11/29 Results.

11/29/16:         

"Frank/John/Kevin host 13 at The Bubble!":                                          

GTA Tuesday Night Tennis took place at The Wayne Bubble with the usual hosts ("Hollywood" Frank Samara and "Mr. Arizona" John Incognito), but "Kevlar" Kevin Doyle has been stepping up so much lately with his contributions to these reports…that he deserves a co-host credit as well. 

In fact, we will go to his recap first before listing all the other results.

The Wayne Bubble Results:

The action on Court Four was as follows (we switched sides only between the sets).

Sean McHugh/Kathy Sheldon over Kevin Doyle/Dawn Peterson, 7-5!  No Aces (apparently).

Kevin Doyle/Dawn Peterson over Sean McHugh/Kathy Sheldon, 7-5!  No Aces (apparently).

The Kevlar Commentary: Both sets were highly competitive.  Dawn and I fell behind 1-4 in the first one, but then we found our strokes and things evened out as we climbed back to 5-6.  But we had dug ourselves into too deep of a hole and ended up losing the last game (which alternated Ad's several times) and dropped the set, 5-7.

The intensity level was turned up a bit in the second one and things got a little vicious (in a nice way) as balls sometimes whizzed within inches of peoples faces.  Dawn had blood in her eyes and she was putting some pretty good mustard on her first serves and she had her ground-strokes humming.  Kathy and Sean were very consistent all night as they were getting to everything and relentlessly making tough shots on us.  Dawn and I jumped out to a 2-0 lead in this set which was soon cut to 3-2.  The lead then flip flopped and we ended up tied at 5-All.  Dawn and I vowed, at that point, to win the set - and luckily we ended up winning the final two games as Dawn held and we broke Sean.

We were then tied at 1 set each but didn't play a third set or a Super Tiebreak to make it a full match. The reason being was that two of the players (who I won't name) were too "tired" to continue.  Maybe they should get more sleep – or focus more on eating a healthy diet and then they might have the energy to finish a match.

 
But overall it was a lot of fun and very competitive throughout the two One-Setters.

Samara's Notes: I thank Kevin for submitting those results in a very timely manner.  I also greatly appreciate his commentary as well.  And given the fact that I then saw Kevin and Sean in an extended hitting session for the balance of the evening, I guess we can all guess who those two players were…LOL!  These two teams got their official action underway first as their first One-Setter began at 9:05.

Senthil Kumar/Ryan Pienciak over Chris Chiaro/Syed Rashid, 6-3!  No Aces.  After a fairly lengthy hitting session where it was Chris and Ryan hitting against Senthil and Syed, they then switched up the teams and got this one underway on Court Two at 9:20.  Not sure when it ended as they followed it up with another One-Setter which we will soon report.

John Incognito/Pranav Sinha over Frank Samara/Scott Whisten, 6-2!  No Aces.  It went like this (I only noted the flow of the games, not who hit what winners): Pranav was broken (15-Love shifted to 15-30, Double Fault for Double Break Point and then the break), Frank was broken (Love-30, 15-30, Double Break Point, Break Point and then the break), John was broken (Triple Game Point got cut down to Deuce and then it went to Break Point and the break) and Scott was broken (15-Love shifted to 15-30, then it was 30-All, Break Point and the break) as nobody could hold serve at 2-2.  Sinha was the first to hold serve (15-Love, Double Fault for 15-All, but then it went right to Double Game Point which was then cut down to Deuce and then it was all Game Points to 3^rd Deuce, one more Game Point and then the hold), but Samara was broken again (Triple Break Point was reduced to Break Point, but then came the break) to fall to 2-4.  And from there, Incognito held at Love and Whisten was broken again (started up 15-Love, then a Double Fault for 15-All, 15-30 and then another Double Fault to set up Double Break/Match Point, it ended on Break/Match Point) to take the loss.  We played this one on Court One from 9:30 to 9:55.

The Skinny: This was my first time getting to play with Whisten and he is a solid player and all-around nice guy.  I ended up giving him the moniker of "Sweet Spot" (I was going to go with "Sweet Touch", but we already have Tito "Touch" Castolo) as he does have a good touch game where he is very adept at hitting volleys and drop shots once he rushes the net.  But the "Sweet Spot" nickname is actually more fitting because he also has great anticipation and often puts himself in the right place (aka "spot") at the right time.  I've played with Pranav on only a couple of occasions in the past.  Not sure what moniker I gave him back then, but I will now call him "The Practitioner" as he is very precise with many of his shots that also feature much pace.  He also has an impressive serve when he is able to dial it in and get it in the box.  Incognito's recent weight loss has led to him making many more gets and lasting longer in the rallies.     

Senthil Kumar/Ryan Pienciak over Chris Chiaro/Syed Rashid, 6-2!  Ryan: 1 Ace on Syed.  Not sure when this one started or finished on Court Two as Chris and Ryan then shifted over to Court Three (which had become vacant around 9:50) so that they could play a Singles One-Setter.  Meanwhile, Senthil and Syed opted to only have an extended hitting session on Court Two.

Chris Chiaro over Ryan Pienciak, 6-1!  No Aces.  Rough estimate on the time frame for this one on Court Three: 9:55 to 10:40.

Frank Samara/Scott Whisten over John Incognito/Pranav Sinha, 6-4!  No Aces.  Here's how it went down: John was broken (15-Love shifted to 15-30 shifted to Game Point, Deuce, Game Point, 2^nd Deuce, Break Point and the break), Scott was broken (30-Love, Double Fault for 30-15 on the way to Break Point and then the break), but Pranav was the first to hold serve (30-Love shifted to 30-All, Game Point, Deuce, Break Point, 2^nd Deuce, Game Point and the hold) to go up 2-1.  Frank finally held as well (Love-30 shifted to Game Point, Deuce, Game Point and the hold), but Incognito then held (15-Love shifted right to Double Break Point, but then it went to Deuce, Game Point and the hold) for a 3-2 lead.  Whisten then held (15-Love shifted to 15-30, 30-All, Break Point, Deuce and then all Break Points until 3^rd Deuce, Game Point and then the hold) and Sinha was broken (started with a Double Fault, 15-All and then right to Double Break Point and the break) to lose the lead for his team at 3-4.  Samara was also broken (started up 15-Love only to have it go straight to Double Break Point and the break) to knot the score once more at 4-4.  But from there, Mr. Arizona was broken (15-Love shifted to 15-30, 30-All, Break Point, Deuce, Break Point and the break) and then Sweet Spot Scott held in the best game of the match (started up 15-Love, it shifted to 15-30, then 30-All where the rally of the night featured Frank's greatest get of the evening which was not a winner but extended the rally that his team eventually won to set up Game/Match Point, it went to Deuce and then Break Point, back to 2^nd Deuce and then they clinched it on the 2^nd Game/Match Point) to seal the deal and get the "W!"  We also played this one on Court One and it lasted from 9:57 to 10:42.

The Skinny: John and Pranav switched up their return of service sides for this one and Incognito admitted afterward that it was a strategic mistake.  But credit goes to Scott who cleaned up his game somewhat in this 2^nd One-Setter and then Frank followed suit as well.

Both Pranav and Scott felt tired after this one.  Meanwhile, "Drill Instructor" Don Moya had some time to jump into some action late in the evening.  We decided to try to squeeze in one more One-Setter and we also decided to forego the changeovers in the hopes of getting it in and done.  Alas, it was not to be.

Frank Samara/Ryan Pienciak leading John Incognito/Don Moya, 3-2 (Incomplete when we had to shut it down at 11:02…we got this one underway on Court One at 10:47)!  John: 1 Ace on Frank.  The quick and dirty lowdown: Don was broken (Love-15, 15-All and then straight to Double Break Point, Break Point and the break) and Ryan held serve (Triple Game Point was reduced to Game Point, but then came the hold) for a 2-0 lead.  John held (Love-15, 15-All, Double Fault for 15-30, an impressive corner Ace against Frank for 30-All, then Game Point and the hold), but Frank was broken (Love-15 shifted to 30-15 then shifted again to Break Point, Deuce, Break Point and the break) to level things at 2-2.  But then Moya was broken a second straight time (15-Love shifted to 15-30 shifted again to Game Point, Deuce, Break Point and the break) for 2-3 and then we decided it was only right to call it a night!

The Skinny: Moya felt like he was finally getting warmed up just as we had to call it quits.  Pienciak felt exhausted after his earlier Singles One-Setter against Chiaro.  Meanwhile, Incognito seemed to up his level once again, but Samara seemed a little flat in this one after coming down from the previous victory in the One-Setter that had preceded this one.   Still, it was a fun way to close out a solid night of tennis.

Best wishes,

Frank Samara 

 

11/28 Results.

11/28/16:         

"Rodrigues-Phoenix, Delgado-Kazakov at C.G.!":                                          

GTA Monday Night Tennis took place at The Cedar Grove Courts, but without the usual hosts ("The K Man" Kris Srinivasan or "Hollywood" Frank Samara).  There were two full 2 out of 3 Sets Singles Matches ("J-Rod" Joe Rodrigues vs. Jay "The Rising" Phoenix, and "Lean Daddy" Dean Delgado vs. "RK Fire" Rafaelo Kazakov) as Jay and Rafaelo sent in the results.

Also, "Mr. 500" Levy Lorenzo sent in an update as he and Natalia "Nitro" Sout were only able to have a hitting session with one another. 

They both arrived at the same time around 8:10 and were hoping to have some Doubles at the conclusion of the Rodrigues-Phoenix match, but Jay was too tired to play and ended up leaving.  Joe stuck around for about 15 minutes longer to watch their hitting session.

Here are the scores of the two full matches.

The Cedar Grove Results:

2 out of 3 Sets Challenge Match:

Joe Rodrigues over Jay Phoenix, 6-4, 6-4, to successfully defend both his # 21 Rank in the Advanced Division and his # 2 Rank in the Intermediate Division!  No Aces. 

Jay has his say: We started about 7pm.  It was much more competitive than our match from two weeks ago.  This one featured numerous breaks of serves and many Deuce games, but he was just plain better on the big points.  I will to have to improve my game to beat him.

2 out of 3 Sets:

Dean Delgado over Rafaelo Kazakov, 6-3, 6-0!  Dean: 3 Aces (2 in the 1^st Set and 1 in the 2^nd Set)!  This does not count as a Rank Defense for Delgado as Kazakov is solely in the Intermediate Division.   

Samara's Notes: I do thank both Jay and Rafealo for submitting those results in a very timely manner.   

Best wishes,

Frank Samara 

 

11/27 Results.

11/27/16:

"Nate-Mole part of 8 at AP, Kevin/John host 21 (1 New) at The Bubble!:"

There were three sessions of GTA Sunday Tennis: the usual morning session at The Albion Park Courts hosted by "Hollywood" Frank Samara, but it carried over into the afternoon as it featured a full 2 out of 3 Sets Challenge Match featuring "Nate the Great" Nathan Fernandes against "Holy Moly" Mike Mole (score reported by Mole); and then the two back-to-back Night Owl group sessions at The Wayne Bubble with the first mostly hosted by "Kevlar" Kevin Doyle and the second hosted by "Mr. Arizona" John Incognito.

We will first report the comings and goings at Albion and then list the results from The Bubble as reported by John. 

Samara rolled up to Albion earlier than expected at 9:25 where he saw that all three courts were vacant.  As it was still quite chilly at that time of the morning (40 degrees and breezy, but the temps eventually climbed to a quite comfortable 50 degrees and it was sunny throughout the entire session), Frank chose to remain in his car.

But by 9:45, he started feeling antsy and he walked down to the courts and took South Court.  He then ended up playing janitor as he picked up all the empty plastic bottles left behind on the courts.

