It wasn't long before it was proven that I was going to have to work hard this year, because it pennants this week I was beaten by Giovannni Cnapich 3-0 (12-10, 12-10, 11-9). What had changed in the space of three days? A number of things actually, such as:
- I arrived to the match late, and didn't get my usual warmup (my own fault).
- I got a bit complacent with the ease of my win on Friday night, and failed to psyche up enough. Even at 2-0 down I was still thinking I was going to win, and when I lost the last point, I was kind of taken by surprise. Again, my own fault.
- My tactics were wrong. I have been improving my attack this year, and I got carried away with trying to attack against Giovanni. I should have been defending more, since when I did, I felt I was winning most of the points. Definitely my fault and probably the biggest factor in terms of things I was doing wrong. I am finding this tendency to attack too much to be my biggest problem in terms of my play this year.
- Giovanni hit a few nets and edges along the way. Out of my control, and I certainly couldn't complain after my own luck on Friday!
- Giovanni came out and played better than on Friday. This factor is out of my control, although maybe with better tactics I might have limited how well he was playing.
Now I have to make sure that I learn my lessons and don't make the same mistakes a second time! If I can do all the right things and get beaten, than I can still be happy that I've done my best and just played someone who was too good for me that day. Gio was too good for me this time, but I'm not happy that I did my best preparation - and that doesn't take anything away from his win. I know that I don't spend a lot of time worrying about how well my opponent was prepared when I win!
Thursday 8th March 2007
I'm back from the country tournament at Esperance, which was good fun and pretty successful as well. Here's the run down on what was happening from my point of view.Mixed Doubles - my partner Nita and I were successful in winning the mixed doubles against the father and daughter combination of Chris and Rebecca Hibbert. Chris is an experienced player, and Rebecca is a rapidly improving junior, so we can expect to see them featuring quite often in mixed doubles finals in the future.
Mens Doubles - I teamed up with Craig Campbell to win the final. We were blown off the court in the first game - I think we were 9-1 down at one point. After that we tightened up our defense a little, and started to pick better balls to attack. This turned the momentum of the match around and we ran out winners 3-1.
Mens Singles - there was a fairly good turnout of city players for this country tournament, with 4 of the current top players making the 9 hour trip by car to compete - these being Chris Hibbert, Giovanni Cnapich, Craig Campbell, and myself. (Well actually, I flew down courtesy of Skywest Airlines, since I was conducting some coaching down at Esperance after the tournament.)
The action hotted up in the semifinals, where Craig (the #2 seed) was drawn to play Giovanni (the #3 seed) in one semi, and Chris (the #4 seed) drawn to play myself (the #1 seed).
Semifinal 1
Chris and I played the first semifinal, and Chris came out of the gates really fast, taking an early lead with some strong attacks and solid defense. If I made an easy return, Chris was blasting a heavy and fast topspin from both wings, and I was getting caught at mid-distance to the table - not the right place for a defender to be. Chris kept up his onslaught and ran out the first game comfortably. I was feeling a bit tight and nervous, and that definitely wasn't helping either.
In the second game, I got my mental game back on track. Realising I was tense, I focused hard on getting my feet moving, and really snapping my wrist through the ball when attacking. I also started to run my mental programs on serve and serve return again. This all helped me lift my game a bit, and in the end it was just enough for me to take the second game 12-10 or so. This was a crucial game, since I really didn't want to be 0-2 down at this point. Chris was still playing well though, so it was going to be up to me to win this match - I couldn't hope that Chris would lose it for me.
At 1-game all, I was now a little bit more relaxed, and starting to get some rhythm going. I was attacking a little better now, and getting back quicker when defending. In the end, this made the difference, and although Chris continued in good form, I had just enough of an edge to keep my nose in front in the the remaining games, running out the match 4-1.
Semifinal 2
Then the second semifinal between Craig Campbell and Giovanni Cnapich began. Unfortunately I was involved in playing the Mixed Doubles final at the same time, so I can't give a blow by blow description of the match. But I can say that the points I saw were definitely the highlight of the tournament. Giovanni was playing his usual free flowing attacking game, while Craig was taking full advantage of the huge court space to return attacks that would normally be winners, and return them low and tight with heavy backspin.
In the end, the match went the full 7 game distance, with Craig coming out the winner 11-9 in seventh. A great match showcasing the talents of both players.