3/28 Results.

3/28/18:

"Just 4 compete at C.G., 12 compete at The Bubble!":

There were two sessions of GTA Wednesday Night Tennis: one at The Cedar Grove Courts hosted by "Hollywood" Frank Samara (until he had to leave early to head to the next session) and then it was the usual Night Owls session up at The Wayne Bubble run by "The Riz" John Rizzo along with Samara acting as host to collect scores along the way.  After Frank's departure from Cedar Grove, "Del Brotro" Mike Mole sent Samara the results via text message.

Frank got off to an earlier start than expected, so he decided to do a drive-by at The Cedar Grove Courts (which he had also done at 5:30pm this past Saturday, but nobody was there).  By the time Samara pulled into the lot, it was 7:40.

He saw Mole alone on Court Four practicing his serve.  At the same time, a father was taking his two young daughters out onto Court One for a practice session.  Courts Two and Three were vacant.

Soon, Frank and Mike started having a hitting session.  Mole said he had been there since 7:30.  There is good news and bad news about Court Four.  The good news is that the lights in the corner of Court Four are now back to full strength.  The bad news is that the center strap is off of the net (it was lying on the ground next to the interior post that holds up the net).  Since the hook is missing from the ground, it will be difficult to repair.

At 7:50, Natalia "Nitro" Sout arrived and soon took Frank's side in hitting against Mike.  Twenty minutes later at 8:10, "Salsa Picante" Edwin Ortega hit the scene.  It looked like Samara was going to try to squeeze in a Doubles One-Setter before having to leave around 8:40/8:45 to head to The Bubble.

Luckily, Tito "The Titan" Castolo pulled into the lot at 8:15.  Frank told Tito to take his place as Samara did not want to start something he couldn't finish in time.  They got what turned out to be a full 2 out of 3 Sets Doubles Match underway at 8:20.  When Samara left exactly at 8:42, Tito and Natalia had a 4-1 lead in the 1st Set against Mike and Edwin.

We go to that result now.

The Cedar Grove Result:

2 out of 3 Sets Mixed Gender Doubles Match:
Tito Castolo/Natalia Sout over Mike Mole/Edwin Ortega, 6-2, 2-6, 6-4, as Castolo/Sout enter the Mixed Doubles Division as the New # 67 Ranked Team while Mole/Ortega enter the Doubles Division as the New # 159 Ranked Team (per the TMT Rules)!  Edwin: 1 Ace on Natalia; and Tito: 1 Ace on Edwin!

Samara's Notes: I thank Mike for sending in that result in such a timely manner.

Now for how things unfolded up at The Wayne Bubble.

Samara arrived at 9pm just as "The Webmaster" Senthil Kumar was doing the same.  Those two along with Rizzo and "The Scorpion Dragon" Dino Celis would be the foursome to wait until 9:30 for Court Four to become available while Courts One, Two and Three were ready by 9pm for the Night Owls group.

Ted Cedroski and Vlad Smolyanskiy faced off against one another in Singles action on Court Two, but I never collected their result.  Thus, we have an official turnout of 12 competitors, but there were actually 14 players in attendance.

Let's go to the scores!

The Wayne Bubble Results:

Kathy Sheldon/Robin Wilson over Fadia Nicolas/Dawn Peterson, 6-3!  No Aces.  The ladies got the official action underway first as this one kicked things off on Court Three (aka The Show Court) at exactly 9:18.  Not sure when it ended as it went straight into a Rematch which we will get to later in this report.

Don Moya/Jeanette Pegg over Kevin Doyle/Sean McHugh, 6-4!  No Aces.  Not sure when this one had begun on Court One, but it was likely somewhere around 9:20 or so.  Kevin said Don and Jeanette jumped out to a 5-1 lead before he and Sean bounced back to make it 5-4.  This, too, went right into a Rematch which we will note a little later.

2 out of 3 Sets Doubles Match:
Senthil Kumar/John Rizzo over Frank Samara/Dino Celis, 7-5, 6-1, to successfully defend their # 15 Rank in the Doubles Division!  No Aces.  We got this underway on Court Four at 9:40.

