7/28

Riz hosts 2 at NTC, MXD2 kicks off at C.G. as 8 total play!”:

               

GTA Thursday Night Tennis took place at two locations: a late afternoon/early evening session at The Nutley Tennis Club (hosted by “The Riz” John Rizzo as he played three Singles One-Setters against “Steppin’ to the AM” Anish Mehta) and then an evening session at The Cedar Grove Courts (hosted by “Papa K” Kris Srinivasan as he also teamed with his wife Doinks, aka “The Marathon Woman” against The Gawleys – “Rowdy” Rob and Laura “The Aura”).

 

We will first recap how the NTC session unfolded, and then Kris will detail how the C.G. session progressed.  Let’s now go to John. 

 

The NTC Results:

 

Anish Mehta over John Rizzo, 6-0!  No Aces (apparently).

 

Anish Mehta over John Rizzo, 6-2!  No Aces (apparently).

 

Anish Mehta over John Rizzo, 6-1!  No Aces (apparently).           

 

The Riz Report: We started around 6pm during a light rain (which stopped by 6:50).  We finished around 7:25.  I tried, but he was just too good.

 

Samara’s Notes: I thank John for sharing those scores.  We now head up to Cedar Grove to let Papa K take it away!

 

First off, it was The MXD2 Mixed Doubles Quarterfinal Match that I played with Doinks against Rob and Laura.  It was an emphatic win for The Gawleys as they swept us off with solid tennis compounded by an erratic performance by us.  Laura served superbly (acing both of us), but it was Rob's slices that unsettled Doinks to a point where she was almost never to recover.  She did keep us alive in the 2nd Set with incredible gets and ground-strokes, but it was far too late to make an impact on the end result.  It looked like all the players, curing the first half, were moving towards the same destination.  Congratulations to Rob and Laura on their facile victory. They look poised to go the distance.

 

The Cedar Grove Results:

 

MXD2 Quarterfinal Match:

Rob Gawley/Laura Gawley over Kris Srinivasan/Doinks Srinivasan, 6-1, 6-4, to become the New # 4 Ranked Team in the Mixed Doubles Division while also advancing to the Semifinals of The MXD2 Mixed Doubles Tournament!  Laura: 2 Aces (one on each)!

 

Nathan Fernandes/Rob Gawley over Kris Srinivasan/Nithin Poosala, 6-3!  No Aces.

 

We started off badly and, against the steady play of Nate and Rob, it was more a question of when they would wrap it up.  Nithin, as good as he is, also had a late start as was reflected in his next match as well.

 

Dave Zhu/Laura Gawley over Senthil Kumar/Doinks Srinivasan, 6-1!  No Aces.

 

They changed courts midway from Court 3 to Court 1, but it didn’t change the result. 

 

Kris Srinivasan/Nithin Poosala over Nathan Fernandes/Senthil Kumar, 7-5!  Nithin: 1 Ace on Senthil!

 

It was lopsided initially as we were down Love-4 with inconsistent plays by both of us.  We missed closing out those games, but our level went up to get onboard and keep the momentum to level the score at 4-All.  Nate was the most consistent and Senthil was playing handsome shots from the baseline and net.  Nithin started bombing serves and once we started to stay in the point, it worked more in our favor as we were giving it away earlier.  Still, Nate and Senthil went up 5-4, but our level of play had notched up a bit with our serves glowing freely, helping us secure the next 3 games to wrap up the set. We felt good about our play in the last leg.  It was a satisfying win after what looked like a certain bagel for us.

 

Moka Pathan came so late, that he could only get to hit the ball with Doinks.  Sairaj was with us all the time and I wonder what he was doing…:-).  I think he teamed with Nate to play against Nithin and Dave? Yes, indeed, they did.  They were tied up 3-All, but stopped playing when it started drizzling.  We played thru the drizzle on our side and it did stop…which enabled us to play through the night.  Cheers! 

 

Samara’s Notes: As always, I thank Kris for all he does on behalf of the GTA up at Cedar Grove.

 

Sincerely,

Frank Samara

7/27

Samara hosts 8 at HP, hosts 11 at C.G., M2 war at Brookdale!":

               

GTA Wednesday Night Tennis took place at three locations: a late afternoon/early evening session at Holster Park in Clifton (hosted by "Hollywood" Frank Samara) and then an evening session at The Cedar Grove Courts (also hosted by Samara with assistance from usual host, "Papa K" Kris Srinivasan) and The Brookdale Park Courts in Bloomfield (featuring the M2 Men's Doubles Tournament Quarterfinal Match between the teams of "Super Mario" Marijus Kuzavas/"Big Kaz" Mike Kazlauskas and Tony "Sure Shot" Shiaro/"The Lumberjack" Ryan Pienciak with both Marijus and Tony reporting).

 

We will first recap how the HP session unfolded, then how the C.G. session progressed and then we will end this report with the dual recap from Marijus and Tony from Brookdale Park.

 

When Samara pulled into the parking lot at Holster Park at 5:45, Jay "The Rising" Phoenix was already there waiting for "The Legendary" Chazz Weldon to arrive as the two of them had already agreed to play.

 

Frank and Jay then walked uphill to the courts to find them all vacant.  They took Championship Court and entered into a hitting session with one another. 

 

"Lean" Dean Delgado arrived at 5:50 and made his way over to Championship Court to get involved in the hitting as well.

 

When Weldon arrived at 5:55, he and Jay shifted over to the Entrance Court for a Singles One-Setter against one another.

 

Meanwhile, Delgado and Samara were hopeful more players would arrive in the meantime so that they could play Doubles.  That never happened.

 

At 6:30, a father and his two young sons took over Center Court.  Around that same time, Dean suggested playing an unofficial half-set.  First, Frank held serve, then so did Dean.  Samara was then broken just as Chazz and Jay finished their One-Setter.  The half-set was then abandoned in favor of playing a Doubles One-Setter instead.

 

Delgado and Samara headed over to the Entrance Court (as it had more shade than Championship Court) while the father and two sons then shifted to Championship Court to create a gap between the two courts (a good thing as their balls were flying all over the place).

 

"Spin Doctor" Dan Martinell arrived at 6:50 solely to make a cameo appearance as he left his racquet at home.  The Doubles One-Setter got underway just two minutes later.

 

At 7pm, "J-Rod" Joe Rodrigues made his way onto the courts.  It was somewhere around this time that the father and two kids left the courts entirely.

 

At 7:25, "El Tio" Carlos Perez arrived with a bucket of balls and stepped onto Championship Court to start practicing alone.

 

When the Doubles One-Setter concluded at 7:39, Jay left immediately.  Chazz and Dean soon followed five minutes later.  Arriving at this same time was Sachiko "Sachi" Tokuda. 

 

At this time, Joe insisted that Spin play some Doubles with him along with Carlos and Sachiko.  Rodrigues gave him a spare racquet so he no longer had any excuses not to play.  As it turned out, The Doc liked playing with the racquet of Rodrigues.  And remember that old saying: "Be careful what you wish for," because J-Rod would end up getting a full dose of Spin at the height of his powers.

 

Samara sat on the sidelines and took notes for the entire contest.  The official action at HP ended exactly at 8:13 with Carlos and Sachiko staying behind to hit with one another as Spin headed home while Frank and Joe drove separately to Cedar Grove (we will get to all of that later in the report).

 

The Holster Park Results:

 

Chazz Weldon over Jay Phoenix, 6-2!  No Aces.  They played this one on the Entrance Court from 6:05 to 6:45.

 

Frank Samara/Jay Phoenix over Chazz Weldon/Dean Delgado, 6-3!  Dean: 1 Ace on Jay.  It went like this: Jay held serve (un-returned serve for 15-Love, Double Fault for 15-All, an amazing winner by Jay to go up 30-15 and then an extended rally that led to Double Game Point and then another un-returned serve for the hold) and Chazz was broken (15-Love, a winning volley by Jay for 15-All and then all the way to Double Break Point, the break came on Break Point) to get off to a 0-2 start.  Frank was broken (Frank hit a nice winner for 15-Love, then it went 30-Love, 30-15, Double Game Point which was cut down to Deuce, Break Point and the break) and Dean held in a battle (15-Love then point for point to Game Point, Deuce, Game Point where Jay hit a winner for 2^nd Deuce, Game Point, 3^rd Deuce, Break Point, 4^th Deuce, Game Point and finally the hold) to level it at 2-2.  Phoenix held again and this time it was at Love and was book-ended by un-returned serves and Weldon was broken again (Love-15, a drop shot winner by Chazz for 15-All, 15-30 and another excellent rally that led to 30-All and then Dean hit a passing shot winner for Game Point, Deuce, Break Point, 2^nd Deuce, Break Point and the break) to go down 2-4.  Samara held (Frank hit a winner for 15-Love, but then it went straight to Double Break Point right after Dean hit a sizzling winner, but then it went to Break Point where Frank hit a monster of an Overhead Smash to make it Deuce and then it was Game Point where an un-returned serve secured the hold) to get out to a 5-2 lead.  Delgado held again (started with a sideline Ace on Jay, then it went to 15-All where back-to-back un-returned serves set up Double Game Point, the hold came on Game Point) to pull to 3-5, but The Rising Phoenix had his third straight hold (Frank hit a winning volley for 30-Love, but then Chazz hit a winner for 30-15, it then went to 30-All where the rally of the match ended with a drop shot winner from Frank to set up Game/Match Point, but then a Double Fault brought it to Deuce and then Jay blew a volley to make it Break Point, then 2^nd Deuce, Break Point, 3^rd Deuce, Break Point again where Frank hit another drop shot winner to set up the 2^nd Game/Match Point and then came the hold) to earn an impressive victory!  We played this one on the Entrance Court from 6:52 to 7:39.