Next to arrive was "The Vin Man" Vinnie De Benedetto at 10am.  By the time he stepped onto South Court, "Latino Heat" Jose Gonzales had pulled up to the courts as well.  Jose said that Natalia "Nitro" Sout was also on her way.

Until she arrived at 10:15, Frank and Vin both hit against a solo Jose.  Then Nat arrived and took his side.  By 10:25, we had a Doubles One-Setter underway.

"Chito" Nick Inciong stepped onto Center Court at 10:40.  He would not be "the fifth wheel" for long as "Big George" Jorge Solano arrived five minutes later.

Solano had been AWOL for close to two months as he was dealing with a bad case of tennis elbow.  He first went through a routine of stretching exercises over on the North Court before he called Nick over to hit with him. 

When the first Doubles One-Setter ended at 11:05, Samara called Solano and Inciong over to the South Court to face the winners, Gonzales/Sout.  Meanwhile, Frank and Vin sat on the bench like the losers they were...LOL!  Actually, they had no problem taking a break and watching the action unfold in front of them.

Mole arrived at 11:10 just as that second Doubles One-Setter was about to get underway.  Frank told Mike that he and Vin were willing to play more Doubles as soon as a fourth player arrived.

That fourth player would be "Nate the Great" Nathan Fernandes when he made his usual exclusive entrance from the field rather than from the street above at 11:35.  From there, Frank led Nate, Mike and Vin over to the North Court for the next Doubles One-Setter of the day.

When that one finished at exactly 12:13, Vin had to leave.  Frank told Nate and Mike that they could play Singles as Samara was looking to leave around 12:45 to attend the 2pm Charitable Fundraiser hosted by "Kenny Kool" Ken Barilari.

"Coach" Dino Celis arrived at 12:25.  Just three minutes later, the last Doubles One-Setter of the day on the South Court ended and everyone left the session except for Dino and Natalia hitting on that court while Nate and Mike's Singles action led to another full Challenge Match on the North Court.

Samara ended up leaving the session featuring eight official players (not counting Celis) by 12:40. 

The Albion Park Results:

Jose Gonzales/Natalia Sout over Frank Samara/Vinnie De Benedetto, 7-5!  No Aces.  It went like this: Frank held serve (two un-returned serves and a blown volley by Jose led directly to Triple Game Point, but then Frank also blew a volley to make it Double Game Point and then came the hold) and Natalia was broken (Jose hit a winning volley for Love-15, then it went to 15-All before heading straight to Double Break Point as Vin hit a drop shot winner along the way, and then it was on Break Point where Vin hit another winner to get the break) for a 0-2 start.  Vinnie was then broken (Jose hit a winning Overhead Smash for Love-15, but then it shifted to 30-15 as Jose blew an overhead only to shift again to Break Point as Jose hit a winning volley and a winning Overhead Smash and then the break came after that) and Jose held (Love-15 shifted to 30-15 as Jose hit a winner and a winning lob, then Frank hit a winning return for 30-All, but then Jose hit a winner to set up Game Point and then he hit another winner to secure his own hold) to level things at 2-2.  Samara held again (Frank hit a winner and two un-returned serves to once again go up Triple Game Point, but then he hit a Double Fault to make it Double Game Point where another un-returned serve then secured the hold) and Sout was broken again (Frank made a nice get/winner combo for Love-130 which was where Jose hit a winning volley for 15-30 only to then have a Double Fault set up Double Break Point where Vin hit a winning passing shot return for the break) to fall to 2-4.  De Benedetto was broken again and this time it was at Love as Jose hit two winning volleys along the way (the second of which was highly impressive) and then Gonzales held again (an un-returned serve followed by a winning lob from Natalia and then a drop shot winner from her as well set up Triple Game Point which would soon be cut down by back-to-back winners by Frank...the second of which fooled everyone as he got quite a lot of zip on it as it seemed to be heading into the tape atop the net only to glide upward and over at the very last second as it then sailed its way between the two opposing players, but on Game Point the hold would come) to knot the score once more at 4-4!  Hollywood was broken for the first time as he blew an overhead, Jose hit a winning volley and Frank blew a volley to set up Triple Break Point, it then would be reduced to Deuce as Frank hit a drop shot winner along the way only to have Jose score with another very victorious volley for Break Point where he would then follow with another winning volley for the break) as his team lost their lead with the opposition now up 5-4!  But then Nitro was broken once more (Vin hit a winning drop shot return for Love-15 before it shifted to 30-15 as Jose hit a winning volley along the way only to have it shift again to Break Point as Frank made another great get/winner combo along the way and then came the break) to even the score again, this time at 5-5!  The Vin Man was broken yet again (Vin blew an overhead for Love-15 and it was off and running to Double Break Point as Jose made a speedy get/winner combo along the way, but then back-to-back winners from Frank brought it to Deuce only to then have Frank blow an overhead to set up another Break Point, it then went to 2nd Deuce where a Double Fault set up yet another Break Point where Jose scored with a drop shot winner for the break) and Latino Heat then held again (Jose hit a winning Overhead Smash for 30-Love, then Vin hit a winning volley for 30-15 only to have Frank blow a volley to set up Double Game/Match Point where Natalia scored with what turned into be a winning lob when Frank mistimed what would have been a winning Windmill Overhead Smash and instead it was just a whiff) to earn a hard-fought victory!  We played this one on the South Court from 10:25 to 11:05.

The Skinny: This one has to be considered somewhat of an upset as Samara/De Benedetto remain one of the higher-ranked teams in the Doubles Division.  It was quite a close contest throughout its entirety.  The one obvious difference is that while De Benedetto and Sout never held serve, Gonzales held every time and Samara held on his first two services but failed the third time around.  While it may not be reflected in the ranks of the Women's Division, Natalia has to be considered as a leading contender for Most Improved Women's Player of The Year.  And this one also has an outside shot at becoming a Nominee for One-Set Specialty Doubles Match of The Year at season's end.

Jorge Solano/Nick Inciong over Jose Gonzales/Natalia Sout, 6-3!  No Aces.  This one also took place on the South Court and it lasted from 11:11 to 11:46.

Nathan Fernandes/Vinnie De Benedetto over Frank Samara/Mike Mole, 6-2!  No Aces.  Here's how it went down: Frank was broken (Vin hit a winning drop shot return for Love-15, then an un-returned serve made it 15-All only to have it then go straight to Double Break Point as Frank blew a volley and Nate hit a winner along the way and then came the break), Nathan held (the rally of the match ended with an impressive Overhead Smash winner from Vin to make it 30-Love which was where Mike blazed a return winner that bounced off the nearest target...which was Vin...and then it went to 30-All in the next point where Nate then hit a winner to set up Game Point where Vin hit a vicious volley winner to secure his partner's hold) and then Mike was broken (un-returned serve for 15-Love, but then it went right to Double Break Point as Vin hit another venomous volley winner along the way and then came the break) to get off to a 0-3 start.  Vin was broken (two un-returned serves made it 30-Love, it was then 30-15 where Nate hit a volley winner for Double Game Point which was where Frank hit a winning volley of his own to cut that lead to Game Point and then it went to Deuce and then Break Point where Frank hit a winning drop shot return for the break) to allow the opposition onto the scoreboard.  But Samara was then broken at Love and Fernandes held again (Love-30 shifted to 30-All where Frank hit an accurate Backhand Volley winner that landed precisely in the back corner of the court to set up Break Point, but then it went to Deuce, Game Point where Nate hit a rare misfire of a blow overhead for 2nd Deuce, Break Point again, 3rd Deuce, Game Point and then the hold) to take a commanding 5-1 lead!  Mole then held (a truly un-returnable serve for 15-Love, then it was 15-All before Mike hit a whopper of a winner and another un-returned serve to bring it to Double Game Point and then came the hold) to pull to 2-5, but then De Benedetto held for the first time all day (an un-returned serve for 15-Love and then came the most exciting point of the match as Mike hit two would-be winners only to see the speedy Nate make awesome gets on both of them as they unexpectedly extended the point until Mike blasted an Overhead Smash winner to make sure it was out of everyone's reach...including Nate...and then it soon became 15-30 before it shifted in the other direction to set up Game/Match Point where Frank hit a return winner for Deuce, it went to 2nd Game/Match Point, 2nd Deuce, then the 3rd Game/Match Point where the hold finally came) to leave the session a happy man!  We played this one on the North Court from 11:43 to 12:13.

The Skinny: With his partner Nate on fire for most of the contest, Vin elevated his game as well.  Meanwhile, Frank and Mike each had moments where they looked like beasts only to then follow up with some ghastly errors.

Jose Gonzales/Jorge Solano over Nick Inciong/Natalia Sout, 6-2!  No Aces.  This one took place on the South Court from 11:51 to 12:28.

2 out of 3 Challenge Match:
Nathan Fernandes over Mike Mole, 7-5, 5-7, 6-4, to successfully defend his # 2 Rank in the Advanced Division!  No Aces (apparently).  This match began on the North Court at 12:15 and did not finish until 2:30!

The Holy Moly Memo: It was a great match with lots of breaks of serve.  I was leading 4-1 in the 3rd Set, but Nate came back to win it (he took five straight  games).  He played good defense and I made too many mistakes.

Samara's Notes: I thank Mike for reporting that result in such a timely fashion.  It sounds like this could be yet another Nominee for Singles Match of The Year at season's end.  And with this near-miss, Mole once again enters himself into the conversation of likely Nominees for Most Improved Player of The Year at season's end as well. 

We now turn this report over to Kevin and John. 

The Wayne Bubble Results:

Brenda Jordan/Robin Wilson over Jeanette Pegg/Marie Easton, 6-2!  It was the official GTA Debut of Marie Easton.  No Aces (apparently).

Vladimir Smolyanskiy/Brenda Jordan over Kevin Doyle/Robin Wilson, 6-2!  No Aces (apparently).

Kevin Doyle/Brenda Jordan over Vladimir Smolyanskiy/Robin Wilson, 6-4!  No Aces (apparently).

The Kevlar Commentary: In all of the matches, Brenda was her usual steady self with particularly aggressive net play.  Vladamir was also very steady and had his serve going really well.  And I have to say that Robin Wilson is improving at a very dramatic pace.  As usual she can get to everything, but also her net play was much improved and that was against pretty tough opponents.

Samara's Notes: Kevin collected all but one score from the 2nd Night Owls Group session (though their session comes first on Sundays, now 3 to 5pm instead of 4 to 6pm) and I thank him for his timely reporting of it.  John sent in that additional result (which immediately follows) and then all the scores from the 1st Night Owls Group session from 6 to 8pm.

We now turn this report over to John.

I made it to The Bubble around 4pm. Kevin collected all the scores for the 3-5pm group except for this next one.

Don Moya/Jeanette Pegg over John Incognito/Marie Easton, 6-4!  No Aces (apparently).

And then we had the 6-8pm group.

Dino Celis/Tony Shiao over John Incognito/Nick Inciong, 7-6 (7-3)!  No Aces (apparently).  We trailed (down 2-5) before coming back to take it to a Tiebreak, but could not close it out.

Dennis Cabanatan/Nick Inciong over Dino Celis/Pranav Sinha, 6-1!  No Aces (apparently).

Senthil Kumar/Tom La over Alfred Chen/Dan Hwang, 6-3!  No Aces (apparently).  Senthil asked to note that Dan played with a shoulder injury.

Dennis Cabanatan/Tom La over Senthil Kumar/Pranav Sinha, 6-3!  No Aces (apparently).

Dennis Cabanatan over Pranav Sinha, 6-2!  No Aces (apparently).

