Max in San Francisco

Match 2

Opponent: Max "Max8176"
Opponent Rating: 4.0
Date: Wed 5 Sep 2007, 6:30 pm
Venue: San Francisco, Golden Gate Park
Surface: Hard
Result: 6-3 6-0

Shorter trip to the match this time. Found the right bus fairly quickly and a friendly jogger pointed me towards the tennis courts when I reached the impressive Golden Gate Park. 12 decent hard courts all available to the public - very rare back in the UK!

We had a short wait while what looked like a girls high school match, taking up 6 courts, finished up. On the nearest court to us a girl who looked about 15 was making steady progress against a girl who looked about 9.

Max hits double-handed both sides and plays with a Yonex RD7, just like a friend of mine back home. It's clearly the "two hands for everything" racquet of choice.

First set - got off to a 4-0 lead before Max won 3 games in a row, hitting some cracking early shots at sharp angles. Was getting worried but Max then missed a few to let me finish the set off 6-3.

Second set - dusk was closing in rapidly! This seemed to hinder Max more than me and I came through it 6-0 despite lots of good hard-hitting rallies.

Overall I really benefited from the previous match against Eric. I served better in this one, possibly because I wasn't trying to compete (in vain) with Eric's huge deliveries.

Max is a really friendly guy and hits a good ball. He dropped me back at the tram stop and gave me a quarter so I'd have the right change, but it turned out that the cash machine on the tram was broken so I rode for free. I owe you a quarter Max!

So I've made it through my San Francisco leg without losing my $50 (just). GraniteChief potentially lies in wait once I make it to Santa Barbara following a loop through Las Vegas, the Grand Canyon and LA. So a bit of sightseeing before I hit the court again, unless anyone crops up wanting a game at the Grand Canyon!

Eric in San Francisco

Over September and October in 2007 I got to do a road-trip up the west coast of the US to Vancouver, and then from Toronto across to Montreal then down through New England to Martha's Vineyard and Boston. During that time I put up a $50 challenge on the message board of the Tennis Warehouse website to anyone that wanted to play me at tennis and beat me. I got some excellent games as a result and met some terrific people. The following are the write-ups of each match.

Match 1

Opponent: Eric "EVW"
Opponent Rating: 5.0
Date: Labor Day, 3 Sep, 3pm
Location: San Francisco, Harbor Point Club
Surface: Hard
Result: 6-2 3-6 6-3

A superb match to start off the tour. Whatever happens the idea of trying to get some tennis during this trip will have been worth it for this game with Eric.

It took me an hour to find the right bus out to near Eric's club, nearly another hour for the bus to get there, and then I had to call from a friendly dry-cleaner to let Eric know I'd made it. About a minute later he sailed round the corner in his open top sports car and we shot off to his club. It was a beautiful California day and a very attractive club, with 6 perfect hard courts and a pool round the corner.

We had a warm-up during which I could see that Eric hits very hard. I had to hope he gave me a few errors when the match got going!

First set - my luck was in as I managed to get a few of Eric's big serves back (first and second serves both equally big) and he gave me some presents on the big points. 6-2 to me. But I could tell that a bit more consistency from Eric could turn the match around as he hits so big.

Second set - Eric proved my hunch correct as he steadied up and started to paint the lines. My level of play didn't really go down but it was soon 6-3 to him.

Third set - went with serve till 3-2 to me. I then broke, with Eric throwing in 2 doubles, but Eric broke straight back to love with some huge returns. I broke again to get to 5-3 up. We had some great rallies in the final game but I managed to close it out to take the set 6-3.

Big relief for me as Eric seemed to have all the momentum at the end of the second set and I thought I was going to be $50 down in my first match. I was very happy with how I played and I think if Eric were playing at his full potential then he'd take me as he hits harder and just gave me a few too many errors when it counted.

We relaxed with a beer afterwards. Got a photo of us both looking a bit ragged after the match. It'll have to wait till I'm home to put it up on the site though.

Due to play Max tomorrow in Golden Gate Park. Will post how that one goes. Hope this great weather keeps up.

By the way - San Fransisco is a huge culture shock after 10 months in New Zealand! So big and so busy. Outside the centre of town it's beautiful though.