 

The Skinny: We were trying to decide on the teams when Jay said he wanted to team with Frank (he must have known something that I did not as I thought he may have chosen the weakest of his three options).  Ultimately, it paid off as Samara was on his game while Weldon and Delgado seemed out of sync (Spin called them Team Lethargic) most of the time.  But it was Phoenix who was truly on fire for most of the contest…he only got a little tight in his last service game as the pressure was on…but he was also forced to handle a majority of the shots in several extended rallies as the opposition made him their prime target.

 

Dan Martinelli/Sachiko Tokuda over Joe Rodrigues/Carlos Perez, 6-2!  Spin: 2 Aces (one on each and back-to-back in the same game)!  It was the official GTA Return of Carlos Perez.  Here's how it went down: Joe held serve (30-Love was where Spin hit a winning return for 30-15, then it went to Double Game Point and the hold came on Game Point), Sachiko held (Spin hit a drop shot winner for 15-Love and then it went to 30-Love, 30-15 and an un-returned serve set up Double Game Point which is where the hold came), but Carlos was the first to be broken (Love-15, un-returned serve for 15-All and then a winning lob by Joe for 30-15, then 30-All and a Double Fault for Break Point and another Double Fault to break himself) to go down 1-2.  Spin held (Spin hit a winner for 15-Love, then Sachiko blew a volley for 15-All, then an Ace up the T against Joe followed by a corner Ace on Carlos to go up Double Game Point where Spin hit yet another drop shot winner to secure his own hold) and Rodrigues was broken (started with a Double Fault, an un-returned serve for 15-All, another Double Fault made it 15-30, then it went to Double Break Point where Carlos hit a winner for Break Point, but then came the break) to drop to 1-4.  Tokuda held again (Spin hit yet another drop shot winner to make it 15-Love, then it was 30-Love, 30-15 and then 30-All, Break Point where an un-returned serve made it Deuce and then another un-returned serve set up Game Point where Spin made a great get that forced the error from Joe) to give her team a commanding lead at 5-1!  Perez held (Love-15, 15-All, Double Fault for 15-30 where Carlos hit a passing shot winner for 30-All and then he hit a truly un-returnable serve to set up Game Point where he hit yet another un-returned serve to earn the hold) to pull to 2-5, but Martinelli held again (Love-15, 15-All and then 30-15 where an un-returned serve set up Double Game/Match Point where the rally of the match ended in favor of Spin and Sachi) to pull off the upset victory!  This one also took place on the Entrance Court and lasted from 7:47 to 8:13.

 

The Skinny: If Samara/Phoenix over Weldon/Delgado was a minor upset, than this one was a major upset.  Spin had never seen Sachi play before, but Samara assured him she could hang with the boys.  And hang she did as she was very effective with volleys at the net, but was also able to fall back deeper in the court and sustain rallies as well.  Carlos came back with the same big serve that we are familiar with from him while his partner Joe had big moments followed by some blunders.  It was Martinelli who was the MVP in this one as "the magic racquet" he had borrowed from Rodrigues could seemingly do no wrong.  We have never seen Spin hit so many smart and well-placed drop shot winners.  He also got on the good foot and made some great gets as well.

 

Samara and Rodrigues arrived separately at Cedar Grove at 8:30.  "Coach" Dino Celis was sitting on the bench outside Court One watching "Nate the Great" Nathan Fernandes teaming with "The Silent Assassin" Jay Srinivasan to take on "Papa K" Kris Srinivasan and "The Marathon Woman" Doinks Srinivasan (Jay's mom and dad).

 

On Court Two, it was a Doubles One-Setter featuring "J-Bach" Jordan Bachvaroff and "Big George" Jorge Solano against "The Secret Weapon" Sairaj Srinivasan and "Nimble" Nithin Poosala. 

 

On Court Three, it was two non-GTA guys who were not part of The Verona Crew.

 

And on Court Four was Doubles action featuring The Verona Crew, one of whom is "Mr. 500" Levy Lorenzo.

 

As Celis sat alongside Samara and Rodrigues in the bench area outside of Court One, he informed them that "The Great" Scott Bergenfeld had been there earlier…but he sustained a foot injury and had to leave.  Kris and Doinks later updated us that it seems to be a Planter's fasciitis situation.

 

Kris got Frank caught up on the scores that occurred prior to his arrival.  Samara never got involved in the official action as he was quite happy to ride the bench (and almost fall asleep on it) for the balance of the session.   Meanwhile, Rodrigues and Celis did eventually get involved…in the process becoming the tenth and eleventh official GTA competitors of the night.

 

At 9:30, Levy took a seat next to Frank on the bench once he was finished with his Verona-based group.  And at 9:40, we had a surprise cameo appearance made by Spin.

 

The Cedar Grove Results:

 

Nathan Fernandes over Scott Bergenfeld, 6-0!  No Aces (apparently).  In this "Battle of The Greats", Nate was the one who clearly came out on top…leaving Scott somewhat stunned (according to Kris).

 

Nathan Fernandes/Jay Srinivasan leading Scott Bergenfeld/Kris Srinivasan, 3-0 (Incomplete, when Scott had to bow out due to the foot injury)!  No Aces (apparently).

 

Jordan Bachvaroff/Jorge Solano over Nithin Poosala/Sairaj Srinivasan, 7-6 (7-3)!  No Aces (apparently).  Not sure when this one got underway on Court Two, but it finished at 8:45 as Team Experience won out over Team Youth.

 

Kris Srinivasan/Doinks Srinivasan over Nathan Fernandes/Jay Srinivasan, 6-3!  No Aces.  Again, not sure of the start time of this one played on Court One, but it concluded exactly at 9:03.  Jay, the recent birthday boy who is now 15 years old, showed moments of brilliance that were sometimes marred by rust as he has not played much lately.

 

Sairaj Srinivasan/Nithin Poosala over Jordan Bachvaroff/Joe Rodrigues, 6-3!  No Aces.  This one took place on Court Two from 8:49 to 9:19.

 

Dino Celis/Nathan Fernandes over Kris Srinivasan/Doinks Srinivasan, 6-1!  No Aces.  Court One hosted this one from 9:10 to 9:31.  Dino and Nate jumped out to a 2-0 lead.  Then, Doinks held her serve to get her team on the scoreboard…but it was all downhill from there.

 

Sairaj Srinivasan/Nithin Poosala over Jordan Bachvaroff/Joe Rodrigues, 6-4!  No Aces.  The rematch was also played on Court Two and it lasted from 9:20 to 9:59!  This one was closer than the last one, but Team Youth still prevailed over the second iteration of Team Experience.

 

Dino Celis/Kris Srinivasan tied with Nathan Fernandes/Doinks Srinivasan, 4-4 (Incomplete when the lights went out at 10pm)!  No Aces.  They started this one on Court One exactly at 9:33.  They did not change sides on the would-be changeovers, but they still could not get this one finished in time.

 

We now head to Brookdale Park in Bloomfield for the dual report from Marijus and Tony.

 

The Brookdale Park Result:

 

M2 Quarterfinal Match:

Marijus Kuzavas/Mike Kazlauskas over Tony Shiao/Ryan Pienciak, 3-6, 6-4, 6-4, to successfully defend their # 5 Rank in the Doubles Division while advancing to the Semifinals of The M2 Men's Doubles Touranment!  Ryan: 2 Aces on Mike; and Mike: 1 Ace on Ryan.

 

The Super Scoop from Mario: We played this match at Brookdale Park as The Cedar Grove Courts were all taken.  The match lasted from 7:30 to 9:30.

