3.5 USTA 3rd doubles tiebreaker loss

16Jan/120

3.5 USTA 3rd doubles tiebreaker loss

Sunday, January 15, 2011, at Forest Lake. Second week of USTA play and I was slated to play 3rd doubles with Dave I. Never played with Dave I. and never met him. Our opponents were Allen and Loren. Allen is someone I play with regularly in a 3.5 friday night WTT league and I had never played Loren before.

I wasn't nervous going in since I knew I could play 3.5 and I've played Allen enough to know what to expect. The mood was more excited, as I knew would stood a good chance.

The first set was a loss at 4-6. Dave and I were playing well, but we both made errors at bad times including me not being able to return Loren flat serves to the side. The second set was a win at 6-4 and it really should have been 6-3. We let them take the last game with a number of forced errors. The tiebreaker started off horrible for us as we were down 2-6, but we turned it around to 9-7 and then 9-8.

The last point was one of more exciting in recent memories. Back and forth, I returned two Allen smashes at the baseline, but I just couldn't get the return lobs over their heads. On the last hit I ran in front of Dave as a ball hog and barely got it over the net. Allen then went opposite court. I got there, but my return fell short of making it over the net. We lost 8-10.

So, I am now on a losing streak in 3.5 USTA.

What I did well:

Movement: Dave and I moved well as doubles partners and only left the court exposed once. We won the point, but were lined up in a lower case l. We laughed about it and made a note to avoid it.
Returns: Allen has a vicious left handed kick serve and I paced it well.
Serves: My serves were in and placed well.
Conditioning: The match last two hours and I never tired.

What I didn't do well:

Serves. I know it is listed above, but both Allen and Loren commented about my lack of blistering serves. I purposely let up to get in and position, but in retrospect I should have mixed in the boomer. I felt honestly stupid after they said that. It never dawned on me to mix it up and shows a weakness in my game.
Ball hog: When we got to 2-6 in the tiebreaker I decided to put the match on my shoulders. Worked well until the last point. My striding in front of Dave was a gross mistake and one that breaks all tennis etiquette. He was in a much better position to return the ball and might have won the point.
Net play: Still uncomfortable and it showed. I kept moving around and wouldn't get aggressive at the net.

Overall, it was a good, solid match for people at our level. No one was head and shoulders above the others. Dave and I played well together and we could have won the match. Allen and Loren hit more winners than we did.

3.5 USTA is very different from 3.0. Whereas in 3.0 more people are out for a good time, the 3.5 people are very serious. After missing shots they swing in the air to practice, they get angry when they make a mistake and generally avoid conversation. It makes me uncomfortable with the focus on improvement and winning, which goes to show you I probably make them uncomfortable.