I had a game today after work, after not playing for three or four weeks. Tom and I have played a couple of times previously, so I more or less knew what to expect. He plays regularly at his club and is very consistent. To be honest, he's a bit better than me, although I don't like to admit it.
The first time we played I had no idea what his level was. You know what it's like - you kind of circle around each other, neither knowing whether what you consider good is the same as the other guy. Some people are naturally confident and reckon they can play a bit when in actual fact they can barely hold a tennis racket, while others play it closer to the chest but turn out to be really good. Anyhow, Tom waited until we stepped onto the court to casually mention that his grandfather had once played for Ireland - at that point I began to suspect I was in for a tough afternoon. As I remember it I lost in three straight sets - can't remember the exact score except that Roger Federer went down earlier that same day by exactly the same scoreline, so I didn't feel too bad!
But today at least I knew what to expect. Tom doesn't try to hit the cover off the ball - he plays the corners very well, keeps it deep, and doesn't make too many mistakes. Solid, but unspectacular. Same with his serve - doesn't serve too many doubles, but not too many aces either, and doesn't mix it up much. He's OK at the net, but doesn't come up much. Actually I reckon he'd be a lot harder to handle if he was a bit more aggressive, but of course I'm not going to tell him that - not as long as he's already beating me consistently!
In the past I've had some success attacking his second serve, which doesn't have anything on it. I've also been able to exert some pressure by playing deep and crosscourt to his backhand (did I mention I'm a lefty?). Not that he has a bad backhand - in fact it's pretty good, but not quite as strong as his forehand side. And the one other thing I've observed is that he prefers the ball coming to him at a decent height with topspin, so I try and slip in a few low slices here and there to mix things up a bit.
So how'd it go? Well, I had a lot of Brad's advice on winning ugly buzzing around in my head and tried to employ some of it, but in retrospect I think it was a bit of a distraction on the court. Tom asked me to serve first (he must have been reading Brad's advice too!) and I played a solid game and won it 40-15, but things went downhill fast after that and I lost the set 6-1! It was bad - I could hardly get a ball in the court for most of the set.
One thing I did remember is the importance of the first two games of the second set - Brad calls them the dictate games. I'm pleased to report I won them both! And then the next two as well. I feel like I was playing better, hitting the ball a bit more freely and making fewer stupid mistakes - hey, I actually managed to get a few balls in! Tom, on the other hand, went walkabout at the same time, so he was probably as much to blame for the scoreline as I was. Anyhow, I wasn't complaining. Unfortunately he managed to get his head back in the game at 5-1, and pulled it back to 6-6. I kept telling myself the whole time "don't blow this lead", but as hard as I tried, I couldn't stop the slide. Credit to Tom - he played some good points/games in there (actually I think we both did, but he came out on top more than I did).
Unfortunately at that point we both had to hit the road to catch our respective rides home, so we didn't get to finish the set or the match! So we'll just have to call it a draw, cos hey, I could still have turned it around - miracles do happen, don't they?
Anyhow, I was pleased with a couple aspects of my game - I went for consistency on my serve and tried to get my first in as much as possible. I have no idea what the percentage was, but I guess a bit above 50% of first serves in? Only two double faults, together with an ace and a few unreturnables add up to a pretty good day serving. I also won a few points in the forecourt with solid volleys, and even hit a good overhead once. But in retrospect I think I was a bit too tentative on my groundstrokes. I was aiming for consistency, but ended up allowing Tom to dictate too many points - that's a tough balancing act that I still need to figure out.
Bottom line is I need to play more - it took me the entire first set to get my eye in, and even then didn't feel all that comfortable on my groundstrokes in the second. Well, hopefully (weather permitting) I'll get to play once or twice a week for the next month or two, so I shall keep you informed how it goes!
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