Just Short – Closing and Dealing with Momentum Shifts

Inside The Lines – My Tennis Journey

Just Short – Closing and Dealing with Momentum Shifts

December 6, 2009

Volume 1: issue 3

I once said, “Losing simply becomes part of the process.” This is okay if you have the benefit of an eight game USTA league season. It is possible your team can afford a loss or even two. However, when your team is playing recreational World Team Tennis, the luxury of losing is not as great. You can’t afford to give up a game or a set. Games lost can come back to haunt. Halloween came twice for my team today. We were haunted by losing with the shortest of margins. One game separated my team from feeling very positive and carrying some momentum into the next match or feeling desperate like a cat in a room full of rocking chairs. One game prevented us from experiencing the thrill of victory. I am thinking some of us felt like we got our tails smashed. Kicked or smashed, the pain is still pain. A sharp stick in the eye may have felt better!

Losing is simply painful. It is not part of the process in World Team Tennis.

Losing is painful in this context because you don’t lose as an individual. You lose as a team. When you play your set and lose, it is a letdown for the entire team. That aspect makes it difficult. Other folks depend on you for results. It’s different when you play singles. You can accept responsibility for a loss. But what do you do when you lose in World Team Tennis playing doubles? That is truly a double whammy. You let your partner down and the team. Yikes! Is there a lesson in that? Sure.

Don’t lose.

Don’t lose is clearly easier said than done. Today’s match was a reminder of how a loss, even by a slim margin is still a loss.

Conditions were not good. Cold, damp and slightly slick because of the mist in the air, thick air and flat balls made for interesting sets throughout the lineup. The WTT format requires you play singles, doubles, and mixed-doubles. Six sets are played in total. The team that wins the most games wins the match. The atmosphere is typically like a Davis Cup event. It can be noisy and distractions are frequent. Coaching is allowed and although it is very competitive, the environment is also light. People tend to like to laugh, even if they are losing. Loose might be a better description. Once the competitive juices begin to flow, it’s more than recreational tennis but not quite as tense as a USTA sanctioned tournament or league match, or that match for neighborhood or club bragging rights. I thought conditions would have worked in our favor, then, I realized most of my teammates do not like to play the slow, clay court-like, pusher game that I embrace. The more I thought about it, I probably should have played singles, but I did not. I hit a slow ball anyway, so the ball not moving through the air does not really affect me. Some would suggest my game is similar to Rafa Nadal’s, except his is 100 times better. I play left handed. I hit with a lot of spin and I cover the court well. I am a tough out in singles, even when I lose. You will know you have been in a match. Nevertheless, my teammates did a good job of adjusting to the conditions. We were very competitive…just not competitive enough.

What went wrong?

The men did not hold up their end of the bargain in the first match. Two more in the round robin format will be played. Hopefully, the men will redeem themselves.

Our results were as follows:

Men’s Doubles – (Lost) 3-6

Men’s Singles – (Lost) 4-6

Women’s Doubles (Won) 6-2

Women’s Singles (Won) 6-5

Mixed Doubles (Won) 6-4

Mixed Doubles (Lost) 4-6

Tiebreaker (Lost) 0-1

We lost the tiebreaker 2-7, which means we lost the match by 1 game. This loss was brutally painful.

Two things of significance are worth noting.

First, I was reminded on two occasions that the men needed a strong player. The players on the roster were strong players, but there were a couple of guys who were supposed to play that I believe were stronger. The results do not necessarily suggest that there were NO strong players. It was quite the contrary. Both losses were close; however, the point of significance is that with a stronger male player, as was expected, we would have likely won those sets. The only question would have been “by how much?” If you know anything about team tennis, teams are always looking for the “ringer” that they can slip into their lineup undetected. It happens all of the time. I learned a long time ago, which was actually three and half years ago when I started playing this game, that players more often than not will play down a level to try to win. I personally don’t like that philosophy. I would rather play up to have an opportunity to play better players and work on my game. Playing up has served me well thus far. But, that is another story. The facts lie in the results. The women carried us today. Even in the mixed-doubles set we lost, as well as I played early, I did not close the deal late. My partner played well at times. At other times she appeared to lose focus, as did I. A crucial moment in the match occurred at 4-0, deciding point. I’ll talk about that one later. The deciding point that sealed the set was the ultimate knife in the heart. It was a form of twisted poetic justice that the shot that lost us the set and required the tiebreaker, was a shot I should have returned, but did not. I dumped the weak spinning shot into the net and off to a tiebreaker we went. Our confidence shot, the victory seemingly in our grasp now gone, and now the pressure of a tiebreaker. What did we do?