1st Set: Dino was broken (Love-30, 15-30, Double Break Point and the break), John was broken (Love-30 shifted to 30-All, then came Break Point and the break), but Frank was the first one to hold serve (Love-30, 15-30. Double Break Point and a rebound to Deuce, Break Point again, 2nd Deuce, Game Point and the hold) for 2-1.  Senthil also held (Love-15 went straight to Double Game Point which was then reduced to Deuce, Break Point, 2nd Deuce, Game Point and the hold) and then Celis was broken again (30-Love, a Double Fault for 30-15 and then straight to Break Point where he broke himself with another Double Fault) to fall to 2-3.  Rizzo then held (15-Love then point for point to Game Point and then the hold) to extend his team's lead to 4-2, but then Samara held again and this time it was at Love to pull to 3-4!  Kumar was broken (Love-30, 15-30, Double Break Point, Break Point and the break) to knot the score at 4-4 and then The Scorpion Dragon had his first hold (30-Love, 30-15, Double Game Point, Game Point, Double Fault for Deuce, Game Point, 2nd Deuce, Game Point and finally the hold) to put his team up 5-4.  But then The Riz also earned his first hold (15-Love went straight to Double Break/Set Point, then it went to Break/Set Point, Deuce, the 3rd Break/Set Point, 2nd Deuce, Game Point and the hold) to keep things alive at 5-5 (with three Set Points saved)!  Hollywood was then broken for the first time (Love-30, 15-30, Double Break Point and the break) only to have The Webmaster hold (Triple Game/Set Point, the hold came on Double Game/Set Point which was the 5th M.P. overall) to cap a mini-comeback effort in this initial set which ended at 10:25.  Two minutes later, the next set was underway.

2nd Set: Dino was broken (15-Love went straight to Double Break Point and the break), John was broken (15-Love went straight to Double Break Point and the break), Frank was broken (30-Love went right to Break Point and the break), but Senthil was the first to hold in this set (started with a Double Fault, then a shift to 30-15, 30-All, Game Point and the hold) for 3-1.  Celis was broken again (15-Love went straight to Double Break Point where he broke himself again with a Double Fault), but Rizzo held this time around (Triple Game Point, the hold came on Double Game Point) to put his team up 5-1.  Then, Samara was broken yet again (Love-15 then point for point to Break/Match Point which is where this one ended) to take the loss!  The match ended exactly at 10:46.

The Skinny: Despite having been up since 5:15am, Samara came into this match with a surprising amount of energy.  His accuracy was much improved over his poor performance at Albion on Sunday...especially with a few nice and crunchy Overhead Smashes.  When Frank held at Love in the 1st Set, it served to shift the momentum in his team's favor as Senthil was then broken for the first time and then Dino held for the first time.  The pivotal game was John's service where he and Senthil managed to save three Set Points and then go onto win the game and level the set at 5-5!  That was a momentum changer from which Frank and Dino never recovered.  And as the match wore on into the 2nd Set, Samara's energy level finally started to deplete.  The two teams then played a separate One-Setter...which we will get to at the end of this report.

Fadia Nicolas/Dawn Peterson over Kathy Sheldon/Robin Wilson, 7-5!  No Aces.  Did not have a chance to note when the ladies finished this one on Court Three. 

Don Moya/Jeanette Pegg over Kevin Doyle/Sean McHugh, 7-6 (7-5)!  No Aces.  This was also played on Court One, but I do not know the start and stop times. 

Senthil Kumar/John Rizzo leading Frank Samara/Dino Celis, 4-2 (Incomplete when we had to stop it at 11:06 for the end of the session)!  No Aces.  Here's how it was going: Senthil held (Love-15, 15-All, a Double Fault for 15-30, then a shift to Game Point and the hold), Dino held (15-Love then point for point to Game Point and the hold), John held (started with a Double Fault and plummeted to Triple Break Point before rebounding back to Deuce, another Break Point, 2nd Deuce, Game Point and the hold), but Frank was the first one to be broken in this one (30-Love went straight to Break Point and the break) for 1-3.  Kumar was then broken (Triple Break Point with a partial rebound to Break Point, but then came the break) to have his team's lead cut to 3-2.  It was here where we decided to just play one more game and have it either end in a 3-3 tie or have Kumar/Rizzo come away with a partial (yet unofficial) victory at 4-2.  It ended up being the latter as Celis was broken as he started off with back-to-back Double Faults to make it Love-30, it then went to 15-30, Double Break Point and the break (we had gotten this one underway on Court Four at exactly 10:48 and we decided to forego the changeovers with the hopes of finishing it), so then we called it a night!

