Keep climbing
Second half of the season has been rewarding to say the
least. Missed the first outdoor tournament at Côte-De-Liesse Tennis Club in
June, but was ready for the Valois tournament.
Bad thing about these two tourneys was the lack of players;
both events gathered only four players on each draw. Phil Chalabi had won at
CDL very convincingly and was a real threat when I saw that I had landed on his
side of the draw. Phil and I had been playing a few practice matches over the
previous weeks and we always had long battles. We split sets on a couple of occasions,
but was usually Phil that came with the upper hand. To give you an idea of the
intensity of our games, on one occasion on a service game, it took me 23
minutes to get that game, saved 17 break points. 1.5 hours for just a set. Just
pure and simple street fight.
The day of our match at the beautiful Valois Tennis Club was
extremely hot and humid. Just by standing under the shadow of the main
galleria, you could feel drops of perspiration running thru your forehead.
We started our match blowing shot after shot to each other.
I was the one charging to the net, Phil was the one retrieving and
counterpunching. No quarrel. Each rally was an exchange of 10-15 shots at
least. Each one was safe on his serve. Dictating the points until someone would
be able to draw blood. I was the first. Got a break at 4-all to get ahead, 5-4
and my serve. I was close… really close. At 40-30 I served to his forehand, he
almost lost foot there, jerked him around the court and charged the net. First volley
with my forehand to his backhand. Phil chose for a lob to my left side, but it
felt short and I was in for a backhand volley winner. Couldn’t believe the ball
went out by an inch or two. I stumbled and Phil smelled it and went for it.
Back on his break. We kept running and chasing every ball until we got to the
tie-break. Liked my chances there. Had been serving well all morning. But Phil
had a plan on his own and made a fantastic return game that left me empty
handed. I was still hooked on my missed chance earlier… Second set only needed
an early break when I was still groggy from the blow. Could not get it back;
and after 2.5 hours final score was 7-6, 6-3 for Chalabi. Even though Phil lost
the final, his success on outdoor clay projected him up there in the top 3 for
a couple of weeks. Myself, I got a nice 5th place!
A few weeks later registered for the Côte-St-Luc tournament,
this is the provincial designated; meaning, it counts for more points at
the provincial level and also helps at the national level. This time the draw
was bigger, yet the best guys in the draw were Felipe Heck and Alexandre
Blaettler. I got seeded for the first time in my life. Started in the quarters
were I was draw to face Simon Elkeslassy. A regular top ten player with an
unorthodox style. Like in Forest Hill ’77, Côte-St-Luc 2013 had it shooting
attempt. A sick individual had menaced a couple of employees from Hydro Québec,
when trying to do some repairs at his place. Police intervened and things
escalated. To make a long story short, SWAT teams, police, firemen, ambulances,
were all summoned in as this individual had an overview of the club premises from
his balcony. We had to move our matches to other facilities and I agreed with
my opponent to play at CDL. Same clay surface, but indoor. The match wasn’t
pretty, Simon is hard to play, he slices the ball without much weight, and all
of the sudden he hits a 100 mile an hour forehand. It’s hard to find the rhythm
with him. But I wanted to win; the prize would not only be the semifinals but
also a chance to face Alex Blaettler. I put my working hat and won 4 and 4.
The semis were played on a grey, cold afternoon, with intermittent
rain. Far from ideal, but I thought that play on my favor as Alex would not be
able to overpower me. Boy I was wrong. Despite doing much better than in our
first encounter, again I left the court empty handed. For some reason I felt
uncomfortable with my strokes. Something wasn’t clicking. I got some brilliant passages,
but there is still a lot to do before I can seriously present any danger to a
guy like him. A well-deserved # 1 in our category.
On the other side of the draw in a 100% Brazilian duel,
Felipe saw off Phil in straight sets. Phil, still showing his great form put a
great run on the second set. So we were to play again, this time for the honors
of the third place.
But before that match, I got another tennis event to attend.
