3/30 Results.

3/30/17:         

"C.G. washout! Frank hosts 11 at The Bubble instead!":                                          

GTA Thursday Night Tennis was supposed to first take place at The Cedar Grove Courts, but instead only took place at The Wayne Bubble (the usual Night Owl session).  The evening unfolded as follows.

"Hollywood" Frank Samara was all set to host the Cedar Grove session and even arrived there early at 6:55 (rather than 7:30 as originally promised).  When he pulled into the parking lot, he was stunned to see nobody there.  And it truly was nobody…no GTA players, no other players, no other cars in the lot. 

Frank knew he was early, so he decided to just sit in his car and wait.  Around 7:05, he noticed some raindrops on his windshield.  Still, he was not concerned as the precipitation was light.  The last weather forecast he had seen was around lunchtime when they said that the rains should not roll in until later in the night.

"Instant" Moka Pathan pulled into the lot at 7:10.  By the time the two got out onto Court Four to start hitting, it was 7:15 and the spotty drizzle stepped up to a steady light rain.  Still, they decided to play through it hoping it would soon stop.

But just a few minutes more were all that were in store as it then intensified to a full-on rain event with freezing rain in the mix as well.  Mother Nature made the decision for them.  They had to step off like Costanza, retreat to their cars and head home.

As Pathan pulled out, "Latino Heat" Jose Gonzales rolled into the lot only to just keep driving and turn right around to head home.  As Samara was leaving around 7:25, he soon received a text message from "Eddie O" Edwin Ortega inquiring about the status of the weather at Cedar Grove.  Frank's reply was: "The courts are soaked.  No tennis tonight."

Still, Samara had the itch to play some tennis as the last time he had played was last Friday night up at Cedar Grove.  So he went to the Little Falls Shop Rite to grab something to eat. 

From there, he dared to take his ailing Impala (it hit an even 204,000 miles when it arrived at Shop Rite) up to The Wayne Bubble figuring he was halfway there already.  He was an early arrival at 8:25, so he had plenty of time to just lounge in the lounge area.

Next to arrive was "Killer Kat" Kathy Sheldon at 8:45.  Another five minutes after that, it was "Stingray" Ray Spadaro and "The Sin Man" Mike Sindler.  At 8:55, the four of us took the one court (Court Three) that had been open and available the entire time.

By 9pm, we got a Doubles One-Setter going as Samara and Sheldon teamed to take on Spadaro and Sindler (four last names beginning with the letter "S"…wonder if that has ever happened before).

Just as we got it going, "Sadistic" Syed Rashid was the next one to show up in the lounge area.  He would not have to wait alone too long as "The Lumberjack" Ryan Pienciak arrived five minutes later.  They had to wait until 9:10 to grab Court Two as the parties on Courts One and Two overstayed their welcome somewhat (and I believe the three guys who were on Court Four had it booked until 9:30).

As the two of them took that court, "The Wildman" Ryan Sherry entered The Bubble and soon made his way to their court.  He must have hit with them for only a minute before he busted a string.  When he left the court, we had all assumed he was going to get a spare…but we never saw him again for the rest of the night…what a shame!

Ryan and Syed had a hitting session that lasted until 9:30 when Dennis "The Menace" Cabanatan and "The Hitman" Tom La both arrived together and headed over to Court Two to make it a foursome.  This was just as the four players on Court Three were beginning their second One-Setter (a rematch of the first one).

At 9:40, it was Pienciak pairing with La to face Cabanatan and Rashid.  Around this time, "J-Rod" Joe Rodrigues was now in the lounge area.  He, too, got lucky in not having to wait alone too long as "The DH" Dan Hwang was next to arrive.  Soon, the two of them took Court Four for a hitting session that led to a Singles One-Setter starting at 9:55.

It was at this same time that a second One-Setter had begun on Court Two, but had to be stopped soon after as Dennis was feeling weak and that he needed to go get something to eat.  So it ended up being a three-way hitting session with Ryan taking on both Tom and Syed until Cabanatan was able to return and resume that second One-Setter.

And to backtrack a bit, the eleventh and last official competitor to arrive was Tony "Sure Shot" Shiao at 9:50.  His timing was perfect as that was when the second One-Setter on Court Three had just ended and Sheldon was ready to call it a night at that time.  So Shiao took her place in the next one.

Enough chit chat…let's get to the scores!

The Wayne Bubble Results:

Mike Sindler/Ray Spadaro over Frank Samara/Kathy Sheldon, 6-1!  No Aces.  We did not do the changeovers every two games (to save time), so here's the basic breakdown of the games: Ray was broken when he hit a Double Fault on Break Point, Kathy was broken on Double Break Point, but Mike was the first to hold serve (was up Triple Game Point and seemingly on the verge of a Love hold, but that lead was cut to Game Point before the hold came) to go up 2-1.  Frank was broken (Double Game Point, Game Point, Double Fault for Deuce, Game Point, 2^nd Deuce, Break Point and the break), Spadaro held on Double Game Point, Sheldon was broken again, but in a fierce battle this time around (Love-30 shifted to Game Point, Deuce and then all Game Points until 3^rd Deuce, Break Point and the break) and Sindler held again (Triple Game/Match Point, the hold came on Double Game/Match Point) to get the win!  We played this one on Court Three from 9pm to 9:25.

The Skinny: This was one of those contests where it felt closer than the score indicates.  Sindler was remarkably consistent with his powerful forehands while his partner Spadaro was quite adept with proper placements and drop shots.  Samara and Sheldon both had moments where they made great gets and/or smart shots only to then sail some should-be easy shots well long of the baseline.

We decided to play a rematch and we switched the court sides while Mike and Ray also opted to switch up their return of serve sides as well.

Mike Sindler/Ray Spadaro over Frank Samara/Kathy Sheldon, 6-0!  Ray: 1 Ace on Kathy.  Again, there were no changeovers…so here is the simplified recap of the games: Frank was broken (Triple Break Point, the break came on Double Break Point), Ray held in an epic struggle (30-Love where he hit a sideline Ace on Kathy that sent her into the netting to go up Triple Game Point, but that got cut down all the way to Deuce and then it was all Game Points through to 4^th Deuce and then one more Game Point for the hold), Kathy was broken (Triple Break Point, the break came on Double Break Point) and Mike held despite starting off with a Double Fault, he shifted that to 30-15, it then went to 30-All, Game Point and the hold for a 4-0 lead!  Samara was broken again (Triple Break Point, the break came on Double Break Point) and Spadaro held again and this time it was at Love as his team impressively closed this one out on Triple Game/Match Point!  And we also played this one on Court Three as it lasted from 9:30 to 9:50.

The Skinny: Again, there were a couple of close games where Samara and Sheldon simply failed to win the pivotal points.  But the bottom line is that Sindler and Spadaro did very little wrong and rightfully earned both of these dominant victories.

Ryan Pienciak/Tom La over Dennis Cabanatan/Syed Rashid, 6-0!  Ryan: 1 Ace on Dennis; and Tom: 1 Ace on Dennis.  This one got over and done on Court Two in just fifteen minutes (9:40 to 9:55)!

Dan Hwang over Joe Rodrigues, 6-3!  Joe: 2 Aces!  Court Four hosted this one from 9:55 to 10:31.

Tony Shiao/Frank Samara over Mike Sindler/Ray Spadaro, 6-2!  Frank: 1 Ace on Mike.  Again there were no changeovers, so here is the cut to the chase version of events: Tony was broken at Love after hitting back-to-back Double Faults to break himself, Mike was broken (Double Break Point, the break came on Break Point), but Frank was the first to hold serve (Double Game Point, Game Point where he scored an Ace against Mike with a low and flat serve…that Mike likely thought would clip the tape but it did not…to get the hold) to go up 2-1.  Ray was broken on Double Break Point and Shiao held on Double Game Point to take a 4-1 lead.  Sindler fought back with a Love hold to pull to 2-4, but then Samara held again (this time on Double Game Point) to extend his team's lead to 5-2.  Spadaro was then broken again (Double Fault for Love-30 and the break would come on Double Break/Match Point) to take the loss.  We played this on Court Three from 10pm to 10:22.

The Skinny: We offered to split up, but Spadaro was happy with his pairing with Sindler as Mike had been the steadiest player the entire evening.  Shiao got off to a rusty start, but he shook that off fairly quickly.  And Samara finally found his game and was a bit of a get-making machine while also offering up crafty drop shots along the way.

Ryan Pienciak/Tom La over Dennis Cabanatan/Syed Rashid, 6-3!  Syed: 1 Ace on Tom.  It had been 3-3 at one point.  They resumed this one on Court Two at 10:15 and it ended exactly at 10:38.

