beltsman
G.O.A.T.
Lost a tough match in straight sets against a very good player. Tall, fast, unlimited stamina, rock solid strokes off both wings, good serve, great defense, good at net. Not many holes in his game - biggest hole I guess would be his inability or unwillingness to go on the attack. But I won't denigrate him as a pusher. He was a fairly complete, rock solid defensive player. Not dinks and dunks and moonballs, but returning my aggressive shots deep and with accuracy.
Well, needless to say this was going to be a tough match! But I was feeling good, confident, fit, and ready to battle. And so we battled. I decided not to junkball or mix things up, but rather go toe to toe. I was feeling supremely confident in my FH and hit it aggressively. It was one of those "good" nights where I was feeling it. I controlled almost every point and hit a lot of clean winners. Of course, errors too. But man I was feeling my FH!
Unfortunately, doing that played right into his strengths. It was a battering ram versus a brick wall, and the brick wall eventually won. Despite my FH being absolutely on fire, I lost the match. Fun match though with a lot of great rallies.
Lesson? Don't play directly into your opponent's strength even if you're playing well. I should have used more drop shots and short slices, brought him to net, given him junk, taken my foot off the gas. Ironically, that's how I play when my FH is misfiring, and I probably would have been more successful tonight if I had done that. My FH being on fire led me right into a trap.
I reflected that this was kind of like prime Federer losing to Nadal. Federer always had supreme confidence to hit through Nadal and rode his FH, win or lose.
Well, needless to say this was going to be a tough match! But I was feeling good, confident, fit, and ready to battle. And so we battled. I decided not to junkball or mix things up, but rather go toe to toe. I was feeling supremely confident in my FH and hit it aggressively. It was one of those "good" nights where I was feeling it. I controlled almost every point and hit a lot of clean winners. Of course, errors too. But man I was feeling my FH!
Unfortunately, doing that played right into his strengths. It was a battering ram versus a brick wall, and the brick wall eventually won. Despite my FH being absolutely on fire, I lost the match. Fun match though with a lot of great rallies.
Lesson? Don't play directly into your opponent's strength even if you're playing well. I should have used more drop shots and short slices, brought him to net, given him junk, taken my foot off the gas. Ironically, that's how I play when my FH is misfiring, and I probably would have been more successful tonight if I had done that. My FH being on fire led me right into a trap.
I reflected that this was kind of like prime Federer losing to Nadal. Federer always had supreme confidence to hit through Nadal and rode his FH, win or lose.