Syed Rashid/Mike Sindler over Sean McHugh/Kathy Sheldon, 6-2!  No Aces (apparently).

Syed Rashid/Sean McHugh over Mike Sindler/Kathy Sheldon, 6-4!  No Aces (apparently).

Don Moya/Kathy Sheldon leading Tony Shiao/Sean McHugh, 4-2 (Incomplete when they ran out of time)!  No Aces (apparently).

Samara's Notes: I thank John for his very timely reporting as well.  I am very pleased to see all of the results that have been pouring in from The Bubble as of late.

Sincerely,
Frank Samara


 

11/26 Results.

11/26/16:

"11 (2 New) play impromptu session at C.G.!:"

There was an impromptu session of GTA Saturday Tennis at The Cedar Grove Courts that came together quite quickly and successfully.

"Dominant" Dawn Peterson issued an e-mail to the league Saturday morning seeking to put together a session at 11am.  She had already privately lined up some willing participants.

The first to respond was "Mr. 500" Levy Lorenzo who announced that he would love to play with her along with his son, Levy Jr. (aka "LL Cool Jr."), who was visiting from Brooklyn for the Thanksgiving weekend.

"The Argentine Machine" Fernanda Toker then sent a reply stating that she could get there around noon.

Later e-mails went back and forth that included Dennis "The Menace" Cabanatan, Natalia "Nitro" Sout and "Holy Moly" Mike Mole.  As it turns out, however, Dennis was later unable to attend the session while Mike did get involved in some official action but also only had a one hour hitting session with Natalia.

Without "Hollywood" Frank Samara or the usual host there, "The K Man" Kris Srinivasan, this session ended up being quite a success.

And this is how the relatively new e-mail address that "The Webmaster" Senthil Kumar created should function.  All you have to do is to send a reply to the Google groups address from which all the group e-mails generate and it serves as a "Reply to All" without the prior problems we had with such a lengthy mailing list.

It is a shame that this only started being used successfully so late in the season, but it proves to be a promising development for next season and the other seasons to follow.

We now list contributions from Lorenzo, Toker, "The Marathon Woman" Doinks Srinivasan, "Latino Heat" Jose Gonzales and "RK Fire" Rafaelo Kazakov . 

Let's now recap all the action that transpired up at Cedar Grove.

The Cedar Grove Results:

Jose Gonzales/Levy Lorenzo Jr. over Rafaelo Kazakov/Melvin Hyman, 6-2!  Jose: 2 Aces; and Levy: 1 Ace.  It was the official GTA Debut of Levy Lorenzo Jr.

Levy Lorenzo/Brenda Jordan over Mike Mole/Dawn Peterson, 8-6!  No Aces. 

Levy's Letter: We opted to continue playing until one team won by two games (no Tiebreak).  We were leading 4-0, but they caught up to take the lead at 5-4.  We took the next two games to go up 6-5 before it tied up again at 6-6.  We then took the last two games.

Jose Gonzales/Kevin Doyle over Levy Lorenzo Jr./Alex Roumi, 7-6 (7-3)!  No Aces.  It was the official GTA Debut of Alex Roumi.

Mike Mole/Brenda Jordan over Levy Lorenzo/Dawn Peterson, 6-2!  No Aces.

Levy Lorenzo Jr./Doinks Srinivasan over Rafaelo Kazakov/Fernanda Toker, 6-3!  Levy: 1 Ace.

Doinks' Diary: I chose to play with Levi Jr. since my left knee was still hurting.  He plays an aggressive game and has some good ground-strokes.

Jose Gonzales/Fernanda Toker over Levy Lorenzo Jr./Alex Roumi, 6-1!  No Aces.

Toker's Take: I was able to get the e-mail address of Alex who is friends with Mel Hyman as he expressed interest in becoming part of the league (Doinks also supplied the same).

Samara's Notes: I thank all involved for both their reporting and recruiting efforts.

Sincerely,
Frank Samara

11/25 Results.

11/25/16:         

"John hosts 4 at The Bubble!":                                          

A special session of GTA Friday Tennis took place at The Wayne Bubble as "Mr. Arizona" John Incognito acted as the host of a booked session for four players and sent in the results.

And here they are!

The Wayne Bubble Results:

Dennis Cabanatan/Don Moya over Anish Mehta/John Incognito, 6-2!  Dennis: 1 Ace on Anish.

Dennis Cabanatan/Don Moya over Anish Mehta/John Incognito, 6-4!  No Aces.

John Incognito/Don Moya over Anish Mehta/Dennis Cabantan, 6-3!  No Aces.

Samara's Notes: I do thank John for submitting those scores in a very timely manner.    

Best wishes,

Frank Samara 

 

11/23 Results.

11/23/16:         

"John hosts 12 at The Bubble!":                                          

GTA Wednesday Night Tennis took place at The Wayne Bubble as "Mr. Arizona" John Incognito acted as the host of the second Night Owls Group and sent in the results.

And here they are!

The Wayne Bubble Results:

Levy Lorenzo/Ray Spadaro over Ted Cedroski/Jeanette Pegg, 6-3!  No Aces (apparently).  It was the official GTA Return of Ray Spadaro.

Levy Lorenzo/Ted Cedroski over Vladimir Smolyanskiy/Ray Spadaro, 7-6 (7-3)!  No Aces (apparently).

John Incognito/Don Moya over Ryan Pienciak/Adam Pienciak, 7-6 (10-8)!  No Aces (apparently).  After having been down 2-5, John and Don rallied back to eventually force the Tiebreak!  In the Breaker, they ended up winning it on the 5th Match Point!

Samara's Notes: That sounds to me like a definite Nominee for One-Set Doubles Match of the Year at season's end.

Ryan Pienciak/Adam Pienciak over John Incognito/Don Moya, 7-5!  No Aces (apparently).

Kevin Doyle/Brenda Jordan over Vladimir Smolyanskiy/Robin Wilson, 6-2!  No Aces (apparently).

Vladimir Smolyanskiy/Brenda Jordan over Kevin Doyle/Robin Wilson, 6-4!  No Aces (apparently).

Brenda Jordan/Jeanette Pegg over Kevin Doyle/Robin Wilson, 6-4!  No Aces (apparently).

Samara's Notes: I do thank John for submitting those scores in a very timely manner.  Also, it is good to see "Stingray" Ray Spadaro back in action after serious neck surgery almost one year ago. 

Best wishes,

Frank Samara 

 

11/22 Results.

11/22/16:

"Frank/John host 17 (1 New) at The Bubble!:"

There was just one session of GTA Tuesday Night Tennis: the Night Owls session up at The Wayne Bubble.  Co-hosts and cohorts "Hollywood" Frank Samara and "Mr. Arizona" John Incognito arrived together at 8:45.

There was already a fairly sizeable group of our players waiting in the lobby area: "The Webmaster" Senthil Kumar, "Killer Kat" Kathy Sheldon, "Dominant" Dawn Peterson, "Kevlar" Kevin Doyle and his friend, Sean McHugh, who is a regular member of The Night Owls Group (but had yet to play in any official GTA matches).  Soon after, Mike Sindler, Tony "Sure Shot" Shiao and "The Lumberjack" Ryan Pienciak all also arrived.

We all waited in the lobby for our 9pm start time.  Just as the clock was about to strike nine, "Sadistic" Syed Rashid, GTA Champion: "King Crush" Chris Chiaro and "The Lethal Lefty" Lou La Forgia all arrived at the same time.  Another five minutes later, "RK Fire" Rafaelo Kazakov did the same.

With only three of the four courts available at 9pm (as Court Three is occupied with four Bubble regulars until 9:45...hence the reason for no subs on Tuesdays), John had to step into his usual role of determining who should play who and on which courts.

He first directed Doyle, McHugh, Sheldon and Peterson to play Mixed Doubles on Court Four.  For Court Two, it would be buddies Shiao and Pienciak teaming together to take on Kumar and Sindler.  And on Court One, Incognito and Rashid would face Samara and Kazakov.

Chiaro and La Forgia agreed to wait for Court Three to open up as John had assured them that some stiffer competition was likely on its way...and it was.

Once the action was underway, three more players arrived to join Chris and Lou in the lobby area: Dennis "The Menace" Cabanatan, "The Hitman" Tom La and Pranav Sinha.

John's work never seemed to be done as he had to continue to intervene and manage the match-ups along the way.  Meanwhile, Frank's role was per his usual one...collecting all the scores along the way.

It was an impressive total of seventeen official competitors ("Drill Instructor" Don Moya was only able to make an extended cameo appearance as his playing services were never needed).

Let's get to those scores now.

The Wayne Bubble Results:

Kevin Doyle/Dawn Peterson over Sean McHugh/Kathy Sheldon, 7-6 (7-4)!  No Aces.  It was the official GTA Debut of Sean McHugh.  They took Court Four a little before 9pm.  Not sure how long their hitting session was to warm up, but this one did not get finished until 10:01.  And they also decided to forego the changeovers! Kevin explained that almost all of the games went to Deuce and many were multiple Deuce games.

Senthil Kumar/Mike Sindler over Tony Shiao/Ryan Pienciak, 6-3!  Ryan: 2 Aces on Senthil!  They took Court Two just after 9pm.  Again, not sure how long their warm-up was, but this one ended exactly at 9:43.  This has to be considered somewhat of an upset.

John Incognito/Syed Rashid over Frank Samara/Rafaelo Kazakov, 7-5!  John: 1 Ace on Rafaelo.  Here's the basic breakdown (we did the changeovers where I only wrote the flow of the games, I did not note who hit what winners where and when): John held serve (Love-15 went straight to Double Game Point and then the hold), Rafaelo was broken (15-Love then point for point until 30-All, Break Point and the break) and Syed held (30-Love, 30-15, Double Game Point and the hold) as his team jumped out to a 3-0 lead!  Frank held (15-Love, 15-All then right to Double Game Point and the hold) to get his team on the scoreboard and then Incognito was broken (Love-30, 15-30, Double Break Point and the break) to have his team's lead cut down to 3-2.  Kazakov held (Triple Game Point, Double Game Point and the hold) and Rashid was broken (up 30-Love, a Double Fault for 30-15, Double Game Point, Game Point, a Double Fault for Deuce, Break Point and the break) to lose the lead for his team as they were now down 3-4!  Samara held again and in the same manner as his first go-round (15-Love, 15-All then right to Double Game Point and the hold) to take a 5-3 lead for his team, but Mr. Arizona held and it was at Love after he started with a sideline Ace on Rafaelo as his tandem pulled to 4-5!  RK Fire was broken (Triple Break Point was brought back to Break Point, but then came the break) to level things at 5-5 and then Sadistic Syed held (Triple Game Point was cut down to Deuce, but then came another Game Point and then the hold) to put his team back up, 6-5!  The Wood was then broken for the first time (Love-30, 15-30, it ended on Double Break/Match Point) to take a tough loss!  We played this one on Court One from 9:15 (after hitting for ten minutes) to exactly 9:57.

Samara volunteered to sit out the next round of action to allow Sindler back in (Tom La had replaced him on Court Two), but John soon informed him that his services would be needed on Court One for the next Mixed Doubles match-up as Doyle was set to leave early.

Meanwhile, Incognito soon found out that Kazakov had taken a phone call.  John then had to ask Kevin to stick around for another Doubles One-Setter which was started on Court One, but it would soon be aborted.

Kevin Doyle/Mike Sindler leading John Incognito/Syed Rashid, 2-1 (Incomplete once Incognito realized that Kazakov was now ready to play)!  No Aces.

Senthil Kumar/Tom La over Tony Shiao/Ryan Pienciak, 7-6 (7-5)!  No Aces.  This one got underway on Court Two at 9:50, but not sure when it ended as there was just too much action to follow while also being involved in other action myself.

