Frustrating Loss Today
I played in a tournament today and went in pretty confident since I've been winning a lot lately in practice matches and had been hitting well.
In fact the first set was going well. I was up 4-0. He was one of those guys who just blindly tries to hit hard, and I really didn't have to do much before he overhit and his shot went out.
But then at 4-0, he started giving me junk and and was chipping, drop shotting and moon-balling EVERYTHING. In other words, he started playing a "Pusher's" game. The most frustrating thing was that I knew what he was doing, and yet I still lost the entire match 6-4; 7-5 (I was also up 4-2 in the 2nd set).
I'm not a sore loser, and he legitimately won. Plus it's just a tennis match, not the end of the world. I'll get over it. But i'm just mad at myself. I knew the whole time what was going on, and yet I still lost it.
Ok, just had to rant for a bit. Glad I got that out of my system
In fact the first set was going well. I was up 4-0. He was one of those guys who just blindly tries to hit hard, and I really didn't have to do much before he overhit and his shot went out.
But then at 4-0, he started giving me junk and and was chipping, drop shotting and moon-balling EVERYTHING. In other words, he started playing a "Pusher's" game. The most frustrating thing was that I knew what he was doing, and yet I still lost the entire match 6-4; 7-5 (I was also up 4-2 in the 2nd set).
I'm not a sore loser, and he legitimately won. Plus it's just a tennis match, not the end of the world. I'll get over it. But i'm just mad at myself. I knew the whole time what was going on, and yet I still lost it.
Ok, just had to rant for a bit. Glad I got that out of my system
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Mark / The Mayor on
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You and me both. I can be really frustrating to lose, especially when you feel you have the better "game". It happens to me a lot too. In my case, I get tight, and my feet don't move as well and my racquet speed gets too slow. I KNOW IT IS HAPPENING but it seems impossible to hit my way out of it once it starts. When you say, "I knew the whole time what was going on, and yet I still lost it." Is that what you are talking about?
M
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Permalink Reply by Terence on
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Yeah, when I said "I knew the whole time...", that's exactly what I mean. I knew full well that he had adopted a pusher's strategy and I knew that I was falling for it despite all my best efforts. It was like I had no control over my body.
I also realized that it was like he had read Brad Gilbert's Winning Ugly, cover to cover. Here were some of the things he did:
- feed me junk shots with no pace that landed in No Man's land in the middle of the court.
- allowed me to serve first (this trick didn't work well, since I always won the 1st game)
- tried to mess with the pace of the match. He sometimes walked to the corner, while I just stood there waiting so that I could serve. or he'd try to speed me up too
- when receiving my serve, he would jump around and move in all different directions. He also sometimes stood right on the server's line sometimes too.
I was just mad at myself for letting this all get to me. But I'm just so mad that I lost this match. I was still so upset about it the next day that I pretty much shanked my consolation match. I should have gotten over it, but I had been looking forward to this tournament. i had been playing well and had a lot of confidence. But out on the court yesterday and today, I felt like I didn't know how to play.
anyhow, it's just a tennis match. nothing that a strong drink won't fix. And next time I'm out on the court, I know what to work on.
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