And quite a night it was, indeed!

Sincerely,
Frank Samara
gtasamara5@gmail.com
 

 

3/27 Results.

3/27/18:

"9 play at The Bubble!":

There was just one session of GTA Tuesday Night Tennis: the usual Night Owls session at The Wayne Bubble with both "King Crush" Chris Chiaro and "The Riz" John Rizzo reporting the results. 

We will now get the results from Chris and John in that order.

The Wayne Bubble Results:

Chris Chiaro/Frank Hohorst over Ryan Pienciak/Tom La, 6-4!  No Aces.

 

Ryan Pienciak/Tom La over Chris Chiaro/Frank Hohorst, 6-3!  Frank: 2 Aces on Ryan; and Chris: 1 Ace on Ryan!

 

Chris Chiaro/Frank Hohorst over Ryan Pienciak/Tom La, 6-3!  No Aces.

Syed Rashid/Mark Cipollini over Senthil Kumar/Mike Sindler, 7-6 (7-5)!  No Aces.

Senthil Kumar leading John Rizzo, 4-3 (Incomplete to allow for Doubles play…which also ended up being Incomplete and Unofficial)!  No Aces. 

Samara's Notes: I thank both Chris and John for reporting those results in a very timely fashion. 

Sincerely,

Frank Samara

Gtasamara5@gmail.com

 

 

3/26 Results.

3/26/18:

"Bergenfeld-Lee at WOTC!":

There was just one session of GTA Monday Night Tennis and it was at The West Orange Tennis Club (an indoor facility) as "Ice Berg" Scott Bergenfeld and Thomas "Not Tommy" Lee got together for a full 3 out of 5 Sets Challenge Match.

We now go to the report from Scott.

The WOTC Results:

3 out of 5 Sets Challenge Match:

Scott Bergenfeld over Thomas Lee, 6-1, 6-0, 6-3, to successfully defend his # 34 Rank in the Intermediate Division!  Thomas: 1 Ace in the 3^rd Set!

The Skinny from Scott: Tough night for Tom.  He was having pain in his elbow which was causing him trouble.  We're both looking forward to the I-M Tourney in a few weeks.  There was also a cameo appearance by Nick Caputo who was playing Doubles on the court next to us versus three other Nutley guys.  Looked like a very hard hitting, competitive match!  All in all, it was a good night of tennis!

Samara's Notes: I thank Scott for his very timely reporting of this result along with his colorful commentary.  It is greatly appreciated. 

Sincerely,

Frank Samara

Gtasamara5@gmail.com

 

 

 

 

3/25 Results.

3/25/18:

"11 compete (1 just hit) at Albion, 18 play (1 New) at Bubble!":

There were three sessions of GTA Sunday Tennis: the early morning one at The Albion Park Courts in Clifton hosted by "Hollywood" Frank Samara and then the two back-to-back late afternoon/early evening Sunday sessions for the two Night Owl groups up at The Wayne Bubble - the first one hosted by "Kevlar" Kevin Doyle and the second one hosted by "The Riz" John Rizzo.

Let's first detail the comings and goings at Albion before getting the Bubble results from Kevin and John.

Samara rolled up to the courts five minutes later than he said he would at 10:35.  "Diver Down" Muhammad Haque was already there waiting in his car.  There was also an unknown gentleman waiting in his car.  We both thought he may be looking for the GTA, though we did not recognize him.  We did not approach him as he seemed to be on a call.

As the two started heading toward the courts, both "Vintage" Vinnie De Benedetto and Sachiko "Sachi" Tokuda had also now pulled up to the curb.  Soon enough, the four of them started hitting on the North Court with Vin and Muhammad on one side and Frank and Sachiko on the other. 

Before they got all that far with their hitting session, "Sneaky" Suzanne Bujara was entering the other gate at the corner of the South Court at 10:45.  Frank then let Suzanne take his place in the hitting session.

