Canyon Creek Super Champ - 1st Match Aug 30, 2014
Game Plan: Improve my competitiveness.
Preparation: My first opponent that I will be playing in my upcoming tournament holds a lot higher ranking than I do (74 vs 9). A peer who has played her before informed me of her big serve, big game, and overall the status of my opponent being one of the top players in the nation. The weather would average in the 90s, the mornings would be tolerable and the afternoons would be scorching. My first match was scheduled in the morning so I would have a little relief from the heat.
1st set:
To be honest I was extremely nervous going in to the match after our warm up started. She hit a good ball and I was having trouble rallying with her through the middle of the court. She won the toss and chose a side, which I didn’t quite understand why since it was extremely cloudy outside and the sun was no where to be seen. I chose to serve first. I was also a bit worried about my serve because I have been having trouble getting my first serve in for the past few weeks in practice ever since a coach tried to add more mileage to it, it was something that I could not quite figure out. I made more first serves than I usually did per game and I made a majority of my second serves. At first I was worried that she would attack all my second serves for a winner or put a lot of pressure on me with an aggressive off the court shot, but I was able to handle her return well by anticipating a heavy shot and staying low. My first serve would also either put her in uncomfortable situation or force an error off of her. She was missing a lot overall. Her first serve percentage was extremely low, I think she only made a few in the whole set. As for her ground strokes, she would eventually hit the ball out long when we got into a cross-court rally. Despite my warm up, I handled her ball very well and was able to attack her with deep cross court ground strokes. Her forehand and backhand were pretty equal regarding depth, power, and placement, but her forehand was missing a lot more. My strategy was to get into as many forehand rallies as I could, her confidence was greater in backhand rallies. I won the set 6–0.
2nd set:
During the break in between sets, my opponent took an extremely long bathroom break. I made the mistake of sitting and waiting for my opponent the entire time instead of keeping my mind engaged and heart rate up. Although I do regret my mistake, it gave me the opportunity to learn from it. I had the momentum in the first set, but it was broken by the bathroom break. She came back playing a lot better as well, she was astonishingly more consistent. She composed herself and was able to get back to playing her game. A smart tactic from my opponent that I would implement to my tennis game as well. Half way through the set I was able to get back into the game as we exchanged long rallies and tough points. We were both running each other and grinding out cross courts. My service game this set ran shy of hers as I made less first serves and she made at least 3 to 4 a game. This was a huge advantage to her since her serve was huge and I had trouble returning it. I fought hard, but I lost the set 1–6.
3rd set:
My plan for the 3rd set was to fight hard and to play relaxed. She played the same in the 3rd set as she did in the second set. I played better than I did in the 2nd set, most likely because I was more relaxed. I was able to deal with her first serve a little better by shortening my racquet swing and leaning into it with my body, but she would still hit serves that were out of my returnable reach. Towards the later half of the set, I was able to figure out something with my serve and made every serve with unbelievable power and precision. This helped me stay in the set longer. We exchanged quality rallies and points as we constantly reached deuce. I fought the hardest I could and in the end she pulled it off where it mattered. She won the 3rd set and thus the match, 0–6, 6–1, 6–3.
Take away:
- Learned a new strategy “Bathroom Break” — to focus and compose yourself and to change the momentum
- Learned to counter the “Bathroom Break” strategy
- Gained confidence to compete with better players
- Need to work on first serve percentage
- Need to work on staying relaxed and positive
- Learned something that helps me relax “Genuine enjoying the moment smile or thought”
- Need to work on returns and first step