April 17, 2016

Samara hosts 18 at RHP, Boddu-Kumar in Wayne, Kris hosts 7 at C.G.!

This session of GTA Sunday Tennis featured near perfect weather conditions - sunny and 75 degrees (though likely more like 70 or less in the early morning hours...still quite nice!).  As such, many players had been looking forward to the Robin Hood Park session for most of the week.

Some early planning took place as "Hollywood" Frank Samara and "The Riz" John Rizzo both wanted to get their two highest-ranked teams in the Doubles Division together to play a rematch from late last season to also remain active in the ranks.  Samara's partner would be "The Assassin" Alfred Chen and Rizzo's would be "Chito" Nick Inciong.  A start-time of 10am had been agreed upon earlier in the week.

Then complications set in as Samara's car went temporarily R.I.P. on Friday night and remained that way as of Sunday morning.  Rizzo was willing to pick Samara up in order to still have the match and have Frank act as the host of the session.

Next, Alfred informed John at 9:20am Sunday morning that he woke up sick.  Obviously, the original match idea had to be scrapped.  Still, there was some hope of Samara teaming with someone else in order to challenge Rizzo and Inciong (which would also still keep them active in the Doubles Division).

When Rizzo and Samara pulled up to RHP at 9:55, Inciong was already out on Championship Court.  Soon after, Frank started hitting against both John and Nick.

At 10:05, we had an early and welcome surprise as "The Vin Man" Vinnie De Benedetto made his way toward the courts.  Samara asked him if he had time for a full match and Vin said that he did.  By 10:12, we were off and running in a full 2 out of 3 Sets Doubles Challenge Match.

At 10:15, three Clifton High School Tennis Team players took the Entrance Court.  It briefly went to four, but then went down to two soon after and it remained that way until they both left at 11:30.

At 10:20, "Sadistic" Syed Rashid took Center Court and was alone until "Big George" Jorge Solano joined him for a hitting session at 10:35.  It would be a lengthy one as they did not get the chance to play any official Doubles action until half an hour later.

"Spin Doctor" Dan Martinelli made his way toward Championship Court at 10:45 to watch the full Doubles Match in progress.  Upon his initial arrival, he was still hopeful to soon be playing his usual Sunday football game (though he already had his doubts).

Spin's spectator status did not sit well with one Mr. Rizzo.  In fact, it seems that Martinelli earned a new moniker in the process: "Captain Kryptonite", as all of Rizzo's team's fortunes started to dramatically shift as the opposition began to turn the tables on them (more on that later).

At 11am, both Tito "Touch" Castolo and "Holy Moly" Mike Moly made their way onto Center Court to enable some Doubles to happen there along with Rashid and Solano.

It was right around this time that we looked up Jani Court hill to see both "Bollywood" Hiren Ramani and "Nasty" Nilay Patel heading down the street with racquets in hand.  But they stopped in their tracks when they saw all three courts were full (remember that the two CHS guys were still on the Entrance Court at that time).  

By the time a court had cleared at 12noon, we say Hiren and Nilay drive off together...obviously, they had made new plans.  This is the unfortunate downside of such nice weather...it sometimes brings out non-GTA players to RHP.

At 11:15, "Lean" Dean Delgado arrived and faced the same logjam that Ramani and Patel had just witnessed.  Five minutes later, "The Mighty" Miriam Mendez joined the waiting session.

Thankfully, the wait would not be much longer as the CHS guys left the Entrance Court at 11:30 and Delgado and Mendez quickly took that court for a hitting session.

Just a few minutes later, Martinelli decided to show Rizzo some mercy (though The Riz was about to protest Spin's presence at that time anyway) and join Dean and Miriam for some hitting on the Entrance Court.  When "Big Jake" Rich Jachens arrived at 11:40, he made it a foursome.

"Nate the Great" Nathan Fernandes arrived at 12noon and soon found himself in a hitting session with Inciong on Championship Court as the Doubles Match had just finished a few minutes earlier.

When Nate got invited over to the Entrance Court for some Doubles, Martinelli took his place in hitting against Inciong.  

"Latino Heat" Jose Gonzales made his way onto the courts at 12:20.  Ten minutes later, Rizzo and Inciong left for the day.

At 12:35, GTA Champion: "Double R" Rob Ryan came across the street with racquet in hand.  As a new Doubles One-Setter had just gotten underway on Championship Court just a few minutes earlier, The Champ had to be content to talk to The Hecklers (Samara/Martinelli) for a while before engaging in any official action.