2 out of 3 Sets Doubles Match:
Chris Chiaro/Lou La Forgia over Dennis Cabanatan/Pranav Sinha, 6-0, 6-2, to successfully defend the # 12 Rank in the Doubles Division while Cabanatan/Sinha entered the division as the New # 71 Ranked Team!  Lou: 1 Ace on Dennis in the 1st Set.  They played this on Court Three from 9:55 to 10:35.

Frank Samara/Dawn Peterson over Sean McHugh/Kathy Sheldon, 6-3!  Dawn: 1 Ace on Kathy.  As they once again decided to forego the changeovers, I had to remember the flow of all the games until I was able to write them down after the match.  They went as follows: Kathy was broken (started with a Double Fault, then it was 15-All before heading to Double Break Point, then came Break Point and the break), Frank was broken (Love-15 shifted straight to Double Game Point, then it shifted to Deuce, Break Point and the break), Sean was broken in a battle (15-Love, 15-All, 30-15, Double Fault for 30-All, Break Point, Deuce, Game Point, 2nd Deuce, Game Point, 3rd Deuce, Break Point and the break) and Dawn was broken (started off down Love-30 which was where she hit a nice sideline Ace against Kathy for 15-30, but then it went to Double Break Point and the break) as nobody could hold serve at 2-2.  Sheldon was broken again (Love-15 shifted to 30-15 shifted again to Break Point, then Deuce and all Game Points until 3rd Deuce, Break Point and the break), but Samara was the first to hold serve (the rally of the match led to Love-15, it then shifted to 30-15, shifted again to Break Point, then Deuce and all Break Points until 3rd Deuce, Game Point, 4th Deuce, Game Point again and finally the hold) as his team went up 4-2!  McHugh then also held (30-Love shifted to 30-All, Game Point and the hold) to pull to 3-4, but then Peterson also held (30-Love to 30-All, Game Point and the hold) to take a 5-3 lead.  Then, Killer Kat was broken a third straight time and this time it was at Love after starting off with another Double Fault!  We played this on Court Four from 10:05 to 10:40.

The Skinny: This was my first time meeting Sean and he is a very nice guy.  I could be wrong, but I think I detected a slight Irish brogue.  He is also a solid Doubles player who made many nice gets along the way.  He is a crafty lefty who seems to always know where to be on the court.  Unfortunately, he is likely to be only a candidate for competition at The Bubble and nowhere else as he resides in the Pompton Lakes area.  Still, he is a welcome addition to the league.

Kevin Doyle/Syed Rashid over Rafaelo Kazakov/Mike Sindler, 6-1!  Rafaelo: 1 Ace on Kevin.  Not sure when they got this one underway on Court One, but it ended at 10:50.  Afterward, buddies Syed and Mike had a hitting session with one another.

Chris Chiaro/Lou La Forgia over Senthil Kumar/Tom La, 6-3!  No Aces.  Again, not sure of the starting time of this contest on Court Two, but it was over at 11:10.  The deal was winners versus winners and losers versus losers when the teams switched up between Courts Two and Three.  But Cabanatan was feeling exhausted from a rough night the night before, so Dennis asked John if he could take his place in the next One-Setter on Court Three.

Tony Shiao/Ryan Pienciak over John Incognito/Pranav Sinha, 6-4!  No Aces.  As this one was the last of all of them to get underway (again, not sure exactly when), they decided to forego the changeovers.  John and Pranav were up 4-2 only to drop the last four games as Tony and Ryan finally beat the demons of a tough outing and got their first win of the night at exactly 11:17!

All in all, it was quite the session.  The Night Owl sessions are going strong up at The Bubble and I am quite pleased that we have been recently capturing so many of the scores and recording them as GTA Results.  This is a trend that I hope will continue until we officially shut down the 2016 Season on December 15th.  I also hope it has become a habit that will be revisited when we start the 2017 Season on or before March 1st.

Best wishes,
Frank Samara

11/20 Results.

11/20/16:

"Nate-Mole at AP, Double Bubble sessions in Wayne feat. 19 players!:

There were three sessions of GTA Sunday Tennis: an early afternoon session at The Albion Park Courts (not hosted by "Hollywood" Frank Samara, due to inclement weather overnight and earlier in the morning) which featured a full 3 out of 5 Sets Challenge Match featuring "Nate the Great" Nathan Fernandes against "Holy Moly" Mike Mole (score reported by Mole); and then back-to-back sessions (starting in the late afternoon and going into the evening hours) at The Wayne Bubble hosted by "Mr. Arizona" John Incognito, but with results also being sent in by both "Kevlar" Kevin Doyle and Dennis "The Menace" Cabanatan.

Getting back to the change of plans for the Albion session, the overnight rain (snow in some areas) ended early enough for a session to take place.  But the ground in Passaic was still wet when Samara surveyed it around 9am.

At 9:20, he sent a text message to "The K Man" Kris Srinivasan asking him to e-mail the league to inform them that he would no longer be hosting the usual morning session. 

Less than twenty minutes later, Kris replied that he would do it.  As it turned out, it was his wife Doinks who sent the e-mail out to the league around 9:40 (I thank both of them for their help with that).

The temps were in the 40 degree range, but the wind gusts of 40 to 50 mph made it feel much more like a winter day in the 30 degree range!

So color me shocked when Mike reported a result as having taken place there later in the day (slightly sunnier, but still not warm!).

We will first report the match at Albion and then list the results from The Bubble as reported by John. 

The Albion Park Result:

3 out of 5 Sets Challenge Match:
Nathan Fernandes over Mike Mole, 6-2, 6-4, 6-1, to successfully defend his # 2 Rank in the Advanced Division!  No Aces (apparently).  Mike said it lasted from 2pm to 4pm.

Samara's Notes: I thank Mike for reporting that result in such a timely fashion.

We now turn this report over to The Bubble Boys (starting with a combination of Kevin and John at the earlier session and then the combo of John and Dennis at the later session). 

The Wayne Bubble Results:

John Incognito/Brenda Jordan over Kevin Doyle/Robin Wilson, 6-0!  No Aces (apparently).

The Kevlar Commentary: Most of the games were close, but John and Brenda prevailed.

Vladimir Smolyanskiy/Janette Pegg over Meet Rana/Ania Rachwal, 6-4!  No Aces (apparently).  It was the official GTA Return of Meet Rana.

John Incognito/Brenda Jordan over Vladimir Smolyanskiy/Janette Pegg, 6-0!  No Aces (apparently).

Vladimir Smolyanskiy/Brenda Jordan over John Incognito/Janette Pegg, 6-3!  No Aces (apparently).

Kevin Doyle/Robin Wilson vs. Meet Rana/Ania Rachwal, tied 6-6! Incomplete as time ran out on the session as we started the Tiebreak.  No Aces (apparently).

Samara's Notes: Unfortunately, we cannot count that last one as an official result.  I do thank Kevin for the additional scores he sent in…and of course, thanks to John for all he does for the GTA up at The Bubble.  And now there is still more from Mr. Incognito (with some assistance/duplication from Dennis) from the latter session.

Don Moya over John Incognito, 6-3!  No Aces (apparently).

2 out of 3 Sets Doubles Match:
John Incognito/Alfred Chen over Don Moya/Pranav Sinha, 1-6, 6-1, 7-6 (7-1), as both teams entered the Doubles Division as the New # 69 and # 70 Ranked Teams respectively!  It was the official GTA Return of Pranav Sinha.  No Aces (apparently).

Ryan Pienciak/Tom La over Dennis Cabanatan/Kathy Sheldon, 6-1!  No Aces (apparently).

Ryan Pienciak/Tom La over Dennis Cabanatan/Kathy Sheldon, 6-4!  No Aces (apparently).

Ryan Pienciak/Dennis Cabanatan over Tom La/Kathy Sheldon, 6-4!  No Aces (apparently).

Senthil Kumar/Syed Rashid over Nick Inciong/Mike Sindler, 6-4!  No Aces (apparently).

Nick Inciong/Mike Sindler over Senthil Kumar/Syed Rashid, 6-4!  No Aces (apparently).

Samara's Notes: I must say that I'm very pleased with the level of reporting from The Bubble this week.  Again, I thank John, Kevin and Dennis for all of their efforts.

Sincerely,
Frank Samara


 

11/19 Results.

11/19/16:         

"Dennis hosts 5 at C.G.!":                                          

GTA Saturday Tennis took place at The Cedar Grove Courts in the late afternoon hours.  Since neither "The K Man" Kris Srinivasan nor "Hollywood" Frank Samara was around to host, Dennis "The Menace" Cabanatan stepped up to act as the impromptu host and send in the results.

And here they are!

The Cedar Grove Results:

Dan Martinelli/Levy Lorenzo over Dennis Cabanatan/Rafaelo Kazakov, 6-3!  No Aces (apparently).

Jose Gonzales/Levy Lorenzo over Dennis Cabanatan/Rafaelo Kazakov, 6-3!  No Aces (apparently).

Samara's Notes: I do thank Dennis for submitting those scores in a very timely manner. 

Best wishes,

Frank Samara 

11/18 Results.

11/18/16:

"Samara hosts 12 at C.G.!:"

There was just one session of GTA Friday Night Tennis: the usual later session up at The Cedar Grove Courts hosted by "Hollywood" Frank Samara (with some assistance from the usual host there, "The K Man" Kris Srinivasan). 

Let's now recap all that transpired up at Cedar Grove.

Samara pulled into the parking lot at 6:35 and saw that Court One, Two and Three were all vacant.  On Court Four, however, were two Asian guys that he believed he had never seen before.  So Frank decided to step out onto Court One as he figured it was the next best thing.

Just five minutes later he saw pulling into the parking lot, "J-Bach" Jordan Bachvaroff.  Jordan soon joined him out on Court One, but it was all conversation until those two guys left Court One at 6:45.

At that time, Samara and Bachvaroff soon shifted over to Court Four and then began hitting against one another.  And not long after that shift, a father/son combo took over Court One.

Kris crossed the street and headed out onto Court Four around 7:10 and, at first, it was a group conversation rather than a hitting session.  Within the timeframe of that discussion, "The Secret Weapon" Sairaj Srinivasan, "Latino Heat" Jose Gonzales and "J-Rod" Joe Rodriuges all soon made their way out onto Court Four.

Frank and Kris debated which situations would be best in terms of splitting up the group between Courts Three and Four.  During this, Srinivasan informed Samara that his wife, "The Marathon Woman" Doinks Srinivasan would soon be coming from across the street.

Frank said to let the four who had now been out on Court Four (Kris and Sairaj hitting against Jose and Jordan) continued to hit with one another (and eventually have it lead to a Doubles Setter) while Samara shifted over to Court Three to hit with Rodrigues.

Just five minutes later, Doinks joined Frank and Joe out on that court as she took the side of Rodrigues in hitting against Samara.  This ended up being quite the lengthy two-on-one hitting session as it seemed that an eight player coming for the evening was starting to look like Mission Impossible.

Finally, "Mr. 500" Levy Lorenzo arrived at 8pm and soon headed out onto Court Three.  Kris, upon the ending of his first Doubles One-Setter just two minutes later, suggested a shift in the talent for the next two Doubles One-Setters.

But before Frank and Kris could figure out what would be best for both courts, Jose decided to volunteer to head over to Court Three with Samara coming over to Court Four to take his place.

And so that is how it went with both starting at 8:05 and 8:06 respectively.  By 8:10, Natalia "Nitro" Sout had arrived and she took a seat on the bench alongside Court Four.  Levy was kind enough to go retrieve her a blanket as the temps had dropped nearly two degrees from earlier in the day (a peak temperature of 67 degrees!). 

