I know I have not blogged about Week 6 yet, well I played this week before 6. The guy called me and wanted to play early so here I am. I play Week 6 tomorrow.

This week I played Jeremiah. He is new to the league but apparently played a lot when he was younger. First thing you need to know about him is he is 6'6" and in good physical condition. Even if he could not play tennis very well he would have been tough. That was not the case though, he was a player.

He knew how to come to the net and worked it often. When someone that size is at the net it seems nearly impossible to get something by them. During the 1st this seemed to get to me quite a bit. I normally do not play my best during the first set and if forced to make really good shots I tend to make errors. This was essentially the reason I lost the 1st set 4-6.

Throughout the match the thing that helped me most was his service game. He had a on/off style serve. It was either coming at you at 80+ mph or it was not going in. He doubled a lot. During the 2nd set I started to get a nice game going and at one point was up 3-1.

I started hitting my serves with a little more pace which also helped. I had noticed he was slicing my serves hitting sort of a drop shot return on them. Something you don't normally see but again because of his height he seemed to pull that shot off quite a bit. He would also follow this shot in so as your running up to hit this slice he is standing there casting a shadow over the ball. This made it even harder to hit a nice shot back, the angle made it impossible to hit an overhead so you were constantly forced to make some sort of passing shot. Hitting it harder on the serve seemed to foil this shot more often than not, also over time in the match I just started following my serve in a few steps as seemed to never hit a deep return. I won the 2nd set 6-3.

 During the 3rd it seemed like I was going to run away with it. I was up 3-1 again. Then out of no where his serve seemed to come back to him and he really began burning them in. This flustered me a bit and I ended up giving up a service game to him also. Finally though I managed to finish it off on serve and win the set 6-4.

Final 4-6, 6-3, 6-4. Nice 3 set battle, I am sure I will play him again if he stays in the league and he will be much tougher the next time.

The single biggest thing that I enjoyed about this match is that I adjusted to his slice return and over came it. Last season during the 1st round of the playoffs I faced an opponent who did the very same thing. I never seemed to adjust to it and lost in the first round. This time was different - woot!

Today I played Jay (Mike) at his home court, Bardmoor. Me and him have quite the history which you could read on this blog. I have played him 3 times now. I won the 1st, he got the 2nd and today he won the 3rd meeting.

Mentally I had really put too much pressure on myself for this match. I knew it was going to be tough and I wanted to win badly. We played in the morning which is not something I prefer but that was not really a major factor. During the first set I was really nervous, I was playing sporadically and I my backhand was very bad. I do not think I got 1 backhand in during the 1st set. The points were close and there were several Deuce games but in the end I failed to win any games.

During the 2nd set I changed my grip on my backhand to a flatter, safer slice type shot. This seemed to help a lot. I won my 1st service game and broke his serve early. At one point I was up 3-1 during the 2nd. Things started going south for me though. He seemed to catch on to the aggressive play and was hitting lots of good overheads. Most of them I just did not even try to get because they looked close but I don't think he missed many. There were some which I stepped back and got out of the air but not too many. I really could have won this set, it was just a matter of 1-2 points honestly. I think losing the first set so badly effected me mentally and him positively as well. At 5-5 he managed to break my serve. During the 6-5 game he got some lucky shots in and I made some errors at the critical moment.

Could I have won ? The answer is most certainly Yes. I need to work on my backhand even more so I have enough confidence in it during big games like this. I recall having a similar problems during the playoffs. It is the shots you are not good at that break down badly during the pressure matches. My other shots were pretty good, there were times I was not stepping up to the ball and played too safe so this is something else I need to work with.

I lost 0-6, 5-7 ouch!

BTW, his wife was there watching again but she was not a factor at all. She stayed well off the court and never caused a disruption of any kind.

Well I been real busy with work and have not had time to blog lately about tennis, so now I am catching up on 2 weeks. Here goes Week 4...

I played a new player to the league, Craig T. He started the match by telling me he was overrated and was almost apologetic about it. Anyway the match started real well for me. He had trouble with my serve and his was not going well. Every now in then he would get a hard low serve in that was difficult to return but mostly he was hitting 2nd serves and they were not very hard. He made a lot of errors also. The first set was very fast, maybe 20 minutes and I had won 6-0.

