I won a doubles tournament!
Sakari Lund
A little Whisperian post here. Not often I can do something like this
in rst...
We had the annual doubles tournament for sports media people today. I
have played in it for about 10 years, but never won before. I did win
a similar outdoor tournament twice almost 10 years ago, but there were
fewer (that was for David W) players and lower level.
To be honest, the most important thing for the victory was the drawing
of the pairs. This is done so that the players are divided in two
pools, basically "better players" and "worse players" (Pretty much the
same people are there every year so the levels are known). Then the
teams are drawn so that in every pair there is one from each group.
There are some pretty good players there. I am always in the worse
group, so I will get a pretty good partner. This time I was lucky, I
got a guy who is maybe best of them all. Especially since two good
guys were missing this year. But still, as soon as the teams were
made, it looked like one team was almost certain winner. For some
reason they had put one guy who really should have been in the
"better" pool to "worse" pool, and he ended up with another good
player.
So, we played 20 minute matches against other teams for two hours, so
that the scores could be 5-2 or 4-3 or 3-3 or whatever. We had "no-ad
scoring" as they have in doubles on Tour these days, i.e. when it is
deuce, the receiving team can choose which court the serve is served
and the winner of the point wins the game. Then they counted games and
the result was that we made the final against this favourite team.
They had won their matches much easier than us, we even lost one, and
they were still clear favourites.
We had a little more time for the final, maybe 25 minutes. The
situation on paper was that I was clearly the worst player on court in
the match. The final started close, with serves being held. Even I
held my first service game. My volleying was pretty good in the final
and I got to play quite a lot of volleys. But then at 3-3 I lost my
serve. But we broke straight back. Then we only had couple of minutes
time, and my partner serving. Pretty good situation. (Not that fair
either, we had one service game more, but it is not that serious
tournament :-)) But that game got surprisingly close. We were up
40-30, so with the no-ad scoring, it meant we only had to win one of
the next two points to win the tournament.
In the first match point, he served well, the return was weak, and I
had a pretty easy volley. But somehow I missed it completely, it just
touched the frame a little. Then, the deciding point. Whoever wins it,
wins the tournament. After that miss, I was a little afraid to volley,
but did anyway. And so it happened, that the last three shots from our
team were my volleys. First two I just put on the court, but in the
third I had a place to hit a winner, and I did. It was nice to win
that way!
TT
In other words you got lucky drawing Whisper as your pair.
--
"I am no more a witch than you are a wizard, and if you take away my
life God will give you blood to drink"
-Sarah Good, 1692
Javier González
> In the first match point, he served well, the return was weak, and I
> had a pretty easy volley. But somehow I missed it completely, it just
> touched the frame a little. Then, the deciding point. Whoever wins it,
> wins the tournament. After that miss, I was a little afraid to volley,
> but did anyway. And so it happened, that the last three shots from our
> team were my volleys. First two I just put on the court, but in the
> third I had a place to hit a winner, and I did. It was nice to win
> that way!
Congratulations!
Patrick Kehoe
Well done!
P
Iceberg
well done Sakari, winning a tournament on a volley must rule!
PS Keep on trolling
Inglourious Basterd
modesty - you're probably not as bad as you make yourself out to be.
SliceAndDice
Congrats, Sakari!
DavidW
> A little Whisperian post here. Not often I can do something like this
> in rst...
>
> We had the annual doubles tournament for sports media people today. I
> have played in it for about 10 years, but never won before. I did win
> a similar outdoor tournament twice almost 10 years ago, but there were
> fewer (that was for David W) players and lower level.
Thanks. My work is bearing fruit.
