Impression
After two exciting episodes this week’s was quite a breather along with quite a shocking twist. I almost spat out my drink when they revealed how quickly Ei-Chan had won his match against Terashima who was the sixteenth seed. I am going to be honest, when I saw his friends coming in late to the game because he is known to drag them out, I actually worried that when they arrive it was going to be the opposite. But my god- Ei-chan is on the roll, he is in the top eight!
After Ei-Chan figured out his weakness and gained some confidence as well as pushing past the third round, he was fortunate enough to have some lessons by Mike, a sports psychologist that teaches at a Tennis Academy in Florida. It was very interesting to watch because Mike was training Ei-Chan how to put his mind-set into combat mode, which made a huge difference in the way he felt and played. Isn’t the power of the mind extraordinary? With Ei-Chan’s sharp memory, he was able to catch onto it pretty quickly despite the bit of a struggle he had in the beginning. The key to putting his mind into combat mode is to have a lineup of memories before the match of his best/strongest moments in his previous games. All Ei-Chan has to do now is continue mastering the visualization part with his eyes open (if he hasn’t mastered that part already). Hell, it is mind blowing how much Ei-Chan can change and grow stronger as player by just prepping himself psychologically before/during a match!
Next week Ei-Chan is up against an unique opponent Isawa, the third seed. He has a very artistic style and the tennis shop lady mentioned to Ei-Chan that Isawa likes to draw a nice picture on the court. Now I think I might get it what he means by that. I suspect if one were to trace the patterns of the ball projections much like Ei-Chan does in his notes, a picture will show and (that is what I am more or less expecting! Ahahahaha- imagine the surprise on Ei-Chan’s face if that actually happens!). But if this is the case, depending on what kind of image Isawa has in mind, be it abstract, an object or something else entirely, I get the feeling he is going to be a very unpredictable player and it might be challenging for Ei-Chan to observe and take accurate notes on him if he has an inconsistent style of play. Well I will find out next week! I look forward to it!
