51° air temp at 9 am, 69° water temp at 11:30 – all are just great!
Our opponents are experienced, and they picked on my partner, who held up firm. They can run me around all the time.
I couldn’t hold my serve in the first set, but did well in the second. We also decided to make an effort to hit the lady in the purple top, which worked.
Coach C practices with us for a little while, and he says I need to toss high for my serve
🔢 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.
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.
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 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。
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.
v. Joel & Christine: 10-2
v. Felix & Julie: 10-5
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.
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.
This is the first time that I went to the court twice but didn’t get to play: the courts are just too wet, all have puddles from the rain.
holding bevel 2 for backhand
soft scoop at the net