Congratulations. Great win. But when you say "I won a doubles tournament!" it's
like Pam Shriver saying she won one when she had Martina Navratilova as a
partner? :-)
Sakari Lund
I don't know how it sounded to you, but I think I am pretty realistic
about my abilities. My groundstrokes are OK, but the better players
even in that environment have a lot more power. My backhand these days
can sometimes be very erratic. Also I have often problems with guys
hitting with a lot of spin. My serve also lacks power, but my lefty
serve to ad court causes problems to some people. I serve 95% to
right-handers backhand to both deuce and ad courts. In fact, sometimes
when I try to serve to the forehand for a change, it still tends to go
to the backhand... My volleying can sometimes be pretty bad, but today
in the final it worked pretty well, except that one miss. 25 kg's ago
I was pretty fast, but not so much today, though even today I
sometimes surprise people by getting to some balls.
SliceAndDice
> On Thu, 16 Dec 2010 12:49:49 -0800 (PST), Inglourious Basterd
>
> >Congrats, but I think you are "doing a Nadal" here with your false
> >modesty - you're probably not as bad as you make yourself out to be.
>
> I don't know how it sounded to you, but I think I am pretty realistic
> about my abilities. My groundstrokes are OK, but the better players
> even in that environment have a lot more power. My backhand these days
> can sometimes be very erratic. Also I have often problems with guys
> hitting with a lot of spin. My serve also lacks power, but my lefty
> serve to ad court causes problems to some people. I serve 95% to
> right-handers backhand to both deuce and ad courts.
OMG, you *are* Nadal! :)
felangey
yolanda
Congratulations! Even if by your own accounts you were paired with the
ringer and you are probably not as bad as you make us believe.
Did you get a trophy? A frozen turkey for Christmas?
pltr...@xhost.org
playing tennis.
-- Larry
Whisper
Well done.
Always nice to win, especially if it's competitive.
Whisper
You get days when everything is gold/in the zone. Probably about 1
match in 20 for me when it's perfect?
Can't force it. When that day comes around you feel good, have perfect
blend of confidence & just know you'll reach everything, hit any kind of
shot you want, great reflex volleys, put the serve anywhere etc
I still can't work out why I just can't summon it at will.
TT
> On 17/12/2010 8:32 AM, Sakari Lund wrote:
>> On Thu, 16 Dec 2010 12:49:49 -0800 (PST), Inglourious Basterd
>> <thetruet...@hotmail.co.uk> wrote:
>>
>>> Congrats, but I think you are "doing a Nadal" here with your false
>>> modesty - you're probably not as bad as you make yourself out to be.
>>
>> I don't know how it sounded to you, but I think I am pretty realistic
>> about my abilities. My groundstrokes are OK, but the better players
>> even in that environment have a lot more power. My backhand these days
>> can sometimes be very erratic. Also I have often problems with guys
>> hitting with a lot of spin. My serve also lacks power, but my lefty
>> serve to ad court causes problems to some people. I serve 95% to
>> right-handers backhand to both deuce and ad courts. In fact, sometimes
>> when I try to serve to the forehand for a change, it still tends to go
>> to the backhand... My volleying can sometimes be pretty bad, but today
>> in the final it worked pretty well, except that one miss. 25 kg's ago
>> I was pretty fast, but not so much today, though even today I
>> sometimes surprise people by getting to some balls.
>
>
> You get days when everything is gold/in the zone. Probably about 1 match
> in 20 for me when it's perfect?
More often the better you are. Or perhaps more correct would be to say
that the better you are less lows you have.
>
> Can't force it. When that day comes around you feel good, have perfect
> blend of confidence & just know you'll reach everything, hit any kind of
> shot you want, great reflex volleys, put the serve anywhere etc
>
> I still can't work out why I just can't summon it at will.
Very common for amateurs. It's mostly in your head, imo. Accept that and
your consistency may improve.
TT
...Maybe you should try "mental imagery" before the match. Sort of form
of self suggestion. I used to do this before matches, imagining
everything clicking in place.
Of course you have to be able to cope with it when everything doesn't go
as planned...in that I think accepting that it's all about you and your
mind helps in the long run.
Or otherwise you're doomed for "oh well, just one of these days" - type
of thinking...not the best approach imo.