I got to attend the Wilander on Wheels clinic at the gorgeous Montcalm Tennis
Club in Quebec City. The agenda was lunch with Mats Wilander himself and his
partner Cameron Lickle, having the chance to ask him a bunch of questions and
90 minutes in the afternoon for hitting followed by dinner. The atmosphere was
so nice, everybody so friendly and we all enjoy an unforgettable day. Mats and
Cameron were superb and I was really impressed to see that both were so
down-to-earth people. Just loved it. If you ever have the chance to attend one
of these clinics (no matter what your level is) do it, you won’t regret it.
Guaranteed.
After such incredible day, I drove back to Montreal and the
following day I was ready for another tireless battle against my friend Phil.
Only that this time there was no battle… or yes, but only on my side. My balls
were flying all over the place, without direction, nor control. Just couldn’t
understand it. I kept feeling uncomfortable same as the previous days, and
could not find the answer. At 1-6, 0-5 Phil told me he could not believe all
the balls I was giving away. At the changeover I sat in disgust with myself
when staring at my racket, I realized that the string tension was not the right
one, nor its diameter… For some reason someone strung my stick with the wrong
material… Changed rackets with one of my backups and felt the difference right
away. Got my serve back, but it was already too late in the game to turn tables
against someone of Phil’s ability. Never forget to check on the equipment you
use. I got a little careless on that front and I paid for it. Lesson learned.
Yet semis in the tournament catapulted me into 3rd
place in the rankings while Phil, ironically slide to 4th due to the
fact that he lost points gained the prior year when he won in Laval.
Had to skip the Nationals in Vancouver as I had a personal
trip I could not postpone at the time, missing the chance of getting a National
ranking due to the current rules.
Next stop was Laval outdoor at Carrefour Multisport. Red
clay they said. Well… sort of. Draw was really strong. Got seeded # 2 behind Felipe
Heck. First weekend playing quarters we got again rain and cold weather. The
courts were simply awful. It was so dumped that while waiting for serve, you
could literally feel you were sinking. It was like playing on quicksand.
Disgusting. My opponent was a lefty with handsome tennis. Nice serve and good
groundstrokes. But under those conditions, there was no way he could have a
chance. I played a high level of tennis and was in control as soon as I warmed
up throughout the first set. Never faced a breakpoint and got a 6-2, 6-1
victory.
The following week conditions changed to the opposite. Dry,
hot, windy… surface was hard and fast! My opponent was no other than Martin Lemay.
Winner of Eastern Canadian in +45. A true gritty player. He does not give you
an inch without fighting like his life depends on it. I never made foot in the
match, lost blanked the first set in a few minutes and got better in the
second, but yet not enough to make him sweat. He ended up winning the title
without dropping a set in the entirely tournament.
Last stop was in Brossard at the Sani Sport club. Indoor,
synthetic surface. Extremely fast. I liked my chances, the last few weeks I had
been serving really well. Played Phil in practice and beat him both times.
At the same time I was also regularly competing in the doubles
league at Parc Jarry for Tennis Montreal with my buddy Oussama Azizi. We
finished second in our group during the first half of the season despite a
shaky start, so we were getting ready for a strong finish aiming for the
finals.
I guess a combination of factors, too much tennis, year-end fatigue, some
stress, got a couple of muscles tight in my back, kept pushing hard and end up
with a back and shoulder injury during my match at Sani Sport. I had quit the
doubles tournament at Parc Jarry due to some pain, but what happened at
Brossard made things just worse. I was sailing to the final when my right arm
went completely numb. Got to forfeit the match (second time in my life) and
went home very sad.
The tournament was won by Olivier Borlée without dropping a
set… in fact I think he just dropped three games in the semis. Well-deserved win,
and the 3rd place in the rankings.
Myself I got 4th in singles which is outstanding.
My goal for 2014 will be to keep the top 5 and see if I can break into the best
3 guys. Competition will be fantastic.
I’m still convalescent from my injury, but slowly coming
back to shape. I started hitting the ball again and seem that we’ll be able to
be back for the new season.
See you in the hunt.
Yours,
Iron Gaucho
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