MatchpointServe
New User
I'm not exactly sure what kind of advice I might receive, but anything would help. I'm completely frustrated at the moment. Earlier today, our school had a tennis match. I was signed up for doubles (Joy... I hate doubles). Anyways, I watched my opponents warm up. Sure, they were okay. They could keep a moderate rally, but there wasn't anything special about them. Weaknesses would be extreme poaching, terrible serves, and high, unorthodox lobs which went out about 25% of the time.
Now you must be thinking, why would I be so frustrated? I already have the game in the bag.
Wrong.
So the game starts out, my partner serves first, only to double fault. And then again he double faulted. Call it a bad omen, love-30. I went over and gave him a little pep-talk, it worked, for the time being. Ace. 15-30. However, the strand of fortune didn't last long. 15-40, game. We switch courts.
"1-0, Love all. First serve," my opponent says. He serves, it turns out to just breeze the line, I jump for it (he was standing on the edge towards the centre, so I figured it'd be more so in the centre), and it skimmed my rim. I wouldn't call it an ace, since I touched it, but they probably thought that's what it was. So the next thing I know, it goes from love-15, to love-30, to love-40, to game. 0-2.
My serve. I double faulted at 30-40. 0-3. We're getting *****.
Next thing I know, it's 0-4, and we managed to pull a game due to their terrible hits. It just so happens, that mine were worse. I truly haven't been that bad since I was about 10, which now I'm 15. I took last summer off, from tennis, so reality struck me hard. I'd consider myself a 4.0-4.5 player, so basically I suck, though I'm quitting all other sports and focusing on tennis.
So it's 1-4, if you're still reading. I still can't seem to get the damn ball over the net, and when I do it's to far. I don't know what it is, I was playing great in the warm ups, but now I can't do anything. I've never been so tied down by pressure in a game. Normally I'm fine, though I still never play as good as I do in rallies. Something clicks and I can't seem to give it my all.
Anyways, back to the game. We happened to salvage another game, making it 2-4, but then I couldn't hold my own come time serve. To many faults and bad hits, other then the one ace I got, which left him standing there dumbfounded. So now the score is 2-5, switch sides.
On the other side, my hit. I tried to hit it down the line, to avoid his poaching and perhaps get a point. I ended up hitting it out. Frustrated and about to throw my Babolat against the ground, we happened to salvage a few points. It ended up at a duece. Since this was a crappy school, and we were on a time crunch, it was no ads. All I needed was this point. We're not dead yet, get this point, 3-5, we can still win! He hits it to me, I give it a forehand cross court, he returns it to my partner at the net, he smashes it down in the corner, easy point. The guy strives for and barely lobes it up, coming down over the front forehand side of the net. I rush up to put it away, we've won. I run up, swing and... MISS. I kept running and actually ran into part of the net and post whilst screaming. "AGGHHH!!! OH MY GOD!! HOW COULD I MISS THAT!?!?! AAGGHH!!!!!!!!"
I didn't quite realize the pain of my back coliding with the rim of the post, maybe my adrenaline had been to high, I don't know. I noticed my back hurting later, and now. But what happened? It was an easy game, yet we got completely dominated. I've read how you tell others, "Don't worry about their game, just worry about your own." Well, had my game been halfway decent, we would have won. But it wasn't. My game was terrible. I feel like it was all my fault we lost, and am completely frustrated. That ruined my entire day, and is currently haunting me as I type this.
So I ask of you, what can I do next time? I wasn't focused. All of my shots were terrible. Why can't I play in games, the way I do in practice?
Now you must be thinking, why would I be so frustrated? I already have the game in the bag.
Wrong.
So the game starts out, my partner serves first, only to double fault. And then again he double faulted. Call it a bad omen, love-30. I went over and gave him a little pep-talk, it worked, for the time being. Ace. 15-30. However, the strand of fortune didn't last long. 15-40, game. We switch courts.
"1-0, Love all. First serve," my opponent says. He serves, it turns out to just breeze the line, I jump for it (he was standing on the edge towards the centre, so I figured it'd be more so in the centre), and it skimmed my rim. I wouldn't call it an ace, since I touched it, but they probably thought that's what it was. So the next thing I know, it goes from love-15, to love-30, to love-40, to game. 0-2.
My serve. I double faulted at 30-40. 0-3. We're getting *****.
Next thing I know, it's 0-4, and we managed to pull a game due to their terrible hits. It just so happens, that mine were worse. I truly haven't been that bad since I was about 10, which now I'm 15. I took last summer off, from tennis, so reality struck me hard. I'd consider myself a 4.0-4.5 player, so basically I suck, though I'm quitting all other sports and focusing on tennis.
So it's 1-4, if you're still reading. I still can't seem to get the damn ball over the net, and when I do it's to far. I don't know what it is, I was playing great in the warm ups, but now I can't do anything. I've never been so tied down by pressure in a game. Normally I'm fine, though I still never play as good as I do in rallies. Something clicks and I can't seem to give it my all.
Anyways, back to the game. We happened to salvage another game, making it 2-4, but then I couldn't hold my own come time serve. To many faults and bad hits, other then the one ace I got, which left him standing there dumbfounded. So now the score is 2-5, switch sides.
On the other side, my hit. I tried to hit it down the line, to avoid his poaching and perhaps get a point. I ended up hitting it out. Frustrated and about to throw my Babolat against the ground, we happened to salvage a few points. It ended up at a duece. Since this was a crappy school, and we were on a time crunch, it was no ads. All I needed was this point. We're not dead yet, get this point, 3-5, we can still win! He hits it to me, I give it a forehand cross court, he returns it to my partner at the net, he smashes it down in the corner, easy point. The guy strives for and barely lobes it up, coming down over the front forehand side of the net. I rush up to put it away, we've won. I run up, swing and... MISS. I kept running and actually ran into part of the net and post whilst screaming. "AGGHHH!!! OH MY GOD!! HOW COULD I MISS THAT!?!?! AAGGHH!!!!!!!!"
I didn't quite realize the pain of my back coliding with the rim of the post, maybe my adrenaline had been to high, I don't know. I noticed my back hurting later, and now. But what happened? It was an easy game, yet we got completely dominated. I've read how you tell others, "Don't worry about their game, just worry about your own." Well, had my game been halfway decent, we would have won. But it wasn't. My game was terrible. I feel like it was all my fault we lost, and am completely frustrated. That ruined my entire day, and is currently haunting me as I type this.
So I ask of you, what can I do next time? I wasn't focused. All of my shots were terrible. Why can't I play in games, the way I do in practice?