Skip to main content

1st Tournament

I entered my first USTA tournament in Men's 3.5 Singles category last week. I was excited to play my first competitive match, I did not feel nervous.  Apparently I was nervous however; I lost the match 6-2/6-0 to a person I should have easily beaten.  My serve deserted me, my backhand was no where to be found, my drop shots all dropped to my own court and my forehand was below par at best.

Although I was not feeling nervous, I was playing for points  consciously for sure, and I think that impacted my touch and feel; I was really lousy. I feel very good however that I got at least one match under my belt, and hopefully I learned enough that I won't repeat the same mistakes next time around.  I am certainly lacking match experience at this point, my practice game does not translate on the match play, and that is something I have to fix.  I don't know exactly how to do that just yet, but I will condition myself mentally to overcome the points battles and just play.  We'll see if this approach works at all.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Why Tennis After One and One-Half of a Century Later?

R ecreational tennis is as exciting as professional tennis I think, and I'd venture to guess it is actually more fun. There are many reasons we play this sport, at my age it is need to feel the satisfaction of self-improving in an area that is unrelated to work, career, or continuation of blood lines. When I first returned to tennis, I thought I had somewhat of a unique story of having played competitively during middle and high schools year, taking a sabbatical for 30+ years and now returning after age fifty. I am so amazed that my story is probably the most common story within the recreational circles. Nearly everyone I meet playing tennis has a very similar story. This means that many of us are probably seeking something that's been left unanswered in our lives, some nostalgia perhaps, slowing down our degrading health, or some other reason. I think they are all valid ways to enrich our lives, elevate our self-value and even gain a new place in our complex societies. ...
Post a Comment
Read more
The Highs and Lows It has been an amazing four weeks since my last post. I have had many highs and few really lows. The ups and downs bring up new questions for me, and the main one is what is it that I am looking to achieve while enjoy tennis as a fun hobby. It is a competitive sport at the end, and without movement forward, staying stagnant is not for me. Although I keep my competitiveness in check for the most extent - otherwise it get impractical and unhealthy - I still want to be competitive on court both in singles and doubles, and continue to improve. Let me get back to this later on. For the highs: I was invited into my club's 4.0+ singles group to play regularly for practice matches, my serves have gotten very good with nearly excellent placement and pace, my volleys are improving, my movement on court has also improved noticeably specifically in singles matches, I am cutting down on my unforced errors and playing matches more intelligently with strategy. All of this m...
Post a Comment
Read more
50-Year Old Body Gives Up In the last two months with on and off practices and clinics, my strokes are coming back, consistency is increasing noticeably and my legs have been getting much stronger thanks to few hours in the gym and weights. Unfortunately, during the last two practices, the rupture in my meniscus has gotten worse and my knee swells up like a balloon.  An MRI confirms the rupture, and the only option at this time left is surgery it seems.  This means that just as I was getting started back into tennis and enjoying every minute of it, I have to stop for about 2-3 months.  Very disappointed!
Post a Comment
Read more