Topic: MoDaisy - Tennis Journal

[MoDaisy]

I am a fairly new tennis player.   I have been playing for just about 1 year now. At the risk of boring you all I am going to give an update on my tennis to date. Then I can update you more regularly.

In my first competitive season I played T2 Tennis. It is a season of 5 matches and you have 1 partner. You can schedule the matches whenever you would like. We played at the 2.5- level and won all but 1 of our matches. We advanced to the City Finals and were scheduled to play the one team that beat us in division play but I could not make the League scheduled Championship match and our opponent would not allow it to be rescheduled.

My second season was on an ALTA team. 16 players joined and we entered the league at the lowest level C8. Many of the players on this team were BRAND NEW players and we did OK in the season. We won 12 of 30 possible points but learned an awful lot.

My 3rd season was another T2 Tennis season at the 2.5 level and me and my partner won all 5 matches with an 87% game win record.    I could not work out my schedule to OPT IN to the City Playoffs so that is were we ended. We are now forced to play at 3.0

I am currently in my 2nd ALTA season and my team is playing the C8 level again. We are currently in second place in our division and have won 14 of 20 possible points. Our last match was against the #1 team. We only took 2 points from them so they currently have a 2 point lead on us. The really great news about this season is my in my game. I have only lost serve 1 time this season. Unfortunately it was at a critical time in the match and we ended up losing that match.    

This weekend we play another tough opponent and I think that they are in 3rd right now. We had a rain out Saturday and some of the teams are still making the matches up. I think that our team has a great chance of placing 2nd in the division and advancing to the City Playoffs. The best news is that we should also move up a level or 2 as a result of our record right now.

I will also play USTA tennis this summer. I am currently organizing a team to play at the 3.0 level.
I will keep you all posted on the results as they are in.

[Tennis4you]

The USTA leagues rock.  What format do they make you play down there?  In the summer we are 3 courts of doubles and 1 court of singles.  In the winter we are 3 coulrts of doubles and 2 courts of singles.

It is good that you got bumped up to 3.0.  The better competition will only make you better.  Start scouting the 3.5's now. : )

[Arcforce]

Wow, I really like the type of competition you were getting to play in. I really wish I could find a really competitive league with  juniors around my city but it seems like t hey're nonexistant. All the good players either go to a clinic every week or just play a ton of tournaments. if you wanna get some good playing in, that's really the only way. But I like to hear you're getting in a lot of competitive tennis.

Good luck moving up the ranks

[MoDaisy]

Our match this weekend just got more interesting. Our opponent for this weekend swept their opponents from last weekend and they are now in second by 1 point. We are going to need at least 3 to be tied but I really would like for us to take all 5 lines.

My partner and I are playing Line 1 and we have not lost a match together in 13 attempts. Actually we have not lost a set in 26. If we do not take care of business this weekend I cannot see how we will make it to the playoffs but there will be hope. So we are just going to have to do it.

We do have strong lines all the way down to 5 and I think that we should do well. Last week we played the #1 team and each of the 3 points that we lost were in 3rd sets. I think that shows that we are very competitive. The #1 team said that has not trouble with this team so we should do well.

I have been getting ready by serving about an hour day the last 3 days and 1 practice session on Wednesday night. I have noticed something on my serve that I like but I am getting sore in my lower back. I am not sure how to describe what I am doing but let me just say that it is adding velocity to my flat serve and a little control. I hit about 70% with in 1 foot of my target last night. My personal goal for the match is to hold serve every time. I would like to end the season with only one lost serve.

[Chris1987]

How old are you MoDaisy?(you don't need to say if you don't want) and how often do you play now? You seem to be really improving and on an upward rise from what I've read from you in this section.

