Monday Tennis results (21 Dec 09)--Playing for #1 again

I topped the substitute filled top 7pm group and will be playing Eric for the second time in 3 weeks for the #1 title.

We had two substitutions in our group (due to Christmas and holidays) and it basically meant that either Paul D or myself will have the chance of moving up. The two substitute players we had are Mark ( sub'ing for Luciano) and Steve Toubman (sub'ing for Ding Li).

I started out with Mark and though bumpy handled him 6-1. I didnt do anything special other pushing the ball deep and serve well. Then came Paul. We were going neck to neck pretty much till the end. Mid way through this match, i pulled my right groin muscle (or whatever it is called) and it impacted my movement--especially when i do a cross step and hit cross court back hand. In the end, i didnt play as good as i needed to against Paul and he got me 4-3.

At this point in time, I thought i have 9 games and Paul has 7 games. Paul can get a maximum of 14 (if he wins 7-0 in last match) and i needed to win 6 games to take other results out of equation. It was almost 0815 when we started our last match and the 0830 people were coming in. Steve and me had to pause our match (with me leading 4-0). Paul and Mark finished their last match and incidentally Paul won 6-1 taking his tally to 13. Steve would eventually concede the match.

I started playing the 0830 match and i have prior instructions that i go easy at 0830. May be because people complained or may be its a casual remark but i took it seriously and tried to work on my game as opposed to winning. I personally dont see any difference between 0830 and 7pm players per se (except Eric who is clearly a very good player). At the best, may be 7 pm players are a bit more consistent but thats about it. myself and jack played at 0830 for a long time before we became more regular at 7 pm.

I tried to go for too much using a new racquet against Bruce and he had me 6-1. Against Roger i only fared slightly better 2-5. I however wanted to win against Ed -my last match of the night. Ed is playing left handed (due to an injury to his right hand) and he is still quite a force to reckon with. As soon as i saw his left handed strokes, i used a "keep the ball deep" strategy and pretty much lobbed the ball deep every single time. Eventually i had a chance to open up the court with a cross court shot and would go for a winner (or induce an unforced error). I went up 4-0 and decided to try new stuff. I tried hitting winners and etc which worked briefly. It was also very tiring and my serve started misfiring allowing Ed to win the last three games --two of them on deuce.

I will get another shot at Eric next week. I caught glimpses of Eric vs Vishwas match and i thought Vishwas played very well-far better than i can. Still he ended up losing 2-6,1-6 --not too different from me vs Eric score line. My game plan next week is to serve smartly (than over powering) and be really aggressive. Yes, bagel score lines (ie 0-6,0-6) dont look good but what difference does it make if i lose 0-6 or 1-6?. I might as well swing well and lose on my terms than try to counter punch. I will still hold the baseline but this time, if i see even a slight opening, i will be aggressive and take it.

Jack won 11 games which kept him at bottom of 7pm (as you may know, it is impossible to drop down when one wins 11 games in this format). He came within couple of games of topping the group. Carl won 13 and Dave C won 12. Good result for him and should boost his confidence. However his next week draw just got tougher as he will face Luciano and Roger R along with Dave C. His wins against Dave C have become routine though Luciano and Roger R may be a tricky combo to deal with. However Jack has the weapons and game plan to tackle them. I think there is a strong possibility of a three way tie between Jack , Luciano and Roger R and it may come down to tie breakers.

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Monday Tennis results (14 Dec 09)--Humbling but optimistic

Depending on how one looks at it, it is glass half full or half empty. I played for #1 rank and came up short against a far better player than me (Eric). Eric beat me 6-1,6-1 so send me back to #3 at the top of 7 pm.

I went into the match ready to play and i couldnt ask for a better begining. I broke Eric right away and was 40-15 before he turned it on and won 6 games in a row. It almost appeared like he does a little better than me on every aspect of the game. The second set was in similar lines and except for game 3 which i held (at love) , its Eric all over.

I am not disappointed. While the scores may not tell the full story, there are at least three other games where i had break points but couldnt convert (mind you, there are full set games ie we dont play "No AD". In case of deuce, one has to win two points in a row). If i had won a couple of those games, this could be a far better result.

In the hindsight i question some of my strategies. I should have used spin serves more than fast serves as he was able to put most of my fast serves into play. It also took considerable amount of time for my serve to warm up. I also should have gone for broke more than i did.

It is still a good experience. As i said before , he had too much variety. I made adjustments all through out the match and he realized what i was trying to do within a point or couple and immediately made counter adjustments (ie i go after his backhand and he immediately starts slicing the ball deeper and shorter to deny me good looks , I try to go cross court with my forehand and he forces me to hit backhands, i try pushing and he comes up with ridiculous cross court top spinners).

The only thing i would say is, i didnt lose my baseline advantage. He beat me on all other flanks but not on baseline. Every single baseline rally , i stayed and out rallied him until he drop shotted me or hit long.

All in all it is a humbling experience and reality check. I probably have the game to beat everyone else except Eric on the ladder. But around the same time last year, i wasnt even competing at the top so it is a definite improvement. I just need to continue improving my game and add more offense. Also this is my first ever oppurtunity (not withstanding the racquet string less time) to play someone of Eric's calibre.

I stayed on after my 7 pm match and sub'd for 0830. This was by design. I wanted to play the best and last on the same time. I also wanted to use this chance to test a spare racquet. I had little trouble beating Dave A (5-2), Mike (5-2) and Rob L(4-3). There were some tight rallies and with Dave A i have like 4 deuce games (i won all). I capped the night winning the deuce game against Rob when we are 3-3.

(The irony is that i didnt win one single break point against Eric but then win every break point in the matches that are of academic interest from my perspective)

Jack came within one game of staying at the top of 7 pm. He and Paul D tied up at 7 games all but Jack lost to him 3-4 and hence lost in tie breaker. Jack fell to Luciano 6-1 and that result pushed him to bottom of 7 pm.

The draw for next week is out. I am drawn against Luciano, Ding Li and Paul D. I heard there are atleast two subsitutions in our group. So it is hard to predict the outcome of the group, especially if we dont even know who we are playing.

Jack's draw is ,once again not easy. He has Carl, Dave C and Wayne. He seems to have figured out Dave C and also having a good record against Carl this season. Wayne can go hot and cold and this group may go down to the wire. I predict that Jack will have far easier time against Dave and Carl than Wayne can and if he can keep the score close with Wayne, he is moving up!.

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Monday Tennis results (07-Dec-09) -- The move to the very TOP

Yes. This turned out to be a great week for ATP (Architect Tennis Players). In what could be termed as a seismic shift of tennis power towards counter punchers, Jack and me won our respective groups and are now firmly sitting at the top of the ladder. Jack will be playing at the top of 7 pm next week and I will become the new #2 playing for #1 next week.

Jack’s result is hardly surprising. As a former # 1 player in this ladder, most people have been expecting Jack's return to top of 7 pm for quite some time now. Two player substitutions in his block added with relentless counter punching from Jack made Jack’s path to the top, slightly easier than anticipated. It is almost like history repeating itself. It is around the same time last year, Jack started his (then) improbable run towards the top and achieved his career best #1 ranking in Dec 2008.

