SF Tennis Freak

(Third match in the documentation of my 2013 USTA Adult League season)

Date: 4/28/2013
Location: San Francisco Tennis Club
Conditions: Indoors
Doubles or Singles Played: Singles
Personal Match Result: 6-2 6-1 Loss
Team Match Result: 1-4 Loss
Personal Season Record: 1-2

Match Notes: Indoor conditions were at SFTC fine. It was a warm day in SF, so indoors was a little warm and humid.  But that had no bearing on my match, which I can only refer to as a “Slice and Dice” tennis nightmare.

Physically, I felt fine. Mentally, I was miserable after the first few games. I kept telling myself to keep positive, but it was tough because I hate playing matches like this. Always have, and probably always will. I know I shouldn’t joke about gun violence, but all I could think was “Someone please shoot me” with each passing game.

Almost every one of my opponent’s shots landed short, with little to moderate pace and tons of spin. This applied to his serve as well as his groundstrokes. I shanked short balls all over the court, struggling to find a consistent rhythm on my ground game. He wasn’t a bad guy, but his Cuisinart game (and some tight calls on balls before they landed) annoyed and frustrated me from start to finish. I hit a couple of nice shots and service returns, but not enough to get anything going or change the outcome.

Though I was miserable dealing with his unorthodox game, I won’t resort to saying, “I wish he would play ‘real’ tennis” like I’ve heard others say in the same situation. It’s not my opponent’s job to hit balls that are easy for me to tee off on. It’s my job to adapt my game to the situation. I just wish I’d had the patience to do that.

Going forward, I’m sticking with doubles. I realize that dealing with opponents like this one is part of the challenge for singles, but it’s a challenge that holds little interest for me these days. Singles will now be relegated to the practice courts with friends.

The one positive I did take from this match was a successful demo of the new Graphene Head Speed Pro. I started the match with it, but switched back to my regular (and more familiar) Head Speed MP 315 after falling behind 2-5 in the first set. (I should note that I won fewer games with my ‘familiar’ racquet after the switch.) It felt good.  Stay tuned for the racquet review later this week.

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