Another first
Tonight I played in my first ever provincial level tennis tournament. There are so many things going through my head that I'll be spewing random thoughts throughout.
Guy I played was an Ali G pretender complete with red sunglasses! And he wore them during play! But who wants to copy Ali G? He ain't that funny. And this dude didn't even attempt to be funny. Anyway he was tall and lanky and looked to be about my age.
I was kind of nervous even during the warmup and I think all that adrenaline made the excruciating pain of my arm disappear.
Ali G was a pusher. A pusher is someone who plays safe and slow and just waits until his opponent makes a mistake. Many people think it’s a very cheap way to play. I don’t. Anyway you can win short of cheating, is legitimate with me.
-Random thought- The event took place at Mayfair which is a pretty nice fitness club that has all the amenities. Before my match I was watching War of the Worlds while warming up on a stationary bike. I dressed pretty low key with my gym shirt from highschool(representing MT. Oh yes) and I knew everyone else would be wearing the latest crap from Nike, Adidas etc. I just wanted to be low key and put on the ironic facade of "I don't give a shite".
Place had a nice viewing area for spectators that was high up and could view many courts. -End random thought-
So there’s Ali G with his full on Sergio Tacchini outfit and shiny Nike Roger Federer Air Zooms and there I was in my high school gym shirt, and ‘I am Canadian’ shorts.
At the beginning of the match I didn’t know what to do and I was nervous so I would just sit at the baseline and play his pushing game. I went down 1-2 but then I shook the nerves and starting playing aggressively and attacking the net. I never played so well at net in a singles match before. I took the opening set 6-2.
I got very relaxed for the second set and that cost me. My arm began to hurt again from the disappearance of adrenaline and more importantly, I began to have stupid thoughts in my head. I was thinking I was gonna win and what I would tell people “Sorry, I can’t make it for tomorrow, I’ll be protecting my perfect record” and that the tourney organizers would question my presence in a tournament of this level with me playing like the rebirth of one Pete Sampras. And so the second set turned out weird in that no one could hold serve. I would win a point, lose focus and lose the next point. My approach shots became weaker and weaker and Ali G being a pusher was very good at defense and had good lobs. The nervousness also made me much more tired and I would just spin in all my serves instead of hitting bombs like I normally do. If it wasn't for the wandering mind, I would've won that set. But I'm glad I didn't.
So I lost the 2nd set 4-6 and went down Love-3 to start the third. My arm became weaker and weaker so playing the attacking style was no longer an option. There were some long boring loopy rallies in the 3rd that I would often win because as the point went on longer, I’d gain more focus. The problem was that I am not a pusher and I couldn’t go against my nature of attacking but my aggressive shots would go either out or into the net. I saved 2 match points with some incredible shot making but I couldn't keep it up.
Final score after 2hours and 25 minutes: 6-2, 4-6, 3-6. Great experience. Can’t wait for the next tournament.
Oh, one thing I didn’t mention was that I had a blister on my foot from before and by the end of the match my sock was a little bloody. It hurt some but it didn’t really effect me physically. God, I hate making excuses.
Guy I played was an Ali G pretender complete with red sunglasses! And he wore them during play! But who wants to copy Ali G? He ain't that funny. And this dude didn't even attempt to be funny. Anyway he was tall and lanky and looked to be about my age.
I was kind of nervous even during the warmup and I think all that adrenaline made the excruciating pain of my arm disappear.
Ali G was a pusher. A pusher is someone who plays safe and slow and just waits until his opponent makes a mistake. Many people think it’s a very cheap way to play. I don’t. Anyway you can win short of cheating, is legitimate with me.
-Random thought- The event took place at Mayfair which is a pretty nice fitness club that has all the amenities. Before my match I was watching War of the Worlds while warming up on a stationary bike. I dressed pretty low key with my gym shirt from highschool(representing MT. Oh yes) and I knew everyone else would be wearing the latest crap from Nike, Adidas etc. I just wanted to be low key and put on the ironic facade of "I don't give a shite".
Place had a nice viewing area for spectators that was high up and could view many courts. -End random thought-
So there’s Ali G with his full on Sergio Tacchini outfit and shiny Nike Roger Federer Air Zooms and there I was in my high school gym shirt, and ‘I am Canadian’ shorts.
At the beginning of the match I didn’t know what to do and I was nervous so I would just sit at the baseline and play his pushing game. I went down 1-2 but then I shook the nerves and starting playing aggressively and attacking the net. I never played so well at net in a singles match before. I took the opening set 6-2.
I got very relaxed for the second set and that cost me. My arm began to hurt again from the disappearance of adrenaline and more importantly, I began to have stupid thoughts in my head. I was thinking I was gonna win and what I would tell people “Sorry, I can’t make it for tomorrow, I’ll be protecting my perfect record” and that the tourney organizers would question my presence in a tournament of this level with me playing like the rebirth of one Pete Sampras. And so the second set turned out weird in that no one could hold serve. I would win a point, lose focus and lose the next point. My approach shots became weaker and weaker and Ali G being a pusher was very good at defense and had good lobs. The nervousness also made me much more tired and I would just spin in all my serves instead of hitting bombs like I normally do. If it wasn't for the wandering mind, I would've won that set. But I'm glad I didn't.
So I lost the 2nd set 4-6 and went down Love-3 to start the third. My arm became weaker and weaker so playing the attacking style was no longer an option. There were some long boring loopy rallies in the 3rd that I would often win because as the point went on longer, I’d gain more focus. The problem was that I am not a pusher and I couldn’t go against my nature of attacking but my aggressive shots would go either out or into the net. I saved 2 match points with some incredible shot making but I couldn't keep it up.
Final score after 2hours and 25 minutes: 6-2, 4-6, 3-6. Great experience. Can’t wait for the next tournament.
Oh, one thing I didn’t mention was that I had a blister on my foot from before and by the end of the match my sock was a little bloody. It hurt some but it didn’t really effect me physically. God, I hate making excuses.
posted by ds @ 12:49 AM
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