4/20/16:
“Just 3 hit at RHP, Mitra-Mehta part of 20 at C.G.!”:
GTA Wednesday Night Tennis took place at two sessions, Robin Hood Park in Clifton and The Cedar Grove Courts, with "Hollywood" Frank Samara acting as the host of both. But the RHP session was not much of a session...a good hitting session, but that was it.
Samara had announced that he had hoped to arrive at RHP somewhere around 5:30 to 5:45. He had already heard from both "The Vin Man" Vinnie De Benedetto and "The Sentry" Senthil Kumar earlier in the day that they planned on attending the session.
Frank was with his children as their mother was supposed to return to watch them by 5pm. That came and went as did 5:30 and 5:45. By 6pm, Samara decided to take his daughter Angeliz and son Dante with him as he was basically left with no choice.
Upon his arrival, he saw all three courts occupied by interlopers! But then he saw a familiar face on the other side of the courts. This lady was sitting against a tree with a brace on one knee (starting to sound like Dr. Seuss here).
It was Former GTA Women's Champ: "The Argentine Machine" Fernanda Toker! She came to the session solely looking to hit for a bit, not to actually compete as of yet.
Around this same time, "The Sultan of Swing" Raj Shah arrived with his young son, Armaan. Raj was more than happy to take Angie and Dante with him to the playground area...and I thank him for that.
Championship Court finally opened up at 6:35. We took the court and started hitting. Fernanda estimates her mobility is at 30 percent. Perhaps that is true, but her court coverage was still pretty amazing as she made gets she has no business making this soon. Furthermore, she has added variation to her shot-making.
She is ahead of schedule in her recovery. If all plays out accordingly, I would expect her to be ready to challenge whichever player emerges as the New GTA Women's Champion from the upcoming Tournament for that Title.
All Fernanda will have to do at that time is beat any woman in The Top 10 of the Women's Division and then request her shot at the Title. As a Former Champ who remains undefeated in the Women's Division and never lost the Championship on the court (instead, it was a forfeiture due to injury), she is entitled to at least that much. And that will make the women's scene in the GTA even more interesting.
Five minutes after the two of us got started, "ME" Michel Encarnacion arrived and we invited him into the session. For the first 15 minutes, Fernanda went solo (by request) as she sustained super-long rallies against the male tandem. Then, for the next 15 minutes, it was Michel on his own. Finally, for the last 15 minutes, it was a solo Samara.
We stopped the extended hitting session at 7:25 and everyone left the park by 7:30. Big Daddy Frank dropped his kids off at home (with their mom, of course) at 7:45 and then boogied back around west to head up to Cedar Grove.
When Samara arrived at Cedar Grove at 8:05, he found all four courts full and a major logjam situation!
On Court One was the in-progress GTA Intermediate Invitational Round of 16 Match between "The Chef" Sukumar Mitra and "Steppin' to the AM" Anish Mehta, (it would end ten minutes later).
On Court Two it was "Quick Draw" Chris Lehmann and "Big George" Jorge Solano versus "Super Mario" Marijus Kuzavas and "Nate the Great" Nathan Fernandes.
On Court Three, it was two guys that are often there except this time they had a young girl with them. They were there until 8:45.
And on Court Four, it was Women's Doubles as "Spicy" Sally Pillay (yes, I have to change that moniker away from "Steady" as that does her no justice...yes, she is consistent...but her style is hard-hitting, her demeanor is fiery and she can heckle with the best of them...more on that in just a bit) and "Bravo" Brenda Jordan going up against "The Aura" Laura Gawley and "Dominant" Dawn Peterson.
The logjam around the bench outside Court Four included Senthil Kumar (who never did make it to RHP, thankfully), "Spin Doctor" Dan Martinelli (who said he was at RHP somewhere in the 5pm to 5:15 area and all three courts were already occupied interlopers at that time...so perhaps it was no big deal that I was late to the party over there), "Kid Crush" Chris Chiaro, "The Lethal Lefty" Lou La Forgia, "2 Tall" Dave Zhu, "Fun" Jane Fan and Natalia "Nitro" Sout (if I am forgetting someone, my apologies).
"Papa K" Kris Srinivasan made his way across the street at 8:15. His wife, Doinks, "The Marathon Woman" did the same ten minutes later.
When the four ladies gave up Court Four after finishing their One-Setter at exactly 8:19 to allow four of our guys (Chiaro, Martinelli, K. Srinivasan and Zhu) to have it next, the heckling began...and it was Sally who led the pack as she gave Spin a taste of his own Bad Medicine. It was all in good-natured fun, of course.
Once we had all four courts, it was smooth sailing after that as the temps were quite comfortable...and we ended up with a total of twenty official competitors. Quite impressive!
The Cedar Grove Courts:
GTA Intermediate Invitational Round of 16 Match:
Anish Mehta over Sukumar Mitra, 6-2, 6-0, to become both the New # 24 Ranked Player in the Advanced Division and the New # 7 Ranked Player in the Intermediate Division while also advancing to the Quarterfinals of the GTA Intermediate Invitational Tournament! Anish: 5 Aces (one second-serve Ace in the 1st Set and then four more in the 2nd Set)! This was played on Court One from 7:15 to 8:15.
The Skinny: This is a very impressive victory as most of us know that Chef Kumar is a solid player. Anish gave Sukumar credit for his slice game and it took him some time to adjust. The match was actually closer than the score indicates, but Mitra could not convert some opportunities. Kudos to Mehta as he is really starting to make an impact here in the GTA. Kumar actually wanted me to include his comments here.
The Chef’s Dish: Just wanted to thank and congratulate Anish for his great play in the match. I broke my string as I started practice (though it would have not made any difference in the outcome…LOL!) and it did not help matters. He was hitting all over the court. The score looks one-sided though it wasn't as much in reality. We had many multiple Deuce games and I just could not convert any of them. He is a great player and I wish him well in the tournament.