When that One-Setter concluded, Rob first hit with Mike Mole.  At 1:05, "Coach" Dino Celis arrived.  Mole decided to opt out of the next One-Setter as it would be Ryan and Celis vs. Gonzales and Castolo.

Jay "The Rising" Phoenix made his way onto Center Court at 1:10 to start hitting with Mole and that soon led to a Singles One-Setter.

The last official competitor of the day was "The Chef" Sukumar Mitra when he walked onto the courts at 1:20 and soon started hitting against both Nate and Miriam.  Dean then made it a foursome for some official Doubles action.  We had an impressive total of 18 players throughout the session.

Let's get to the scores! 

The RHP Results:

2 out of 3 Sets Doubles Challenge Match:
Frank Samara/Vinnie De Benedetto over John Rizzo/Nick Inciong, 7-5, 6-4, to become the New # 7 Ranked Team in the Doubles Division!  No Aces.

1st Set: Vin held serve (Love-15 shifted to Double Game Point as Vin hit a winning volley and John blew an overhead along the way and then came the hold), John held (John hit an awesome passing shot winner to make it 30-Love, but then it shifted to 30-All right after Vin hit a winning volley, but then it was Game Point where Nick hit a monster winner to secure his partner's hold), but Frank was the first to be broken (John first hit an amazing return winner followed by another winner to make it Love-30, it was then 15-30 when John hit yet another impressive winner to make it Double Break Point and then came the break) for a 1-2 start.  Nick was broken (Vin hit a drop shot that led to Love-15, but then two un-returned serves led to 30-15, but then it shifted to Break Point and then a Double Fault caused the break) to level it at 2-2, but then De Benedetto was broken (John hit a winner for Love-15, then Vin hit a winning Overhead Smash for 15-All and it went point for point to Break Point and the break) for 2-3.  Rizzo was broken (Vin blew an overhead for 15-Love, but then it went straight to Double Break Point as John blew an overhead and Vin hit a winning volley and then Vin hit an even more impressive winning volley for the break) to tie things again, this time at 3-3, but Samara was broken again and this time it was at Love as John hit a winner, Nick hit a big-time winner and John hit another winner along the way and now it was 3-4!  Inciong held (15-Love then point for point to Game Point as Frank made a great get, Vin hit a winning Backhand Volley, but then Frank blew an overhead to set up the G.P., but then it went to Deuce, Break Point where John hit a winning lob for 2nd Deuce, Break Point again where Nick hit another one of his missile-like winners to bring it to 3rd Deuce, Break Point again where yet another Nick winner made it 4th Deuce and then an un-returnable serve set up Game Point, 5th Deuce, Game Point, 6th Deuce, Game Point and then a winning Overhead Smash by John to finally secure the hold) to go up 5-3!  This is when Spin hit the scene (please keep that in mind).  The Vin Man held (Frank made a great get that led to Vin hitting the winning volley for 30-Love where Nick hit a winner for 30-15, then it was Double Game Point where an un-returned serve earned the hold) and The Riz was broken (Vin hit a winner for Love-15, but then it shifted to 30-15 as John hit another amazing passing shot winner and Nick hit a winner, but then it shifted to Break Point as Frank hit a winning drop shot return along the way and then Vin hit a winning Backhand Volley for the break) to even the score at 5-5!  Hollywood finally held (an un-returned serve and a blown volley by John made it 30-Love, then Nick hit a winner for 30-15, then it was Double Game Point, then Game Point where an excellent and extended rally led to the hold) and Chito was broken (Love-15 then point for point to Break/Set Point, Deuce, Double Fault for 2nd Break/Set Point where Frank hit a looping winner into the back corner where John mistakenly called Nick off the shot thinking it was sailing out, but it landed in and then it was too late for Nick to recover to hit a proper shot) as The Frank and The Vin just won four straight games for a semi-comeback to take the initial set which was played on Championship Court from 10:12 to 11:05.  Two minutes later, we got the next set underway.