Within five minutes, "Big George" Jorge Solano had arrived at 10:50.  Muhammad was willing to hit with him on Center Court while the other four would engage in some Mixed Doubles action on the North Court.

The good news weather-wise was that the winds were less frequent than they were the previous Sunday.  Also, the starting temperature and the peak temperature were both slightly higher as well.  But with very little sun in sight, it actually felt colder than a week ago (though some liked the lack of sun as it made it easier to see the ball).

At 11am, Natalia "Nitro" Sout made her way onto the courts and soon got involved in the hitting session on Center Court with Solano and Haque.  At 11:20, "Stealth" Omar Santos arrived to join them and they soon got some official Doubles action going. 

At 11:35, "Hurricane" Jose Gonzales arrived and he ended up being "the ninth wheel" for a while as he watched the action on the North Court from the bench on the sidelines.  Luckily, "Nate the Great" Nathan Fernandes arrived at 11:45 and they soon were able to have a hitting session on the South Court (where the middle of the net is still far too low!).

The eleventh and last official competitor to arrive was "King Crush" Chris Chiaro at 12:10.  At 2pm, "The Scorpion Dragon" Dino Celis made his way onto the courts at 2pm.  It seemed it would just be a cameo appearance, but then he was out on the court hitting as Frank was leaving the courts around 2:10.  It seems he never got involved in any official action, however, as only One-Setter was reported (by both Jose and Muhammad) after the departure of the defeated, dejected and depressed Samara (more on that later).

Let's get to the action!

The Albion Park Results:

Frank Samara/Sachiko Tokuda over Vinnie De Benedetto/Suzanne Bujara, 6-2!  No Aces.  It went like this: Suzanne was broken (Love-15, 15-All, Double Fault for 15-30, Double Break Point and the break), Sachiko was broken (a Triple Game Point lead reduced to Deuce, Break Point, 2nd Deuce, Break Point and the break), Vin was broken (Love-15, 15-All then onto Double Break Point, then Break Point and the break), but Frank was the first to hold serve (Love-15 then point for point to Break Point, Deuce, Break Point, 2nd Deuce, Game Point and the hold) to go up 3-1.  Bujara was broken again (Love-30, 15-30, Double Break Point and the break), but so was Tokuda (another Triple Game Point lead reduced to Deuce, Game Point, 2nd Deuce where Frank blew what should have been a certain Overhead Smash winner...noteworthy because it was the first of many on the day to bring it to Break Point rather than go up again for another Game Point, then came 3rd Deuce, Game Point, 4th Deuce, Break Point and the break) for 4-2.  De Benedetto was also broken again (Love-30, 15-30, Double Break Point and then the break) while Samara held again (Triple Game/Match Point, it ended on Double Game/Match Point) to get the win!  We played this one on the North Court from 10:55 to 11:28.

The Skinny: Everyone had their moments in this one, but I will cop to playing pretty well in this initial One-Setter of the day.  But just remember that blown Overhead attempt...because there was a whole lot more of that coming as the day progressed!  For the record, I believe I made two successful Overhead Smashes earlier in this contest.  Those would be my last!

Jorge Solano/Natalia Sout over Omar Santos/Muhammad Haque, 6-4!  No Aces.  This was contested on Center Court from 11:25 to 12:20...just five minutes shy of an hour!  Afterward, Muhammad wanted to team with Natalia for the next One-Setter...but both Omar and Jorge were convinced that would not be an even match-up...so they went with Solano/Haque versus Santos/Sout instead.  More on that one later in this report.