 

The 1st Set started in our favor at 1-0, but then went 1-1, 2-1 to 2-4, 3-4 to 3-6.  In this set we were unable to break them, while they broke us on Mike's serve twice.

 

The 2nd Set went 0-1, 1-1, 1-3, 3-3, 3-4 and then to 6-4 for us.  This time we broke them twice on Tony's serve, while they broke us once on mine.  We had to dig deep to come from behind.

 

The 3rd Set went 0-3 to 4-3, 4-4 and then to 6-4.  We started off down again, this time 0-3.  And we had to dig even deeper to come back from this one.

 

To say that it could have gone either way would be an understatement.  Tony and Ryan played great defense by lobbing us to death and making us hit several overheads, just to win one point, or by making us finally make a mistake. The turning point was in the 3^rd Set while Ryan was serving at 3-1.  We lost a couple balls due to some Overhead Smashes and decided to open up a can of new balls.  This proved to be fatal to our opponents.  We got more kick from our serves, while their balls started sailing out.

 

Overall, it was a great match!

 

The Sure Shot from Shiao: We had a good start and took the 1st Set, but The Twin Towers were able to battle back for the win.  Ryan and I tried to keep the ball deep knowing that when they are both at the net, it would be all over for us.  We were up 3-1 in the 2^nd Set and up 3-0 in the 3rd Set only to have our lead be stripped away by their big serves and Overhead Smashes.

 

Overall, I felt like Ryan and I played well and was able to get a set off such a tough team.  I wish Marijus and Mike the best and hope they take the M2 all the way for the win!   

 

Samara's Notes: First off, I thank both Marijus and Tony for their comprehensive and timely reporting.  Second, I offer up congratulations to the winners and a heartfelt kudos to the challengers who fell just a little bit short.  It sounds like it was an excellent match that may very well be a Nominee for Doubles Match of The Year at season's end.

 

Sincerely,

Frank Samara

7/26

Samara hosts 14 at HP, then hosts 12 at C.G.!":

               

GTA Tuesday Night Tennis took place at two locations: a late afternoon/early evening session at Holster Park in Clifton (hosted by "Hollywood" Frank Samara) and then an evening session at The Cedar Grove Courts (also hosted by Samara).

 

The usual Cedar Grove host, "Papa K" Kris Srinivasan was unable to attend as the family was celebrating their son (and brother) Jay's birthday in New York City.  On behalf of the entire GTA, we wish him a Happy Birthday!

 

When Samara pulled into the parking lot at Holster Park at 5:20, he saw many familiar cars there.  As he walked uphill toward the courts, he saw two of three courts filled with GTA players.

 

On Center Court, it was Tommy Reszkowski and Nik Agharkar doing battle in a Singles One-Setter.

 

On Championship Court, it was a Mixed Doubles One-Setter being played "Battle of The Sexes" style as "The S Bomber" Genalin Capan and "The Argentine Machine" Fernanda Toker teamed to take on "The Sultan of Swing" Raj Shah and "Holy Moly" Mike Mole.  Gen and Fernanda wanted to get some practice together as they are a team in the upcoming W2 Women's Doubles Tournament to crown New Champs.

 

And sitting on the sidelines of Championship Court was Fernanda's nephew, Juani D'Andres.  He wowed the crowd at The Cedar Grove Courts on Sunday night and he was looking to compete with some of the better players in the GTA on this night.

 

For those that do not know about young Juani – he recently turned 17 years old and is the 19^th Ranked Player on the South American Juniors Circuit (he represents Argentina).  To say that he is already very highly skilled would be a tremendous understatement.

 

Juani asked Frank if he wanted to hit, so the two of them went over to the Entrance Court.  A ten minute hitting session was followed by a very lopsided Singles One-Setter (don't think I have to tell you in whose favor said set was lopsided for…LOL!).

 

Five minutes into it, "The Vin Man" Vinnie De Benedetto arrived at 5:50.  He then watched from Championship Court the slaughter his Doubles partner was experiencing over on the Entrance Court.  Others viewed the action as well as the Doubles One-Setter on that court (Championship Court) had just ended.

 

Samara was put out of his misery at 6:04.  Twenty minutes later, GTA Champion: "King Crush" Chris Chiaro arrived.  This is the player that Juani was looking forward to playing the most.  As Chris came in, Mike and Gen went out as they were both done for the day.

 

At 6:30, both Frank and Chris started hitting against Juani on Center Court.  Meanwhile, another Doubles One-Setter had already started on Championship Court as Raj and Vin faced Tommy and Fernanda.

 

At 6:45, Samara stepped off Center Court allowing Chiaro to tackle the challenge of D'Andres in another Singles One-Setter.

 

At that same time, four more players all arrived: "Latino Heat" Jose Gonzales, Dennis "The Menace" Cabanatan, "The Hitman" Tom La and Jay "The Rising" Phoenix.  They took over the Entrance Court and soon it would be Jose and Jay facing Dennis and Tom in three consecutive Doubles One-Setters.

 

At 7:40, "El Tio" Carlos Perez arrive and stood in the shady area outside the courts.  Ten minutes later, he came in with a bucket of balls once Championship Court had cleared.

 

At 7:55, Chiaro, Samara and Shah all headed up to Cedar Grove separately (and in that order).  The last of the three Doubles One-Setters was still taking place on the Entrance Court and Jose later sent in that final score via text to Frank.

 

We ended up with a total of fourteen players…pretty impressive for a weeknight at Holster Park.

 

The Holster Park Results:

 

Juani D'Andres over Nik Agharkar, 6-0!  Juani: 3 Aces, and Nik: 1 Ace!  This one got started around 5pm on Center Court and lasted about 15 minutes.

 

Raj Shah/Mike Mole over Genalin Capan/Fernanda Toker, 6-3!  Raj: 1 Ace on Gen.  They got this one underway on Champinoship Court around 5pm and it ended at 5:50.

 

Gen's Notes: Mike and I arrived at HP at 4pm to hit.  Nik arrived at 4:30 and Raj did the same at 4:45.  Then, Fernanda and Juani hit the courts and would be followed by Tommy soon after.

 

Tommy Reszkowski over Nik Agharkar, 6-2!  No Aces.  This was also played on Center Court and likely lasted from 5:20 to 5:55.

 

Juani D'Andres over Frank Samara, 6-0!  Juani: 1 Ace.  It went like this: Frank was broken (two Juani winners for Love-30, 15-30 and then another Juani winner for Double Break Point and yet another for the break) and Juani held at Love as he hit an un-returnable serve that Frank "shanked" into the park, then another un-returned serve, a drop shot winner and another winner for the hold to go up 2-0.  Samara was broken again (two winning returns from Juani for Love-30, an un-returned serve for 15-30 where a Juani winner set up Double Break Point and then came the break) and D'Andres held at Love again as he hit another un-returnable serve that was a body blow, made a great get/winner combo, hit a winning lob and then made another great/get winner combo for the hold to go up 4-0!  Hollywood's best game came next as he was on serve and went up 30-Love via a blown drop shot from Juani and then an un-returned serve where another great get/winner combo by Juani made it 30-15 only to have another un-returned serve set up Double Game Point which was where Juani hit a winning return to cut it to Game Point and then he hit a winner for Deuce, then came Break Point and the break to fall to 0-5!  Then, JDA was on serve as he blew a drop shot for Love-15, hit an un-returned serve for 15-All and then Frank hit a return that rolled over the net-cord to become a winner for 15-30, but then Juani hit a winner for 30-All and then hit an Ace up the T to set up Game/Match Point which was all the young and mighty Argentine would need to put this one away at 6:04 (we had begun it on Center Court at 5:45)!

 

The Skinny: Afterward, Samara asked D'Andres what is his USTA rating.  Juani did not know.  Frank first estimated it to be at least at a 5.0 level…but talking to others later in the session, some thought it may be as high as 5.5!  There's absolutely no shame to losing to someone on Juani's level.  Still, the Double Game Point opportunity on serve hurt Samara as he really wanted the chance to at least get one game on the scoreboard.

 

Raj Shah/Vinnie De Benedetto over Tommy Reszkowski/Fernanda Toker, 7-5!  No Aces.  This was played on Championship Court from 6:12 to 7pm.  Tommy and Fernanda wanted to get some court time together as they are a team in the upcoming MXD2 Mixed Doubles Tournament.  They had a solid showing here against a tough tandem like Raj and Vin.

 

Juani D'Andres over Chris Chiaro, 6-1!  No Aces.  Chris was down 0-3, but on serve where he was able to hold on Double Game Point to get himself on the board.  But then it was pretty much all Juani from there forward…though Chiaro certainly had more moments (a couple of winners, in fact) against D'Andres than Samara did against him.  Raj (aka Shahstradamus) predicted a 6-1 score here.

