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I thought this would be the appropriate section to put this since I use a hardbat against all opponents in normal USATT competition, and the hardbat section isn't exactly bursting with life.
I've been unrated up until now (and still am since the results obviously haven't reached or been processed by USATT in two days), but I entered a U-1100 competition for the sake of getting one and took advantage of the recreational tournament which was only for unrated players.
For the rated portion, there were two other guys in my group, both rated around 900. My first opponent was a man who looked to be in his 80s and was much better than I thought he'd be. For some reason, I was feeling shy to play seriously with people watching and felt something like, "Well I don't want to look like I'm trying and end up losing, so I'll just play casually so if I do lose, that'll be why, and I don't want to beat this old guy too badly."
I know that probably makes no sense, but that's what was running through my head, and it cost me the first game since I made numerous mistakes. Long story short, I won the next three games, shook hands, and waited to play my next opponent. It was difficult for me to get used to the old man's style since it pretty much consisted of 'hit it and hope for the best.' I'm very used to playing more consistent players with readable strokes at the club, so I had to pay extra attention to what he was actually doing to avoid making a dumb mistake, since he could definitely put away high balls. I'm thinking that his rating was so low simply because he couldn't move around very nimbly and keep up with the speed of the ball against players with faster strokes.
My next opponent was an Indian guy who was probably in his late teens or early twenties. He was pretty readable and I won all three games against him, which he was not overly excited about; he threw his paddle on the table once and punched his fist at the ground on another occasion after losing points. Those two matches were it for the rated tournament since I was ineligible to advance.
Next was the unrated tournament for people who had yet to acquire a USATT rating. This was more entertaining simply because you had no idea what you were going up against and I had more motivation to win since I could actually advance and win something. I turned up my game a notch to suit. There were a few kids in it who didn't advance from their groups (one of which I played, but just lobbed it back to him and won the games 11-9 as to not discourage him), but there were also a few decent players in the mix.
My first opponent was another young Indian guy. He was pretty consistent with keeping the ball on the table and had decent serves and strokes, but he just wasn't strong enough to win. As soon as I forced him to back off from the table, the points were pretty much over.
Next, I faced a middle-aged Russian lady clad in Butterfly attire. Again, she was pretty consistent and you could tell she knew how to play and probably took some lessons, but she just wasn't strong enough to win. I even managed to get a few points right off her serve.
Fast forwarding to the final match, I was up against a Chinese kid who was probably about 16 years old. I knew he was heavily coached since between games his dad would talk to him and mimic 'paddle strokes' to him with his hand (you know what I'm talking about). In short, he was a pretty tough opponent, though I can't say what his rating would be due to it being the unrated tourney. That's the fun of it, right?
Anyhoo, I managed to take the first game, but afterwards, he significantly upped his game plan and started hitting pretty hard. I, on the other hand, was a little bit nervous and was being fairly gentle with the ball and just steering it on the table. In relation to the rest of the night, I also wasn't expecting some of my shots to come back, which they did while I had already checked out. I was also nervous because his dad's phone camera was in my face the entire time. He took the next two games from me and I was in a bind.
Somehow, I managed to pull it together and took the last two games to win the tournament. I got a little trophy and will get a rating out of the trip as well, but I'm glad I got my first competition out of the way since it's really a bummer having to enter a rated event which you are already ineligible to win.
Incidentally, there was an extremely loud and obnoxious guy at the tournament, who wasn't even one of my opponents, but challenged my use of red rubber on both sides of my blade. After I explained to him that it was perfectly legal for hardbat in all domestic USATT events and took out the relevant ruling from my case which I had printed from the USATT site, he accused me of forging and photoshopping it! In any case, a quick trip to the referee shut him up. He was also talking about another guy who used hardbat at the tournament, which I found out was actually an inverted forehand/LP backhand guy, showing how utterly ignorant he was about what a hardbat is, yet how willing he was to scream about the rulings surrounding it when he wasn't even facing me in the tournament.
My wife also took some video of most of my matches, but I think there were less than a dozen good rallies in the entire tournament since many were either me making dumb mistakes early on or me winning the point with ease, so it'd probably be a waste to post said videos without editing. In any case, we'll see how I do at the next tourney when I get to play in a few full, rated events!
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Custom Blade 'Hard Justice' w/ Yasaka Cobalt a
Tatco Hornet w/ ATP Leland Era
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