2/23/18:
"41 players (8 new, 3 returning) compete at GTA Bubblepalooza 6!":
There was a very special session of GTA Friday Night Tennis to honor the kickoff of the 2018 GTA Season. The "Bubblepalooza" moniker was coined by "Hollywood" Frank Samara three seasons ago when two of these events were held at The Wayne Bubble that inaugural year of the idea. But the concept and execution of this event, once again, was the result of the efforts of "The Riz" John Rizzo.
While Rizzo's focus was primarily the invitations and then the accommodations (food, beverages, etc.), Samara's role was making sure that all those that attended had their fair share of court time at The Bubble.
Last year's event set a new record in terms of the number of official competitors in a singular session with 46 players. This year, Rizzo and Samara set a goal of at least 40 competitors as they were not all that concerned with breaking last season's record (even though a year ago, they had said they would be hoping to hit 50 the following year...but it does make for a much more crowded and difficult session to run).
They exceeded their goal by one when they ended up with 41 actual players attending the session. And we likely could have tied last year's total of 46 competitors in one session as we easily had at least five last-minute switches of RSVP from "Yes" to "No."
Nonetheless, the event was a tremendous success. We fell just one new player short of tying last year's Bubblepalooza record-breaking one session total of nine competitors making their official GTA Debut when we picked up eight new entrants to the league this time around.
Samara has done much recruiting during the off-season and a lot of it has been via a most unexpected source: a website called Nextdoor.com. Back in the summer of 2017, a woman had told Frank that she had seen his name mentioned on the site as a contact for playing tennis in the local area (Nutley, Clifton, Bloomfield and Belleville).
As Samara had a very hectic 2017, he did not get around to actually trying to investigate this post and reply to it until early in 2018. He could not find the particular post that mentioned his name, so he took it upon himself to post something of his own mentioning the fact that he did, in fact, run a free tennis league and was trying to track down the particular inquiry that had led to the mention of his name.
While the search for that inquisitive party and the other intended helpful party went unsuccessful, the post was unintentionally successful in opening the flood gates for a bunch of new inquiries about the league. Since that post first went up on the site, we have had over a dozen requests for further information on the league (several of whom also asked to be added to the mailing list). And of the eight new players that made their official GTA Debut at Bubblepalooza 6, five of them came via the Nextdoor site.
Three years ago, John Rizzo had the idea to create a special session soon after the 2015 Season officially got underway that would include some of his friends from the Wayne Bubble Night Owl Indoor Sessions that he runs along with many more of his friends from the GTA. This would also enable some of those "Bubble-only" players to then make their official GTA Debut.
Given the fact that there are just four courts at The Bubble, Rizzo thought it best to invite a certain amount of players that he had already established relationships with rather than open it up to the entire league as that could have led to a situation that would grow out of hand. Furthermore, he relied on RSVPs in order to plan on how much food he should have in advance.
Per the usual Bubblepalooza event, John made sure to have eight pizza pies, a six foot sub, plenty of bags of chips, a veritable plethora of cookies and cupcakes along with plenty of soda as well. And it was BYOB - Bring Your Own Beer, if the guests wanted to quench their thirst in a somewhat harder fashion.
Before I go further with the details of how this session have unfolded, I just want to once again thank The Riz for offering up his time, services and funds to host this event for the benefit of the GTA. And I acted as the host of the session in the traditional sense of how we use the term "hosting", i.e. I collected the scores of all the action along the way.
Usually in my results write-ups, I detail the order of entry and/or appearance as the session progresses...but not this time around! There were just too many people to note...and they came in waves! All I will say is was yet another epic session that we hope serves as the launching pad to another epic season. It also served as an introduction (or reintroduction) to the GTA for many players. It was an amazing way to kick off the 2018 Season...and I thank all those who were a part of it.
Let's get to the action!
The Wayne Bubble Results:
Kevin Doyle/Robin Wilson over Laurie Boughton/Suzanne Bujara, 6-4! Suzanne: 1 Ace on Kevin! This was the first official action of the night as it got underway on Court Four at 8:18 and ended at 8:55.
Naomi Lebofsky/Karyn Rosenberg over Brenda Jordan/Marie Salamon, 6-0! Naomi: 1 Ace on Marie! It was the official GTA Debut of both Naomi Lebofsky and Karyn Rosenberg. Although this One-Setter started two minutes later than the One-Setter listed directly above, this one was finished on Court Three (aka "The Show Court" as it is the court directly in front of all the players hanging out in "The Lounge" area who are eating, drinking and watching the action) at 8:35...it took all of 15 minutes for Naomi and Karyn to feel a bagel to Brenda and Marie!