[MoDaisy]

I started tennis later in life. I am 35. I have formal practice once a week for about 1 1/2 hours. We usually par off and play a set or 2 if enough people can hang around. 2 times per week I serve for about an hour while my daughter is at basketball practice. I have nothing else to do and I would like to increase the speed and control of my serve. In my current league play I have a match every Saturday for at least the next 3 Saturday's and hopefully beyond if we make the playoff's.

[Tennis4you]

Our match this weekend just got more interesting. Our opponent for this weekend swept their opponents from last weekend and they are now in second by 1 point. We are going to need at least 3 to be tied but I really would like for us to take all 5 lines.

My partner and I are playing Line 1 and we have not lost a match together in 13 attempts. Actually we have not lost a set in 26. If we do not take care of business this weekend I cannot see how we will make it to the playoffs but there will be hope. So we are just going to have to do it.

We do have strong lines all the way down to 5 and I think that we should do well. Last week we played the #1 team and each of the 3 points that we lost were in 3rd sets. I think that shows that we are very competitive. The #1 team said that has not trouble with this team so we should do well.

I have been getting ready by serving about an hour day the last 3 days and 1 practice session on Wednesday night. I have noticed something on my serve that I like but I am getting sore in my lower back. I am not sure how to describe what I am doing but let me just say that it is adding velocity to my flat serve and a little control. I hit about 70% with in 1 foot of my target last night. My personal goal for the match is to hold serve every time. I would like to end the season with only one lost serve.

Good luck with your match, I hope you nail all of your points needed!  If your back is getting achy you might just be over-working it, that is a lot of serves you are hitting.  I would not hit any serves the day before your match, rest that muscle.  Do you serve and volley in double or do you stay back?

[MoDaisy]

The match today (in about 2 hours) just got more important. The team that we are playing has finally posted all of their Week 4 results and they took 5 points which moves them into second. They are 1 point up on us. Obviously we need to take at least 3 points to walk out tied but I really want to see us up 1 or 2 points.

We have a very tight race going on in my division. There are 4 teams that are within 2 points of 1st place going into the last 3 weeks. There will be some points cannibalized as all 4 of the teams have to face 1 or 2 of the other teams. This is a very interesting 3 weeks.
 
Regardless of our division standings we are still strong candidates for the playoffs. There are 3 divisions so the top 2 go and then the next 2 with the highest points go as "at large" teams. We are currently 3 points up in the at large category. I am just covering bases here as I know that we will take at least 2nd in our division.

If you are bored and want to watch the race here is a link to the standings page.

http://altatennis.net/alta/other_services/division_standings.asp

We are:
2006
Men
Spring
C
08
1

[Chris1987]

Good luck today MoDaisy, glad that you take take something from my match, hopefully if you need it, it will inspire you. Your matches today sound pretty important so I'm interested to hear the outcome of these.

[MoDaisy]

We had a bitter / sweet day with a little more of the bitter added in. Here is the quick version: My partner and I won 5-7 6-2 7-5 in a well played and very competitive match.

My team lost the rest of the points so we have slipped to 4th place. We still have a chance to take 3rd which would give us a playoff birth.

Here are some of the interesting things about yesterday. I got to the courts at 8:30 for a 9:00 start. The entire other team was already there and had been there since before 8:15. One of the guys on my team was there and was watching them for a while. All he kept saying was how good they looked and that we were doomed. I let that get into my head and it showed as 4 of my teammates warmed up together. I was intimidated at that time.

Well I calmed down as we started and we had a lot of fun playing some tennis. They took an early lead of 1-0 and then they broke my serve. This was the second time that has happened this season. This was not hard to do yesterday as my serve was off. They won the 3rd point and we were quickly down 3-0. We battled back here and there but ended up down 5-7 in the end of the first set.

