Nathan's Insights

Steps   10,786
The last official day of play as we close out the tournament. Andrew and Josh lost their A Grade doubles match to a team that included Andrew Florent who was a former world number 13 in Doubles.  They got 2 games and seemed happy. Catherine and I had to play Brian Bishop and his daughter Kirsty again this year in the round robin stage. Unfortunately we couldn’t repeat our performance from last year and we lost 4-7, but not a bad loss as they played well. You can be very unlucky in who you get grouped with in the round robin stage. I know Catherine was disappointed but she played well. I didn’t go for an intercept at a critical time which I think cost us the match but no one mentioned. Later in the day we played a dead rubber and won 7-3. I played a lot more positively this time as I knew it was the last match for Easter. I really wanted to win so Catherine would feel better as well. I did feel for the young players we beat, they got a very hard group and I talked to them after the match and mentioned Catherine and I played in a semi a few years ago and we didn’t win this group. It seemed to cheer them up. Jason and Kara playing together for the first time won their first match 7-6 in a tie breaker with Jason hitting the winning shot (8-6 points). This gave them a chance to win their group but they hit a very good team and went down 1-7. Still not bad considering they have never played together before this.

Reagan and Georgia did well in their group without winning going down 6-7 (3-7) and 5-7 in their second match. Reagan broke a string and played with Andrews’s backup racquet and he thought it helped a lot. Unfortunately all good things much come to an end and at 1.15 pm Reagan and I said our goodbyes and started on the long drive back to the real world. For the first time ever I didn’t get past a group stage but I did play in wins in each group. I consider myself a little unlucky in the C Doubles (the team that won the group won knockout matches easily) and D Mixed with Catherine (Brian & Kirsty are very good). There is always next year unless I end up in Washington for work (here’s hoping!).

Steps 17,776
The day started with disappointment with Reagan and me out of D Doubles without even playing, the team that beat us on Friday won their final match today and went through to the knock out final stage. I left Andrew and Adeline with their Easter Eggs which I believe they liked. Erin got a bubble blowing gun which she kept using all day which I had to fix several times. Chocolate favoured bubbles were everywhere. Andrew and Josh won all there A & B Doubles matches during the day, some were very close, hopefully they will win both grades but they will need to play very well to do that.

Leon and I had our final C Doubles match which was a much win to get through to the next stage. We went down 5-7 in a very hard fought match. We lost 4 sudden death games and only won 1 game the same way, in the end that was the difference. Our group of 4 teams was very hard and every match was close, while we only won one match I still think we played well together. I only had one match due to the loss so tomorrow is my mixed matches with Catherine and the last chance to win a group and get to a knock out stage, it won’t be easy. The less said about Essendon stocking and disappointing result against Fremantle the better. Sunday night was our BBQ night, Kara did a great job with the food and I helped clean up. The boys had a great night with Andrew sharing his Cuban Cigars as promised; they completed their epic 3 month journey from our South American trip to finally be smoked here.

Steps 24,513
Saturday is the start of the doubles proper; it’s also a chance to lose a lot of money with the horseracing on after a break on Good Friday. It appears that Andrew and Adeline have been able to adjust to Reagan’s snoring from the next room.  I didn’t have any problems at all. I started out today with a C Doubles match with Leon Roche and in a very tight contest we won 7-5 my first win at Myrtleford, I even hit the winning shot so it felt good. Reagan and I then had a chance to redeem ourselves with a win to keep our slim chances alive in the D Doubles. We needed a 7-3 win and that is exactly what we did. I still didn’t think we played that great. We won’t know until tomorrow if we can get though our group but I’d say we only have a 10%.

