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Breeze · 05-13-2022, 10:49 AM

League Tennis - Week 1

The first match of the season was extremely fun, and the guys we played were exceptionally nice. The play was mostly ugly and a dog fight for us from the beginning.

Set 1

We won the toss and elected to serve. After Bear won 3 of 4 service games in our tune up match against my brother and best friend (who are much better than anyone we will play this season) I figured I'd let him start it out. That was probably a bad decision, I should have allowed him to get into the flow a bit before I put the pressure of serving in his first real match ever on his shoulders. He struggled and was broken, but that was just the first of a bunch of breaks of serve. in fact, I don't think anyone held until Bear did to get us to 5-4, then we broke to take the first set 6-4.

Set 2

This one was similar to the last, but Bear got on a role with his serve and held it most of the match, but so did one of their two players so it was back an forth until they got a break and hold to take the set at 4-6.

Set 3

In the final set, we got down early. Bear started the set off serving and he completely lost his rhythm, but we broke right back to make it 1-1. I had been serving pretty well after the first set, but I wasn't winning my serve. I was missing just enough, when combined with Bear being out of position for us to drop my games. It happened again in this service game, but I got Bear into a better position and he started to see why he needed to play the spot I suggested.

We broke back to make it 2-2, then Bear lost his serve again, struggling to get it in. Down 2-3. I told him to relax and forget about it, because if we were going to win, he'd have to serve again. We broke back to make it 3-3. Then on my serve the repositioned Bear put away several balls on the return and I held. 4-3, we broke with Bear carrying us. He won his return 5 straight times, including two incredible backhand cut shots short and wide cross court that the server never touched. All this while I struggled. In my defense, the guy started serving up the T and the ball would get in strange spot between the lights and I would lose it. I've never had that happen on a serve, but it did 3 of the 4 times I missed. Finally a got a serve that wasn't up the T, and I hit a nice return that they couldn't handle for the game, 5-3. Then Bear served, and he did better, still missed too many, but he was much closer and didn't double fault as much. 5-4, and back on serve. They served and jumped out to a 30 - 0 lead. Then Bear ripped a return they couldn't handle. I hit my return deep to the back hand and it didn't come back. Bear hits one deep and I cut if off and put it away at the net. Then I hit my return pretty basically, but the guy dumped it into the bottom of the net and we won 6-4.

So 6-4, 4-6, 6-4. Not bad under the circumstances.

05-13-2022, 10:49 AM	#48
Breeze Grizzled Veteran Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Northern Suburbs of ATL	League Tennis - Week 1 The first match of the season was extremely fun, and the guys we played were exceptionally nice. The play was mostly ugly and a dog fight for us from the beginning. Set 1 We won the toss and elected to serve. After Bear won 3 of 4 service games in our tune up match against my brother and best friend (who are much better than anyone we will play this season) I figured I'd let him start it out. That was probably a bad decision, I should have allowed him to get into the flow a bit before I put the pressure of serving in his first real match ever on his shoulders. He struggled and was broken, but that was just the first of a bunch of breaks of serve. in fact, I don't think anyone held until Bear did to get us to 5-4, then we broke to take the first set 6-4. Set 2 This one was similar to the last, but Bear got on a role with his serve and held it most of the match, but so did one of their two players so it was back an forth until they got a break and hold to take the set at 4-6. Set 3 In the final set, we got down early. Bear started the set off serving and he completely lost his rhythm, but we broke right back to make it 1-1. I had been serving pretty well after the first set, but I wasn't winning my serve. I was missing just enough, when combined with Bear being out of position for us to drop my games. It happened again in this service game, but I got Bear into a better position and he started to see why he needed to play the spot I suggested. We broke back to make it 2-2, then Bear lost his serve again, struggling to get it in. Down 2-3. I told him to relax and forget about it, because if we were going to win, he'd have to serve again. We broke back to make it 3-3. Then on my serve the repositioned Bear put away several balls on the return and I held. 4-3, we broke with Bear carrying us. He won his return 5 straight times, including two incredible backhand cut shots short and wide cross court that the server never touched. All this while I struggled. In my defense, the guy started serving up the T and the ball would get in strange spot between the lights and I would lose it. I've never had that happen on a serve, but it did 3 of the 4 times I missed. Finally a got a serve that wasn't up the T, and I hit a nice return that they couldn't handle for the game, 5-3. Then Bear served, and he did better, still missed too many, but he was much closer and didn't double fault as much. 5-4, and back on serve. They served and jumped out to a 30 - 0 lead. Then Bear ripped a return they couldn't handle. I hit my return deep to the back hand and it didn't come back. Bear hits one deep and I cut if off and put it away at the net. Then I hit my return pretty basically, but the guy dumped it into the bottom of the net and we won 6-4. So 6-4, 4-6, 6-4. Not bad under the circumstances. Last edited by Breeze : 05-13-2022 at 10:49 AM.