Natalia also informed us that "Coach" Dino Celis was on his way.  Dino finally came thru at 8:35.

Around that same time, two other guys took Court One (the father/son combo had left quite a while ago) and started hitting with one another.  Not long after when Samara headed to the side of Court Four that borders Court One, one of the two guys said "hello!"

It turns out that it was "The P.M." Paul Mysliewiec who had played with us at Robin Hood Park in Clifton in the past.  Paul said that his buddy was very new to tennis, so it would not be a good idea to try to bring him into the league at this time...but maybe in the near future.

At 8:40, two more players arrived and they took Court Two (the last one available at that time).  Once they were invited over to Court Three a little after 9:15...we realized it was Chris Barbieri and Andrea Lim.

They were our last two official competitors for the evening which gave us a grand total of twelve.  It was a decent turnout given the fact that the temps had dropped so dramatically from just a couple hours earlier.

The Cedar Grove Results:

Jose Gonzales/Jordan Bachvaroff over Kris Srinivasan/Sairaj Srinivasan, 6-2!  Jordan: 1 Ace on Sairaj.  They played this one on Court Four from 7:30 to 8:02.  Jordan and Jose had been up 5-0 and had two Match Points that were each saved by The Srinivasans who fought back to win two games before ultimately going down to defeat!

Jose Gonzales/Levy Lorenzo over Joe Rodrigues/Doinks Srinivasan, 6-4!  No Aces.  Court Three hosted this one from 8:05 to 8:43.

Frank Samara/Kris Srinivasan over Jordan Bachvaroff/Sairaj Srinivasan, 6-2!  No Aces.  It went like this: Frank held serve (an un-returned serve for 15-Love where Sairaj hit an excellent winning return right off of the sideline for 15-All which was where Jordan hit a mishit winner of an Overhead Smash for 15-30, but then Kris hit a Samara-like Windmill Overhead Smash to make it 30-All only to have Jordan hit a net-cord aided return winner to set up Break Point, but then another un-returned serve made it Deuce, then came Game Point and the hold) and Jordan was broken (an un-returned serve for 15-Love where Frank hit a winning return for 15-All and then Kris hit another winning Overhead Smash to make it 15-30, it was then 30-All where Kris hit a winning drop shot return for Break Point and then Jordan badly blew an overhead to break himself) to start off at 0-2!  Kris was broken (Love-30 shifted to 30-All right after Kris hit a scorching winner, but then Sairaj made a great get and then followed that with an excellent return winner for the break) to allow the opposition onto the scoreboard, but Sairaj was also broken (15-Love, Double Fault for 15-All on the way to Double Break Point which was where Jordan hit an emphatic Backhand Volley winner to make it Break Point, then it went to Deuce and then Break Point again where Kris hit a whopper of a winner for the break) to fall to 1-3.  Samara held again (15-Love which was where Kris blew an overhead to make it 15-All, but then it went straight to Double Game Point where Kris blew another overhead to make it Game Point and then it was Deuce where a truly un-returnable serve set up Game Point and then came another un-returned serve to secure the hold) to go up 4-1.  Bachvaroff held (back-to-back winning volleys by Jordan made it 30-Love, but then he blew a volley to make it 30-15 where he then hit a blasting winner off of the net-cord to set up Double Game Point which was where Frank blew a volley to allow the hold) to pull to 2-4.  But from there, Papa Srinivasan held (an un-returned serve for 30-Love, then it was 30-15 where another un-returned serve set up Double Game Point only to have yet another un-returned serve secure the hold) and Son Srinivasan was broken again (Sairaj hit a winner and followed that with an un-returned serve for 30-Love which was where Kris hit a winning volley for 30-15, it went to Double Game Point which was where Frank hit a winning drop shot return to cut the lead to Game Point and then it went to Deuce, Break/Match Point where Jordan hit a winning volley for 2nd Deuce, then it was 2nd Break/Match Point where Frank hit a drop shot winner to end it) to take the loss.  We played this one on Court Four from 8:06 to 8:41.

There was another debate about how the next two Doubles One-Setter match-ups would be formed with Rodrigues leaving and Celis and Sout both set to hit the courts. 

We decided on Mixed Doubles for Court Three where Jose was happy to team with Natalia in facing Levy and Doinks.  Meanwhile, Dino and Frank would team to take on Kris and Jordan on Court Four.

Levy Lorenzo/Doinks Srinivasan over Jose Gonzales/Natalia Sout, 6-4!  Jose: 1 Ace on Levy.  This one took place on Court Three from 8:46 to 9:16.

Kris Srinivasan/Jordan Bachvaroff over Dino Celis/Frank Samara, 7-6 (9-7)!  Jordan: 2 Aces on Dino; Kris: 1 Ace on Dino; and Dino: 1 Ace on Kris.  Here's the breakdown (where I could not remember the winners for some of the games due to the length of some of the multiple Deuce games along the way): Jordan held serve (started with a Double Fault, but then it went straight to Double Game Point as Kris hit a drop shot that forced an error and then he hit two winning volleys along the way and then came the hold), Dino was broken (an un-returned serve for 15-Love, but then it went right to Double Break Point as Frank blew a volley along the way, a truly un-returnable serve made it Break Point, then it was Deuce where an extended and excellent rally led to Break Point and then came the break), Kris held (started with a sideline Ace on Dino and then Kris hit a drop shot winner for 30-Love which was where Dino hit a winner for 30-15, then it went to Double Game Point, Game Point and the hold) and Frank was broken (Dino hit an awesome winner for 15-Love, then it shifted to 15-30 where an un-returned serve made it 30-All, then it was Break Point where Kris hit a drop shot winner for the break) as his team got off to a surprisingly lopsided start at 0-4!  Bachvaroff was broken (15-Love, Double Fault for 15-All, 15-30, Double Fault for Double Break Point, sideline Ace on Dino for Break Point which was where Kris blew a volley to allow the break) and Celis held (Love-15 then point for point to Break Point, Deuce, Game Point and the hold) to pull to 2-4.  Then came an epic game with Srinivasan on serve as it went from Love-15 to 30-15 to Break Point, then Deuce, Game Point, 2nd Deuce, Break Point, 3rd Deuce, Game Point, 4th Deuce, Break Point and the break and then Samara held (an un-returned serve for 15-Love and then it went point for point to Game Point as Kris hit a drop shot winner, Frank hit an amazing winner and Jordan blew a volley along the way and then Kris blew an overhead to allow the hold) to knot the score at 4-4!  J-Bach held (Jordan hit a winning lob for a 30-Love start which was where he hit a Double Fault for 30-15 and then he blew an overhead for 30-All, but then an un-returned serve set up Game Point and then came the hold), but so did Coach (Love-15 and then 15-All where a sideline Ace against Kris made it 30-15 and then it went to Double Game Point, Game Point, Deuce, Game Point and the hold) to level thing again, this time at 5-5!  The K Man held (15-Love then point for point until 30-All, Break Point, Deuce, Game Point and then the hold), but so did The Wood (Love-15 went straight to Double Game Point, Game Point and the hold) and we were heading to the Tiebreak!  In the Breaker: Jordan held his lone serve and then Dino was broken on his first but held his second serve for 1-2.  Kris held his first but was broken on his second serve for 3-2.  Frank held the first of his two serves for 3-3 at the changeover, but was then broken on his second to fall to 3-4.  Bachvaroff was broken on his first to knot the score at 4-4, but then he hit a big Ace up the T against Dino on his second go-round to go up 5-4!  Celis held both of his serves to shift the lead to his team's favor at 6-5, making it the first Match Point of the entire contest!  Srinivasan was now on serve and a lengthy and exciting rally ended with Frank blowing a volley when he tried to land it at the feet of Kris along the baseline, but instead sailed it just a bit long.  In this moment, Samara let out a Tarzan-like scream that had even Jordan saying: "Damn!  He's even louder than I am!"  This now made it 6-6 at the second changeover.  The K Man was broken on his second serve, thus handing Hollywood a 7-6 lead (the 2nd Match Point).  Frank, as he always does, called out the score and announced that it was Match Point.  Jordan must have thought this was done in a cocky manner as he had a little fun questioning it.  Well, Samara ended up being broken on both of his serves to now offer up an 8-7 lead (the 3rd Match Point and the first one in favor of Srinivasan/Bachvaroff) to J-Bach as he was about to serve.  Now he was the one to emphasize that it was Match Point in his team's favor where he then hit an emphatic serve which was borderline un-returnable as it bounced back short off of the frame of Frank's racquet to end this hard-fought contest!  We played this one on Court One from 8:47 to 9:51...one hour and four minutes!

The Skinny: Dino did not have much hitting when he said he was ready to go.  But the way things got going, it looked like he could have benefited from a lengthier warm-up.  His normally "money" forehand shots were often sailing long or sometimes into the net.  Once he was able to dial that in, the momentum of this match shifted quite convincingly.  All four players had moments to be proud of only to be balanced out by some shameful scenes.  It is truly a shame that I could not remember all of the winners for every single game.  The irony is that Samara may have been the most consistent player of the four, but hit the worst Unforced Error at the most crucial moment in the match.  Had he landed the shot, it may not have been a pure winner...but would have likely drawn an error from Kris to end the match in his team's favor.  Instead, the error extended the contest...and, well, we now know how it ultimately played out...not in his team's favor!  Kudos to both Kris and Jordan on a fine and spirited effort.  If it is any consolation for all involved, this is a likely Nominee for One-Set Doubles Match of The Year at season's end.

Doinks Srinivasan/Natalia Sout over Chris Barbieri/Andrea Lim, 6-4!  Natalia: 1 Ace on Andrea.  Court Four hosted this foursome from 9:20 to 9:54.

To close out the session, Dino and Kris had a hitting session on Court Three while Chris and Andrea did the same on Court Four.  It was quite the session, indeed!

Sincerely,
Frank Samara  

11/17 Results.

11/17/16:         

"Phoenix-Rodrigues part of 6 at C.G.!":                                          

GTA Thursday Night Tennis took place at The Cedar Grove Courts.  Since neither "The K Man" Kris Srinivasan nor "Hollywood" Frank Samara was around to host, multiple players stepped up to act as impromptu hosts and send in results along with some commentary.

Reports were submitted by Jay "The Rising" Phoenix, "Kevlar" Kevin Doyle and "Dominant" Dawn Peterson along with some clarification from "J-Rod" Joe Rodrigues.

Jay and Joe played a couple of Singles One-Setters with one another.  They had never intended it to be a full match.  But when Samara saw the submission of these scores from Mr. Phoenix, he kindly asked Jay if he would not mind recording it as a full 2 out of 3 Sets Challenge Match instead.

The reason being is that the victory (for Mr. Rodrigues) would finally allow Joe to make the long overdue jump into the Advanced Division as well (i.e. another "bridge player", much like Jay and many others).

Jay said he was fine with it and then Frank informed Joe of the change of reporting as well.  So many thanks to Mr. Phoenix for being so accommodating and understanding.

This is good sportsmanship at its finest.  It is something we need more of…not just in the GTA, but in the world in general as well.

Those that reported stated they saw "J-Bach" Jordan Bachvaroff, "The Natural" Natalie Guzman and Natalia "Nitro" Sout and somebody else playing Doubles.

I reached out to both Natalie and Natalia as I could not remember Jordan's e-mail address, but never heard back from either one in time for this report.

As such, whatever they played will have to remain unofficial and they will not be included in the total amount of official competitors for the session…which ends up only being six (rather than ten…which is somewhat unfortunate).

We will first go to Jay's report and then the coinciding reports from Kevin and Dawn.

