Down 9-13 and a magic 8 ball somewhere reveals...

"Outlook does not look good!"



If you recall from my earlier post, "3-0" I talked about my next three games are going to be rubber matches, where my season will be defined. Victor, Carlos, and Troy are the names of my opponents.



Yesterday, I was scheduled to play Victor. The first stop on this three game tour. Victor, before yesterday, had a record of 1-2. Not all that impressive, but I knew who Victor played and lost versus Carlos and Troy. Victor can play, but he is still shaking off rust from a few years of not playing.



Victor played Troy and lost 2 games to one. Victor could have beat Troy, but Troy eventually made adjustments and took him out. Victor lost in straight games to Carlos. By all accounts, Carlos is highly athletic and will track down shots most won't get to. I'll chat about Troy next week. My most important match for the season.



Back to Victor and an outlook that just was not promising. I was down all of game one. I never hit a shot I was truly impressed with. My serve was hit early and I went away from it. Victor had control and was closing out game one.



Down 9-13 and a magic 8 ball somewhere reveals 'outlook does not look good' for me. I call time out. A friend was there watching the game and pulls me aside. Rick asks me, "what the hell am I doing? You are not serving consistently and you are playing like shit. You can beat this guy."



Man I felt like I had a coach in that instant. Kinda like an insignificant wake up call, but he was so right. I break serve after the timeout. Victor hits my serve again gets a side out and quickly picks up match point on a service ace I should have hit. I call timeout again. Rick says nothing. He starts to walk away... about twenty feet away he mumbles, "go ahead and mail it in loser."



That was all I needed. Like a shot of adrenaline - I got back on the court facing match point and I just did my thing. It was a long rally, but I broke his serve. I got back in the box and the rest is history.



I served the ball extremely well. I did not change a thing. I lined up and just hit the ball. Victor only put a racket on three shots for the rest of game two and I ended those points after he returned those few shots. I went from down 9-14 to game one winner 15-14. I also officially broke my in ability to comeback from being down at least 5 points.



Victor was beside himself. Pacing, having a conversation with himself, seriously I was a little shocked with his reaction to the close of game one.



Game two starts exactly where I left off. I did not change a thing and really the game took as long as I would expect when I just serve after serve after serve. I closed the door on Victor with a 15-2 decisive victory. This game was all about the effectiveness of my serve and not getting cute trying to mix it up. I also found my stoke with a host of mid to long range kill shots that just did not present well in game one.



4-0 with two games to make up already.