Tennis: Turned the Corner?

Since the once-a-week Tennis season started against Andrew, I have been losing.

We typically play one full set (i.e. first to win 6 games) and then followed by a half set (first to win 3 games). For the first 7 weeks Andrew won every full set and 2 out of 4 of the half sets. I sucked.

For the first couple weeks, physical conditioning combined with being out of practice was slowing me down. Then my speed improved but Andrew was still schooling me as his rust was shaken off.

My difficulties seemed to be three things:
1) My first serve was being easily handled by Andrew so he continually broke my service and took early leads.

2) My aim on hitting the end of the court was off and a lot of balls were landing out as a result.

3) My backhand sucked.

Last week I felt the aim was improving and my backhand was coming back finally, but I was still losing. I got angry and I started hammering my serves in a way to burn some frustration off.

And what do you know? They landed in. A lot. And suddenly things began to fall into place for me.

We got rained out last week while I was losing 5-3 but I took the lesson to heart and this week I came out blasting my serves. I had traded power for accuracy earlier in this season (and perhaps late last season) but now I brought the effort up the accuracy remained. The upshot is that Andrew had a harder time returning my serves and those he did get back were not the power returns I had to dig for. Suddenly things felt different, better.

Not only did I get more aggressive on the serves, I also added a bit more aggressiveness to my forehands and backhands; now that the rust was shaken off I was able to hit them accurately and low to the net and ground, forcing Andrew to dig more often and give me more opportunity to get a point. The end result was and early lead, maintaining my service, and winning the set 6 to 4.

My new style of play cost me a bit though as I felt noticeably sore in my shoulder in the second half set from all the hard serves in the first full set, and my energy levels were lower than usual. Andrew whipped me quite soundly 3-1 in the half set but we both know all the glory to be had is in the first set.

Next week I'll have to see if I can maintain the pressure and score another victory.