Monday, May 11, 2015

WHY I STILL HATE MIXED



I hope this isn’t too self indulgent but here we go.  I played 8.0 mixed a few years ago.  While not a dominant 4.5, I suppose I’m somewhere in the middle – don’t get bumped up, don’t get bumped down.  For my first match I was paired with a short 3.5 woman against two pretty good 4.0s.  We were beaten soundly.  The first set I couldn’t serve and volley like I’m used to doing because every time I approached the net my partner got lobbed.  I stayed back to get in groundstroke rallies, surely I can win those exchanges.  And I did, until someone ripped one at my partner.   And that was when I actually go to hit a ball, which wasn’t often.  In the second set I decided I needed to make more of my meager opportunities.  My partner was playing to her ability, I needed to do more.  Hit a few winners, forced a few errors, but as the need to win the point every time I touched the ball increased, well, I ended up making more errors trying to hit shots I wasn’t as comfortable with.

I didn’t go winless.  There are some bad teams out there.  But it was clear that my style of doubles didn’t work well in mixed.  It was also clear that I wasn’t used to carrying a partner that was a lot lower than me.   And the keep-away aspect of mixed drove me nuts.  I hesitate to say I wasn’t good enough, but I clearly wasn’t good enough at whatever mixed was.  And that was my final take away – whatever mixed was.  It wasn’t men’s tennis, it wasn’t women’s tennis.  It was closer to a whole different sport. 
Spoke to my captain after the match.  Yeah, he told me, it took a few seasons for me to get used to it myself.  Huh? A few seasons?  According to him, you have to be able to change your shot selection, your position on the court, and several hundred other things when you’re playing with a 3.5 woman instead of a 4.5 man.  I suppose the same could be said for 7.0 mixed when it’s a 4.0 man and a 3.5 woman.  So the short term advice I got was that I needed to play about 75% of the court and be ready to cover everything. 
After a couple of wins I thought I had figured something out.  The next match my partner thought she should be covering 75% of the court as well.  You could say we had great court coverage with both of us trying to play most of the court, but it didn’t really work out that well.  After nearly running into each other for a mid-court ball I suggested that it might be best for me to hit that ball next time.  She suggested that it was her forehand and (barely) was on her side of the court – and that she had come out to play just like I had.  Supposed I can’t fault her for that.
I don’t know what the answer is and, luckily, at this point I don’t care.  I STILL HATE MIXED.

31 comments:

  1. No one beat Kelly and Mary!!! PERIOD.....

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    Replies
    1. Aguilar and DaCosta would destroy them!

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    2. He meant at 8.0 not 7.0.

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  2. Kelly and anyone wins, but not Mary and anyone....see the pattern?

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  3. Thanks Murray. You have just confirmed what Alan and Springpark and Kelley have done over the years is a lot more difficult than they make it look. And those guys are no spring chickens, at least Kelley, he is halfway to 100.

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  4. You people make this sound like brain surgery for Pete's sake. I, like Murray, hate mixed and it should not be considered a sport. My take from this as follow: VERY SIMPLY PUT: DO NOT HIT BALL TO KELLEY. PERIOD. These bloggers act as if he plays singles. That is impossible. Make him vulnerable and move him around then whack it at the woman. GEEZ, amazing how clueless his opponents are!!!!

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    Replies
    1. So play him and lets us know how its turns out...

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    2. To 11:21 Don't need to. Waste of time. Let's play some singles and see instead of sissie mixed.

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    3. Time, Date and Where?

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  5. Question. Is Kelley putting a gun to Murray's head forcing him to blog about mixed TWO weeks in a row???? If not, as much as I hate to admit, kelley has a lot more to do with what goes on in mixed than what I thought. When this takes precedence over two 5.5's playing as 3.5's this city is in a world of hurt. Kinda confirms Kelley owns the keys to the Dallas tennis city. Unbelievable.

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  6. What happened to Tony's player of the day expose?

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  7. I wonder if mixed wouldn't be better if it was a 3.5, 4.0 and 4.5 league instead of 7.0,8.0 and 9.0. The strong man, weaker woman really distorts play. This is a national USTA lissue with no local flexibility.

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  8. Next alphabetically is Shawn Arcaria -
    after going to 2013 nationals in 40+ and sectionals in 18+ and getting bumped up, he didn't tank well enough in the Fall and was still 4.0 for Spring 2014, he then tanked every match in Spring and Fall to get back down to 4.0 for Spring 2015. Very solid player especially when paired with a ringer.
    Comments?

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    Replies
    1. Didn't go win any Open tournaments while he was getting down? That's smart.

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    2. This is stupid. Shawn isn't out of level. Tiny has players way out of level. He isn't one.

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    3. agree. Playing(and winning) with Glasgow got Shawn bumped up. He's a solid 4.0. Nothing more.

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  9. With 2 mixed post in a row, Murray has finally revealed his identity. He's Mike Kelly. Who else would post mixed twice in a row.

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  10. I see one got bump up on Le team...

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  11. 9:31-----Go back to sleep.

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    Replies
    1. Miranda got bump up from 3.5 to 4.0 and they counted last match a lost..
      On Le 7.0 cheating team..

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    2. We are really discussing chick DQs?

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    3. When they are chicks that can beat you, then yes, we are discussing them.

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  12. I agree Arcarryme is a good 4.0 and a doubles specialist, would be a 3.5 in singles. When he plays with guys that carry him in doubles he is above average 4.0, and you will never see him play with lesser players. Who is next?

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  13. Skipping Bennett, not out of level
    next is Ryan DelaPaz
    won all 2011 4.0 spring matches until he played Houston, won three major zones
    started tanking in 2014, bumped down to 4.0
    undefeated at 4.0 in 40+ and 18+

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    Replies
    1. How does Houston get these guys through good enough to beat Ryan? There is something wrong with that.

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    2. Maybe you hadn't noticed, they have players that generally beat all our guys.

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  14. Let's play Dallas 4.0 fantasy! Take all the 3.5 and/or 4.0 on all the other teams (not on Le's), and put together the top 10 or 12 guys. If you take that team to sectional, how would the fantasy team fair?

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    Replies
    1. The second place Dallas team traditionally does not make it out of its flight at sectionals. The last one I can think of was when Somabut and Sisk both made sectionals sunday and were both beaten by Houston. And it wasn't even Freeman. They wouldn't beat Tony's team and they wouldn't beat Freeman's team so what does it matter. It's not that hard to just get to sectionals, it's hard to win it.

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  15. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=93cST8DgJ2I

    Bif

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