Ok my last week was supposed to be a laid back match with a nice easy win. Ever heard the saying "Make plans, God enjoys a good laugh.", well that applied here.

 My match was against a player I have beaten before and he has not won a match this season. I wanted to rush in and get 6-0 6-0 honestly. I knew he had a weapon in his forehand if you gave him a strike. He also moves well on the court. Other than this he was pretty straight forward 2.5 player, weak serve - bad back hand - and give him enough rope and he will hang himself.

My coach tells me, stick with the kick serve. I do this. Only thing that was a problem was

1. The guy practicing against the board during the entire first set (thump thump thump)
2. The 2 players next to us ranked -3.0 and at any moment a ball would come flying at you during the match
3. there was no flat area on the court, and
4. The dog park within 20 yards of the court.

Oh yeah dogs next to the tennis court. Now I love dogs (see pic of Cody), just not on or near my tennis match. Dogs are playing and barking and playing and barking and barking and more barking. OMG! At one point the noise was so bad I double faulted 4 times in a row and gave up a game. 1st Double is irritating, 2nd is down right maddenning, and then by the 3rd you think I will never hit another winner in my life UGGGGH!

I wanted to leave it was getting so bad. But I played on. Finally the  guy stopped hitting on the board so some calm came to the game. This seemed to stop driving the dogs so mad also.

As far as my play, well the double faults I mentioned were really an isolated thing (all 4 of them). For the most part my kick serve was working well. I won the first few games on that alone actually which is rare for me to come out winning. This player in particular has a real issue with the kick serve.

Most of the points I gave up were due to playing flat footed during the round and just not being ready for his forehand when he hit it. He really knows how to put pace on the ball when returning it. He hits it real low over the net and you have to be on your toes to get it.

Another thing I kept doing was coming in too close to the net. This happened a lot on his 2nd serve. His 2nd serve was real weak and I would try to take advantage of hit and hit something deep and down the line. But several times during the first set I would rush in and then stay there 12 inches from the net. Well he was real good at hitting overheads with me that close to the net and who wouldn't be right ?

First set went to a tie break which I won 7-6. (First tie-break of the season)

The 2nd set I actually got down right away 0-2. This was right before the players next to us left. Several times we had to stop and wait for them to get their ball or we had to replay a point because a ball came flying in during our point.

After they left I started turning it on. Got my head in the game. I stopped coming in so far into to the net and got rewarded almost immediately. He did not try so many overheads and the ones he did I easily got too. Now I still screwed a few up trying to smash them but at least I was getting to them in the air. Slice seemed to work well from mid court also, my opponent is back at the baseline and I would just put a severe slice on the ball in the air. This seemed to get a winner almost every time.

Another thing I did against my coach's advise was change my serve. After he broke my serve in the 2nd set I just had to try something new. Keeping in mind I had only hit Kick Serves to him the entire first set. Up to this point I had not hit 1 power serve (throwing the ball forward and "pronating" the arm to generate speed) to him. So I throw it up and just go for it. Hit him right in the chest off the bounce. He didn't know what hit him. 40-0 in no time flat. This essentially sealed the deal from there on out. Having 2 serves is a big weapon. He won the next game on his serve and that was it.

Final was 7-6 6-3.

Regular season is over, preparing for the playoffs now.

Here are some screen shots of the division standings and then the details for the season. Green star means your in the playoffs. Some games are not complete yet so I will likely end up 3rd or 4th overall.