TennisProdigy
Professional
Played a semifinal match yesterday on an indoor hardtru surface against a very tough opponent. When I first saw him I completely underestimated him as he was only 5' 4" and a very nerdy looking Asain kid. He was using a babolat pure drive team and during warm ups I could see he had a big game. If the match was on hardcourts, I know I would have lost but since hardtru/clay surfaces are my favorite, that edge definitely gave me the advantage I needed to win.
During the match, neither of us approached the net because he had great passing shots and I had pinpoint lobs. We endured many long grueling rallies and my dad noted one rally was around 35 shots. The tournament director started watching our match at around the one hour mark and told my dad and the kid's dad, "even though all the rallies are long, it's not like they're dinking the ball, they're doing something with every shot." I attempted to run him corner to corner every point and he often tried to hit behind me since I was running down a lot of his shots.
The most interesting thing about the match though was that out of 150 or more forehands I hit, all but 3 were hit Nadal style, reverse forehands. That kid had incredible stamina as most of the shots he returned were around his ear. My shots my have had incredible topspin and margin but definitely were not penatrating the court very well. Here are some statistics for the match.
Me
Winners - 4
Unforced Errors - 7
Aces - 4
Double Faults - 2
Net - 2/5
Him
Winners ~ 20
Unforced Errors ~ 30
Aces - 0
Double Faults ~ 8
Net- 3/6
During the match, neither of us approached the net because he had great passing shots and I had pinpoint lobs. We endured many long grueling rallies and my dad noted one rally was around 35 shots. The tournament director started watching our match at around the one hour mark and told my dad and the kid's dad, "even though all the rallies are long, it's not like they're dinking the ball, they're doing something with every shot." I attempted to run him corner to corner every point and he often tried to hit behind me since I was running down a lot of his shots.
The most interesting thing about the match though was that out of 150 or more forehands I hit, all but 3 were hit Nadal style, reverse forehands. That kid had incredible stamina as most of the shots he returned were around his ear. My shots my have had incredible topspin and margin but definitely were not penatrating the court very well. Here are some statistics for the match.
Me
Winners - 4
Unforced Errors - 7
Aces - 4
Double Faults - 2
Net - 2/5
Him
Winners ~ 20
Unforced Errors ~ 30
Aces - 0
Double Faults ~ 8
Net- 3/6