My result is some what surprising and may be bordering on shocking. I am playing one of the toughest groups and I have losing record against all the players in my groups. In fact I fully expected that I would drop down. Instead I have won the group and personally achieved a new high ranking at the ladder and I can check mark one of the goals I had in joining this ladder as met—that is to play at the very top.

These results ensure that Jack is guaranteed to stay at 7 pm for the next two weeks and I will be at 7 pm for the next three weeks. That would mean that, as of 01/01/10 I have spent two months at 7 pm, not a small achievement given the level of tennis in this ladder.

I started to the courts little later than I planned due to an unexpected errand. The Game plan I had was to stay aggressive. All these three guys (Wayne , Vishwas, Paul) are hard hitters and in general good players with enough fire power to strike winners when presented with a whisker of opportunity. During warm-ups I noticed that I was timing my two handed backhand pretty well. Even my forehand looked lot better. My serve looked off.

I started with Wayne and despite two deuce games, he raced to a 3-0 lead after losing the toss. I was disappointed but I tried to stay positive and said to myself that I should win at least one game. I won the next service game, broke him and again won to make it even at 3-3. The last game was a see saw battle until 30-30 and then Wayne pulled away thanks to two unforced errors from me to go 3-4 up on me. While I am disappointed that I couldn’t go 4-3 up on Wayne, I was happy that I at least got three games and keep it close.

Mathematically speaking, in this format, it is impossible for a player to drop down if he wins 11 games. Depending on other results, 10 games are good enough to keep someone in the same group most nights. The odds drop down with less games than 10 , but if one can get a 4-3 or better win in the “key” match, it is possible to stay up with 9 games.
By the same token, if a player wins 18 games, it is impossible for others in that group to catch up. Generally 14 games should move the player up on most nights.

My goal was to earn 9 games so that I can walk out feeling competitive regardless of me dropping down. I lost the toss and Vishwas went 2-0 up very quickly though there was a deuce game (I was leading 30-40 on his serve). I decided to slow it down a bit and tried to be patient and broke him back. I then held serve at love to make it 2-2. Another deuce game on Vishwas serve went to him and I held my serve to make it 3-3. Vishwas was simply good in the last game and I ended up with 3-4 result again.

With only 6 games to my tally, I didn’t fancy any chances of staying up at this group. I didn’t know how the other results went but got a feel that Paul D was playing very well as he has 9 games at that point. His 9 games tally meant that he had a one-sided result against Wayne or Vishwas. The only problem is that I don’t have a tie breaker against both of them as I lost to them 3-4. However if the match between Wayne and Vishwas ended up being one sided, I stand a chance.

Paul won the toss and elected to serve. I haven’t played him recently and his game tonight seemed to be more like a pushers game. He was either slicing the ball to my forehand or backhand but very close to the net OR sometime push the ball deep in. The hard hitting strokes that I remember him weren’t there and his serve wasn’t fast either. I don’t know if this is because he elected to employ that strategy against me or if this is his new game. I am used to playing this kind of a game and I usually can play this all night. His slices were biting especially on the backhand side but the two handed backhand helped me a lot. I tried putting the ball back in play more than he did and I raced to a 2-0 lead and then to a 4-1 lead. The pivotal game happened to be the fourth game when I was serving 2-1 and he was up 0-30. The sixth game was very important for me as winning it would put me at 11 games , guaranteeing a spot in this group for next week. Once I won that game (relatively easily), I had more confidence and Paul more or less has given up and I took the last game , thanks to unforced errors from Paul.

I came back and checked other results and realized that I won the group with 12 games. Vishwas is with 11 and Paul had 10 games. Wayne drops down with 9 games. This is where the scores play tricks. For example, if I had lost two more games and one of them to Wayne, I would have ended up on 10 points but still dropped down because of my 3-4 scores to Wayne and Vishwas. If I had lost one more game to Paul, I would have been even with Vishwas and he would have moved up because of his 4-3 score against me. Luckily those scenarios didn’t happen and I have moved up to #2 and will be playing the #1 player Eric next Monday.

The original goal I set out to achieve in October when I joined this ladder is met. I wanted to get to this level and I did. It is very unlikely that I will be able to beat Eric for a #1 spot but I will try. The next goal obviously is to try and stop Eric and then try to keep my stay at the top of this group as much as possible.

Jack draw isn’t easy next week. He will face the likes of Vishwas, Paul and Luciano. The good news is that he has found his range with his game and has enough arsenal to throw at these guys. A run to the top is probable.

The marquee Jack vs me match will have to wait at least one more week.

Another great week of tennis for ATP.

Monday Tennis results (30-Nov-09)

There were no substitution scenarios this week for my block and that meant that each player has to earn their spot. Even with all my standard pre-match rituals, I felt “energy less” when I started warming up for the first match.

Dan won the toss and held his serve easily though I was up 0-30. I was up 40-0 but eventually had to pull a deuce point. I broke Dan in his next game and held mine to go up 3-1. Dan held his serve despite another deuce game and broke mine to make it 3-3 but I broke him back to make it 4-3. There isn’t a whole lot to say about this match except that I wished I hit more shots to Dan’s backhand than I did. I also wished I was much more aggressive with my forehand –especially when I am gunning for his backhand side.

During the change over, I learnt the scores of other matches in my group and basically it is a 4-3 (Carl beat PaulS). What this meant is that all the players are within one game or less of each other and thereby making every game from this point that much more significant.

Paul S blazed through his service game after winning the toss against me. His serve has lots of pace and action and it is hard to read it unless one is used to that kind of pace. Like our earlier match, I held my serve easily to make it 1-1. Then I made some adjustments against Paul S for receiving his serve. Basically I slightly moved towards my forehand and opted to leave the “Down the T” serve open. I haven’t seen him hitting that serve and I thought I would take that chance. I am not sure if Paul S (aka Sandeep) read my adjustments but he kept pounding serves into to my forehand and an occasional one into the backhand. Using this strategy I was able to put the serve back into play and start the rally. I also made another adjustment and stayed at the centre of baseline during rallies. Along with this , I also tried to keep the ball in the centre (and occasionally deep) for my opponent. This way opponent has to decide which way he wants to go (ie towards my backhand or forehand corner) and often takes additional CPU cycles and forces errors.
I went up 5-1 before Paul served out the last game to make it 5-2.

Another glance of scores revealed that I have 9 games followed by Dan and Carl at 7 games and Paul with 5 games. While I have a 2 game lead, the door is still ajar for Dan and Carl. I need to win 3 games with Carl and Paul needs to win 2 against Dan to put me in the driver seat. I would need 5 games to insulate me against other results.Easier said than done.

I won the toss and barely held my serve at deuce. But I broke Carl back and held my serve to make it 3-0. It then went with serve for a 4-1 lead for me. I was hoping to win some more games but I over head score from the other court that Paul S indeed has 2 games thereby making the rest of two games , in NBA parlence, garbage time or inconsequential . Carl held his serve and I had a forgettable last service game (despite me fighting back to 30-40, trailing 0-40) and we ended the night at 4-3.