We substituted. As the WTT format allows, we brought in two new players. This was my mistake. The captains should have gone down with the ship, if at all.

The second thing of significance was the way the mixed doubles match that I participated was played. We were leading 4-0 with a chance to go up 5-0 and we lost the set 4-6.

What on God’s green earth happened?

This was clearly “Nightmare at Copperfield Racquet Club” and Freddy Krueger was in the form of the two people across the net from us – Kevin and Kim. I called them K & K. I should have called them KKK, because Kevin and Kim (K)illed us in the end.

My partner and I were rolling. My serve was clicking. My partner was putting balls away at net. The ground strokes were solid between us both and errors were minimal. We were playing well and the other team had NO answers. Confidence was high on our side of the net. I think the fact that they were playing two leftys psyched them out a bit. At 4-0, my serve, I am thinking, “this is the time to hit the nail a little more.” A 5-0 lead would look real good and nearly put our opponents out of their misery. After the fact, I figured we should have won 6-1, 6-2 at worst. I never imagined they would come back. But there was a crucial moment, in my opinion, that shifted the momentum. We gave them life when there was no life to be found in that match for

K & K.

I served with the intention of winning this service game. My first service game to start the set went well. I nearly served an ace down the “T” at deuce point. I let out a yell of approval after my opponent could not return the ball. This was after going up 40-15, hitting a double fault, and then getting a really good served returned at twice the pace. I did not panic then and I would not panic now. Out of the gates 1-0 with a clutch hold of serve did wonders for my confidence.

In this fifth game we got down 15-40 in much the same way. But, I felt like I could serve out of it. We lost a couple of extended rallies and K & K scrambled to get in position to hit some overheads. We were on our heals and it meant getting in first serves. I bore down. I served to the female in the deuce court. It was a body serve that jammed her and she could not get the racquet around. It sailed wide. Now, at 30-40 and serving to my favorite side, I am feeling pretty confident. I am going to go out wide and pull the male off the court. Guess what? It worked to perfection. His backhand went meekly into the net. Now, the pressure is on both teams. The deciding point would determine if this set is 5-0 in our favor, or 4-1 with K & K to serve.

I hit a pretty decent serve. It landed in the deep corner of the box on the ad side. My opponent had to hit a backhand. He swung late and hit it right at my partner. The shot was well above her head, but she instinctively put up her racquet. The ball would have likely sailed out. It hit her racquet and went into the net. Ouch! I could not blame her. She reacted. But, inside I knew this was not a good sign. We had clearly outplayed this team and we just gave them reason to get up off the mat. The next five games were an absolute nightmare. Mishit balls, double faults, passive play, our inability to exploit the weaker opponent, their ability to raise their level and stay away from my backhand all contributed to the slide. I felt powerless at times. It showed. I could not get inside my partner’s head and I could not affect the game with my play. I was in the worst of “Mixed Doubles Limbo”, “Can’t play well and can’t help your partner play well.” They beat us 6-4. I learned later that getting that fifth game would have meant victory for us. The tiebreaker would not have to be played if we had only got to a fifth game, even in losing. We lost by one game. It is a game I will never forget.

Next time the captains will go down with the ship. Next time we will make sure we do not come up short. Every game matters in tennis. Every moment matters in life. Make them count.

Tennis and Life coupled like man and wife.

A commitment to excellence takes hard work and may cause pain.

Some days will be sunny. Other days may bring rain.

And when the story is told by others and it is time to reflect,

Life will teach how to forgive. Tennis allows you to play a “let”.

Copyright © 2009 Milton A. Brown