Tony Shiao over Dan Hwang, 6-4!  Dan: 1 Ace.  This hard-hitting One-Setter occupied Court Four from 10:35 to 11pm.

Frank Samara/Syed Rashid leading Joe Rodrigues/Ryan Pienciak, 3-1 (Incomplete when we had to stop at 11pm)!  No Aces.  No changeovers and here's how it was going: Ryan was broken (Double Break Point, the break came on Break Point), Frank held on Double Game Point and Joe was broken in a battle as he went from Love-30 to Game Point, Deuce and then all Game Points until 3^rd Deuce, Double Fault for Break Point and then the break to fall to 0-3!  Syed was then broken in an even more prolonged struggle (Double Game Point was cut down to Deuce, Break Point, 2^nd Deuce, Game Point, Double Fault for 3^rd Deuce, 4^th Deuce, Break Point and then the break) to leave this one hanging at 3-1 (we had begun this one on Court Two at 10:40)!

The Skinny: Dennis and Tom hung around to watch this one which seemed to be heading toward somewhat of an upset territory as Frank and Syed seemed poised to take a 4-0 lead (which is as far as we could have taken it anyway given the length of the last two games).  Ryan and Joe were just happy to avoid the mini bagel…LOL!

All in all, it ended up being a fun session that at least salvaged an otherwise wet evening. 

Sincerely,

Frank Samara

Gtasamara5@gmail.com

862-596-3354

 

 

3/29 Results.

3/29/17:         

"Spin hosts 14 at C.G., Kevin hosts 4 at The Bubble!":                                          

GTA Wednesday Night Tennis took place at both The Cedar Grove Courts (hosted by "Spin Doctor" Dan Martinelli…who is really stepping up as a host of late) and at The Wayne Bubble (the usual Night Owl session hosted by "Kevlar" Kevin Doyle).

Let's first go to Spin and then the recap from Kevin will close out this report.

On a day which never really warmed up like it was supposed to, texts were sent prompting several of the brave to gather for some hot tennis action.  When Spin pulled up to the courts, the Nathan Fernandes/Dawn Peterson versus Jose Gonzales/Brenda Jordan match was already in progress on Court Four.  

Interlopers invaded Court Three and GTA action was already taking place on Courts One and Two.  The limping warrior known as Dino Celis showed up later to cheer us on and to get the cameo.  On this day, we were spared any picture or video-taking by Dino.

The Cedar Grove Results:

2 out of 3 Sets Mixed Doubles Match:

Nathan Fernandes/Dawn Peterson over Jose Gonzales/Brenda Jordan, 2-6, 6-4, 6-2, as both teams entered the Mixed Doubles Division as the New # 41 and # 42 Ranked Teams respectively!  Jose: 4 Aces (but he couldn't remember when they took place nor against whom)!

Kris Srinivasan put together Natalia Sout and me to battle with Andrea Lim and Chris Barbieri.  Kris thought it would be a good idea for us to play a 2 out of 3 Sets Match, but Andrea and Chris never heard Kris say it.  After Chris' match with Dennis (later in the evening) was over, I asked Chris how he wanted the match to be recorded.  He thought it was a good idea to count it as a Best of Three so we could form two more Mixed Doubles teams.  The result was:

2 out of 3 Sets Mixed Doubles Match:

Dan Martinelli/Natalia Sout over Chris Barbieri/Andrea Lim, 6-3, 6-4, as both teams entered the Mixed Doubles Division as the New # 43 and # 44 Ranked Teams respectively!  No Aces.

The Spin from Spin:  It was a fun match.  I never played with Andrea and Chris before and it was good fun.  Kudos to Andrea for sticking around (because she did have to leave before we did)!  Andrea and Chris are very quick (both physically and mentally) as they got to almost everything anticipating our shots and extending points.  Spin shook off a lot of the winter rust he accumulated over the winter, but Natalia had his back and excelled when Spin faltered.  In the 2nd Set, Andrea and Chris looked to get revenge as they took a 2-0 lead.  However, Nat and Spin closed the door on this one when they won the last two games after the score was knotted at 4-4.

Kris Srinivasan/Andrew Troung over Dennis Cabanatan/Sachiko Tokuda, 6-3!  Andrew: 1 Ace on Sachiko.

Andrew Truong/Dennis Cabanatan over Raj Boddu/Levy Lorenzo, 6-1!  No Aces.

Raj Boddu/Levy Lorenzo over Kris Srinivasan/Andrew Troung, 6-4!  No Aces.

Nathan Fernandes/Kris Srinivasan leading Raj Boddu/Levy Lorenzo, 6-5 (Incomplete when the lights went out at 10pm)!  Raj: 1 Ace on Kris.

Dennis Cabanatan/Chris Barbieri leading Jose Gonzales/Natalia Sout, 9-8 (Incomplete when the lights went out at 10pm)!  No Aces.  Chris had to leave, so this incomplete score stands as unofficial.

It did get a bit chilly, but the action was as crisp as the temperature.  It was great stuff all around.

Samara's Notes: Spin is now making his presence felt as one of the premier hosts in the league.  Good stuff, brother!

We now head up to The Bubble for the recap from Kevin.

The Wayne Bubble Results:

John Rizzo/Laurie Boughton over Kevin Doyle/Robin Wilson, 6-3!  John: 2 Aces on Kevin!

John Rizzo/Laurie Boughton over Kevin Doyle/Robin Wilson, 6-2!  John: 1 Ace on Robin.

Kevin Doyle/Laurie Boughton tied with John Rizzo/Robin Wilson, 3-3 (Incomplete when the session ended)!  John: 1 Ace on Laurie.

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

Sincerely,

Frank Samara

Gtasamara5@gmail.com

862-596-3354

 

 

3/28 Results.

3/28/17:         

"Kevin/Chris host 8 at The Bubble!":                                          

GTA Tuesday Night Tennis took place at The Wayne Bubble (the usual Night Owl session).  Usual hosts, "Kevlar" Kevin Doyle and GTA Champion: "King Crush" Chris Chiaro sent in the following results.

The Wayne Bubble Results:

Sean McHugh/Jonathan La over Kevin Doyle/Tom La, 6-4!  No Aces (apparently).

The Kevlar Commentary: After that Tom and his son Jonathan wanted to practice Singles.  I don't know there were any scores.  And Sean and I hit for an hour or so until the end of the evening.

Chris Chiaro/Lou La Forgia over Tony Shiao/Ryan Pienciak, 6-4!  No Aces.

Chris Chiaro/Tony Shiao over Lou La Forgia/Ryan Pienciak, 6-1!  No Aces.

Chris Chiaro/Ryan Pienciak over Tony Shiao/Lou La Forgia, 6-3!  No Aces.

Samara's Notes: I thank both Kevin and Chris for submitting those scores. 

Sincerely,

Frank Samara

Gtasamara5@gmail.com

862-596-3354

 

 

3/26 Results

3/26/17:         

"Kevin/Syed host 8 at The Bubble!":                                          

GTA Sunday Tennis took place at The Wayne Bubble (two separate Night Owl sessions), as both "Kevlar" Kevin Doyle and "Sadistic" Syed Rashid sent in the results from each session.

We now go to Kevin for the results from the first session and then to Syed for the second.

The Wayne Bubble Results:

We had an uneven number of people for the most part at our Sunday Night Owl session with several of the regulars being absent and other players coming late and leaving early, etc.  As a result, I don't think there were many full sets.  In fact, the only one I am aware of is the following:

Kevin Doyle/Laurie Boughton over Ray Spadaro/Marie Easton, 6-4!  No Aces.

Kevin Doyle/Laurie Boughton tied with Ray Spadaro/Marie Easton, 3-3 (Incomplete when time ran out)!  No Aces.

The Kevlar Commentary: The two teams were pretty evenly matched with most all of the games being very close and hard-fought.

Vladimir Smolyanskiy and I also hit for a while as Ray and Marie started a Doubles Match versus Laurie and Jeanette Pegg.  However, I believe Jeanette left before they completed a set as she did not feel well. I took her place at that time and then we started the sets mentioned above.  Meet Rana then came on to take my place hitting with Vlad.

Syed Rashid/Nick Inciong over Mike Sindler/Pranav Sinha, 6-2!  No Aces.

Syed Rashid/Nick Inciong over Mike Sindler/Pranav Sinha, 6-2!  No Aces.

Samara's Notes: I thank both Kevin and Syed for submitting those scores in a very timely manner.

Sincerely,

Frank Samara

Gtasamara5@gmail.com

862-596-3354

 

 

3/25 Results.

