Friday 30th March 2007
Our summer pennant competition has finished, and we have had a week off in between, with this week being the first week of our winter pennants, which is our most important season.
Summer Pennants Evaluation
Looking back, I'm fairly happy with my play in summer pennants. I ended up in joint 1st position on the averages, with 13 wins from 14 matches, along with Russell Stein. I applied the correct tactics most of the time, with a couple of lapses here and there. So although things weren't perfect, they have been going pretty well.
Winter Pennants - Week 1
This week saw my pennant team play against the Maccabi Masters, who played Giovanni Cnapich, Russell Stein and Mick Lee on the night. On paper I should have been assured two wins, with my match against Gio being capable of going either way, but we all know that matches are won out on the table, not in the formbook.
vs Russell Stein
My first match of the night was against Russell Stein. Russell jumped out to a handy 5-1, then 6-2 lead, and I was feeling a bit sluggish - I should have done a better warmup even though I was feeling tired. I kept at my basic tactics of defending well and using my defence to produce opportunities to attack, and as I got more warmed up, I started to reel in the deficit, eventually taking the game 11-8 or so. The second and third games saw me get off to a better start, which allowed me to keep my nose in front throughout each game, running out the match 3-0. I was quite happy to come off the court with a win, since if Russell gets fired up he can be very dangerous with his attacks from both wings.
vs Giovanni Cnapich
My second match of the night was against Giovanni. I was still feeling a bit flat, and things weren't improved when Gio took the first game at around 11-9. I concentrated on psyching up more during the break, and came out harder to win the second game 11-8 or so. The third game was nip and tuck as I tried to stick to my strategy of solid defence with occasional counterattacks, while Gio was trying some different strategies of his own, hitting hard and fast, then throwing in a slow loop or two before hitting hard again. Gio's backhand punch is always dangerous too. I snuck the third game 12-10, and breathed a sigh of relief - just one more game to go for the win. Just stick to the plan and I should get there. Right?
Well, so much for the plan - Gio came out firing and totally dismantled me in the fourth game, 11-2. Gio simply stepped up a level or two and hit just about every return I made for a winner. I tried to vary my placement and spin, but it made no difference as Gio proceeded to rip stroke after stroke. It's been a long time since I've been blown off the court like that - and I felt powerless to stop the onslaught.
During the break before the final game I had a long think about the situation - should I try to attack more to break up his rhythm? In the end I decided that I would have to stick to the same tactics, good defence and look for chances to counterattack. If Gio came up with a repeat of the fourth game I would be losing anyway, so I needed to stick to what would give me the best chance of success. I certainly can't expect to match Gio for footspeed or power, so it's silly to try. As luck would have it, Gio tried to start off strong again, but missed a couple of shots early which made him more cautious. I think if he had hit the first few balls for winners he would have finished off the match riding a wave of confidence. As it was, we were at 4 points all, and Gio had slowed down his power a bit to improve his consistency, which gave me a chance to make something happen.
I managed to get a counterattack or two in, and chop back a few of Gio's attacks to force mistakes, and found myself up 7-4, and I was thinking that I should be able to finish things off from here, provided I kept doing what I was doing. A minute later and it was 8-all, as Gio had stepped up again and pounded a few more winners to catch up. Now what?
The point at 8-all was a big one, in a couple of ways. We both really wanted to be 9-8 up - I wanted to stop Gio's momentum, and Gio must have wanted to keep things rolling his way. It turned out to be a pretty good rally as well, with Gio attacking several strong forehands, me defending way back from the table, before I managed to get a really heavy chop in with my long pimples that Gio pushed back. I charged in and took the chance to backhand loop, and landed the ball for a winner. All right!
Getting my breath back after that point, I proceeded to stick to my tactics, and played two more solid defensive points, eventually drawing attacking errors from Gio from balls that he had nonchalantly blasted for winners in the fourth game. So an 11-8 win in the fifth to me, in what proved to be a real rollercoaster of tactics and brute force.
vs Mick Lee
Regular readers might remember that Mick was the player who gave me so much trouble in my first Grand Prix of the year - where I scraped home at 11-9 in the fifth after choking up. So I was keen to do well against Mick tonight, to prove to myself that I should be well on top. I was now fairly fired up after my match with Giovanni, and the sluggishness was well and truly gone. Carrying on from my earlier play I ran out the match with a comfortable 3-0 win, with Mick not being able to put me under the same pressure this time.
So all in all, a pretty good night for me really. I did the job against Russell, got the win against Gio in a match that could really have gone either way, and put in a much better performance against Mick.
Scarborough Tournament
Our first local tournament for the year is coming up this weekend. With 5 out of the top 6 WA men competing, there should be some good matches taking place. I'm well aware that I'm not guaranteed a win against anyone these days - so I'll be doing my best to be fit, fresh and fired up on Sunday when the Mens Singles takes place. If anyone beats me, I want my only excuse to be that they outplayed me on the day - and watch out next time!
