"3 play at HP, 3 hit at AP, 2 play at RHP, 5 play at NTC!":
GTA Sunday Tennis took place at four locations: a morning session at Holster Park in Clifton (hosted by "Hollywood" Frank Samara), an early afternoon session at Albion Park in Clifton (also hosted by Samara), a mid-afternoon session at Robin Hood Park in Clifton (hosted by "The S Bomber" Genalin Capan) and a late afternoon/early evening session at The Nutley Tennis Club (hosted by "The Riz" John Rizzo).
The usual evening session at The Cedar Grove Courts (hosted by "Papa K" Kris Srinivasan) was rained out as heavy rains rolled through the area at 7pm (this also cut the NTC session somewhat short).
So we will first go to the recaps of how things unfolded at both HP and AP, then to the RHP rundown from Gen and the NTC scores from John.
Samara walked up the hill to the courts at Holster Park by 9:40am. Upon his arrival, he saw "MC" Mike Carucci who had been waiting on the Entrance Court for about five minutes. On Championship Court, there were four older guys playing Doubles (but they did not seem to be Zoltar and his crew).
We entered into a hitting session hoping to get a couple of more guys to play Doubles (as the temps were already quite hot and the humidity very high as the real feel would later be 100 degrees!). But with no one else in sight, we decided to start a Singles One-Setter at 9:55.
Halfway through it at 10:05, "The Lumberjack" Ryan Pienciak made his way onto the bench alongside the court. But soon he wisely decided to go hang out in the shady area under the trees next to the courts.
Samara-Carucci concluded at 10:20. From there Frank and Mike hit with Ryan until Carucci had to leave at 10:30.
Now it was Frank and Ryan in a hitting session hoping for two more guys to arrive. Samara even sent out a text message to his buddy, "Spin Doctor" Dan Martinelli, to let him know it was a situation of two players looking to get two more for a total of four. There was no immediate reply.
So Samara soon entered into another Singles One-Setter (this time against Pienciak) at 10:40. It ended at 11:10 and both competitors left soon after.
We will now go to those two scores before we detail how the rest of Samara's day of tennis went.
The Holster Park Results:
Frank Samara over Mike Carucci, 6-2! No Aces. It went like this: Mike held serve (un-returned serve for 15-Love, then 30-Love, 30-15 where Mike hit a winner to set up Double Game Point and then he got the hold), Frank held at Love as he hit a winner for 30-Love and then hit a passing shot winner to secure the hold, but Carucci was the first to be broken and it was at Love as Mike blew an overhead and then Frank made a great get/winner combo in the next point to make it Love-30 and then it was Triple Break Point and the break for 1-2. But then Samara was also broken (Mike hit a winner for Love-15 and that was on the way to Triple Break Point where an un-returned serve made it Double Break Point, then came Break Point and the break) to level it at 2-2. But from there, MC was broken at Love again (he hit a Double Fault to make it Love-30), Hollywood held (a net-cord loser…I call it that because it would have likely been a winner until the net-cord sent the shot out into the Doubles Alley for Love-15, it then shifted to 30-15 after an un-returned serve, then it was 30-All and another un-returned serve to set up Game Point where Mike blew an overhead to allow the hold), Mike was broken again (a winning drop shot return from Frank set up Triple Break Point, the break came on Double Break Point) and Frank held again (he hit a winner to set up Triple Game/Match Point, the hold came on Double Game/Match Point) to get the win. We played this one on the Entrance Court from 9:55 to 10:20.
The Skinny: Carucci is starting to become a regular at the Sunday sessions at Holster Park. The more he plays, the more he improves as he has a healthy dose of athleticism coupled with good speed. Plus, he displays more patience than some others that are relatively new to tennis. Once he becomes a little more consistent, he will be dangerous. This was a fun One-Setter to play. Samara likely should have been one and done, but…
Ryan Pienciak over Frank Samara, 6-4! No Aces. Here's how it went down: Frank was broken (Ryan hit a winner and then made a great get in the next point which led to Love-30, it then went to Triple Break Point, then Double Break Point where Ryan hit a scorching return winner for the break), Ryan was broken (Love-30, 15-30 where a winning drop shot return from Frank made it Double Break Point, then it was Double Break Point where another winning drop shot return earned the break), Samara was broken again and this time it was at Love as Ryan hit a winner and then two winning returns on the way to Triple Break Point and then Pienciak was also broken again (Love-15 where Ryan hit a drop shot winner for 15-All, but then it was straight to Double Break Point as Frank hit another winning drop shot return along the way) to level it again at 2-2. It was around this time that both competitors agreed that this was a battle where it was the returner's advantage (as opposed to the usual server's advantage) as neither could generate enough energy to get any true pace on their serves. Still proving that to be true, The Wood was broken yet again and it was at Love again as Ryan had two more winning returns on the way to Triple Break Point! But then The Lumberjack broke the trend as he finally held serve and this was another Love game as an excellent rally ended with a winner from Ryan and then he made another winner followed by a pair of great get/winner combos to close out the game and take a 4-2 lead! Frank finally was able to do the same and hold serve (an un-returned serve made it 30-Love, but that went right to Break Point as Ryan hit two winners along the way, but then Frank hit a winner of his own to make it Deuce, then came Game Point and the hold) to pull to 3-4. Ryan was broken (15-Love, 15-All and then a Double Fault for 15-30 where Ryan hit a winner for 30-All where another extended rally led to Break Point and then came the break) to knot the score once more at 4-4! But Samara was then broken again (a winning return from Ryan for Love-30, then it was 15-30 where he hit another winning return to set up Double Break Point and then came the break) only to have Pienciak manage to hold serve a second time (30-Love, 30-15 where Ryan hit a winner to set up Double Game/Match Point where he hit yet another winner to end it) to earn an impressive victory in the increasing temps (it was also quite windy) at 11:10 (we had begun this one on the Entrance Court at 10:40)!