I have 13 games (Dan has 12, Carl has 10 and Paul S with 7) and will be moving up into top bracket of 7 pm. I surprised myself a bit with the result as this is one of the tough groups to pull out. This result also means that I will stay at 7pm for the next two weeks.

I stayed on and watched Jack play. He had little trouble against Dave C (5-2) and despite some hiccups stayed close with Lanh (3-4) and finished the obligatory 5-2 match against Dave A. He too ended up with 13 points and is moving back to 7 pm. It is the counter puncher Jack at Business and that’s exactly what he did – taking care of business!.

Its Jack and me back at 7 pm prime time next week though we aren’t scheduled to play each other. My draw is the toughest by far for me : Vishwas , Wayne and Paul D. There are no easy games and my struggles against hard hitters are well known and all these three players hit the ball pretty hard. I give myself an outside shot to survive this group and maintain a spot at this block. Jack’s draw isn’t easy but sans big hitters. He is drawn against Ed, Carl and Dan. He has beat each of them before and none of them have the fire power that neutralizes Jack’s movement and returning skills and hence has a good shot of clearing this group to move to the top of 7 pm.

All in all a good outing for ATP (Architect Tennis Players) and for at least one week, all is well in ATP.

Playing the Clutch moments

I found very little time during this long weekend for myself but when i did, i happened to make another friend of mine into a serious tennis player. He is also a regular follower of my blog. I also looked at some of my sports video collection. A question suddenly came to my mind. How can one perform so well during the defining moments (aka Clutch moments)?

There are more than one word to represent this but basically Clutch movement , as it applies in sports is the time when the game is on the line and one's performance at that moment pretty much defines the outcome.

[eg:

1) final set tie breaker 6-6, serving at 7-8. Lose the serve, you go home. make the serve and you live another moment.

2) Break point down on the serve. Serve well and you can still take the game. Lose it and suddenly your opponent goes one break up.

3) In basket ball, you are taking the last shot (as the timer is about to expire) and you need to make the shot for your team to win

]

Sports all across are full of people who are great clutch players and people who choke when it matters.

I tried to analyze this aspect a bit. Arguably, i believe i am a good clutch player. I won a significant percentage of such moments than i lost (i would say i have a 80% success ratio). I enjoy such moments and relish them a lot.

While i agree that performance during defining moments/clutch moments requires a certain mental fortitude, i dont believe that it cant be acquired. I definitely disagree that it has to do with genetics.

I mostly used examples from the three popular sports i follow..Tennis, Basket ball and Cricket.

My analysis goes like this...In order to succeed during those moments, couple of important factors need to considered.

1) Technical strength : How technically sound is your serve/forehand/backhand OR your jumper or 3 point shot or Free throw shooting, etc

2) Sound Strategy : Ie attaching weaker side of opponent, employing a surprise factor, etc

3) Belief/Risk tolerance : This is the only aspect that cant be objectively established/measured.

Belief comes from successfully coming out of such situations time and again. It is basically a function of (1) and (2).

The biggest difference between a normal moment Vs Clutch moment is the additional pressure,Usually caused by the occassion. Having (1) and (2) will largely alleviate the pressure.

I agree there are external factors that come into play (if i lose this match, how do i explain to press? ) .

So how do we about building a successful Clutch moment Strategy?.

The easiest answer is keeping it simple.

TECHNICAL STRENGTH

first and foremost, when faced with Clutch moment, One has to rely on their strength. If your strength is serve, may be thats a possibility. If thats not an option (ie you are receiving during that game) then run down the pecking order. see if the Forehand is something you can rely upon. Basically chose something that doesnt break down easily and stick with it.

STRATEGY

This is where most people falter. This is not the time to be defensive or aggressive. This is the time to be controlled and stay with in your game limits. Ie dont aim for corners or lines but leave enough margin.

This is also the time to not make strategic blunders by leaving the door open. I cant illustrate this any better than using a NBA example.

What is the blunder?. Sacremento Kings , for inexplicable reasons, left open a player. They chose the wrong player-- NBA playoff's greatest clutch 3 point shooter , Robert Horry.

This match ultimately costed Kings the western conference championships (and by extension, The NBA championship for 2002)

What is an equivalent Tennis example?

(The moment is at 3:21 in the above clip)

Roger Federer had match points against Marat Safin in the semi final of Aus 2005. What is the blunder? Roger chose the wrong shot--between the legs shot. He had enough time to actually run around the ball and hit a clean forehand/backhand but he chose not to. It costed him a Grandslam.

Here is an example of a good strategy.

(The moment is at 6:33)

Rafael Nadal has a Championship point against Roger Federer. Yes, he lost the point (eventually would still win the championship) but he had a clear cut idea.

Technically he hit a forehand and he has a monsterous forehand.

Strategically he chose to attack Federer's backhand. This has worked 90% of the time and for him and no reason not to do it at this moment.

Belief was always there for him. One cant determine that from the video of this point but just the fact that he withstood Federer's on slaught, served from behind in the final set and still won 9-7 shows a lot.

Here is another example

Nadal saves not one or two but Three match points. Controlled aggression using his technically sound Forehand's monstrous TopSpin , Strategy of moving Djokovic all across the court and then believing that he can win.

To be continued..............

Monday 22 Nov 09 results

Not a whole lot to write about. It is rather a disappointing day for ATP (Architect Tennis Players) ie Jack and myself.

The injury worry wasnt too much a factor though it did impact me at times.

I started out with Ajay (who is sub'ing for Carl). I grossly underestimated his game. I saw him playing couple of weeks against Carl and basically didnt think that he is a good player. It turns out that he can belt the forehand pretty good and while his serve isnt great by any stretch does bite low. He threw in a lot of forehand winners against me and raced into a 2-0 lead. Even during warm up i noticed that he has a weak backhand and once i got a grip of his pace, started slowly attacking his backhand. I also warmed up around this time and my serve started clicking and that set the tone. He only one of the last 5 games and i won the match 4-3.

Wayne is red hot and there isnt a whole lot for me to say. My serve didnt bite as i would have liked and Wayne whipped me good with a 2-5 score line.

Jack had a forgettable night so far walking into last match with me. I had 6 games and Jack had 3. The race is now really between us to see who is going to stay and who is going to drop.

Jack, One of the exciting racketsmen from hartford, who counter punched 15 awesome points the other monday night , Never showed up. Jack wouldnt win one more game this night and we ran out of time with me leading 6-0 against him.

As it turns out, this one abandoned game costed me a place in the top 7 pm. Myself and Wayne ended up with 12 points (if i had won the abandoned 7 game against Jack, i would be at 13). I tried to talk to tournament director but i knew i dont have a whole lot going for me. I dropped my appeal once i realized that i was the third best this night (Ajay apparently had 14 games, Wayne and me tied at 12). Definitely didnt deserve to move up on default--but i was pretty confident that i could have pulled the 7 game against Jack--if for no reason other than that Jack wasnt himself.

