Today was a very cool (high 50’s) and very windy day for my second round singles match against Jim Lazenby of Birmingham AL, the #5 seed.
Jim is:
- Tall and moves very well,
- took up tennis seriously only 15 years ago but is a natural athlete (football, baseball, and basketball),
- uses that weird two-handled tennis racquet made by Logix (he said the inventor is from Birmingham and convinced him to use it),
- the racquet gives him great stability and extra side torque on the ball,
- which allowed him to ace me at least five times with serves on the outside of the side service lines,
- great hands which allowed him to hit winning drop shots into the winds,
- and good strokes from both sides, with mostly a continental grip forehand.
All that being said, he beat me 6-3, 6-3. But I am very happy… I played almost completely “without fear†and continually went for my shots under all circumstances. I made only a handful of truly unforced errors; and they were based primarily on poor footwork.
As an example positive mental change, he was serving set point in the first set 5-3, 40-15 and came to the net on a ball deep to my forehand corner … and I hit the shot and passed him. The next set point I had another opportunity to hit a big forehand and did for a winner, bringing it back to deuce. He won the next point on a good shot; but I took a whack at the third set point, missing it just wide. It is a new day in my tennis life.
Doubles: Then Tom and I waited around till 3:30 (when it got even windier and colder) to play our doubles match against a very good team, who had beaten some seeded teams in the earlier tournaments. But we played very strong doubles – regardless of the weather – and beat them 6-2, 6-2. Tomorrow, we play the #3 seeds at 3 p.m.
Tom McCune: He has had a great run over the last two tournaments, winning SIX consecutive matches: three singles matches in Cambier to win the consolation singles; the first two singles rounds in Cape Coral; and our doubles match today. Before we play our afternoon doubles, he will be playing his third round match against #2 seed (and former #1 in the world) Fred Drilling.
Jack Lease: And our friend Jack Lease, playing singles in the 75′s for the first time, had a great match against the #2 seed, Neil McDonald. After a slow start in the first set, Jack took him to 7-5 in the second set.