Just experienced nerves for the first time...

[david7410]

Not really a question or anything, but I thought I'd share this with you all. Any comments/suggestions or whatever are welcome.

This week was my first tournament. Actually, my first time ever actually playing real matches against other people. Today was the final, and I had to play someone who used to play for Harvard... granted, that was 20 years ago.

My other 3 matches seemed okay. I had tons of energy and was able to play my game and hit my strokes, but today was a different story.

Right off the bat, before the game even started, I felt flustered. My heart was racing 100 mph and I couldn't seem to move my feet. On every point I had to struggle just to keep the ball in play. I never seemed to have enough time or energy to get into proper placement, and even my most reliable strokes (slices) seemed to be flying in random directions. On top of that, my serves kept flying into the net, and it was like I completely forgot how to hit a second serve.

Only excuse I really have is that my racquet arm has been pulsing with pain all week.

The score was 6-0, 6-0.

Not my finest hour... It has been a very depressing experience. Not only because I lost, but because I didn't play a good game. I think I might just lay off tennis for a while and let my arm recover. I always seem to be having problems with it.

Back to ping pong...

[Rickson]

Everyone has a bad day. Don't give up on tennis, just realize that you can do better next time. Be confident in your strokes and when you get nervous, just tell yourself it wouldn't be natural if you weren't, but you that you could control it.