 

Jose Gonzales/Jay Phoenix over Dennis Cabanatan/Tom La, 6-2!  No Aces.  The two teams started hitting against one another on the Entrance Court at 6:50.  The action officially started at 6:59.  It was over at 7:18…just 19 minutes later!

 

Chris Chiaro/Raj Shah over Vinnie De Benedetto/Juani D'Andres, 6-3!  Juani: 1 Ace on Raj; Raj: 1 Ace on Vin; and Chris: 1 Ace on Juani!  Here's the basic breakdown: Chris held, Juani held (Double Game Point, corner Ace on Raj for the hold), Raj held (Double Break Point to Deuce, Game Point, Double Fault for 2^nd Deuce, Game Point and the hold), but Vin was the first to be broken (Triple Game Point cut down to Deuce and then a blown overhead by Juani made it Break Point, 2^nd Deuce, Break Point and the break) to fall to 1-3.  Chiaro was also broken and D'Andres held at Love to level it at 3-3.  But from there, Shah held again and this time it was at Love (30-Love, an Ace up the T against Vin to set up Triple Game Point and then came the hold), De Benedetto was broken again (Triple Break Point was brought up to Deuce, Break Point, 2^nd Deuce, Break Point and the break) and King Crush held (30-15 and then an amazing Ace up the T against Juani to set up Double Game/Match Point, then it was Game/Match Point, Double Fault for Deuce and then the 3^rd Game/Match Point where the hold finally came) to earn a hard-fought victory on Center Court (the duration was from 7:18 to 7:49)!

 

The Skinny: Vin blamed himself for the loss, but Juani was already quite exhausted by this point (he had been playing tennis all day long and even on a grass court for the first time).  Yes, even 17 year olds eventually get tired.  To their credit, Chris and Raj did not solely isolate Vin as they did hit to Juani on occasion as well.  The Former GTA Double Champs look ready to reclaim their crown.  First, they must win the ongoing M2 Men's Doubles Tournament to once again become the Top Contenders.

 

Dennis Cabanatan/Tom La over Jose Gonzales/Jay Phoenix, 6-2!  No Aces.  The Entrance Court hosted this one from 7:19 to 7:43.

 

Dennis Cabanatan/Tom La over Jose Gonzales/Jay Phoenix, 6-3!  No Aces.  This one got underway on the Entrance Court at 7:44.  Not sure when it ended as we all (except these four) left HP soon after this last one was started.

 

Chiaro, Samara and Shah all arrived separately at Cedar Grove around 8:05 (and in that order).  Speedy Chris may have gotten there closer to 8pm as he was already out on Court Two looking to get involved in some Doubles action where he would soon team with "Mr. 500" Levy Lorenzo to take on The Lanky Lithuanians – "Super Mario" Marijus Kuzavas and "Big Kaz" Mike Kazlauskas.

 

On Court One, it was the second of what would be three Singles One-Setters between "Ice Berg" Scott Bergenfeld and "J-Bach" Jordan Bachvaroff.  It could not be played as a 2 out of 3 Sets Challenge Match as Bergenfeld is still in the active draw of the ongoing Grove Cup Men's Singles Tournament.

 

On Court Three, it was four non-GTA guys (hard to tell if it was The Verona Crew or the four Polish guys, but I think it may have been the Polish guys).

 

And on Court Four was an in-progress Doubles One-Setter featuring "Nate the Great" Nathan Fernandes and "J-Rod" Joe Rodrigues versus New GTA Women's Champion: Laura "The Aura" Gawley.

 

At 8:10, "Coach" Dino Celis arrived and he sat alongside Samara and Shah in the bench area outside of Court One.  Raj never got involved in any official action as he left at 8:40…mere minutes before he would have had the opportunity.

 

At 8:45, Samara saw an opportunity to tell a father and son combo to take a now vacant court (they had been sitting on the bench alongside Court Four for about fifteen minutes at that point) and they were thankful for the invitation.  We need to be mindful of others in situations like these.

 

At 8:55, Dwight Thomas Senior and Junior were able to take over Court Three as that one had also recently been vacated.  They just had a hitting session with one another.

 

We ended up with a total of twelve official competitors (not counting The Dwights above).  It was a fun session that moved at a fast pace.

 

The Cedar Grove Results:

 

Scott Bergenfeld over Jordan Bachvaroff, 6-2!  No Aces.  Scott said they got started on Court One at 6:40.  Not sure when this finished as it went right into this next one.

 

Jordan Bachvaroff over Scott Bergenfeld, 7-5!  No Aces.  This one ended at 8:10.  They both agreed to settle the score by playing a third and deciding One-Setter.

 

Scott Bergenfeld over Jordan Bachvaroff, 6-2!  No Aces.  This one was finished exactly at 8:41.

 

Nathan Fernandes/Joe Rodrigues over Dan Martinelli/Laura Gawley, 7-5!  Spin: 1 Ace on Joe (which Spin described as a cheap one).  The Doc said it pretty much went game for game all the way until Nate and Joe were able to jump ahead right at the end.  This one got started on Court Four around 7:45 and it did not end until 8:55!  It could possibly be a Nominee for One-Set Specialty Doubles Match of The Year at season's end.

 

Marijus Kuzavas/Mike Kazlauskas over Chris Chiaro/Levy Lorenzo, 6-2!  No Aces.  Court Two hosted this one from 8:15 to 8:40.

 

Marijus Kuzavas/Mike Kazlauskas over Chris Chiaro/Dino Celis, 7-6 (7-2)!  No Aces.  The guys shifted over to Court One for this one (allowing the father/son duo to have Court Two).  It got underway at 8:45 and ended at 9:40.  After The Lithuanians left the scene, Chris and Dino continued to hit with one another almost until lights out at 10pm.

 

Nathan Fernandes/Laura Gawley over Scott Bergenfeld/Levy Lorenzo, 6-2!  Scott: 2 Aces (one on each and back-to-back in the same game)!  This one took place on Court Four from 9pm to 9:27.  You can give Mr. Martinelli the moniker of Spinstradamus as he rightfully predicted the winner and score once he saw the match-up at the beginning.

 

The guys wanted to get in one more, but Laura was done for the night.  This meant Frank had to get his ass off of The Hecklers' bench.  Scott said he wanted to team with Nate (thusly forming "The Great Ones" as it is "Great Scott!" and "Nate the Great").

 

Scott Bergenfeld/Nathan Fernandes over Frank Samara/Levy Lorenzo, 6-2!  No Aces.  The rundown (minus the usual mention of winners save a few exceptions): Scott held at Love as he hit two un-returned serves and Nate scored a drop shot winner for the hold, Frank was broken (Love-30, 15-30, Double Break Point and then the break), Nathan held (Love-15 went straight to Double Game Point and the hold), Levy was broken (Triple Break Point, the break came on Double Break Point) and Bergenfeld held again (Triple Game Point got cut down to Game Point, but then came the hold) to take a very commanding lead at 5-0!  Samara held (15-Love, 15-All and then straight to Double Game Point which was then cut down to Deuce, but the hold came on the next Game Point) to get his team on the board and then Fernandes was broken (Frank hit a dramatic winner to make it Love-30, but then Nate hit a winner for 15-30, it was Double Break Point where Scott hit a monster winner for Break Point, but then Levy hit a winner of his own to get the break in what was the game of the match) to have his team's lead  cut to 5-2.  Lorenzo was then broken again (Love-15 shifted to 30-15 shifted to Break/Match Point where this one ended unceremoniously with a Double Fault) to take a tough loss!  We played this one on Court Four from 9:29 to 9:53.

 

The Skinny: Scott and Nate together was quite an impressive tandem and very worthy of the moniker, "The Great Ones!"  Levy is quite the player himself and is especially amazing when you consider the fact that he is 68 years old (which we found out last night…I thought he may have just reached 60).  It was a fun One-Setter that I'm glad we were able to finish ahead of lights out at 10pm.  It was a nice way to close out the session.

 

Sincerely,

Frank Samara

7/24

Tony-Raj B. in Mt.Clair, Rob-Ryan, Dino-Jorge at HP, Frank-Sukumar at RHP, Laura-Sally at C.G.!":

On another hot and sweltering Sunday, it turns out there were four sessions of GTA Sunday Tennis: The Mountainside Park Courts in Upper Montclair (featuring the Grove Cup Round of 32 Match between Tony "Sure Shot" Shiao and "Kaboom" Raj Boddu, as reported by both), Holster Park in Clifton (featuring two Grove Cup Round of 32 Matches, the first being "Double R" Rob Ryan versus "The Lumberjack" Ryan Pienciak and the second being "Coach" Dino Celis against "Big George" Jorge Solano...along with other players involved in more action), Robin Hood Park (featuring another Grove Cup Round of 32 Match, this one between "Hollywood" Frank Samara and "The Chef" Sukumar Mitra...as Holster Park was already full), The Nutley Tennis Club (with "The Riz" John Rizzo acting as host) and The Cedar Grove Courts (with "Papa K" Kris Srinivasan acting as host and featuring the GTA Women's Championship Final Match between Laura "The Aura" Gawley and "Spicy" Sally Pillay, with additional commentary from Laura).

