1518 Racquetball Chronicles XIV

Tonight playing JB. All day my legs were heavy and inexplicably I was feeling tired.

First game started and he looked...slow. Taking an extra second to get moving, an extra second to get to the ball..and when playing someone who hits the ball pretty fast and hard, that can spell trouble.

My serve was blistering and even when he returned it I was in good position and controlled the court. He did score 6 for the game, but it was never in doubt.

Game 2 he started strong, serving 6 straight points. Only one of them I think actually saw a rally. I scored 2, then he scored 2 more. He was returning every serve no matter how nasty, he was scoring on every kill shot opportunity, he was getting to my passing shots...I felt helpless.

Then I slightly adjusted my stance, started stepping back on my return and suddenly instead of him racking up points off his serve, I was killing every serve. But I could not score either.

Slowly I climbed back into it. 4-8. 5-9. 7-8. 7-9. 9-9/ He took one last lead at 10-9 and I scored the rest of the points to win 15-10. It was a tough, hard fought game. Worse, I was feeling winded.

Game three started out more of the same as he built a rapid 3-0 lead. I got a couple back, tied it at three...and then rolled my ankle. It did not hurt but I thought it should and played tentatively for a couple minutes.

Then I stretched it out, buckled down and destroyed him 15-8. towards the end I was visibly winded and even said, "It is an open question if I will run out of gas before I finish this.

He knew the games should be closer so we rested an abnormally long time and he suggested one more. Always up for a game I agreed.

And sure enough he served up 4 straight points.

But then I got my second wind. And suddenly it looked like I had been toying with him all night. No matter how good his serve I simply hit a backhand kill shot from the back row. When we had volleys he could not get it past me. If he was close to the front a simple passing shot. If he was behind me a kill shot.

When I was up 13-4 we had a rally where he induced a weak passing attempt, moved up and hit a touch shot that came back about a foot inside the very front service line. I was at a dead run when i hit it...and hit such a great corner pinch shot he had no chance it. From behind him I re-killed a kill shot at a dead run.

He just shook his head and said, "We aren't even playing the same game anymore."

I think that is the moment we both knew I have vastly surpassed him.

See, the thing he, he played really well tonight. And I STILL wrecked him. Even when he was ahead 8-2 we both thought I was going to win.

As he said to me, "You played spectacularly tonight." The thing is...he was a step slow, but he was ON tonight and it was a demolition.

I have improved so much it is unbelievable. And I still love the game, so that is good too.

And that is a shot I will long remember...dead run perfect rekill of a shot I should not have had a chance to get to. My instincts, reaction, position and execution were just that good.