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Was a largely disappointing night all around tonight. Our middle-eastern teammate didn't turn up and we got a fill-in but he was a very rusty B2 player from many seasons ago and simply wasn't up to it. Really nice young guy (actually he was 30 even though he looked 20) and of course he tried but the opponents were just too good. And they weren't just too good for him either. That's where more of the disappointment came in. Basically we got thrashed tonight and it just might have all been different if our third had turned up and a few things went our way.
I let my 16 year old teammate play first tonight as he said he was up for it. I couldn't understand his logic as he said he'd been playing TT all day at school and was buggered. So I offered him a rest to play third and he said he wanted to play first. Well I wasn't going to douse his enthusiasm and risk him playing worse, so I put him in. He lost 3-1. He did play a 70 something guy who uses a dual ox SP bat that I would doubt has ITTF approved rubbers on it and is arguably the best player in the division. I don't believe he has lost a match in 3 weeks having just come up from B3.
Then I played a guy who I have developed a good friendship with in my time at the club. He's from El Salvador and is just a lovely guy. But his TT is mean. He has a serve that throws everyone that he comes up against. I played him the first night I joined the club 18 months ago and he wiped me off the table with his serves. I think he was a big reason I decided to use pips, as I thought if the serve standard is like his here, I'm gonna get killed. I played him in a championship round last year and he just ran me over even then. So when he took the first game tonight 11-6, I wasn't surprised. Funny thing was I felt competitive with him and still lost so easily on the scoreboard. I upped my work rate in the second game and found myself at 10-8 and was hoping to sneak the game from him before he could deuce it. No such luck. He got it back to 10 all. Then he went 11-10 and I decided I wasn't going to just give it to him. So I fought back to 11 all and then I took the advantage, and it was his serve. I knew I just had to take the next point or my confidence would be shot. I can't even remember how I got it, but 13-11 it was. So I felt good, cos this was the first time I'd taken a game from him. Went into the third game and I think I had slightly built up an edge over his confidence. I knew he found my LP hard to deal with, and he was also finding a little bit of trouble with my serves. He tried to pop up to my BH when he did give one, and a few times I managed to smack them away with the LP for winners. This is something I have been trying to bring into my game and it is really starting to show up more. I also was in fine form with the R450 on the FH and even found myself get around on my FH on the BH side a few times and just blasting away and landing them with such ferocity he had no chance as they bounced over his head (he's only about 5' 4 or so). So I took out the 3rd game about 11-7. We both got water and he said to me he was playing my game too much and he should be attacking more. I love someone wanting to attack me more usually, because its more opportunity for them to either mess up trying, or give me balls to block back and get them in knots with. All went pretty well in the 4th and I found myself at 7-5 up. I often freeze a bit when this happens (I look like beating someone I know can beat me), but I was determined not to. So I kept on with what I had been doing. Returning a bit harder than normal off the pips and looping or smashing with the R450. Actually I was doing a fair bit more looping than I normally do as I am finding this rubber really can get the opponent to make errors with the spin jumping a little side-ways. And I indeed got him to over-read one too, because he had missed some sidespin loops earlier, and so he copped the ball on his hand. At 9-7 I served him one off the pips and it just didn't skip as much as he thought. He went to loop it back at me and completely missed the ball. So serving at 10-7 I tried to spin him off the table with my BH serve. No luck and after a short raly I copped his BH drive back past me... 10-8. On the next rally off his serve though, I tempted him with a lowish push that was just high enough that he had a stab at attacking it. And it was pleasing to see it dive into the net with the underspin it was carrying. So I took out our second game and evened it up to 1 all.
After losing our next singles with our fill-in playing, my 16 year old teammate and I tried to play doubles again. We lost, but we combined better than we had the previous week, and it showed promise. So it wasn't a total write-off. The next 3 singles were all losses to us, but I was very disappointed in myself for losing mine. The Romanian guy I played is also a guy I have developed a good friendship with since he joined about a year ago. Until I snapped my achilles, he and I would often hit up before matches started. He's a strong looper and hitter. He took the first set 11-6 I think. I then took the next 2 sets from him with 11-7 and 11-8. I was travellling quite well in the 4th, but slipped nearing the finish line and let him get to 9-7. I had been smashing really well against him. His game, when loop or smash opportunities are not apparent, is to lob a bit and put it in places where he hopes you will have a go and muck them up. He is also an excellent blocker. I lost count of the number of smashes I put down at him that he got back on the table, where most people wouldn't even get a bat on them. Anyway, suddenly my smash just left me. Or should I say it went on the blink, both BH and FH. He took out the 4th 11-9 and we continued into the 5th. I think he was 5-3 up at the change and I battled it back to 5 all. Then we went 6 all. I kept on getting a point and then missing a smash and giving it back. This went on to 10 all. I think I pushed his next serve long to give him 11-10 and I thought I was going to fight him back again. So I played it carefully, but he just whipped out this deadly fast BH loop drive at me that hit the edge of my bat and dove into the table and I was down and pretty much out. I was completely zapped. When my young teammate faced this guy next to his absolute credit he played the best game of the 2 weeks I've seen him play. He demolished him in 3 sets with scoreline about 9,6 and 7. He barely put a foot wrong. He looped and smashed with grace. It was like he was a different person. I put it down to my Romanian friend simply having a style my teammate could relate to, and perhaps that his match with me had also zapped him (which he said it did). They had some awesome fast rallies. I scored the match and it was a great spectate.
I played the last match of the night against the old dual Ox player. I win the first set 13-11 having been 10-6 down. I still don't know how I managed that, and the old guy mentioned afterward how he couldn't fathom it either. I couldn't play my normal game with this guy. His pips were not giving many smashing opportunities. We had a lot of long pushing rallies pip to pip as he kept mainly to my BH, only going to my FH when he could smash it there. And this guy had a decent smash with his SP pip blade. He won the 2nd set fairly closely and I won the third in similar fashion. He edged me out in the 4th and so once again I had another match going to 5 sets. I knuckled down in the 5th and changed at 5-1 up my way. My head just went off with the fairies I think at that point, cos the next thing I was 6-4 up, and then 6 all. And before I knew it he was 8-6 up. Now I know my head just wasn't there, because I can't even remember the final score or if it went to deuce. Mars and GP were watching, they might remember. All I know is I wasn't the winner. But it was a tight match and I think if I had a bit more energy to stay focussed I'd win some of these close ones. In fact they might not get to being close for that matter.
With 3 losses and no wins it'll be hard not to end up woodenspooners this season I think. So I figure I will use this season to try to really go for my shots more and take a lot more risks to develop my game to a better standard. I know I already felt some things tonight that I dealt with more authority than last season (like some BH drives and smashes that I probably would have pushed back last season). I missed quite a few shots that I went for as well, but at least this season I'm captain and I don't have last season's captain glaring down my neck for stuffing up lol.
_________________ I'm always in the dark, but the Dark sheds lights upon everything!!  Beauty is only pimple deep! Beauty is in the eye of the pipholder!
S/U 1: Blade: Bty Gergely . FH Black Andro Rasant 2.1 . BH Red Tibhar Grass Dtecs
S/U 2: Blade: Bty Gergely . FH Black Hexer+ 2.1 . BH Red GD Talon
S/U 3: Blade: Bty Gergely . No rubbers...thinking of adding Red Dtecs and Black Rasant
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Sorry about the outcome but still sounds very enjoyable to me 