During the 2nd set I got a little cocky. I lost 3 games right off the start. I am not sure what was going on but I just lost my concentration. I did manage to tighten up after these games and win the 2nd 6-3.

I think he will be a tougher opponent after he gets some time playing in the league. He definitely started hitting better during the 2nd set.

I played this match during Week 2 on last Saturday morning. I was really looking forward to this match as I played Gustavo who beat me last season in the final week of regular play. He has a nice forehand and hits it low and hard over the net. This time though I was ready for this shot...

The first set my serve was not too good. I was getting warmed up and seemed tentative when hitting it. Gustavo took advantage of this and it was really what lost my first set. 3-6.

Second set I was determined to win. I started serving much harder and it made all the difference. I began winning my service games more easily and this seemed to frustrate Gustavo. Another thing I focused on was hitting it deep with lots of top spin. This was a tip from my friend Derek. The ball would bounce high and kept him from hitting his hard forehand back to me.

I love playing him, we are really very evenly matched. This time I came out on top 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.

Well I am officially on a roll! I won my 2nd week as well 6-1, 6-3. Very weird to have the same score 2 weeks in a row.

 I played Jack who is new to the league. I think he is much better than how he played. While we were warming up he was hitting nice shots, deep with lots of spin. When practicing serves I think he missed like 1 out of 9. I really thought I was in for a long night after warming up. 

 Everything changed once play began. He almost never got his first serve in. His 2nd serve was soft lob over the net. His returns were almost always inside the service line and soft. I spent 80% of my time coming to the net. I came to the net off my first serves, his second serves, and anytime he hit short.

My biggest question is how did I lose 3 games in the 2nd ?  Well I think it is just cockiness on my part and him getting warmed up. I seem to do that frequently. If I win a first set in a big way I slack off or go for too many crazy shots in the 2nd and begin losing points. With this league all about points every game counts. My goal is to move up again to 3.5 and in order to accomplish that I need lots of points. This is something I need to work on. 

Let the games begin!

 This season will mark 1 Year I have been playing in K-Swiss - woot!

 What an exciting season I have this year. Only 2 players in my division are from last season so I will get lots more experience playing new people. 

I played my first match last Wednesday evening (9/24) against Mike S. This was his first match in K-Swiss. We played at Treasure Island public courses which are right on the water. It was real windy. Mike seemed nervous and made lots of errors. My game was very good as well. I came to the net a lot and had good success there. He always seemed to be either standing too far inside the base line or was just out of position. During the 2nd set the wind worked to his advantage and he began to play better. He managed to win 3 games in the 2nd set. 

There is no telling how good this guy really is, with the wind and being his first night in the league a lot of pressure was on him to perform. I remember my first match and it was tough. 

 I started out on a win: 6-1, 6-3 

Well technically I had my first losing season in K-Swiss. My win percentage was 43% overall. I had many close matches during the season. 2 tie break match's and another which was pretty close 3-6,3-6 match. The good news is I did make the playoffs. There were so many people that were disqualified for being underrated and the fact that they have 30 spots in the playoffs means you have to be ranked below 35 or 36 to not make it in. I ended up 21 out of 62. This makes it clear that I am in the correct division though. Falling just above the middle of the pack means I am in the right place.

Below are the screen shots from K-Swiss site showing how it all played out.

I played this match after my Week 8 match. I fully expected this to be a close match as my opponent had gotten similar scores than me on previous opponents he played. I played Gustavo who was playing in his first season. He seemed younger than me, he had a very inconsistent serve but when getting the 1st serve it was hard with plenty of top spin. His 2nd serve was a basic lob. His ground strokes were good and he seemed to hit most balls on a low trajectory with lots of spin. It was this shot I think that effected the match for me the most. I seemed to recall hitting the ball into the net LOTS of times which is something that I normally do not do a lot.

I lost this match because of those errors. I also was hitting weak backhands on his hard shots to my backhand. Mostly I was resorting to hitting a slice which sort of popped up in the air like a overhead gone wrong. This inevitably put me in a bad position time and time again.

