Racquetball Chronicles

For a while it looked like we would be playing some cut throat with 25 and Ta but then 25 could not make it and TA ended up being a bit late...but we got on the court and ready to go.

I prefer one on one anyway...I am more aggressive, feel like I get more exercise, more action, and, because of that, I actually think I play better.

Anyway, the first game was what it almost always is...me winning handily. He usually gets off to a slow start, I think he has beat me once.

Then, game two, I suddenly struggled mightily. I was hitting the walls, thus meaning it was coming back to him at center...mis-hitting his easy, soft lob serves...not getting kill shots down, passing shots on the wall...I could do nothing right.

He won pretty handily, something like 15-6 or 15-8. It was a demolition.

Game three was pretty forgettable for both of us...we would have a good rally, then one of us would hit a poor shot, the other guy would set up well for it...and spike it into the ground or miss it completely.

After three games there just was not much to write home about. Worse, I was only half sweaty. Oh, and that was my 100th singles win of 2012....

Anyway, we talked a bit about how we had split the 6 games prior to that mess, so if things went according to form, he would win game 4.

That did not quite happen...he fell 15 points short of winning. Yep, I skunked him. Thing is, I was not playing WELL...just better than games 1-3. My passing shots stayed on the wall instead of hitting the wall and coming to mid-court. And when I hit them deep, they still drove him to back court.

But most importantly...I HUSTLED. I got to ball after ball after ball after ball. And even though I was not hitting great, he simply could not win two rallies in a row. I  just went after the ball and got it.

Then I did it again...back to back skunks. But this time in addition to hustling, my shots were better. I was stepping back when hitting my kill shots and they were lethal. My passing shots were hard enough to get past him, not hard enough to hit the back wall. And still I was getting to every ball. He might have broken me twice, possibly three times...no way did he break me 4 times.

We went one more just because we did not want the night to end like that.

And suddenly everything was reversed; he jumped out to a 2-0 lead. I had to battle, and battle hard, to tie it at 2. Every rally was a war, every point an epic struggle.

He scored a couple to go up 4-2. We exchanged a couple service breaks. He ran off a few more points...I scored...he scored more...he was up 10-4.

I really wanted to score to make it "five-and-dime" but he got another point. 11-4.

And it was a bit demoralizing...shots that I was putting away earlier were just that quarter inch high, he was controlling the middle, my strong efforts were shots now he was getting to. It felt like I might never score again....

But I broke through for 2 quick ones. He reciprocated and it stood at 13-6.

I went to work. Scored 3, he broke me. I broke him back. Scored 3 to pull within 13-12, he broke me on a demoralizing exchange...I had it all lined up for an easy forehand passing shot, he was behind me....it was in the bag. Until I whiffed.

When I go from having the tie in hand to service out on a completely unforced error on an easy shot it could totally put me away mentally.

And, in fact, slightly winded, I thought about going half speed assuming he would get to 14, then planning to shut him down no matter what. But instead I forced myself to expend the energy, play hard...and sure enough, in a wild exchange I ended up hitting a running backhand corner pinch to break him.

2 hard fought rallies later, I led 14-13.

He then hit a beautiful return. Tied at 14.

He hit almost a perfect serve, low, hard, down the backhand line. I hit an even more wicked return, low, bouncing twice before getting to the front servers line.

A nasty corner serve forced a weak return which I backhanded into the far corner for a successful kill and a 15-14 lead.

Then we had a desperate volley where I moved him side to side until exhaustion led to a mis-hit that skipped...game.

I did learn some things tonight.

1; his lob serve I was returning poorly until I altered my strategy. Instead of trying to end the rally, I properly drove him to the back wall...not with proper ceiling shots, because I hit those poorly. Instead, I aimed to hit a couple feet under the ceiling and have it bounce at mid court close to the wall. This limited his shot selection and led to a lot of shots which allowed me to win the rally.

When I started doing that, he had no offense at all until he started serving low and hard...and those I was returning very well.

2) I really need to work on my passing shot aiming points. I know they should hit half way between me and the wall I want to pass on, but I typically fail to execute.

3) I need to work on the depth of my passing shots as all too frequently they come off the back wall to mid court, giving him too many options.