How did I play today?

I played three singles matches of note today, and lost all three.

I played Bill first and won the first game, kept the second close, but lost the third and fourth fairly easily. I realized afterwards that I started to over hit some of my loops, instead of spinning them. I have trouble right now balancing aggression against controlled looping, esp. when I'm playing a chopper. Bill started to do a good job with throwing me off with no spin chops and side spin chops.

Then, I played Yoshi in a league match. The first two games were not so good as I wasn't into the match yet. My concentration level was way too low, but I raised it in the third game, and won it and the fourth game in deuce. In the final game, I was in it, but Yoshi managed to take a 9-7 lead and won 11-8. I again had some trouble balancing aggression and control. After the first two games, one of the big adjustments I made was to block many of Yoshi's loops instead of trying to hit or loop them. I also had trouble recieving Yoshi's serve. From where I normally stand I only could see the edge of his blade, when he served, making it difficult to tell the difference between side spin and top spin. I went to an extreme forehand stance and was able to see the motion a little better. One thing this match showed me is that I need to learn to deal with heavy topspin short and wide to my backhand better. This is also a serve I have trouble recieving from Jeff.

I also played Nathan later on. I can stay with Nathan for most of the game now, but can't seem to win games. He does a good job, getting some easy service points when the game is tight and near the end. I also need to do a better job of watching his serve to read the spin. I should go back to thinking that I can't read serve at all and reread the post I had on reading serve.

Things to work on:

• Watching the ball when I'm trying to loop, especially for balls that are fading away.
• Pushing and developing game using backspin serves
• Using backhand more aggressively and consistently. Picking my spots better to loop backhands.
• Using a shoulder turn, when smashing backhands.
• Flipping no spin balls more consistently
• Watching the service motion.
• Balancing aggressive loops with controlled loops. Emphasis on using more controlled loops
• Understanding all my serves that aren't the forehand pendulum
• Footwork and getting to the right position after serving.