|
Just got back from Schaumburg. Played yesterday, and I'd say that my performance was o.k. Not great, not bad. My rating likely won't change more than a handful of points down from where I'm at right now. Almost pulled off a big upset, but I'll tell you all about that more. Overall, my shots were pretty decent but my tactical/mental game was poor. I fell into the trap of getting too passive with the long pips and not using my forehand enough, and I think that might have cost me a couple of close matches.
In the U-2150 I was the third seed in my round robin. The top guy was just over 2000, the second seed around 1960, the fourth seed around 1680. I started out against the 1960 rated guy. The long pips really bothered him and it was a great match. I took the first game at deuce, he beat me in the second, then I won the third relatively easily. When I was getting the pips hits in, I was rolling over him. When I was missing, he'd win. I wasn't using my forehand enough, same old story. He won the fourth pretty easily, as he started figuring out the pips game. The fifth game was tight, and I got it to 9-9 after falling behind early. It was my serve, and instead of giving him a serve to his backhand, which had been working all match, I thought I'd surprise him with a serve to his forehand. Well, instead of surprising him, he ate it up and crushed a winner. Stupid me. Then he got the next point to beat me 11-9 in the fifth. That would have been a great win. The moral of the story--stick with what's working. I gave a little trouble to the 2000 rated guy, he said my pips kept him out of his game, but he beat me 3-0. The 1680 rated guy was playing with Super Block, which I love playing against. I beat him 3-1, didn't really have much trouble with him as usual. I'll miss playing against frictionless long pips.
In the U-1900, I was the top seed in my group. The #2 seed in my group was just 50 points lower than me, and it was a guy I'd lost to a couple of times before. The #3 seed was around 1580, and the fourth seed was an unrated Chinese girl. I started out against her, she said she was from China, but "not that good". Well, if she's not good, I'd hate to see what good is in China. She was a legit 1700 level player, but I was able to use the pips, and a little luck from the net, to sneak past her 3-1. I easily beat the 1580 guy 3-0, then had the tough match against the 1720 rated #2 seed in my group. He won the first at deuce, then I killed him in the second. I was feeling good about my game, and the pips bothered him in game 2, so I went conservative in game 3 and he killed me. Then, in game 4, I still didn't get aggressive enough and he snuck past me in a close one. I was disappointed to have not advanced, even though his rating was close to mine, I feel like it's a match I should have won.
I fell into the bad habit of not being aggressive enough and not doing enough to get my forehand loops into games. I know that I play so much better when I use the forehand more, I just get into times when I fall in love with using the pips too much, and it ends up costing me. I feel like if I'd been more aggressive in using my forehand, I would have beaten the 1960 rated guy and the 1720 rated guy that I lost to. Sooner or later, I'm hoping it gets through my thick skull to use the pips to set up my forehand attack, instead of just waiting for them to miss off the pips or to just use the pips to try and hit through them. All day, everybody was telling me how the pips kept them off balance and away from their game plan; yet I didn't do nearly as much as I could to take advantage of that because I didn't attack with my forehand loop enough. That tactical side of things is definitely something I'm going to be focusing on heavily in practice matches from now on. I still need to work on consistency too, as I feel like I could have done a better job at keeping the ball in play more, but I know that's coming along. So, I'm a little frustrated with myself, but I know that if I iron out my bad habits from favoring my backhand too much in the past, and keep working on shot consistency, I have the potential to really improve a lot. I'm still kicking myself over that stupid serve choice at 9-9 in the fifth game as well; keeping it simple and going with what's been working is the best thing to do.
Oh well, it was a great learning experience. I know both the shots I need to practice and tactics that I need to work better at using in matches to take my game to the next level, so that's a good thing. Don't think I'll play in a tournament for a while, so I've got some time to work on those items.
_________________
"The greatest teacher, failure is"
USATT Rating: 1725
Blade: Stiga Cybershape Carbon
FH Rubber: Butterfly Tenergy 19 2.1
BH Rubber: Dr Neubauer ABS3 1.5
|
Login
Register
FAQ
Search
