February 24, 2019, Sunday - Tennis Tournament day.
Meteorologists fail us again. It was forecast to be sunny with a few clouds with cool to warm temperatures and no rain. However, it ended up being cool to cold to chilled, and when from a drizzle to light rain, to heavy rain all in a matter of a couple hours. Conditions went from tolerable to bad to downright sucky. And my game was affected greatly. I know, I know, everyone has to play in the same conditions, but the conditions affect everyone differently. Since I am between 20-25 years older than the average, it is difficult for me to adapt to adverse conditions. If I were still in my 20's, I could (and have) do(ne) it. Anyway, to the matches.
In the group round, our first match started off great then dropped to junk, but we were able to pull it out, winning 6-4. We actually rattled off 5 quick games and were up 5-0. The final game, or what should have been the final game was on my son's racket. When, miracle of miracles, my son was broken. Needless to say, he was not happy. He threw his racket and displayed a lot of anger. That is a problem we have talked to him about before, but today, I was not going to take it. So right there, I leveled a "Dad Speech" right on the court and after that, he kept it under control. Back to the match. In my son's service game, there was one point that turned everything around. We were in a rally and both of us were at the net. They lobbed the ball and my son ran back to get it. It was a perfect lob for what my son has wanted to do in a match forever, hit a "TWEENER". He hit it very well and it was a beauty of a shot. Unfortunately, our opponents weren't phased and were positioned to put it away. But my son was very happy to have been able to hit it. The atmosphere at that point in the game was very loose. Unfortunately, it was too loose and we ended up losing the game, and the next three games after that. It was 5-4, and we finally took the last game. Even though we won, it felt like a loss. We should have been able to close it out, but we let them get 4 games in a row. Not good.
The next match was better, winning 6-0. We were totally dominant and no messing around, all business, but stayed loose, but not too loose. In the first match, it was drizzling with a few raindrops. In the second match, the rain started to come down. In the third match, it was raining. The balls were heavy and weren't reacting to the spin as they had been. Things were about to change.
Our third match started as the rain started to come down and the temperature had noticeably dropped a few degrees. The balls were new, but they were heavy with water which made them less reactive to spin. That is a condition that I was unable to adapt to. Since I use a lot of spin, my shots were going out a lot more as well as my sons. I dropped my service game and that was all they needed. We couldn't break through on their serve and we lost 4-6. There were a few good shots, but overall it was a miserable match. It was a match that I know we could have won in normal weather conditions. The rainy conditions fit well with our opponents style of play since they didn't use a lot of spin and normally hit flat shots. But with the heavy balls, their shots died a lot quicker and stayed lower. I really wanted to win this match because out opponent had one guy that was on a team that I lost to in my previous tournament when I was teamed with another guy. No revenge this time around.
Now the rain was one step from a downpour when we broke for lunch and it got worse with a mist/fog rolling in, and temperatures dropping. Since we were expecting warmer weather, I didn't bring clothes to keep warm, so I started to shiver. Everyone was thinking that the afternoon matches would be postponed to the reserve day, but they weren't. I warmed up a bit with my Curry Cup-a-Ramen, but it didn't last.
We had reached the Quarter-Finals and our next opponent was a team that had been playing together since high school. They were also the same age as my son so the conditions didn't seem to affect their play as much as it did me. Their strategy was to hit the ball to me as much as possible and keep the ball away from my son. Here, it was just a matter of hitting more bad shots than good ones. It was just a matter of time. We ended up losing 1-6. The lone game that prevented us from getting bagled was my son's second service game. But here again, it was not as bad as the score would lead one to believe. There were no love games, and out of the 7 games played, 4 of them went to the deciding point. They just got more key points than we did.
It was a miserable day, but fun at the same time. This was our second trip to the main draw and our first trip to the Quarter-Finals. This also marked the last time for me to team up with my son. I could sense frustration on my son's part playing with me and it was not fun from that standpoint. I had much more fun playing in my previous tournament with a guy that plays to be competitive and to have fun. My son plays to win and he is on a different level than me now so it can't be fun for us anymore playing together. So, it was fun while is lasted but that era is over.
In the end, I burned a whopping 3253 kcals. I probably would have been more if the conditions were better.
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