3/25/17:         

"Spin/Levy host 10 at C.G.!":                                          

There was a somewhat impromptu session of GTA Saturday Tennis at The Cedar Grove Courts that came together over the course of the day via e-mails back and forth within the group.  Even though the usual host "The K Man" Kris Srinivasan was part of the session, it was "Spin Doctor" Dan Martinelli and "Mr. 500" Levy Lorenzo that stepped up as hosts and ended up reporting the results and other details.

It is somewhat unfortunate that new prospect Brad Gero never got involved in any official action despite the fact that he repeatedly e-mailed the league looking to become a part of it.

We will now turn this report over to Spin and then Levy.

The Cedar Grove Results:

Kris Srinivasan/Dwight Thomas Jr. over Dan Martinelli/Dwight Thomas Sr., 6-4!  Dwight Jr.: 1 Ace on Spin.

Dan Martinelli/Dwight Thomas Sr. over Kris Srinivasan/Dwight Thomas Jr., 6-4!  Dwight Jr.: 1 Ace on his dad!

The Spin from Spin: Kris sent Spin a text on Friday evening informing him of tennis up at Cedar Grove that very night.  Spin texted back that he had other plans, but would be there Saturday weather permitting.  

The timing of Kris' text was perfect.  A 4pm start was to be the order of the day.  Spin rolled up to see all of the courts occupied.  It turned out that Spin was needed as the Thomases and Kris needed a fourth.  The wisdom of Kris dictated that we split "The English Muffins" because Kris and I would have no chance against the dynamic father and son duo.  Kris was also pressed for time which did become a factor in the second One-Setter.  Kudos to Kris for sticking it out to the end!  

The pressure was on early as the Senior Dwight said we have to win or I will never hear the end of it at the Saturday dinner table.  The Dwights hit with a lot of pace and a lot of accuracy.  The first One-Setter ended in "controversy" as Dwight Jr. hit a screaming winner right between the older gents for the Match Point.  Dad said it was in, but Spin thought it was out.  We had a laugh with this as Spin had the better look, but it was Dwight's son who hit the ball.  The ball was declared in even though Kris offered to play the point over.  It turned out to be a bigger deal than first thought because the more this first One-Setter went on, the more in jeopardy the second One-Setter was of not being completed.

The second One-Setter saw the same kind of action, but Kris and "The Kid" started strong.  Dad and Spin held their ground and came away with the win.  You could see that Kris really had to leave as I think he pushed a little bit to "get 'er done".   As I sai,d he could have left earlier and this great set would have become unofficial.  It was good, fun tennis for sure.  Finally, there would be peace at the dinner table on this night with each team taking one set apiece.

Samara's Notes: I thank Spin for his colorful and comprehensive commentary.  And now we go to Levy for additional results.

Chris Homick over Jorge Solano, 6-1!  No Aces (apparently).

Jorge Solano over Chris Homick, 6-1!  No Aces (apparently).

Andrew Truong/Natalia Sout over Joe Rodrigues/Levy Lorenzo, 6-2!  No Aces (apparently).

Samara's Notes: I thank Levy for doing his part in recording and reporting results as well.

Sincerely,

Frank Samara

Gtasamara5@gmail.com

862-596-3354

 

 

3/24 Results

3/24/17:

"Kris/Frank host 16 at C.G.!":

GTA Friday Night Tennis took place at The Cedar Grove Courts after a chilly and gray day gave way to a rather decent evening (weather-wise) for tennis as the temps climbed to around 50 degrees.

Earlier in the day, "Hollywood" Frank Samara had promised the league that he would begin hosting the session no later than 7:30pm.  But a certain fly in the ointment caused him to run late.  As his usual sorry situation unfolded, Samara sent a text message to the usual Cedar Grove host, "The K Man" Kris Srinivasan, telling him that his arrival would be closer to 8pm.

So Kris made sure to get over to the courts as soon as he could in order to start hosting the session until Frank would arrive.  Well, at least Samara was able to make good on his second promise as he did arrive exactly at 8pm.

At that time, all four courts were already full.  On Court One, "Stealth" Omar Santos and "The Art Font" Arthur Fontanilla were engaged in Singles action.  On Court Two, there were four teenage guys that Frank initially (and mistakenly) thought were playing Doubles (more on that in just a bit).

On Court Three, there was Mixed Doubles action underway as "Holy Moly" Mike Mole was teaming with "Laidback" Laurie Boughton to take on "Mr. 500" Levy Lorenzo and "Bravo" Brenda Jordan.

And on Court Four, Kris was aligned with "The Bavarian Bull" Jordan Bachvaroff as they faced off against "Nate the Great" Nathan Fernandes and "Big George" Jorge Solano (turns out this was already the second Doubles One-Setter to take place on this court).

Out in the parking lot, Dennis "The Menace" Cabanatan was greeting "Teej" T.J. Shah and "Ragin" Rajan Shah upon their arrival.  Samara made his way over to the trio and it was then that Frank realized that the four young lads on Court Two were kicking a soccer ball around rather than playing tennis!

If this had been a couple of years ago at Robin Hood Park in Clifton, Samara would have stormed the court and told the kids to beat it.  But given that it was Cedar Grove and Frank was not really running things, he opted to just speak very loudly about the fact that there is a sign posted that clearly says "Tennis Only" as he ranted on and on about the situation.

Perhaps the foursome overheard his remarks or maybe they were just courteous enough to realize that a crowd of actual tennis players was gathering and looking to take over that court, but they did leave soon after and, thankfully, the night went on without incident.

It was at this time that Natalia "Nitro" Sout had also arrived, so Samara told her to join the three other guys (Dennis, T.J. and Rajan) on Court Two for some Doubles.  And then the GTA had all four courts under its control.  Frank was now content to take the bench alongside Court Four as he tried to get caught up with all the scores that he had either missed or that would soon to be completed.

At 8:20, "Latino Heat" Jose Gonzales pulled into the lot and soon took a seat next to Samara on the bench.  He would not have to wait long as five minutes later he was able to take the place of Bachvaroff on Court Four.  Jordan was not a happy camper as he was having a rough night.  At one point during the second Doubles One-Setter, he half-jokingly exclaimed: "I've forgotten how to play tennis!"

In fact, after that second set had concluded, he mistakenly thought that the teams he was on had been "bageled" twice.  Turns out his first tandem had actually won two games in the initial One-Setter of the evening.

When Samara finally decided to become a competitor at 9:10, he was the 16th and final official player of the session. 

Five minutes later, two father/daughter combos (at least that's the way it looked...or else these were two couples that resulted from a most disturbing dating site as the girls seemed to be teenagers while the guys were much older than that) took over Court One for some Mixed Doubles.  While the men seemed to have a decent amount of tennis experience, the young ladies were quite green.  In fact, one of the two girls made a serve that flew straight out and over the fence that separates the courts from the parking lot!

Around 9:20, "Coach" Dino Celis arrived to make an extended cameo appearance while he continues to recover from a recent tendon injury (near his right knee, I believe).

Given the still somewhat chilly temps, it ended up being a fairly well-attended and enjoyable session.  And here is how the actual action went down.

The Cedar Grove Results:

Nathan Fernandes/Jorge Solano over Jordan Bachvaroff/Arthur Fontanilla, 6-2!  No Aces.  This took place on Court Four (not sure of the start and finish times).

Nathan Fernandes/Jorge Solano over Kris Srinivasan/Jordan Bachvaroff, 6-0!  No Aces.  This also took place on Court Four and finished at 8:22 (not sure when it started as it was already underway by 8pm).

Arthur Fontanilla over Omar Santos, 6-3!  No Aces.  Court One hosted this one which did not get done until 8:47 (thought it was a full 2 out of 3 Sets Challenge Match as this, too, was already underway by 8pm)!

Levy Lorenzo/Brenda Jordan over Mike Mole/Laurie Boughton, 6-4!  No Aces.  They played this on Court Three and it ended exactly at 8:27 (not sure when it got going as this also had begun prior to 8pm).  When nobody else stepped up to step in, the foursome was told they could play another one (which we will get to a little later).

T.J. Shah/Rajan Shah over Dennis Cabanatan/Natalia Sout, 6-1!  No Aces.  These two tandems took Court Two at 8:05.  After a twelve minute hitting session, this One-Setter officially got underway at exactly 8:17 and it finished at 8:36.  They took a breather and soon launched into a rematch (again, we will get to that one in just a bit).

Levy Lorenzo/Brenda Jordan over Mike Mole/Laurie Boughton, 6-4!  No Aces.  This battle on Court Three ended up being a repeat of their first one.  It lasted from 8:30 to 9:05.

