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.
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