Whisper
> On 17.12.2010 12:27, Whisper wrote:
>> On 17/12/2010 8:32 AM, Sakari Lund wrote:
>>> On Thu, 16 Dec 2010 12:49:49 -0800 (PST), Inglourious Basterd
>>> <thetruet...@hotmail.co.uk> wrote:
>>>
>>>> Congrats, but I think you are "doing a Nadal" here with your false
>>>> modesty - you're probably not as bad as you make yourself out to be.
>>>
>>> I don't know how it sounded to you, but I think I am pretty realistic
>>> about my abilities. My groundstrokes are OK, but the better players
>>> even in that environment have a lot more power. My backhand these days
>>> can sometimes be very erratic. Also I have often problems with guys
>>> hitting with a lot of spin. My serve also lacks power, but my lefty
>>> serve to ad court causes problems to some people. I serve 95% to
>>> right-handers backhand to both deuce and ad courts. In fact, sometimes
>>> when I try to serve to the forehand for a change, it still tends to go
>>> to the backhand... My volleying can sometimes be pretty bad, but today
>>> in the final it worked pretty well, except that one miss. 25 kg's ago
>>> I was pretty fast, but not so much today, though even today I
>>> sometimes surprise people by getting to some balls.
>>
>>
>> You get days when everything is gold/in the zone. Probably about 1 match
>> in 20 for me when it's perfect?
>
> More often the better you are. Or perhaps more correct would be to say
> that the better you are less lows you have.
I'm talking in a relative sense. Fed/Rafa don't feel 'in the zone' most
of the time. Reckon it's probably about the same ratio for everyone ie
5%.
>
>>
>> Can't force it. When that day comes around you feel good, have perfect
>> blend of confidence & just know you'll reach everything, hit any kind of
>> shot you want, great reflex volleys, put the serve anywhere etc
>>
>> I still can't work out why I just can't summon it at will.
>
> Very common for amateurs. It's mostly in your head, imo. Accept that and
> your consistency may improve.
>
No, it's more than consistency. In fact I'm famous for my consistency.
I really don't think you can force it. You can prepare perfectly &
still not get in the zone.
The players all hope their 'zone' days coincide with the biggest matches.
Some famous 'zone' matches off the top of my head;
1984 Wimbledon final Mac v Jimbo
1991 USO final Edberg v Courier
1999 Wimbledon final Sampras v Agassi
2008 FO final Nadal v Federer
Out of those I think 1999 Wimbledon final is the only match where both
players were in the zone.
Whisper
I do all that - that's what makes me so consistent/tough to beat. The
'zone' days are different - everything is effortless.
>
> Or otherwise you're doomed for "oh well, just one of these days" - type
> of thinking...not the best approach imo.
>
I never give up & make opponent earn every last point. I've come to the
conclusion you can't snap yourself into the zone state. Sure working on
your game harder helps, but that's not what I'm talking about. I'd like
to know if there was some science behind it. Maybe something to do with
biorhythms?
We all know what separates the greats from the rest is their ability to
get wins when they aren't playing well. That's where psychology comes in.
TT
I believe it's higher the better you are. Anyway I don't believe blindly
in "zone". It's easy to be in zone against a player who plays badly.
It's easy to lose the "zone" if you miss a couple and go mentally away
after that...if you're mentally strong enough not letting it affect you,
you may still get one of those precious "zone" performances...
:)
>>
>>>
>>> Can't force it. When that day comes around you feel good, have perfect
>>> blend of confidence & just know you'll reach everything, hit any kind of
>>> shot you want, great reflex volleys, put the serve anywhere etc
>>>
>>> I still can't work out why I just can't summon it at will.
>>
>> Very common for amateurs. It's mostly in your head, imo. Accept that and
>> your consistency may improve.
>>
>
>
> No, it's more than consistency. In fact I'm famous for my consistency.
>
> I really don't think you can force it. You can prepare perfectly & still
> not get in the zone.
The trick is learning to force it.
>
> The players all hope their 'zone' days coincide with the biggest matches.
>
With best it often does...a coincidence, nah.
