tennis, life and a few things in between

A double winning day:

🔢 Tony & I def Matt & Jay, 7-6 ^7-3
🔢 Edwin & he def Dave L & Denny 6-0, 6-0

30 minutes before the start, Coach is waiting for his new students, and asks me if I’d like to hit. I declined because I wanted to practice a few serves.

In the match, keeping in mind his pointers from yesterday, I checked my backhand’s ‘bevel 2’ … but unable to see if I’m holding it correctly.

… my left arm is lazy, not just in pickleball.

1️⃣ serves
2️⃣ more serves
3️⃣ not stepping in after serve
4️⃣ warm up slowmo: bh / fh: left arm isn’t turning
5️⃣ warm up

Jay & I 和老情人Jay穿情侣装

Tony and I (again) were leading, 3-0, then I lost my serve. It became a close game. I was serving 6-5, 40-30. We missed a few sitters in the game (quite a few in the set) and went to a tie-break. We lost two points right off the bat but were able to take back the tiebreaker, a point at a time. At 5-2, I called a deep baseline shot out, but Tony said it was good – a reversal. Eventually, we closed it out 7-3.

During a game, Matt called let on his own serve, took my winning scoop drop shot away. Coach was nearby, so we asked him, who said, “Anyone can call the let.” AI confirms it.

11男一女 三个场地.

又是和Tony (为啥翻译托尼, 不应该茼尼/童尼?) 对 Jay. 我们3-0领先,然后我被破发.比赛变得紧凑起来.在比分是6-5, 40-30, 我们错失了几个轻松得分的机会(整盘比赛中错失的机会还不少), 比赛进入抢七; 最终我们以 7-3 赢.

家属和搭档 赢了 6-0, 6-0: 有人开心有人恼 💔

情人节快乐

^{… our new brush}

A clinic that no one came to, except me, turned into a great lesson: bevel 2 for backhand, and scoop by the net. Both are old, but the tiny tweaks are ‘revolutionary’:

holding bevel 2 for backhand
soft scoop at the net

A good lesson: bevel 2 and scoop

屡教不改满心欢喜去上课
微改 感觉就是革命呀
如虎添翼 [Lol] 大跃进
马到成功 [偷笑] 传捷报

无聊大妈

周末驾到

亲们周末快乐哈
明天情人节💘快乐

so 大妈

^{happy with the toss, working on the waiter’s tray}

A good win with Brenda as the sub, 6-1, 6-1 over the team that are tied with them.

I’m pretty happy with my play:

that I held all my serves, no double fault.
I see that my ground stroke isn’t too bad, and I used it effectively.

The team is 4-1, so they’re in the first place now. (They lost to the same oppenonts last time at their home, full 3 sets in 3.5 hr!)

I was scheduled to sub, but not for the first court. At 7:51 this morning, a text came in, switching me to the first court. This league does not use a point system (USTA had 3 courts, and each carried different points). So winning the first court counts as much as the last court.

I’ve never played with Brenda before, but we worked well together. She’s good all around, but great at the net.

Taking a cue from last night’s pickleball, I hit more ground strokes and dropped less, held all my serves without a single double fault. For serve, I consistently toss first, and it worked well for me, winning quite a few points. Now, will I remember it?

One of the opponents looks like Inmaculada Concepción Conchita Martínez Bernat (1972-; 1988-2006, $11,527,977), who serves really well (but spits a couple of times …). Both opponents have weak second serve – they just pushed it over.

During the second set, we were up 4-1, 0-40. Brenda called a first serve to the middle out, but the server questioned it. It was a close call, and I said I didn’t see it. Brenda said, “Take the point.’ And they did, and went on to win two more points. Fortunately, we were able to close it.

Another good win: 6-1、6-1 和一个新搭档。(搭档开心因为战胜了与她们战绩相同的对手。今天球队总战绩为4胜1负，排名第一了。

搭档说她们上次在对手的家 同样的对手，打了整整三局，耗时 3.5 小时！最后输了

其中一对手长得像 Conchita Martínez 满地吐口水

我自己也高兴 保住了所有发球局，没有双误。

底线击球很好，而且运用得当 吸取昨晚匹克球的经验 少用吊球。

开开心心等着过周末

大妈 只是星期三 。。。 没关系 周末总是会到的呀

Two games: one on Saturday and one on Monday.