2nd Set: Vin held (Frank hit a winning Overhead Smash for 15-Love where Nick hit an even more notable winner for 15-All, but then Frank hit a winning volley for 30-15, it was then Double Game Point, Game Point and the hold) and John was broken (Triple Break Point where Vin blew a volley to make it Double Break Point, but then Frank hit a drop shot winner for the break) as his team had now dropped six straight games as a result of The Spin Effect!  Frank was broken (Love-30 shifted to 30-All, Break Point, Deuce and then all Game Points until 3rd Deuce, Break Point and the break) to allow the opposition onto the scoreboard in this set, but then Nick was broken (Love-30 shifted to Game Point as Nick hit a winner, an un-returned serve and another winner along the way, but then it was Deuce where Vin hit the most miraculous shot of the day as he was way out of position, far from the baseline and seemingly having a conversation with Dean and Miriam along the fence where he dove back in with a stab of a shot that went back over the net and led to an error from the opposing team as everyone in attendance was in awe and this set up Break Point and then came the break) to fall to 1-3!  De Benedetto was broken (15-Love shifted right to Double Break Point as Nick hit three consecutive winners along the way, but then the break came on Break Point) to have his team's lead cut to 3-2.  Rizzo then stated he was not going to go out to serve until Spin left the area.  Not sure if Martinelli heard this or not, but he seemingly decided on his own to grant John a reprieve as he headed over to the Entrance Court to hit with Dean and Miriam.  With Martinelli two courts away, the jinx was gone and Rizzo had a Love hold as he hit two un-retuned serves and hit a winning Overhead Smash along the way to tie things up at 3-3!  Samara held (Vin hit a winning Overhead Smash for 15-Love, Nick hit a winner for 15-All, Frank hit a winner for 30-15, then Double Game Point, Game Point where Vin blew a volley for Deuce, Game Point and the hold) to reclaim the lead at 4-3, but then Inciong also held (John hit a winner for 15-Love, but it shifted to 15-30 after John blew an overhead, it shifted again to Game Point where John hit a winner to secure his partner's hold) to knot the score once more at 4-4!  The Vin Man held (John hit a winner for Love-30, but then it shifted to Game Point as Vin hit an un-returnable serve and John blew an overhead and then the hold came next) and The Riz was broken (15-Love then point for point to Game Point as Frank hit a winning lob along the way, but Vin blew a volley to set up that G.P., but then came a rare Double Fault from John to make it Deuce and then on Break/Match Point it was Vin who hit the winning Overhead Smash to get the break and the overall victory) to take a tough loss as this match ended at exactly 11:57.

The Skinny: Despite the aforementioned Spin Effect, this match was a even one with the more experienced team (as a tandem together) Rizzo/Inciong in a slight lead.  Then, Samara/De Benedetto went on a six game run in the presence of their mutual buddy, Spin.  In all honesty, Martinelli was on better behavior than some of his normal Heckler hi-jinx.  But the "jinx" part was all that The Riz could focus on and he seemed to turn it into a self-fulfilling prophecy.  Once Martinelli moved on, John managed a Love hold.  But by that point, the duo now known as The Frank and The Vin were off to a lead that could not be overcome.  In any event, this was a high-quality straight-set affair and a rematch will be down the pike at some point.  Rizzo's request: no Spin in sight!

Mike Mole/Tito Castolo over Syed Rashid/Jorge Solano, 6-0!  No Aces.  They played this on Center Court from 11:05 to 11:45.

Syed Rashid/Tito Castolo over Mike Mole/Jorge Solano, 6-0!  No Aces.  This was also on Center Court and it lasted from 11:50 to 12:16.

Dean Delgado/Rich Jachens over Dan Martinelli/Miriam Mendez, 6-1!  No Aces.  This was contested on the Entrance Court from 11:50 to 12:11.

Nathan Fernandes/Miriam Mendez over Dean Delgado/Rich Jachens, 7-6 (8-6)!  No Aces.  This was also played on the Entrance Court and its duration was from 12:15 to 1:21!  Down 3-5, Nate and Miriam saved 5 Match Points and eventually took this to the Tiebreak where there were a few more M.P.'s!  This looks to be a certain Nominee for One-Set Specialty Doubles Match of The Year at season's end.

Mike Mole/Tito Castolo over Jose Gonzales/Syed Rashid, 6-4!  No Aces.  Center Court hosted this one from 12:32 to 1:03.

Rob Ryan/Dino Celis over Jose Gonzales/Tito Castolo, 7-6 (8-6)!  Jose: 1 Ace on Dino.  This battle took place on Championship Court from 1:10 to 2pm.  Rob and Dino got off to an 0-1 start in the Tiebreak, but then went up 4-1.  Rob then hit a Double Fault to make it 4-2, it went to 4-3, 5-3 and then 6-3, Match Point.  Then it was 6-4, 2nd Match Point.  Then it was 6-5, 3rd Match Point and then 6-6 at the second changeover.  It was then 7-6, 4th Match Point and still in favor of Ryan/Celis where they finally sealed the deal!  This one has potential to be a Nominee for One-Set Doubles Match of The Year at season's end.

Jay Phoenix over Mike Mole, 6-1!  Mike: 1 Ace.  This one took place on Center Court from 1:30 to 1:55.