> Some famous 'zone' matches off the top of my head;
>
> 1984 Wimbledon final Mac v Jimbo
> 1991 USO final Edberg v Courier
> 1999 Wimbledon final Sampras v Agassi
> 2008 FO final Nadal v Federer
>
> Out of those I think 1999 Wimbledon final is the only match where both
> players were in the zone.
>
>
I thought Rafa was in the zone at USO final, yet he had his moment of
doubt, but still managed to keep the standard.
How about Nadal's match against Hanescu: It was supposed to be an easy
match...but Hanescu came out all guns blazing, playing better than ever,
in the zone. Was Nadal just "lucky" that he was able to get in the
"zone" too? I don't think so.
TT
Another facet of great player is that he can play great when his
opponent plays great...ie Nadal lifting his level against Hanescu etc.
It's easy to be in "zone" against poor opponent.
Barry Hearn said about Stephen Hendry that when he saw Hendry early on
what was special about him was that he could play great when his
opponent was playing great...
I regard Stephen Hendry of 90's and Nadal as the mentally strongest
athletes I've ever seen.
Also Sampras was pretty strong mentally, although I believe hitting aces
on pressure is much easier than hitting winners from back of the court
on big points. Every damn lamer can hit aces on big points, it seems
like sometimes.
Iceberg
my friend had serious issues about Stephen Hendry, as he was from
Scotland too and couldn't believe that anybody could play like that so
often in finals/tough matches.
Iceberg
that's different, I think Sampras said 1990 US Open final he found
himself in the zone, everything just seemed to work and he won pretty
easily.
Sakari Lund
>Did you get a trophy? A frozen turkey for Christmas?
A tennis shirt, light blue with a logo of a tennis club. Don't know if
I am ever going to wear it... And a can of tennis balls, but everyone
got that.
Sakari Lund
>...Maybe you should try "mental imagery" before the match. Sort of form
>of self suggestion. I used to do this before matches, imagining
>everything clicking in place.
>Of course you have to be able to cope with it when everything doesn't go
>as planned...in that I think accepting that it's all about you and your
>mind helps in the long run.
>
>Or otherwise you're doomed for "oh well, just one of these days" - type
>of thinking...not the best approach imo.
Might work better in video games. This was about tennis though :-)
Vari L. Cinicke
Congratulations!
Your tale of your escapade is way better than the "Damn! I won my 973rd
match in a row losing less than 3 games over 4 sets. I am just sooooo
good!" posts we are used to.
--
Cheers,
vc
Sakari Lund
Yes well, it is just a social event and having fun. But still, it is
nice to win and especially the way it finished, so I felt like writing
here. It doesn't deserve so much congratulations, but thanks anyway
everyone :-)
TT
This technique works in all sports. If you had little more expertise
than winning a t-shirt in leisurely activity you might know this...
TT
>>>>>> kind of
>>>>>> shot you want, great reflex volleys, put the serve anywhere etc
>>
>>>>>> I still can't work out why I just can't summon it at will.
>>
>>>>> Very common for amateurs. It's mostly in your head, imo. Accept that and
>>>>> your consistency may improve.
>>
>>>> ...Maybe you should try "mental imagery" before the match. Sort of form
>>>> of self suggestion. I used to do this before matches, imagining
>>>> everything clicking in place.
>>>> Of course you have to be able to cope with it when everything doesn't go
>>>> as planned...in that I think accepting that it's all about you and your
>>>> mind helps in the long run.
>>
>>> I do all that - that's what makes me so consistent/tough to beat. The
>>> 'zone' days are different - everything is effortless.
>>
>>>> Or otherwise you're doomed for "oh well, just one of these days" - type
>>>> of thinking...not the best approach imo.
>>
>>> conclusion you can't snap yourself into the zone state. Sure working on
>>> your game harder helps, but that's not what I'm talking about. I'd like
>>> to know if there was some science behind it. Maybe something to do with
>>> biorhythms?
>>
>>> We all know what separates the greats from the rest is their ability to
>>> get wins when they aren't playing well. That's where psychology comes in.
