Sunday 29th April 2007
It's been a little while since I last reported in, so I'd better get my act together and talk about what I've been up to lately.
Competition
Since my last update, I've played in a couple of pennant matches and the third round of our local Grand Prix competition. The pennant matches weren't anything special, just pretty much routine matches. A couple of easy matches, some tougher ones as well but nothing too close. Nothing of huge interest really.
Grand Prix Round 3
We played the third round on Friday April 20. I've reported extensively on the Grand Prix's in the past, so I'll just hit the highlights this time.
Once again, it was the usual suspects in the semifinals. The first semifinal was between Jeff Drew and myself, with the second semifinal between Giovanni Cnapich and Craig Campbell.
Semifinal 1
This was the first time I have played Jeff this year, so I was looking forward to see how we would match up. Unfortunately I found out that if you neglect your training plan, it will catch up with you sooner or later. Guess when it finally got me? Yep, this was the night, with Jeff running out a 3-0 winner.
Jeff is a very consistent topspinner of the ball, with equal capability off both wings. He doesn't have much of a flat smash, preferring instead to loop opponents into the ground. Against Jeff I need to return a lot of balls, and have to keep them reasonably deep so that Jeff can't angle me too much. My lack of work on the robot lately became evident, as I couldn't keep my chops deep or even reasonably low, so Jeff climbed all over them, angling me wide with power time and time again. That was enough for Jeff to take the win around 11-9, 11-7, 11-9.
Semifinal 2
The semifinal between Craig and Gio was the match of the night. Gio was suffering a bit with a bad cold, but once his adrenalin starting running he really stepped it up, hitting the ball with his usual power and adding in some nice variations of pace and spin as well. Craig was equal to the challenge though, returning balls from 15-20 feet from the table, then running in to reach the drop shots and slow loops from Gio. There were some incredible rallies, with Gio displaying his ability to punish the ball, while Craig highlighted his own athleticism with his returns. Throw in a few rapid fire countering exchanges when Craig stayed up to the table now and again and you had a terrific match. This time it was Craig who just squeaked through in a 3-2 win.
Final
This was a bit of a strange final. Craig took the lead in the first game about 8-4, before Jeff reeled him in to win about 11-9. Then in the second Craig was up 7-0, playing a great mix of attack and defence, when he played a flashy but low percentage attack and missed. From that point on, it was all Jeff, as he turned the game around to lead 8-7, before again winning the game to take a 2-0 lead. The third was more neck and neck, but again Jeff got the vital final two points to take the final 3-0, and Craig was left to contemplate what might have been.
So what I have I learned from this? My main lesson was that if you don't do the preparation, you can't expect great results. I've been neglecting my training over the last couple of months for various reasons/excuses, and it has been reflected in the standard of my play in the last couple of tournaments.
Training
So what am I going to do about it? Well, since the last Grand Prix I've got back on the robot to practice my chopping, and I'm starting to get sharper again. I've also been working on a new serve for the nationals, which I've written about elsewhere on the site. I'm also about to pick up my mental training again, which I had let slide lately. Finally, I'm cutting down the amount of private coaching I do to allow me to focus more on my own training. So in the last few days I've started to play better again.
It's not panic stations, but it does show that if you slacken off, it doesn't take long for your standard to slip. At this point in time, with just 8 weeks to go until our national championships, I really can't afford any more slip ups. I need to be doing everything right from here on in if I want to be at my best for the Australian Open this year.
Saturday 7th April 2007
I didn't play pennants this week, since my opposition were away in New Zealand contesting a Trans-Tasman Test, so this is just a quick update on how the Scarborough tournament went last weekend.
Semifinal 1
In my last blog post I wrote: "If anyone beats me, I want my only excuse to be that they outplayed me on the day - and watch out next time!" These words turned out to be prophetic, since I was ousted in the semifinals of the Mens Singles by Giovanni Cnapich, 11-8 in the seventh game.
So what happened? It was a pretty close match throughout, with neither Gio nor myself getting more than one game ahead. The difference between this match and our pennant match the week before was that Gio was willing to try a few different strategies and stick to them when the going got tough, and that kept him in the match when I thought I might just be able to close the win.
Gio added a new wide sidespin forehand loop to his repertoire, and used it to great effect when I was defending well back from the table. The sidespin takes the ball wide to my forehand, and also moves me towards the barriers, while at the same time forcing me to move towards the table in order to reach the ball. Any time I was a bit off balance when defending, I had trouble reaching the ball in time, and the result was often a weaker return from myself, which Gio then neatly dispatched.
I'll have to do a bit of footwork practice to cover this gap - I need to improve my recovery after each chop so that I'm always balanced and able to move forward smoothly. If I can do that, Gio will have to search for another tactic to win some easy points.
So while I was naturally disappointed to lose such a close match, I have to say that overall I played a pretty good game, and in the end Gio earned the win. I stuck pretty well to my tactics, stayed loose throughout the match, and nearly got there. I'll do some more training to plug that particular weakness and hopefully come back better next time.
