Tennis Wars

My weekly tennis games against Andrew have gone well the past two weeks, and I've been pondering why that is. There are a few reasons I think.

1) Andrew's wicked forehand and backhand took vacation with me at the end of july but never came back. Well, the forehand is sort of back, but nowhere near as deadly as at the beginning of the summer. Plus Andrew has been forcing himself to use it instead of the safe light return in order to improve it, hence a few balls into the net.

2) My forehand has improved a large degree over last year. I've been working hard on getting my forehand to a point where the ball goes over a bit faster and lower than I used to get it to, forcing Andrew to dig a little harder to return.

3) My first serve has improved quite a bit in accuracy. While not critical to beating Andrew, it helps when he can't pick and choose his return as he can on the soft second serve.

4) I'm slowly getting in better shape. At the beginning of the season Andrew was buff from Ultimate all winter while I just start Jiu Jitsu at the beginning of March. I've kept it up and my body is slowly getting more stamina and slightly improved reflexes and speed. Not much, but every bit helps. I'm still no match for Andrew's speed and endurance though. If his forehand, backhand, and serves get back up to where I've seen them, he will dominate again. If that happen's I guess its a crowbar to the kneecap.