Losing is Never Easy

Well, I lost in the Stanley Park Men’s 4.5 singles tournament. Even though I was the number two seed, I lost in the 3rd round which is disappointing.
The Stanley Park Tennis tournament is in its 76th year and it grows bigger and bigger. It’s one of the largest amateur tournaments in North America and attracts participants from all over the world. Like the professionals, the reason why players get seeded is so they don’t have to face each other in the beginning rounds of the tournament. Roddick and Nadal would never want to face Federer in the first few rounds of any tournament.

Bad Luck
Unfortunately for me, the guy I played in the 3rd round doesn’t have any ranking points because he’s in Vancouver for vacation and is sand-bagging in the tournament. Sand-bagging is when you play a level or two lower than what you should be playing. The match was quite good and very competitive, it’s just too bad it wasn’t in the semis or finals. He had the best serve I’ve ever faced in my life. I lost count of the number of aces he had on me but it over 20 if I had to guess. I don’t really see anyone in the competition that can beat him unless there’s another sand-bagging unknown in the draw. No excuses or anything because competition is open to everyone. I had a good year this summer, my best one yet. I will end up either number two or three in the rankings and will move onto 5.0 for next year.

I can improve on every shot but I really need to work on my first serve and second serve. My serves are horrendous! I can start practicing now for next summer. I can also re-start my weight-lifting program without fear of becoming too sore for tournament play. Next year will be an interesting one because I will be playing guys who’ve had training and coaching since they were a toddler. The only training I’ve had is watching video tapes of the pros on TV!