As I’ve said previously, all good tournaments have to come to an end. I lost this afternoon in the final round of qualifying to #4 seed Joshua Zavala. I won the first set and was up a break in the second set before I lost focus and control of the match. I started getting upset at myself for missing forehands and was unable to keep the pressure on my opponent. He stepped up, made me play, and found my backhand more often in the second/third sets. This is another missed opportunity for myself because I had put myself in a position to win and didn’t close the door. I think I also strayed away from my normal mental game plan. It was clear that I dominated the first set physically and mentally. However as the match wore on, I think my patience left me and after that my legs as well. I was “flying” for the first set and a half, I remember getting stretched out wide on a deuce-court serve, and then being able to run all the way to the corner of the ad-side and hit an inside out forehand, that’s some serious court coverage! Maybe it takes a toll on me since this was my 4th match in a row and I’ve been having to play more defensive due to my lack of serving power. Credit to Zavala for finding my backhand and rushing to the net. As the match neared its end, I realized that my efforts towards winning were in vain so I switched into practice mode, using the rest of the match time to focus on my weaknesses and put pressure on myself to execute. When I was down 3-0 in the third set, I started underhanding serves to Zavala, prompting him to rush the net after an approach to my backhand. I found success in hitting over/through my backhand and won a few points here and there. So I was pleased I was able to hit a few of them under match pressure (I had done so during the first set as well which probably contributed to me winning it). I can also admit that I might’ve closed my eyes on a few of them (backhand passing shots) as well! hahaha Oh well, I found a bit more confidence in that shot and was pleased with the way I had played the prior three matches. I definitely feel it was a confidence killer to have no serve and commit error after error off my forehand. I was catching them late and I was vocally telling myself I was doing so. Big mistake. I realized that as soon as I started vocally judging my strokes or my game, I was not calm, relaxed, or letting my body do its natural thing. I was trying to force things and I think a few of the errors showed that. I remember hitting a serve in the second set at 30all, a weak return came back: Usually I’d prepare my forehand without rushing – On this particular point, I decided to be more assertive with my footwork and tried to step in to rip the ball a little bit earlier and take away my opponent’s time. I caught it open-stanced and sailed it. I should’ve had a closed stance with my racket head facing up – that way it wouldn’t drop underneath the ball and strike it on my stroke’s upward path (Of course the ball is going to sail long if you’re hitting out and up on the ball!) Upon realizing these many mistakes on top of my inability to hold serve, a loss was inevitable. Once again, oh well, it’s just a match and next time I need to be keener on staying mentally fit and preparing for the ebs and flows of a match.

Some faces I saw again today were my buddy Dennis Lajola, Adam Hubble, Sanam Singh, Alexander Lacroix, Peter Smith (Head coach of USC) – I believe he was watching Dennis Novikov (Who is probably going to USC but I’m not 100% positive), Chris Kearney (Novikov’s opponent today) John-Patrick Smith (Former #1 ranked NCAA Singles player), and Sean Berman. I have to admit it is a little bit of a tennis fraternity at these futures events because the same faces are competing week in and week out. I hope to break into this fraternity at some point by having consistent main draw results. I believe qualifying draw players are looked down upon because you haven’t quite mastered the art of playing consistently enough to break into main draws yet. I’m in this boat but I’m doing everything I can to upgrade to the main draw yacht!

I want to thank Sue at the tournament desk for always giving me a good show court to play on. She was always very cordial with me. My friends at the Laguna Niguel Racket Club, including tournament director Mark Spearman, are always friendly towards me so I feel grateful that they let me practice there on occasion this past summer and put on such a great tournament yearly. Tournament officials John, MaryAnn (I’m probably spelling this incorrectly but she’s a very nice blonde lady who happened to stumble upon my blog yesterday!), and Taka (An official who flew in from Hawaii and happened to also chair my Kailua Night Doubles final back in early August. I told you the tennis community is very close and tight knit!) all showed me respect and friendship throughout the past 4 days. i appreciate your support and hope to continue seeing you at later events! That wraps up this final update from the Laguna Niguel Futures Event! Stay tuned as I make plans to travel to more futures events that could quite possibly land me Austin, Texas, Mexico, Laos, Thailand, or Turkey! Talk to you soon!

Taking a few days off from tennis,

Shubert