Let's first go to Montclair as that was the first result of the day in chronological order.  Then we will detail all the comings and goings between HP and RHP.  We will then finish this report up at Cedar Grove.

The Mountainside Park Result:

Grove Cup Round of 32 Match:
Tony Shiao over Raj Boddu, 4-6, 7-6 (7-1), 6-3, to successfully defend both his # 12 Rank in the Advanced Division and his # 1 Rank in the Intermediate Division while advancing to The Round of 16 of The Grove Cup Tournament!  Tony and Raj: 2 Aces each (all in the 1st Set)!

The Kaboom Report: I remember how Tony fought back brilliantly by saving 3 Match Points in the 2nd Set. I was serving up 5-4 (40-15, Double Match Point).  The rest was "The Tony Show" and he is more well-prepared for 3 Set matches than I am right now.  I think we arrived at the courts around 7:45am and the match was over at 10:50.  Good luck to Tony in the rest of the tourney!

The Sure Shot from Shiao: Raj and I met up at Mountainside Park at about 7:30am to beat the heat.  We started our match about 8am and we were both playing fairly well and adjusting to each others style.  We held serve until 4-3 and I was broken at some point and Raj took the 1st Set at 6-4.  In the 2nd Set, I went after his backhand but he was able to run around most of them and je placed the ball well and painted the lines on numerous occasions.  It was frustrating since I was going for my big topspin forehand shots and he was able to get most of them back with placement.  I also mixed the shots up a bit and drew him into the net only to be reminded of why he has the moniker of "KABOOM!"

As time went on, I saw myself down three Match Points at 4-5 (40-15) and thought to myself  "screw it! time to go home" and went for my shots.  Luckily, it paid off and I was able to turn things around and was up 6-5 with a few Set Points only to be robbed and we went to a Tiebreak.  At this point, the sun was blazing and the heat was suffocating our every breath.  I was lucky to take the 2nd Set at 7-6 (7-1). 

As we started the 3rd Set, I got a text from my wife that she and the kids were walking over to see me play and I knew that they would be a distraction so I told myself to focus and get the job done.  I don't remember how the games went, but I was able to take the 3rd Set at 6-3 before my family made their way to the park at about 11am. 

Going into this match, I knew it would be a grueling battle because I was scarred from losing to Raj in three sets during the Intermediate Invitational Finals a few years ago.  He played well today and it could've easily been his victory.  I'm looking forward to playing against Mr. Kaboom again soon.

Samara's Notes: First off, I thank both for all of the details and the timely reporting.  Secondly, I congratulate Tony on a hard-fought victory but also offer major kudos to Raj for a valiant effort.  And third, this may very well be a Nominee for the Intermediate Match of The Year at season's end.

So now we recount how everything went down at both Holster Park and Robin Hood Park.

Samara's e-mail to the league had originally stated that he would initially meet Mitra at Holster Park at 9:45, but that there was a good chance that they would have to take their match somewhere else if Holster Carw was already full.

Sure enough, when he pulled into the parking lot at 9:25, he saw "The Vin Man" Vinnie De Benedetto leaning up against his car in the lot.  Vin warned him all the courts were occupied and it was all GTA players.  It was Ryan-Pienciak on one court, Celis-Solano on another and Jay "The Rising" Phoenix was doing battle with "Nik@Nite" Nik Agharkar on the third.

Also at this same time, "Mr. G." Mark Grossman had pulled into the lot.  And then Samara received a voicemail message from Mitra stating that his GPS had failed and he couldn't find Holster Park.  So Frank decided upon just heading to Robin Hood Park, and Sukumar readily agreed.

Samara made his way onto Championship Court of RHP by 9:35.  He then sent text messages to Vin and Spin (aka Dan Martinelli) about his sudden change of plans.  Vin did not see this text until 11am or so.

Mitra arrived at 9:40.  Soon after, a hitting session began. 

At 9:45, Rob Ryan made a drive-by cameo to report the score of his match with Pienciak to Samara.  He said he would be back to watch the match since the winner of Samara-Mitra would advance to The Round of 16 Match to face him.

The Samara-Mitra match got underway at 9:55.  Five minutes later, "The Boss" Bill Bess arrived and took the Entrance Court to give an hour long lesson to a teenage girl.  Another five minutes after that, Rob returned to watch most of the 1st Set (he bailed just prior to the start of the Tiebreak which got underway at 10:50).

That Breaker lasted eight minutes...to conclude a set that lasted one hour and three minutes!  Then there was a four minute break between sets. 

Dino Celis arrived at RHP at 11:05 to report the score of his match with Solano to Samara.  Frank's battle with Kumar ended exactly at 11:30.

From there, Kumar went home while Dino and Frank headed back to Holster Park.  Upon Samara's arrival, he was given scores by  GTA Champion: "King Crush" Chris Chiaro.  Chris then left along with Mark Grossman and "MC" Mike Carucci.

Another Mike..."Holy Moly" Mike Mole was already waiting in the parking lot.  He then took the walk up to the courts with Dino and Frank.

On Center Court, "The Legendary" Chazz Weldon and "Nate the Great" Nathan Fernandes were hitting against Dan Martinelli and "The S Bomber" Genalin Capan.  At 11:45, this turned into an official One-Setter with the two teams remaining "as is."

Dino had mentioned to Frank that he thought he saw another full match going on there earlier.  The battle was between Phoenix and Agharkar.  Frank sent a text message to Nik and received the scores accordingly.

Frank stayed long enough to see the end of Weldon/Fernandes versus Martinelli/Capan and then see the beginning of Celis/Fernandes vs. Mole/Capan.  Samara had a bull session with Weldon and Martinelli.

Frank then had to leave at 12:45.  Gen sent a text message of that last score to him.

We will now recap all the HP results first and then grab the lone score from RHP after that.

The HP Results:

Grove Cup Round of 32 Match:
Rob Ryan over Ryan Pienciak, 6-1, 6-2, to advance to The Round of 16 of The Grove Cup Tournament!  This was not a rank defense for Rob as Ryan is solely in the Intermediate Division!  Ryan: 1 Ace in the 2nd Set.  They got started around 8am and the match was over by 9:30.

Ryan's Write-Up (Pienciak…not Rob…LOL!): We decided to play at Holster at 8am to try to beat the heat. It was still pretty hot and serving into the sun was a brutal and blinding effort.  We finished at 9:15 or so.  I had one Ace in the very last game.  Rob's play was solid while I was sort of a mess.  I wasn't expecting to win necessarily, but Unforced Errors and my iffy serve led to the score being way less close than I would have liked.

Samara's Notes: I thank both Rob for reporting to me directly right after the match had concluded and also Ryan for his write-up which was sent in timely fashion.

Grove Cup Round of 32 Match:
Dino Celis over Jorge Solano, 6-1, 6-0, to advance to The Round of 16 of The Grove Cup Tournament!  This was not a rank defense for Dino as Jorge is solely in the Intermediate Division!  Dino: 1 Ace in the 2nd Set.  They got started exactly at 9:29 and the match was over at 10:20.

From The Coach's Clipboard: We had some nice rallies.  He had some nice backhand and forehand returns along with some great volleys at the net.

The Brief from Big George: Dino capitalized on my weaknesses.  Congrats to him!

Samara's Notes: Much like Rob and Ryan, I thank both of the above for their contributions to this report.

Jay Phoenix over Nik Agharkar, 6-3!  No Aces (apparently).

Jay Phoenix tied with Nik Agharkar, 4-4 (Incomplete when Nik had to leave)!  No Aces (apparently).

Nik's Notes: It was great fun.  I am still shaking off the rust.

Jose Gonzales/Vinnie De Benedetto over Ryan Pienciak/Mark Grossman, 6-2!  No Aces.

Chris Chiaro/Chazz Weldon over Mike Carucci/Mark Grossman, 6-1!  No Aces.

Chris Chiaro/Mark Grossman over Chazz Weldon/Mike Carucci, 6-2!  No Aces.

Chazz Weldon/Nathan Fernandes over Dan Martinelli/Genalin Capan, 6-1!  No Aces.  They got this one underway on Center Court at 11:45 and it ended exactly at 12:07.

