Oh, sweet Victory

[Mauvaise]

I belong to a social tennis club that holds tournaments once a month. There are three divisions (A, B, C) and the tournaments are mostly doubles. This past weekend we had a Luck of the Draw Doubles tournament.

I am in the lowest division (C) and because of being paired up with strong players this past year (who have since moved up) I find myself seeded often. This time it was a very small draw and as the #1 seed my partner and I found that our first match was the Semi-Final. We won that easily (1 & 2) and reported back on Sunday for the final.

We were facing strong opponents (the #2 seed) and one of our opponents is my friend (and my partner for all 'choose your own partner' tourneys). We know each others game quite well and the tricks that work don't always against each other because we can anticipate them.

In the first set we quickly lost the first two games. I was starting to get a little nervous and then somehow we won the next six games and took the first set 6-2.

Second set started much like the first with a hold and a break and we were done by 2. I wasn't as nervous because I knew we could come back. Well, this time we didn't and lost the second set 3-6.

All important 3rd set tie break (thankfully, no 10-pt in lieu) which didn't start well. I quickly found myself serving at 1-3. I managed to hold, but my partner and I still struggled (admittedly we did lose focus and make too many unforced errors) and soon our opponents were serving for the set at 5-2.

Through some combination of our opponents choking a bit and my partner and I finding some inner mental strength (and outer smart tennis abilities) we fought off two championship points against us and managed to break (after 8 deuces)!

One of my (many) problems in tennis is that I do not generally do well under pressure and now I have to serve at 3-5. Remarkably, I hold. Easily, even. We manage an easy break and an easy hold and suddenly our opponents are the ones under fire, serving at 5-6 and fighting to take it to a tie break. A tense long games ensues, 5 deuces, but we prevail!

That's right, down 2-5 in the third set tie break, facing match points against us and we came back to win 5 straight games to win the thing 7-5!

Generally I like to win, but I'm not a bad loser (I have a lot of experience at it). As long as I feel I played well, I'm happy no matter what the score turns out to be. However, this win? It felt FANTASTIC!! (though I did feel bad for my friend/opponent - she took it rather hard)

And, because of the points won, I also moved up to the next division. Where I'm sure I'll spend the next 6 months getting crushed like a bug.



Anyone else have any "That was a really sweet victory" type stories?

 

[leech]

Congrats; way to keep fighting.

I've been in plenty of situations where I've had to dig myself out of a hole. Pretty much every USTA match I've played. Just gotta give the opponents a chance to choke.

 

[jaybear1909]

Wait you went to deuce in a tiebreak? What kind of tiebreak was it?

 

[jaybear1909]

But on subject, I've had a few of these recently.

Played a tourny 2 weekends ago and in the semis I was down 2-5 in the second set (opponent had won the first set) 0-40 on my serve. I brought it to deuce and then fought my way back to a tiebreaker. Beat him 7-1 in the tiebreaker and won the third set 6-1.

Played a quarterfinal playoff match in mixed with my girlfriend the other day and we were down 4-6, 3-5 on my serve. Again opponents had match points and I told my girlfriend "we can come back" and she just laughed. We came back and beat them 7-5, 6-4 in the second and third set.

Semi-final mixed match last night was also a doozy. We were down 0-4 in the first set and came back to win it 6-4. Lost second set 4-6 and won the third 6-3.

Some very interesting matches lately! City finals tomorrow and a semi-final alta match in the morning.

 

[gmatheis]

Not too long ago I was playing this guy I had never beat. We split the first two sets but I was down in the last set 2-5. He was serving and got the first two points giving him a 30-0 lead. In the next point I put up a bad lob but to my relief he hit the overhead right into the net. Somehow from that point on I just turned things around breaking not only that game but his next two service games as well while holding my own serves to take the match! I heard later that he was complaining about the courts or something.

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(sorry I get really bored at work )

 

[Mauvaise]

Wait you went to deuce in a tiebreak? What kind of tiebreak was it?

Maybe I misspoke: I meant the 3rd set. We split sets, so the third was the "tie break" to decide the match.

Those come-from-behind wins feel extra sweet!

 

[floridatennisdude]

I was on the other end of this type of thing this weekend. Up 6-1, 3-2 and serving. Went through a 20 minute multiple deuce game to hold and go up 4-2. That game wore me out and ended up being the last game I won. Lost 1-6, 6-4, 10-6. Frustrating.