Frank Samara/Sachiko Tokuda over Vinnie De Benedetto/Suzanne Bujara, 6-4!  No Aces.  Here's how it went down: Suzanne was broken (15-Love went straight to Double Break Point and then the break) and then Frank held serve (15-Love, 15-All then onto Double Game Point and the hold) for a 2-0 lead.  Vin then got his first hold of the day (30-Love shifted to 30-All, Game Point and the hold), but so did Sachiko (15-Love shifted to 15-30 shifted again to Game Point and then the hold) for 3-1.  Bujara was broken again (Love-15 then point for point to Break Point and then the break) to fall to 1-4, but then Samara was broken for the first time (Love-15 shifted to 30-15 shifted again to Break Point and then came the break) for 4-2.  Then, De Benedetto was broken at Love to fall to 2-5, but Tokuda was also broken (Frank had his second badly blown overhead of the day to set up Love-30, it then shifted straight to Game/Match Point, but then came Deuce, Break Point and the break) for 5-3.  Sneaky Suzanne (and that moniker is a term of admiration and respect for her rapidly improving abilities) had her first hold of the day (15-Love, 15-All then onto Double Game Point and the hold) to pull to 4-5 only to then have Hollywood rebound with a Love hold of his own to take this one on Triple Game/Match Point!  This one also took place on the North Court and it lasted from 11:32 to 12:02.

The Skinny: Vin and Suzanne decided to switch up the sides of the court from which they served and it seemed to improve the service performance of both.  I continued to play solidly in this one save that second blown overhead of the day, but the true story in this one was the clearly evident improving play of Bujara.  De Benedetto said he was just sitting back and watching as his partner often took over the points with some increasingly aggressive shots and good get-making.  It should also be said that Sachiko was solid throughout the two One-Setters.  After this one though, she had enough for the day and headed home.

Some people often ask me why I don't report this (and some of the action to follow) as a full match.  As far as I'm concerned, those type of things should be discussed and agreed upon at the session.  When the first One-Setter had ended, I had suggested switching up the teams...but Vin wanted a shot at revenge...which creates a rematch situation, something that a lot of players refer to as "let's run it back!"  In that scenario, you're not constructing it to be a full match unless it is explicitly stated.

At the same time, I have no problem with people requesting midway (i.e. after the initial One-Setter has been played) to extend what would have just been a One-Setter into a full 2 out of 3 Sets Match.  Of course, this is something that should be agreed upon by all the parties involved.  I also take no issue with that request being denied because perhaps someone was playing differently (i.e. a less competitive mentality or a more experimental mindset) in the One-Setter than they would have if they had known it would be a full match.  This is just some food for thought...and to answer any similar questions ahead of time.

Jose Gonzales/Frank Samara over Nathan Fernandes/Suzanne Bujara, 6-1!  No Aces.  The dirty lowdown: Frank was broken (15-Love went straight to Double Break Point and the break), but from there it was Nate also getting broken (15-Love then point for point until 30-All, Break Point, Deuce, Break Point again and then the break), Jose held (Love-15 went straight to Double Game Point and the hold), Suzanne was broken (Love-30, 15-30, Double Break Point, Break Point and the break), Samara held (Love-15 then point for point until 30-All, Game Point and the hold), Fernandes was broken again and this time at Love and then Gonzales held again (Love-15 went straight to Double Game/Match Point and the hold) to get the win!  We played this on the North Court from 12:05 to 12:25.  After this one was done, so was Suzanne.

Omar Santos/Natalia Sout over Jorge Solano/Muhammad Haque, 6-3!  No Aces.  This was conducted on Center Court from 12:23 to 1:03.  After it finished, Jorge called it a day.  This led to a three-way hitting session for a while until Omar decided to sit out and watch Muhammad and Natalia face off in a Singles One-Setter (aka Battle of The Sexes) which we will get to a bit later.

Jose Gonzales/Nathan Fernandes over Chris Chiaro/Frank Samara, 6-3!  No Aces.  The breakdown: Nate was broken (15-Love went straight to Double Break Point, Break Point and the break), Chris was broken (Love-15 shifted to 30-15 and then back-to-back Double Faults shifted the game to Break Point, then came Deuce, Break Point, 2nd Deuce, Break Point and finally the break), but Jose was the first to hold and it was at Love for 2-1.  Frank responded with a Love hold of his own, but then Ferrnandes held (15-Love, 15-All then onto Double Game Point which was reduced to Deuce, but then came another Game Point and the hold) for 3-2.  Chiaro was broken again (Love-30, 15-30, Double Break Point and the break) to fall to 2-4, but then Gonzales was finally broken (Love-30, 15-30, Double Break Point, Break Point and the break) for 4-3.  But then Hollywood was broken (Love-15, 15-All then onto Double Break Point and the break) while Nate the Great held again (Triple Game/Match Point, Double Game/Match Point and the hold) for the win!  We played this on the North Court from 12:28 to 12:52.

