Today my hitting partner and I practiced serving to each other for a while. I was trying to work with three things: see the ball when I hit it, bend my knees to get more pop on the serve and move back to the baseline after I serve. I wasn’t doing very well with any of these three things so I realized that I had to drop two of them. I concentrated on seeing the ball but that meant I was in a bit of trouble on a deep return because I wasn’t moving back after the serve. I had to give up worrying about that, do the best I could to get the ball back and just think about seeing the ball.

I came back from 6-9 to win the second rally game. I’m beginning to develop the confidence that comes from consistent strokes and a consistent mental approach. I don’t panic if I’m behind, I just keep executing as best I can. If my opponent is mentally strong and is a better player, I will probably lose but I know I will have played as well as I can.

Practice and Competition Report: hit with M. for 2 hrs., we played 2 rally games: 15-12, 15-13.