tennis, life and a few things in between

Our 8.0 last match of the regular season. more pix on FB

THanks For paying for my entry!

I was feeling great by trying hard to do right only to realize that I paid for the wrong team. Further more, I messed up scores when I tried again to be a good sport by entering it. Never mind, I’m disgust. Very sorry people for the extra work I caused.

The match was straightforward. After first set, I looked over to the other two courts and saw we all won the first set.

Happy.

Jerry and I finished first. And a few moments later, 1D shock hands. We were in the final. 2D was still going. We were serving for the match at 5-4. I was so sure they’d won (they took the first set at love) so I left for the bathroom. When I returned, they were in the super tie break – the third set. … And lost 10-6. Ah well.

My second 8.0 match went love love: two bagels. The guy who’s the captain of the team is just too good. I didn’t return a single serve from him. He must have 20+ aces. There is a cheerful picture of him with the 4.0 team that won the nationals in 2009. Oh well. He’s considerate: we moved the match up from 4/14 to tonight to accommodate my girl. He also made sure our three courts are in the viewing area because we have two mates who came to watch (his club has one court in the corner somewhere, can’t be seen from the club house.). Pizza and soda .. uhhhhhh .. can’t have it all. Tino came by with his wife after playing at GNE.

The fifth set is not about tennis, it’s about nerves

Boris Becker is one of my favored players.

The 5th set is not about tennis ..

The league has emailed us the playoff dates two days ago even our division hasn’t done playing – the first two teams have decided without the last match being played. But the other division’s points are close. Thinking back this season, many my matches had gone to the third set, especially during the Manhattan‘s.

My 2013 records, as of 4/4

Division I has seven teams and they played 12 matches:

Div 1 team standing

Div 1 points

Our division II has six teams and we played 10 matches:

Div II team standing

Div II points

I teamed up with a 3.5 guy vs 4.0 and an unrated guy who’s 3.5~4.0. They won the toss and opted to serve.
0-1
1-1
1-2
1-3: I lost my serve.
It was a great match, my partner and I played really well – yes, I remembered to turn to the side to hit. Soon we caught up to 5-5.
5-6
5-7: I lost my serve again and we lost the set.
During the change over, the 4.0 said to me,
“.. .. we should have beat you at 2 ..”
I agreed.
-:) don’t think I’m overly competitive.
Just then, my partner walked by and heard, and disagreed loudly:
“You’ve some nerve to say that ..” He’s continuously walking toward the baseline and talking ..
“It’s great tennis we just played .. ” He said to me.
“We played a while back.. .. you were so bad .. ” He said to the 4.0.
We stopped at 2-2 due to time.

E Shore to Bayview: Wed. Mar 13, 2013 at 5:23pm

I did 20 laps in the pool before heading to the match. I got there almost an hour before the match time. The front desk kid (he looked like a high school kid) was friendly and chatty.
Nic was there long before I arrived and Le came second. The lineup was pretty set since, well .. .. since I was playing. Le picked Nic and Jim left holding the bag. The old bag.
Our opponents won the toss and he went to serve. We broke hers then I lost mine promptly. I didn’t hold serve in the first set and we lost at 3.
Second set, I continually losing my serve.  At 1-3 Jimmy went to serve and held. He Held again. And for the first time, I held mine for a change. During the change over, the bubbly girl started to count the games wrong. She insisted its 5-3. And even took out a note pad, prepared to do the math. I was wondering how would she count, tic tac or what?
The pole by the net has the numbers backward, 1 at the top when all others have the larger number at the top. She later confessed that the pole did her in.
Anyway, she served and won. Jimmy then served out a love game. We were still at 4-5.
The guy held every single serve but lost this one.
We were at 5-5.
I held mine, miraculously!!
She lost hers.
Jimmy started the third set tie break and won.
He lost one and won one.
I lost both
She won one and lost one.
We were at 3-4
Jim won one and lost one, at 4-5.
For better or worst, we then took the rest and won the match.
Unfortunately my team lost .. I was very happy to win my first 8.0 match in 2013 even I didn’t know why we lost first set and didn’t know what’s happened that we won the next two. Jiming pointed out that I was merely floating (as vs hitting) the ball during the first set.
Throughout the match, Jimmy kept telling me to turn to hit. After the match, he commented that having a positive mindset is important,
“You know you’re going to win .. or play to win.”
Thanks partner!!
Guess one more thing to remember.
Sportime at Syosset has decent courts, both hard and har tru. The opposing captain was friendly.