5/18/16:
GTA Wednesday Night Tennis took place at two locations: Robin Hood Park in Clifton (hosted by "Hollywood" Frank Samara) and at The Cedar Grove Courts (also hosted by Samara).
The circumstances surrounding both sessions were both strange and on the fly as Mother Nature threw a monkey wrench into our plans as well as the plans of The Pickle Ballers.
When Samara rolled up to RHP at 5:05, he saw New GTA Champion: "Instant" Moka Pathan out on Championship Court hitting against "Stormin" Norman Taclob while "Holy Moly" Mike Mole was watching from the nearby post on Center Court (where "Spin Doctor" Dan Martinelli once impaled himself) and as "The Sultan of Swing" Raj Shah was sitting on "Nathan Hill" in his street clothes (solely as a spectator).
Frank first walked over to Raj as there have been some negotiations going on behind the scenes as of late. As Shah is still recuperating from back issues, he has declined the immediate match to re-establish the GTA Doubles Championship along with his partner "Kid Crush" Chris Chiaro as they would have been facing the 2015 M2 Champs: Taclob and Tito "Touch" Castolo.
As a result, the new match to re-establish those Titles will now feature Taclob/Castolo taking on the next highest ranked team, Samara and "The Vin Man" Vinnie De Benedetto. This match is set to take place this coming Sunday at RHP, weather permitting.
As for Raj, he is hoping to be ready to cash in on a Wild Card entry (with Chiaro as his partner once again) into the upcoming 2016 M2 Men's Doubles Tournament to establish the next Top Contenders.
Shah also explained to Samara that Pathan, Taclob and Mole were taking turns facing off one on one in 10-Point Super Tiebreaks so that no one would sit out all too long. Thus, no official action had taken place yet.
When Frank saw that Norm was leaving at 5:15 just as "J-Vo" Jovo Bjelcevic was heading onto the courts, he knew his services would be needed for some Doubles action.
At the same time, it started to drizzle…so Raj decided to leave as well.
By 5:25, we had the One-Setter underway. Moka said Jovo looks a lot like his older brother, Danny. As it turns out, Pathan and the elder Bjelcevic went to Clifton High School together. So it seems we now have even more CHS alumni in the mix.
By the second game of the set, the drizzle intensified into a light rain. Still, we decided to play through it and try to finish it (which we did) despite the fact that all of the courts were now completely soaked.
The One-Setter ended at 5:45 as did the rain around the same time. But the damage had already been done as the wet courts were less than ideal for playing tennis safely.
Pathan went out to the field to greet three of his cousins along with "Spin Doctor" Dan Martinelli as they got together for a rare weeknight football game.
"The S Bomber" Genalin Capan pulled up to RHP at 5:50, hoping to play tennis. That was, of course, until she saw the condition of the courts. From there, she and Samara watched the football game while they had the chance to heckle Spin for a change.
After the game ended, Spin and Gen played catch with the pigskin. As did "Coach" Dino Celis when he arrived at 7:10.
At 7:20, Celis took Samara up to Cedar Grove to see what was going on up there. But before we get into all of that, let's first grab that score from RHP.
The RHP Result:
Moka Pathan/Mike Mole over Frank Samara/Jovo Bjelcevic, 6-1! No Aces. Here's the basic breakdown (due to the rain, could not note who hit what winners where and when): Frank was broken (15-Love went straight to Double Break Point, the break came on Break Point), Mike held serve (Love-15 went right to Double Game Point, the hold came on Game Point), Jovo was broken (30-Love shifted to 30-All and then it went Game Point, Deuce, Break Point and the break) and Moka held at Love to go up 4-0! Samara held (15-Love, 15-All then onto Double Game Point, the hold came on Game Point) to get his team on the scoreboard, but then Mole held again (Love-15, 15-All, Double Fault for 15-30, but then it shifted to Game Point, went to Deuce and then the hold came on the next Game Point) and Bjelcevic was broken again (Love-15, 15-All and then onto Double Break/Match Point and then the break) to take the loss. We played this one on Championship Court from 5:25 to 5:45.
And now we head up to Cedar Grove for that recap.
Celis and Samara arrived at 7:20 to see that there was not any Pickle Ballers in sight! They must have canceled their session due to the rain.
On Court One, there were four Juniors playing. And on Court Three, it was the two Russian guys that we often see up there. Courts Two and Four were vacant.
So Celis and Samara took Court Four for a hitting session with one another.
Martinelli arrived at 7:45 and took Frank's side in hitting against Dino. Five minutes later, "Papa K" Kris Srinivasan made a drive-by cameo to say he had to go somewhere, but that his wife Doinks would soon be on her way to play.
She arrived at 8pm. Spin asked her who she wanted to team with and she said she wanted The Doc as her partner. After a brief hitting session, we got a One-Setter underway at 8:05.
Natalia "Nitro" Sout arrived at 8:10. Five minutes later, so did Castolo. The two of them then took Court One (as the Juniors had left by this time) to hit with one another.
When that first One-Setter ended at 8:25, Samara invited them back over to Court Four for some Mixed Doubles action as he and Martinelli would head to the bench to get into their "Hecklers" mode.
