Yald Patrick Grote's Blog

Sub 3.0 Mixed WTT Tennis Great Play

On Wednesday night, January 11, 2012, I subbed for someone in a mixed 3.0 league. My teammates were Jeff, Diane and Sheri. Jeff is someone who I played for in a 3.5 indoor WTT league while he was injured. He has a slight rotator cuff tear, but he is back now.

Highlights:

• Probably the the top three in my tennis playing ever. Played very well.
• Our team won by one game.
• Really practiced the spin serve hard to the point I pulled my trapezius.

Jeff and I played Allen and Dave. This was the first time Jeff and I played together and we did pretty good. Whereas his normal partner Dwight and I would start of slow, Jeff and I started off great. My serve was on and I made some great lobs. We would go up 2 games and then they would come back.

The set came down to a 5-5 tie break, which we lost 5-3. I made a fateful call on a outside lob by Dave. Jeff was ready to crush it, but I old him to let it go and it hit the line in. My mistake was that I was so sure it was out I quit running. Excellent shot by Dave.

Jeff started singles and turned it over to me at 0-4. His serve was not going in and Allen was eating him up. I came in and proceeded to get it to 3-4. Allen made it 3-5 and then I went to 4-5. The last game was awesome back and forth points. Allen and I were playing insanely good. Allen ended up winning after deuce and it was over. He later attributed the win to having to go to the bathroom. I believe it.

In mixed I played money with Sheri and we proceeded to lose the main set 4-6. I played well and Sheri did ok, but I could tell Allen and Kathy were being aggressive at the net. This is not my speciality. Allen and Kathy won a game to tie up the match, so we went to super tiebreaker and everything went our way. We won 7-2.

What I did well:

1. Serves: I decided to practice my spin serves and they worked out great. Dave was so frustrated during doubles I felt I had to apologize.
2. Returns: Allen has a left spin that is hard for a serve and I worked to be patient, time it and hit to his backhand. I did this most of the time.
3. Drop Shots: My drop shots were almost perfect with a spin to the outside in doubles and back to the net in singles.

What I didn't do well:

Put Allen Away:  In the singles game I felt I had a couple of times to really beat him, but I couldn't make the shot to do it. This shouldn't be too surprising since I like playing Allen.

I played up to my level and it was fantastic!

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