The draw for next week (ie Monday 29) came out and I stayed put at bottom of 7 pm while Jack dropped down to 0830. This week's draw is very tough and absolutely no margin for error. I am drawn against Paul S(Sandeep), Dan S and Carl. Each of them proven winners at the very top.

I wouldnt call Jack's draw easy but he has the game to pull this off. He drew Dave A and Dave C and then Lanh. He has Dave A's number , coming off a 6-1 against Dave C the other monday and he never played Lanh.

Injury Scare

My preparations for Monday (23 Nov 09) took a hit with a hip injury. I am not sure when it happened but i realized it in the last week or so. I experience pain in the right hip couple of hours after a good run on a tread mill. Even though i observed it a week ago, i tried to plough through it. But now it came to the point, where it is really hurting me.

My wife scared me enough that i had to go and see doctor. The doctor ruled out any sciatic kinda serious stuff but suggested that i take it real easy for a week or two on running. He thinks i might have hurt my sacroiliac joint.

Though i am seeing considerable stiffness, i decided to play this monday after all. The major reason is that "I love to play". Then there is also te 7 pm thingy. If i dont play, i am definite drop down to 0830 next week and who knows what all i have to do get back to 7 pm. Lastly, too many tickets have been sold for Jack vs Me match---just kidding.

Some Ibuprofen, Bengae and some light massage , i hope to be good enough to play. It will be tough against Jack as he loves to make people run and thats where my injury hurts me most-with my movement. Wayne and Carl are tough too and i am hoping that i can do enough to stay at 7pm and deal with it next week at which time i hope to be rested and fit.

St(r)ing less Monday 16 Nov 09

That says it all. My racquet strings broke when I was 2-0 up against Luciano in my first match. I was rarely a factor after that. I was fighting myself (as I was terribly disappointed) and also the opponent. I so looked forward to this evening as I was awaiting a show down against the ladder’s best player Eric. With my racquet went my best shot against him-my serve. Though I briefly revived myself against Dan with a spirited 3-4 losing performance, I became an “also played” this evening.

I don’t have a viable spare racquet. I play the Babolat Pure Drive Team PLUS. It is an awesome frame (11oz, 100 inch,27.5 in long) and I string it with Luxilon big banger Alu power rough string. In Tennis parlance, I am using a polyester string and that generally aids top spin production. The strings are also durable but they don’t retain tension for too long. I do carry an extra racquet in my bag but that isn’t even close to my playing frame. This spare hasn’t been restrung in 8 years, has a 110 inch wide size and weighs 13 oz. I borrowed Jack’s spare. It is better than my spare racquet but still way off from being a player’s frame.

On the court, I cut a sorry figure for myself. I know I have no one but myself to blame. At some point, I could have forked 150$ or so and bought myself a spare players frame. Yes, I don’t use my first racquet all too much to need a second racquet. But when I had moments like I did this last Monday, I realized how a spare could have helped. Instead of thinking a “what could have been”, I probably would have had an answer. Especially when I tallied up the scores and it came out that all I needed to do was to beat Dan 4-3 (instead of my 3-4) score to stay at the top of 7 pm. That’s how close I was even with out my best shot.

After some deliberation at home, I decided that I will have a good spare racquet. I started looking at used racquets hoping that I can get them real cheap. Then came the shocker. My racquet is 4-5 yrs old and apparently used frames like mine still cost around 125$. Add the cost of stringing (my favorite luxilon) another 35$ and we are looking at 160$. A brand new top of line Babolat costs 180$ and usually they throw in a free string. In other words, if I pitch in an extra 50$, I would get a top of the line frame. I am sure if I look for deals, I may get that price much lower. I will be going with Babolat Aero Pro Drive plus (endorsed by Rafael Nadal) or Babolat Pure drive plus Cortex( endorsed by Andy Roddick). Of course, as soon as I start using the frame, it will be endorsed by yours truly as well.

In all I managed 5 games and will drop down. I was ineffective against Eric who trounced me with a bagel (ie 7-0). Dan ended up with 7 games(if I had won 4-3 ,we both would have 6 games and I will have the tie breaker). What’s more painful is that even with this racquet, I was leading Dan 3-2 with two games to go. One of the game went to deuce and my forehand went long to throw that game away and Dan played a good last game.

I will stay at 7 pm albeit at the bottom half. So it isn’t all that bad. I stayed after my match(es) to watch the 0830 draw unfold.

Tennis Samurai Jack showed up and counter punched his 7 pm ticket in style. I was there to watch most of Jack’s matches and this is one of the finest exhibition of counter punching tennis. Arguably, tennis has three major styles of play-- Serve and Volley, Baseline and All court. Serve & Volley is a lost art and we don’t have too many Pro’s playing that game though it is still effective at club level (eg: Pete Sampras, Goran Ivanisevic, John McEnroe). Baseline is a style of play where players stick around baseline and generally play extended rallies (Andre Agassi , Ivan Lendl). All court is a combination of Baseline and Serve & Volley (Roger Federer).

With in Baseline style, we have two major types. Aggressive baseliners (Andre Agassi , Rafael Nadal) and defensive counter punchers. Counter punching is a style where the player absorbs and often uses opponents pace against him for majority of the shots but supplies their own juice occasionally. Good examples of Counter punching pro’s are Lleton Hewitt and David Nalbandian. In my opinion, Jack plays this style of tennis though he is equally adept at Serve & Volley.

This Monday night , Jack played counter punching to the T. During some of the rallies, I watched him push his opponent backwards foot by foot while yo-yo’ing the opponent side to side. Needless to say opponent lost the point. In fact most players lose such points. The only two ways out of such rallies are a) come up with a great winner-a low percentage shot as the geometry of the court works to their disadvantage b) counter punch back and hope that the hunter becomes hunted. This is also when Jack is at his best. In my opinion, this is his game. This is one of his great strengths. There arent that many players at this level, that can counter punch like Jack.

Jack ended up with 15 points and he played some outstanding players. True Jack has Dave A’s number and he beat him one too many times. But Jack inflicted a humiliating 6-1 defeat on Dave C and then a 4-3 on Paul S (Sandeep) , two outstanding players. In that process he also cleared any self doubts he may have besides sending out a strong reverberating message to his opponents—Jack is back! .

So Fast forward to next Monday, we will have the classic Jack vs. Me match. Home town fans will all be excited to their favorite home town player Jack back at prime time. The draw hasn’t come out yet but it is quite likely that we will have two other outstanding players to contend with. I will of course , have my racquet back restrung. Only three will survive and one drops down to 0830.

Monday Draw for 16 Nov 09

The draw for the coming monday came out and with it came a few good moves.First Jack is staying at top of 0830 and I moved to top bracket at 7 pm and ranked #5.This is very close to my prior highest ranking (#4 last year). Realistically ranks 3,4,5 & 6 all are same because they all are part of the same block and have an equal chance of moving up to play the #1 player. Semantically i have equalled my best ranking wise here.