Nathan Fernandes/Miriam Mendez over Dean Delgado/Sukumar Mitra, 6-2!  No Aces.  They got this one underway on the Entrance Court at 1:30.  Nate and Miriam were up 5-2 at 2:05 as Frank, Dino and Spin were all leaving.  Nate sent in this score via text along with the two following results.

Sukumar Mitra/Nathan Fernandes over Jose Gonzales/Jay Phoenix, 6-4!  Jose: 2 Aces (one on each)!  Jose and Jay had been down 0-4 and then made a furious comeback to 4-4 only to fall short after that!

Nathan Fernandes over Jay Phoenix, 7-5!  Jay: 3 Aces!

Samara's Notes: I thank Nate for sending in the balance of the scores from RHP.  I also thank Jose for sending in some additional details as well.  I also must thank John for picking me up and driving me to the session and thank Dino for bringing me back home.

We now go to the match recap as sent in by “The Sentry” Senthil Kumar as he played his GTA Intermediate Invitational Round of 16 Match against “Kaboom” Raj Boddu at The Nellis Drive Courts in Wayne (the ones next to The Wayne Bubble).

Senthil reached the courts around 4:55 and waited for Raj's arrival. Raj won the toss and around 5:15 the match started. 

The Nellis Drive Result:

GTA Intermediate Invitational Round of 16 Match:
Senthil Kumar over Raj Boddu, 7-5, 6-4, to become the New # 30 Ranked Player in the Advanced Division while simultaneously defending his # 11 Rank in the Intermediate Division plus advancing to the Quarterfinals of The GTA Intermediate Invitational Tournament!  Raj: 3 Aces; and Senthil: 1 Ace! 

It was a great battle and, in the 2nd Set, wind played a role. In both, Senthil was down and came from behind to take the set.

1st Set: Raj had an excellent start with 2-0 lead. Senthil leveled the score at 2-2. Raj again broke the serve and took 4-2 lead. Again Senthil leveled at 4-4. Raj took the next game to 5-4, then Senthil took the next three games to win the set. 

2nd Set: The wind picked up a bit and we both struggled to adjust our game. As many of you may not know, Raj was recovering from back pain and he was getting tired. But still he had an excellent start in leading 4-1 in this set. Senthil played some good defense to level it at 4-4. Then Raj and Senthil battled for the win which had some good shot selection, lobs and numerous Deuces!  Eventually Raj hit it out and Senthil took the game. Senthil, while serving for the match, quickly was down 0-30 then leveled it 30-30, went up 40-30 and the game, set and match!  The match wrapped up around 6:45. It was a solid hour and a half of good tennis. I can only thank Raj for showing up even with the injury and for giving such a good fight. Wish him to be at his best soon. 

Samara’s Notes: First, I thank Senthil for sending in such a very comprehensive report…very impressive!  I also congratulate him on his hard-fought victory.  He is now the second player to reach the Quarterfinals.  I also send kudos to Raj who was a true competitor in playing this match in a timely manner.  I was informed along the way of his back ailments.  He gutted it out and displayed his warrior heart.

We now head up to Cedar Grove to let Papa K take it away (with an assist from Jose)!

The Cedar Grove Results:

The first three results were sent in by both Jose and Kris.

Jose Gonzales/Doinks Srinivasan over Kris Srinivasan/Sairaj Srinivasan, 6-2!  Jose: 1 Ace on Kris.

Jose Gonzales/Silvana Wilson over Omar Santos/Doinks Srinivasan, 6-2!  No Aces.  It was the official GTA Debut of Silvana Wilson.  She is only 13 years old, but is an awesome player who already has a deadly backhand.

Kris Srinivasan/Silvana Wilson over Jose Gonzales/Doinks Srinivasan, 6-0!  No Aces.

Kris then sent in these additional three scores along with the following commentary.

Kris Srinivasan/Silvana Wilson over Omar Santos/Doinks Srinivasan, 6-2!  No Aces.

Kris Srinivasan/Peter Corso over Omar Santos/Silvana Wilson, 6-2!  No Aces.

Kris Srinivasan/Peter Corso leading Jose Gonzales/Omar Santos, 4-2 (Incomplete, when lights went out at 10pm)!  No Aces.

The highlight of the day was indeed was indeed the new player in Silvana Wilson, a seventh grader, who played amazing tennis!  She is probably the pick of the season so far and contributed to a great and interesting evening session of GTA Tennis in Cedar Grove.  Peter also played terrific tennis!  Cheers!

Samara’s Notes: I thank both Kris and Jose for reporting from Cedar Grove.  It sounds like it was an exciting session…and the youth movement may soon make an impact here in the GTA!

All the best,
Frank Samara