Today we have gone through the third match against Causeway Bay team. It seems that it is more fun to most of us - because we have won most of the matches?
To me, I had a good start with Peter against Bruce and Kenneth(?) in the first men's double.
They actually performed better during the practicing time, and Peter and I thought that we would have a tough game. However, it turned out that the opponents were unfortunately more nervous than us and we won quickly.
The lesson is that a good start is important to a match, no matter you have better skill or worse skill. The pyscological effect may be enormous and vital!
Of course, I could serve well and hold serve in the first game were crucial (really? ha ha).
Well, we had a comfortable win today, but I was still not satisfied that I didn't play many winners, as most of the winning points were from the mistakes of the opponents. I did win some points by volley, but several of them were done with bad timing (shame!). Two smashes were badly handle so that it didn't win the point at once, nor put any pressure to the opposite side, bla bla bla. Anyway, I played more stable today and I lost less points than the alst matches, that's what I can say about my performance today.
Peter played excellent. As usual his volley skill won us a lot of precious points at the right time, and his serve was dangerous too, which created several easy chances for my rusty volleys. I was glad that Peter also enjoyed the match same as me. (see, that's what a good partner shall say, we praise each other likes we believe each other (hmm, actually we ignore each other) on court.
I also enjoyed the hittings after all the matches, the 3 x 3 games, in which I hit and hit with all my powers, and I had the feeling that I could (almost) hit the balls to anywhere that I wanted to, that I had total control of the ball (of course, my forehand ground strokes only), such wonderful feeling makes me can't stop loving tennis!
On the other hand, the feeling of winning the match today is just so so. It was just like a dream......something you just stood there and did nothing special and then you won, so lucky, so unreal?
I sometimes think that I was too late / old to start tennis, that I could never attain a high level but rather be only an amateur player, so winning or losing is never an important factor in my game. I won't feel particularly sad or mad if I lose, but I feel disappointed if I play badly.
Finally, sorry that I could not join the dinner today, it should be fun to have beer after a winning tournament, a lot fo chit chats? However, I promised my sons to bring them to ToysRus to pick up some legos, and I could not let them down or otherwise they would not allow me to play tennis any more, you know, the result is very serious......
Vicky, please tell me that bill of the beer tonight, I will pay for it (even though I remembered at a later stage that the City Hall charges $25 / can!).
Well done today, Tin Kwong Team!
Hope you enjoy your tennis likes me today!
(isn't it a bit lengthly come to here and I better to stop right here!)
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The Tennis Competition Fun Day 2006 (Part I)
Now I have time to sit down and reviewed the matches…actually was too tired to concentrate on work on a Monday like this…just had sunny day tennis yesterday, and I felt very exhausted after the heat…after all for the whole week I did not exercise at all. I had a serious headache when I got home last night, this morning the tiredness still lingers on.
I felt I really had good team-mates, especially after reading Stanley’s “The Third Match” that someone is so care about his performance and had a good review afterwards. I think that though others didn’t “write” anything, by discussion and sharing during dinner I knew that people had gained valuable experience from the competition.
I performed, as expected, marginally below average, both physically and mentally. The fact that my previous exposure in playing the Summer League helped a lot in my evaluation of opponents quickly, probably within 2 games. However, I also raised my standard of performance just because I had competition experience, so I rated myself to be below average.
Physically I was haunted by the back pain. Movements to right-hand side and to the back are relatively hard for me. Successes in volley are poor; movements near the net are slower than before. I should have limited my movements around the base line area where I had more steady and reliable performance…movement into the front / net is much easier for me but I didn’t make the adjustment promptly. The First Match was a nightmare, with Tim’s powerful and accurate overhead, we ended up in a defense position. We couldn’t take advantage of female opponent, which was a common tactic in mixed doubles, as her performance was raised by her partner’s high percentage winners. Ivan’s more aggressive shots did help to get a few games back but was too late…their momentum couldn’t be stopped.
The 2nd Match seemed to be an easy game at the beginning. Walker was not as good as when he was practicing. By contrast, Martha was more difficult to tackle…she is more steady and confident than her partner. Surprisingly, Walker’s base line was not quite steady. In the last 3 games, it was always the cross-court base line between Walker and me…Ivan was guarding the net – a big threat/pressure to Walker who made a couple of unforced errors as a result. There are not a lot of winners…winning is only because of the opponents’ mistakes. Martha was too nervous to serve in the last game that we took the match easily.
The 3rd Match, probably that’s the easiest one. I called Ivan two days before the match…my waist pain intensified so I had to alert him of my limited movements and how we could complement each other…I think that communication is very important and should happen at the right timing to be effective. It was not a physically demanding match at all as the result showed – Rebecca was very nervous, coupled with her volatile shots, it was a one-sided match. But the match was an emotionally challenging one for me, which I will describe in Part II later…now I have to go back to work!!
Vicky Chuck
18th September 2006
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