[Grabcopy]

Well, I see on the WTA shot that they prepare very early. That's one of the things my coach warned me against. He says I was standing with my racket back, waiting for the ball. He says it has to be one continuous motion - so you take the racket back in a loop when the ball bounces and keep the movement going.

[Grabcopy]

Eh? That's all horseshit.

early preparation is a good thing, especially when you're playing at a higher level with people who hit the ball hard and fast.

That's what I thought.

[invisibleman18]

I am about to give inter-club competition a go again after a 3 and a half year absence. I played regularly from 2005 to 2011. Had mixed success in Auckland up until 2009, winning about half the time and not often getting thrashed too badly which I was happy enough with for a low social level.

But after moving to Wellington in 2009 and joining the club nearest to where I first lived it was another story. Have posted further back in this thread but basically their lowest team was still at a fairly competitive level (division 3 of 6) which proved way too high for me. I won my first doubles and singles (matches are in teams of 4 with everyone playing a doubles and singles) and after that got thrashed every week in 2009/10 summer and 2010/11 summer. Barely won even a game most weeks, let alone going close to a set and in the 2 seasons only managed to win 1 set in a doubles match we ultimately lost in 3.

Then got a bad back injury in the 2011 football season so didn't play that summer and had to take 2012 off sport. Got though the 2013 football season OK before going back to tennis at the end of last year joining a new club in the area I'm now living. Have been playing at weekly club nights for the last year and now feel like giving it a go again. Also with it being a brand new and not existing team (due to a few new members around my age and the club not having had a men's team for a few years) we have to start at the bottom in division 6 so looking forward to hopefully some competitive matches this time. We have some quite good players who should be playing higher and they'll probably win easily most weeks, but I'm not thinking about winning yet, I'm just hoping for some decent close matches.

[invisibleman18]

Well that was better than expected. Beautiful day, sun, no clouds and no wind. One of the best days since I've live in Wellington. Won the doubles 6-1 6-2 with no real drama. We were 5-0 up in the second and had a little hiccup getting the last game but pretty comfortable in the end. I hoped it would be a more suitable level for me but hadn't expect such a big victory straight away.

Singles wasn't quite as straightforward. Was a real good battle which is what I'd hoped for. I've never been able to hit a lot of quick winners so long rallies and staying in the point has usually been my thing. I fell 2-0 down at the start but clawed back and went 3-2 ahead and eventually took the set 6-4. Second set I got to 5-2 up but it was a lot closer than that sounds with most games going to deuce and mostly long points. Got a match point then of course he smashed down his only un-returnable serve of the day and then held for 5-3, then I failed to serve it out so it went to 5-4. Was really hot by this stage and I was starting to die and had very little left. The other guy was coping a lot better and he was really fast, any time I hit something I thought was a winner he somehow got there and got it back. There's no way I'd have won a third set. Luckily managed to break the next game to take it 6-4 6-4.

So first doubles and singles wins for 5 years (albeit with a 3 and a half year absence from competitive matches). Great feeling!

Team won 5-1 overall with only my doubles partner losing his singles.

[invisibleman18]

I see there hasn't been any activity in here since I last posted a couple of years ago. That first season I posted about above went fairly well. Managed a couple more singles wins and won more than I lost in doubles. The next summer was an improvement winning most weeks in doubles and about half of my singles matches (I'm decent at the net so usually tend to do better in doubles).

Made a great start to this season on Saturday. Played with a new doubles partner after my previous partner changed clubs to play in a higher grade and we won the first set then lost our way a bit and lost the 2nd but won the super tiebreak to take the match 6-3 1-6 10-6.

Had a great and long singles match. Started poorly and went down 4-1 pretty quickly, then managed to come back and lead 5-4 to serve for the set but cocked that up and lost it 7-5. Second set started out very even with some long rallies and long games, and again I served for the set at 5-4 and this time took it. Third set he was struggling and I could see I had the fitness over him, so instead of going for anything big I just tried to keep the points going and move him from side to side which worked and I took it 6-0 for a 2 hour 5-7 6-4 6-0 win.

Pretty happy considering we had moved up a grade after coming 2nd last year. Think it's only the 2nd time I've ever won a singles set 6-0 too. Third set was all about fitness, not so much me being that much better than him. I used to just play either tennis or football (depending on season) once or twice a week with a practice and a match and not do much else, but over the last year or so I've been doing a lot of gym and general fitness stuff on my non-sport days and it paid off this week. Last season I went to a 3rd set 4 times in singles and lost all of them so great to finally win a long one.

Anyone else playing?

[invisibleman18]

Got on a bit of a roll the last couple of weeks. Last week had a couple of long matches. Won an hour and a half doubles match 6-7 6-3 10-5 then a marathon 2 and a half hour singles match 6-4 4-6 7-6 (7-3 in the tiebreak). Match seemed to go on and on forever. Was 4-2 down in the first set and came back to take it 6-4. Second set I very quickly went down 4-0 then made a comeback to 4-5 but couldn't quite get level. Then got up 5-4 in the 3rd set and cocked up serving for the match, then broke and again messed up serving for it at 6-5. Thankfully had enough to get over the line in the tiebreak. Opponent was ranked about 1800 places above me in NZ (I'm about 6800 and he was around 5000) so think it was probably my best ever win.

Today had another long doubles match winning 6-2 4-6 10-8. And won singles 6-4 7-5 so another good battle. First set was some of the best tennis I've ever played. Was finding winner after winner, particularly with the backhand down the line which is my strongest shot. Raced to a 5-1 lead which is not a position I've found myself in very often, then had an epic game on his serve going to about 8 deuces, which included 3 sets points I couldn't take. Then he started playing a lot better and broke and held quickly and I got myself into a bit of a panic and went down 0-30 trying to serve for it a 2nd time and managed to calm down enough to come back and win it.

Second set was even all the way to 5-5 then I broke. Got into another mess going down 15-40 serving for it and managed to get the next 4 points to win it. Opponent was ranked about 800 places above me and had not lost a singles match this season so it's another big win.

It's nice to finally be getting over the line in these close battles this season. Last season went to a 3rd set 4 times in singles and lost all of them.

[invisibleman18]

Playing away at quite a posh club I've never played at tomorrow. Apparently they have 5 courts including 2 grass ones. Didn't realise there were any real grass courts in NZ as I've never seen one, so hoping we get to play on them if there are no other matches on there.

[scotnadian]

I've moved up about 400 places in national rankings since last year and my opponent was 2400 places above me so can't expect to have done that much better. Looks like it's going to be a grade too high for me but hopefully helps me improve more.

Well done, you.