~ with Tony again the week after, winning in tie break again ~

Saturday, I teamed up with Tony, won 7-6 over Jay and Gordo.

It was a wild set.

The score went like this:

• 4-0
• 4-4
• 6-6 tiebreak
  • 5-2
  • 5-3
  • 5-4

We eventually closed it out with 8-6 in the tiebreak.

Today, we’ve four courts and my win lose ratio is 1-3.

On serve: I thought I toss first, but the video says otherwise.

7-6 (7-5)
Got two spectators [得意]
有些亚历山大: Tony 童尼同学虽然79岁 但姿势漂亮 还能跑
我们一直赢
不过近几个月俺一直拖累他 输的惨不忍睹.

今早🏊‍♀️ 水温 71度 (21) 犹豫要不要进
… 游了200 米 下决心要打赢.
4-0
4-4
5-5
6-6
[Lol] 干啥呢: 4-0时想啥呀?
抢7时 我们领先5-2 [闭嘴]

^{How do you like my matching blue nail polish?}

I played the second round REALLY well… but lost to Joe and Tiffany, coming in second.

Don’t know who has offended the weather god, but our tournaments are often affected by bad weather. This time is scheduled on Thursday, with the final on Friday.

Thursday was a nasty day: rainy, windy, and cold. … and Sandy’s girls are leaving on Saturday morning. (Thanks to Sandy, her friends enabled us to have a true mixed doubles tourney.) So, 11 teams in all, first to 10 pro set. Dave L and I are one of three byes.

1. v. Joel & Christine: 10-2
2. v. Felix & Julie: 10-5
3. v. Joe & Tiffany: 5-10

One of our first-round opponents decided on an hour break, which is unheard of. We never explicitly state the time between rounds, with the understanding that recovery time is no more than 10 minutes. In short, we started late. But they were easy to deal with. At 7-0, he called a on-the-line shot out, which gave them a game. Oh well.

The second set was a real competition. I was the weakest link, getting all the shots. For once, I held my own. It was a tight, thrilling game until 5-5.

In the third round, which is the final, we lost clearly. Tiffany is definitely at a higher level: good 10 years younger, and doesn’t miss anything … They had two byes and watched us battle in the second round.

… no improvement in serving

亚军🥈
混双
10-2
10-5
5-10
第二盘俺打得非常好
搭档也棒
因俺最弱所以啥球都是俺的事儿 [偷笑]

第三盘 大妈已经半残
对手女漂亮+球技好
我们打第二盘时他们一直在看 (第一对奇葩 要回家一小时 所以我们开始的晚.)
不是找借口 只是打的不够好
和教练说 下次要把休息时间写清楚 最多15分钟. 没写是大家都很合作. 虽然是亡羊补牢 但奇葩/不法会令到规章制度更健全 [好的]

周末快乐

^{All three courts done first set at the same time}

8:46 call for the 9am league game because one of the mates on Line 4 is in urgent care (she’s fine). I said yes only because I knew the captain’s pain.

Lisa and I won 3 and 2. We got our first serve games at love. Then I lost my next serve… Lisa has been playing tennis for 15 years and is excellent at net.

This morning I was luckily, because the opponents came from far and were late by a good 30 minutes.

During the set, the three of them went to the bathroom. Looking around the 3 court (we’re on Court 3), the other two are done at about the same time: we were all up a set.

I need constantly coaching, otherwise I’d be playing with old bad habbits.

Tony pulled out this morning, so I filled in. Sandi and I lost to Jay and Golf 4-6.

So, I’m still working on my serve. Jay said that I’m too stiff, not bending my knees.

Bend your knees when tossing, he says.

AI says, pros typically do not bend their knees at the exact moment they begin to toss the ball, but rather start the knee bend as the ball is released. The legs remain relatively straight during the initial upward movement of the tossing arm, with the,,knee bend occurring simultaneously with the toss release and the racket moving toward the tophy position.

• warm-up
• forehand
• volley
• serve -pathetic