Nathan Fernandes/Kris Srinivasan over Jose Gonzales/Jorge Solano, 6-1!  No Aces.  Jose said he needed some hitting time and that got underway at 8:25 and lasted for ten minutes before they officially launched into this one on Court Four.  It finished exactly at 9:02.  At that time, Solano was done for the night and Samara had finally got all caught up with the scorekeeping. 

T.J. Shah/Rajan Shah over Dennis Cabanatan/Natalia Sout, 8-6!  No Aces.  Rather than play a Tiebreak, they decided to play it out old-school style (until one team won by two games).  This battle occupied Court Two from 8:40 to 9:25.

Nathan Fernandes/Jose Gonzales over Frank Samara/Jordan Bachvaroff, 6-1!  Jose: 1 Ace on Frank.  It went like this: Frank was broken (Jose hit a winning return for Love-15, then it was 15-All where Jose scorched an even more impressive winning return for 15-30 and it was then on the way to Double Break Point where Jose hit the winning volley for the break), Nathan held serve (Jose hit a winning volley for a 15-Love start, it was then 15-All where Jose hit another winning volley on the way to Double Game Point and then the hold), Jordan was broken (Double Fault for Love-30 where Jose hit another one of those wicked winning returns to set up Triple Break Point which was where Jordan scored with an impressive get/winner combo to cut his deficit down to Double Break Point but then came the break) and Jose held (an un-returned serve set up 30-Love, then it was 30-15 where he scored with a big-time Ace to the corner against Frank to set up Double Game Point and then came the easy hold) as his team took a quick 4-0 lead!  Samara managed to hold serve to get his team on the scoreboard (Jose hit a winning drop shot for Love-15 which was where Frank replied with a winning drop shot of his own for 15-All and then Jordan hit a winner to make it 30-15, it was then 30-All where Jordan blasted an even bigger winner to et up Game Point and then came the hold), but then Fernandes held again (un-returned serve set up Triple Game Point, the hold came on Double Game Point) and Bachvaroff was broken again (Love-30, 15-30, Double Break/Match Point where Jose scored the knockout blow with yet another drop shot winner) to take a lopsided loss!  We faced off on Court Four and this action did not occupy the court all that long (from 9:10 to 9:27)!

The Skinny: This one could have been called "The Jose Show" as Gonzales was on fire throughout this contest.  Meanwhile, his partner Fernandes was his always steady, ever ready self.  Bachvaroff's rusty slump continued though he did has some aggressive and impressive moments.  Srinivasan noticed that Samara seemed to have his usual touch and craftiness already working in his favor early in the season and despite the cold temps and a minimal hitting session. 

Nathan Fernandes/Jose Gonzales over Kris Srinivasan/Mike Mole, 6-1!  Jose: 2 Aces (one on each)!  In terms of the score on Court Four, this one was equally lopsided when compared to the previous contest.  But it managed to last five minutes longer (9:30 to 9:52).  Afterward, Nate and Mike had a hitting session with one another which lasted until the lights went out at 10pm.

And during the last One-Setter of the evening, Natalia and Laurie also had a hitting session with one another.  It got started on Court Three, but then they shifted it over to Court Two (perhaps to avoid interfering with the Men's Doubles action on Court Four).

All in all, it was a fun one even if somewhat uneventful.      

Sincerely,
Frank Samara
gtasamara5@gmail.com
862-596-3354

3/23 Results.

3/23/17:         

"Kevin/Ryan host 9 at The Bubble!":                                          

GTA Thursday Night Tennis took place at The Wayne Bubble (the usual Night Owl session).  Usual host "Kevlar" Kevin Doyle and "The Lumberjack" Ryan Pienciak sent in the following results.

The Wayne Bubble Results:

2 out of 3 Sets Mixed Doubles Match:

Sean McHugh/Janice Wang over Kevin Doyle/Dawn Peterson, 3-6, 6-1, 6-3, to become the New # 32 Ranked Team in the Mixed Doubles Division!  No Aces. 

The Kevlar Commentary: Almost every game went to Deuce and the entire match was very competitive. Dawn was getting tired, but she gamely stayed to finish the match.

Chris Chiaro/Lou La Forgia over Anish Mehta/Ryan Pienciak, 6-1!  No Aces (apparently).

Chris Chiaro/Ryan Pienciak over Anish Mehta/Lou La Forgia, 6-3!  No Aces (apparently).

Lou La Forgia/Ryan Pienciak over Chris Chiaro/Anish Mehta, 6-4!  No Aces (apparently).

Chris Chiaro/Ryan Pienciak tied with Lou La Forgia/Don Moya, 6-6 (Incomplete as we ran out of time)!  No Aces (apparently).

Samara's Notes: I thank both Kevin and Ryan for submitting those scores.  There were also some other GTA players in attendance.  I reached out to them for their results, but they did not reply to me in time for this report.   So those scores will have to remain unofficial.

Sincerely,

Frank Samara

Gtasamara5@gmail.com

862-596-3354

 

 

3/22 Results.

3/22/17:         

"John/Kevin host 8 (1 New) at The Bubble!":                                          

GTA Wednesday Night Tennis took place at The Wayne Bubble (the usual Night Owl session) after a week of it being down as a result of last week's blizzard.  The usual hosts, "The Riz" John Rizzo and "Kevlar" Kevin Doyle, sent in the following results.

The Wayne Bubble Results:

John Rizzo/Fernanda Toker over Jose Gonzales/Brenda Jordan, 6-2!  John: 2 Aces on Brenda; and Jose:  1 Ace on Fernanda! 

John Rizzo/Fernanda Toker over Jose Gonzales/Brenda Jordan, 6-4!  John: 1 Ace on Brenda; and Jose: 1 Ace on Fernanda!

Kevin Doyle/Robin Wilson over Al Bracco/Jeanette Pegg, 6-3!  No Aces.  It was the official GTA Debut of Al Bracco.

The Kevlar Commentary: We only played the one set as Jeanette and Al had to leave.  We played from 9:15 to about 10:20.  We just hit after that until about 11pm.  Robin Wilson's game continues to improve at a rapid pace.  In addition to being very fast and covering the court well, her ground-strokes are getting harder and her net play is getting much more consistent.

Samara's Notes: I thank both John and Kevin for submitting those scores and details in a very timely manner.

Sincerely,

Frank Samara

Gtasamara5@gmail.com

862-596-3354

 

 

3/21 Results.

3/21/17:         

"Kris/Spin host 14 at C.G.!":                                          

After a nine day stretch of no official GTA action (due in large part to last week's blizzard), a session of GTA Tuesday Night Tennis was finally able to be played at The Cedar Grove Courts with the usual host "The K Man" Kris Srinivasan and "Spin Doctor" Dan Martinelli both reporting results along with the evening's events.

We will now turn this report over to Kris and Spin will add his comments along the way.

It turned out to be a lovely night of brisk GTA Tennis happening predominantly on Courts 3 and 4, and then Court 1 was put to use with more players showing up later.

We must give a big thank you and shout out to The Cedar Grove High School Boys Tennis Team players who did a fabulous job of getting the courts ready.  After picking up my son Sairaj from school, I saw just one player out on one court and offered to help.  Their coach was insistent that the full team would come and get the courts ready.  And indeed, they did!

First to show up was Jorge Solano with the hopper, working on his serves.  Soon to come after were Jordan Bachvaroff, Nathan Fernandes and Moka Pathan which enabled some Doubles on Court 3. 

My sons Jay and Sairaj took Court 1 to hit a bit and Ryan Pienciak was the lone occupier of Court 4.  Sairaj teamed with me to play against Ryan and Jay.  As we started, Abhilash Gadi showed up and I let him take my place.

The Cedar Grove Results:

Nathan Fernandes/Jordan Bachvaroff over Moka Pathan/Jorge Solano, 6-3!  Jordan: 2 Aces (one on each and back-to-back)!

It looked pretty tight for the first part as when Chris Chiaro came, we asked for the score to find out that it was 3-2 and on serve.  They must have been long games, but things changed quickly in the second half of it.  Jordan had his two Aces (back-to-back!) and the momentum shifted drastically for his team.

Ryan Pienciak/Jay Srinivasan over Sairaj Srinivasan/Abhilash Gadi, 6-3!  No Aces.

