Monday Tennis 01-Feb-2010 -- For Arbitration

I didnt play on Jan 25. Originally i was planning to sub to save money but later on i was forced to do it because of terrible bout of cold. That past weekend was so bad that i couldnt as much watch tennis let alone play. After lots of antibiotics and traditional cold remedial measures, i started feeling better. All the while i tried to catch up on Australian Open. I was disappointed that Nadal and JustineHenin lost. I am glad Roger Federer won because every grandslam he wins now puts him that much further ahead of Pete Sampras. I think at this time, Federer has left behind every other great player and is in his own place as the closest one can get to Tennis Perfection.

Despite me not playing, Luck was on my side and a player substituting for me made a good showing and allowed me to keep my spot at the top of 7 pm. This definitely is luck because i wasnt expecting it. So the line up for this past monday (01 Feb 2010) has me against Luciano , Ding and Carl.

Heading to the courts, i wasnt feeling great , to put it mildly. I have no reasons other than that the i havent fully recovered from the cold. I did resume my Gym workout during the past week but wasnt pushing myself. In the past, i played anywhere from awesome to worst when i felt like this and i wasnt sure which mode will my game be when i am on the court.

After the warmup, i won the toss with Luciano and started serve. Two good first serves and 30-0--didnt have to play at all. Then things went offline a little bit but i ended up winning with a great first serve at Deuce. Luciano held his serve though i fought to Deuce. I broke Luciano later on to go up 3-1 and held on for a 5-2 score line. I felt cold and tired but i was happy with the score line for couple of reasons. First of all, i have hit a decent number of forehand winners --some of them cross court passing shots when Luciano tried to get close to the net. This is a good step towards my goal of rebuilding forehand though long way to go.

I won the toss with Ding and lost my serve right away. This is the first time i am playing Ding and he has excellent touch and very good shots overall. Even though i had three chances to break him, i couldnt and he was up 2-0. At this time, i thought i wouldnt even make the par of 11 games needed to stay at the top of 7 pm. Despite stuttering, i held my serve mostly due to Ding's unforced errors than my game plan and then broke him to make it 2-2. I have a better read of his game now and held my serve more comfortably and then broke him again for 4-2 lead. I however lost the last game meekly to end the match at 4-3. The highlights for me are a Nadal like around the net post forehand winner and some good defense.

Carl elected to serve and came out blazing and raced to 2-0 lead. His shots were falling and his game was on and that meant that there isnt much i could do other than weather the storm. I broke him back--thanks to a net chord and we are back on serve at 1-2. I still was able to crack a good inside in forehand winner against Carl , which is one of my highlights for the night.

We had to stop the match as we ran out of time. As it turns out Luciano and Ding couldnt finish either. With no empty courts to continue , we had to call it a night and leave the standings for our Tennis Commissioner to figure out.

When we stopped play, Here is what we have

Player ---NumberofgamesWon (RemainingGames to play)
Ding --------8 (2)
Luciano---- 10 (2)
Carl-------- 8 (4)
Satish-------10 (4)

I am not sure how our Commissioner would resolve this but i feel good about my chances of topping the group. Since i won against Luciano, if we only consider the 'games won' at the time of stoppage, i will still move up.

If we apply some kind of projections to the remaining games, the only scenario where i wouldnt move up is when i lose all my remaining games. In fact i have to lose atleast three of my remaining games for anyone else to move up.

Here is some more of that 'projection' stuff.

• Luciano moves up if he wins all his remaining games(2) AND Carl wins all his remaining games (4)
• Carl moves up if he wins all his remaining games (4) AND Luciano should lose atleast on eof his remaining games.
• Ding will not move up regardless of results of remaining games.
• I will move up if i win two games out of remaining (4).
• Myself and Luciano will not move down
• Ding is likely to move down unless Carl loses all of his remaining games (4)
• Carl will move down if he loses all his remaining games (4).
  

I feel good about trying to be little bit aggressive and getting some winners but long way to go. Despite coughing most of the night and feelin a little tired, i was moving pretty well and putting the ball in right places.

I am assuming that i would be moving up for another showdown with Vishwas, who beat Paul to remain at the top. I havent yet decided if i should play next week or stick to my alternate week schedule. Because it is another shot at #1, may be i should go and try.

What do you think?