Dino Celis/Nathan Fernandes over Mike Mole/Genalin Capan, 6-4!  No Aces.  This one got started on Championship Court at exactly 12:22.  Gen sent her text message of the conclusion of the contest at 12:58.

Gen's Notes: Dino and Nate went up 2-0 and then it was leveled at 2-2.  There was an exchange of breaks and then we stayed on serve to 3-3 and 4-4.

Samara's Notes: I thank all those that I already mentioned above for their contributions to this report.  There ended up being a total of fifteen official competitors at HP…pretty impressive for a day so hot and humid.

The RHP Result:

Grove Cup Round of 32 Match:
Frank Samara over Sukumar Mitra, 7-6 (7-4), 6-2, to successfully defend his # 15 Rank in the Advanced Division while also advancing to The Round of 16 of The Grove Cup Tournament!  No Aces.

1st Set: Frank held serve (un-returned serve for 15-Love and then it shifted to 15-30 as Sukumar hit a winning return and then a winning return off of the net-cord, but then it shifted to Game Point where the hold came with another un-returned serve) and Sukumar was broken in a battle where the winners were not noted due to the length of the game, the heat of the sun and the conversation from Rob (Frank blew an overhead to make it 30-Love, it was then 30-15, Double Game Point got cut down to Deuce and then it was all Game Points until 3rd Deuce, Break Point and then a Double Fault to break himself) to get off to a 0-2 start.  Samara was broken (Love-30, 15-30, Double Break Point, the break came on Break Point), but Mitra was broken again (started with a Double Fault, Love-30, another Double Fault to set up Triple Break Point, the break came on Double Break Point) to go down 1-3.  Hollywood was broken again (Love-15, an un-returned serve for 15-All, but then straight to Double Break Point, the break came on Break Point when Sukumar hit a winner) and then The Chef finally held serve (Love-15 went straight to Double Game Point as Sukumar hit a winner and a winning lob along the way and then it was an un-returned serve that secured the hold) to level the set at 3-3!  Frank was broken again (Love-15, a drop shot winner by Frank for 15-All, but then once again it was straight to Double Break Point where Sukumar once again got the break with a winner), but Sukumar was also broken (Triple Break Point, the break came on Double Break Point) to knot the score once more at 4-4.  Samara was broken yet again (Triple Break Point, un-returned serve for Double Break Point, but then a blown overhead by Frank to break himself), but Mitra was also broken again and this time it was at Love to level matters yet again, this time at 5-5!  The Wood was broken yet another time (a hellacious winning return from Sukumar set up Triple Break Point, but Frank would bring it all the way to Deuce only to have it go back to Break Point and then the break) and then came what was likely the most pivotal game of the match with The Chef on serve as he hit a Double Fault to make it Love-30, but then he hit two winners on the way to Game/Set Point, Deuce where another winner from Sukumar set up the 2nd Game/Set Point, 2nd Deuce, Break Point, un-returned serve for 3rd Deuce, then the 3rd Game/Set Point, 4th Deuce, Break Point and another un-returned serve for 5th Deuce, Break Point again and then finally the break as Samara saved three Set Points to take it to the Tiebreak!  In the Breaker (which began at 10:50): Frank was broken on his lone serve, Sukumar was broken on both of his serves, Samara held the first of his two serves after what was the rally of the match up until that point, but was broken on his second for 3-2.  Mitra hit a Double Fault to go down 2-4 and then came the changeover.  He then hit an un-returned serve to pull to 3-4.  The Wood held both of his serves for a 6-3 lead and the first Set Point in his favor, but the 4th S.P. overall.  The Chef held the first of his two serves to cut Samara's lead to 6-4 and set up the 5th S.P. overall (Samara's second).  He was then broken on that one to go down to a 7-4 TB score at exactly 10:58!  We took a four minute break and then began the next set (all of this was on Championship Court).  During this break, Sukumar said to Frank that he would now likely lose the next one, 6-2.  Samara, just as he was about to serve, said: "I should be so lucky!"

2nd Set: Frank held (Love-15 went straight to Double Game Point and then it was an un-returned serve for the hold), Sukumar held at Love in his best game of the match as he started off with an un-returned serve, hit a winner and then another winner off the net-cord and then secured the hold with a drop shot winner and then Samara was the first to be broken (Sukumar hit a winning return and then another winning return off of the net-cord on the way to Triple Break Point, it was then Double Break Point where Sukumar hit another winning return to get the break), but then Mitra was also broken (an un-returned serve and a winner from Sukumar made it 30-Love, but then it went to 30-All and a Double Fault set up Break Point where Frank hit a winner for the break) to level it at 2-2.  Hollywood then had a Love hold which was book-ended by a winner and an un-returned serve and then The Chef was broken (Triple Break Point, a winner for Double Break Point and then a truly un-returnable serve for Break Point, Deuce, Break Point, 2nd Deuce, Break Point and the break) to go down 2-4.  Frank held again (Sukumar hit a winner for Love-15 and then it went point for point until 30-All as Sukumar hit another winner along the way, but Frank also hit a drop shot winner and then it shifted to Game Point where an un-returned serve secured the hold) and Sukumar was broken again (Sukumar hit a winner for 15-Love, but then it went straight to Double Break/Match Point after what may have been the best rally of the match and then it was Break/Match Point where Frank hit a winning return that froze Sukumar as he thought it was going to drop wide into the Doubles Alley only to watch it spin its way back into the corner of the court and then bounce away to lock down the victory!) to end a hard-fought battle!  It ended at exactly 11:30.

The Skinny: I guess we should now give Mister Mitra the moniker of "Sukumardamus!"  He did accurately predict the score of the 2nd Set and Frank warned him afterward that it may have been a self-fulfilling prophecy.  Sukumar said that he just knew how his game would suffer from having been so close to taking that 1st Set only to fail to close the door on a few occasions.  Except for the One-Setter that he played the night before with Jay Phoenix, Mitra had not played in a while.  So kudos to him on a fine effort as he definitely made things interesting, especially in the initial set. 

The other noteworthy comment to make about this match was the settings at RHP.  Set up in the foolish North to South fashion, the court was completely drenched in sun on the West side of it, but totally kept cool in the shade on the East side of it.  Winning games from the West side was like the equivalent of going up a break.  When Samara was able to do that successfully in the 2nd Set, he knew he was off and running.  Mitra had started off that set in an extra-aggressive fashion as he started swinging away figuring he had nothing left to lose.  It was working for a little while.  But then the wily old Hollywood adjusted his strategy ever so slightly and that was where the turnaround occurred.  All in all, it was a solid match.  Sukumar, as always, is a gentleman and a pleasure to play with...here's to hoping we see more of him in the coming months.  

We now head up to Cedar Grove where we will first get a couple of results from Laura and then Kris will close out this report. 

The Cedar Grove Results:

GTA Women's Championship Tournament Final Match:
Laura Gawley over Sally Pillay, 6-1, 6-1, to win the Tournament and become the New GTA Women's Champion!  No Aces.

Laura's Lowdown: It started with Sally serving and I broke her serve in the first game.  She was able to hold in the 3rd game of the 1st Set.  In the 2nd Set we had a very long second game with Sally serving.  The points were very long and there were a few Deuce points.  She held in this game as well.  The 2nd Set seemed to have much longer points and we were both playing more consistently. We played from 7:30 to approximately 8:40.

We then jumped right into another One-Setter where it was Marijus and me against Sally and Juani, Fernanda Toker's nephew.

Marijus Kuzavas/Laura Gawley over  Juani D'Andres/Sally Pillay, 7-5!  No Aces.  It was the official GTA Debut of Juani D'Andres.

We were up 5-1 and they were able to come back to tie it 5-5.  We then went on to break Juanie and Marijus held his serve to win the set 7-5.

Samara's Notes: First off, I thank Laura for her timely and detailed reporting.  Second, I offer her a very hearty congratulations as she is now the New GTA Women's Champion!  Her dominance throughout the tournament was quite impressive.  She will now be asked to hold off on defending the Title as we will very soon launch into yet another Women's Singles event - the 6th Annual Gail-ann Hamilton Memorial Women's Singles Tournament to crown the next Top Contender (details to follow soon).

And we now let Papa K take it away!

The evening started slowly, but there was plenty of action as all the courts were put to good use, one of which was used by non-GTA folks.  The highlight of the night was the Women's Finals and Juan Ignacio D'Andres (aka Juani D'Andres), the 17 year old nephew of Fernanda, who was brilliant and amazing.  He certainly was the 'Del Potro' of Cedar Grove last night.  He is a very talented player who has phenomenal potential!

