1st tournament match of the year vs. Sarah Shortridge

Written By: Laura Gorman Date: 2/26/2006 My first match was against Sarah Shortridge and pusher/moonballer/get everything back with a lob player. I'd never played her before. My strategy was to hit deep with topspin and try to force a short ball, so I could come up to net. Also, I wanted to stay patient for the right time to turn it up... Overall it was a GREAT match. It was one of those where you just can't tell how close it was by the score which was 6,0 6,3 for her. I definately made her earn it though...it lasted 2 hours. We went to deuce 20 times and I had 27 winners/forced errors/(off of her). I only had 3 double faults and forced 7 service winners. My serve held up great. (My 1st serve percentage was definitely over 50% maybe even 75%) It was the first match I've ever counted my unforced errors in...I had 40, which was much better that I would have expected, so that was encouraging also, although I can definitely improve there. I won over half of my net points several I won only after a couple overheads (she played great defense) but I stuck them out and got them back to win. We had numerous rallies with over 15 balls. I wasn't able to come in off of her lobs as much as I would have liked, because they weren't topspin, but came straight down then went straight back up again. The were very hard for me to judge, but I had no trouble backing up to get them. I did a good job of staying patient. Mentally, I played really well. I didn't let her numerous quirks and "intimidation strategies" get to me. I wasn't at all distracted by the other playes and spectators around me. I did a great job mentally with my serve, which is the reason why it was so consitent even on all those deuce games. Overall it was a great start. I have exponentially improved mentally, and everyone noticed how much better my net game was. It says alot that I was willing to try it in a match situation, since I'm still not 100% comfortable with it. What a great start! Related Photos No images available...