Most the points I did win were on 1st serves and from hitting nice deep forehands.

Also what would a season be without some injury ? During this match I somehow managed to hit my ring finger with my racquet while serving or something. I remember the pain of hitting but do not recall exactly how I managed it. I think I was mucking around with my routine [Coach's fault] when the problem occurred. Anyway I cracked or broke the ring finger on my left hand. I got my wedding ring off before it swelled too much. Included a nice photo here for you.

 Lost 3-6, 3-6

 Because of this loss I am unsure if I will make to the playoffs this season or not. Anyway I moved up to get better so if I am not winning every match I must be in the right level.

I played my week 8 match before my week 7. I played Jerry whom I played in week 1 of this same season. Jerry is a nice guy but he is in the wrong division. He needs to move down to 2.5. As long as you keep it in on him and hit lots of shots to his backhand you will win. He makes lots of errors. He hits is forehand with the roll of the wrist which puts most of his shots he trys to hit hard in the the net. Every so often he will hit a nice one but that is the exception.

 I really thought I was going to get my first sweep during this match. At one point in the 2nd set I was up 3-0 and I could taste it. But he started hitting some decent shots and I let it slip away. I ended up winning 6-0, 6-2.

Well based on this post you can tell I have not posted about tennis for quite a while. The reason is due to being real busy and also being a bit disgruntled with the league in general. I will explain....

Week 3

This week I actually played after Week 4 because of scheduling conflicts. I played Jay who was new to the league. I remember coming to the match with a lot of concern as he had beaten everyone he played so far. I knew he was a good player and likely under ranked. Well he was good but not as good as I expected. I do not think I would have won but I really believe I could have done better and maybe won a set. I figured early on that he was a more consistent ball striker than me. Therefore I tried to attack the net more. Problem was is I kept making lots of errors at the net. This hurt me bad in the first set. 2nd set I abandoned this some and won a few more games. Bottom line is the guy was very consistent player and made few errors. Hopefully I will get another shot at him. I lost 1-6, 3-6.

Week 4

I played this week early because of a request from the player. This is the match where the drama starts. I played Jay (Micheal Thompson) again. We played in 2.5 together last season during Week 3 (see post). Last season was a 3 set battle which I came out the victor. There also was a incident with his wife being on the court and whispering to him during that match. After I said something to her she left and watched from outside the court.

Well this time he shows up alone. We start practicing and getting warmed up. We begin the match and then I see her. She comes on to the court next to us with a bag and her racquet's like she is there to play. She sits on the bench 1 court away watching. I don't say anything. I win the first set 6-3. It was tough and I lost the first 3 games and then came back.

She starts talking about the match during the 2nd set with other people on the court. I complain to Jay. He wins the 2nd set 6-2. Then I goto the bathroom and when I return she starts asking me "What my problem is..." and starts an argument with me. I tell her to leave. After her husband asks her too she does leave. I told Jay I was going to protest. I did and I lost. They said it was a case of he - said - she said. They apparently had a different story in which I started talking to her. Bottom line is I ended up losing the 3rd match 6-1 . I let her get in my head which I am certain is what she wanted. I made it clear to the lead next time I play this person if she comes on the court or causes any distraction I am protesting. It is ridiculous for her to talk to me during the match. The rules say she cannot be on the court, cannot coach, and cannot cause a distraction. Final 6-3,2-6,1-6.

Week 5 Buy Week

Week 6

This week I played Herbert Gersh. I do not know how old Herb is but he is old enough to be my Grandfather for sure. He is the nicest guy, a retired surgeon. He is one of the older players who can hurt you if they get to the ball. As the match wore on he got more and more tired. We played in the middle of the afternoon and it was very humid and hot. He nearly won during the 1st set and the final was 7-5. The 2nd set I felt bad because it was obvious he was out of steam. I won 7-5, 6-0. I little side note, he saw my wife at Palms Hospital where he still is involved and gave her a tennis lesson video. I got to call him and give that back and maybe play a match with him.

Thats it I finally caught up on this season. I have 2 matches left and I play them both this week. Season ends 7/27.