul last year. Let’s see if I can continue my streak. I am positive I can serve better this time. Incidentally there is a little secret. Whenever I do lots of weights, I cant serve well.This is something I observed over several years. I am not sure of the reasons though I am guessing it must be something with flexibility of muscles or with my stretching. So I changed my work out routine last week and reduced the weights portion for the shoulder. Hopefully it will work out. Because of the Substitutions today, perhaps I will stay at 7 for next week.
A quick word on my Badminton season. It’s already 3 weeks into the season and I guess my performance is slightly below average. May be I will get better as season improves.
Summary (win- Loss) 8 -13 .
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