Meppel 10k

This week I played in Meppel, Netherlands, which is a little under an hour away from Apeldoorn. It’s in the northern part of the country, and it’s mostly farmland and not much else. However, the tennis facility on the outer edge of the town is pretty nice. The only problem is it is a very open area and no wind screens, so you have the wind whipping around all day. It’s not terrible but it makes matches a bit more difficult.

First round in singles I played against a German girl, Bosnjak. It was a tough three set match that I ended up winning. At the start of the match I wasn’t nervous or anything. I practiced pretty well leading up to this tournament, so I felt good with the way I was hitting and figured it would continue here at the tournament. The first two games I won at love, and then I was up 40-15 in the third game until she hit some well placed serves and took the game. After that things settled down and I managed to break her again but got broken the next game, which was ok because I was still up a break. So I managed to just keep holding to take the first set 6-4. The second set I played the same way however the wind picked up and the sun disappeared and soon my shots that were pushing her back weren’t doing anything. They were just sitting up nice and high, mid court for her to hit where ever she chose. My 1^st serve seemed to take a break as well. In the net and deep, I couldn’t seem to get a hold of it. But I had some chances in to get back on serve in the set, but never was able to get the break. Her level went up a bit, she hardly missed, and hit a lot of well placed serves and used the wind to benefit her. I lost the set 2-6. In the third set, I just told myself to focus on holding serve, and when on the side of the court with the wind at my back to go after the returns and hopefully get a break. I did just the thing. We each held serve until 4-4 when I broke her and surprisingly it was facing the wind that game. We changed sides at 5-4 wind now at my back, I again told myself to make my first serves and use the wind to my advantage, meaning to push her back off the baseline and look for a short ball to attack and make her run. I made my first serves, stuck with my game plan and at 40-15 on my first match point I won it with a volley winner. It wasn’t a pretty match, but I won so that’s all that matters.

Second round I played Burger, a Dutch player and lost 3-6,7-5,3-6. The first set she simply out played me. She took advantage of all my shots that landed short in the court and made me pay. She hit a big ball and with the wind I had trouble. For me, on clay especially, I like to hit with more feel. Slice, angles, high spin. And against a player who really whacks the ball it’s tough to do that. In the second set I changed my tactics up a bit and played more to her forehand instead of her backhand, which was killing me. She started to make a lot more mistakes off the forehand side so I just kept attacking it. I was down 2-4, 15-40 serving and managed to hold and that swung the momentum in my favor. The next game I broke her and then held again for a 5-4 lead. The next game returning I had two set points but missed a return and she hit a backhand winner on the next, then she won the game. At 5-5 serving I knew I needed to hold because after losing the previous game after having two set points could change the momentum again favoring her. So I managed to win my service game and broke her to take the second set. Heading into the third set I wanted to continue with my game plan of playing more to her forehand side and do my best to hold serve. If only things work as planned in your head… She didn’t follow the script I had in mind and decided to play more to my backhand side which made it difficult for me to run around and hit my forehand and put pressure on her. But that can’t be my excuse. I got broken early in the set, so was down 2-3. The next game I had two break points but she hit a big forehand winner and the next I missed a backhand down the line. So down 2-4. Then serving to pretty much stay in the match I had a game point, but she hit a drop shot and followed it in and I slid into the shot and missed the passing shot wide by an inch, then lost the game. Down 2-5 I manage to break her serve. So now 3-5 I’m serving and again I have game points. The first I hit a backhand slice long and the second my backhand landed short in the court and she hit a backhand winner down the line. Then at deuce I double faulted, which was probably the best time to double fault ever… Not. Then on her match point she runs me to my forehand side then stepped up and hit a forehand winner down the line. Game over.

Three hours chasing a ball around for a loss hurts. Having so many game points and losing them really hurts. I just really wish I could have pulled out my service game at 3-5. Maybe at 4-5 she could have gotten nervous and I could have capitalize and taken the set and the match. But I can’t do anything about it now. She played really well and her change of strategy in the third really helped. So congrats to her. I know what I need to work on for the next tournament. But I can be happy about making her earn the match. I could have easily folded in the second set, so I’m proud of myself for not going down without a fight. Have to look for the positives I guess. But the next tournament is a few days away and hopefully I can make some improvements and hope for a better result next time. I’ll keep you guys posted.