It was a poor start for Abhi and Sairaj as they lost the first three games before getting on board.  It was good to see my son Jay back in action as he displayed some really aggressive shots and nice play at the net.  He needs to work on his serves, but his returns to some aggressive shots were good.  It was a mixed bag for Sairaj, but more time playing tennis will make him sharp.  Abhi was solid right from the get-go and he mixed it up very well.  He got his team into a fighting comeback stance, but an out-of-form Sairaj made it tough. Ryan did the damage (particularly at the net), but overall he played a dominating game.

When Doinks joined us, she got to hit a bit with me and Chiaro while we waited for the matches to finish.  Later, she teamed with Sairaj to play Mixed Doubles against Natalia Sout and Jay. 

Sairaj Srinivasan/Doinks Srinivasan over Jay Srinivasan/Natalia Sout, 7-6 (7-4)!  No Aces.

It was a very close and exciting match that could have gone either way.  It must have been a satisfying one as they played this set for quite some time!

Kris Srinivasan/Ryan Pienciak over Jorge Solano/Abhilash Gadi, 6-2!  No Aces.

Ryan was especially brutal at the net, punishing time and again.  Ryan, you brute!  He was merciless as Jorge was the victim most times.  Abhi continued to play very well, but Ryan's aggression at the net zapped the oxygen out of their breath!

Chris Chiaro/Moka Pathan over Nathan Fernandes/Jordan Bachvaroff, 6-0!  No Aces.

It was just one of those sets where one side gets run over before they could even stand up and deliver!  Chris was on the attacking mode and the speed of his shots gave very little time for Jordan to even react. Jordan said that Chris was too fast to handle in this set.

Nathan Fernandes/Dan Martinelli over Lou La Forgia/Levy Lorenzo, 7-6 (7-4)!  Spin: 2 Aces (one on each)!

The Spin from Spin:  It was a spirited affair with consistent play from Levy, craftiness from Lou, superb court coverage from Nate and a whole lotta rust from Spin!  Nate's total game offset Spin's lack of play as we took a commanding 4-2 lead.  Team LL (Lou/Levy) stepped up their play to take the next three games to go ahead 5-4.  Lou was hitting short angle shots that were just ridiculous.  Levy returned almost everything.  With Levy serving, Nate (mostly Nate) and Spin held off 3 Match Points to notch the set at 5-5!  Spin was about as rusty as the Wizard of Oz's Tin Man before Dorothy showed up with her can of oil.  The inevitable Tiebreaker was on the horizon.  In that Tiebreak (with Dino Celis shooting video clips along the way), Lou and Levy went up 4-2.  Then, Nate and Spin manned up and took the next five points for the win!  Nate, Lou and Levy had abundant shots that would have made the highlight reel.  Spin's only highlights were his two Aces.  They were corner Aces that were blistering and well-placed.  It was a good, fun set of tennis.

The K has his say: It was an epic match that showed fighting spirit to the last point.  Nate and Spin showed lots of grit as they dug in hard being down 2-4 in the TB.  They fought off three Match Points and would not be shut down as they stuck like leeches, drawing the blood of their opponents to the last drop...:-).  Levy was solid and an able ally to Lou who played his aggressive game mixing up beautifully with his soft touch.  It was incredible to see the enthusiasm and gusto from Spin and Levy combined with the cool-headed play from Nate and Lou.  Never a dull moment with these guys and they kept the tempo right up there to make it an interesting evening.

The K's additional note: Apparently, Court 3 is suffering from blisters with merciless Aces from Spin and Jordan on this court!

Samara's Notes: This one sounds like it has a shot at being a Nominee for One-Set Doubles Match of The Year at season's end…or at least an honorable mention.  We now go back to Kris for the balance of this report.

Kris Srinivasan/Ryan Pienciak over Chris Chiaro/Abhilash Gadi, 7-6 (7-5)!  No Aces.

It turned out to be a nail-biter after a great start by our team, leading at one point 4-1.  Soon the tide would change with Chris hitting his vintage shots superbly and he was ably supported by Abhi.  These two guys had some amazing gets and my poor plays at the net cost us a few games.  We still had an edge leading 5-4 only to be shot down in the next two games.  An easy hold ensured a Tiebreak.  We were cruising at one point leading 5-1 before we saw yet another brilliant comeback to tie the match 6-All and then 5-All in the TB!  It was anyone's game, but then it ended up being ours as we took the next two points!  Despite some poor plays on my part, I had my moments of glory but all the other players were impressive.

Samara's Notes: I must interject once again to say we have yet another possible Nominee here.  And now back to Kris to close out this recap.

We had a couple of incomplete matches with the 10pm cutoff of the lights approaching fast and furious.

Lou La Forgia/Levy Lorenzo leading Nathan Fernandes/Dan Martinelli, 4-1 (Incomplete when the lights went out at 10pm)!  No Aces.

Chris Chiaro/Jordan Bachvaroff leading Kris Srinivasan/Ryan Pienciak, 4-3 (Incomplete when the lights went out at 10pm)!  No Aces.

Rightfully, Chris and Jordan won as we played it as a best of 7 games.  The small solace is we were on serve…:-).

Overall, it was a slightly cold and quiet night that turned into a 'not so cold after all' evening and a terrific night of tennis featuring 14 of our players with Dino cheerleading for all of us!  It was sad to see Dino limping as he had aggravated his ankle ligament a couple of days back.  I sincerely wish him to get well quickly as CG needs him in action here. 

On a different note, the Cedar Grove High School Boys Tennis Team will have a series of matches sometime soon until mid-May.  We have our own Peter Corso and Matias Dioses playing the lead role for their team.  If you happen to go to Cedar Grove earlier on their match days, please do cheer for Peter and Matias!

Spin had a blast indeed.  Nate had gotten into his groove by the end of the night.  I have yet to get a good feel, but have been just thriving on survival instincts.  It looked like most other players were in good form.  I expect a high level of play about a month from now for all of us.  Cheers!

Samara's Notes: I thank both Kris and Spin for submitting their reports in a very timely manner.

Sincerely,

Frank Samara

Gtasamara5@gmail.com

862-596-3354

 

 

3/12 Results.

3/12/17:         

"Syed hosts 7 at The Bubble!":                                          

GTA Sunday Tennis took place at The Wayne Bubble (two separate Night Owl sessions), but only "Sadistic" Syed Rashid sent in any results as usual hosts "Kevlar" Kevin Doyle and the GTA Champion: "King Crush" Chris Chiaro were not in attendance.  Additionally, "The Webmaster" Senthil Kumar and "The Lumberjack" Ryan Pienciak did not make it to the sessions either.

Doyle put out an e-mail to some of the other players he believed to be in attendance, but no replies came back in time for this following report.

We now go to Syed for the scores.

The Wayne Bubble Results:

Tom La/Kathy Sheldon over Syed Rashid/Dennis Cabanatan, 6-2!  No Aces.

Alfred Chen/Mike Sindler over Nick Inciong/Syed Rashid, 6-1!  No Aces.

Nick Inciong/Mike Sindler over Alfred Chen/Syed Rashid, 6-3!  No Aces.

 

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

 

Sincerely,

Frank Samara

Gtasamara5@gmail.com

862-596-3354

 

 

3/9 Results.

3/9/17:         

"Tailor-Agharkar, Ortega-Mole part of 8 at C.G., 14 at The Bubble!":                                          

GTA Thursday Night Tennis took place at both The Cedar Grove Courts (initially hosted by "The S Bomber" Genalin Capan, but with additional scores and details coming in from "Tailor Made" Raj Tailor and "Holy Moly" Mike Mole, and then later hosted by the usual host, "The K Man" Kris Srinivasan) and The Wayne Bubble (the Night Owl session) with multiple players sending in results (GTA Champion: "King Crush" Chris Chiaro, "The Webmaster" Senthil Kumar and "Sadistic" Syed Rashid). 

Thus, we had a total of seven (once erroneously reported as just six) different players reporting scores.  I thank all those that contributed to this report.  We will first go to the full report from Gen with scores and details from Raj and Mike added along the way.  Then, the Cedar Grove section will close with the report from Kris.

From there, we will grab all the various results reports from Chris, Kevin, Senthil and Syed up at The Bub.

We now turn this report over to Gen.

Mike Mole and I agreed to meet up at 4:30pm at Cedar Grove. It was a nice day, sunny with mild temperatures but very windy (although by the time we started playing, the winds had subsided).  When we arrived at the CG courts, they were all occupied by the CGHS Boys Tennis Team. The coach informed us that they will be there until 5:30-6pm on the weekdays.  Mike and I ended up going to the two courts down the road. We started hitting around 4:45pm.  After 40 minutes of warm-up we decided to play a one setter. 

Samara's Notes: My apologies in this regard as the day before, "Momma Chris" Christine Corso sent me an e-mail to inform us of the CGHS Boys Team's schedule and I neglected to share it with the group.