Naomi and Karyn may be new to the GTA, but they are not new to tennis or The Wayne Bubble, for that matter. In fact, Naomi is part of the Wednesday night group that always occupies Court Three just before the Night Owls group takes it over at 9pm. Both ladies are solid players and a welcome addition to our league.
Ray Spadaro/Erik Jensen over Rich Liu/Sam Wong, 6-0! No Aces. It was the official GTA Return of Erik Jensen. Court One hosted this one from 8:20 to 8:38. Even with all the food that The Riz had ordered, it apparently was not enough as two bagels were quickly offered up early in the session...LOL!
Erik had played with us very briefly early on in the 2017 Season as a sub at some (perhaps just one) of the Night Owl sessions there. This past off-season, he has become a fairly regular attendee at the Friday Night Bubble Parties and he plans on playing with us much more this coming season.
Tom Heidt/Hermie Batausa over Edgar Inclan/Stan Carroll, 6-4! Edgar: 2 Aces (one on each); Tom: 2 Aces on Edgar; and Stan: 1 Ace on Hermie! It was the official GTA Debut of Tom Heidt, Hermie Batausa and Stan Carroll and it was the official GTA Return of Edgar Inclan! This hard-fought battle occupied Court Two from 8:20 to 9:02.
Edgar and Hermie are both friends with William "Bombs Away" Bobila (who was also in attendance on this particular occasion). In fact, Edgar had a brief run in the GTA last summer where he appeared at The Cedar Grove Courts and even managed to defeat "Del Brotro" Mike Mole in a One-Setter.
While Tom "Gotta Lotta" Heidt (gave him that moniker because he is, in fact, quite tall) has become a regular at the Friday Night Bubble Parties that we have been running during the off-season, this was his first time playing in an official GTA session. He is a student of "The Adonis" Don Moya's and he says he definitely plans on staying around for the long haul.
And Stan "The Man" Carroll is a tennis veteran who came to us via the Nextdoor site and is happy to have found another place to play. We welcome all four of these gentleman to the league.
Dan Knitzer/Karyn Rosenberg over Jimmy Sacchetti/Naomi Lebofsky, 6-3! No Aces. It was the official GTA Debut of Jimmy Sacchetti. They played this on Court Three from 8:43 to 9:05.
Jimmy also comes to us by way of the Nextdoor site. It was not until he arrived at The Bubble and saw Samara making his way thru the revolving door into the lounge area that they realized they graduated from Nutley High School together (Class of 1988). And then Sacchetti also soon met "The Hit Man" Tom La who was NHS Class of 1985. Jimmy did not remember him from school, but knew him from a shared workplace (the A&P in Clifton...now Kohl's) many, many years ago. Sacchetti has not played much tennis since the 90's, but he is looking forward to shaking off more rust with us from here forward.
William Bobila/Nick Inciong over Moka Pathan/Sukumar Mitra, 6-2! William: 1 Ace on Sukumar! It was the official GTA Return of Sukumar Mitra. This one got done on Court One as it lasted from 8:45 to 9:07.
It was nice to see Kumar (aka "The Chef"), a GTA veteran, back out on the courts again. Personally, he had a very busy year in 2017. He hopes (and so do we, reciprocally) to see more of us this season.
Dan Hwang/Dino Celis over Mike Mole/Senthil Kumar, 6-4! No Aces. This hard-fought and hard-hitting battle was waged on Court Four from 9pm to 9:40.
Soon after the above One-Setter ended, we gathered all of the players around the net on Court Three for some group photos (much like we did at Bubblepalooza 5 - the 2017 Season Closer Party). Once again, we thank Dino for his efforts in this regard.
Jonathan La/Brenda Jordan over Vince Villanueva/Marie Salamon, 6-0! Jonathan: 1 Ace on Vince; and Vince: 1 Ace on Brenda! It was the official GTA Debut of Vince Villanueva. This was played on Court Three from 9:12 to 9:30.
Jonathan, as many know by now, is the son of Tom La. He is on the Nutley High School Tennis Team and is currently a senior. His good friend, Vince, already graduated from NHS and is now at Rutgers (New Brunswick) where I believe he may be on the tennis team there as well. And Tom told me that Jonathan plans on attending there next year, too. I guess, for now, we can call Jonathan the "Son of Tom" and Vince can be "V-Dub!"
Alfred Chen/Dawn Peterson over Sam Wong/Genalin Capan, 6-3! Alfred: 1 Ace on Gen. These two teams faced off on Court Two from 9:15 to 9:55.
