After a break for the Holidays, my 4.0 singles league resumed this evening, and I technically came away with a victory.  But can it really be considered a victory when I split sets at 4-6 and 6-4 and then win a ten point super tie-breaker 15-13?  Don’t get me wrong, I’ll take the win, but in actuality, I think tonight’s match was pretty much a draw. 

My opponent and I got off to a shaky start – both making many unforced errors, and after staying on serve for the first two games, I quickly found myself down 5-2.  I maintained my composure, got one of the breaks back, and was receiving serve at 30-30 down 5-4.  But that was as close as it would get.  He won the next two points and took the first set 6-4.

Despite having some break points in the second game of the second set, I couldn’t break my opponent, and he couldn’t break me.  We stayed on serve all the way to 5-4, and then I played a strong return game (or maybe he played a weak service game) to take the set 6-4.

The super tie-breaker, despite winning a large percentage of them lately, is just something I don’t enjoy.  After two hard fought sets, I would much rather play out a third set as opposed to having it all decided by a ten point super tie-breaker.  But with allotted court time limited to an hour and a half to two hours, we often don’t have much choice but to play the dreaded super tie-breaker.  So…  A super tie-breaker we played.

Give or take a point here and there, the super tie-breaker remained on serve until my opponent took a lead at 8-6 that he carried forward to 9-7.  I don’t remember the exact points, but I know I was able to fend off two match points and tie it at 9-9.  From there it seesawed back and forth until I was finally able to pull it out at 15-13.

A little mental toughness on my part?  Yes.  A little good luck on my side?  Definitely.  All in all, it was a fun match and if nothing else, some decent practice.    It puts me at 2-2 in the league, and I find myself facing last session’s undefeated champion next week – a guy that I’ve never beaten in the past.  Looking forward to that one.  (Heavy sarcasm)

Thanks for checking in.

DH

After a little less than a year of playing at the 3.5 level, it is time to move on.  As I mentioned in a previous post, I was bumped to 4.0 by the USTA computer and will be playing 4.0 for the upcoming USTA season that begins in late January.

As a precursor to the USTA season, my town, like many other towns, has its own version of USTA league play that occurs every Fall/Early Winter.  Known as the Miami Valley, my town of Dayton, Ohio has the Greater Miami Valley Tennis Association (GMVTA) League in which I played with my 3.5 team from last USTA season.

A couple of week’s ago, my team was sitting in first place having beaten the two best teams in the league head-to-head.  All we had to do was win out, and we were assured a spot in the championships.  As luck would have it, we choked a couple of weeks ago and lost to the last place team 2-3.  (I had to attend a visitation service for a family friend that day, so I fortunately did not have a part in that major choke.  Instead, I can blame some of my teammates.)

Going into last night’s match against a team from Schroeder Tennis Center (Tipp City, Ohio), we needed to take 4 of 5 courts in order to finish in second place and secure a position in the championship round.

Schroeder Tennis Center on a Cold January Night

In hopes of exacting revenge on a guy I lost to last USTA season, I asked my captain to play me at #2 singles.  He obliged, but unfortunately the guy I was gunning for wasn’t in the line up.  Instead, I played some 23 year old “kid” (at 38, he was a kid to me) with solid groundstrokes and a well above average serve.  Despite his good serve, I was able to break him mid-way through the first set, hold my serve the entire set, and eventually take the first set 6-4.

The second set was more of the same until he finally broke me to take a 4-2 lead.  Fortunately, I was able to break back right away, and we stayed on serve until 5-5.  I played a solid return game at 5-5 and was able to break him and then serve out the match.

I felt my game was a little off last night, and I felt I should have won a little easier than I did.  Nevertheless, a win is a win, and I was happy to end my brief 3.5 career with a victory.

My team?  Well…  We won the match, but we won it 3-2 as opposed to the much needed 4-21 outcome.  We dropped matches at #1 singles and #1 doubles.  Our usually victorious #1 doubles team lost the third set super-tie-breaker 16-14.  It is always tough to lose such a close breaker, but this one was especially painful because our guys had five straight match points at 9-5.  They just couldn’t close it out.

Despite just missing cut for the championship round, it was a good GMVTA season and a fun GMVTA season.  On to USTA…

Thanks for checking in.

DH

I have never been one to dabble much with science.  Beakers, chemicals, and formulations have never been of much interest to me.  I don’t own a lab coat, and I definitely don’t remember much about the Periodic Table of Elements from my high school days.  Nevertheless, I am going to conduct an experiment.  Not in a lab, but instead, on a tennis court.  Allow me to explain…

After an eight year absence from playing tennis (shoulder problems), I began playing again in late summer of 2008.  Inspired by my young son’s interest in the game and my desire to play with him and teach him, I picked up my sticks, re-strung them, and joined South Regency Tennis Centerin Miamisburg, OH.  Having never played in USTA leagues before, I was able to, upon the suggestion of my captain, “self-rate” at the 3.5 NTRP level.  I figured I was probably closer to a 4.0 player, but I thought, “What the heck…  Why not play 3.5 in order to shake off some rust and get my game back in order?”

It was a good decision.  I thoroughly enjoyed playing 3.5 USTA during the 2009 season and posted a pretty decent singles record of 7-2.  (I also played on my club’s 4.0 team from time to time – going 1-2 with a win at singles, a loss at singles, and a loss at doubles.)  But as I kind of expected, 2009 would be my only season at 3.5.

When the 2010 ratings came out approximately two weeks ago, I was bumped from 3.5 to 4.0.  On one hand, I am disappointed – as I had an absolute blast with my 3.5 team.  We had a great captain and a great bunch of guys.  On the other hand, I am pleased that my performance in the 2009 season was good enough to get me bumped to 4.0, and I am excited for the challenge of playing at the 4.0 level for the upcoming 2010 season.

And while the 2010 season won’t even begin for several more weeks, I am already focused on improving my game, taking it to the next level, and above all else, playing inspired tennis every time I take the court.  So this is the first post in the category of “Next Step:  4.5″.  And that is exactly what I gunning for…  getting bumped to 4.5.

As alluded to above, this will definitely be an experiment of sorts.  I am certainly not fooling myself, as I know the road to 4.5 will be extremely challenging and could be quite long (and by “quite long” I mean many years), but I am striving for it nonetheless.  It is my understanding that the gap between 4.0 and 4.5 is much larger than the gap between 3.5 and 4.0, and when someone hits the 4.5 level, he/she has, without a doubt, moved into a much more exclusive group of tennis players.  Here is a simple example to illustrate what I’m talking about…  For the upcoming 2010 season, my club will have three 3.5 teams, three 4.0 teams, yet only one 4.5 team.  There simply are not enough 4.5 and above level players at my club – aside from a few teaching pros.  It is kind of like a traditional bell curve – with many players lumped in the 3.5/4.0 levels but fewer players at the extremes. 

So if I want to improve to the point of getting bumped to 4.5 in the future, I have my work cut out for me.  I must increase my playing time, get much stronger/fitter, keep focused on my goal, and most importantly, have fun throughout the process.

As I alluded to above, this will definitely be an experiment of sorts, and through this blog, I hope you’ll follow my little tennis experiment on a regular basis.  If I do this thing correctly, I hope to eventually hit the 4.5 level and along the way, interest you to a certain degree, entertain you to a certain (probably lesser) degree, and above all, inspire you in some small way to go out and achieve your goals – tennis related or otherwise.

Thanks for checking in.

DH