Moment of Beauty: Fremont

Moment of Beauty #1: Lucas Brownsberger-Keyes

Not every beautiful point has to be a winner. In his match against Prairie Heights, Lucas was having problems early in each set with simply missing shots. So we adjusted strategies. Start the points by hitting your shots in and then begin to work your opponent around the court. The match changed as Lucas employed this strategy, the points became longer and Lucas' opponent made more mistakes. The best example of this was a point in the second set. Lucas served and the ball was returned to his forehand, which he hit down the middle and toward his opponent's backhand. The next ball came shorter and Lucas stepped in and whipped it down the line to the backhand corner. The next ball came even shorter, and Lucas crushed it into the forehand corner. His opponent ran it down and Lucas approached the net. But the shot was lifted at an awkward height for Lucas, so he retreated to the baseline and put the ball down the middle. The point continued for several more shots, most being in the middle of the court. Finally, Lucas was forced wide and had to lift the ball into the middle, but his opponent was tired and hurried, and hit an error trying for a big finisher. It was a long point, but it was beautiful to see Lucas play it so smartly.

Moment of Beauty #2: Simon Hurst

From a long point to a short one. Simon served and got a short ball from his opponent. Simon crushed the forehand approach into the backhand and his opponent made a slicing stab at the ball, which floated toward the edge of the court on Simon's forehand side. Simon moved forward quickly, getting right on top of the net. Just as the ball crossed to his side, Simon met it with a solid volley, but sending the ball almost straight sideways. His opponent had no chance as the impossible angle of the ball sent it almost parallel to the net. The shot bounded down the courts because of the sharp angle. It was such a rare point.