The match
First win of the season. 6-1, 6-2, and the serve was the best it has been all year — but the thing worth keeping is the return.
Hank is a younger guy who wants to live in baseline rallies. Topspin off both sides, the forehand is the bigger weapon but the backhand is legitimate too. Two things I worked out: he does not like his serve returned deep to the backhand, and if you stay in the rally long enough he will eventually miss.
First set. I broke to open, then held with four straight first serves in and two aces. He held at 2-1 behind big first serves, most of them at my body or into my backhand, and I spent that game trying to slice them back. It was not working. So I moved my return position across toward the T on the deuce side. That took the body serve away and left the ball coming to my forehand instead. Everything opened up from there — held, broke, held, and broke again to take it 6-1, though I had to fight off a break point in that last game and gave away two advantages of my own before I finished it.
Second set, same script. Held at 40-0 to open, broke straight back for 2-0, and the only real scare was going down 0-40 on my own serve and climbing all the way out of it. Broke again and served it out 6-2.
The serve was great all night. The adjustment is the story. A week ago I lost three games from 40-0 up and put it down to my legs, which was the right answer then. This time there was something I could actually fix while it was still happening, and two feet across the baseline turned the serve that was hurting me into a neutral ball.