My partner and I came together and decided that we needed to get a little more aggressive. We decided that we would both get to the net ASAP and force them to make errors. This proved to a very good strategy as they could NOT Lob. The pressure started getting to them and we started breaking their serve. We also decided that we would start signaling on our serves. My partner usually does not like the poaching and movement that comes with signals but he was in an aggressive mood. He asked me to go on his 1st and 2nd serve. Well this was also working very well on the Deuce side but the Add side was still giving us some problems. He was a lefty and took the ally many times when we poached. We lined up Australian once and he had never seen that before but he easily took the very corner of the ally. We found that we needed to line up more towards the center of the court as a show but break to the ally as soon as the ball hit. This worked very well as he thought the ally would be open but we were breaking there. Once he learned what we were doing he was "over thinking" his shots and we were forcing some errors. We ended up taking them quickly in the 2nd at 6-2.

The 3rd set was the most fun that I have ever had while playing tennis. It was a BATTLE till the end. They were on serve and took point 1. I served next and it was 1-1. Everyone held serve until we were 5-5. We broke them first and went up 6-5. My partner was on serve and we took a quick and demanding 40-Love lead. They battled back to 40-30. My partner missed his 1st serve and then nailed his 2nd. The return went off the top of the returner's racket and that was the end of a hard fought match.

We have the weakest team next week and should take all 5 points. The team that will be in 3rd this week faces the number 1 team so we are hoping that they are held to 1 point max. If so we go into the last week to face them either tied or down 1. That week will make our season.

[Chris1987]

Well done MoDaisy on your great doubles result, sounds like a great match and a really good comeback after the 1st set setback. You made a great decision to start to be more aggressive and change it up, it certainly worked for you as you were able to get back into the match and go onto win. It's great to hear you say you have never enjoyed playing tennis as much as in the 3rd set, that's brilliant to hear because if you enjoy the tighter situations like that, it will certainly help you relax and that sets many players apart, so that's great to hear. Also when you get to the courts and you're told that the team players for the opposition are really good or they look really good, don't be intimidated at all by them. Just think that they are in the same league as me so they can't be that much better than me. I think that will help you when you are playing against the best couple of teams. Shame about the other results for your team but you should be proud of your own personal performance in the doubles and should look to next week now, but don't take that team lightly just because they are bottom, don't go in thinking you will win whatever happens, be really confident about the match up as that is needed but don't under- estimate them too much, just incase they get on a role come next week and surprise you when you're not expecting it. Best of luck for next week and keep up the good work.

[MoDaisy]

We had a good practice session last night. We always start off with King of the Court. 2 people are appointed King and then we pair off. The King's have to lose 3 points to be moved down to rotation. It was a fun drill. I get placed with random partners so I only count this as warm-up but I did take the Court 2X in the drill. We moved on to cross court competition against one person. And then to cross court returns with a net approach. That has fun.

After practice we paired off and played a set. My partner and I were down 0-3 but fought back to 3-3 then lost 3 straight. We bother cracked open a beer just before we started so that may have caused the lose. Anyway - That is just practice.

Here is an early version of our weekend. We are in 4th place with 15 points. We play the weakest team (taking nothing for granted) and should take 4-5 points this weekend. The #3 team has 19 points and they play the #1 team. Our weekend dream would be to take 5 points and have them only take 1 or NONE. That puts us up 1 or tied and we play them the last game of the season. That will be a FUN MATCH. We both we be fighting for playoff hopes.

We have a 3 division flight and #1 & #2 go to playoffs and 2 at large teams with the best records are invited. The only thing that I do not like is that both of the at large teams must come from different divisions.

[MoDaisy]

We have created a dilemma that I probably can not explain fully here but I will try. This is a very important week for our team and we NEED to take all 5 points this Saturday. A good many of our regular players are out of town so we do not have the most competitive Lines in the 4th and 5th spot.

Our captain posted the Line this morning prior to learning that one of our regular players in the 3 spot is actually coming home today and not late Friday night. So, in the best interest of the team, he needs to change the Line to put this guy in at 3. Well - We actually added a guy to our roster to play a Line last week but ended up not using him. We put him in this week at 3. He is a friend of my Line 1 partner so we do not want to upset him but, in the best interest of the team .... ......

