one-two

For the first time in the history of the universe, I vanquished Kirat in a 3-set match of tennis. But it wasn't that I won, but how I won that was so amazing.

Yesterday we resumed a match that had Kirat up 5-3 in the first, him serving. I surprised myself and won the first two games to get it to 5-5, and was up a point (15-30 I believe) in the next game. It was strange to think that the first set could have been over, and that at that point I had the lead in the match. As quickly as it came though, I lost the first set 7-5.

We then switched courts, and Kirat rolled off the first 3 games. At this point he was on a 5-0 run and things seemed like he was about to waltz to a third straight match.

During the changeover, I walked around the net on the side opposite our water bottles, to pick up a stray ball. And I found a Wilson "W" shock absorber just laying there on the court. I didn't have one in my racquet, so I picked it up and put it in between my strings.

I immediately felt a huge difference. My serves were crisper. My ground strokes were firmer. I started hitting better angles. That moment was a game changer. I started winning games. And even when I had tied it up at 3-3, I kept telling myself that I was still down 0-3. I went on a 5-0 run, and closed out the set on my serve at 6-4.

We had time to play the third set, and we held serve through the first four games. But then I broke his serve to go up 3-2, and closed out the set and match 6-2, telling myself that I was down 0-3 the entire time.

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So some stats:

Yesterday before I found the shock absorbed: Kirat 5-2 (games won)
Yesterday after I found it: Dave 12-3

There are four explanations:

1. The shock absorber made a significant physical difference in my game.
2. The shock absorber gave me the confidence to hit better angled shots.
3. My subconscious naturally responded when down 0-3 to play better and start coming back.
4. Telling myself that I was still down three games, even when I'm serving for the match, allowed me to keep that intensity and not get flustered with excitement.

More about that last point: I've heard all my life that confidence is key for athletes. So you would think that I would play better up 5-3, than down 0-3. But for me, as soon as I take the lead, my normal mental process is "Oh, I'm so close to winning. Just 8 points and I'll win. Boy it will be awesome to win and blog about it." And whenever I think like that, I play terribly.

To get back to the four explanations, I think all four are true.

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Today I learned that Sabermetrics refers only to baseball, as it was derived for the acronym for Society for American Baseball Research. So what follows, could supposedly be called Satermetrics.

Total 2010 Games Won before shock absorber: 39-27 Kirat (59.1%)
Total 2010 Games Won after shock absorber: 12-3 Dave (80%)
Total 2010 Games Won: 42-39 Kirat (51.9%)

Games won in Match #3: 17-13 Dave (56.7%)
Games won in Match #2: 20-15 Kirat (57.1%)

I think it's interesting that after playing 81 games, we're only separated by 3. Also, that in two consecutive matches, the winner was different but won roughly the same percentage of games. I think it just means that we're really at the same level.

Match #3, started 8.4.10: 5-7, 6-4, 6-2 Dave
Match #2, started 7.28.10: 6-7 (2), 6-2, 8-6 Kirat
Match #1, started spring 2002: ?-6, 6-?, 9-7 Kirat