The Cedar Grove Results:

2 out of 3 Sets Challenge Match:

Joe Rodrigues over Jay Phoenix, 6-0, 6-2, to become both the New # 21 Ranked Player in the Advanced Division and the New # 2 Ranked Player in the Intermediate Division!  No Aces. 

Jay has his say: Over the years we have played many sets and they were all close.  This was the best I have ever seen him play. 

A Cup of Joe: The score is not indicative of the quality of the match as some games went to multiple Deuces.  I made some good shots and some lucky ones…it was one of those days.

Samara's Notes: Joe is appreciative of Jay's willingness to make this a full match…as am I.  Kudos to Jay!  And congratulations to Joe for finally making the jump into the Advanced Division!

We now go to Kevin's detailed report.

We got this match underway around 6:45pm.

2 out of 3 Sets Mixed Doubles Match:

Levy Lorenzo/Dawn Peterson over Kevin Doyle/Kathy Sheldon, 6-1, 7-6 (7-5), to successfully defend their # 46 Rank in the Mixed Doubles Division!  In the process, Doyle/Sheldon entered the division as the New # 51 Ranked Team!  No Aces (apparently).

1st Set: Every game was competitive and several went to Deuce, but Levy was his usual consistent self, getting to everything and making good shots.  Dawn was serving really well and also played solidly at the net.  Kathy said she hadn't played in a few weeks and had some rust, and I apparently didn't warm up enough as we were trounced pretty soundly in this set.

2nd Set: This set was very different as Kathy and I both settled down and it was pretty much an even contest…even as Levy and Dawn continued to play at a high level.  It was very competitive and the lead changed hands several times.  Finally, Kathy and I were up 5-4 and then Dawn and Levy won two games to go up 6-5.  Kathy and I took the next game to go 6-6 so we played a Tiebreak, which at one point was tied up at 5-All!  Dawn then hit a shot that bounced off the top of the net to win the point after a long rally giving them a 6-5 lead.  Then the match finally ended with a nice shot up the middle by Dawn after another long rally to give her and Levy the 7-5 win in the Breaker.  Kathy and I were really pissed (in a nice way), but it was quite a set, very competitive and a lot of fun.  The entire two set match took about two hours to complete.

Samara's Notes: That was the Kevlar Commentary.  And now we go to…

Dawn's Details: Kevin played very well in the 2nd Set.  Kathy had some great shots, too.  And Levy was very consistent.  I played at the net and he played the baseline.  It was a very competitive 2nd Set.  In that, set we were down 1-4 and came back to win it.

Samara's Notes: It sounds like it was a very fun and competitive match.  And Kevin continues to become one of our better correspondents.  I thank him for the score and very detailed commentary.  I thank Dawn for her additional details as well.  She also is always very good about prompt reporting.

Best wishes,

Frank Samara 

 

11/16 Results.

11/16/16:         

"Kris hosts 6 at C.G., Frank/John host 10 (4 New) at Bubble!":                                          

GTA Wednesday Night Tennis took place at two locations: The Cedar Grove Courts (hosted by "The K Man" Kris Srinivasan) and The Wayne Bubble (co-hosted by "Hollywood" Frank Samara and "Mr. Arizona" John Incognito with assistance from "Kevlar" Kevin Doyle and "RK Fire" Rafaelo Kazakov).

We will first get the Cedar Grove report from Kris before we recap all that transpired at The Bubble.

It was a subdued evening of GTA Tennis this night compared to the flurry of activity we had on Monday that saw the Mixed Doubles Championship Match and plenty more action later as well.  

There were no lights on at Cedar Grove on Tuesday night, and I got the confirmation that it was because of the rains and flooding…but was reassured that the lights will be on for the Wednesday night session and until December 1st.  That proved true as the lights were on, much to my relief.

Senthil Kumar and Jordan Bachvaroff were the first two to hit the courts.  I soon joined them and was followed by Ryan Pienciak, Levy Lorenzo, Dan Martinelli (aka Spin), Raj Shah and Dino Celis.

Despite severe pain in his knees, Spin was ever the good sport to hit the ball with us.  So did Dino, briefly, but he didn't play any match for he had planned for a nocturnal trip to The Bubble.

The Cedar Grove Results:

Jordan Bachvaroff/Ryan Pienciak over Senthil Kumar/Kris Srinivasan, 6-3!  Kris: 1 Ace on Ryan!

It as a close match for the first few games before my shambolic play blew our opportunities, much to the chagrin of Senthil...:-).  Ryan was able to assert himself at the net and Jordan had some lovely serves. Senthil was really good for us, putting away some handsome winners and setting up points where I failed to capitalize.

Raj Shah/Levy Lorenzo over Jordan Bachvaroff/Ryan Pienciak, 6-3!  No Aces.

Shah was superbly assisted by Levy, who has been playing well these days and he deserves full credit for all his efforts.  He was also good at the net.  Shah would have his say despite not playing his best tennis.

Kris Srinivasan/Ryan Pienciak leading Raj Shah/Levy Lorenzo, 5-3 (Incomplete when the lights went out at 10pm)!  No Aces.

After an evenly fought match for the first half, we took off and were on the verge of breaking Shah's serve when the lights went out.  There were quite a few good points coming from the racquets of all the players.

It was a quiet night, but still it was interesting given that we had some intense rallies along the way.  Cheers!

Samara's Notes: As always, thanks to Kris for all he does for the GTA up at Cedar Grove.

And now we will recap how The Bubble session unfolded.

Incognito and Samara arrived together at The Bubble at 8:50.

"Kevlar" Kevin Doyle was already out on Court Two (he was granted permission by "Drill Instructor" Don Moya to do so) with his friend Robin Wilson and Janette Pegg.

Ania Rachwal arrived soon after and Incognito suggested she join the threesome already out on Court Two.  From there, they had Doubles all night long.

At 9pm, the other three courts cleared.  Two of the Night Owl Group (Part 2) regulars, Ted Cedroski and Vladimir Smolyanskiy took Court Three along with a sub (whose name I never retrieved).

The sub (who had obvious tennis experience) was hitting against both Ted and Vlad.  Incognito had heard someone from the Night Owls Group (Part 1 – Tuesday and Thursday nights…along with Sunday afternoons…also available to the Part 2 group) was on their way to sub.

So Samara was hesitant to make it a foursome on Court Three.  He did go out for a couple of minutes and take the side of the sub in hitting against Ted and Vlad.

The mystery arrival turned out to be "RK Fire" Rafaelo Kazakov.  Samara stepped off the court and allowed Rafaelo to take his place.  Since we never got the name of the sub, the Court Three Doubles action remained unofficial as far as the GTA was concerned.

Incognito and Samara headed onto Court One.  John had invited Moya to come out and hit with them.

Soon after, we found out that "Coach" Dino Celis had just arrived as another sub.  This was good news as it enabled us to play Doubles for the entire session.  During the first long One-Setter, "The Webmaster" Senthil Kumar made an extended cameo appearance from 9:45 to 10:15.

The Doubles action on Court Three eventually split into Singles action on both Courts Three and Four.  Rafaelo reported his One-Setter with his buddy Vlad, but we never recorded what happened between Ted and the sub.

It was another fun session where the number of participants ended up being even and it all went fairly smoothly once again. 

We will first go to action that took place on Court One, followed by the recap from Kevin and, lastly, the score from Rafaelo.

The Wayne Bubble Results:

John Incognito/Don Moya over Dino Celis/Frank Samara, 7-6 (7-3)!  Dino: 1 Ace on John; and Don: 1 Ace on Dino!  The basic breakdown (since I only noted the flow of the games and not the winners in order to save time during the changeovers): Don held serve (15-Love, Double Fault for 15-All, then onto Double Game Point and the hold), Dino was broken (started with a sideline Ace against John, then increased his lead to 30-Love before it shifted to 30-All, Game Point, Deuce and then all Game Points until 3^rd Deuce, then Break Point, 4^th Deuce, Break Point and the break) and John held (30-Love, 30-15, Double Game Point and the hold) to get off to a 3-0 start!  Frank held (Love-15 then straight to Double Game Point and the hold) to get his team on the scoreboard, but Moya then held again (started with a second serve corner Ace against Dino, increased his lead to 30-Love, then it went 30-15, Double Game Point, Game Point and the hold) and Celis was broken again (15-Love shifted to 15-30, Double Fault for Double Break Point, Break Point and then the break) to fall to 1-5!  Incognito was also broken (Love-15 then point for point to Break Point and then the break), but Samara held again (30-Love, 30-15, Double Game Point and the hold) to pull to 3-5.  The Drill Instructor was broken for the first time (30-Love, Double Fault for 30-15, then it shifted to Break Point, Deuce, Double Fault for Break Point and then the break) and then The Coach held for the first time (15-Love shifted to 15-30, 30-All, Game Point and then the hold) to level things at 5-5!  Mr. Arizona held (Love-15 then point for point to Break Point, Deuce, Game Point and then the hold), but so did Hollywood yet again (15-Love, 15-All then onto Double Game Point, then Game Point and the hold) as we were headed to the Tiebreak!  In the Breaker: Don was broken on his lone serve, Dino held the first of his two serves but not the second and then John held both of his serves to take a 3-2 lead.  Frank was broken on the first of his two serve to put his team down 2-4 at the changeover, but then he held his second to pull to 3-4.  Moya then held both of his serves to take a 6-3 lead for his team and set up Match Point where Celis then hit a Double Fault to end it at 3-7!  We played this one on Court One from 9:25 to 10:15!  It was so evenly matched and hard-fought, that all four players agreed to a rematch (which got underway just one minute later).  In the next one, Incognito and Moya switched their service sides.

Dino Celis/Frank Samara over John Incognito/Don Moya, 6-1!  No Aces.  The simple summary: John was broken (15-Love then point for point to Game Point, Deuce, Break Point and the break), Dino held at Love, Don was broken (15-Love then point for point until 30-All, Break Point, Deuce, Game Point, 2^nd Deuce, Double Fault for Break Point and then the break), Frank held (15-Love, 15-All then onto Double Game Point and the hold) and Incognito was broken again (Love-15, 15-All and then straight to Double Break Point and the break) to shockingly fall to 0-5!  Celis was also broken to allow the opposition onto the scoreboard (15-Love shifted to 15-30, then it went 30-All, Break Point, Deuce, Break Point and then the break), but Moya was broken again after starting off with back-to-back Double Faults for Love-30, then it went to Triple Break/Match Point and the break came on Double Break/Match Point to finish this one on Court One at 10:43.  Afterward, Dino and Don had a hitting session with one another.

The Skinny: I doubt the change of service sides is what did in Incognito and Moya.  Don admitted that he ran out of gas early on in this second One-Setter.  John actually felt like his level of play improved as he received more opportunities to get involved in the points.  Likewise, Samara's level of play became much more accurate and he was never broken on serve the entire evening.  Meanwhile, Celis was likely the most consistent player of the night who in the first One-Setter had some breaks go against him (a likely combination of the powerful return game of Moya and Samara making some unforced errors when he tried to force things to happen too soon…it became much more natural and smooth for him in the rematch).

Kevin Doyle/Robin Wilson over Ania Rachwal/Janette Pegg, 6-4!  No Aces (apparently).  It was the official GTA Debut of Robin Wilson, Ania Rachwal and Janette Pegg.

Kevlar's Commentary: Robin held serve three times and was getting to shots all over the court (she runs like the wind and never gets tired!).  Robin played very consistently the entire set.  Janette was very
consistent and steady also and Ania hit hard and played well at the net.  Every game was competitive, but Kevin and Robin were in control of this set from start to finish.

Ania Rachwal/Janette Pegg over Kevin Doyle/Robin Wilson, 6-1!  No Aces (apparently). 

