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 team on his back. 

We had a wee wobble and then saw out the set. 

Absolutely LOVING the Bajada just now, I got some crucial points from it. It's great to have a go to weapon.

Second set was more of the same with partner being broke in the penultimate game at 5-3 but we broke back for 6-4.

Third set we decided as a group to switch out the Head Team balls for Quantum balls that one of the opposition had. They'd gone 4 matches but we immediately much better than the brand new head balls. Very impressive bounce and ability to impart spin. Up there with Adidas RX Speed balls for sure. 

Tiredness was creeping in for the opposition and we won the third set 6-2. I nearly got my first ever por tres but it bounced along the top of the fence and back in the court again. All night though I was so happy with my defending, genuinely played very well and gave a firm foundation of comfort to my partner. It worked damn well today.

After the 3rd set we swapped teams and I asked to play with the "weaker" player on the other side (the one that didn't laugh at errors). He said he'd played 3 matches on the Friday and then walked 25 miles on the Saturday. Some fitness! He was tired by this stage and we got beat 4-6 but I made a good few unforced errors whereas my new partner played solid throughout. My usual partner was excellent at killing the point and so no shame in losing and it was a nice, well balanced set.

Good to get a little bump of my rating towards where I think it should be...

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