I am drawn against Luciano, Dan and Eric. It will be a repeat match against Luciano and Dan from last week. Eric is THE best player in the ladder and only reason why he is playing down is due to his absence last week.He is clearly 1 full notch above the rest and so far he has pretty much swept all his matches against everyone else. What this means is that Eric is likely to move up. The remaining three will play for the remaining two spots at this block and the loser will drop down to bottom of 7 pm. I have a slim chance of staying up but will need an improved performance. If i play like last week, it wont be enough to sustain me at top bracket.

Looking at Jack's draw, this may be the week where he starts his ascension.He is drawn against Dave C, Paul S (Sandeep) and Dave A. Minus Dave A, rest of them are good players. Unless Sandeep is firing all cylinders on his serve, it will come down to Dave C and Jack. This is where Jack's dropshot becomes a weapon and Jack will move up a block to 7 pm.

Monday (09 Nov 09) results -- Good stuff

There were lots of substitutions tonight and I knew before hand that my place at 7pm is secure for at least one more week regardless of how I play tonight. I wasn’t really thinking about this aspect these days. I don’t mind playing at 0830 PM and if anything 0700 pm is slightly early for me. 0730 PM would be ideal but I don’t own the league.
It is only after I reached the courts that I was told there are approximately 7 players (out of 22) that called sick. The Tournament director had to rearrange the draw. He also mentioned something that I didn’t pay attention to but ultimately became a factor.

My new draw matched me against Wayne, Luciano and the lefty Dan. I chose to serve against Wayne and dropped my serve immediately to go down 0-1. I broke Wayne’s serve right away to make it 1-1. From here on the match went on predictable lines. Wayne would hit some good shots sandwiched between unforced errors. I didn’t have any trouble holding my serve and broke him one more time during the course to finish the match at 5-2.

Luciano chose to serve after winning the toss and he quickly went up 2-0 after breaking my serve. Luciano has been at the very top of 7pm for so many years now and this score line didn’t bode too well for me. Though I lost those two games, I kept up with him and in most cases played better than him-just faltered at the finish line. One of the games I lost was on a deuce point with Luciano’s ball hitting the net tape and falling on my court. I regrouped myself and broke Luciano’s serve and followed it up with a strong hold and then broke him again. At this time the score is 3-2 in my favor. This is where I lost focus a little bit and Luciano won the last two games to make it a 4-3 win for him or 3-4 loss for me.

Dan won the toss as well and chose to serve. I attacked his backhand (as I always do against him) and quickly went up 2-0. He won the next game to make it 2-1. As I served in the fourth game, the score was 40-30 when Dan called out what I felt was a completely incorrect call. As far as I can tell, my shot landed at least a foot and half inside the baseline. I asked him if he was sure and he said yes. This rattled me a bit. As I stood up to serve the last point of this game, I said to myself that I am going to win this at all costs. I tried to focus and hit one of the best clutch serves for an Ace wide onto Ad court. For several reasons I liked what I did. Not only was this serve the hardest I hit all night long, but it was hit to his forehand. All through the match I went to his backhand or into the body but for this one moment, I went to his forehand. With a lead of 3-1 and 3 games to go, I thought I can take two more games. I only managed to hold my serve and Dan served out the other two to make it a 4-3 win for me. Initially the match started at baseline and Dan quickly adjusted trying to come to net as often as possible. This did get him some initial success as I haven’t played left handed net rushers in the recent times. I figured him (at least for the night) quickly enough to negate some of that advantage but it indeed seemed like a good tactic.

In summary, I won 12 games in all. It so happened that I overlooked the Tournament director’s note that I am playing in a group of 6 (instead of the usual 4). In other words, the rankings will be between the 6 players and each of them played 3 matches. It also means , luck of the draw determined which two players one WONT be playing. Glancing through the result sheets, it looked like Vishwas and Dan finished at 13 points each. They both had advantage of playing Carl who probably wasn’t in his best form this night. I am at 12 points and Luciano had 10 and Wayne finished at 8. I can’t predict how the standings work out but I am guessing that I may gravitate towards the top of the 7 pm draw.

Though I lost the match with Luciano and didn’t take advantage of the leads I had with him and Dan , I could take several positives. It is an understatement that the match with Luciano had long rallies. There are several 20+ shot rallies. Good news is that I won majority of them. I also believe I sent a strong message to Luciano that I can stay with him in rallies. I tracked down just about every thing he threw at me and he had to win by taking a few risks playing slightly beyond his comfort zone. Credit to him that he was able to do that but at the same time I am also not happy that he took a point off me which could have brought the score to Deuce. I walked out of the match feeling that my game matches up very well against him. This is a consistent trend from my past encounters with him.

Continuing with the positives, I was consistent with the serve , movement and forehands. My improved fitness has clearly showed in the match against Luciano and I wasn’t winded. It is a different matter that I ran out of drinking water. I hit a few down the line and cross court winners against Dan with Two handed back hand.

I can definitely improve on my forehand and get back to my 2007-08 form so that I can be aggressive with it. I think I can also be aggressive from the backhand. I should learn to focus more especially when I am serving.

Jack took the day off being sick. He is still a bit disappointed at the results and wanted to work out a strategy. I know his game well enough to say that he will be back in the midst of 7 pm in no time.He has the game, weapons and enough variety to trouble the very best. Since several players didn’t play today, may be he wont drop down a block and this chance could be enough for him to start hitting big. [Dropping to the II block at 0830 pm would mean that the player will need at least two good weeks to make it to 7 pm].

The classic Jack and me match will have to wait a bit as we don’t know the standings for this week, it’s hard to predict. It could be two to three weeks depending on where Jack and I landed this week (ie top or bottom of 0700/0830). There are also substitution scenarios which we have no control over.

Monday (02 Nov 09) results - Serve Fest!

Serve-fest , A tough day of Tennis. This is how i would summarize this Monday's tennis. Even though i am playing at 7 pm, the end of Day light savings time on Sunday meant that i was really playing at 8pm. Just for the record, I hate Standard time and I love Day light Savings. I love to come out of work and see some sun light rather than greeted by dim street lights.That is also another reason why my watches (and clocks) at home are always set to Day light time.I dont change to standard time.

My line up is to Play Vishwas, Dave and Paul S. As i indicated earlier, All the three matches turned out to be Serve-fests. There are very very few rallies and the points were very quick. The tell tale sign is, we started playing at 7:20 and we are done with all the three matches by 0820. Ie we started 20 minutes late but ended up 10 minutes early.

This was the first time in the ladder where I encountered three big servers in a row. I didnt expect it and was grossly underprepared. To make matters worse, i didnt win the toss in any of the three matches and that meant that I am always playing behind. In the very first game of the night, I took Vishwas to deuce but two big serves from him quickly erased the break points. We went with serve until it is 3-2 and he broke my serve to go 4-2. I broke him in the last game to make it 3 (me)-4(Vishwas).Vishwas served exceptionally well but I felt like I am always in the match within striking distance.

Dave and i went with serve 2-2. Then he won 3 games in a row (breaking me once). The most disappointing tale of this match is that i had break points in two different games but couldnt convert. The score line read 5-2 in his favor.