The Skinny: Toward the end of the contest, Ryan kindly said to Frank that Samara would have likely been winning this one 6-0 had he not played Carucci first. Truthfully, that would not have been the case. At best, it may have been the same 6-4 score but perhaps in Frank's favor had he had more energy. But Pienciak often hits shots that a fresh Samara or just about any other competitor are not going to be able to get to in order to make the get (get it? LOL!). The Lumberjack slices off some two-handed winners up at the net which are a hybrid between a proper Overhead Smash and a volley, but he can also make that shot from other spots on the court as well.
It was a nice way to end the day at HP as both players left the park by 11:15.
Five minutes later, Samara did a drive-by at RHP and all three courts were vacant (though there was volleyball in the park).
A couple of minutes after that as Frank was heading down Van Houten Ave. (planning to go home early), he received a text message from "Coach" Dino Celis (who had just arrived at Holster Park) asking: "No tennis?"
Before Frank could even reply as to what had happened at HP, a triangular series of text messages occurred where Dino, Spin and then Frank agreed to meet at Albion Park (also in Clifton) at noon to see if the situation was cooler there.
Samara was the first to arrive at Albion at 11:45. All three courts (the newest of all in Clifton to have been recently redone) were vacant with nearly half of them still in the shade.
The one downside of Albion is that the courts are set up in the same improper manner as they are at Robin Hood Park, east to west rather than north to south.
But the benefits of Albion are as follows: the trees in the park (and close to the courts) are taller than they are at RHP (so there is more shade there); unless it is Clifton Little League Baseball season (which I would guess to be in the spring months), nobody seems to be paying attention to and/or using this park…which would make it very easy for us to take it over (even more so than Holster where we seem to only get two out of the three courts on average); and the parking situation is much better as there is plenty of it (again, baseball season may change that) and it is just a short walk downhill rather than a long walk uphill as it is at HP.
Celis arrived at 11:50 and Martinelli arrived at 11:55. We had a hitting session where it was Frank and Spin hitting against Dino until Celis suggested playing Canadian Doubles. We probably got it underway a little after 12noon.
It ended at 12:35 with Samara winning 6 games, Celis winning 5 and Martinelli winning 1. The main difference between Frank and Dino was that Celis served first and was broken. From there, both competitors always held serve and Samara was able to get to 6 games won first.
We then B.S.'ed until 12:55 where we basically decided to start going to Albion from now on (weekdays prior to C.G. and then the Sunday morning sessions) rather than Holster.
All around, it is just a better location (other than the court set-up, but it doesn't seem to be as problematic as it is at RHP…perhaps there is a slight north to south tilt there…there is also a slight downward slant from west to east for draining purposes, but it is nothing like the hill at Ravine!) that is more user-friendly.
Also, for parents like me who occasionally bring their kids to the park while playing tennis, the playground set-up is under the shade of the trees and in plain sight of the courts. At Holster, the kids basically "bake" under the sun while on the playground apparatus and you have to make a concerted effort to go to the entrance gate of the courts to see what they are doing.
If anyone wants to continue playing at Holster, that is fine. Please send in your scores from there as most do while I am not there anyway. But whenever I'm hosting weeknight or Sunday tennis, I will be going to Albion rather than Holster from here forward.
To find Albion Park, just enter 237 Maplewood Ave., Clifton, NJ 07013 into your GPS.
Going back to how Sunday unfolded, I felt fine walking off the court and hanging out with Spin and Dino for a while afterward. But soon after I returned home around 2:30, I begin to feel the effects of heat stroke (even though I did stay hydrated throughout the day). I won't begin to describe the symptoms (those who have had it already likely know what I went through for the balance of the day and night). It seems I just overdid it a bit during such hot and humid conditions.
As it turns out, there was eventually some GTA action at RHP. We now go to Gen for her recap.
It was sunny, hot and humid and not much shade at the RHP courts. We had the occasional clouds that momentarily blocked the sun as well as some intermittent breeze. Mike Mole and I got together mid-afternoon and hit for 15-20 minutes prior to our One-Setter.
The RHP Result:
Mike Mole over Genalin Capan, 7-5! Mike: 1 Ace. Mike closed out the set on the 3rd MP!
Samara's Notes: I thank Gen for sending in that result. And now we head to Nutley for the NTC scores from The Riz.
The NTC Results:
Senthil Kumar/Joe Rodrigues over John Rizzo/Alfred Chen, 7-5! No Aces (apparently).
Senthil Kumar/Dan Hwang over John Rizzo/Alfred Chen, 6-2! No Aces (apparently).
Senthil Kumar/Dan Hwang tied with Joe Rodrigues/Alfred Chen, 3-3 (Incomplete when a thunderstorm hit)!
We got rained out at 7pm.
Samara's Notes: I thank John for sending in those scores. 7pm…yes, I noticed the same in Passaic around that time and sent a text message to Spin as I knew he had been planning on attending the usual session up at Cedar Grove along with Dino.
Kris later let me know that the 7pm rains struck there as well…washing out any chances of a session there. So, we can't say all's well that ends well. But we can say that despite severe heat wave conditions, we did manage to get in a decent amount of GTA Tennis. And I lived to tell about it. So maybe it is all's well that ends well…LOL!
Sincerely,
Frank Samara
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