"Z-Flax at Goss, Samara hosts 12 (2 New) at RHP, Riz hosts 4 at NTC!":
GTA Sunday Tennis took place at three locations: The Goss Place Courts in Clifton (featuring a full 2 out of 3 Sets Challenge Match between buddies, "The Z-Man" Dave Zapusek and "The Flax Machine" Mike Flax, as reported by Dave), Robin Hood Park in Clifton (hosted by "Hollywood" Frank Samara) and at Nutley Tennis Club (hosted by "The Riz" John Rizzo).
We will first go to the score reported by Dave, then the full recap from RHP and then the results from John.
The Goss Place Result:
2 out of 3 Sets Challenge Match:
Dave Zapusek over Mike Flax, 6-4, 8-6, to successfully defend his # 38 Rank in the Intermediate Division! Dave: 1 Ace in the 1st Set.
Samara's Notes: They like to do it old-school style and forego the Tiebreak in favor of playing the games out until someone wins by two (as they did in the 2nd Set). I thank Dave for reporting that score.
We now head to Robin Hood Park.
When Samara rolled up to RHP at 10:10, he saw Barbara "Bobbie" Grass hitting with a tall, young man on Championship Court. Frank assumed it may be her grandson as she has been telling him recently that she no longer has a ride to the courts (but has been hoping to play).
But once Samara got out there, he found that she was dropped off by a friend and this young guy just happened to start hitting with her. I took down his info and it turns out that his older brother had played with us a handful of times over the past few years. In fact, he had been once ranked in the Advanced Division.
The older brother is Danny Bjelcevic (who moved out to St. Louis about a year ago) and his younger brother is Jovo. He is a very nice guy who has less tennis experience than his older brother, but he shows much potential and is eager to learn.
Frank started hitting against both Jovo and Barbara in an extended session on Championship Court.
Around 10:30, four players all made their way onto the Entrance Court around the same time. First, it was "The Webmaster" Senthil Kumar and his friend, Mike Sindler. Sindler has actually been on our mailing list for quite some time now, but this was his first chance to get out and play with us.
Then we had "Big George" Jorge Solano and "Kid Crush" Chris Chiaro step out onto the courts as well. Samara suggested the four of them play some Doubles while he continued on with the 2 on 1 hitting session.
Five minutes later, we saw "Spin Doctor" Dan Martinelli get together with New GTA Champion: "Instant" Moka Pathan and his cousins.
It seemed like they were going to play their weekly Sunday football game, but then those plans fell apart. At 10:50, Spin came with racquet in hand and headed out to Championship Court.
That enabled us to get a Doubles One-Setter going on that court as well.
At 11:05, "Sadistic" Syed Rashid arrived and he was the "ninth wheel" for a while as he had to wait alone on Center Court. The wait would not be too long as he got into the second Doubles One-Setter on the Entrance Court while Solano had to leave for a brief moment, but soon returned.
"Nate the Great" Nathan Fernandes made his arrival at 11:15 and ended up hitting with Solano (once he returned) on Center Court.
After the Doubles One-Setter finished on Championship Court, Barbara had to go home. So Samara took her and it was a short trip as she lives just five minutes away from RHP. Frank was back within ten minutes.
During that time, "Coach" Dino Celis had arrived and now he was the lone party on Center Court as Nate was teaming with Jovo (who Spin now calls "J-Vo") on Championship Court taking on Spin and Jorge (it was Youth versus Experience).
As Samara was walking back toward the courts at 11:55, "Lean" Dean Delgado was doing the same. This led to the two of them hitting against Dino on Center Court.
When Experience triumphed over Youth on Championship Court at 12:11, Jorge left for the day. With Spin also willing to sit out, Dean and Dino then split up Nate and Jovo and this next Doubles One-Setter took place on Center Court with Samara and Martinelli going into their usual "Heckler" mode.
That One-Setter ended at 12:40. From 12:45 to 2:45, Dino, Frank and Spin were out on the basketball court shooting hoops for two hours! It was a rust-shaking session for sure as none of them played b-ball for many years. Not counting one night at his children's school earlier this year (where he got to score two out of six shots), Samara's dry spell had been the longest (since 1986 or 1987!). For Dino and Spin, it was more in the ten year or so range.
