How about a doze of humility??

[pabletion]

So how about it? Here's what happened to me tonight: We are playing this tournament, teams of 5 format, playing one doubles, and three singles, all to one 8 game set.

I play this guy who I played once before and beat him in three reg sets, playing really really lousy, but pulled it off by diggin deep.

This time, I know Im playing well, feeling comfortable. Players bring their own balls and the other guy pulls out these Wilson Practice, used, semi worn out. I have a new can on my bag but think "what the hell...." and we play with his crappy balls. I start great, break the first game, win my serve comfortably, break again and it starts to drizzle, with some wind. I stop and he tells me that we should just try and keep playing at least one more game, so I serve and win easily to go 4-0. Then I stop (I dont play with rain).

After 20 mins of suspended play, we decide to go to an indoor club, which happens to be the other guys home club. I go "what the hell...". By the time we get there I've already cooled off and even gotten a bit sleepy, but we warm up and hit from the baseline for about 15-20 minutes of solid, hard hits, Im really enjoying it so I dont say anything, I wanna keep hitting cause Im thinking the match is gonna be over really fast.

When were about to start I bring up that I have a fresh can of balls, that his Wilson Practice are probably all fluffed up and flat because of the humidity and cause they got a bit wet... He shows them to me and says theyre ok, if its okay with me. So I understand he wants to play with his slow balls and I go "what the hell..."

When we're about to start, I go: "its 4-0 rig ht?" he goes: "no, its 3-0" and I think.......... "what the hell...." totally confident that Im gonna blow this poor sucker easily.Being indoor, and it being really humid and warm inside, those ffffing balls dont move at all. Im hitting it really good but the guy gets it back all the time, just slicing it low and hitting his forehand.

I dont have a clue of how it happens, but all of a sudden Im down 3-5, loosing 5 straight games with NOTHING but unforced errors, including three consecutive easy putaway volleys to get broken............. Final score: 4-8 (really 5-8). I won ONE game, loosing every important point (game points, my brake points, Pressure Points...).

He got away with it, with his court, his flat, fluffy, slow practice balls, and I went with it like an idiottttt!

Lesson: Never get cocky and think the match is over before its over, and of course, respect the enemy's territory, its an edge, even when it doesnt look like it.

Rant over, lesson learned. Moving on!

 

[equinox]

I know feels like the earth, but really just a social tennis match.

Be thankful he taught you a lesson.

 

[Datacipher]

He didn't do anything wrong...he asked if the balls were OK with you...of course switching to indoor courts he was used to was an advantage (nobody, neither him, nor you can do anything about that). As you say, you went along...and to be honest, I don't think you did anything wrong either. What could you do? Refuse to play indoors? Yes, you could have switched balls...but really, that's just switching the ball advantage over to you, from him. You can't really say you're entitled to play balls that suit you...(yes, if they were that extreme, you could argue they weren't "normal", but...you agreed).

There was the possibility he intentionally altered the score...that would be low...but maybe he just made a mistake.

Anyways, like you say, move on. But he really didn't do anything unreasonable (other than the score), and you didn't either. I wouldn't go down the road of: next time, I'll make sure everything suits ME!!!!

 

[mikeler]

If you have a score disagreement, go back to who served first in the set and count the number of games. Not that hard.

 

[pabletion]

I know feels like the earth, but really just a social tennis match.
Be thankful he taught you a lesson.

I know bud, I dont have a problem, just taught me not to be too cocky. we had a beer afterwards, he's actually a good guy, we're gonna play a friendly soon

He didn't do anything wrong...he asked if the balls were OK with you...of course switching to indoor courts he was used to was an advantage (nobody, neither him, nor you can do anything about that). As you say, you went along...and to be honest, I don't think you did anything wrong either. What could you do? Refuse to play indoors? Yes, you could have switched balls...but really, that's just switching the ball advantage over to you, from him. You can't really say you're entitled to play balls that suit you...(yes, if they were that extreme, you could argue they weren't "normal", but...you agreed).

There was the possibility he intentionally altered the score...that would be low...but maybe he just made a mistake.

Anyways, like you say, move on. But he really didn't do anything unreasonable (other than the score), and you didn't either. I wouldn't go down the road of: next time, I'll make sure everything suits ME!!!!

No no, its not about everything suiting me, but both. The normal thing would've been to play with new balls, plus his balls were Wilson Practice balls, used! And yeah, I agreed to play with them, not blaming him, blaming me, because he told me if I wanted to open the new balls we could play with them. I just got too confident. I thought he preferred to play with worn out balls and that the match would be longer, giving him a little break. Serves me right...

If you have a score disagreement, go back to who served first in the set and count the number of games. Not that hard.

Not hard. Thats why Im sure I was up 4-0. I broke him, won my serve, broke him again, was about to stop cause of the rain, he said serve one more game, and won. Again, got cocky and thought there was no way he was going to beat me.

 

[mikeler]

I've won a set down 5-0 and lost one up 5-1 before. Simply put, I don't give away games.

 

[OrangePower]

I would say it would be more productive to focus on what went wrong with your game that caused you to lose, rather than focus on the circumstances.

Sure, the balls didn't suit you, and he had home court. But you said you were feeling good in the warmup (after the court switch). Put it this way: if you were playing your best, you would have won - regardless of balls, court and everything else.

So don't beat yourself up over agreeing to conditions that favor your opponent. Instead, try to figure out what happened to your game, and what you can do next time to keep your level of play high even when playing under unfavorable conditions. Because that happens sometimes, and you still have to find a way to win.

 

[pabletion]

I would say it would be more productive to focus on what went wrong with your game that caused you to lose, rather than focus on the circumstances.

Sure, the balls didn't suit you, and he had home court. But you said you were feeling good in the warmup (after the court switch). Put it this way: if you were playing your best, you would have won - regardless of balls, court and everything else.

So don't beat yourself up over agreeing to conditions that favor your opponent. Instead, try to figure out what happened to your game, and what you can do next time to keep your level of play high even when playing under unfavorable conditions. Because that happens sometimes, and you still have to find a way to win.

No, youre absolutely right, I expected to play the same way I was playin in the initial court and conditions, I wanted to hit hard and heavy and paint the lines, instead of being more patient and working the ball. I missed a lot of easy balls because I tried to do too much with it, over hitting, trying to hit a drop volley when a solid cross court one wouldve worked... etc. It was a disaster, and I blame no one but myself.

 

[storypeddler]

LOL. I absolutely hear ya, man. I have a somewhat unorthodox game and have played singles and doubles for years. My serve looks goofy and I am more backboard than power player---always have been. But over the years I have won a TON of matches against good players because of the same attitude you are describing---the "What the hell? No way I can lose to this guy." Been on the other end once or twice, too, and you are absolutely correct---it ain't ever over till it's over. Great story and great lesson.

 

[pabletion]

LOL. I absolutely hear ya, man. I have a somewhat unorthodox game and have played singles and doubles for years. My serve looks goofy and I am more backboard than power player---always have been. But over the years I have won a TON of matches against good players because of the same attitude you are describing---the "What the hell? No way I can lose to this guy." Been on the other end once or twice, too, and you are absolutely correct---it ain't ever over till it's over. Great story and great lesson.

thanks man. I've always said it....... the toughest thing in tennis is learning how to WIN matches, no matter how good your strokes or style is, the other guy is going to try and do everything you hate..., so that's real tennis, if you can win that way, good for ya, its the hot shot's fault if they feel superior or that they shouldve won. I hate pushers, but respect 'em...............