Ray Spadaro/Erik Jensen over Rich Liu/Stan Carroll, 6-2! Ray: 1 Ace on Stan. This one also lasted from 9:15 to 9:55, but was played on Court One.
Doinks Srinivasan/Fadia Nicolas over Naomi Lebofsky/Karyn Rosenberg, 6-4! Fadia: 1 Ace on Naomi! Court Three was once again the "home court" for Naomi and Karyn, but Doinks and Fadia came in as fresh arrivals who wanted to represent the GTA in a strong fashion. It was quite the contest...and it got started at 9:37 and finished at 10:12.
Paul Daddio/Moka Pathan over Tom La/Mike Sindler, 6-3! Tom: 1 Ace on Moka! This foursome faced off on Court Four from 9:55 to 10:32.
Kevin Doyle/Robin Wilson over Jimmy Sacchetti/Suzanne Bujara, 6-4! No Aces. This was a nice and evenly balanced Mixed Doubles affair which was contested on Court Two from 10:02 to 10:34.
Edgar Inclan/Laurie Boughton over Hermie Batausa/Shoni Boyce-Banica, 6-1! Edgar: 1 Ace on Shoni. It was the official GTA Debut of Shoni Boyce-Banica. This one was played on Court One from 10:05 to 10:27.
Shoni is another recruit via the Nextdoor site. And...as it was a "small world" affair for the trio of Samara, Sacchetti and La earlier in the session, likewise it was for Shoni and Stan Carroll as they both already knew each other from playing tennis elsewhere. We should also note that Shoni was one of the first arrivals of the evening, but she apparently focused more on the "social party" aspect of the invitation and forgot the prominence of the word "tennis" in the equation as she came dressed to party...fairly formal attire, knee-high boots, etc. She had a chance to speak with both Frank and Stan (among others) early on and then she soon disappeared.
Well, you got to give her credit as she drove all the way back home to Bloomfield and then returned to Wayne dressed to play later in the night. Now there is a lady who loves to play tennis. Both she (along with her husband, at some point) and Stan plan to play more with us in the future.
William Bobila/Nick Inciong over Senthil Kumar/Dino Celis, 6-3! No Aces. Court Three hosted this one from 10:18 to 11:02.
Dan Knitzer/Dawn Peterson over Sukumar Mitra/Marie Salamon, 7-6 (9-7)! No Aces. Dan and Dawn were up 5-2 in the Tiebreak before it would later get leveled at 6-6 and again at 7-7! This Mixed Doubles war waged on from 10:30 to 11:29 (just one minute shy of an hour!) on Court One before it was finally done! It may also be a potential Nominee for One-Set Mixed Doubles Match of The Year at season's end.
Doinks Srinivasan/Genalin Capan over Brenda Jordan/Fadia Nicolas, 7-5! Doinks: 1 Ace on Brenda! This Women's Doubles One-Setter was another battle of attrition (played on Court Four from 10:35 to 11:22) as Doinks and Gen had leads of 4-2 and 5-4, but could not put away the tandem of Brenda and Fadia until much later in the contest.
Dan Hwang/Mike Sindler over Mike Mole/Alfred Chen, 7-6 (7-3)! Mike Mole: 1 Ace on Mike Sindler! As the night grew longer, so did the One-Setters apparently as this war was waged on Court Two from 10:40 to 11:28.
Jonathan La/Vince Villanueva over Laurie Boughton/Shoni Boyce-Banica, 6-3! No Aces. This "Battle of The Sexes" One-Setter took place on Court Three (aka "The Show Court") and it seemed as if most of the crowd in the lounge was on the ladies' side. The Young Guns jumped out to a 4-1 lead, but the gals were not going to go down that easy as they battled back and made it quite interesting. This fun one lasted from 11:04 to 11:38.
Rich Liu/Sam Wong over Edgar Inclan/Hermie Batausa, 6-3! No Aces. These four faced off on Court Four from 11:24 to 11:54.
