8/24/17:
"Gonzales-Pathan in C.G. plus Panda forfeit to Daddio!":
There was just one session of GTA Thursday Night Tennis: the usual evening one at The Cedar Grove Courts where we received reports from both competitors in the Grove Cup XX Round of 16 Match between "Latino Heat" Jose Gonzales and "Instant" Moka Pathan. And that was it…nothing else!
Usual host, "The K Man" Kris Srinivasan was away. And frequent back-up host, "Spin Doctor" Dan Martinelli was not there either. I also was unable to attend the session.
It is very unfortunate that nothing else was reported as I'm willing to bet we likely had at least another dozen players there. I have it on good authority that the evening before (GTA Wednesday Night Tennis) where we reported 12 official competitors, we actually had 22 or 23 of our players in attendance.
It is one thing if people just choose to engage in practice hitting sessions rather than play sets or matches. That is understandable. But when they are playing matches and then failing to report them, it is the league that suffers. And it is particularly disappointing and disheartening when you consider the fact that if it wasn't for the league, many of these players would not even know one another. And now they feel as if it is not worth their time or effort to report their match results to it…very sad.
To be fair, one of the newer players (I won't mention names) who played Wednesday night did try to report the action he was involved in…but he did not know the names of the other players. At least the attempt was admirable. The problem is that there were other players there who both know the names and know better as well.
I know I have been less involved in attending sessions this season (with valid reason…multi-faceted, actually, and most already know why…so I won't beat it to death), but I have not been less active in the administration of the league (save the occasional oversight on inactivity eliminations and the like). So it would be very easy for me to give up and toss my efforts aside as well.
But I won't do that because there are also many others who are diligent in their reporting and offering of help in managing the sessions…which all helps the league run effectively. It is their efforts that reinvigorate my own…and they already know who they are, but I thank them again here and now.
Speaking of unfortunate incidents, later in the evening on Thursday night, it was also revealed that "The Annihilator" Nihar Panda has been ill. And as he has yet to recover, he feels that he cannot continue his in-progress Grove Cup XX Round of 32 Match against "Daddy O" Paul Daddio (the conclusion of which had been scheduled for Friday night).
Because the match was actually started a couple of weeks ago (the 1st Set was nearly finished when rain cut the match short), it cannot be handled as a simple withdrawal as some of the other matches in this Grove Cup tournament (and other similar tourneys) were. Instead, it has to be handled as a forfeit rather than a withdrawal and Panda's rank will be lost to Daddio.
In the GTA when someone has to pull out of an in-progress match, the balance of the remaining games is then awarded to the other player (though we do note the forfeit). And that is how this match will be listed below after the reporting of the Gonzales-Pathan match.
There was no GTA action at The Park Ave. Courts in Nutley as "Hollywood" Frank Samara not only did a drive-by, but also a walk-up at 8:15 and saw that three of the four courts were in use…but none of our guys were there.
So we now get the lone actual result from Cedar Grove and then report the forfeited result as well.
The Cedar Grove Results:
Grove Cup XX Round of 16 Match:
Moka Pathan over Jose Gonzales, 6-4, 6-4, to become the New # 12 Ranked Player in the Advanced Division while also advancing to the Quarterfinals of the 20th Annual Grove Cup Tournament! Jose: 3 Aces; and Moka: 1 Ace!
Moka's Brew: We played from 6:05 to 7:25pm. In the 1st Set, I went down 0-2 and again at 2-3, but then took three straight games to go up 5-3 and then take the set at 6-4.
In the 2nd Set, I went up 2-0 then it leveled at 2-2. I then went up 4-2 and it leveled again at 4-4. Finally, I took the set at 6-4.
Jose played well as he made me hit a lot of extra shots. I had to adjust and play a slightly more conservative game. It was a close match with a lot of multiple Deuce games that could've easily gone either way.
Jose has his say: I played as hard as I could, but Moka was the better player. He was firing on all cylinders. I hope he goes on to win the tournament.
The Consequences: Pathan advances to the Quarters where he will face the most recent Former GTA Champ: "King Crush" Chris Chiaro.
Samara's Notes: I thank Moka and Jose for submitting their result in such a timely and comprehensive manner.
Grove Cup XX Round of 32 Match:
Paul Daddio over Nihar Panda, 7-5 (Panda was up 5-4, but then forfeited the balance of the match), 6-0, to become the New # 7 Ranked Player in the Advanced Division while also advancing to the Round of 16 of the 20th Annual Grove Cup Tournament! No Aces.
The Consequences: Daddio advances to the Round of 16 where he will face "The Speed Demon" Dan Praport. And we hope that Panda can recover in time to challenge GTA Intermediate Champ: "The Webmaster" Senthil Kumar for his Title by the August 31st deadline. Nihar is the Top Contender entitled to the next shot by virtue of his winning the 2017 GTA Intermediate Invitational Tournament.
Sincerely,
Frank Samara
862-596-3354
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