That next One-Setter lasted from 8:28 to 8:59. Martinelli offered up his services for the next one, but warned everyone ahead of time that he would have to leave at 9:20 to go home to feed his cats. And thus, that one ended incomplete at 9:22.
The last One-Setter of the night got underway at 9:25 and we did not change court sides every two games in order to save time (it still did not help, ultimately).
Kris returned at 9:30 and sat on the bench alongside Dino. They had some "Heckler" moments of their own as twice they had a good laugh at Samara's failed gets.
The final One-Setter of the evening was a lot of fun…and could have been a classic if only it had the chance to get fully done.
The Cedar Grove Results:
Dino Celis/Frank Samara over Dan Martinelli/Doinks Srinivasan, 6-0! Spin: 1 Ace on Frank! It went like this: Doinks was broken at Love, Frank held (Dino hit a winner for 15-Love, then 30-Love, 30-15, Double Game Point, the hold came on Game Point), Spin was broken (Love-15, sideline Ace on Frank for 15-All where Dino hit a blistering winner of a Backhand Volley for 15-30, the break came on Double Break Point), Dino held at Love as he first hit two un-returned serve and then he hit a screen shot winning passing shot and then Frank finished it with a winning Backhand Volley, Srinivasan was broken again (Love-15 where Doinks hit a rolling winner off the net for 15-All, but then it went right to Double Break Point which is where Frank blew an overhead to make it Break Point, but then Frank redeemed himself with a nice winner for the break) and Samara held again (rally of the match led to 30-Love, it was 30-15 and then on Double Game/Match Point, it was Frank hitting a winning volley to secure his own hold and also the victory for his team) for the win! We played this one on Court Four from 8:05 to 8:25.
Dino Celis/Doinks Srinivasan over Tito Castolo/Natalia Sout, 6-4! No Aces. Tito and Natalia were up 2-0 and then 2-1. Lost track of the games around this time as the hilarity on the bench was becoming distracting (not for the players, just for The Hecklers). Next thing we knew Castolo/Sout were down 3-4 before they leveled it at 4-4. But then Celis/Srinivasan took the next two games for the win. This one also took place on Court Four and lasted from 8:28 to 8:59.
Tito Castolo/Natalia Sout leading Dan Martinelli/Doinks Srinivasan, 3-1 (Incomplete when Martinelli had to leave at 9:22….they began this on Court Four at 9:02)! Spin was broken in a multiple Deuce game that lasted eight minutes! Natalia was broken, Doinks was broken, but Tito was the first to hold serve to take a 3-1 lead. And that was that as it was time for The Doc to go home.
Tito Castolo/Natalia Sout leading Frank Samara/Doinks Srinivasan 6-5 (Incomplete when the lights went out at 10pm)! No Aces. The game breakdowns that follow are completely from memory (written after the contest ended) as we did not change sides every two games. The basic breakdown: Natalia was broken at Love, Frank held (Love-15 shifted to 30-15, 30-All, Game Point and the hold) and Tito was broken (15-Love shifted to 15-30, 30-All, Break Point and the break) to go down 0-3. It should be noted that Kris returned at this time. Doinks was broken (15-Love shifted to Double Break Pint, the break came on Break Point) to allow the opposition onto the scoreboard, but Sout was broken again (Love-15 went straight to Double Game Point, but then that was cut to Deuce and the break then came on Break Point) to fall to 1-4. Samara was also broken (Love-30, 15-30, Double Break Point and the break) and Castolo held (30-Love, 30-15, Double Game Point and the hold) to pull to 3-4. Srinivasan held (Love-30 went straight to Game Point and the hold) to put her team up 5-3, but then Nitro finally held (30-Love shifted to 30-All, but then came Game Point and the hold) to pull to 4-5. Hollywood was broken as his service went right from 15-Love to Double Break Point and the break to level the set at 5-5! And then came the game of the match (and the main reason why we couldn't get this one done in time) with Tito Touch on serve as he quickly went down Triple Break Point only to come back to Deuce and then it was all Break Points through to 3rd Deuce and then it went to Game Point, 4th Deuce, Game Point and the hold to go up 6-5! Doinks was on serve as it went Love-15 then point for point until 30-All and then the shift to Game Point as the lights went out at this time!
The Skinny: Samara got off to hot start with a couple of impressive winners during the Love break of Sout to open the set. Srinivasan followed her partner's lead with great gets and solid winners. Castolo was not his usual error-free self. But the shift seemed to occur when the hubby of Doinks, Kris, returned to the scene. Perhaps she felt some added pressure to perform properly. But it did her no favors that her partner, Frank, went into the tank worse than she did. Couple this with the fact that Natalia suddenly could do no wrong as she made some amazing gets and sustained many lengthy rallies. And then Tito found his usual "Touch" as he started hitting winners (most of them drop shots…some comically just out of the reach of Samara) left and right. Had this one had the chance to finish in a Tiebreak, it may have ended up being a Nominee for One-Set Mixed Doubles Match of The Year at season's end. Instead, it had to suffice for just being a fun way to end the session.
Sincerely,
Frank Samara
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