As I walked onto next court for my final match of the night, the situation looked pretty dim. Unless i can pull off a big 6-1 0r a 7-0 kind of match, my chances are extremely slim to stay at 7 pm slot for the following week. I met with Paul S (we call him Sandeep for his resemblance to a coworker of mine/Jack) and it turns out he didnt have a spectacular night either. We both tied at 5 games each thus far. So the winner of this match gets to stay 7 pm and loser will drop down to 0830. Easier said than done. Paul S fired at me some of the best Twist serves i have ever seen. With so much of action of his serves , that kick very high and clocking around 90-100 mph, There is very little i could do.The only kink in his armour seems to be his ability to rally.He held his serves very easily. Not to be left behind, i held my serves comfortably to make it 3-3. This is where the Toss comes into play. Because he won it, he gets to serve the last game.I played a very gritty and determined game to break his otherwise impenetratable serve and finish the evening a little bit better with 9 games. Paul S dropped down as he won only 8 games.

Looking at the positives, I stayed at 7 pm and it was a hard earned win. Playing from behind on all my matches put a great deal of pressure on my serve but I more or less lived up to the task (I served 9 games and won 7 of them).I did impress myself with some of the serves as its been quite a while since i hit then. I attribute it to my improved fitness which was lacking all summer.Especially in the last match , I had to win my serve and then break Paul to stay at 7 pm. That i was able to do that is something i feel good about--especially the mental aspect of it. Another thing that i also noticed is that , when it came to rallies, i had the edge most of the times. The rallies were far and few tonight but when we did have them, i won most of them.

As far as the negatives go it is the usual. I was tentative at times in taking big cuts at the ball and leaving the door open for opponents. I dropped the ball short in the middle of court at times for opponents to take a big cut.I developed two handed Back Hand (2HBH) to specially counter the Dave's of the world. I rarely used it. Vishwas repeatdely attacked my Second serve and threw me off rhythm. Probably he is the only player thus far to attack my second serve as consistently as he did.

To make it further up in the ladder, I need to improve on all counts. That said, i find it very unusual that i run into Three big servers all on the same night. This is really a factor as I couldnt return some serves into play. Part of it due to lack of match practice. The biggest server that i ever faced this whole summer was my friend Sk.We played very infrequently and not consistent enough to feel comfortable against big servers.

The challenge next week isnt any less daunting. I am up agaisnt Dave (ugh! again) , Lefty Dan (who more or less is circling around the top of the ladder) and a red hot Wayne (who i played on my ladder opening night for a 3-2 score) who beat Richard and Jack. It will be a struggle to stay at 7pm let alone move up. On paper, myself and Wayne are the most likely ones to drop down.
Before wrapping up the night, I caught glimpses of Jack's match with Rich.Jack isnt as consistent as he was during the summer and made many unforced errors. Rich and Wayne beat Jack to push him down but Jack did enough to beat Dave and still stay at the top of 0830. To me this is a defining moment for Jack as his efforts to get out of 0830 arent coming to fruition.Sooner or later he is going to break free and display the level of consistency and efficiency ,that he showed in his run to the top last year.

Badminton season starts today at my club and i am very excited about it.Hopefully it will help my court movement and other intangibles that are common across racquet sports.

Monday Tennis Preview (02 Nov 09)

The draw for Monday (02 Nov 09) is out. True enough, I am playing at 7pm but got a tough draw. I have never played two of these players and the other one was Dave against whom I have a 1-2 record. None of these players dropped below 7 pm so far this season (Dave is a perennial 7 pm’er). While the situation for me is similar to last week, where I knew only player of the three, the difference is in their playing styles. A baseline-baseline game is definitely to my liking but Dave doesn’t play that. Looking at his record against other players, he has dominated so far and I will be lucky to get out with 3 or 4 games against him. I never played Paul (S) and Vishwas and judging by their record so far, they are equally tough to contend with. I need my serve to hold up and probably also take some big cuts with forehand. If I stay at 7 pm, I consider it to be an excellent result. Sure, I do want to challenge the best of the best. But around January time frame and I want to use the time in between to round up my game as much as possible.

Jack is playing at the top of 0830 and he has an excellent chance to move up to 7. So far Rich (twice) and Me (once) have been his road blocks for 7 pm but Jack has given himself so many opportunities that its only a matter of time before he hits purple patch. Lets not forget that he is a former #1 in this ladder and knows what it takes to get to the top. His draw has him against Rich, Wayne and Dave. He should have no trouble handling Dave and his consistency should prove too much for Wayne. Rich would be the iffy match for him but if anyone can handle Rich, Jack would be one among them.

Monday Tennis results (29 Oct 2009)

The Big night was upon me even before I realized. My pre-match preparations (Apply Icy-Hot, stretching, packing water bottle, etc) were a bit rushed as my daughter wanted me to play with her. I did reach the venue little earlier than usual and saw the line up. My line up starts with Dave then Jack and finally Rob—Format is 7 games per match.

I started warming up with Dave and he is really eager to get started right away. Being older than me, I assumed he would like to spend some more time warming up. He won the toss and elected to serve. He has a weird action and on the deuce court, he stands way too close to the centre line (I have observed him actually standing on Ad court and still serve into deuce court). His ball stays very close to the net and keeps low with a decent pace. He also rallies well and probably has a good court sense and knows where to put the ball (not to mention the slices). I managed to break his serve right away on a deuce game but I lost my serve also on deuce call even though I led 40-15 to make the score 1-1. We stayed on serve to make it 2-2. I became a little frustrated with the way things are going. Every game counts and this match looked like to a 4-3 situation. I tried to increase my depth a bit and tried to move him side-side. I went on to win the next 3 games to end the match at 5-2.

Then the match everyone is eagerly waiting for. As we expected, Jack and me are the front runners at this time.
Jack just finished hammering Rob for 6-1. This meant Jack has a 1 game lead on me (as my score was 5-2). Even before the match, I suspected that Jack is likely to win more games against others than I can win. If this match were to follow our usual pattern, I need to win at least 4 games to make it even. Jack won the toss and elected to serve and we both started a bit nervous. He went up 40-30 but lost the next two points to lose the game. With a few good serves here and there, I won the next game to go up 2-0. Over the past couple years, Jack and me played a number of matches and it isn’t unusual for one of us to jump into big leads before the other catches up and at times winning it all. I was expecting a come back but that didn’t materialize. I ended up winning all the 7 games. Other than playing consistent and a few good serves I didn’t do anything special. The score line definitely was a shocker. During outdoor season, both Jack and I lost a few times for such one sided score lines but never indoors.

This result meant that after 2 matches and with one more to go (with Rob), I am the clear front runner from this group. I had 12 points thus far, Jack has 6 and Dave has 8. I did the match and figured that I need 3 more games to take my tally to 15 and eliminate any possibility for others in this group to move up to 7 pm [If Jack or Dave were to sweep their last match 7-0, they could theoretically be at 13 (Jack) and 15 (Dave) but since I won over both, I will still move up in case of a tie]. Rob won the toss and started to serve. I thought he can hit some good forehands (especially into my back hand) and seem to have a good net game. He isn’t that consistent and I used that to my advantage and ended up breaking him twice while holding my games with a few well placed serves to take the 3-1 lead and reach my target of 15 games. I also want to see if I can better my best ever result in the ladder of 16 games. I won the last two games to close the match at 5-2.