Laura continued to dominate the Women's Division.  To Sally's credit, she played hard and set up quite a few points but couldn't close.  Laura was rock solid in the match against Juani and Sally where she went blow for blow with Juani.  Marijus played superbly for most of the night.  It was good to see the man with the indomitable energy (Spin, aka Dan Martinelli) in action.  It was good to see the women in action - Brenda, Natalia, Fernanda, Sally, Doinks and Laura.  Scott and I had a chance to play with Arvind D'Cunha and his pals. Dino and Senthil got to play as well.

Marijus Kuzavas/Sairaj Srinivasan over Scott Bergenfeld/Kris Srinivasan, 6-4!  No Aces.

Kris Srinivasan/Sairaj Srinivasan over Dan Martinelli/Joe Rodrigues, 6-4!  Spin: 1 Ace on Sairaj.

Fernanda Toker/Brenda Jordan over Dino Celis/Natalia Sout, 6-1!  No Aces (apparently).

Kris Srinivasan/Fernanda Toker over Dino Celis/Natalia Sout, 6-1!  No Aces.

Joe Rodrigues/Doinks Srinivasan over Sairaj Srinivasan/Rob Gawley, 6-4!  No Aces (apparently).

Fernanda Toker/Brenda Jordan over Sally Pillay/Natalia Sout, 6-4!  No Aces (apparently).

Unofficial:
Kris and Arvind leading Jean Paul and Azim, 5-2!

Overall, we had decent action here for a Sunday night.  Cheers!

Samara's Notes: As always, I thank Kris for being the host with the most up at Cedar Grove.  Officially, they had 15 GTA competitors in action…again, quite impressive given the swamp-like conditions.

All the best,
Frank Samara

7/23

3 Scott-Tito 1-Setters at C.G., Jay-Sukumar 1-Setter at Park!”:

               

GTA Saturday Tennis took place at two locations: a morning session at The Cedar Grove Courts (hosted by “Ice Berg” Scott Bergenfeld as he faced Tito “Touch” Castolo in three separate Singles One-Setters) and an evening session at The Park Ave. Courts in Nutley (a One-Setter between Jay “The Rising” Phoenix and “The Chef” Sukumar Mitra).

 

Let’s go to the report from Scott now.

 

We started around 6:45am to avoid the heat.  Tito is an excellent player who can place his shots anywhere on the court he wants.  He was driving me crazy with drop shots and making me run all over the court.  After the sets I was dead tired and stopped for a half dozen donuts on the way home!

 

The Cedar Grove Results:

 

Tito Castolo over Scott Bergenfeld, 6-0!  No Aces.

 

Scott Bergenfeld over Tito Castolo, 6-4!  No Aces.

 

Tito Castolo over Scott Bergenfeld, 6-2!  No Aces.

We played 3 One-Setters.  We opted to not switch on the odd games during the first two sets.  He beat me 6-0 the first One-Setter.  I was on the sun side then and could not serve due to that.  It was a terrible set for me that lasted only 15 minutes.

 

The second One-Setter he had the sun side and I beat him 6-4.  It was a much more competitive set.

 

The third One-Setter we opted to switch on the odd games.  He beat me 6-2.  I ended up losing every game on the sun side.  It was very difficult to serve, but no excuses.  He played excellent.  Hats off to Tito on an excellent morning round of tennis!

 

Samara’s Notes: I thank Scott for being willing to step up as a host and provide us with that report.  It is good to have Scott back in the mix as he is quite the competitor and also a compelling personality.  And I will reiterate what I said about Tito last week…it is a shame that he remains unwilling to compete in full Singles Matches in the Advanced Division (which is where he would certainly end up).  Of course, in this situation, they had to play it this way as Bergenfeld remains in the active draw of the ongoing Grove Cup Tournament. 

 

And now we go to the score that was reported in a timely fashion by Sukumar (it was my oversight to fail to report this one the first time around…my apologies).

 

The Park Ave. Result:

 

Sukumar Mitra over Jay Phoenix, 6-4!  No Aces.  Jay was up 4-2.  They started it around 7:30pm.

 

Samara signing off!  

7/22

Mole-Ortega at HP, Bernard-Santos in Mt.Clair, Pathan-Tailor (7) at C.G.!”:

               

GTA Friday Night Tennis took place at three locations: Holster Park in Clifton (featuring The Grove Cup Round of 32 Match between “Holy Moly” Mike Mole and “Eddie O” Edwin Ortega, as reported by Mike), The Mountainside Park Courts in Upper Montclair (featuring The Grove Cup Round of 32 Match between “Big Returns” Ralph Bernard and “Stealth” Omar Santos, as reported by Ralph) and The Cedar Grove Courts (“Papa K” Kris Srinivasan was the host, but it also featured The Grove Cup Round of 32 Match featuring “Instant” Moka Pathan versus “Tailor Made” Raj Tailor, as reported by Moka).

 

Let’s first go to HP for the score sent in by Mike.

 

The HP Result:

 

Grove Cup Round of 32 Match:

Mike Mole over Edwin Ortega, 6-3, 6-4, to successfully defend both his # 23 Rank in the Advanced Division and his # 12 Rank in the Intermediate Division while also advancing to The Round of 16 of The Grove Cup Tournament!  No Aces.

The Holy Moly Memo: Good match, but it was hot as hell!  Edwin played well, just made a few too many Unforced Errors.  In the 2nd Set, I was up 5-2, but he broke back to make it 5-4 before I served it out.  We played at Holster Park from 4:10 to 5:40.

 

Samara’s Notes: I thank Mike for his timely reporting of that result.  Now we head to Montclair for the score sent in by Ralph.

 

The Mountainside Park Results:

 

Grove Cup Round of 32 Match:

Ralph Bernard over Omar Santos, 6-1, 6-3, to successfully defend his # 19 Rank in the Advanced Division while also advancing to The Round of 16 of The Grove Cup Tournament!  Ralph: 3 Aces (2 in the 1^st Set and 1 in the 2^nd Set)!

 

Ralph Bernard over Omar Santos, 6-2!  No Aces.

 

Samara’s Notes: Like Mike, I thank Ralph for his very timely reporting of the results.  We now head up to Cedar Grove where we will first get the result from Moka before we let Kris finish off the balance of the report.

 

The Cedar Grove Results:

 

Grove Cup Round of 32 Match:

Moka Pathan over Raj Tailor, 6-2, 7-5, to advance to The Round of 16 of The Grove Cup Tournament!  This was not a rank defense for Pathan as Tailor is solely in the Intermediate Division.  Raj: 3 Aces in the 2^nd Set; and Moka: 1 Ace in the 2^nd Set!

 

A Drop of Moka: It was a pretty competitive match, especially in the 2nd Set. We both had to adjust to the heat and to each other's game.

 

Samara’s Notes: Like the others above, I thank Moka for very timely reporting in this regard.  We will now let Papa K take it away!

 

Kris Srinivasan/Senthil Kumar over Edwin Ortega/Raj Boddu, 6-1!  No Aces.

 

It was a good warm match and one that started late after 8pm. 

 

Edwin Ortega/Raj Boddu over Kris Srinivasan/Doinks Srinivasan, 6-1!  No Aces.

 

Both Boddu and Edwin started playing well and Doinks, with her knee pain, was immobilized to some extent.

 

Kris Srinivasan/Senthil Kumar over Edwin Ortega/Raj Boddu, 6-3!  No Aces.

 

It was a good match and it was more competitive than the first one.

 

Sairaj was just involved in a hitting session with Doinks.

 

Samara’s Notes: As always, I thank Kris for all he does for our league up at Cedar Grove.  And much like Thursday night, it truly was a monumental night of GTA Tennis in multiple locations.  The Grove Cup Tournament is off and running to its fastest start in GTA history!  Thanks to all involved in the participation of this event and especially those that take the time to report the results. 

 

Sincerely,

Frank Samara  

7/21

2 at NTC, Kris-Scott (10) at C.G., Anish-Jay at Park, Senthil-Nate in Wayne!":

               

GTA Thursday Night Tennis took place at four locations: The Nutley Tennis Club (hosted by "The Riz" John Rizzo), The Cedar Grove Courts (co-hosted by "The S Bomber" Genalin Capan and "Papa K" Kris Srinivasan while featuring The Grove Cup Round of 32 Match featuring Srinivasan versus "Ice Berg" Scott Bergenfeld), The Park Ave. Courts in Nutley (featuring The Grove Cup Round of 32 Match between "Steppin' to the AM" Anish Mehta and Jay "The Rising" Phoenix, as reported by Jay) and The Nellis Drive Courts in Wayne (featuring The Grove Cup Round of 32 Match between "The Webmaster" Senthil Kumar and "Nate the Great" Nathan Fernandes, as reported by both Senthil and Nate). 

