Topic: Babblelot's Book of Tennis Foibles

[Babblelot]

Here I am. Played the best match of my life tonight! Under the lights, heavy air, lightning storm as a backdrop 

Babblelot 6-7(3), 3-6  2:00

But here's the rub: I've been playing this guy every summer the past 2 years; tonight was only my 4th time on court. A typical 2hr scoreline reads includes some variation of 6-1, 6-0, 6-1, 6-2. In fact, in the past two years, I've only managed to win 3 games off him in 1 set twice. Last time out, I equalled that feat. I played out of my tree tonight. Patience! Dropshots instead of going for broke and monster serves: 5 aces and easily 4x that number of balls that nearly knocked him over. Unfortuantely, I had several loose games. Per set, 3 easy holds, 1 tank and the others fight for my life to get through. Dang, on serve at 2-3 and 30-0 I realized that that was the first time I had to hit a second serve. 

But here's why I'm starting my log. Last...whenever...I asked for help with respect to my ROS, and the collective genius of T4U encouraged me to move in and take the ball earlier. I've been trying it with not so great results, but I could see if I just stayed with it, it would definitely pay dividends. Tonight, it all clicked. I broke his serve 3 times. In two years I might have broken him 2 or 3 times.



aside: this might be filed under "in the zone". I had no business playing like I did tonight. The only real challenge was to block out the noise between my ears which really lead me to trouble on my service game. But, seriously, I haven't played in 3 weeks and only 4 times since October. Where did that serving come from? And those dropshots--I've never hit one in my life and I likely hit 10 winners to the 2 I netted. I cracked 2 angry backhand winners that neither of us expected and knifed my slice as if I've been doing that all my life. It was all there! I even forgot to put in my contacts  lol

injury update: in the middle of the marathon 1st set, I cracked my "bad" knee after swiping a defensive squash shot. Didn't impact me tonight, but I do have a nice knot. Considering the location on this knee, it really couldn't be placed in a more painful location. Investment tip: buy stock in ibuprofen.

So that's it. This may be my 1st and last entry, but I wanted to let you guys know that you were spot on to position me closer and to take the ball earlier. Cheers!

[pawan89]

Good to hear you got to hit and a close match. And please don't make this your last entry. keep it active, you know in fact you should make this your tennis journal to put photos and everything you do when you go to tournaments in and everything, doesn't have to be just about your tennis playing.

I have been working on my ROS lately too and have gotten better. It took a major turnaround last summer and I am glad it did, I can tell you what prompted me to change and how I did it.. but I'll wait for you to make your second post asking me or something 

[Babblelot]

Good to hear you got to hit and a close match. And please don't make this your last entry. keep it active, you know in fact you should make this your tennis journal to put photos and everything you do when you go to tournaments in and everything, doesn't have to be just about your tennis playing.

I have been working on my ROS lately too and have gotten better. It took a major turnaround last summer and I am glad it did, I can tell you what prompted me to change and how I did it.. but I'll wait for you to make your second post asking me or something 

pawan!!!

I'm never going to sleep. Whatever I've got, I don't want to lose.  lol  Talk at me, friend! And thanks for the tips! 

Many of you have seen these snaps: Post #1 GS photo album dating back to 2005 RG

http://www.tennis4you.com/forum/index.php?topic=4318.0

But Chris asked me to post pictures of the places I went in Paris to compare to his. You may not have seen them. Scroll down to Post #34

http://www.tennis4you.com/forum/index.php?topic=4318.20

[FreeBird]

Babble,
Great news that things came together for you for your recent match.  Those types of days feel fantastic, and at least for a short time, make all those other days seem worth it   Hopefully the ROS improvements you found will stick.  I'm also looking forward to (hopefully!) more frequent hitting/match updates from the Babbleator!

[dmastous]

Babble,
Great news that things came together for you for your recent match.  Those types of days feel fantastic, and at least for a short time, make all those other days seem worth it   Hopefully the ROS improvements you found will stick.  I'm also looking forward to (hopefully!) more frequent hitting/match updates from the Babbleator!

Hopefully he will be in Columbus in a few months to show it off (hopefull I'll be there to see it). 

[OSU Buckeye]

Dmast, what do you mean hopefully? 

It is about time Babble drags his tired butt up into the journals!       Welcome my friend!  Why don't you come back every now and again.    Congrats on the great tennis you played........playing above yourself is both rare and feels amazing! 

[dmastous]

Dmast, what do you mean hopefully? 

It is about time Babble drags his tired butt up into the journals!       Welcome my friend!  Why don't you come back every now and again.    Congrats on the great tennis you played........playing above yourself is both rare and feels amazing! 

Can't commit until I can.... commit... 
Things are pretty much in flux now. I don't know where I will be, or what I will be doing at about that time. So I have say hopefuly.

[OSU Buckeye]

Dmast, what do you mean hopefully? 

It is about time Babble drags his tired butt up into the journals!       Welcome my friend!  Why don't you come back every now and again.    Congrats on the great tennis you played........playing above yourself is both rare and feels amazing! 

Can't commit until I can.... commit... 
Things are pretty much in flux now. I don't know where I will be, or what I will be doing at about that time. So I have say hopefuly.

Isn't that the same as last year?    Sometimes you just gotta say what the f**k!   Just hop in your car and make it happen!   

[dmastous]

Dmast, what do you mean hopefully? 

It is about time Babble drags his tired butt up into the journals!       Welcome my friend!  Why don't you come back every now and again.    Congrats on the great tennis you played........playing above yourself is both rare and feels amazing! 

