Tennis League Season 2, Match 4

My match this past Tuesday evening gave me a little insight into how Federer must have felt playing Djokovic in Miami. Blustery conditions do not make for good tennis, and my opponent definitely had better control of the ball in the wind than I did. I don't think I've double faulted as many times in a league match, even in my first season, and my backhand went long 9 out of 10 times. The final score was 1-6, 3-6.

The best part of the match was the entertainment value when the tennis balls were flying in all sorts of odd directions. My opponent has a great personality, so we were just laughing about it all throughout. I did make one really nice aggressive volley, and intimidated a few of her shots into the net when I approached for more volleys later. I also did a few nice passing shots when she got to the net, and my forehand preparation and placement was good, in spite of the wind.

Here's an idea of what it was like throughout the match. Sorry for the quality, as it was taken with my cell phone. It was like this from the time I started practicing my serve 30 minutes prior to the match, until about 10 minutes after we were finished playing. If the gusts were always going in one direction, it might have been easier to handle, but instead, it was going every direction at random. Some of my double faults were from my ball toss being pushed right back down at me while I was mid swing. There was no chance of getting a rhythm, and when it was calm, we still missed shots because we were used to hitting them against or into the wind.


I'm looking forward to a good, windless match next week (according to the forecast). I'm hoping for a winning comeback, as it's my last match before my honeymoon! :)

Kristi
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