Andrew and Josh won through to the Final of the B Singles. Unfortunately both of them lost their A Grade Singles Semi-Finals but it was obvious they are both playing extremely well. Andrew however was slightly off his game and Josh took advantage and won 8-1. I’m sure these two will have heaps of finals against each other in future years. They later teamed up to win their first A Grade Doubles match. I’m predicting at least an A Grade final appearance and a successful defence of their B Doubles titles. In one of the last matches of the day Leon and myself had a chance to win our 2nd of 3 round robin matches. We went down 4-7 in a good standard match. We keep losing the sudden death games; I’m starting to think my style of play doesn’t suit sudden death. You need to be willing to loss to win the key points and I usually just work points. Still we have a good chance of getting through the round robin if we win tomorrow. For dinner we went to the Club Pasta night, magnificent food for $15, especially liked the dessert, sticky pudding with ice cream, not good for the weight loss I’m sure! The guys were put at the end of the table, felt like the kids table, and again footy dominated discussions, although my recent trips and the planning behind them got a bit of attention. Andrew, Adeline and the boys went up on the town for dinner and were lucky to get a late booking. Apparently the pub was great with live music but I was surprised to see them all back so early. In fact Adeline and Andrew headed for bed around 11 pm, Andrew reading Zoo magazine for a while, I enjoyed this new magazine called Monthly which has essay style articles on Australian current affairs. Looks like a very good choice to have recently subscribed to. Tomorrow I only have one scheduled match but with luck I might win one of my groups, I’ve always gotten through at least one group stage so the pressure is on.

Steps 17,243
The first official day of competition and the hopeful looks on every ones faces said most of us had forgotten last year’s event. I had my first ever C Grade singles match having decided it’s better to lose in C Grade then D Grade. I did okay losing 4-8 to Leigh Rayner a former local who played smarter than me. Basically he got me to made the mistakes, by the time I realised I was too far down to come back. One of the big changes at this year’s tournament is that they have a sudden death point at deuce with the receiver calling the side. That is exactly how I was broken in the last game, with us both just pushing the ball around the court. Despite playing sudden death tennis at Albert Park it will take getting used to, especially since the receiver calls the side. Andrew had a few tough single matches but managed to win everything and get through to the semi-finals in both A and B Grade for tomorrow. He’s good friend Josh managed to do the same and they could both play each other in tomorrow’s finals would be good to watch.

Now if Andrew wins all his four events he will be allowed to get a tattoo, Kara is worried but I’m not. Andrew is still a little off after his 2.5 months overseas with me. Later in the day I played my first Doubles match in D Grade with Reagan. We raced to a 3-0 lead but starting with Reagan losing his serve we only won my serve for the rest of the match and went down 5-7 (you play to 7 in doubles matches). This will hurt us for sure as our tournament is probably over but I’m keen to win the next round robin match.  Friday is fish and chip night at Myrtleford.  Reagan did a great job of organising everything with our orders in around 1.30 pm. This year it came in at just under $350 and we barely waited at all. Lots of disappointed people however who tried to order at 6 pm. My good friend and mixed partner Catherine Orton arrived during the middle of the day and was a welcome addition to our conversation during the night about overseas travel (Catherine is going to Europe soon), current events and the big topic of footy.

Steps 16,490
Day one sees a change in routine with me staying at my place on the Wednesday night. Last night my team beat Avondale Heights by 14 games moving my team firmly back into the top four, so the signs are very good for the upcoming tournament. We left my place around 10 am and I found it much easier to back than bringing my stuff down to Attwood without a car, Reagan staying with me made it much easier. A quick pit stop and Reagan had his belongings and down the Hume Highway we headed. It takes around 3 hours to get to Myrtleford around 266 kms, lots of police on the road raising lots of money for the State Government. Arriving at Myrtleford I found my familiar bunk bed this time staying with Andrew and his girlfriend Adeline. After so much time with Andrew overseas I did recall those times and felt the call of the road again. On the courts we had a couple of practise matches, Tony Hendy and myself lost 3-6 to Andrew and Jordan, I was reminded how much better Andrew is then me, it seems like just yesterday he couldn’t beat me, those days will never come again.

I then teamed with Andrew (a much better idea) and we beat Leon Roche (my C Grade partner) and Tony Hendy 7-5 in a very strong match. Again this made me realise there are some very strong players in our group. It was great seeing some many people again. I called my mixed partner Catherine Orton and she agreed to play Ladies Doubles with my sister Kara. Reagan is still looking for a partner. Both Reagan and Kara lost their original partners. Chinese takeaway made for a good dinner under the stars as we all swap stories. I even mentioned that I might have a chance to work in Washington later in the year. I’m starting to get excited about this idea. I then broke a major losing streak on picking losers in the first round of the footy as Brisbane just beat Carlton. I have a couple of multi beats on the footy with Reagan so it was great to start so well.  Just before lights out I made fun of Andrew ‘reading’ Zoo magazine I pointed out that there wasn’t much writing on the page he was looking at. To my surprise Adeline joined him in rating the women in the magazine. A couple made in heaven it appears.