>>
>> Another facet of great player is that he can play great when his
>> opponent plays great...ie Nadal lifting his level against Hanescu etc.
>>
>> It's easy to be in "zone" against poor opponent.
>>
>> Barry Hearn said about Stephen Hendry that when he saw Hendry early on
>> what was special about him was that he could play great when his
>> opponent was playing great...
>>
>> I regard Stephen Hendry of 90's and Nadal as the mentally strongest
>> athletes I've ever seen.
>>
>> Also Sampras was pretty strong mentally, although I believe hitting aces
>> on pressure is much easier than hitting winners from back of the court
>> on big points. Every damn lamer can hit aces on big points, it seems
>> like sometimes.
>
> my friend had serious issues about Stephen Hendry, as he was from
> Scotland too and couldn't believe that anybody could play like that so
> often in finals/tough matches.
He couldn't believe his own eyes?
You can't fake a 147 in a deciding frame...
Sakari Lund
>On 17.12.2010 18:59, Sakari Lund wrote:
>> On Fri, 17 Dec 2010 15:56:58 +0200, TT<do...@do.it> wrote:
>>
>>> ...Maybe you should try "mental imagery" before the match. Sort of form
>>> of self suggestion. I used to do this before matches, imagining
>>> everything clicking in place.
>>> Of course you have to be able to cope with it when everything doesn't go
>>> as planned...in that I think accepting that it's all about you and your
>>> mind helps in the long run.
>>>
>>> Or otherwise you're doomed for "oh well, just one of these days" - type
>>> of thinking...not the best approach imo.
>>
>> Might work better in video games. This was about tennis though :-)
>
>This technique works in all sports. If you had little more expertise
>than winning a t-shirt in leisurely activity you might know this...
This is a nice thread in good warm spirit. Surprising success. I don't
know why it had to be hijacked into some mental training snooker
thread. Has absolutely nothing to do with our little social event.
Ted S.
> This is a nice thread in good warm spirit. Surprising success. I don't
> know why it had to be hijacked into some mental training snooker
> thread. Has absolutely nothing to do with our little social event.
You do realize who you're talking with, right?
--
Ted Schuerzinger
tedstennis at myrealbox dot com
If you're afraid of the ball, don't sit in the front row. --Anastasia
Rodionova
TT
Whisper talked about zone and I commented. Same mental training can be
used in recreational level fyi.
Besides your videogame comment was hardly in warm spirit...
But, if you want to know...zone can be reached at videogames too. I
recall reading that Hermanni Hyppönen, F-secure research manager,
boasting in the past that he can get into zone after 10 minutes of
playing classic arcade game Xevious. Obviously his definition of "zone"
is rather lose in that case or his self image rather exaggerated. Or
Xevious is just damn easy.
...Pretty much ends the circle on what I said about reaching "zone"
being easier against an opponent who is not playing great. Then again,
reaching it against a player who is several levels below you is not easy
either, on the twilight zone.
TT
> On Fri, 17 Dec 2010 21:53:11 +0200, Sakari Lund wrote:
>
>> This is a nice thread in good warm spirit. Surprising success. I don't
>> know why it had to be hijacked into some mental training snooker
>> thread. Has absolutely nothing to do with our little social event.
>
> You do realize who you're talking with, right?
>
With an idiot who never misses a diacritic and posts women's daily
ranking points?
Inglourious Basterd
> On 12/17/2010 11:57 AM, Sakari Lund wrote:
>
>
> >> Did you get a trophy? A frozen turkey for Christmas?
>
> > A tennis shirt, light blue with a logo of a tennis club. Don't know if
> > I am ever going to wear it... And a can of tennis balls, but everyone
> > got that.
>
> Congratulations!
>
> Your tale of your escapade is way better than the "Damn! I won my 973rd
> match in a row losing less than 3 games over 4 sets. I am just sooooo
> good!" posts we are used to.
>
> --
> Cheers,
>
> vc
Obvious troll is obvious.