The second game is a bit tighter - Gio is playing a bit better, while I'm staying about the same. It's pretty much point for point, until 10-9 in my favor, where I chop a heavy ball with my long pips, Gio slow rolls a high loop to my backhand, and I take a chance, twiddle the bat and hit a backhand smash with my inverted rubber for a surprise winner. It wasn't planned, but just seemed the right shot at the time.
By third Gio is struggling a bit - he won't give up but he can't seem to quite pull off the shots he is looking for. I keep up a solid defence with enough counterattacking to spice things up, and run out the third without trouble.
So in the space of about an hour, I went from playing well, to playing not so well, to playing well again. Apart from Mick Lee's intelligent tactics and grit, what was going on? Well, I didn't suddenly physically change my ability or talent or technique in 1 hour, but what did change was my mental state. I went from mentally focused and relaxed, to mentally focused on the wrong thing and tense, to relaxed and focused again. The power of the mind at work!
Final In the final between Craig and myself, I was to find out just how much Craig has benefitted from training during his offseason. I started well, winning the first game quite easily, but Craig changed his tactics and started to make my life difficult. In the past Craig has known what to do but not always been in good enough touch to pull it off, but this time he was willing and able. Craig took the second and third games with a smart mix of attack and defence, using slow loops and fast power loops along with his usual tight defence.
Game 4 saw me more determined to tighten up my own defence, and choose my attacks a bit better. This change in tactics brought me a win in the fourth game, and got me to 5-1 in the fifth, before the change of ends saw Craig also change his tactics a little, picking his own attacks a little better, and serving some very good serves as well, with excellent follow ups. Craig got to an 8-7 lead, but couldn't maintain the pressure from then on, and I managed to maintain my level, running out an 11-8 winner in the fifth. It was a very hard fought match, and Craig had shown that he is really going to be a force to be reckoned with this year.
So what's my overall conclusion? Well, I won on the night, which is always good. I had some good form against Giovanni, and played well and fought hard against Craig as we changed tactics looking for an edge against each other. Mick found me lacking a little in my mental side of the game, and nearly caught me out. Physically, I came through the tournament fairly easily, without getting tired in any match (although I was pretty tired the next day!). Technique wise, I was quite happy with my overall defence and forehand attack, and the use of my reverse pendulum serve also worked quite well (I've been practicing this serve quite a bit lately). So all in all not a bad night, but with some areas highlighted that I'll need to work on before the next tournament.
