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.
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
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.
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.
Monday, October 19, 2009
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.
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.
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