Well, today was a busy day. Not a lot of time for relaxing or being lazy, except for getting up at a nice late hour(8:30am). But once the day got started, it didn't stop until the evening. I was able to do that work task in the morning, then it was shopping with my girls. I wanted something very specific, but couldn't find it, so I came away empty handed. By the time we got home, I had to start getting ready for tennis. Today was the last session with my Thursday club.
Today was the ideal situation for me at the Thursday club. Only 4 of us came at the earlier hour so we were able to warm up together and start match play quicker. The warm up was exactly what I needed to get used to the faster surface. I was mis-timing balls all throughout the warm up. The funny thing is that the style of play during warm up as compared to match play is very different. During warm up, they hit hard and without reserve. But during match play, they lob and bloop most of the time. Timing is always an issue at this club, but today, I was zoned in and I was hitting out without reserve. Everyone was commenting about how I was not missing any shots. In the first match, it was basically true. I was so on. 90%+ of the points we lost were due to my partners misses or the opponents good shots. I really didn't have any unforced errors in that first set. My serve was on as well. I was especially happy with my backhand service return. I wasn't trying too much, I was getting the ball back into play and then trusting my ground strokes. It was a good first set which we won 6-3. We switched partners for the second set. I also cooled off just a little bit. I netted a few balls, but my serve was still on. So far, I had been able to win all my service games pretty handily. In the first set, I hit a lot of service winners, but it was in the second set that my serve really came alive. I hit two BOOMING aces to the ad court with my flat serve, then another two aces with my wide out serve to the deuce court. The best thing is that my mechanics were good, so no pain in my shoulder. I was also very crisp at net. My volley's were tight, but I was still a bit off on the put away volley, but second chance balls were gone. A couple time, I hit my opponents, but I quickly apologized. We ended up taking the set, 6-3. By this time, another member had come, so we switched partners again and started a third set. My first service game was a blast. But my second service game, I guess I just got a little conservative and it got to Deuce, and... I double faulted. I was very disappointed. I really wanted to have a perfect night for my service games. But we still took the match, 6-4. So I was perfect with matches, so I was happy. This was a good boost for my up coming tournament so I hope I can keep the focus and intensity up. Truth be told, I was considering not going to play today because I was still really tired from yesterday. I was feeling really sleepy even on the way to the gym. But I knew that this was going to be my last chance to play before the tournament so I pushed myself to go. And I am happy that I did.
I did my Ab EMS, and Dead Hang just before going to bed to give myself as much recovery time after tennis. Super surprised that I got in a Hepta-Split: 30-30-40-40-60-30-60-40 seconds, for a total of 5:30. The initial hangs were short, but they were like warm ups, because the 60’s were pretty easy. A lot less stress pain than yesterday. Oh, and yes, I’m THE HULK!!!
In the end, I burned a good 1100+kcals. It was a great practice and a great high note to end my tournament tune up on. Now, I just have to stay healthy, focused and loose. Game on in 5 days!
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