The third day of qualifying is in the books and I’m happy to announce I made it through another round! I played against San Diego State’s Hunter Nicholas and came out on top 6-3 6-2. It was kind of an interesting match up because just last year, my former college team and I played against San Diego State 3 times throughout the regular season! So Hunter was not an unfamiliar opponent to me and I felt I was ready to handle anything he could dish out. I was striking my forehand well and my slice was staying low throughout the day. I returned solid enough and forced errors based on movement. Unfortunately my shoulder has been giving out on me the past few days; fatigue, soreness, lack of exercise-band therapy, etc… But I was able to just throw my serve in and play solid defense to force enough errors to win my service games. The two games I lost in the 2nd set were breaks of my own service games. So that was disappointing but at least I got through it with a win. I quickly took care of my shoulder post-match by stretching, relaxing in the hot tub, and icing. A few hours later I was on a masseuse’s table getting the knots rubbed out in my shoulder blade, trapezius muscle, front and rear rotator cuff. All this tennis has been taxing on my body and I think my shoulder is letting me know it’s time for some rest. Come to think of it, I can’t remember the last day I didn’t play tennis! Maybe that explains my results lately too… Either way, I have a match tomorrow which I’m getting ready for. Here are some of my thoughts concerning it:

In my current condition, I’m ready and able to go out there tomorrow, win my final qualifying match and make it into another main draw of a Futures event. However, I’m also prepared to take the match as serious practice time for my backhand and my return if things aren’t going my way. The way I was serving today did not boost my confidence at all and I can’t expect to go out there and hold serve every time, especially against the opponent I play tomorrow. My next opponent is a hybrid serve and volleyer. If I can pin him at the baseline, I stand a chance. Tomorrow I expect my opponent to attack my backhand and rush the net afterwards. If it happens time after time after time, my backhand passing shot can break down. This is why I’m preparing myself (on my backhand) to stay low, catch the ball out in front, line up my shoulders and let it rip without over-rotating my trunk. I don’t want to get stuck slicing passing shots or dinking it short-angle when my opponent rushes in, I don’t see that as a winning formula. I want to be able to get comfortable hitting over my backhand during real-match pressure situations. I’ve been working on it for weeks now and it’s just a matter of time before it finally starts clicking in matches. So either way, tomorrow’s match will symbolize a chance to reach another main draw, or provide me with practice in an area of my game which I’m not immensely confident in. Win win right? Don’t get me wrong, I’m going to be an animal on court in order to get this victory. Nothing would satisfy me more. It’s been my objective from the beginning despite whatever health conditions I’m dealing with (shoulder, cough/cold, soreness, etc). That’s just life to be honest, you gotta learn to deal with aches and pain if you want to make it. Some ibuprofen and a stiff upper lip is in order as well.

Always Trying to Improve,

Shubert