lose some, win more

Though your game is hardly the best
You can fray your opponent’s nerves
By methodically bouncing the ball
At least ten times before your serves.
- Arnold J. Zarett

Last Tuesday I played my last match of the season, and it was...interesting. I dropped the first set 6-1 and won the second 6-2. My opponent was a woman who I was actually supposed to have played a couple of months ago but never got around to it. We had both been stood up, at separate times, by the players we were slated to play one week, and so we were told that we could get a free hour and a half of court time to play a match with each other on our own schedule. I never called her, and she never called me. So in perfect ironic fashion, I end up playing her the last day of the season. Better than me, she wasn't, but there was something awkward in the air. It wasn't a particularly friendly match. It wasn't unfriendly, it just didn't have a particularly amicable feel to it. Some calls were questioned, whether or not we had switched sides three games before was contested, what side a serve should've been taken from but wasn't was contested, the score was called out louder than usual to avoid any confusion, and so on. Uncomfortable, eh?

So in a way, the score made sense. I was fed up after the first set. Many of the games were spent with me worrying about whether or not my opponent was going to question something else or shoot over an irritated look. I even gave her a point after I called the shot out because I was nervous that she would get upset and, in turn, jeopardize calls on my shots - ridiculous! (...in retrospect.) Well, all of that nonsense stopped in the second set, and we ended the match with a handshake, I think. It wasn't all that memorable, so I don't even recall now if we did, but words of congratulations on both sides were definitely exchanged.

Well, a new season starts next week for me. The first match was actually this past Tuesday, but I was working in the city (yes, on the day of the inauguration, which I heard parts of over the radio...an homage to the past). And while I've put my private lessons on hold for some time, I have begun a weekly tennis class with my coach and three other women. We'll see how much it's helping my game come this Tuesday. Here's shooting for an undefeated record...

winning in the new year

Let no one say that I have said nothing new . . . the arrangement of the subject is new. When we play tennis, we both play with the same ball, but one of us places it better.
- Blaise Pascal

Today's match was awesome...perhaps the best one I've played all season. The longest first set I've played, the longest rallies, the quickest to make me break a set, the most exciting from point to point.

The first set took about an hour, and since points in the league are determined on games won, we skipped a tiebreak and went straight to the second set. I took the first set, 6-5.

We had about 10 minutes to start the next set. Score: 2-1, my opponent.

So yes, technically, we broke even, no better or worse in our rankings than when we had started.

But that's not what mattered. I felt like I had played well, really well. I was hitting the ball with power, with confidence, with intent. After one point that lasted for what seemed like several minutes, I had to ask out loud if we were playing for money. I ran to every ball and got to a lot of them. We each had some great winners and some say-a-prayer-and-close-your-eyes shots that were nothing short of awesome. Even a coach in the next court over had to comment on what was happening on our court. It was pretty cool.

Oh, and it was the first time all season that I think I kind of hurt my ankle...and my wrist.

So a win (kind of), some war wounds, and a really good feeling contributed to a very nice tennis start to my new year.

Now if only someone could help me with the money I need to sign up for the spring league...

a christmas win

When I was 40, my doctor advised me that a man in his 40s shouldn't play tennis. I heeded his advice carefully and could hardly wait until I reached 50 to start again.
- Hugo Black

The opponent I was scheduled to play today in the league didn't show up. And to be honest, I was kind of relieved. It's been a busy month, maybe I could consider this an early Christmas gift in disguise from the tennis gods.

But the awesome people at the training center quickly called upon their resources to get me someone to play against. So I figured the gift gone, sat down with a cup of hot chocolate, and waited for my new opponent to arrive.

About half an hour later, she did, and was perhaps the nicest player I've played all season.

Not to mention, I won 6-1, 6-0 and got off the court with time to spare.

A Christmas gift well received, indeed.

On a side note, we took a short break after the first set to record the score, and when we were done, I sprinted back out onto the court with my pen...and no racquet. I realized it when I got to the baseline. Clearly, a writer and anxious tennis player all rolled into one.

I wouldn't have it any other way =)

rematch...kind of

The fifth set is not about tennis, it's about nerves.
- Boris Becker

Today's match was definitely an interesting one.