Kevlar's Commentary: This set was a very different story.  Kevin and Robin slumped a bit, mostly due to Janette's almost flawlessly consistent play and Ania holding up her end of the bargain, making few mistakes and hitting several hard shots for winners.  Most of the games were close, but Kevin and Robin just weren't making the shots when they needed to.

Kevin Doyle/Robin Wilson leading Ania Rachwal/Janette Pegg, 3-2 (Incomplete when it neared 11pm)!  No Aces (apparently).

Kevlar's Commentary:  Robin and Kevin rebounded and were in the lead, but the session ended before the final set (for a would-be full 2 out of 3 Sets Match) could be completed.  Robin, who seemingly never gets tired, held serve twice and also came out ahead in a couple of very long rallies.  Overall, it was a close match, good fun and well-played by all.  

Samara's Notes: I thank Kevin for his detailed recap.  I think we must enlist him for more hosting duties in the future as he is quite the reporter. 

Now we go to Rafaelo for his result.

Vladimir Smolyanskiy over Rafaelo Kazakov, 7-5!  Vlad: 2 Aces!  It was the official GTA Debut of Vladimir Smolyanskiy. 

Rafaelo's Report: Volodia (as Rafaelo calls him) and I have been playing together at the courts at his high-rise building in Fort Lee for three years now.

Samara's Notes: I've met Vlad twice now.  He is a very nice guy and a welcome addition to the league.  It is good to have Rafaelo now have his friend here as well.  They can feel free to report their Fort Lee results, too, if they so choose.

Best wishes,

Frank Samara 

 

11/15 Results.

11/15/16:         

"Frank/John host 10 at The Wayne Bubble!":                                          

GTA Tuesday Night Tennis only took place at The Wayne Bubble as The Cedar Grove Courts were likely still wet from the torrential all-day rains that did not end until the afternoon.

The late evening session at The Bubble was hosted by "Hollywood" Frank Samara and a familiar face.  This man has recently lost a lot of weight.  Perhaps he is the alter ego of someone we already know.

Is he from the Bizarro World?  Is he from Parts Unknown?

Well, at least for the time being, this man will be known as "Mr. Arizona" John Incognito.  Maybe sometime in the near future this altered entity will return to his original state (of being, not location).

Incognito and Samara arrived together at The Bubble at 8:45 just as "Kevlar" Kevin Doyle was doing the same.  From there, they had to wait in the lounge area until three of the four courts would clear at 9pm.

GTA Champion: "King Crush" Chris Chiaro arrived at 8:50 and hot on his heels was "The Webmaster" Senthil Kumar. 

"Sadistic" Syed Rashid arrived at 8:55.  Five minutes later, "The Lumberjack" Ryan Pienciak did the same.

At that time, Chiaro, Kumar and Pienciak took Court One (with Chris hitting against both Senthil and Ryan) while Samara, Incognito, Doyle and Rashid took Court Two.

Court Three would still be occupied until 9:45 and Court Four remained vacant at this time.

The three players on Court One would soon be joined by Scott Whisten.  Those four then played three Doubles One-Setters with the two teams being switched up for the last one.

Court Two also featured three Doubles One-Setters with all three keeping the same teams.

The last two arrivals of the evening were "RK Fire" Rafaelo Kazakov and Vik Kukar.  They started hitting on Court Four until "Drill Instructor" Don Moya directed them to shift over to Court Three after those four guys vacated it at 9:45.  Rafaelo and Vik played a Singles One-Setter followed by an incomplete one.

We ended up with a total of just ten official competitors…which is somewhat low given the potential turnout of the Night Owls Group on a Tuesday evening.  And considering the fact that outdoor tennis was not a viable option, we were expecting more players to attend.

Still, it was a fun session where the number of participants was even and it all went fairly smoothly. 

The Wayne Bubble Results:

Frank Samara/Syed Rashid over John Incognito/Kevin Doyle, 6-0!  No Aces.  The basic breakdown: Syed held serve (started with a Double Fault, but then went straight to Double Game Point and the hold), John was broken (15-Love went right to Double Break Point, then Break Point and the break), Frank held at Love, Kevin was broken at Love after hitting a Double Fault to set up Triple Break Point, Rashid held again (Triple Game Point, Double Game Point and then the hold) and Incognito was broken again (started up 30-Love, but then it went right to Break/Match Point and the break) to take the shutout loss!  We played this on Court Two from 9:15 to 9:35.

The Skinny: We did do the changeovers every two games, but I only wrote down the flow of the games (rather than also adding who hit what winners) in order to save time.  Rashid has improved as he is now much more consistent than he was in the past.  Doyle readily admits it takes him a while to warm up and get going.  Incognito is still shaking off rust, though his movement is much better now.  Samara felt fortunate that the intense heel pain he was experiencing the evening before had subsided greatly.  As such, he was able to make many gets whenever necessary.

Senthil Kumar/Ryan Pienciak over Chris Chiaro/Scott Whisten, 6-3!  Ryan : 2 Aces on Scott; and Chris: 1 Ace on Senthil!  It was the official GTA Debut of Scott Whisten.  They got this one underway on Court One at 9:30.  I failed to note the end time, but it was likely somewhere around 10pm as they then went into another one with the same teams.

Frank Samara/Syed Rashid over John Incognito/Kevin Doyle, 6-0!  No Aces.  The simple summary: Frank held serve (Love-15 then point for point to Break Point, Deuce, Game Point, 2^nd Deuce, Game Point and then the hold), Kevin was broken (Love-15, 15-30, Double Break Point and then the break), Syed held (15-Love, 15-All and then straight to Double Game Point, Double Fault for Game Point, but then the hold), John was broken (Love-15 then point for point to Break Point and then the break), Samara held at Love and Doyle was broken again (Love-15 shifted to 30-15 then shifted again to Break/Match Point and then came the break) to take another shutout loss!  Court Two also hosted this one which lasted from 9:36 to 9:59.

Vik Kukar over Rafaelo Kazakov, 6-4!  No Aces (apparently).  It was the official GTA Return of Vik Kukar.  This one got going on Court Three sometime after 9:45.  Not sure when it ended as they went into another set that would end up being incomplete.

Senthil Kumar/Ryan Pienciak over Chris Chiaro/Scott Whisten, 6-1!  No Aces.  They finished this one on Court One at 10:30.  Then they switched the teams for the next one.

Frank Samara/Syed Rashid over John Incognito/Kevin Doyle, 7-5!  No Aces.  The quick and dirty lowdown: Syed was broken (15-Love then point for point until 30-All, then Break Point and the break) and John held serve (Love-15 went straight to Double Game Point, then Game Point and the hold) to get off to a 2-0 start.  Like his partner, Frank was also broken for the first time on the night (Love-15, 15-All and then right to Double Break Point and the break) to now find his team down 0-3!  Kevin was broken (15-Love went straight to Double Break Point and the break) and Rashid held (15-Love shifted to 15-30, then it was 30-All, Break Point, Deuce, Game Point and the hold) to pull to 2-3.  Then, what may have been the pivotal game came next with Incognito on serve as it went 15-Love then point for point until 30-All, Break Point, Deuce, Game Point, 2^nd Deuce, Break Point, 3^rd Deuce, Game Point, 4^th Deuce, Break Point and the break to level things at 3-3!  Samara held (30-Love, 30-15, Double Game Point, Game Point and then the hold) to take a 4-3 lead for his team, but then Doyle finally held and it was at Love to knot the score at 4-4!  Sadistic Syed was broken (15-Love shifted to 15-30 and then a Double Fault set up Double Break Point and the break came next), but Mr. Arizona was then broken at Love to tie things up once more, this time at 5-5!  Hollywood held again (30-Love shifted to 30-All, then came Game Point and the hold), but Kevlar Kevin was broken (Love-30, 15-30, Double Break/Match Point and then Break/Match Point which ended ugly as Frank mishit a sloppy Overhead Smash that sent the ball crashing down on top of the net tape where it then took a weak bounce off of it and then fell to the surface of the court out of the reach of everyone for a very weak winner…but still a winner, nonetheless!) to take a tough loss!  This one occupied Court Two from 10pm to 10:53.

The Skinny: Despite the loss, both Incognito and Doyle felt much better about their respective improved efforts.  Kevin felt like he was at least able to leave the session with his head held high.  It was much more competitive than the previous two shutout One-Setters and, as a result, it also ended up being a lot more fun.

Chris Chiaro/Senthil Kumar over Ryan Pienciak/Scott Whisten, 6-2!  No Aces.  This was contested on Court One from 10:33 to 10:55.  Afterward, Chris and Ryan had a hitting session with one another.

Vik Kukar leading Rafaelo Kazakov, 4-1 (Incomplete when they wrapped things up around 11pm)!  No Aces (apparently).  This one also took place on Court Three.

Best wishes,

Frank Samara 

 

11/14 Results.

11/14/16:

         

"Tito/Dawn-Chazz/Fernanda part of 15 at C.G.!":

GTA Monday Tennis at The Cedar Grove Courts turned into an all-day affair as it got started in the early afternoon with The Main Event being the GTA Mixed Doubles Championship Match as the GTA Mixed Doubles Champions: Tito "Touch" Castolo and "Dominant" Dawn Peterson put their Titles on the line against 2016 M-Dub Champs: "The Legendary" Chazz Weldon and "The Argentine Machine" Fernanda Toker. 

 

"The K Man" Kris Srinivasan was able to swing by late in the match and act as an impromptu host and Natalia "Nitro" Sout was a spectator there who say even more of the match than Kris did.

 

There would be some more spur of the moment action that would take place to carry that session into the late afternoon.  Then there was a break.

 

The later evening session was hosted by "Hollywood" Frank Samara and was also attended by Kris as well.  Between the two sessions, we ended up with a total of 15 official competitors.

 

First, we will recap what took place during the daylight hours.  And then we will detail how the evening session unfolded.

 

The Cedar Grove Results:

 

GTA Mixed Doubles Championship Match:

Tito Castolo/Dawn Peterson over Chazz Weldon/Fernanda Toker, 6-2, 6-1, to complete their first successful GTA Mixed Doubles Championship defense of their first reign!  Dawn: 1 Ace on Fernanda in the 1st Set.

 

The match was originally scheduled to start at 1pm.  Kris Srinivasan sent a text message of the result at 2:36.  So we can safely assume the match was played within that time period.  Kris only got to witness the final ten minutes of the match.  His take on it was that Tito and Dawn were just too good and very punishing.

 

Toker's Take: Tito was able to poach a lot.  The shots that made it to Dawn, she hit very well and was solid.  Also, whenever she got her first serve in, it was very strong, fast and good.  Tito was freaking amazing.  I would call him "The Sneaky Magician."  He was sneaking his way to the net and putting away the balls with angles and getting back balls that nobody should be able to get to.  He is amazing and he was giving us a tennis lesson!  We did everything we could, but it was very frustrating how he would just tap the ball and put it anywhere he wanted to.

 

Fernanda Toker/Dawn Peterson over Melvin Hyman/Natalia Sout, 6-2!  No Aces (apparently).  It was the official GTA Return of Melvin Hyman.

 

Fernanda Toker over Melvin Hyman, 6-1!  No Aces (apparently).

 

Samara's Notes: I thank Fernanda for sending in those additional results along with her commentary.  I also thank Kris for making the effort to get over to the courts in the daytime hours to see what was happening with this match.

 

We will now detail the comings and goings of the evening session.

 

When Samara pulled up to the courts at 7pm, "Latino Heat" Jose Gonzales was doing the exact same thing.  Out on Court Four, "J-Bach" Jordan Bachvaroff and "The Rainmaker" Richard Reicht were having a hitting session with one another.  Courts One, Two and Three were all vacant.

