I am lucky to be able to travel around the country and play in different tournaments. Recently, I traveled to Las Vegas, and this January (2015) it was my pleasure to play in Naples, Florida at the Super Senior West Coast Tennis Championships (Designated) held at the beautiful World Tennis Club.
COLLECTING MY TROPHY AND A WINNERS CHECK!
(from left to right, Mike Lammens, Pavel Slozil, Christopher Uzzi)
It’s always a challenge to come down from the mountains and play at sea level where the air offers more resistance and I literally have to change both my strokes and my strategy to account for the difference Add to that the clay court aspect of Naples, and this trip was quite interesting! Of course, I brought my video equipment and put it to good use, discovering two things that really helped, one technical and one strategical.
One thing I learned from Las Vegas last year is that getting to the tournament site early and hitting is not enough. You have to play points to get used to the hitting AND the movement. Having learned that in Las Vegas, I found a practice partner and played some sets the day before the tournament. I had a decent start in Naples, winning my first round match in the 65 singles division, 6-2, 6-4. The second round match was much more challenging however, playing against the No. 8 seed, Robert Green, a wiley veteran (hey wait, this the 65’s, we’re all wiley veterans!) He wasn’t giving me any freebies – and I needed some freebies! I fell, 6-2, 6-4. That night upon reviewing the video, the first thing I noticed was that I was not playing aggressive enough. I saw that most of my shots were landing pretty much mid-court, giving Green free reign to hit angles and put me on the run, dominating the match. Congrats to him!
Onto the consolation bracket! After a default from my first round opponent, my next round opponent was Mike Deluca – you guessed it, a wiley veteran! Mike had given the No. 1 seed a very good match, and had taken out the No. 2 seed, so I knew I had a tough match. I came out playing my best, determined to not make the same mistakes as the previous match. I won the first set 6-0 and then came back down to earth, eking out a long and tough 7-5 second set for the win. The same day, and this helped me later on, I was able to film Larry Turville’s match. Larry is often ranked No. 1 in the world in whatever age division he plays in, and it ‘s just a pleasure to watch him play, so smooth, so smart.
I watched some of Larry’s match that night and really focused in on his slice backhand, which is a real work of art. The takeback, the shoulder turn, head still and follow through are all textbook. And all things I was not doing!! Until the next day. When I made myself conscious of this, my backhand improved 100%, and I was keeping the ball deep with a lot of authority. It made a real difference, as my next two opponents were also not giving anything away. I won those matches 6-4, 6-3 and 6-2, 6-3 to take the trophy and a check for 50 bucks! Whoeee!
So, did the video help? You bet. It made me aware of why I was getting pushed around, and also of how to combat that with a technical change. Without that, I’m pretty sure I would not have made the necessary changes. And to those who say they don’t have the time, all I can say is you don’t have to sit and watch the whole match….watch 15 minutes and you’ll learn something, I guarantee it. But the sooner you watch after playing, the better, while it’s still fresh in your mind.
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