For starters, I got very little sleep last night. Writing and working, I was up until about 3 AM. So sleepy, in fact, was I when I finally got to bed, I forgot to remove my contact lenses. So when I woke up at 8 AM this morning, my eyes were not pleased in the least. They were dry, and my vision was annoyingly blurry. But after about 30 minutes, things began to look up, and at 8:45 I headed off to the courts.

I got there just on time, and when I went to look at who my opponent was, it was none other than the woman I first played in the league months ago. Awesome, right? Kind of. I was slightly nervous. Here I was, operating on little sleep and less than eager to go out and play tennis for an extended period of time, and I was about to face off with a player who would act as a gauge, in my head, of how far I've come in the league. Have I gotten better? Have I gotten worse? What has changed? What can I change? One match, as I saw it, was about to answer all those questions.

Wonderful.

So we got out on the court, and surprise, surprise, the first set was a bit of a flop. She took it 6-3. But even with the sleepiness and blurred vision, my game should've improved enough by this point to have taken the first set, right? Well, apparently not.

But it was what happened in the second set that salvaged the whole thing for me. I got angry (on the inside, of course). Frustrated, annoyed, and no longer tired, I realized I: 1. was playing with a brand new racquet; 2. had been training for several months now; and 3. was not about to let a lost first set lead to a similar result in the second. And I was definitely not about to let head games and tentative shots, the bane of my tennis existence, prevail - not again.

So I didn't. And I won the set 6-1. So there.

racquet wanted

It's shocking how little there is to do with tennis when you're just thinking about nothing except winning every point
- Andre Agassi

The match is over when you shake hands. Never before.

I was up 5-1 in the first set this morning against a player who I was actually feeling bad about beating so handily. And then it was 5-2, then 5-3, then 5-4. Fortunately, I was so annoyed at myself that sheer adrenaline helped me eek out the sixth game I needed to close it out. But even so, I had wasted so much time losing games in the first set, we didn't even get to finish the second set (league play runs for 1.5 hours, so whatever the score is at the end of that time is what counts...players move up in the ranks based on how many games they win overall, not necessarily how many sets).

Ugh, to say the least. What happened? Was it nerves? Was it over-confidence? Whatever it was, it was unnecessary.

One thing that didn't help, but that I can't fully attribute all the blame to, was my overworked racquet in desperate need of restringing. You're supposed to restring your racquet something like every six months. Ha - I think the last time I restrung mine was 2+ years ago. And for some reason, or so I thought, I was feeling the effects of it more than ever in this match.

Fast forward to my two-hour lesson, I'm playing against my tennis partner with our coach watching and critiquing from the side. Just thinking about how much I need to buy a player's racquet, or at least restring the one I have, is hindering my concentration. It's getting the best of me, and my game is feeling the frustration.

Then *pop*. The ball goes dead after making contact with my racquet, and I turn it over to look. I popped the strings. Craziness!! It was a dorky, first-time-I've-ever-done-that moment. My thoughts went to Pete Sampras, who used to do it frequently during his matches because of how tight his racquets were strung.

Of course, the reason his strings popped were not the same as why it happened to my racquet. It turns out it hadn't been in my head after all. The strings on my racquet were making their last stand, and I was fortunate to have even gotten through the morning's league match.

What to do then - I was on the court with no racquet. Turns out God does work in mysterious ways. My friend went over to her bag and pulled out the Wilson K Factor racquet she bought a month ago. She's taking a break from the game for a bit, plus, isn't too crazy about the racquet because it has way more control than the power she needs. So here, Melissa, you have it for the next three months.

So yeah, now I have a new racquet - kind of, for a little bit =) When I got home, I looked up the racquet. It is, indeed, all about control, and it was, how cool, Justine Henin's weapon of choice.

Let's see what I do with it...

corners, corners, corners

I think the tour should come up with something where they don't let players over 6' 6" play.
- Tommy Haas

My feet hurt. My arms hurt. My head hurts. Everything hurts.

Four hours of tennis in one day isn't exactly a trip to the gym, so I guess I should've expected as much.

The morning started with a match against a decent player who barely edged me out. It was clear I had frustrated her and upset the rhythm of her game. But I should've won. She was decent, not particularly very good, although better than some of the other players I've faced this season. Yet I wasn't horribly disappointed with the results. Part of the reason I haven't been excelling in league play over the past few months is because the game I play in a match stands in stark contrast to the one I play with my coach. I get tentative on shots. My thoughts cloud my actions. I overhit and underhit without really thinking about each point. I play to the level of my opponent, which results in me pushing the ball over the net, and her doing the same, until one of us commits an unforced error.

