tennis, life and a few things in between

6-3, 6-2 and the team swept 5-0!

Laurie and I played Line 3. I served first in the first set, last in the second. No double fault, but I lost my serve once in the first set. We tried to break them at 5-1 but failed. I served out, sealed the win with a good serve, the return went long.

Our opponents were seriously late, 25 minutes. 20 minutes is the default time, but that excludes the traffic, which is obsurd.

Lisa and I watched Yvonne / Debra’s Line 2 game: goodness, so many lobsters, and the match point lasted 13 strokes! They started in the middle of our second set, finished at 12:38.

This is their second to the last match of the season. They tied with #2 team but leading one court 45:44 since last week.

After today, they still retain the leading position.

Another burger 🍔 another win

雇佣兵第六次出征: 6-3, 6-2
5-1 没破成; 俺发球 40-0 反球出界
队赢5-0 仍然领先
还剩一场

5️⃣ 昨天和棒棒的搭档第一次打 6-3 [太阳]
3️⃣ 有些像火烈鸟 flamingo

… 群殴 希望俺下周继续出征: 实在不想 对不起了 娃们 good luck

_{… better than the tray? only when no ball is involved, FB}

Laurie and I practiced this morning for tommorrow’s match (Line 3): defeating Joe / Matt 6-3.

~ a few forehands – comments fm FB

We both played well. I was able to line up my forehand shots sometimes.

… without tossing, is my motion correct?

Our Wednesday gang played on Monday today.

– Joe / I lost 3-6 to Matt/Sally
– Matt / I def Joe/Sally 7-5

Matt and I defeated them 6-0 last week but having harder time this morning.

Part of my warm-up is using the edge of the racket to bounce the ball.

I get to focus on my forms, especially my forehand: turn!

Dave L and I def Edwin n Stan: 6-4, 6-3.

I held serve only once. Nothing was easy. Every point needs efforts.

My senior moment got the starting time wrong – an hour early.

烧包 老人高光时刻 记错时间 7:45 到 打9点场
幸好教练8:30 就来了
不吐槽他话痨子

周末愉快哈

An iffy drizzling weather turned into a nice morning: cool but a bit breezy.

– Joe and I lost to Matt & Sally 4-6
– Matt & I gave a bagel: 6-0
– Sally and I won a 10-point tiebreak: 10-8

I served first and instantly went to 0-40, then eventually lost after three duces.

On serve: I felt pretty good, making sure I was shifting weight, tossing, hoisting, and looking up.

Today, the Alot league (10/1/0) is battling the #2 team (9/2/0), which is only 2 courts behind, with 3 matches (including today’s) to go each. They’ve been keen to get me to sub, but I declined: no travel is my baseline. –> unforuately, they lost 2-3, (Line 1 and 4 won). Now the record stands 10/2/0 45 vs 10/2/0 44.

This year’s Open is at IMG, which is a far better venue than the past two years.

The weather forecast is for a rainy week ahead, so we decided to go today, which is the qualifying rounds.

The quality of tennis is decisively low (duh): plenty of double faults and unforced errors. I don’t even make these many doubles in a match. It’s tennis nevertheless, but a different kind to spectate: more relatable, more human, more circumspect -:) 网球比赛的质量显然不高(这还用说吗): 双误和非受迫性失误层出不穷. 就连我在比赛中,都不会出现这么多的双误. 但这终究还是网球,只不过是一种别样的观赛体验: 它显得更加贴近生活, 更具人情味, 也更加耐人寻味.

The four matches:

1. Ryan Colby def Theodore Winegar 6-4, 6-3
2. Ronit Karki def Felix Corwin 2-6, 6-2, 7-5
3. Strong Kirchheimer def Ben Kitten 6-2, 4-6, 6-2
4. Draxl def Davidov, 6-4, 6-1

Ran into Kei Nishikori (錦織 圭, 1989-; 2007, US$26,087,810), who’s playing on Tuesday, April 7, Round of 32. He had a few surgeries and is slowly rebuilding his career. It’s funny to see the courts named after him.

The last match of today on Bollettieri Court is between last year’s runner-up, Canadian Liam Draxl (2001-; 2023, US$583,572) and 15-year-old Teodor Davidov (his site; no wiki page yet). The Canadian won 4 and 1.

During one match, the female chair umpire warns a group of Chinese who are talking loudly,

During the Kirchheimer & Kitten match, the electronic decided to take a break. It was the second set, 4-4, and Kirchheimer had the advantage when his shot was clearly out. No call came. So he got the game, 5-4. During the changeover and or the next game, did they realize the problem. But the umpire / supervisor didn’t agree to replay the last game, unfortunately. Kitten lost the 3rd set at 2.

Dinner at Pesto is good.

Focuing on serve: shifting weigh and hoisting.

We’ve been using cards to forge partnerships and form games lately. Today I drew the diamond K, partner with Joel vs Stan & Dennis. At 5-0, Dennis has to quit due to a left knee injury that’s going under the knife in a week.

Coach takes over and gets a game. So it was 6-1. The second set they won 6-2. His comment on my forehand (ok) and serve: bend the knees.

The mourning doves have been bombing /flying over us throughout the match: guess they’re looking for their nest spot. Pretty sad.

Matt and I def Sally & Joe 6-2
Sally and I lost 3-6, despite leading 3-0: I was tired, really.

On serve, I focus on hoisting, and am doing a little of that.

BUT

… my tossing is too late, or I hoist my arm too early.

So far, one motion/step that consistently working is drop low.

Something interesting: what weather or nature does to the Score Keepers: only one side (happens to be green color) gets green moss.

上面的朝东 下面的朝西 青苔只生在一边

大自然的鬼斧神工

Beautoful sunrise at the courts

… the warmup

.

Like with racket drops low, shifting weight, or transferring weight hits me today and works out well. I think it solves my tossing too early problem as well.

Monday mixer: Hope and I lost to Tammy & Matt 4-6, & 3-3: Hope has to retire after 90 minutes of play to nurse his chronic injury or long existing. It was a great match, with many long rallies, and my forehand works well.

… the warm-up

_{the bird and me}

Today, I concentrate on hoisting.

Sally, who can run and runs fast, and I won 2 and 1 over Rebecca and Lisa: they’re preparing for the upcoming battle.

Lisa asked me, when it was over, for suggestions. Seriously, asking me? I knew nothing about tennis 🙂

• hoisting not so much: more practice!
• warm-up w/ Lisa
• a bird mourning dove is looking