I finished the night with 17 games- my best performance in the ladder thus far. As it turns out, Jack beat Dave comfortably (5-2) and finished with 11 games. Dave finished third with 10 games. Rob is likely dropping down a block with 4 games. I don’t think I played as well as the score indicates. I played safe in the rallies and I probably hit like 4 winners whole night. My serve held up well though some of my hardest serves were returned with interest and I had to scramble. Few rallies were exhausting and I am thinking it is due to lack of sufficient match practice. I run 2 miles a day at home with interval training and occasionally add a 1mile elliptical work out. This is as far as I can go at home given my schedule. I will be starting Badminton from next week and after couple of weeks of Tennis and Badminton I will have enough data around Mid-Late November to reevaluate my fitness.

The difference tonight was the anti-climatic game with Jack. He was predictable with his game. The trade mark Jack volleys weren’t there and his drop shots missed targets. On my other matches, I had a few giggles. The first one was when I saw Dave stepping up way into the baseline for my second serve. Obviously he was thinking of an aggressive return on my second serve and probably assumed some dinky serves. True enough, my second serve doesn’t have a lot of pace but it does kick up high and isn’t easier to take a big cut unless one has a good top spin shot.
The second one was with Dave as well. He indicated every single point that he doesn’t keep track of the score. Late into the match, I purposefully said I don’t remember the score and he was able to accurately tell me how the last 4 points were played and why the score was 30-30. I still like his approach as he is ensuring that score is known to both parties after every point and it can only be a good thing.

Next Monday draw released- Conspiracy Theories abound

The draw for next Monday evening came out and it gave plenty for Conspiracy theorists to ponder around. I am pretty sure this draw is going to cause some concerns amongst the players as well.

As expected, I moved up a block. The shocker was Jack stayed put at top of 0830. This development means that the marquee match up of Jack and me takes place next week (assuming we both commit to playing) albeit at 0830 as opposed to primetime 7 pm. Tennis fans all over would be disappointed to see us playing on what’s equivalent to a court 13 at Usopen at Flushing meadows Or Court 11 at Wimbledon as opposed to an Arthur Ashe at Us open or Centre court at Wimbledon. Some fans even likened this to Sampras and Agassi meeting in Quarter finals instead of much later in the draw.

These theories aren’t completely with out reason. Rich and Jack are two former #1’s in the draw playing low down the order at 0830. Rich despite topping the group last few weeks chose to stay at 0830. However this week, he moved up to 7pm and we are not sure why.

The draw is now written in stone and barring any substitution/retirement scenarios, Jack and I will have to square off. The bad news is that only one of us can move up to 7pm. The good news is that Jack and I have a combined 50% percent chance of moving up. We will play with Rob and Dave. I haven’t played them but I believe Jack did. This means Jack probably has a slight edge as he has played against all the 3 players he is going to face Monday.

I also like my chances though not by much. It largely depends on my serve and forehand staying consistent. I am not particularly known for jumping right off the gate and this format where every game matters wont bode particularly well for me. If I can repeat the start I had last Monday, I have an excellent opportunity to move up-again. As long as I don’t drop down, it will be a good result for me.

Monday Tennis results (Oct 19)

My pre-match preparations were spot on (ie getting gear ready in time, popping in Contacts, applying Icy-hot on knees, start driving to the club in time) but I was still nervous before my first match. As it turns out, the format for this Monday was little different and I was scheduled to play 4 matches- five games each. In other words, the winner would be the one who wins most of their 20 games.

I started with Steve who was substituting for another player. Though I have played him in the past, I am not familiar with his game. He isn’t a power player and he relies on slices and spins and works the point. I chose to serve and I am still nervous enough for a 30-30 score line. At that point, I had two good serves in (the second one , an Ace down the T) to go up 1-0. I felt a whole lot better when I broke him to go up 2-0. For the rest of this match, I basically stayed consistent with my game and Steve made series of unforced (and forced) errors for me to go up 5-0.

I elected to serve against Wayne and held serve comfortably despite hitting three second serves. I never played Wayne but I watched him play Jack and I know he has a powerful (but inconsistent) forehand. He hit three forehand winners to make the score 1-1. I made some tactical adjustments and tried to keep the ball deep and in the centre. This worked and I held the serve and broke him to go 3-1. Serving the last game, I was up 40-30 but left the ball too short for him to crack couple of cross court forehand winners to force deuce. I repeated the same mistake for the last point (mostly expecting that it is hard to hit three winners in a row) and he won that game to make the score line 3-2.

Heading into match with Colin, we both had 8 games each (Wayne probably had 6) and it is very likely that the winner of this group might be the winner of our match (ie Colin or me). I scouted him playing an earlier match on my next court. He has a powerful (but inconsistent) first serve and he doesn’t seem to have a second serve. He has an excellent Two handed backhand that I would love to have and also has a respectable forehand. He won the toss and offered to receive but then changed his mind after realizing that this is a five game match( and first to serve can serve three games while the opponent only gets two). I won the first point on a rally and second on a double fault. This appeared to put some pressure on him and I quickly went a break up. I held serve comfortably through out. There were some very hard shots hit by him but some how I tracked them down and was able to rally with him and despite an occasional winner, he wasn’t consistent enough to win games and I ended up at 5-0.

At this point, we ran out of time and our Tournament director (as I call him) decided to end the night and abandon the fourth match. With 13 games (and only losing two) , it is very likely that I move up a block. In Summary, My serve held well despite occasional stutter. My defense made the difference. My new tool, Two handed back hand was consistent and in some cases far exceeded my expectations.

Though this result is not completely unexpected given my past results, I don’t want to get too carried away. I don’t want to put any additional pressure on myself by trying to challenge the top and best of the ladder right away. The goal still remains to peak around January and make a run to the top. Bigger challenges wait next week as I will be playing more consistent and experienced players in the journey to the top of the ladder.

Regardless of the results, I enjoyed my time on the court playing a different set of opponents. I have played a lot with my friends (Jack, SK, SS) that there aren’t much surprises and our games seem to follow a predictable pattern. In the ladder , except for Jack, I don’t know others that well and that gives a more match like atmosphere.

It looks like my good friend Jack had a great outing as well. Incidentally he won 13 games and is primed to reappear at 7pm. This means that the marquee match between me and Jack will have to wait at least one more week if not more.

Summer Summary and Welcome to Winter Ladder 2009

I once again joined the winter ladder for 2009 -2010 and will open tonight. The ladder started few weeks ago but chose to skip the first few weeks, mostly for schedule reasons and partly for conserving $$ especially when some outdoor tennis was still possible.