But this time was different. I felt I was hitting the ball with the power and relaxed strokes I was working on in my lessons. I wasn't shortchanging myself just to win a game. Sure, pushing the ball might win me a few games against a not-so-good player, but what good will that do me when I play someone better?

After the match, then came the two-hour lesson. Another one of my coach's players and me have joined our lessons so that we get to hit against each other. We both seem to suffer from the same tentative-shot-itis that's keeping our game from improving. The extended lesson was awesome. We saw what we were each doing, where our strengths were, and where our weaknesses were holding us back.

My big lesson for the day? Corners. Anywhere but the middle of the court. I have a penchant for playing it safe, just getting to the next point, even if that means sacrificing power and racquet speed. So in our match during the second hour, it was becoming painfully obvious. We were both stuck in the center of the court, where any beginner could easily get to the ball. There was no risk, no threat, no winning shot.

Corners, corners, corners. When I started to hit the ball there, I saw the results. The shots were harder to get to, harder to return. I was hitting winners. But for every corner I hit, I missed three. It felt like I was wailing away precious points.

And it'll probably continue to feel that way, until I get more comfortable with it, until I've done it over and over again. It's a matter of telling myself that it's okay to lose a few games now, only to know that I'll win games later against better players because of what I trained for now.

Ugh, it's just that I hate losing. The center of the court gives me one more chance to win the point. Gunning for the corners of the court involves a certain confidence that the better players have. It requires thought, precision, experience, guts.

Corners, corners, corners.

In a month, maybe two, we'll assess and see how I feel about the whole thing.

nerves on the court

The depressing thing about tennis is that no matter how good I get, I'll never be as good as a wall.
- Mitch Hedberg

So it's been a little more than a month since I've posted, but it hasn't been due to a lack of tennis playing. On the contrary, I've been playing quite a lot of tennis...and doing quite a lot of everything else in the interim (including an Urbanathlon...check out melissanavia.blogspot.com).

In terms of hours on the court, I've been spending approximately 4 hours on the court every week, made up of two lessons, one hour each, 1.5 hours of match play in a league, and give or take 30 minutes to an hour of play with friends. Starting next week, the goal is to increase that number to 6 hours on the court.

The league has been going, well...well. According to my coach, as well as me, I should be doing much better than my scores have been showing. He even watched one of my matches this past week through the viewing window (which didn't help my nerves) to figure out what exactly I was doing that was keeping me from winning every set in a league, he claims, where I should be winning every match rather easily. So he confirmed what we already knew - the strokes and level of play I exhibit in my lessons are far removed from what I deliver in a match. When I play, I not only get tentative on my shots, but I end up matching my opponent's level of play, thereby mitigating the potential of my game to beat hers. Suddenly I'm now pushing the ball over the net, playing it safe, waiting for her to commit an unforced error, rather than hitting a winner crosscourt or down the line. And of course, knowing what I should be doing becomes all too apparent eight shots into a rally, usually quickly followed by a ball hit way wide or slugged into the net.

Sure, it's definitely been some time since I last played competitively, about seven years, but by this point, after doing this for a month already, I should be a little more comfortable out there, right?

And the most irritating part is that I know exactly what I'm doing - getting tentative, just wanting to win each game by any shot, half-assed or not, possible - that's keeping me from improving my match play. But my coach told me something this past Tuesday that put it into perspective and that I think I'll put into practice wholeheartedly next time I'm on the court:

Would you rather win a set knowing that you used half of your potential to just get the ball over the net, thereby just kind of beating an opponent who doesn't train as much or is as good a player as you, or would you rather lose a set knowing that each shot you took was what you were capable of, some of which were the best winners you've hit all season?

I don't plan on my game plateauing at the 3.5 level. So yes, I think I will swing away the next time I'm out there. Win or lose, I can almost guarantee that I'll feel a lot better than I've been feeling after these last few matches. Beating someone who has trouble running down a ball or serving a respectable serve by a score of 7-5 shouldn't leave me relieved.

Relief is not a feeling I should be having at the end of these matches. What I should feel is great. I should feel like I just played an awesome match by my standards. I should feel like a tennis player that just keeps getting better.