The Match I Could Not Win!

by Walter
(As (Belgium))

Myself and Jacco Eltingh (ATP singles n°19 in 1995 - Doubles World Champion with Paul Haarhuis in 1993 and 1998)

The third (of seven) match of the championship would be the crucial one. I was selected to match up the number one of the opposing team. It was a strategical move from our captain, so our best player could play second position and win surely his match.

I was very impressed with the high quality of his backhand. He could play it sharp cross court and drive me out of the court. He also could play a drive longline and (to complete the nightmare) his backhand dropshot on the clay court was deadly!

I knew after the warm-up that if I wanted to have a chance I should play mostly with a lot of spin through the middle, so he could not make me run all of the time. I also had to make every point count. Every point should last at least 4-5 shots. That was my game plan and that was what I did.

I lost the first set with 6-3, but only after 55 minutes! My opponent was not as confident anymore in the 2nd set, because I could clearly see (and hear) that he was struggling to win a point. He even missed some attacking backhands and was very upset by that.

I won the first, second and third game (0-3) and then my attention shifted from the game plan to thinking about winning. My thoughts drifted away and so did my game!

The score was now 3-3 and I realized that I had to play my game plan or I would surely lose! At 5-3 I called a ball out and he could not (would not) believe it! He lost his composure and after 3-4 minutes we played the next point, you guessed it, he lost (I didn't win it) the second set with 5-7.

The third set was a copy of the first set, he was struggling even harder to win the points and the final score was 3-6.

On any other day I could not win from this guy, but I did that day and that year we won also the championship!

Keep it simple, stay focused and hang on, until the final point is played! Never, never, never give up!

Every shot is a new opportunity to do it right this time!