Now back to Gen we go.

The Cedar Grove Results:

Mike Mole over Genalin Capan, 6-4!  No Aces. We played this one from 5:25-6:05.

Mike had the leads at 4-1, 4-2, and 5-3. I saved 1 Match Point to get to 4-5. Mike then had to serve it out. He was up 40-15. I fought off 3 more Match Points. Then finally Mike closed it out on 5^th M.P. We also had a couple of long multi-deuce games. We got this one done just in time as it was getting dark.

Samara's Notes: Even with the 6-4 score, this one sounds like a possible Nominee for One-Set Singles Specialty Match of The Year at season's end.  And again we go back to Gen. 

There are no lights on these two courts we played on, so we drove back to the lit CG courts. There we found Raj Tailor and Nik Agharkar as the only two playing. We waited for them to finish. They were already in the 2nd set of their match being played to qualify for the upcoming GTA Intermediate Invitational Men's Singles Tournament. 

Samara's Notes: We will now grab that result from Nik before once again going back to Gen.

2 out of 3 Sets Singles Match:

Raj Tailor over Nik Agharkar, 6-2, 6-0, as both players entered the Intermediate Division as the New # 25 and # 26 Ranked Players respectively!  Raj: 2 Aces.  It was the official GTA Return of both Raj Tailor and Nik Agharkar.

Samara's Notes: I thank Raj for reporting that result.  We now go back to Gen again.

They were nice enough to stay and play a Doubles One-Setter with us.  Raj and Nik decided to team together. We immediately started the set as the wind started to pick up again and the temperature was feeling much cooler now in the evening.

Mike Mole/Genalin Capan over Raj Tailor/Nikhil Agharkar, 6-2!  Nik: 1 Ace on Mike. We played this one from 6:40 to 7:15.  It was a good set. We had a few multi-deuce games. 

After we left, Edwin and Mike were the last two and started a hitting session.  Mike later sent their result to Frank Samara and to me as well. 

2 out of 3 Sets Challenge Match:

Edwin Ortega over Mike Mole, 6-2, 1-6, 6-4, to successfully defend both his # 24 Rank in the Advanced Division and his # 5 Rank in the Intermediate Division!  No Aces.

Samara's Notes: I thank Gen for acting as a host and providing us with such a comprehensive write-up.  We now go to The K Man and let him take it away!

We did have action up here thanks to Edwin who, in the first place, had indicated his interest to play.

So did Levy Lorenzo and, subsequently, Raj Boddu. I had not planned to play and asked them to communicate via email with our group to get more interested players together. I did end up going just after 8pm to hit the ball with Raj.

Edwin and Mike Mole were in the midst of a Best of 3 Sets Singles Match. They had a very good match with some attractive shots and both putting in tremendous efforts. It looked close and indicated it went to three sets to decide the outcome. Edwin came out victorious, but Mike can feel good in playing a lovely game.

Raj and Omar were hitting the ball as I joined them. The weather was not too shabby with the warm temps of the day still lingering and the breeze was gentle and kind. We played Canadian Doubles to make it more engaging after an insipid hitting session. The games did change the dynamics of our play as points matter, don't they?...:-).

With the conclusion of the Singles, we had the fourth player available and, as in most cases, the victor joined still feeling the high of his win.  A Doubles Match ensued with Edwin teaming with Omar to ride out his victory fervor.  We decided to play it as Best of 3 Sets to make it an official Doubles Match.

2 out of 3 Sets Doubles Match:

Kris Srinivasan/Raj Boddu over Omar Santos/Edwin Ortega, 6-1, 6-0, as both teams entered the Doubles Division as the New # 52 and # 53 Ranked Teams respectively!  Raj: 1 Ace on Omar! 

Raj was on a roll, serving superbly but it was his incisive ground-strokes that were brutal and the beast of his shots had his own beauty. Edwin had some great serves going with solid topspin shots and Omar was steady. Unfortunately, they looked sedate in comparison to the whipping shots that Raj was dishing out. Edwin got to hold his serve the second time around in the 1st Set, but they did miss out on a few games where they were ahead. Despite being tired from playing the Singles, Edwin was a good sport to play Doubles with us. Levy might have come in the middle of our 1st Set but decided to get going.

It turned out to be a night of decent action, just for a shorter duration than usual.  Cheers!

Samara's Notes: As always, I thank Kris for being willing to host up at Cedar Grove and provide us with his very detailed reports.  We now head up to Wayne with results pouring in from multiple sources.

The Wayne Bubble Results:

Chris Chiaro/Lou La Forgia over Joe Rodrigues/Tom La, 6-3!  No Aces. 

Chris Chiaro/Lou La Forgia over Joe Rodrigues/Tom La, 6-0!  Tom: 1 Ace on Lou; and Joe: 1 Ace on Lou!

Chris Chiaro/Tom La over Lou La Forgia/Joe Rodrigues, 6-1!  Chris: 1 Ace on Joe.

Chris Chiaro/Tom La over Lou La Forgia/Joe Rodrigues, 6-3!  No Aces.

Tony Shiao/Senthil Kumar over Anish Mehta/Pranav Sinha, 6-4!  No Aces (apparently).

Senthil Kumar/Dan Hwang over Don Moya/Pranav Sinha, 7-6 (7-5)!  No Aces (apparently).

Tony Shiao over Anish Mehta, 6-3!  No Aces (apparently).

Anish Mehta over Tony Shiao, 6-1!  No Aces (apparently). 

Rafaelo Kazakov/Ryan Sherry over Syed Rashid/Mike Sindler, 6-4!  Ryan: 1 Ace on Mike.

Syed Rashid/Mike Sindler leading Rafaelo Kazakov/Ryan Sherry, 5-3 (Incomplete when they ran out of time)!  No Aces.

Samara's Notes: Again, I thank everyone for their contributions to this report.  

Sincerely,

Frank Samara

Gtasamara5@gmail.com

862-596-3354

 

 

3/8 Results.

3/8/17:               

"Kris/Doinks host 10 at C.G., Kevin hosts 4 at The Bubble!":                               

GTA Wednesday Night Tennis took place at both The Cedar Grove Courts (co-hosted by "The K Man" Kris Srinivasan and "The Marathon Woman" Doinks Srinivasan) and then at The Wayne Bubble (a Night Owl session) with "Kevlar" Kevin Doyle acting as the host.  I thank all three for their participation in this report. 

We will first go to the report from Kris with a contribution from his wife Doinks along the way.  And then we will close out this overall report with the recap from Kevin.

We now let The K take it away!

After a hectic day, the beautiful weather and invitations from couple of players drew me to the tennis courts just after 6pm, starting early with the intent to finish early as well.

After initiating the call to play and stringing together a bunch of e-mails and messages, Dean Delgado was a "no show" stuck at work.

The women were more organized as they coordinated well to play their planned match.  A few didn't get to play as Alex Roumi didn't wait for a few more minutes.  Raj Tailor and Natalia Sout ended up having a hitting session along with Doinks and Omar Santos.

The Cedar Grove Results:

Doinks paired with Kathy Sheldon to take on Brenda Jordan and Dawn Peterson.  Here's the result from Doinks.

2 out of 3 Set Women's Doubles Match:

Doinks Srinivasan/Kathy Sheldon over Brenda Jordan/Dawn Peterson, 4-6, 6-2, 10-2 (Super Tiebreak), as both teams entered the Women's Doubles Division as the New # 8 and # 9 Ranked Teams respectively!  No Aces (apparently).

The K Man has his say: Brenda was solid at the net with good plays and placements while Dawn was manning the baseline.  Their steady play earned them the 1st Set, but it also had tired Brenda's hands as her team went down in the next set and the STB.

Dan Martinelli/Jorge Solano over Sairaj Srinivasan/Omar Santos, 7-5!  No Aces.

It was a great comeback match for the veterans as they rallied superbly from being down 2-5!  Sairaj and Omar were dominant for the most part till they were up 5 games.  Spin (aka Dan Martinelli) was the first to hold for his team, but not without some scares.  Serving 40-15, it was soon Deuce…but a couple of silly errors survived the 3-Love deficit for his team.  Sairaj was serving and hitting well.  Omar was placing the ball beautifully between the players.  Dino Celis had then joined us along the sidelines to watch and he had the luxury of seeing how rock-solid Spin's rust was. He took pictures of Spin's misses and had "encouraging" not-so-complimentary words for The Doc.  That's what Spin needed to get him triggered into a maniacal mode as he got his serves going and then smoked some handsome down-the-line shots, effectively shutting out Dino and shutting down his opponents by winning 5 straight games!  Jorge gave him solid support, especially at the net winning almost all the points.  This made a big impact to the overall game of Sairaj and Omar as they then made more unforced errors.  It was a solid One-Setter that was turned on its head on the brink of an early finish.

