Epic choke!

[jdubbs]

Up 5-2, on serve, set point. Lose the point, lose the game, lose the set 7-5!

We only had time for 1 set, but man, that was pretty bad even by my standards. Lost 3 game points on double faults, too.

I was pretty exhausted at that point, but I think the real reason was I didn't have that killer instinct I usually have. This was a friend who's a very good player, and a nice guy. I felt bad for him, really, I didn't want to make things antagonistic with him by crushing him. He was always complimenting my shots. I've run out of good 4.0 to 4.5 players to play (he was 12-0 in league play), and I feel like I learn more from losing, so I think when I'm ahead in a friendly I subconsciously try to lose. Weird, and not good.

I'm going to really work on my fitness, which has flagged lately, continue working on my serve, and most important stay mentally tough.

[LeeD]

That's in OK choke.
Got a better one.
I was up 5-0 in my first finals at the GoldenGatePark C tourney in '77. Played a guy who spit, farted, blew his nose onto his hands, swore, dink served mixed with pretty fast flat firsts, and a general retriever with good lobs, a tough C final for anyone in that division.
I ended up LOSING 7-6, 6-0 to him!
You can go to GGPk now, find someone who was around there (guys who hung around usually stick around until death...GregShepard for one) then, and they'll remember my choke.
Won next C tourney 2 months later.

[mightyrick]

Originally Posted by jdubbs

Up 5-2, on serve, set point. Lose the point, lose the game, lose the set 7-5!

We only had time for 1 set, but man, that was pretty bad even by my standards. Lost 3 game points on double faults, too.

I feel ya, man. Everyone has been there. I think the worst for me was where I was at 5-1 (on serve) and lost the set 7-6.

I can only chalk it up to lost concentration. When I'm up that far on someone, I sometimes will get bored and start "trying other things", "getting too fancy", et cetera. Maintaining focus can be really hard when you're crushing somebody.

[maggmaster]

We play a 20 game proset for our club league, I always have a hard time closing it out once I get to ten games. It feels like it is over but its not...

[sphinx780]

Yup, I think we've all been there and it's more common than not at 5-2...I still think that it's one of the most deceptive set scores you can have because it's most likely 1 break but even at 2 breaks, if you biff the first chance to serve it out, your nerves tend to make the second chance much tougher.

Personally it's always fun when you can pull off the set from the other end of that score, but at the same time, how often do you want to be in that position?

Everyone's different but I think for most it just comes down to a lack of focus once your mind tells you 'I've got this'. Next time your in that position, you'll have learned from this choke and that should help.

[thug the bunny]

That's one of the things that makes this game tough: you're playing the opp and yourself at the same time. When you think about it, it's very rare to be 'on' during an entire match. You're always going to have ups and downs, the question is how far down you slip.

[TheBoom]

We all choke it just happens if there was a way not to murray would have a slam