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Game 25 : 25th February

4-0 3-4 4-2 Rating: unexpectedly amazing  Venue: usual venue (centre court) Report What a treat! Work game with players of different experience but sharing the same enthusiasm. Just an absolute fantastic game from start to finish. Only time for 3 mini sets (switching partners each time) as the rallies and games were long. There were no games that went to a ridiculous Deuce (X4+) but most games were pretty close and everyone got a chance to shine. My goal going in was to continue the no lob, flat return policy but also to be more patient. Had a thought that maybe it's not about me being crap at finishing a point but that I am finishing points too soon, leading to unfinished points or unforced errors.  So it was a case of playing one more shot rather than trying to kill it too quickly. Not sure it worked 100% but it made for a better game! First set was a quick execution, me and the most experienced player ran through it in record time Second set, my opponent was unplayable, jus...
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Game 24: El Classico 23rd February

 6-3 6-4 6-1 Rating: close but with cigar Venue: usual venue (the beach) Report: Ah, the return of El Classico 15 hours after the previous match. Match was ripe for a booby trap but we managed to avoid it. Absolutely flew into a 3-0 lead before getting pulled back to 3-3. Absolutely no concerns or mental wobbles and we pulled away to a 6-3 first set. Second set went on for longer with lots of long rallies. Not to blow my own trumpet but I did some fantastic defending both at the back and at the net. Id forsworn lobs to work on flat serve returns and Chiquita's and it worked ok, approach got junked under pressure. Hit some cracking Bajadas again, if you get there early and commit in your head then it's an easy shot. Loving it just now. Oh and hit a picture perfect Bandeja right into the corner, one of those ones when you hit it, you just know that it's a peach. They are few and far between for me at the moment but I'll remember that one as a template of "what good l...
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Game 23: 22nd February

6-3 6-4 6-2 Rating: Power up Venue: Playtomic Barn Report: Comfortable victory for me and usual partner at the Playtomic barn against two people we've not played against before. We were all much of a muchness on rating level so it was nice to not feel up against it. Both the opposition knew each other through friends of friends and were both nice guys. However, there was a tiny bit of needle in the match with one of the opposition with some discussion over some balls being in or out and a comment of "ha ha, missed" when I put an easy ball into the net. Tbh if you know me then you'd know that was a daft thing to say. I didn't suddenly become Galan but my overheads improved in speed and aggression after that. Me and usual partner took off flying and were swiftly 3-0 up, I played on the right and tried to build on my Americano consistency, by giving him reassurance and a platform, he wasn't trying to hard and had some lovely points and games where he took the tea...
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Game 22: 20th February

Americano - Finished 2nd of 8 Rating: Good fun despite crap balls  Venue: The Hidden Show courts Report Always a treat to come to (imo) the best courts in the city, high roof, great surface, just a treat. Intermediate Americano but intermediate doing some heavy lifting I think ha ha. Usual Americano format of 8 people over 2 courts for 90 mins. Each match was for 24 points with people serving for 4 points. Started off with 2 x 12-12 draws as it took me a while to warm up, the balls were dead Dunlops and just not bouncing in the cold. I'm a bit of a show pony and need fresh balls so that they bounce higher and I have more time to get to shots. Once I settled in I think I lost one match and won the rest, just concentrated on being consistent and leaned into the lob as people couldn't deal with it. The guy that won was tactically good and had a smash that was unreturnable in the conditions. When I played with him we won 20-4.  2nd was a fair result think. I was 5 points behind th...
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Game 21: 19th February

  No score Rating: Family Padel! Me and my kids Venue: The Local - 60mins on the Sandy Court Report from my 7 year old. Good shots Like I hit my dad right in the goolies. It was really funny.  He was like running off crazy and he did some great shots as well. But I also smashed it up against the wall and it went flying out of the court so many times About the game I think it was a tie cuz we each had 4040 and our time was up when we finished so we so then we got the set so we actually won against my sisters.  Final thoughts. I hit it to the other court like seven times and they kept throwing it back. My sister just hit a random guy's knee  with the ball. like what? it was so weird I was like bro. What the heck. I literally scored with like a backhand volley which was really good and also a power volley.
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Game 20: 18th February

3-6 5-5 Rating: Curate's Egg Venue: The Local - 60mins on the Sandy Court Report Didn't manage to fit in two sets which shows how long the games went on for. There was one ridiculous game that has about 8 Deuces as both teams couldn't win 2 points in a row. I was partnered with one of the Cricket bros and we started well, fell away mid match and recovered. I did make a few mistakes on overheads as I was still following my no lob policy and having played with my partner a lot I know that if I make one unforced error in a game then that game is lost. He makes a lot of unforced errors so if you add to it....then curtains. But he played well in parts and my unforced errors didn't help. Have to say it's annoying to be love - 40 down on your serve and you've only touched the ball to serve. So yeah it was more a training match and I was a bit more selfish in playing the shots I wanted to practice as to be frank, I'm not going to get better by playing percentages an...
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Game 19: 16th February

6 -1 3-6 6-1 Rating: agression Venue: The Local - 60mins on the Sandy Court Report Fired up to play more aggressively, I played this match with work colleagues with 2 things in mind.  Play no lobs - it's too easy and too predictable for higher level players  Take everything in the air - I've a bad habit of letting lobs bounce and then playing usually another lob. It went pretty well tbh, we rotated partners each set.  The set i lost it was 3-4 before we got broken and the opposition saw out the set. Really happy with the way I played tbh as the opposition were a mixture of Padel type players, baseline battlers. The other players noticed my new found aggression which was nice. Especially when I'd hit a couple of really fast viboras that were highlight reel stuff. The one thing that really stood out is how easy it is to play a Bajada when you are 100% committed to it. My no lob approach meant I had to play them and while they are technically atrocious (more a forehand than ...
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