Ok, not quite what I was hoping for, but I did get some hardware.

First round of singles, I got a taller guy that had a very non-conventional game. He had a big kick serve that sometimes went short, sometimes they'd hit the back fence, sometimes they'd stay low. No consistency. I didn't really get a hang of it the whole match. He also went to a serve and drop volley game that totally befuddled me. I could get to a lot of them, but he was standing right there to put it away. It didn't matter too much what I did against him at net, he was quick enough to get to lobs and had a huge wingspan, making it really tough to pass him. I lost that 6-4 6-2, and still don't really know what to do about it. He chopped at a lot of stuff and never really knew where his shot was going... and when he didn't know, I had no way of reading it.

My dad, who will have to write up his own matches in more depth, won his first one. He told me that at 1-4 in the second set, he decided he wasn't going to lose it. At 2-5, he really buckled down and took it to a tie-break, which he won.

His second match, which I got to watch since I wasn't playing at that time, was an epic 2 hour 50 minute 3 set battle. First set didn't go so well, and the second wasn't looking that well either, but he eventually got it to a tie-break. It took him saving 2 match points and 7 set points of his own, but he eventually won it. In the third set, he held off 7 more match points, then he ran into a problem.

It seems that the courts had pulled apart at one point right in the middle. They cut out a section and dropped in some new concrete, but it was pulling apart. There was a gap wide enough for my racquet to slip down in to. Anyway, we all think he sort of slipped on that as he was going for a short ball. He hurt himself enough that he couldn't move side to side at all. Anyway, he dropped that set for good reason.

Anyway, we still had to play doubles. They gave him a little while to ice his injury and we went out and played. I planned on taking most of the shots. We were able to take the first set 6-4. About then, they figured out my dad was hurt. I gave it everything I had, but we came up a little short. We lost the next two 7-5, 7-5. For as poorly as he was moving, it didn't seem too bad. That was another 2 hours of tennis, and it was really tiring for me. It was still fun, but wow was that ever work.

Still a lot to work on obviously, but every match makes me tougher, right?

One more result to report. My mother, after losing to a college player who's mother is a coach and is an instructor herself 7-5,6-2 came back and won the consolations 6-3 6-3. Her first tournament back and she's already got a win in the 4.0 division. Way to go, Mom. You'll have to teach me your secret.

Sounds like a fun day of tennis, I miss those days competing. Again good job getting out there to play both Brian and Dana, you two will continue to improve thanks to the experience you're both gathering.

Dana, are you recovering ok from your injury? Hopefully you're doing alright.

-Ian

It certainly was. You should get out and play, Ian. What's wrong with you? haha.



I certainly hope so. The tournament next weekend only had one entered in 3.5 singles, so I went up to 4.0. Either I'll play better or I'll be in some real trouble.



You know how when you see sprinters going along and they pull up and can't compete the race from a pulled groin? He said that's what it was like. I was pretty amazed that he played 3 sets of doubles yet after that. He wasn't at 100%. Probably closer to 10%, yet we had our chances. It's not easy continuing through pain, and he didn't complain... too much. Just the occasional "I shouldn't have done that" referring to when he tried to do a little too much.

Seems like you all got in some great matches this weekend! Tournaments are tons of fun, probably triply so with family. All this tournament match experience will prove invaluable later on down the road I think. I also think Dana deserves some type of ironman award for playing 8 sets in one day, most of it on a gimpy wheel even. It's too bad because you almost surely would have won the doubles if he was healthy. Oh well, you'll get them next time! Keep up the great work!

Yep. Here's a picture of my dad. See how he tripped and his right leg stretched funny? I think that's when he hurt it after tripping over one of those cracks in the cement.



I was going to PhotShop something, but I don't have it on my netbook.

hahaha

Brian played an excellent doubles match which was more like him playing singles against the other two with me in the way. I had no business being out there playing with an injury, but I didn't want to let Brian down and I thought we had a good chance to win even with my injury (which was almost true). I basically stood in one place and hit anything I could reach without moving more than a step or two, and Brian covered about 95% of the court. As you can tell from the score, he did a great job covering my back.

Brian forgot to point out that this was the doubles finals, so we got a runner-up trophy. That was the hardware he mentioned in his opening sentence. The downside is there were only two teams entered, so this was the only doubles match we played. So we got doubles hardware without winning a doubles match. Not real satisfying, but hardware is hardware, and the way Brian played, he deserves a trophy for carrying me so well. I'm sure his back is pretty sore today, because I was mighty heavy in that match. So Brian is the real ironman!

Thanks for the encouragement and concern. My groin is still quite sore today. I'm going to have to take some time off. I've never had this type of injury, so I don't have any idea how long it takes to recover from it. I want to be ready for our major tournament here in Fremont in mid-July, so I hope I can recover fully by then. I'll have to ask Dr. Jack about it.

I'm skipping a tournament this coming weekend. I'll just be Brian's driver and take him there so I can cheer him on.

Groin pulls often take a long time to heal Dana, just giving you a heads up. Please be careful and don't overdo it, you don't want it to become a chronic problem.....

ya I was wondering where the "hardware" part of his post was, forgot to ask about that. Congrats to you both!

Thanks for the heads up. I don't want this to become a chronic problem. I enjoy playing tennis too much. And I don't want this to be the reason Brian and my wife can always beat me. I want them to get so good I can't stay close to them, not because I'm injured and can't move (although it would be hard to take if my wife could always beat me. Brian is a different story. That day isn't far off for him when I won't be able to keep up with him.)

He ain't heavy. He's my dad.

Next tournament is coming this weekend. I'm excited, as it won't be 3.5 competition for once.

http://tennislink.usta.com/Tournaments/ ... 80349&E=32