 

Jose and Frank soon joined Jordan and Richard in the hitting session, but Samara warned them all that if it ended up evolving into a Doubles One-Setter that his mobility would be greatly limited as he was suffering from severe heel pain in his right foot.

 

The day before (Sunday) a couple of hours after that session had ended, Frank got a Charlie horse cramp in his right foot!  This had never happened to him before.  He has had plenty of them in his calf muscles and some in either his hamstrings or quadriceps…but never in the foot!  The foot curled up like a claw!

 

While this only lasted for a couple of minutes, the pain lingered on much longer.  And the next day, the pain made its way back to the heel area.

 

Samara was happy to see "Holy Moly" Mike Mole arrived at 7:10 as he invited Mike to replace him immediately.  Frank went back out onto the bench alongside Court Four.

 

The four of them started a Doubles One-Setter at 7:20.  Five minutes after that, Kris and Doinks Srinivasan (aka "The Marathon Woman") came across the street.  Frank told them of his predicament and said the only way he would be able to play was if he was able to team with someone young and speedy.

 

Request granted!  At that very moment, "Nate the Great" Nathan Fernandes pulled into the parking lot.  The four of them then headed out onto Court One.  After a decent hitting session, they got a Doubles One-Setter underway at 7:35 as Nate and Frank teamed to take on Kris and Doinks.

 

"Mr. 500" Levy Lorenzo arrived at 7:45 and he went out onto Court Two while he waited for an invite into the official action.

 

Natalia returned to Cedar Grove for some more action at 8pm.  She soon joined Levy on Court Two for a hitting session.

 

The Doubles One-Setter on Court Four finished at 8:05 while the One-Setter on Court One ended just three minutes later.  This led to Lorenzo taking Samara's place in the next one on Court One while both Jordan and Jose shifted over to Court Two to give Natalia a tennis lesson.

 

Once Bachvaroff realized that Reicht was leaving at 8:15, he went back to Court Four to have a very lengthy hitting session with Mole that lasted until 9:45!

 

Sout eventually got involved in some official action at exactly 9:13.  Given how mild the evening temps were, we were somewhat surprised with the relatively modest turnout.  But then we remembered that the Giants were one half of the Monday Night Football equation and that it was a home game.

 

The Super Moon was unfortunately obscured by the clouds that were already in the sky…the leading indicator that rain was on the way.  Thankfully, the entire evening had remained dry.

 

And we ended up having a bit of a bull session at the end of the night as well.  Good times!

 

Let's get back to results.

 

Jose Gonzales/Richard Reicht over Mike Mole/Jordan Bachvaroff, 7-5!  No Aces.  These four faced off on Court Four from 7:20 to 8:05.

 

Nathan Fernandes/Frank Samara over Kris Srinivasan/Doinks Srinivasan, 6-3!  Doinks: 1 Ace on Nate!  It went like this: Doinks held serve (back-to-back winning Backhand Volleys by Kris made it 30-Love and that was where Doinks scored with an impressive sideline Ace against Nate to set up Triple Game Point, it went to Double Game Point and that was where an un-returned serve secured the hold), Nathan held (Nate hit a drop shot winner for 30-Love, then a Double Fault made it 30-15 which was where Nate hit a laser-like passing shot winner to set up Double Game Point and then he repeated that feat with a shot that was just as impressive as the last one to lock down his hold), Kris held (an un-returned serve made it 30-Love, it was then 30-15 where Doinks hit a victorious volley to set up Double Game Point which she then followed with an even more amazing Backhand Volley winner to secure her hubby's hold) and Frank held (Kris blew a volley for 15-Love, it went to 15-All and then straight to Double Game Point with an un-returned serve along the way and the hold came at the D.G.P.) as we were all on serve at 2-2.  Mrs. Srinivasan was the first to be broken (Love-15, 15-All and then off and running to Double Break Point as Frank…despite being gimpy…made a valiant get/winner combo and then Kris blew a volley to allow the break), but Fernandes held again (Frank hit a winning mishit volley, Kris blew a volley and then an un-returned serve set up Triple Game Point, it was then Double Game Point where Frank blew a volley to cut it to Game Point, but then came the hold) to go up 4-2.  Mr. Srinivasan also held again (a winning volley by Doinkis followed by a winner from Kris made it 30-Love, it was then Triple Game Point when back-to-back Double Faults cut that lead down to Game Point, but that was where Kris made an awesome get/winner combo with excellent placement that Frank would not have gotten to even if he was at one hundred percent…and that secured the hold), but Samara held again as well (Doinks hit a winning return for Love-15, but then Nate hit a winning volley which blazed the path to Double Game Point, it was then Game Point where Nate blew a volley to make it Deuce and then it was all Game Points until 3^rd Deuce…and I know I forgot some of the winners along the way, but there was one truly amazing get/winning volley combo by Nate and I think it was to set up one of those Game Points and there was one more Game Point after that 3^rd Deuce and then the hold) to put his team up 5-3!  The Marathon Woman was then broken again (Kris hit a winning volley for 15-Love, it was 15-All where a Double Fault made it 15-30, then it was Double Break/Match Point where Nate blew a volley to make it Break/Match Point only to redeem himself with an excellent drop shot winner for the break and the win) to end this one on Court One at exactly 8:08 (we had gotten it underway at 7:35)!

 

The Skinny: The only difference in this one was that everyone held serve except Doinks who was broken twice.  But that does not tell the whole story as she was an awesome force at the net with many volleys (some of which were winners while others kept the point alive) and she was actually quite strong during her services as well (with the highlight being the surprise Ace against Nate).  She was more on than she was off throughout the entire contest.  Kris was sizzling when he was hot, but then at times he got a little overcooked (overenthusiastic?) which led to some unfortunate errors.  Nate was his usual ever-present self as he was making gets all over the place (often with consideration to the fact that his partner was less than one hundred percent in his ability to move).  Considering his condition, Frank was just happy to not embarrass himself and get off the court with a victory under his belt.

 

Nathan Fernandes/Doinks Srinivasan over Kris Srinivasan/Levy Lorenzo, 7-6 (10-8)!  No Aces.  The basic breakdown: Kris and Levy got out to a 4-0 lead.  From there, it went 4-1, 4-2, 5-2, 5-3 and 5-4.  This was where I decided I should be taking some more complete notes.  Levy was broken (they earned their way to Game/Match Point only to have it go to Deuce, Break Point and then the break) to level it at 5-5!  Nathan then held (30-Love where Kris hit a drop shot winner for 30-15, but then he blew a volley to set up Double Game Point, it was then Game Point where Levy blew a volley to allow the hold) to put his team up 6-5.  And then they had an amazing game with Kris on serve as he hit an un-returned serve to get off to a 30-Love start.  It then shifted to 30-All where he hit a truly un-returnable serve to set up Game Point, but then he blew a volley to make it Deuce and then Nathan hit a big-time Overhead Smash winner to set up Break/Match Point, it went to 2^nd Deuce, 2^nd Break/Match Point where Levy hit a vicious volley winner for 3^rd Deuce, Game Point where Kris blew a volley for 4^th Deuce, but then he hit a winner to set up Game Point which was where Levy hit another winning volley to secure the hold and force the Tiebreak!  They had begun this one on Court One at 8:10.  It was now 8:58 as they headed into the Breaker: Doinks was broken on her lone serve and then Levy held the first of his two serves after Kris made a truly awesome get but then Levy was broken on his second for a 2-1 lead.  Nate was now on serve and an excellent and extended rally led to a 2-2 score, but a winning Overhead Smash from Kris caused Nate to be broken on his second serve for 2-3.  Kris held the first of his two serves for 4-2 at the changeover which was then followed by another lengthy rally for 4-3 on the second of his two serves.  Mrs. Srinivasan hit an un-returned serve to knot the score at 4-4, but then she was broken on her second to make it 4-5.  Lorenzo held the first of his two serves after Kris hit an emphatic Backhand Volley winner to make it 6-4 and set up Match Point!  But on his second serve, Nate answered with an equally awesome volley winner to cut that lead to 6-5…but it was still a Match Point!  Fernandes then held the first of his two serves after hitting a monster Overhead Smash for 6-6 at the second changeover and then we had Kris reply with a similar killer Overhead Smash to hand himself a 7-6 lead and another Match Point as he was about to go back on service.  What may have been the rally of the match (or at least of the Tiebreak) ended with a victorious volley from Nate to break Mr. Srinivasan on the first of his two serves.  The K Man replied with a truly un-returnable serve on his second go-round to go up 8-7 and have yet another Match Point in his team's favor!  The Marathon Woman held the first of her two serves to level things at 8-8 and then she held again after Nate hit a winner as her team now took a 9-8 lead and finally had the first Match Point in their favor in the TB (they had two M.P.'s in their favor against the service of Kris prior to the Breaker)!  Service now returned to Mr. 500 and he was broken on that first serve to drop the TB with a score of 10-8 for the opposition!  This ended at 9:10…exactly one hour after it started!

 

The Skinny: With a total of eight Match Points and a 10-8 Tiebreak score, this is a definite Nominee for One-Set Specialty Doubles Match of The Year at season's end.  In fact, without yet doing the research, it may be a prime contender to take the award!  All four parties put forth maximum effort in a battle that earned the attention of those nearby as Frank, Jose and Natalia were all highly interested spectators for a good portion of this contest…especially as it made it to the latter stages.

 

Doinks was willing to sit out (as she is still dealing with knee issues) to allow Natalia to take her place teaming with Nate in the next battle while Kris and Levy remained a team.  Given the fact that they were getting this next one underway at 9:13, they decided to forego the changeovers.

 

Nathan Fernandes/Natalia Sout leading Kris Srinivasan/Levy Lorenzo 6-5 (Incomplete when the lights went out at 10pm)!  No Aces.  Here's how it was going on Court One before they couldn't get it all done: Kris and Levy got off to a 0-1 start before going up 4-1.  It was then 4-2 when Kris was broken in a multiple Deuce game for 4-3 and he was, in the words of the late, great Yogi Berra: "starting to get that déjà vu feeling all over again!"  Nate was then broken (Game Point, Deuce where Levy hit an excellent passing shot winner for Break Point which was where Nate hit a big-time Overhead Smash winner to make it 2^nd Deuce and then Natalia hit a winner for Game Point, it then went to 3^rd Deuce, Break Point and the break) to fall to 3-5.  Levy was then broken (Love-30 shifted to 30-All after Kris first hit a winning mishit volley and then he hit an awesome Backhand Volley winner and then Natalia made an amazing get to set up Break Point where Kris hit another winning volley to bring it to Deuce, but it was Break Point again where Kris blew a volley to allow the break) to have his team's lead cut to 5-4!  Natalia then held (Kris blew two more volleys on the way to Double Game Point and then Natalia hit a passing shot winner to secure her own hold) to level things at 5-5!  Srinivasan was now back on serve (Levy hit a venomous volley to set up Double Game Point only to see that lead get cut down to Deuce where Kris blew a volley to make it Break Point and then he blew another volley to break himself) and that was his second straight break to lose the lead at 5-6!  Fernandes was on serve and was down 15-30 when the lights went out…serving to kill what could have been "anotha contenda!"

 

The Skinny: Kris was happy to avoid a second straight official loss for the night, but it would have been so much more exciting and fitting to see if this one was destined to be yet another potential Nominee for One-Set Specialty Doubles Match of The Year at season's end.  To have two nominees end up getting played back-to-back on the same evening could have been truly amazing.

 

Nonetheless, it was still a very fun way to close out the session…the end to a lengthy day of GTA action!

 

Best wishes,

Frank Samara