"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 3rd Deuce, then Break Point, 4th 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, 2nd 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
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