Safe As Milk

I got added to a 3.5 roster this summer (I am a 3.0 player, so a 3.5 team is the next level up) and I have been lucky(?) to get a couple of matches because so many of the other folks have scheduling conflicts. This morning’s match was inside, in an effort to hide from the sun. So while we were, in fact, spared the sun, the dead and humid air inside was so much worse for me. I had trouble holding the racquet and eventually wilted from the heat. We lost 4-6, 0-6. I’m 0-3 in this league so far. It makes some sense, because I’m playing against better players, but man it’s a bummer to get repeatedly worked.

May 7th is a day that holds a couple of key memories for me, sports-wise.

Bartolo Colon’s only career home run cemented his status as a folk hero for the New York Mets and for me as a fully-portioned gentleman athlete. I still get some goosebumps when I watch it.

May 7th was also the date for the one of the greatest comebacks in the history of sport. Liverpool erased a 0-3 deficit in the 2nd leg of the Champions League semi-final to win over Leo Messi’s Barcelona, punctuated by Divock Origi scoring on Trent Alexander-Arnold’s corner taken quickly.

I still watch this a couple of times a year. It gets me every time.

I’ve been catching an earlier game on Thursdays, instead of playing in the standard 8pm start. It generally gets me home earlier, unless I stick around to watch the 8 o’clock guys play (and then meet them for a beers afterward)

I need to figure out how to translate my indie service game to outside. I was smashing the ball again, and I can’t seem to do the same outdoors.

We lost, which was kind of a bummer, but one of the other players was a 3.5, so I’m not taking it too hard. I fell into some old, dumb habits. I’d like to play a match where most (but certainly not all) of my shots are the “smart” play.

I had some plans fall through so I was a late add into a game with some 3.5 players looking to tune up for our club’s member/guest tournament in a few weeks.

My partner was another 3.0 who I only just met but we had complimentary games so we clobbered our opponents, 6-2, 6-4, and the we played a 10-point set to use the rest of our time and we beat them 10-5.

We played inside and my serve was hot. I need to find a way to transfer my inside serving to outside play. I’d be a real tennis player if I could get that going.

Broke the seal on the spring USTA season with a reasonably comfortable win, 6-2, 6-3, playing line 2 doubles. I’ve learned a lot about my doubles game over the last couple of years.

I’m good at the net but slow as hell, so if I can partner with someone who has decent ground strokes and can run, I trend toward success. That was the recipe this weekend.

Playing outside this week was also a huge help. There’s a big adjustment from the brightly-lit and windless indoor courts.