Dino ended up being the most consistent as he had high school and college level experience. He hit the most foul shots. Spin was Mr. Three Pointer (he prefers to be called Spin Curry…LOL!) as he started sinking threes with amazing regularity. Frank went back to the role he remembered having as a speedy and much smaller teen…bank shots! Yep, just call him "Frank Bank!" It was a lot of fun.
Back on the tennis courts, the last Doubles One-Setter of the day finished at 1:20…somewhat early, but not surprising as it was mostly a gray and windy day.
The RHP Results:
Chris Chiaro/Jorge Solano over Senthil Kumar/Mike Sindler, 6-3! No Aces. It was the official GTA Debut of Mike Sindler. This one occupied the Entrance Court from 10:40 to 11:10.
Dan Martinelli/Jovo Bjelcevic over Frank Samara/Barbara Grass, 6-4! No Aces. It was the official GTA Debut of Jovo Bjelcevic. It went like this: Jovo held serve (un-returned serve for 15-Love, 15-All and then onto Double Game Point with another un-returned serve along the way, but then cut down to Deuce, then Break Point where Jovo hit a roller over the net for 2nd Deuce, then Game Point and the hold) and Barbara was broken (Love-15 shifted to 30-15 with an un-returned serve and then it shifted to Break Point as Frank blew an overhead and then Spin hit a winning return for the break) to go down 0-2. Spin was also broken (15-Love, Double Fault for 15-All, but then onto Double Game Point, then to Deuce, Break Point and the break) to allow the opposition onto the scoreboard, but then Frank was also broken (15-Love where Spin hit a winning return for 15-All and then it went right to Double Break Point, Break Point and then Spin hit a winner for the break) to fall to 1-3. Bjelcevic was broken (un-returned serve for 15-Love, but then right to Double Break Point, then to Deuce, Game Point, 2nd Deuce, Game Point, 3rd Deuce, Break Point, 4th Deuce, Break Point and the break), but Grass was broken again (un-returned serve for 15-Love and then Spin hit a winning drop shot return for 15-All, 30-15 shifted to Break Point and the break) to fall to 2-4. Martinelli was broken again (15-Love point for point until 30-All, Break Point, Deuce, Break Point and the break) and then Samara held at Love to level the score at 4-4. J-Vo answered with a Love hold of his own as he had two un-returned serves and a big-time winner to close out the game and put his team up 5-4. And then Bobbie was broken once more and it was at Love as Jovo continued his hot streak with two drop shot winner and then Spin hit yet another winning return on Triple Break/Match Point to get the win! We played this one on Championship Court from 11am to 11:40.
Chris Chiaro/Mike Sindler over Senthil Kumar/Syed Rashid, 6-2! No Aces. This was contested on the Entrance Court from 11:15 to 11:45 or so.
Dan Martinelli/Jorge Solano over Nathan Fernandes/Jovo Bjelcevic, 6-3! No Aces. Nate and Jovo had been up 3-2 when "The Old Ones" (as Spin called his team) came back to take four straight games for the victory! Championship Court hosted this one from 11:41 to 12:11.
Chris Chiaro/Syed Rashid over Senthil Kumar/Mike Sindler, 7-5! No Aces. This one got underway on the Entrance Court around 11:50 and it finished at 12:25.
Dino Celis/Nathan Fernandes over Dean Delgado/Jovo Bjelcevic, 6-0! Dean: 1 Ace on Dino. This one took place on Center Court from 12:15 to 12:40.
Dean Delgado/Nathan Fernandes over Chris Chiaro/Jovo Bjelcevic, 6-4! No Aces. This was also played on Center Court and it lasted from 12:42 to 1:20.
Samara's Notes: And now we go to the scores from The Riz for the session he hosted at NTC.
The NTC Results:
Alfred Chen/Dan Hwang over John Rizzo/Chris Lehmann, 6-3! No Aces (apparently).
Alfred Chen/Dan Hwang over John Rizzo/Chris Lehmann, 6-4! No Aces (apparently).
John Rizzo/Chris Lehmann over Alfred Chen/Dan Hwang, 6-4! No Aces (apparently).
The Riz Report: They were played as three One-Setters. We started hitting at 5pm. The official action took place roughly from 5:30 to 7:30.
Samara's Notes: I thank John for sending in those scores.
Sincerely,
Frank Samara
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