What would you do if you had to make the decision?

[Chris1987]

You've got to go with the better player, the interests of the team must come first when you're playing any sport competitively. However, it does also depend on the player who is returning, why they may have been missing it in the first place, if it was for other things then maybe he shouldn't get straight back in, if it was a real reason then yes I'd go with the better player.

[MoDaisy]

Well well well - I hurt my ankle last night playing basketball. I am not sure what will happen by tomorrow but I know that I have to play. We only have 10 players and if we have to post a forfeit we have to forfeit Line 5 first. That sucks.

I think that will be able to play but we have a plan in place just in case. If I do not feel 90% then I am going to play Line 3 and push a player up tp Line 1. I think that we will still be ok but I will be limited in my mobility.

[MoDaisy]

I was "able" to play although my game was not with me. It started off as a very challenging day. (Remember we really needed to take at least 4 points for playoff hopes). We met at 8:00 to make the drive to the opponents courts. It started raining but we all decided to travel on up to their courts. ALTA rules state that any ONE player can decide the courts are unfit for play but they have to be courtside to make that decision and they have to wait 1 hour beyond the official start time.

We got there at 8:45 and we went to work with their team on getting the courts ready. Their Line 1 players were real jerks and wanted to call the match at 8:50. They were not nice people. Anyway - we finally got started at about 10:00. Remember that my game did not come with me and we struggled through the first set but did take it 7-5. The second set was a battle and at 4-4 it started raining again. We were coming into their better servers serve. We had only broken it once and he had about 2 handfuls of aces by now. Well - He decided that the courts were not "fit" to play after 3 minutes of a break for the rain. So now my partner and I have to travel back up their to play either 2 more games or maybe more.

The good news is I am sure that I will bring my game so the delay can only costs them. After his serve I will serve and if I am on I have only been broken 2X this season (5 matches so far). Then his weaker partner will serve and we broke him every time. Then my partner serves and we held his serve every time. So - We should take this in 2 sets.

Now for the rest of the Lines. 2 & 3 won in 2 sets and 5 won in 3 sets. This is awesome as this is the first week that Line 5 was won. We now have 3 points on the books and 1 more about 2 - 3 games away. Since they canceled Line 4 we will have our better players available on the make up day so we are sure to win Line 4. It looks like the first thing that needed to happen this week did. We will take at least 4 and probably even 5 points this week.

Now the #1 team needs to take 4 - 5 points from the #3 team so that we go into the last week tied with the current #3 team or maybe even 1 up. We play that team so that week will determine our playoff birth.

[Tennis4you]

They cancelled Line 4 but the match will still be played?  That sounds weird to me.  If a match is cancelled, they should of moved their line 5 up to line 4 and completely cancelled the Line 5 court and given you the point.  

Reagrdless, good luck wrapping up your match, I hope you can finish it in 2 sets.

[MoDaisy]

Pretty much any one person can say that the courts are not suitable for play. I should have said postponed. We will play the rest of our match tonight (which will hopefully just be 2 quick games). The 4's will play tomorrow night. Did I mention that we need to take both of these points?

If we take both points we will be 1 point behind the #3 team and we face them this Saturday. 3 points is a draw and I am not sure how they assign 3 place so we will just have to take 4 points so that there is NO potential issue.

The heat is on and the remaining 7 points will make or break us.

When I have a little more time I am going to posts my thoughts on 2 points that should have been earlier this season.

[MoDaisy]

We finished last night despite the wet courts. They had a little layer of rain on them but they were in decent shape. We ended up winning 7-6 in the second so the final was 7-5 7-6. Although the score would make it seem like a tough match I really never felt like they had the momentum. It seemed as if we were always in control and on our way to victory.

Line 4 finished tonight. Yet another big and needed point.

[Tennis4you]

Nicely done MoDaisy.  Where does that put you in the standings?