Playing in extreme wind

[kevhen]

I noticed my playing style was totally opposite how I was playing indoors on a fast surface compared to last night on a windy slow surface. With the wind and slow surface you had to play safe and not go for much unless you had a major opening. Also going to net was tough as the approach shot was difficult and then the opponent could throw up a lob or floater that moved around in the air alot with the crosswind. Whoever went to net most seemed to lose the most points so after blowing a 3-1 lead, at 3-4, I stay back more and just hit slow safe shots and let my opponent force things and pulled it out 6-4. Totally different style than on the fast indoor surface where I was hitting everything hard and low and aggressive. The slower you hit the ball here, the more it moved around and made it difficult for my opponent to return. A sliced ball could be hit slow enough to bounce sideways due to the wind. Serving was sort of difficult so I would rotate the slice and flat when I did have some wind behind me and then rotate the slice and topspin serve going into the wind. I also hit pretty weak but safe second serves and never double faulted even though indoors I have been hitting very aggressive sliced second serves. I was broken once in 5 serve games. Nice to have variety in your game so you can adjust to wind and surface conditions.