Dino Celis/Jorge Solano over Kris Srinivasan/Omar Santos, 7-5!  No Aces.

It was another good One-Setter with Dino and Jorge emerging as the deserving winners.  No question, it was Dino who was the star with his far superior game.  The pace of some of his shots was ridiculous, but indeed a pleasure to watch.  Most shots were played to Jorge who was quite steady, but also slowed the pace of the game in stark contrast to Dino's pace.  For us, Omar was the savior playing very well, especially from the baseline.  But his net-play was tepid and didn't have the punch to close out the points.  My game was a mixed bag as the long layoff sure seemed to see chunks of rust in my game.  But I have to say that the set of incorrigible and ridiculous shots in my arsenal seemed intact and rust-free...:-).  The fighting spirit was there for sure for what should have been perilously close to 5-1 against us was turned around to 5-All to make a match of it.  We missed winning the next game despite some opportunities.  Having a chance to force the Tiebreak, we did well to earn Break Points only to blow them away.  Just like that, we faced Match Point and thwarted it yet again.  We would get two more Break Point opportunities, but proved to be stubborn mules not to grab them.  Finally, we succumbed to the fourth Match Point overall to the lamest shot, but it was one prolonged set indeed!

Then, I finally felt good hitting the ball with Dino despite punishing shots by the guy wielding Federer's racquet.  It was a somewhat light turnout, but still it was brisk tennis on a lovely night.  Cheers!

Samara's Notes: Thanks again to Kris and Doinks for hosting the Cedar Grove session and also much gratitude to The K Man for his colorful and comprehensive commentary.

We now head up to Wayne to let Kevlar Kevin detail what was up at The Bub!

The Wayne Bubble Results:

Kevin Doyle/Robin Wilson over Jeanette Pegg/Ania Rachwal, 6-2!  No Aces.

Kevin Doyle/Ania Rachwal over Robin Wilson/Jeanette Pegg, 6-0!  No Aces.

Those two One-Setter were on Court 3 and took almost 2 hours to finish.  When the second One-Setter ended, Robin and I just hit as Ania and Jeanette decided to leave.

We had an odd number of players, so in addition to our match three players (Laurie Boughton, Ted Cedroski and Vladimir Smolyanskiy) played Australian (Canadian Doubles, perhaps?) on Court 1 for the entire 2 hours.

Samara's Notes: I thank Kevin for hosting that session and providing his write-up as well.

Sincerely,

Frank Samara

Gtasamara5@gmail.com

 

 

 

3/7 Results.

3/7/17:         

"9 play at The Bubble!":                                          

GTA Tuesday Night Tennis took place at The Wayne Bubble (a Night Owl session) with GTA Champion: "King Crush" Chris Chiaro, Tony "Sure Shot" Shiao and "Kevlar" Kevin Doyle reporting their results.  I thank all of them for their participation in this report.  We will now report those scores with the order being reversed from the way I listed the contributors above.

The Wayne Bubble Results:

Kevin Doyle/Don Moya over Tony Shiao/Sean McHugh, 6-4!  Don: 1 Ace on Sean; and Tony: 1 Ace on Kevin!  

The Kevlar Commentary: It was a tough set where we started strong and were ahead 3-0, but then they came back and won 3 of the last 6 games.  After that Tony went to play singles with Dan Hwang while Sean, Don and I just played Round-Robin Australian until 11pm.

Tony Shiao over Dan Hwang, 6-3!  No Aces (apparently).

Dan Hwang over Tony Shiao, 6-2!  No Aces (apparently).

Chris Chiaro/Senthil Kumar over Lou La Forgia/Ryan Pienciak, 6-4!  No Aces.

Lou La Forgia/Ryan Pienciak over Chris Chiaro/Senthil Kumar, 6-2!  Senthil: 1 Ace on Ryan; and Ryan: 1 Ace on Senthil!

Chris Chiaro/Senthil Kumar over Lou La Forgia/Ryan Pienciak, 6-3!  Chris: 1 Ace on Ryan!

Chris Chiaro/Senthil Kumar leading Lou La Forgia/Ryan Pienciak, 4-2 (Incomplete as they ran out of time)!  No Aces. 

Sincerely,

Frank Samara

Gtasamara5@gmail.com

862-596-3354

 

 

3/6 Results.

3/6/17:         

"Kazakov-Hyman 1-Setters in Fairfield!":                                          

GTA Monday Night Tennis took place at The Fairfield Racquet Club as "The Mel Man" Melvin Hyman sent in the following scores.

The Fairfield Racquet Club Results:

Rafaelo Kazakov over Melvin Hyman, 6-3!  No Aces (apparently).

Melvin Hyman over Rafaelo Kazakov, 6-2!  No Aces (apparently).

Samara's Notes: I thank Mel for reporting those scores.

Sincerely,

Frank Samara

Gtasamara5@gmail.com

862-596-3354

3/5 Results:

3/5/17:         

"20 play (2 new) at The Bubble!":                                          

GTA Sunday Tennis took place at The Wayne Bubble (two separate Night Owl sessions) with multiple players sending in results as there were no true hosts with "The Riz" John Rizzo still injured and the GTA Champion: "King Crush" Chris Chiaro not in attendance.

The usual Sunday morning session at Albion Park in Clifton had to be cancelled due to true winter weather conditions.  Despite the bitter cold, "Hollywood" Frank Samara had been willing to perform his usual hosting duties as "Mr. 500" Levy Lorenzo was going to have his son-in-law "The Bostonian" Chris Homick down from Boston.  But once Levy let Frank off the hook, Samara asked Lorenzo to inform the league that the session would be cancelled.

So that left the two remaining late-afternoon/early-evening sessions at The Bubble.  Scores poured in from "Kevlar" Kevin Doyle, "Rockin'" Robin Wilson, "The Lumberjack" Ryan Pienciak, "The Hitman" Tom La, Dennis "The Menace" Cabanatan and "The Webmaster" Senthil Kumar.

I thank all those that contributed to this report.  And now we go to those scores.

The Wayne Bubble Results:

The 3-5 pm session:

Vladimir Smolyanskiy/Bill Bess over Kevin Doyle/Meet Rana, 7-5!  No Aces.

Brenda Jordan/Jeanette Pegg over Robin Wilson/Marie Easton, 6-3!  No Aces.

The Kevlar Commentary: The rest of the session was just hitting.

The 6-8 pm session:

Ryan Pienciak/Nick Inciong over Syed Rashid/Mike Sindler, 6-0!  No Aces.

2 out of 3 Sets Doubles Match:

Ryan Pienciak/Mike Sindler over Syed Rashid/Nick Inciong, 6-3, 6-1, as each team entered the Doubles Division as the New # 50 and # 51 Ranked Teams respectively!  Nick: 2 Aces on Ryan!

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

Tom La/Kathy Sheldon over Dennis Cabanatan/Rafaelo Kazakov, 6-2!  No Aces (apparently).

Tom La/Kathy Sheldon over Dennis Cabanatan/Rafaelo Kazakov, 7-6 (9-7)!  No Aces (apparently).

Samara's Notes: That last one sounds like it could be a Nominee for One-Set Specialty Doubles Match of The Year at season's end.  We now go back to the rest of the results.

Dan Hwang/Erik Jensen over Senthil Kumar/Ram Ahmadi, 6-3!  Erik: 1 Ace on Senthil.  It was the official GTA Debut of both Erik Jensen and Ram Ahmadi.

Senthil Kumar/Ram Ahmadi over Dan Hwang/Erik Jensen, 6-1!  Ram: 1 Ace on Erik.

The Untangled Web by Senthil: We had started a third One-Setter (or what could have been the deciding 3^rd Set of a full match), but Ram got injured so we had to stop.

Samara's Notes: Again, I thank everyone for their contributions to this report.  And, for the record, Ram Ahmadi is no relation to Dave Ahmadi.

Sincerely,

Frank Samara

Gtasamara5@gmail.com

862-596-3354

 

 

3/2 Results.

3/2/17:         

"Samara hosts 12 at The Bubble!":                                          

GTA Thursday Night Tennis took place at The Wayne Bubble (a Night Owl session) with "Hollywood" Frank Samara assuming hosting duties.

We had a total of twelve official competitors.  "RK Fire" Rafaelo Kazakov was a late arrival and found himself in an odd-man-out situation for a while.  Thankfully, "The Boss" Bill Bess was around to give him an impromptu lesson on Court Four while Men's Doubles action raged on Courts One, Two and Three.

