The Middle

Today was a long day of tennis for both Fran and myself.  We get started so early in the morning and it just feels like time stands still throughout the day. Not such a bad thing. I think. 🤔 I seem to lose track of time.

Fran started the day with an easy win over a girl from Kansas. Then she and I teamed up for our doubles match.  The first set our opponents were making no errors and we were still finding our way. We lost the first set 6-2. Both girls had good short slice returns, one was two handed off both sides. To change things up in the second set, we decided to play “Australian” when we served. This would make them go more down the line on their returns. It worked. Besides the change up on service positioning, we started using the lob more. They both closed very tight to the net, plus the sun was a huge factor. We used both tactics to our advantage and won the second set 6-2.

They got out to a quick 3-1, then 4-2 lead in the third set. We kept our composure and with a little luck from missed crucial points on their end we fought back to take the lead at 5-4. They held, 5-5, we held 6-5, then we broke them at love to win the match 7-5 in the third!

A great win for us because we had to hang in there while we were down and we also had to rethink why we had lost the first set and how to rectify it.  We played a good two hours in the sizzling desert sun.  Done by 1:15, I then had to turn around and play my singles match.  I took a 45 minute break for some nourishment and water, and was back out by 2:00.

I played a nice player from Hawaii.  She was rather erratic with her shots so it gave me an opportunity to work on a few things, particularly my serve.  She struggled with the afternoon sun and heat, which was not an issue for me. Even after playing a long doubles match I felt strong physically.  I won 6-1, 6-0.

I’m so pleased that my elbow and shoulder are feeling so good.  Again, I give all kudos to Jorge for taking care of me physical therapy wise and Jeff for training Phil and me and having me prepared to hang in there through the heat and hard work.

Tomorrow will be the exact same schedule as today. Singles for Fran at 7:45, our doubles at 11:00, then singles for me to follow at 1:30.

As hard as I worked to get to this point and prepare for this event, I still have so much further to go. I’m not fighting myself anymore which is so helpful.

I’m in the middle of this week.

Can’t wait to see how it ends.

Sun hitting the mountains early this morning
What a backdrop!