|
|
|
|
Hampton Senior Clay Court Championship Hampton, VA The setting for this tournament was outstanding. The courts were just a mile away from the hotel, which sat right on the water (Hampton Bay). It started out pretty good with Misha and getting upgraded to first class on the way down. I thought it was a good omen (NOT!). It turned out the guy I was supposed to play couldn’t make it that night, so I had to wait till Saturday morning to play. This would be the first match I could play since my stomach pull, so the serve was not in good shape, and I couldn’t “press it”.
We got to the club which was a very nice facility, nice enough to be private, but it was a public facility – pretty amazing. After we practiced for a bit, we looked at the draw – I was going to play the #1 seed in the first round. Yikes. He was #1 in Virginia and #4 in the Middlestates. While I didn’t expect to win, I was very excited to be playing someone good – I had hoped for a real “test” to see just where all my practice and training had taken me. Apparently, not very far…
The match started great. He won the toss and was serving, and I had him 15-40; 2 early break points. I promptly missed the next two returns, and lost that game. After that it was all down hill. The match was basically a disaster. I just never “showed up”. I double faulted at least once per game – that’s free points on my serve that was still pretty weak. I missed quite a few service returns, and it seemed like I had forgotten the entire concept of topspin – all my ground strokes were sailing. I was in the 2nd set before I realized I had never seen the ball actually hit my racquet for the entire match. I was just telling Misha that this is the single most important thing I need to do to hit consistent ground strokes – it is how I “feel” the ball. Then after that I still didn’t focus on more than once or twice for the remainder of the match. I lost 6-0, 6-1. It was sad. It was all over in less than an hour, and I had hardly sweated.
Fortunately they had a consolation tournament, so I got to play someone else before I left. I won that match 6-3, 7-5 (I was up in the second set 5-2 and let him come back). While I should have won more decisively, I was still glad to see I could still play the game. I think I got some good lessons out there. First of all, it was time to stop “training” and I needed to play, play, play as much as I could. I needed to put all of the technique stuff I learned into practice in real game situations to make sure I could do it under pressure. I needed a LOT more work on my service return and on my serve. I flew to Saddlebrook Golf and Tennis resort in Tampa, Fl that night, and worked on those things with one of the pros while there on business. I will be trying to play sets until my next tournament. Perhaps being at the French Open (next week) will both inspire and instruct me – I sure hope so, because I need it.
|
