I had a dream sometime before dawn Thursday morning that my match in the Lukoil Open had gone to 15-games all in the third set, and that people all over the world were following it on the web.  That’s obviously a combination of my own delusions and a hangover from the agonizing loss Andy Roddick suffered to Roger Federer in the Wimbledon final. 

The real-life results, however, were sort of similar.  After the warmups, and 22-year-old Samuel Sherrill served a big first game, I thought I was in serious trouble.  When Amy Oberholtzer, wife of a good friend and fellow Green Valley Tennis Club member Marc Oberholtzer, suggested during the first changeover that I use the scorecards to keep the small crowd there watching informed, I said in all seriousness that I wasn’t going to put the score up until I won a game.  I was thinking I could be in for a double bagel.  Fortunately, I held serve that first game, but he broke me twice and I lost the first set 6-2.  Then a surprising thing happened in the second: At 2-2 I hit one good passing shot and he made a few errors and was able to break him and the held serve the rest of the way, including a long tough game at 5-4 when I served it out.  His groundstrokes were tough, and I tried to get into net as soon as I could (see this video here for a point that it worked) on every ball because I knew there was no way I could slug it out with him.

Of course, the Lukoil Open is not Wimbledon and in the first round plays a super tiebreaker to ten points instead of a full third set.  I played a few good points, but he hit some nice passing shots, and I dumped a high forehand volley into the net when serving at 6-8 that gave him three match points.  He needed only one, and we were out of there.  It was fun, and for a 42-year-old dude giving away 20 years to a Division III college player, I’m by no means disappointed.  If I had won, the odds are likely I would have been victim to a double bagel, as Sherrill lost to Futures tour player Maksim Tikhomirov  0 and 1.  I like to think I tired Sherrill out, at least a little bit.

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