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

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
My Way Back Into Tennis 1974, Paris, I wonder through cobble stone streets trying to make sense of the place. I am 9 years old, we just got there due to my parents new work assignment. No French, I am looking with blank eyes to people that are trying to talk to me, in my own way I am telling them I have no clue why I am there, and I don't want to be there, I want to be back home with my friends. That ain't happening of course. Quite reserved I am, scared and mute. I hate the place, and I do mean hate. After few months of unapproachable attitude, while my parents do their best to help me acclimate into the environment by trying to entertain me with various activities, they take me to a tennis complex. The place is full of red dirt, crowded, I have some silly hard and uncomfortable shoes on that hurt my feet with each step. People are playing tennis, which I don't quite understand the attractiveness, but I admit to myself that they are pretty cool looking people; whi...
Post a Comment
Read more

Almost...

I like playing against R.M., I like practicing with him too. He is a solid NTRP 4.0 level player, an impressive one at that as he has been playing only for 3 years. Self-admittedly he say he plays a tremendous amount of tennis; most mornings he tells me he hits with his spouse at 6 am, goes to work, then sometimes plays a match during lunch time, then most evenings he plays another match, all either singles or doubles, he probably plays at least ten or so times and 20 hours a week. So, he has probably squeezed 8 to 10 years of clinics, private coaching and match playing experience into those short three years. It is also notable that he is 60 years old and comes with an athleticism of a forty year old. He runs, gets to balls, never out of breath and knows the game very well. He has no apparent weaknesses; he has high-paced slice serves, flat and fast FHs and BHs, superb drop shots, and slices that will give you the finest salamis. Needless to say during the total two matches I played a...
Post a Comment
Read more