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.
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