July 14, 2006

Tennis 7-13

Another instance of the weekly tennis match with Mitch, a formor co-worker. He's a bit more than 20 years older than I am, and rather more out of shape than I, so it's not suprising that he's yet to take a set from me.

The sets last night went 6-1, 6-1, in a reversal of our recent trend which features me losing the first three out of four games. I've generally turned it around after that point because a)my serve is starting to be in, b)I'm paying more attention, and, eventually c)Mitch slows down.

The night is easily broken down into 3 distinct parts.

Games 1-5: I went 5-0. I was getting a decent amount of first serves in, but without much pace or spin, I was pretty well focused and didn't try to hit shots that were beyond my ability level. Mitch seemed a bit tired, and didn't seem to be paying attention all that well. I hit one lucky-as-hell drop shot that almost sat on the tape before dropping off right into the corner on the other side of the net.

Games 6-9: 2-2. At the beginning of game 6, Mitch notes that he has nothing to lose and starts playing with more vigor. His shots have a lot more pace than I'd been used to seeing that night. I quickly think that we might have a good match after all. I don't remember the seventh game all that well, but I think he pushed it to duece before I served out the first set. I broke his serve on the next game, after a whole bunch of break chances; the pace he was putting on the ball, and now the placement he was getting had me trying shots that I really oughtn't. He breaks me back the next game by really putting pressure on my second serve, and making good shots when I don't make them myself. Halfway through the fourth game of this section , I ask why he hasn't been playing like this before. He says that he just can't keep it up, and can't count on the shots falling. I think he's wrong about this, but keep my mouth shut. Hey, I like winning. I end up breaking him back; he's tiring a bit or is believing his comment.

Games 10-14: 5-0. It's mostly back the the start, with the added bonus of me hitting cross court shots a lot better, both on the return and during rallys. Mitch isn't the fleetest of foot, so there's no real chance for him to pull anything out at this point.