How To Cough Up A 5-1 3rd Set Lead & Still Win

You know, this game is a little strange at times.

Just when you think you've got a match well under control, poof, within a few minutes that lead is gone and you're holding on for dear life.

My doubles partner in the 55s, Chris Morgan, and I played for the Bronze Ball (3rd place) this past Friday up in Boise, ID at the National 55 Indoors.

After winning the first set 6-2, we promptly lost the 2nd set 6-2, and we lost Chris's serve to open up the 3rd set.

And yet, we broke right back, and in fact, won 5 games in a row for me serving at 5-1 in the 3rd.

We were rolling, in control, and just had to cross the finish line.

And the next thing you know, we're at 5-5 and down break point on my serve.

Those nasty thoughts of how you're going to feel after losing this match when having been up 5-1 and serving for the match started to creep into my head.

But, I kept telling myself and Chris that we're simply even with these guys, let's just hang in there, stay aggressive with our movement, and play the high percentage shots.

And, let's really take our time between points...

And for me, those high percentage shots equate to not forcing a shot into a place where the geometry just isn't in your favor.

If that means staying calm and not forcing something just to end the point, but more to stay patient and play a shot where even though you know your opponent will be able to play a shot back to you, at least you've got good court position up at net, and let's see what happens...

We hung tough at 5 all, eventually got into the TieBreaker, and despite going down 0-3 in the Breaker, we pulled it out 7-5.

And here's what I think we did wrong when we got to 5-1.

We were so excited that we tried to do too much to end the point too quickly, especially the first point.

You know me, I'm big on poaching, fake poaching, etc., but sometimes you can to do a bit too much, especially on that first point when you're trying to hold serve to close out the match.

We lost those first points on my serve at 5-1 and Chris's serve at 5-3, and now you're down 0-15 to start those games.  That's not a great feeling, and the pressure can mount where you feel you have to win points, not just play them smartly.

The old cliches work here.  If you're serving, take a hair off of that 1st serve so you can really increase your chances that you won't have to spin in a 2nd serve.  Since you're taking a bit off of that first serve, have your partner throw in a big fake poach to help visually distract the returner which will probably make that 3/4 first serve of yours look tougher.

If you're returning serve, don't go for broke, take your time, and make sure you cleanly play your return cross court even if that net player poaches.

Force that player to have to not miss that poach volley.

Practice these scenarios.  Go out there with a practice partner and play some cross court points (alleys are good) and just play your role as I've described above whether you're the server or the receiver.

You serve for 5 minutes to the same side (deuce or ad) and then switch to returning serve.

Alternate serving sides the next time you serve.

Do this twice a week, and you might be closing out that 5-1 3rd set lead alot sooner than Chris and I did...!

Tournament Link to National 55 Indoors Doubles Draw.  3rd Place results are at the bottom of the draw.

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Up next for me is the National 60 Hardcourts in Palm Springs starting this Saturday April 4.

I'm seeded 3rd in singles and 3rd in doubles with new partner Ken Dahl.
Tournament link to National 60 Hardcourts

Brent