100 Games of Padel

6-2 3-6 6-0 Rating: Kinda Fast Fours Venue: Centre Court Following that frustration I was eager to play.  So eager that I left my racquet at home and was using one of the "club" ones. I picked the least destroyed and set about it. On analysing the video of my Set Horriblis I thought that my ground strokes were powder puff and so that was the thing I was concentrating on. land it on or behind the service line. 60% of the time it worked 100% of the time. Especially initially, I was able to take the net with ease on the back of deep ground strokes. My partner initially was one of the guys in El Classico and he played well after some initial overhitting. Was surprised we wrapped up the set so quickly against my usual partner and the cricket player Padel Player. Second set, we swapped teams and I was with the cricket playing Padel Player. He has a habit of keeping the racquet by his side and then heaving a lob to silly mid wicket. but he tends to back further and further up agains...

3-6 6-0 4-2 Rating: Frustration Venue: Playtomic Barn Played at Playtomic and the first set was without a doubt the worst I have played in a long long time. Powder puff, unforced errors, broken in 3 service games. Me and my partner played absolute trash. Start of the second set, we are 2-0 up and disaster, our opponet's glasses fall off and snap clean in half. He comes back 12 mins later with some tape on them but by that time the game is gone, we only had 60 mins. We spanked them in that set (at some points the guy played without his patched up glasses) 3rd set we had very little time to play, should have done a tiebreak but I thought that it was harsh on the guy with the broken glasses. Was happy to enter no result. We play out the set and SHOCK run out of time. Scores get entered, it's marked as a draw and I lose points because we should have beaten them.  I'm just glad it's over, 60 mins isn't long enough there. the 12 minute delay was ridiculous, I played absol...

6-0 6-6 (7-5) 4-1 Rating: A game of two halves Venue: Centre Court El Cassico and we started on a flyer. first set was done in 11 minutes. Then I switched to the Left and started showboating/experimenting. Got punished and we were 0-3 down I think after serving first.  we went on a bit of a run and but got broken to hand them a tiebreak which we managed to put away. first set - Aggressive from both of us, taking the net and the game by the scruff of the neck second - I showboat, it goes against us, partner starts to spiral a bit Grip was also needing changed but I thought I could get one more match out of it. wrong. If it feels like it needs changed then it does.

   5-7 6-6(?) something Rating: Potato Salad  Venue: Centre Court Played againts Super Aggressive opponent, initially in a fast fours, each with tow less seasoned players. As it was working we just kept the teams going. 2nd Set I can't remember the score as we were pushed for time but no one had the court after us. It was a bit scatty but I think my team edged it. I had a jumping smash that came all the way back that felt very good. no thought to it, just, "I need to hit the ball to the ground and then the glass and then it needs to travel a distance". Some good shots from everyone though and all had a great time. Padel, it's good fun as well as insanely frustrating and competitive.

  3-6 4-3 Rating: Wakeup  Venue: Beach Court Bit of a wakeup call, we were on the ropes against a less experienced opponent and a super aggressive opponent that I've played with and against loads. strangely, it's NEVER clicked when playing with that guy but he clicked today with the less experienced player who has a tennis background and fitness to spare. You can tell how long the rallies were when we didn't even finish two sets in an hour.  Overall though my partner was apologising for letting the side down which wasn't the case at all, it's a team game. What I would say is that he doesn't back down, he doubles down. So hit a shot to the net? next one will be even harder just to "make up" for it, then if that hit's the net, well, it continues. My overheads were terrible all match, slipped from winner to liability. There was one shot where the opponents both went for the same ball, clashed racquets like a sword fight, the ball shot up in the air an...

6-3 3-6 6-4 Rating: Solid  Venue: Playtomic Barn See ball, hit ball. I really relaxed with overheads in this game and the payoff was immediate. First proper Por Tres and a win after a wee wobble in the second set. Serving was on point the entire match, I didn't get broken the entire match. Otherwise, one opponent was pretty dangerous throughout and the other faded as his confidence kinda drained away.  They were both pretty good at gaining and keeping net and it was only when we started to not just give it to them that we came back. The final set was anyones. 4-4 then we broke for 5-4 and I served it out for the win. Adidas RX Speed balls and 20c heat felt really nice, the balls absolutely flew and were a lot easier to defend due to the hang time they got. Nice game, Nice guys, It's good to go and meet new people and find they are OK.