The Consequences: Mehta is now the third competitor, I believe, to advance to the Quarters. This tourney is moving along at a nice clip.
Sally Pillay/Brenda Jordan over Laura Gawley/Dawn Peterson, 6-3! No Aces. Don't know when the ladies started this one on Court Four, but it concluded exactly at 8:19.
Marijus Kuzavas/Nathan Fernandes over Chris Lehmann/Jorge Solano, 6-3! No Aces. Not sure when this one got underway on Court Two, but it ended exactly at 8:33. Solano was looking to leave after this one and Samara was invited to be the new fourth in the mix, but Frank was too busy trying to manage things and record all that was going on around him. Meanwhile, the ladies were looking to remain together. It led to Jorge going back out for one more. More on that one a little later.
Senthil Kumar/Natalia Sout over Lou La Forgia/Jane Fan, 6-1! No Aces. This one was contested on Court One from 8:20 to 8:45. After this, Natalia was "one and done" as she is currently nursing an ankle injury. She said it is nothing major...she just doesn't want to push it too far at this point. After this ended, Senthil and Jane had a hitting session with one another while waiting for two more players to join them.
Chris Chiaro/Dan Martinelli over Kris Srinivasan/Dave Zhu, 6-3! Dave: 1 Ace on Spin (a big one)! This took place on Court Four from 8:25 to 8:53. Chris and Spin were up 5-2. It was then 5-3 with Chiaro on serve in a game that featured multiple Deuces and Break Points before his team was able to turn it around and close it out on the first Match Point!
Marijus Kuzavas/Nathan Fernandes over Chris Lehmann/Jorge Solano, 6-2! No Aces. This one also took place on Court Two and it lasted from 8:35 to 9:05. Chris and Nate then had a fairly lengthy hitting session with one another. Kris would later take Nate's side in hitting against Chris before all three migrated elsewhere for some more official action.
Laura Gawley/Sally Pillay over Doinks Srinivasan/Brenda Jordan, 6-1! No Aces. The ladies took over Court Three at 8:45 and got this one officially underway five minutes later. Not sure when it ended as the gals mixed up the teams as they moved to their next One-Setter. The reigning GTA Women's Doubles Champs were quite dominant in this one.
Chris Chiaro/Dave Zhu over Kris Srinivasan/Lou La Forgia, 6-2! Dave: 1 Ace on Kris. Court Four hosted this one from 8:55 to 9:20.
Frank Samara/Dan Martinelli over Senthil Kumar/Jane Fan, 6-4! No Aces. It went down like this (Senthil and Jane decided they did not want to change court sides every two games in order to save time...and at times I wrote the winners down, but abandoned doing that in the later games as Spin was pressed for time): Frank held serve (Frank started things off with a winning lob for 15-Love, but then it went straight to Double Break Point, but then it shifted to Deuce, then Break Point where Frank hit a drop shot winner for 2nd Deuce, then Game Point and the hold), Jane held (Senthil nailed a monster Overhead Smash to put his partner up 15-Love, 15-All and then onto Double Game Point where Senthil secured his partner's hold with another winner), but Spin was the first to be broken and it was at Love as Senthil nailed two winning volleys along the way. But then Senthil was also broken at Love as Spin got things going with a winning return and Frank closed the game out with a winning Backhand Volley to level things at 2-2! Samara was broken as it went right to Triple Break Point and then Senthil got the break with a winning Overhead Smash on Double Break Point, but then Fan was also broken in a crazy battle (here's where I gave up trying to remember who hit what winners and when) as it went from Love-30 to 30-All, Break Point, Deuce and then all Break Points until 4th Deuce and then one more Break Point and finally the break to tie it up again, this time at 3-3 with Martinelli coming back "to the plate" (so to speak) for his second service. The Doc was broken again as it went from 15-Love straight to Double Break Point and the break to fall to 3-4, but Kumar was also broken again as it went right to Triple Break Point, Double Break Point and then a Double Fault to break himself and knot the score once more at 4-4! Hollywood held (Love-15 shifted into another gear as it went to Double Game Point and the hold came on Game Point) and Fun Fan was broken (Spin made an amazing get/winner for a Love-15 start and then it was straight to Triple Break/Match Point and a Love break) to take a tough loss! We played this one on Court One from 8:55 to 9:31.
The Skinny: This one was a lot closer than The Foundation (Samara/Martinelli) expected as Senthil was like a surgeon with precise volleys and drop shot winners. Meanwhile, Jane continues to show why she has to be considered amongst the frontrunners for consideration as Most Improved Women's Player of The Year at the end of this season.
Marijus Kuzavas/Lou La Forgia over Chris Chiaro/Dave Zhu, 6-4! Dave: 1 Ace on Marijus. This foursome faced off on Court Four from 9:25 to 9:52.
Doinks Srinivasan/Sally Pillay over Laura Gawley/Brenda Jordan, 6-3! No Aces. They also decided not to switch court sides every two games in an order to save time. Not sure when they began this one on Court Three, but it ended exactly at 9:52. Doinks and Sally had been down 0-3 to then take six straight games for a nice comeback!
Chris Lehmann/Senthil Kumar over Kris Srinivasan/Nathan Fernandes, 6-1! No Aces. Samara suggested that these two times refrain from switching court sides every two games and they were thankful he did as they got this one finished at 9:53 on Court One (they had started it at exactly 9:32)! Afterward, Kris and Senthil had a hitting session until the lights went out as Marijus and Lou did the same on Court Four.
This session ended up being both exciting and consequential as well.
All the best,
Frank Samara
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