I had to withdraw, unfortunately from the Spring Singles season due to chronic headaches for about 3 weeks. I feel better now but initial days were bad, very bad. I had a history of migraines about 3 years ago, do not know what triggered them again. Migraine headache was different and was not everyday. Hoping to return to a 100% soon!
I played with a Bulgarian person in my first ever singles match when I started playing tennis competitively. I got beat pretty bad. Over the next couple of seasons I faced him again and thankfully beat him both the times. I was pretty happy with the progress I’d made in a year or so. That’s what you want to see, improving bit by bit as time goes on. Bulgarian person, now friend, lets name him Anto asked me if I wanted to play doubles and I said cool. Let’s give it a try. Shouldn’t be that bad. We had been practicing together for a while so I knew he was a fun guy to play with.
I have never played doubles before since I have started playing tennis. I have watched some doubles and it is a very quick game. Points don’t last as long and the strategy is completely different than the singles game. Our first match was on a cold Sunday morning at 9 am. I hate waking up. I also do not go to sleep early enough which is why I hate waking up even more. I am trying to get into a regular 8 hour sleeping habit, I am trying.
The match started pretty bad, my partner and I had no rhythm, while serving or while hitting forehands and backhands. As stated before I wish I can get into a rhythm faster so that I do not lose initial games. Being a singles player does not prepare you for doubles at all. Anto and me are good singles players but put together we do not do well. You need a lot of practice playing together, understanding each others movement.
We lost the first match, we were not bad, we had just never played doubles. A couple of times we even had to ask for the rules regarding positioning.
Second was even worse for some reason. Got bageled (won no games) in the first set. Had a lot of difficulty dealing with lofted spin heavy serves. Decided to take it easy and just try to keep the ball in. Switched up receiving positions and the second set was better. Still lost, but I guess we earned their respect?
Going forward I am planning to focus on singles more, strengthen my serve, backhand and just general aspects of the game.