Iowa Games
What a weekend it was...
Tennis is 100 degree weather is something I wish to never do again. It was ridiculous. The head for the tennis portion of the Iowa Games couldn't have planned it on any better weekend than the two hottest weekends of summer. Of course, I guess I can't really complain too much as it was still a lot of fun, despite the killer heat wave.
In fact, my doubles partner and I happen to place 3rd in men's doubles. I'm sure we could have made it further, but my partner I believe had suffered from heat exhaustion on Saturday. So, come Sunday he wasn't really feeling too well. I don't blame him for ducking out in the second set. He had shown signs of fatigue, nausea, and light headedness. I would probably call it as well if I felt like that. My knees were killing me though, having to play all day on Saturday. But, we decided to call the match because winning the match was not as important as the health of my partner. Plus, we were already guaranteed a medal and reaching the semifinals was quite an achievement. This was the first year we had made it this far. So, needless to say we were pleased with our placement. There's always next year.
I didn't do so hot in my singles match, which occured before the doubles around 9 am. I could say that the heat had a part in it, but really I ended up just beating myself, as I'm sure I had a good number of unforced errors. I just hate it when I just give points to my opponent on stupid mistakes I make. I think it was pretty clear that I could the guy down, but I don't know what happened for me to just not be able to close the match. I was up 5-3 in the first set and I had him. But then, I made a crap load of unforced errors and lost in the tiebreak 7-6 (3-7). It was absolutely frustrating for me, as it showed in the second set when my opponent pummled me 6-1. I was not satisfied and was very disappointed in my performance to say the least. It helped that later in the day my doubles partner and I performed really well. It certainly helped in bring my spirits up again.
In mixed doubles action, I teamed up for the first time with a friend of mine who also graduated from my same high school. She attends Drake University now and still continues to play tennis down there with the local university club team. I'm definitely sure we had the match, but of course when you destroy your opponents 6-1 in the first set, you tend to get a little loose in the second set. The first set was amazing as we returned everything and just dominated on both net play and baseline play, especially my doubles partner. She had some amazing baseline shots that were unbelievable. A couple shots down the line, and some superb lobs that just totally caught our opponents off guard. I was very impressed to say the least. We lost the first game, but came back and won our first set 6-1. The second set was like what happens to most music artist's sophomore albums, flop. We had a good start, staying with our opponents 2-2, but then we fell behind and dropped the second set 3-6. But we didn't give up and faught back in the tiebreaker 3rd set, but we came a little short and lost the tiebreaker 7-9, for a final match score of 6-1, 3-6, 0-1 (7-9). It was a great match and I'm sure we could have taken it, but by no means was I disappointed. We did a good job and there is always next year.