Can't commit until I can.... commit... 
Things are pretty much in flux now. I don't know where I will be, or what I will be doing at about that time. So I have say hopefuly.

Isn't that the same as last year?    Sometimes you just gotta say what the f**k!   Just hop in your car and make it happen!   

I wish I could do that, but I could be living in any one of 3 places. I don't know what the situation will be.
If I can be there, I'll be there.

[Babblelot]

Dmast, what do you mean hopefully? 

It is about time Babble drags his tired butt up into the journals!       Welcome my friend!  Why don't you come back every now and again.    Congrats on the great tennis you played........playing above yourself is both rare and feels amazing! 

Can't commit until I can.... commit... 
Things are pretty much in flux now. I don't know where I will be, or what I will be doing at about that time. So I have say hopefuly.

Isn't that the same as last year?    Sometimes you just gotta say what the f**k!   Just hop in your car and make it happen!   

I wish I could do that, but I could be living in any one of 3 places. I don't know what the situation will be.
If I can be there, I'll be there.

I'm like Dmast in that I'll never say I'll definitely be somewhere unless I can definitely be somewhere. In fact, I didn't pull the trigger on RG until 2 weeks prior to my departure. Back in April I had told Chris the odds of going were 30:70. This year blows--job and funds have changed, and I'm trying to get to NY first. I just don't know if there will be anything left for Columbus this year and that really bothers me because I'm not used to not just saying what the f**k!

Anyway, thanks for posting here guys.   By the way, the knee will be just fine  :Phew:

[monstertruck]

Glad to hear you got out and had an exceptional evening!
Kinda helps to nourish the love of the game, no?


Thanks for the pics from Paris, awesome stuff B!

My 2 favs aside from the architectural stuff are the cutie at the cafe
and you gazing contentedly into the Parisian skyline from a cafe undoubtedly with a cold one close at hand!

Frenchies on motorcycles just seems so wrong!

[Babblelot]

Sheesus, I was piss-poor yesterday  1-6, 3-6. Got in trouble with my serve right off the bat. My grip just didn't feel comfortable. I netted virtually every drop shot and those I got over just sat up for his to put away easily.

Positives: I did break his serve enough times to win the match    Thanks again, peeps!  And I won two points that I would never have won before. He hit two overhead smashes that I was able to block back into play and eventually win the point. One, I returned for a lob winner. Very

Weather permitting (fingers crossed), he's giving me a chance to redeem myself tonight. Forecast is for thunderstorms     but that's a Chicago weatherman, so we take that with a grain of salt... Uh-oh. First crack of thurnder at 8:00am, wind is up and the sky is turning black... and now the rain.   Yesterday was around 90, bright blue skies and no wind.

[OSU Buckeye]

Well, how did the re-match go?   

[Babblelot]

Well, how did the re-match go?   

I've been playing terribly. I played 1 good set in the past 10-12. Lost my bearings on my serve, no soft touch, not hitting through my FH, can't slice the BH  Arrrrghhh!!!! I'm right where I figured I would be 3 weeks ago.     Got spanked today, scorelines are irrelevant for now. Weather permitting, we plan on playing under the lights tonight.

What FreeBird said rings true: "Those types of days feel fantastic, and at least for a short time, make all those other days seem worth it."  Well, I really need another solid 2 set performance soon. Save for one incredible night, 2008 is   

[Tennis4you]

Hang in there, we all have our slumps!!!

[FreeBird]

Bah!  Sorry to hear that things haven't been going as good as they should be in Babbleonia.  If you're playing as often as your post implies (12 sets in the last few weeks), I'll be very surprised if you don't notice some improvements very soon.  I don't know about you, but I know that the biggest mistake I tend to make when I'm pressing or expecting more than my game is giving, is that I don't watch the ball well enough.  Maybe concentrating on something simple like that will help you out - it helps me, on those rare occasions in the heat of the moment when I remember, that is

[OSU Buckeye]

Watching the ball better is my favorite tactic for playing better tennis!   Far to many players don't do this well enough!   Good luck Babble turning things around!    I say, chuck it all and just go out and try to play hard and have fun.......the results will come!   

[Babblelot]

Bah!  Sorry to hear that things haven't been going as good as they should be in Babbleonia.  If you're playing as often as your post implies (12 sets in the last few weeks), I'll be very surprised if you don't notice some improvements very soon.  I don't know about you, but I know that the biggest mistake I tend to make when I'm pressing or expecting more than my game is giving, is that I don't watch the ball well enough.  Maybe concentrating on something simple like that will help you out - it helps me, on those rare occasions in the heat of the moment when I remember, that is

You guys are great!

Funny, but the guy I play with insists I'm playing much better.    I set the bar really high for myself a few weeks back, now everything feels like I've regressed. Throw out that anomaly, and I'm might, I suppose, be happy where I am right now...

[Babblelot]

Watching the ball better is my favorite tactic for playing better tennis!   Far to many players don't do this well enough!   Good luck Babble turning things around!    I say, chuck it all and just go out and try to play hard and have fun.......the results will come!   

Buckeye, I have to say, you can deliver one heck of a motivational speech. I'm ready to walk through these corporate walls and take on all comers! 

[OSU Buckeye]

Watching the ball better is my favorite tactic for playing better tennis!   Far to many players don't do this well enough!   Good luck Babble turning things around!    I say, chuck it all and just go out and try to play hard and have fun.......the results will come!   

Buckeye, I have to say, you can deliver one heck of a motivational speech. I'm ready to walk through these corporate walls and take on all comers! 

Sweet!   BTW, how is it looking for you to come to Columbus this Summer?  We are about 1 month away.