The Skinny: This was Chiaro's first time playing outdoors this season and it showed as the court surface at Albion is quite different from the courts at The Wayne Bubble even though they are all hard courts.  Chris felt his timing was off...and I will once again cop to playing pretty solidly in this one.  Chiaro also thought Fernandes looked quite good despite his tennis elbow injury, but Nate explained it as a pain that runs from his elbow through his forearm and into his hand and fingers.  It does not hurt when he hits forehands, but it has been troubling him on serves and overheads.  Overheads...ah, yes!  I didn't blow any in this one...but give it time...its coming!

Jose (who was the most solid server all day, by the way) suggested switching up the teams (he wanted to team with Chiaro), but Chris wanted to "run it back."  And so we did. 

Jose Gonzales/Nathan Fernandes over Chris Chiaro/Frank Samara, 6-4!  Jose: 1 Ace on Frank on Match Point!  The play-by-play: Chris was broken (15-Love then straight to Double Break Point and the break) while Jose had a Love hold for 2-0.  Frank held (Love-15 went straight to Double Game Point and the hold) and then Nate was broken in an epic struggle (15-Love shifted to 15-30 shifted again to Game Point, Deuce and then it was all Game Points until 3rd Deuce when it then became all Break Points thru to 5th Deuce and then one more Break Point and the break) for 2-2!  Chiaro got his first hold of the day (15-Love then point for point to Game Point and the hold) to go up 3-2, but Gonzales held again (Love-30, 15-30, Double Break Point, but then a bounce to Deuce, Game Point, 2nd Deuce, Game Point and the hold) to tie things again, this time at 3-3.  Samara was broken (Love-30, 15-30, Double Break Point and the break), but Fernandes was then broken again (Triple Break Point, Double Break Point and the break) to knot the score once more, this time at 4-4!  King Crush was broken (Love-30, 15-30, Double Break Point, Break Point and the break) while Hurricane Jose held yet again (15-Love shifted to 15-30 shifted again to Game/Match Point, then Deuce, the 2nd Game/Match Point, 2nd Deuce, the 3rd Game/Match Point and then a sideline Ace on Frank) to get the win!  We played this on the North Court from 12:54 to 1:29.

The Skinny: Chiaro was not sure of the Ace call at the end, but Samara said he could not see a mark outside the line.  And since he was unsure if it just clipped the outside of the line or just missed, he thought it should stand.  Once again, it was a fine service effort by Gonzales.  Chris was steadily improving his level of play while Frank's level was beginning to diminish (still no ugly overhead attempts in this one, however).

Natalia Sout over Muhammad Haque, 6-3!  No Aces.  This "Battle of the Sexes" One-Setter was played on Center Court from 1:15 to 1:55 as "the fairer sex" took it in impressive fashion.

Jose Gonzales/Nathan Fernandes over Chris Chiaro/Frank Samara, 6-4!  No Aces.  The straight shoot: Frank held (15-Love then point for point until 30-All, Break Point, Deuce, Game Point and the hold), Nate held (Love-30 went straight to Game Point, Deuce, Game Point again and then the hold), Chris held as a Love-15 start shifted to 30-15, then came 30-All, Game Point and the hold, but Jose also held (Frank blew an overhead worse than he ever did before...more on this one in "The Skinny"...to make it 30-Love, then came 30-15, Double Game Point and the hold) as we were all on serve at 2-2.  Samara was the first to be broken (Love-15, 15-All then onto Double Break Point and the break), but then so was Fernandes as he went from Love-15 to 30-15 to Break Point and the break for 3-3.  Chiaro was also broken (Love-15 shifted to 30-15 shifted to Break Point as Frank once again blew an easy overhead put-away opportunity and then came the break), but then so was Gonzales (Triple Break Point, Double Break Point and the break) to send these four to a 4-4 score!  But then The Wood was broken once more (Love-30, 15-30, Double Break Point and the break) while Nate the Great managed a Love hold right after Frank had another horrible overhead attempt to set up Triple Game/Match Point!  This one got underway on the North Court at exactly 1:33.  It then appropriately ended at 2:07 as Samara was about to have another "2:07" meltdown as he disgustedly dropped his racquet to the surface of the court and looked like he was about to go into "Hulk Mode" before he cooled himself down a bit.

