tennis stuff

Well, now I know the Babolat Pure Control is not the racket for me. For someone else, probably, but not me. Something about the weight and balance of it made it feel like a flat-out chore to play with through three sets this morning; I was dreading serving by half way through the second set. Hitting groundstrokes was arduous and it would not forgive a short swing at _all_, and hitting serves was like pulling teeth every time. Oddly limited power, as well, for a heavy racket. It was extremely nice on volleys - firm, smooth and stable - but that was about as far as I got in liking it. It's going back to the store tomorrow. If they have the NPro 98 demo back by then I'll try it, otherwise I might just buy the NPro Surge; I need a decent racket right away, and I _really_ liked that one while I was demo'ing it. Odd match this morning - we were delayed a half hour or so at the start waiting for the rain to blow over, then played a tight slightly frustrating match with neither of us playing our best and the wind playing merry havoc with everything. Wound up losing, 5-7 7-5 2-6. Last set was nowhere near as one-sided as it looked; I could literally have won every game, I think I either led at 30 or made it to 40 in every single game, and threw some downright sitters away (I lost two 15-40 leads, on his serve). Ah well - fun nonetheless. I'll be happy with a little less wind tomorrow, though.