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"It's the fifth of July, feelin' independent" - Eddie From Ohio

Yesterday was Eagle Watch's usual holiday weekend mixer. We had 8 courts, and about 34-36 people. I got to play six sets of mixed doubles with six different partners, and I won every set except the first and the last. For the most part I thought I played pretty well. The weakest part of my game was definitely my overhead. I only got one out of about four, and I think it was because I just didn't get set up well. My net game was OK, which was good because everyone I played with had a great net game!

The format was different than I've seen (in my vast experience with mixer-type events). We would play a six-game set with a nine-point tiebreaker if needed. The winnering team would move up to the next court number and split up, and the losing team would move down to the next court number and split up. Low-court losers would stay and split, and high-court winners would stay and split. I was pretty worried I'd stay on 10 all day, but I worked my way up from 10 to 6, had one blowout win and three tiebreakers, and only one definitive loss.

My first set (the definitive loss) was against James and Angela Thomkins. We lost 1-4 (that was a 5-game set since we started late). They are really strong players, but I think I could have done better if I had hit better to James's forehand more. He's got an unreal backhand, but he uses a two-handed forehand when he can, and it looks very awkward. Maybe he's had an injury that doesn't let him use that side well; he's the only player I've seen that will run around his forehand to get to his backhand! Angela's just a really solid player, and they both play well together (not too common for a team of spouses).

My second set was the first tiebreaker win. My partner Tracy is on one of the B6 Wyndam Hills teams in our division, but I don't think I'll see her at that match since she said they were going to miss the last two.

My third set was a good 3-1 win (we had to shorten that set up since the previous teams had taken too long on that court). I played with Betsy, who I've seen a lot at the Tuesday drills, and who's a really strong player. Plus, the other guy was looking to join a team, so we've got another one!

My fourth set was another tiebreaker win, and was very satisfying. Roxanne and I beat Betsy and Bobby Filiberto, who's a young-gun player with lots of hard topspin. Bobby hit some good smart shots early, but lost it a little later on trying to overpower it. His serve wasn't working well, and that probably helped too. I'm certainly not a stronger player, but I think I might be a better one, especially at doubles.

I thought Roxanne and I played well together, but the next set against her and Gregg Olson was the blowout win (6-0). I will say my partner Terry was at least as good as Betsy. We did a good job of keeping it away from Gregg, and Roxanne just had troubles.

My last set was against Mike Welch and Terry. Mike plays a solid B3, and apparently played as high as A7 recently. Marisha and I managed to take them to a tiebreaker, which we lost 5-4 on my missed overhead. Overall a moral victory, though!

I was lucky to have some very good partners, and I played some good, smart tennis. Lots of fun!

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