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
862-596-3354
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