Club night (11), mixed with a difference

Interesting club night. Played the usual mixed doubles, average quality where the 'rules of mixed' apply and my partner and I were fortunate to win 7-5.

After that we played mens doubles versus ladies doubles, where my regular male partner and I took on two ladies. The two ladies wanted some practise for a competition they had entered. One of them is a local club coach for the juniors so they play at a reasonable standard, but probably lack match practise. Of course my partner and I also really lack match practise, although we seldom get beat amongst the circle of players we associate with.

The 'rules of mixed' were not applied, by us.

The game see-sawed back and forwards, with the ladies gaining an early 3-1 lead despite the fact that I didn't think they were playing very well. We clawed it back to 4-4 at which point I thought we had the upper hand and went ahead 5-4, then went down 5-6 and eventually lost the set 6-8. (We don't always play a tie-breaker in practice when there is time to continue.) There was a mixture of good rallies, and some unforced errors, from both sides, and that's what got us in the last deciding game.

So how do I feel about being beaten by a ladies double team? Well not good. But should it matter? Probably not although it's not something to shout about, and also something not to get upset about. We plan a re-match in two weeks, and somehow I think the outcome will be the same.