Have you ever won a tournament? How important was it

[MNPlayer]

Originally Posted by lendl1986

I've noticed that at tournaments 2 things are very important:

1. Fitness
2. Consistency

By the semis or finals, you've played 4+ matches in 2 days. Those are not normal conditions, and they favor the athletes in the draw.

And you have to keep the ball in play because most of the players get nervous in tournaments...these situations favor the more consistent (if not flashy) players.

Thus, at the end of the tournament the winner may not necessarily be the "best" player...the one who on 3 days of rest could beat pretty much everyone in the draw.

Same reason the grand slams are so difficult to win in pro tennis - you have to win 7 best-of-5 matches in a row! It takes place over 2 weeks instead of our weekend USTA tournaments, but takes a toll on even the most fit players. It is a sport after all; fitness and consistency ought to count for something.

[skiracer55]

...but I'll tell it again. A bunch more years ago than I like to think about, I reached the final of a tournament in Breckenridge, Colorado. My opponent was, on the books, supposed to use me to mop up the court. I was playing well, so I thought "Well, we'll see about that." Then, during the warmup, I broke a string...in my only racket...which shows you how smart I was in my relative youth. A bunch of my buddies were watching, nobody had a spare racket, and you could hear a pin drop, except for my roommate who said "Nice going, Ace...now what?"

So here's what: I cut the string (it was one of the center mains), tied it off as best I could, and went ahead and played the damned match anyway. My strategy? No long points! Serve and volley, chip and charge, because maybe I can hit a serve and a backhand volley with this setup, but it ain't gonna cut it for groundies. And, believe it or not, it worked. I won 6-2, 1-6, 6-2. My opponent was beside himself. I don't think he actually believed he got beat by a guy with a fishing net for a string job. But hey, it happened, I swear. I believed. I told myself about how I was going to win the match anyway, and it worked. You get the point, end of sermon.