travlerajm
Talk Tennis Guru
Yesterday I was planning to play my usual hitting session playing singles for an hour against a teaching pro.
Earlier in the day, the club director, an ex Top 700 WTA pro, had mentioned to me that she was playing the final of an open-level mixed doubles tournament that evening. The match was at the club. So I decided to show up early for my session so that I could watch some of her match.
When I arrived, I asked if she was ready? She says that her partner couldn’t make it, so the final wasn’t going to be played.
I’m not sure why, but I volunteered that I could fill in. Really, she asked? I said sure. It will be fun. She asked the opponents if they still wanted to play the match against me as the “suplente”, and within a few minutes, the match was back on!
The match ended up being quite an adrenaline rush. The other 3 players on the court had much more skilled groundstroke technique than me. The opposing guy had a heroic heavy forehand. The opposing gal had a Henin-like 1hb and super fast hands at net. My partner was a heavy groundstroke machine. At first it was a bit intimidating.
But I had a few advantages over the other players, in that even though I have ugly self-taught strokes, I have a doubles background, getting within a match of the state high school doubles title 30 years ago. And I felt like I had the strongest doubles movement instincts on the court. And I was the strongest and most confident volleyer.
I struggled to hold my serve. Got broken 4 times (I was the only one serving and volleying, and probably needed a little more juice on it). But I was able to find a way to partly neutralize the other guy’s hero fh return by using Aussie formation on my serve to deuce down the stretch.
My partner was a bit reluctant to close tight on the net. So I found myself charging the net after my returns and assuming the dunker position close to the net strap to fill the space in the forecourt.
I didn’t spend much time at the baseline. There was one point where I got trapped in a DTL baseline rally vs the opposing guy’s hero fh. Decided that would be last time I stay back.
Many points ended up stuck in the pattern where other players were rallying crosscourt with heavy balls — looking like they will never miss. I was the most active poacher out there, but I got burned a few times.
We came from a break down to steal the first set in a tiebreak. Then I got broken all 3 of my service games in the 2nd set, before we somehow grabbed the momentum at the end and pulled out the super. I was gasping for air during the second set due to the cardio heat stress, so I think the 3-minutes rest before the super revived me.
My body was not accustomed to playing 2.5h in 90F heat and high humidity, so every muscle in my body was cramping afterward. But what a thrill rush!
It had been 20 years since my last tournament match played with such quality players on the court.
Earlier in the day, the club director, an ex Top 700 WTA pro, had mentioned to me that she was playing the final of an open-level mixed doubles tournament that evening. The match was at the club. So I decided to show up early for my session so that I could watch some of her match.
When I arrived, I asked if she was ready? She says that her partner couldn’t make it, so the final wasn’t going to be played.
I’m not sure why, but I volunteered that I could fill in. Really, she asked? I said sure. It will be fun. She asked the opponents if they still wanted to play the match against me as the “suplente”, and within a few minutes, the match was back on!
The match ended up being quite an adrenaline rush. The other 3 players on the court had much more skilled groundstroke technique than me. The opposing guy had a heroic heavy forehand. The opposing gal had a Henin-like 1hb and super fast hands at net. My partner was a heavy groundstroke machine. At first it was a bit intimidating.
But I had a few advantages over the other players, in that even though I have ugly self-taught strokes, I have a doubles background, getting within a match of the state high school doubles title 30 years ago. And I felt like I had the strongest doubles movement instincts on the court. And I was the strongest and most confident volleyer.
I struggled to hold my serve. Got broken 4 times (I was the only one serving and volleying, and probably needed a little more juice on it). But I was able to find a way to partly neutralize the other guy’s hero fh return by using Aussie formation on my serve to deuce down the stretch.
My partner was a bit reluctant to close tight on the net. So I found myself charging the net after my returns and assuming the dunker position close to the net strap to fill the space in the forecourt.
I didn’t spend much time at the baseline. There was one point where I got trapped in a DTL baseline rally vs the opposing guy’s hero fh. Decided that would be last time I stay back.
Many points ended up stuck in the pattern where other players were rallying crosscourt with heavy balls — looking like they will never miss. I was the most active poacher out there, but I got burned a few times.
We came from a break down to steal the first set in a tiebreak. Then I got broken all 3 of my service games in the 2nd set, before we somehow grabbed the momentum at the end and pulled out the super. I was gasping for air during the second set due to the cardio heat stress, so I think the 3-minutes rest before the super revived me.
My body was not accustomed to playing 2.5h in 90F heat and high humidity, so every muscle in my body was cramping afterward. But what a thrill rush!
It had been 20 years since my last tournament match played with such quality players on the court.
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