What I did during outdoor season:

Work took precedence and I spent most of my spring and summer working late nights and weekends and what not. Didn’t really get a chance to play as much except for an occasional evening or weekend outing. To make matters worse, I didn’t exercise and added around 10 pounds to my frame. Whatever little tennis I played, I mostly won by bunting the ball back and trying to make less unforced errors than my opponent. I probably took out the ball machine 2 may be 3 times and didn’t really do much either. Bottom line, this is the worst tennis outdoor season I had since I actively started playing tennis 5-6 yrs ago. I also had knee issues and doctor figured out I needed lots of D vitamin.

From Mid September things started looking better at work and my schedule became little better. I also was able to get my basement arranged and was able to set a spot for my treadmill, weights and elliptical machine. I started working out , initially low impact and now moderately intense. So I got the weight under control (dropped around 6 pounds). I proactively tried to play outdoors as much as situation permitted.


Fast Forward :

I probably wont get back to the fitness or game levels I had during 2007/08 when my forehand and serve are pretty good. Fitness wise I am in a good shape but I haven’t been match tested enough. The only players I played are Andy , Jack and Sk (if I discount the matches against SS early in spring).

Sometime after mid last year, I lost my sting on forehand. I am not sure why. I also realized that one of my tennis Idols Rafael Nadal also has similar issue. Here is an excerpt from Tennis.com on him.

>>>
Increasingly, one of the most feared shots in the game, Rafa's forehand, seems loopy and is starting to look like a liability. (I haven't seen Rafa hit his forehand so ineffectively at any time , not even in 05-06. Heck, he was more aggressive against Fed in Miami 2004).. Rafa is hitting the ball with too much spin and elevation but with no depth. Every time he gets the ball on his forehand he cannot gain control of the pt like he used to before. His down the line forehand is AWOL and he's pushing with his bh instead of attacking. He returns serve from 3-4 meters behind the baseline, but doesn't move in at all as the rally progresses. Rafa is getting pushed back (further behind the baseline) as the match goes on and he's getting increasingly frustrated because he knows that he really has no weapons to hurt a half decent hard court player with his game at the moment
>>>
This more or less also depicts my Forehand. I quickly need to discover my forehand form back.

I have developed consistency on two handed back hand. I am hoping this would provide me the edge when I face attacking players who attack my backhand. However I haven’t gotten used to the movement that is needed to compensate for the extra step lost while hitting a two hander backhand. In the grand scheme of things, this is another tool to have in my tool kit. I can still play with 1HBH just as I used to.

The Badminton season this year also got rescheduled and will start in first week of November. I believed that Tennis and Badminton for me, fed off each other. My tennis game greatly benefited from the badminton reflexes and court movement. My badminton game was better because I was able to use my tennis court coverage and some tennis like shots. At some high up level, these are similar sports and the intangibles are common across them.

Last year I went as high as #3 (though I was seeded #4) in the ladder. The goal this year is to improve on that result though I want to give more emphasis on staying aggressive.

Tonight :

I am opening up at the very bottom of the ladder ie Bottom half of 0830. I don’t remember playing any of the guys on my half of the draw and that adds a new challenge as well. The way the ladder stands right now, it will be quite an effort to get to the top. The very fact that we have two former #1 players at this ladder playing at 0830 (Rich and Jack), last year’s champion is now placed a distant fourth should provide a sense of what I am up against. Having said that all my game lacks right now is “match practice” and once I have some good matches under my belt, I can match up with any in this ladder.

As I prepare for this match ups, my going in position to not to win it all right away. My target is to make a run at the top around January. This will give me sufficient time to get good match practice and also be strategically ready to face the tennis heavy weights.

While it is a disadvantage that I don’t know how my opponents tonight play , it is both ways. They don’t know my game style either. Traditionally in such cases, the guy with a better serve usually scrapes through. My serve though not as consistent as I like it to be is still a decent one and I hope that can provide me the edge.

A quick work about my friend Jack . Tennis Samurai Jack had a good first week but then went out meekly in the second week and is now starting at 0830. He is safely tucked away in the top half of the draw and we don’t face each other tonight. His counter punching game should pose problems for all the guys on his side of the draw and I like his chances of scraping through for a 7pm slot next week.

Weekend Tennis & NBA

Weekend was really hectic. I got stuck with work and had to work until 3 AM saturday AM before i got to sleep. That took my whole saturday off rhythm. However i found time to play with a friend/neighbhour of mine. This player has one of the most potent serve and can get creative with his shots. When in flow, it is tough to stop him.

I played a good game with good serves, nice defense and some memorable winners. Hitting forehand winners always feels good and its been a while since i hit a few. My 2handed backhand held up well. I lead 5-2 and was one point away from wrapping up the set when my friend some of the best tennis to pull me back 5-3. I broken his serve in the next game and won the set 6-3.

We started second set but took up on an offer made by some guys on other courts for a doubles game. We played two sets and won them both. Both my friend and me were on with our serve and our baseline game. This pretty much helped us win our games easily and our opponents have a weak link in them (as one player isnt too good).

All in all, feeling good about my game so far.

Another great development. LosAngeles Lakers win the 2009 NBA title. I cant be any happier.Kobe Bryant is the greatest player i have seen (I wasnt into NBA during days of Michael Jordan)

Welcome Again

My blog has been dormant for a long time. There are several reasons but the net result is i didnt get to blog.

Several things happened in these 5-6 months but nothing too significant. My winter tennis season was ok but nothing great. I came close 3 or 4 times within a game to become the #2 and play for top spot at my club but didnt. Towards Feb, for cost reasons i skipped several monday's of tennis and was a non factor at the top of the ladder. There are no real new lessons learnt. The weakness in my game continue to persist (poor backhand, one dimensional baseline play, etc) while the strong aspects (good passing shots, reliable serve, etc) continue to help me with better results against certain opponents. I struggled on some nights with poor performances and then bounced back with some great results.

My winter tennis season can be summarized as "few good moments".

Badminton season is also a mixed bag. Actually i wasnt playing well at all for a long stretch of time. I have a good forehand smash and pretty good court coverage in Badminton. My technique isnt good but i can make up for it with tactics and some smart plays. I usually followed bad nights with some good performances and towards late season (April/May), i got back my game and ended up playing well.

I tried to explain why i played badly (Tennis & Badminton). My knees were hurting badly and that hurt my game a lot. I rely a lot on my movement and some explosive strength. I saw my doctor and we went back and forth. We started with Physical Theraphy which did nothing to help me. Finally Doctor ran some blood tests and figured out that i am running extremely low on Vitamin D. I started supplementing it and i feel much much better.

I played some outdoor tennis and i felt better and better. Now i need to put some hard work in the GYM and practice a lot.

I also made a significant change to my game. I more or less dropped One handed Backhand in favor of Two Handed Backhand. The change isnt seemless but isnt too bad either as i often tinkered around with 2HBH all along my tennis life. Now i got to a point that my instincts force me to use 2hbh though i am still struggling with positioning and getting to the ball.

I need offense from my backhand and i gave enough reign for 1HBH and now its time for a change. The end goal for me is to move further up on the Tennis ladder.

Another good development. LosAngeles Lakers are one game away from NBA championship!!!.