Just played my best performance ever

[raiden031]

Last night in USTA singles, I played the best performance I have ever played in a competitive match. Lately I had been in a rut where I was losing more than winning, mostly due to lots and lots of UEs. Last night every shot in my arsenal was on. My opponent was more consistent than most of the players that beat me regularly, which I could tell by some of the long rallies we had. In other matches I would never last that long in a point. It felt great to play so well. I won 6-3, 6-3.

One thing that is interesting is that during January - March I was playing really well at this indoor facility and thought I might be ready for 3.5, only for spring to come around and me to fall apart outdoors against some 3.0 players. But last night's match was played at the same indoor court I played in the winter. So for some reason my game is suited well for this particular court. I've played indoors at other places, but none of them have given me the success of this place.

Prior to this I have had a few frustrating moments where the thought of quitting tennis altogether crossed my mind. Anyone else have moments of greatness that give you hope?

 

[counterpunchingrules]

i grew up playing with a group of competitive friends. my best friend and i were always the best of the bunch, and we always had incredible matches everyone loved to watch. every single junior tournament in our area, it was always the two of us squaring off in the finals. i was beginning to grow frustrated, because in our 5 or so finals meetings, i had never beat him. like you, i was growing discouraged and really had no idea what to do. truth of the matter was, i wasnt playing bad against him, just seemed i couldnt get it done on the points i needed to, or had a chance to capitalize on mistakes he made.

eventually, the tables turned, and i got my first victory against him with everyone watching, where everyone had been saying i was going to lose yet again. since then i havent looked back and even today when we meet up in the opens or 5.0's i beat him every time. funny little thing, that game we call tennis

 

[Cindysphinx]

Congratulations!!! Now you'll stick with it, no?

Any observations about what exactly was "on?" Did you do something different on purpose, or did you opponent do something?

Yeah, I had a great match recently where I lost. The loss was OK because it was very close and I played better than I have ever played. Ever. The difference was in intensity and aggression. I really swung the racquet instead of worrying about losing the point. That must be the key: better to lose being aggressive rather than win being a weenie.

I have a ladder singles match on Sunday against a former teammate who is rated one level beneath me (2.5). It is going to be very hard mentally to play well, as I have more to lose than she does. Also, she plays a lot of singles and I don't. Also, the last time I saw her play she hit moonballs and soft shots. It's going to be hard to use my best technique to hit those softballs well, especially if I start losing or get impatient.

But if I go after her and do what I know how to do, I should have no trouble.

Raiden, I saw in your other post that you're finding no one to captain a 6.5 team (I assume this is for September?). I think you should step up and do it. You already have an established group so you needn't recruit, which is the most time-consuming part. You'll learn a lot, and being a captain is a terrific way to network. I meet people all the time and they say "Oh, so *you're* Cindy."

Don't know what they mean by that, but I choose not to believe the worst.

 

[MacKenzie]

I have a ladder singles match on Sunday against a former teammate who is rated one level beneath me (2.5). It is going to be very hard mentally to play well, as I have more to lose than she does. Also, she plays a lot of singles and I don't. Also, the last time I saw her play she hit moonballs and soft shots.

Oh yes. I remember those type of matches. She hits moonballs and grins the whole time. Hate that!

Tip: On some of those high balls, come in and take them in the air. She'll never get them.

 

[saram]

I am glad to hear a success story here--and yes, I recently had a moment that gave me inspiration and hope. Here's a little insight to my tennis past:

I played in high-school and took second in state my senior year. I left the courts when I went into the Army and took the sport up again about five years ago. When I took it up again--I went to my old style of contintually trying to hit winners and end up on ESPN highlight reels--all to no avail. It became so bad that my nickname on the courts at our USTA matches was: "Gonzo"....

I took a few months off at the end of the year and realized that no one was beating me--I was only beating myself attempting completely low percentage shots and taking just too many risks. So, I changed my game. I went to percentage tennis as 67% of all points won on the courts are by errors--not winners.

This week, I played a kid out of college that is a 5.0 and I'm a 4.0. I'm 38 and he's 23. He has power and game. And for the first three games--I foolishly tried to match him stroke for stroke and was down 0-3. My shots were not on. I did not feel like I could stroke anything crisply off both wings--so I reverted to my plan 'B' of percentage tennis and began to just roll everything back and track everything down--forcing him to hit more and more shots per point and game. The first set ended 6-3, with me taking the set.

In the second set, I started to get into rhythm and won the second set 6-1. My Hewitt style of rolling everthing back caused him to play the tennis I used to--firing at will at anything to end a point quickly. Error after error piled up on his side as I just continually rolled everything back over the net at 80%. I never went for a big rip on a forehand, backhand nor serve. Just 80% all day long and in the end, 6-3, 6-1 to me...a 38 year old single dad beating a kid out of college playing tennis on a scholarship. It was nice.

I didn't take pride in my strokes, my shots, etc. What I took pride in was the fact that I used the muscles between my ears intelligently and wisely and realized that when I was not 'on', I should not try for too much. It was the first time I put it all together.

As we left the courts, he said I "Played out of my skull..."

I asked what he meant and he said that I played better and smarter tennis than he had ever seen me play. I thanked him for the confidence...

Our rematch is tomorrow at 1:30....

 

[raiden031]

Congratulations!!! Now you'll stick with it, no?

Any observations about what exactly was "on?" Did you do something different on purpose, or did you opponent do something?

Yeah, I had a great match recently where I lost. The loss was OK because it was very close and I played better than I have ever played. Ever. The difference was in intensity and aggression. I really swung the racquet instead of worrying about losing the point. That must be the key: better to lose being aggressive rather than win being a weenie.

I have a ladder singles match on Sunday against a former teammate who is rated one level beneath me (2.5). It is going to be very hard mentally to play well, as I have more to lose than she does. Also, she plays a lot of singles and I don't. Also, the last time I saw her play she hit moonballs and soft shots. It's going to be hard to use my best technique to hit those softballs well, especially if I start losing or get impatient.

But if I go after her and do what I know how to do, I should have no trouble.

Raiden, I saw in your other post that you're finding no one to captain a 6.5 team (I assume this is for September?). I think you should step up and do it. You already have an established group so you needn't recruit, which is the most time-consuming part. You'll learn a lot, and being a captain is a terrific way to network. I meet people all the time and they say "Oh, so *you're* Cindy."

Don't know what they mean by that, but I choose not to believe the worst.

What I meant by everything being "on", was that all of my shots were pretty consistent. I was playing a solid opponent and rather than blowing the match with UEs as usual, I was able to construct some decent points and actually beat my opponent by putting pressure on him.

I don't really have time to captain a team, so thats the main reason I'm not doing it.

The other day I just played our final league match against the winners of the league and lost a close match. I was up during both sets and was actually serving for the 2nd set at one point, only for him to win that game and then the next two. He had a hell of a serve, possibly the fastest serve I've been against, but he was a complete pusher on groundstrokes. We had some long rallies but he seemed to win the points that mattered most. I still played well, but I'm not too disappointed as he was one of the main singles players on the best team in the league.