Originally <a href='/showthread.php?p=18267158'>posted</a> on 04/01/2013:

Sorry ev1, I had a HUGE tment this weekend here in Houston, biggest one of the year for USTA. Just to refresh, I am a top 5 Mens singles player in Texas, 4.5 division (we have no 5.0 div, so 4.5 is super strong!). It was the only major zone Houston has, and being over Easter weekend, it is a VERY difficult tment for me to play. Friday I have to fast, I am Catholic, and that makes the preparation for Saturday's matches exponentially hard. There are some amazing players that are at LEAST 5.0 or 5.5 in this tment! I am usually rated 5.0, but I had it dropped by the Texas section so I could play tments and not have to play Opens. I do play some Opens, local tments, it's just a tough division in the summer when all the college kids are back from school, bec they ALL come out and the level is VERY very high. Even in the first round Friday morning, I saw some guys absolutely ripping on the ball and serving HUGE! It doesn't really intimidate me, it kind of gets me FIRED UP!

We had a draw of 128 for the Mens singles, and I was seeded #3. I had a bye first round & had to play a guy who was pretty good in the second round (he had an easy match his first round). I played well winning 6-3, 6-3. I had my next match at 8am Saturday & I drew a kid from Corpus who played the highest level in Texas in juniors and he was around 23 or 24. He was a LEFTY, so ALL of my patterns had to change. I abused the deuce corner for over 3 hours! He kept saying to the 8 or 10 people watching, "JESUS, does he practice hitting this corner all day long?????!!!". LMAO, yea Wade, I practice hitting BOTH corners a lot, it's why I have been in the top 5 for almost 3 straight years Well, I kept myself on the court for WAY too long with this roadrunner lefty. I won the first set 6-2. The second I let get away from me and went to a breaker, I played a terrible breaker (usually I am very solid in breakers) and I lost it! After the 10 min break, I came out and official said I took 12 mins! I said, "ok", well my car was not close and had to get my third pair of socks and fourth tshirt and another cooler of drinks. He said it didn't matter and he told me I was DOWN 0-1 to start the third. I asked if he was joking...... Even the people watching started bickering how shiity that was. After the match I found out why. The kid from Corpus was complaining the entire time I left the court and MADE the official start his watch immediately when I left. So I said "ok" and the kid was actually pumped up! I took that very personally & lets say I started to hit out even more and loud yells after winning big long points and games! LOUD "VAMOS'S"!!! HE was getting pisssed! Final set, 6-1, Dmoney That's karma though, I bageled his asss after he tried to pull that crap. The fourth round was in the afternoon and I was already hurting. I started cramping in that third set late in the morning, we started at 8am. Got done at 11:37am. Staying on that court that long knocked me out of the tment practically, or so I thought. I needed ALL two hours to recover, I did my best. I usually have a very strict pre match routine I go through, takes me about 45 mins to prepare. This does not include warming up, bec I warm up before every match, at least 45 mins before the first match of the day. So I thought I could give this guy from Dallas a good run for 3-5 games and the first signs of a hard cramp, I stop! I came out hitting the ball SO clean, must of hit 12 winners in the first set & attacked the net hard with good hard approaches. I kind of won the first easily, even though it was 6-4. I had a lot of breaks to win better, but he was a good player, he hit some amazing shots. The second set was a PURE adrenaline rush, I kept the level of play up, but the cramps were starting to hit in several places. I KNEW I had only 10 - 30 mins left, maybe 5, depended if a cramp hit me hard. I kept pushing myself and probably 5 or 6 break points late in that second set and I was holding serve so well. I needed to win that second set to finish the match of around 6-3 or 6-4, but it got all the way to 6-6. HE went up 0-3 in the breaker, but I stormed back 3 straight points and had the serve on the change over. I hit a inside out forehand winner at 2-3 and he let it go bec I hit the deuce corner prob 6 times, then down the line, then back to deuce corner and when I hit the inside out to the ad court, he had no gas left. BUT, my left groin LOCKED up right then. I tried my best to shake it out, but other parts were small cramping too and I had no choice. I had to retire. IT took 5 mins for me to get that groin to unlock & I was close to that point I was at 3 years ago where my whole body went. I will NEVER, hopefully never, do that again to myself. I had already taken an injury timeout to get a cramp out around the 5-5 in games in the second, so another one was a point penalty. It didn't matter, I couldn't get it to stop & I knew I could not run anymore. It was so frustrating to not make the quarters, especially when you win the first set and you are 3-3 in the second set breaker! I did my best, but I also had to play the mixed later that night, we were seeded #1.

The mixed didn't go very well. We lost in the second round to a pretty good team. I was a little off, but played some really good points I thought. My partner was having a rough day & at that level, both players need to be on to win any round. We usually do well in the mixed, but we do the mixed to have fun. It was a long weekend, my body still needs a day or two to recover. The cramping has gone completely, but I am VERY sore in the 4 or 5 places my body was cramping. Few days and a nice long jog will make me feel great!!! I am already looking forward to my next tment, Corpus Christi in only 2 weeks! Can't wait to hit the practice courts! Remember, if you want to be a better player, make it happen on your own! You never know what tomm brings! VAMOS!!!