 

Before we run down all the recaps in the order above, I want to thank all those above for reporting in a very detailed and timely manner.  It is greatly appreciated…especially when I cannot be there to host any of the sessions.  This league functions best when all results are sent in as soon as possible.  Without reporting, there really is not much of a structure for such a league.  So, again, kudos to all involved!

 

Let's first go to NTC for a couple of scores sent in by The Riz.

 

The NTC Results:

 

John Rizzo over Tom La, 6-2!  No Aces.  We got started around 6pm.

 

Tom La over John Rizzo, 6-3!  No Aces.  Rizzo was down 0-5 before mounting a partial comeback.

 

We now head up to The Cedar Grove Courts for the report from Kris where Gen filled in the gaps with a couple of scores and details he missed along the way as he was busy in his Grove Cup Round of 32 Match against Scott Bergenfeld.

 

The action started quite early as my Grove Cup Match with Scott was scheduled for 6:30pm, but the enthusiastic Scott came in early just after 6pm.  I came to know that Gen had come a few minutes earlier as she was going to hit a bit with Raj Shah.

 

My son Sairaj went early to secure a court, but Scott was already there.  They had a hitting session as I joined them just around 6:15.  Later to follow suit were Joe Rodrigues, Raj Boddu, Edwin Ortega, Tito Castolo and my wife Doinks.  Essentially, only two courts were used all night long as we had fewer players.

 

Gen's Notes: Sairaj and I were hitting against Raj Shah for 25-30 minutes. Raj took a mini break to watch some of Kris and Scott's match as they wrapped up their 1st Set.  In the meantime, Sairaj and I kept hitting.  Raj returned to the court and then I took my break and allowed the two to play a One-Setter. 

 

The Cedar Grove Results:

 

Raj Shah over Sairaj Srinivisan, 6-1!  Raj: 1 Ace. 

 

Then Joe Rodrigues arrived by 7pm.  We started the next Doubles One-Setter. 

 

Joe Rodrigues/Genalin Capan over Raj Shah/Sairaj Srinivisan, 7-5!  Raj: 1 Ace on Gen. This set was played from 7:30 to 8:15.

 

It was a tight set and we were tied up at 3-3.  Raj/Sairaj took the next two games for the lead at 5-3.

We saved 1 Match Point.  Then we took next 4 straight games for a nice comeback win.  We won on our 2nd MP (the 3rd MP in the set).  Joe was on fire as he made several amazing shots that kept us in the game. 

 

The Say from Papa K: They had a good match and, per Gen, Joe was brilliant and helped his side win at the crucial moments.

 

Grove Cup Round of 32 Match:

Scott Bergenfeld over Kris Srinivasan, 6-3, 6-3, to become both the New # 9 Ranked Player in the Advanced Division and the New # 8 Ranked Player in the Intermediate Division while also advancing to The Round of 16 of The Grove Cup Tournament!  No Aces.

 

Scott played fantastically to earn a handsome victory that he fully deserved.  The original plan was for me to go early and hit a bit with Sairaj to get warmed up.  But it changed with me hitting with Scott for a few minutes.  As the match started, I was just trying to put the racquet to the ball, let alone play nice shots.  In less than 10 minutes, I was close to going down Love-5 before surviving to make it 1-4.  It was from there where our battle truly started.  With my back against the wall, the best I could do was to win three games.

 

The 2nd Set started off more competitively.  The lengthy rallies made it more intense.  I started the 2nd Set well by holding on to my serve.  Scott did well to hold his serve, too.  The next game was brutal as I slipped from a 40- Love lead only to lose my serve after an 8 Deuce battle!  But I got the break back to tie it at 2-All.  The next game turned out to be a monster that lasted a whole 30 minutes!  From another 40-Love position, I squandered it to go to Deuce once again.  From there on, it was brutal as the game prolonged forever with as many as 16 Deuces as I faced multiple Game Points and Break Points before finally, finally holding on to my serve!  This was an incredible game that saw many multi-shot rallies and Scott showed how fit he was as he was able to get to so many shots with ease.  There were some ridiculous misses by me as I set the point.  Boy, Scott can move so fast and here I was seeing the life energy sucked out of me!  All the constant Doubles matches that I am involved with and not having played any Singles was indeed telling.  I had plenty of shots that were short much to my dislike, but I dug in hard.  The last three games went with ease as I was still trying to catch my breath…:-)  Overall, Scott was brilliant and deserved his great win.  I did figure out how to get him, but the poor execution on some points set me back.  Still, it was fun, a very good match and one where Scott clearly had the edge. He is one of the nicest guys on and off the court, so it was a pleasure to play with him.

 

Raj played a few Singles One-Setters, first with Sairaj, then with Joe and later with Tito.  It was good experience for the youngster.

 

Raj Shah over Joe Rodrigues, 6-1!  No Aces (apparently).

 

Raj Shah over Tito Castolo, 6-4!  No Aces (apparently).

 

The last one looked like a very good match and Raj was clearly tested by the crafty play of Tito that forced some Unforced Errors. Tito seemed to play with ease, but Raj came thru good in the end.

 

Samara's Notes: It is truly a shame that Tito is unwilling to get involved in the Singles side of things here in the GTA.  A little known fact is that he had defeated Omar "Stealth" Santos in straight sets earlier this season, but he asked Omar not to report it as he knew it would land him in the Advanced Division.  Mr. Castolo simply chooses to be a Doubles specialist.  But if he changed his mind, he would certainly be one of the better players in the "A" Division as well.

 

Now I turn this report back over to Kris.

 

2 out of 3 Sets:

Kris Srinivasan/Raj Boddu over Edwin Ortega/Doinks Srinivasan, 6-2, 6-3!  Doinks: 2 Aces on Raj (both died before the ball reached him)!

 

It was a relaxing match for me after the hard-fought Singles earlier.  Boddu was solid and my net play was getting better.  Doinks was consistent, especially from the baseline.  Ed missed a few at the net which he usually does well, but his serving was very good.

 

Raj Boddu/Doinks Srinivasan tied with Edwin Ortega/Tito Castolo, 3-3 (Incomplete when the lights went out at 10pm)!  No Aces.  It was a close, competitive match that ended with the lights going out before it could be finished. 

 

I had a nice hitting session with Jordan Bachvaroff as he tested out his new racquet.  So it was plenty of tennis for me, but the turnout was low.  Friday looks like a great night for tennis to cap the start of the weekend.  Cheers!

 

We now head back to Nutley, but this time around the action was at The Park Ave. Courts (it has been a long time since we've had any GTA action there) as Jay provides the recap of his match with Anish.

 

The Park Ave. Result:

 

Grove Cup Round of 32 Match:

Anish Mehta over Jay Phoenix, 6-2, 6-0, to successfully defend his # 15 Rank in the Advanced Division while also becoming the New # 3 Ranked Player in the Intermediate Division and also advancing to The Round of 16 of The Grove Cup Tournament!  No Aces.   

 

The Say from Jay: We played around 8pm.  He crushed me.  Neither of us had any aces.  But he had several serves that were un-returnable.  I did not see any weaknesses in his game.

 

We now head up to Wayne for the dual recap from Senthil and Nate to close out this report.

 

The Nellis Drive Result:

 

Grove Cup Round of 32 Match:

Nathan Fernandes over Senthil Kumar, 7-5, 6-0, to become the New # 13 Ranked Player in the Advanced Division while also advancing to The Round of 16 of The Grove Cup Tournament!  No Aces.

 

The Untangled Web from Senthil: We started at 7:15pm and ended around 9:15pm.  After a 10 minute warm-up (itself set the tone for the match, our warm up was like a 30 shot rally), Nathan won the toss and started on serve.  It started off at 1-1 and then Senthil got a couple of breaks of serve against Nate in a well-contested battle to lead the set at 5-1.  Nathan picked up his defensive game and started chasing the put-away shots.  Nathan leveled the set at 5-5, went up 6-5 and took the set at 7-5.  Senthil played the whole set trying to keep up with Nathan and possibly ran out of breath. 

 

The 2nd Set was an easy zap for Nathan even though most games were at 30-All.  Nathan adjusted well and worked on a strategy of moving the ball to get Unforced Errors from Senthil.  Senthil played many good winning shots only to see the ball returned with good placement. 

 

Nate sets it straight: Senthil was up 5-1 in the 1st Set before I came back to take the next 12 games for the "W."  I know it is a GTA cliché', but the match really was closer than the score indicates.  Credit goes to Senthil for fighting till the end and continuing to play his aggressive and intelligent brand of tennis. 

 

Samara's Notes: It truly was a monumental night of GTA Tennis in multiple locations.  The Grove Cup Tournament is already off and running to a fast start (another matter that is greatly appreciated) and its impact is quickly rocking the ranks of the league.  Again, thanks to all involved. 

 

Sincerely,

Frank Samara