6/28

Chiaro-Celis at Sperling, 4 play at C.G., Samara at Salamon's party in F.L.!

               

GTA Tuesday Night Tennis took place at three locations: Sperling Park in Clifton (off of Speer Ave. and featuring the GTA Championship Match between New 2-Time GTA Champion: "King Crush" Chris Chiaro and "Coach" Dino Celis as most recent Former Champ: "Instant" Moka Pathan turned down his right to an immediate rematch), The Cedar Grove Courts (with Chiaro sending in those scores as well) and at The Fair Lawn Racquet Club (a tennis event and party hosted by "The Olympian" Marie Salamon and attended by invitee "Hollywood" Frank Samara who managed to get some of the results to count for the GTA).

 

We will go to all the scores sent in by Chiaro first and then the full recap from Fair Lawn.

 

The Sperling Park Result:

 

GTA Championship Match:

Chris Chiaro over Dino Celis, 6-2, 6-0, to complete his first successful GTA Championship defense of his second reign!  No Aces.

 

Samara's Notes: Sperling Park, much like Holster Park, just recently had the courts redone in the new U.S Open style (light blue surrounded by dark blue).  The only difference is that Sperling has just two courts rather than three.  Still, this is another convenient location for GTA matches (especially Singles Challenge Matches such as this one) as Speer Ave. runs parallel to Van Houten Ave. in the Athenia area of Clifton (right behind Barilari's, for those that are familiar with that restaurant).

 

The Cedar Grove Results:

 

Dan Martinelli/Nathan Fernandes over Chris Chiaro/Joe Rodrigues, 6-4!  No Aces.

 

Chris Chiaro/Joe Rodrigues leading Dan Martinelli/Nathan Fernandes, 5-1 (Incomplete, had to cut it short when lightning moved into the area)!  No Aces.

 

Samara's Notes: I'm sure Spin was the first one off the court once that first sound of thunder was heard!

 

Marie Salamon was having a season-ending tennis party for the Tuesday Night Group that she has been running for more than 20 years now.  As I have subbed for it almost a half dozen times this season, she invited me to attend the party.

 

It was perfectly planned as they had sixteen players for four courts (Courts One through Four of the five at Fair Lawn).  Tim Yu put together the matches for three rounds of action.

 

The court time ran from 7pm to 9pm.  So there would be three forty minute rounds of action.  Once time was up, the match-ups would have to switch up for the next round.  The idea behind this was an attempt to get players to engage with as many others as possible.

 

The first round of action likely had a lot of One-Setters that were cut short when you consider the fact that just about every court got things started with a ten minute warm-up hitting session.

 

After all the action subsided, there was plenty of food and drink in the very nice lounge room area of the club.  The party went past 11pm.

 

I want to thank Marie not only for the invitation to attend and play, but also for all the food she sent me home with as she knows I have a couple of mouths to feed there.  It was very thoughtful and generous of her.

 

The Fair Lawn Results:

 

Frank Samara/Penny Jung leading Tim Yu/Corry Grant, 4-3 (Incomplete at 7:40…likely started somewhere around 7:10)!  No Aces.  This Mixed Doubles One-Setter was played on Court Three.

 

Samara's Notes: This would have been the official GTA Debut of "The Party Planner" Penny Jung had it been completed.  No worries as we were able to finish the next one that we both happened to be involve in, though on opposite sides in the next one.  Penny runs tennis parties similar to this one, but often on an even grander scale (Friday nights at Tiger Tennis and Saturday nights out in Edgewater).  I think she runs others on weeknights as well.  She is a very nice person and also quite the player.

 

As for the action, we were on serve until shortly before the interruption.  Tim held, I held, Corry held, Penny held, Tim held again, I held again and then Corry was broken the second time around to give us a 4-3 lead.  Penny was just getting started with her second service of the set when it was time to switch.

 

Dan Churchill/Penny Jung over Frank Samara/Russ Johnson, 6-3!  Dan: 3 Aces on Frank!  It was the official GTA Debut of Penny Jung.  We got this one underway on Court Four shortly after 7:40.  It likely ended around 8:10.  Dan held (back-to-back Aces on me with an un-returnable serve to Russ sandwiched in between…one was up the T and the other was like a heat-seeking missile that twisted toward my body…he is an incredible server and I gave him the moniker of "The Ace Machine!"), I held, Penny held, Russ held, Dan held again, I held again, Penny held again, but Russ was the first to be broken as we fell to 3-5.  Dan held a third straight time as he scored his third Ace against me along the way.  We then had time to start another one.

 

Dan Churchill/Penny Jung leading Frank Samara/Russ Johnson, 3-1 (Incomplete at 8:20 when it was time to switch again)!  No Aces.  I was broken to start things off and then Dan held, Russ held and Penny held.  "Russell Athletic" Russ has played with us on and off in the past and he is also an impressive player (much like Dan and Penny).  Also, both Dan and Russ are lefties…making them even trickier to counter.

 

George Sienkiewicz/Russ Johnson over Frank Samara/Marie Salamon, 6-1!  No Aces.  This one took place on Court Three from 8:20 to 8:50.  I was broken in a battle (Game Point, Deuce, Double Fault for Break Point and then the break), George held, Marie was broken as she went straight from Triple Game Point all the way down to Deuce and then Break Point where she hit a Double Fault to break herself and then Russ held for a 4-0 lead!  I then held to get us onto the scoreboard, but George held again and Marie was broken again to end it.  We then had time to start one more.

 

George Sienkiewicz/Russ Johnson leading Frank Samara/Marie Salamon, 2-1 (Incomplete at 9pm, we were on serve)!  No Aces.

 

Samara's Notes: It was good to see George again and he is now completely healthy and moving around the court quite well…"Like a G6!"

 

All in all, it was a very successful event where all involved were quite happy to be part of the experience.  Kudos to Marie for a job well done!

 

Sincerely,

Frank Samara