Back on the Saddle

Keeping with the whole point with the blog I decided it was finally time to finally get on the court and see what skills I still had left.

On Sunday I played my good friend and roommate. Cory was the second best tennis player on our high school team, and someone I have never been able to beat in a tennis match. We have probably played over 200 times but alas, he has my number.

We are going to try and play at least once every week and how I end up doing in the match every week should give me the best indicator of how my tennis game is coming along from week to week. Also, since Cory is one of the most consistent tennis players I know, the results should stay constant.

For this particular match I didn't wanna try any new strategies or equipment I just wanted to go out and hit for the first time in awhile and see what I still had left in the tank. As far as my game goes I use an eastern grip on the racquet on the forehand side, and the continental grip for my serves, backhand, and volleys. These are two of the most standard grips and I want to try and explain them in a later post, but for now on to the match.

We started playing at around 2 in the afternoon and we both used the same tennis racquets we always do. Cory used the Yonex RDS 001 while I stuck with my usual frame the Head Flexpoint Radical. These two racquets are pretty similar in weight and headsize, but the shape of the head of the two racquets are completely. This slight fact does matter alot in identifying how each racquet plays.

Cory and I agreed on a best of three sets match, with me serving first. The match could not have started any better for me. After a couple month layoff from the game all together I won the first game to take a 1-0 lead in the first set after serving a couple un-returned bombs to my opponents backhand (the clearly weaker part of his game).

After the confidence I gained from my first game victory I could have experienced a let down in the second game. However, Cory double faulted three out of the four points putting me up 2-0 in the set.

The next game Cory finally got on the board with a couple unforced errors off my forehand. 2-1. Cory kept the double faults coming in the next game and I was able to break his serve and take a 3-1 lead in the first set.

I could not consolidate my insurance break of his serve by losing a tight game. On break point I thought i had put a forehand away by hitting behind Cory to the add side of the court. He surprisingly cut back and got a piece of the ball, having it hit the net chord, and barely bouncing over on my side.

Luckiest shot I have ever seen.

I blew the next point by shanking a forehand, 3-2.

Cory's serving was still awful and I was able to break him and go up 4-2. At this point I was feeling very good about my prospects to maybe win my first match against Cory, and then....


DISASTER STRUCK!!!!!


I ended up losing the next four games, giving away the set. The next set was even worse because I could not even manage to win a single game falling 0-6 to Cory and losing the match in pretty embarassing fashion.

Final Score: 4-6, 0-6

It felt really good to come out and play for the first time in awhile, but I discovered just how rusty I really was. The fact that I could not muster a single game in the second set might be a sign of how unfit I am and how that might be the first thing I need to work on. Next week I am going to try and change my strategy and see if I can't put up a more respectable score. Instead of trying to beat him with my ground strokes, I want to try and impliment a serve and volley game. I will explain more about how to play serve and volley tennis in a later post, and what makes it different from my normal style. Hopefully switching my strategies will put me over the top!