Half and Half

Today was the nicest day we've had weather wise. The winds were light, the sky was deep blue and the sun was bright as ever. We warmed up at 7:30 for Phil's 9:00 match. He took the shuttle early to the courts to start stretching and getting ready to play. After a quick breakfast I walked the short distance to Na Toconera. He's been having lower back spasms and I was worried about him playing. I've had them and they can be debilitating. Icy Hot, Aleve and stretching was going to have to do it's magic. He started out looking great, much better movement and ball striking than the day before. I could tell he was on his game. Phil won the first set 6-3. In the second set, he started missing a little more. His opponent also started making more shots. Phil's back also tightened and he was having trouble getting out of his chair after change overs. After a struggle he lost the second set 6-4. Here we go again. My nerves are shot at this point again. Mary was there watching with me along with Jim and Trish. Phil came out strong again in the third set and went up 5-2. Par to the course, his opponent broke back and eventually evened up the third set to 5-5. My physche is not equipped to handle such stress. How did my parents ever handle watching me all those years? I must have made them crazy. At 5-5 Phil went down love 3o on his serve. After that he won eight straight points to win the match 7-5 in the third. Wow, I was exhausted. We walked back to Font de Sa Cala so Phil could shower and ice his back. He and Tom still had doubles to play. I also needed to decompress and start getting ready for my match.

Thankfully the matches were running pretty close to schedule. I went on right at 2:30 for my match against Marie Calleja from France. I felt good and was ready to play. She had a high spinnie type forehand and a backhand alot like mine. I held the first game, then got broke to go down 3-1. I broke back to 3-2, but couldn't seem to find my serve today. She won the first set 6-3. My serve continued to let me down through the match. I felt like she was keeping me pinned well behind the baseline and even my deep balls came back deeper. She just didn't miss, and I made enough unforced errors to help her out. My serve was my biggest frustration. It seemed I could break but couldn't hold. Can't win a tennis match that way. She won the second set 6-2. I was very disappointed, but I have no excuses. My fitness was there, my brain was there, but my performance wasn't. She was former tour player and obviously very experienced, but also very beatable. I can compete with the top players in the world. Now I need to learn how to win against those players. I'll keep working.

Phil and Tom left during my match to go play their doubles at the other site. They are playing a team from Poland and he told me not to worry about coming over after my match, so I'm just waiting for them to return. Fran lost today as well. She had an unbelievably tough draw first match. The girl she played from Belgium, Karlie Van Barlie, has won the World Championships the past 5 years in the 40's. I haven't heard how eveyone else has done. Mariana and I should have doubles tomorrow. Time to put my focus and energy into defending our title. There's more fun to be had!