Today I had my first club match playing the second position. I lost clearly 3:0 against Shane, a friendly guy from New Zealand. BSC Allston is the second best club in the league, so there is not too much shame in loosing.
I could have done a number of things better, though. First it is important to remember that if something does not work, do not insist and make the same mistake over and over again.
Shane had a good hard serve onto my backhand which I tried to cut off and put in as a nice drop, generally speaking probably the right idea. Unfortunately my drops went mostly into the tin, which cost me well over five points — maybe even ten. This can not happen when one plays against someone who is as good as oneself or maybe even better.
The other thing I am still doing is that I do tend to bring back the ball long, even if I am upfront and could drop effectively. I will have to work on that shot. Dropping is still one of my weak points.
Less obvious for an outside observer also that I did not employ my patience to set up the rally for the point. I was too hasty trying to make the point while it would have been better to keep the ball in the game and wait for a clearer situation.
Well, as long as I see what I do wrong I can still improve: next time it will be better!