Frank Samara/Dino Celis over Senthil Kumar/John Rizzo, 6-4! John: 1 Ace on Dino (on the very first point of the match)! It went like this: John was broken despite starting with a T-line Ace against Dino as it then shifted to 15-30, 30-All, Break Point, Deuce, Break Point and the break and then Dino held serve (Love-15 soon shifted to Double Game Point, the hold came on Game Point) to take a 2-0 lead. Senthil held as it went 15-Love and then point for point to Game Point and then the hold, but so did Frank (30-Love, 30-15, Double Game Point which was reduced to Deuce, Game Point, 2nd Deuce, Game Point again and finally the hold) to go up 3-1. Rizzo held in a battle (15-Love then point for point to Game Point, Deuce and then all Game Points to 3rd Deuce, another Game Point and then the long fought for hold) to get to 2-3 and then Celis was broken (started with a Double Fault, then Love-30, 15-30, Double Break Point and the break) to level the set at 3-3! Kumar was broken (Love-30, 15-30, Double Break Point and then the break), but Samara held again (Triple Game Point, the hold came on Double Game Point) to increase his team's lead to 5-3. The Riz held again (15-Love then point for point to Game Point and then the hold) to pull to 4-5, but then The Scorpion Dragon rebounded with a hold of his own (30-Love, 30-15, Double Fault for 30-All, then Game/Match Point and the hold) to get the win! We played this one on Court One from 11:37 to 12:19.
Both Samara and Rizzo, who are always so preoccupied with keeping everything smooth-sailing at these Bubblepalooza events, like to wait until late in the session to play...ensuring that everyone else got at least two opportunities to play along the way. John is manning the match-ups and food service while Frank is also aiding in putting together some of the match-ups while also recording all the scores. By the time they both get into action, they are already somewhat exhausted and then they continue to be distracted by what is going on out on the other courts while they are playing.
So, this was not the best outing for either one. For Rizzo, couple all that with the fact that he still has some lingering foot ailments and it just becomes a battle just to survive the contest intact. Needless to say that this battle did not feature the finest tennis, but it was still a spirited effort from all involved.
Don Moya/Mark Cipollini over Paul Daddio/Moka Pathan, 6-2! No Aces. Court Two was the site of this very hard-hitting battle that lasted from 11:38 to 12:12.
At the outset, Samara suggested splitting up "The Adonis" and "Master MC" as both are quite experienced players (they are also "The Establishment" of The Bubble...besides "The Boss" Bill Bess, of course), but Daddio said he wanted to go up against the best. Besides, he and Pathan were victorious together earlier on in the session.
Well, there was a moment where Paul hit an excellent lob over Don's head as both Moya and Cipollini were up at the net at this point...but the much older Mark had the better opportunity to run back diagonally toward the far corner to try to track it down. He did get to it in time and hit it back with another amazing lob that somehow just missed hitting "the ceiling" of The Bubble and then made its way back down onto the very back part of the baseline.
But all that soon became an afterthought as Mark's momentum sent him sailing into the nets in the back-corner of the court as he went down in a heap with his right leg completely entangled in one of them! Coming in from the nearby Court One, Frank freed his leg from the net before he and one or two other guys (can't remember who they were) helped Cipollini back to his feet. You gotta respect a guy willing to take a dive like that...and especially at his age (though I don't know exactly how old he is and I won't speculate here). He managed to play on and win the contest...quite impressive!
Doinks Srinivasan/Fadia Nicolas over Genalin Capan/Brenda Jordan, 6-3! No Aces. Court Three (aka The Show Court) hosted this one from 11:43 to 12:25. Though the crowd in the lounge was starting to thin out by this time in the evening, those still in attendance were quite vocal in their support for the effort of all the ladies involved.
Mike Mole/Dan Knitzer over Jonathan La/Vince Villanueva, 7-5! No Aces. These four fought on Court Four from 11:59 to 12:40. Earlier in the evening, Dan said he wanted to match up against The Young Guns as he liked their speed. Given that "The Dark Knight" is still quite young and spry himself, it must have made for a fast-paced match. "Del Brotro" is still one of the younger players in the league as well and he must have brought his brute force to the mix to make for an interesting contest.
Tom La/Rich Liu over Dan Hwang/Laurie Boughton, 6-3! Tom: 1 Ace on Dan! Court Two hosted these two teams from 12:15 to 12:43. Dan and Laurie had jumped out to a 3-0 lead before Tom and Rich took the last six straight games for the comeback victory!
They got this one done just in time as Cipollini and Moya were kind enough to let us go into overtime, but 12:45 was definitely going to be the cutoff point. Meanwhile, Senthil and Dino were having a solo hitting session over on Court One ever since the prior Doubles One-Setter had ended.
Many still in attendance, thankful for the overtime and the overall party itself, aided in the cleanup efforts to make things easier for Mark and Don so that they could get the entire Bubble closed up sooner. All in all, it is simply amazing how many players and how much action we had over the course of a session that lasted about four hours and forty-five minutes! Once again, thanks to all those who participated and helped us make GTA history.
All the best,
Frank Samara
gtasamara5@gmail.com