And now we go to those scores.

The Wayne Bubble Results:

2 out of 3 Sets Doubles Match:

Tony Shiao/Senthil Kumar over Lou La Forgia/Ryan Pienciak, 6-2, 0-6, 7-6 (7-5), as each team entered the Doubles Division as the New # 48 and # 49 Ranked Teams respectively!  Ryan: 3 Aces in the 3^rd Set (2 on Senthil and 1 on Tony)!

The Untangled Web by Senthil: Our team jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the 1^st Set before Lou and Ryan pulled to 2-5.  Then they took the 2^nd Set with a bagel and then we had an excellent 3^rd Set.

Samara's Notes: This one was the first official action to get underway as the 1^st Set of what turned into a full match began on Court Three at 9:20.  The match did not end until 11:02.  With a 3^rd Set score like this one has, this match may have a shot at being a Nominee for Doubles Match of The Year at season's end.  I thank Senthil for the details.

Anish Mehta/Syed Rashid over Tom La/Jonathan La, 6-4!  Tom: 2 Aces (one on each); and Jonathan: 1 Ace on Syed.  This one took place on Court Two and lasted from 9:40 to 10:13.  While the father/son duo won the battle of the Aces, Anish and Syed won the overall war.  The two teams decided to play a rematch One-Setter.  But first…

Dino Celis/Dennis Cabanatan over Frank Samara/Ryan Sherry, 6-4!  Dino: 1 Ace on Ryan.  It went like this: Dino held at Love as he started with a slicing sideline Ace on Ryan, Frank held at Love, but Dennis was the first to be broken (15-Love shifted straight to Double Break Point, then Break Point and the break) for 1-2.  Ryan was also broken (15-Love, 15-All then onto Double Game Point, Game Point, Double Fault for Deuce, Break Point and the break) for 2-2, but then Celis was broken (15-Love, 15-All then onto Double Game Point, cut down to Deuce, Double Fault for Break Point and then the break) to fall to 2-3.  Samara was also broken (Love-15 shifted to 30-15 shifted to Break Point and then the break) to tie things again at 3-3 and then Cabanatan held (Love-15 then point for point until 30-All, Game Point, Deuce and then all Game Points through to 3^rd Deuce, one more Game Point and then the hold) to go up 4-3.  Sherry had a Love hold to knot the score once more at 4-4, but then Coach held (Love-15 shifted to 30-15 shifted to Break Point, Deuce, Game Point and the hold) while Hollywood was broken again as it went Love-15 and then point for point to Break/Match Point, Deuce, it then ended on the 2^nd Break/Match Point!  We played this one on Court One from 9:40 to 10:10.

Samara's Notes: We had two makeshift teams as it was Dino and Dennis (aka DC United) against Frank and Ryan (aka Hollywild).  I finally came up with a moniker for Sherry and it is "The Wildman!"  This is actually intended as a compliment as he has a swing-away style that pays dividends more often than it does not.  He has a powerful forehand, big-time serve and even on defense his shots come back with some offensive grit on them.  Once he develops just a little more discipline and gains a speck more consistency, he will truly be dangerous.  His game is very impressive for a relative beginner and his overall attitude is great.  Since it was a surprisingly close One-Setter, we decided to play another.

Frank Samara/Ryan Sherry over Dino Celis/Dennis Cabanatan, 6-4!  No Aces.  Here's how it went down: Dennis was broken at Love, Ryan held (Love-15 shifted to 30-15, 30-All, Game Point, Deuce, Break Point, 2^nd Deuce, Game Point and the hold) and Dino was broken (Love-30, 15-30, Double Break Point and then the break) to find his team quickly down 0-3!  But then Frank was broken at Love, Cabanatan held (got off to a 30-Love start, Double Fault for 30-15, Double Game Point cut down to Deuce, but then Game Point and the hold) and Sherry was broken at Love to rapidly level things at 3-3!  Celis was broken again (15-Love then point for point until 30-All, Break Point and the break) and then Samara held at Love to go up 5-3!  The Menace held again (15-Love, 15-All then onto Double Game Point and the hold) to pull closer at 4-5, but then The Wildman held (15-Love then point for point to Game/Match Point and the hold) for the win!  This rematch lasted on Court One from 10:13 to 10:43.

Samara's Notes: Given the time constraints of indoor tennis, I would rapidly write down the flow of the games on the changeovers without noting who hit what winners.  But Ryan and I each had one really big moment in this one (among many other nice shots and/or gets).  I had a get to a drop shot as I raced from the baseline to then sizzle a backhand passing shot past Dennis who was at the net but could not get a racquet on it.  Ryan had one of the sickest forehand returns I have ever seen as he simply blasted it right off the court and into the wall!  We were feeling really good at this point and happy to get a victory which evened the score.  It was only fair to play a "rubber match" One-Setter.  But first…

Tom La/Jonathan La over Anish Mehta/Syed Rashid, 6-4!  No Aces.  This rematch took place on Court Two and lasted from 10:15 to 10:50.  Team La La Land was also able to even the score.  From there, Anish and Jonathan had a hard-hitting practice session with one another.

Dino Celis/Dennis Cabanatan leading Frank Samara/Ryan Sherry, 5-2 (Incomplete)!  Dino: 1 Ace on Frank.  Here's how it was going: Dino held (15-Love, 15-All, 30-15, sideline Ace on Frank to make it Double Game Point, the hold came on Game Point), Frank was broken (Love-30, 15-30, Double Break Point and then the break) and Dennis held (Triple Game Point, the hold came on Double Game Point) to take a quick 3-0 lead!  Ryan held (15-Love, 15-All then onto Double Game Point, cut down to Deuce, Break Point, 2^nd Deuce, Game Point and the hold) to get his team onto the scoreboard, but then Celis held again (15-Love, 15-All then onto Double Game Point, the hold came on Game Point) for 4-1.  Samara was broken again (Triple Break Point, the break came on Double Break Point) to fall to 1-5, but then Cabanatan failed to seal the deal as he was broken (15-Love, 15-All, Double Fault for 15-30, Double Break Point and the break) to make it 5-2 as we had run out of time at 11:05 (we had begun this one on Court One at 10:45).

Samara's Notes: At the changeover at 4-1, we briefly debated what we should do as it was almost 11pm.  Court Two still had their match underway, so we decided to play on…but also acknowledged that the action may have to be cut short for an incomplete result.  When Celis/Cabanatan went up 5-1, we all agreed that the next game would be the last one.  Either DC United would walk away with a 6-1 win or we would end things incomplete.  Ryan and I were happy just to avoid an official loss as both Dino and Dennis had seemed to catch their second wind in this one while we may have been just a bit too satisfied with our previous victory.

All in all, it was a lot of fun.    

Sincerely,

Frank Samara

Gtasamara5@gmail.com

862-596-3354

 

 

3/1 Results.

3/1/17:         

"Kevin hosts 4 at The Bubble!":                                          

GTA Wednesday Night Tennis first took place at The Wayne Bubble (a Night Owl session) with "Kevlar" Kevin Doyle assuming hosting duties.

We now go to that score.

The Wayne Bubble Result:

2 out of 3 Sets Mixed Doubles Match:

Ray Spadaro/Laurie Boughton over Kevin Doyle/Robin Wilson, 6-2, 6-3, as each team entered the Mixed Doubles Division as the New # 38 and # 39 Ranked Teams respectively!  No Aces.

The Kevlar Commentary: This match lasted close to two hours. 

Samara's Notes: As always, I thank Kevin for reporting the results from these Bubble sessions for the benefit of the league.

Best wishes,

Frank Samara 

 

2/28 Results

2/28/17:         

"Chris hosts 4 at The Bubble!":                                          

GTA Tuesday Night Tennis first took place at The Wayne Bubble (a Night Owl session) with GTA Champion: "King Crush" Chris Chiaro assuming hosting duties.

We now go to those scores.

The Wayne Bubble Results:

Chris Chiaro/Ryan Pienciak over Lou La Forgia/Senthil Kumar, 6-3!  No Aces.

Chris Chiaro/Ryan Pienciak over Lou La Forgia/Senthil Kumar, 7-5!  Chris: 1 Ace on Senthil.

Chris Chiaro/Ryan Pienciak over Lou La Forgia/Senthil Kumar, 6-3!  Chris: 1 Ace on Senthil.

Samara's Notes: As always, I thank Chris for reporting the results from these Bubble sessions for the benefit of the league.

Best wishes,

Frank Samara