The Skinny: OK, first we tackle the most badly blown overhead ever!  And this is not just Samara's worst overhead moment...you would be hard-pressed to find a worse effort from anyone else in this regard.  In all fairness, it was not the effort that was failing...just the execution.  Frank went up for a short-angled shot from Jose that sent Samara sent into the Doubles Alley, but it was not a tough get as the ball bounced high into the air setting up what would have been the "patented" Windmill Overhead Smash from The Wood.  The only problem is that while whipping up a wind-up for a planned short-angle cross-court smash, Frank actually let the ball descend too much and then somehow whiffed the shot either under it or around it, thus missing it completely!  Samara said Herve Villechaize (see "Tattoo" of "Fantasy Island," an 80's sitcom) could have hit that overhead!  His supportive partner, Chiaro, countered with: "Stevie Wonder could have made that overhead!"  Yeah, it was that bad. 

As for the significance of 2:07 (I realize we have many people on the mailing list who were not in the league back in 2010), the short story is that Samara arrived for a GTA Double Championship Match (where he was one half of the reigning GTA Doubles Champions along with "The Marathon Man" Ron Ruiz to defend their Titles against the Former Champs: "Ash The Bash" Mike Ashley and Brian "The Truth" Tangora) that was scheduled to start at 2pm.  Frank arrived seven minutes late (hence 2:07) to be greeted with catcalls of "You're late" and "We should take the match via forfeit."  It should be noted that The Riz was also a heckler from the sideline.

Samara immediately launched into a profanity-laced tirade that suddenly silenced all those in attendance.  To say that the match was played under tense and chilled (not temperature-wise) conditions would be a grave understatement. 

And now for that last result that was sent by both Jose and Muhammad (I thank them both for their very timely reporting).

Nathan Fernandes/Muhammad Haque over Jose Gonzales/Natalia Sout, 7-6 (7-5)!  Jose: 1 Ace on Nate!

We now turn this report over to Kevlar Kevin and The Riz for the results from The Bubble!       

The Wayne Bubble Results:

The 3 to 5pm session (scores submitted by Kevin):

Vlad Smolyanskiy over Sam Senowitz, 8-6!  No Aces (apparently).  They played out the games (i.e. no Tiebreak).  Kevin said they spent most of the time just hitting, but they did end up playing this lone One-Setter.

Kevin Doyle/Jeanette Pegg over Kathy Sheldon/Robin Wilson, 6-4!  No Aces.  This was a long one, just five minutes shy of an hour (3:15 to 4:10).  Due to the lengthy duration, the following happened...

Kevin Doyle/Jeanette Pegg tied with Kathy Sheldon/Robin Wilson, 5-5 (Incomplete when the session ran out of time)!  No Aces.

Samara's Notes: I thank Kevin for his very timely reporting of these results.  We now go to The Riz for the scores from the 6 to 8pm session.

3 out of 5 Sets Doubles Match:
Senthil Kumar/Frank Hohorst over Ryan Pienciak/John Rizzo, 7-5, 6-3, 6-3, to successfully defend the # 71 Rank in the Doubles Division!  In the process, Pienciak/Rizzo entered the division as the New # 156 Ranked Team.  No Aces.

The Riz Report: Ryan and I had a 5-1 lead in the 1st Set and a 3-1 lead in the 2nd Set, but could not close either one of them out.

Mike Sindler/Bill Bess over Syed Rashid/Arthur Fontanilla, 7-5!  No Aces (apparently).

2 out of 3 Sets Doubles Match:
Elias Eid/John Crespo over Rich Liu/Ray Spadaro, 6-2, 6-1, as both teams entered the Doubles Division as the New # 157 and # 158 Ranked Teams respectively!  It was the official GTA Debut of John Crespo. No Aces (apparently).

Ray Spadaro/John Crespo leading Rich Liu/Elias Eid, 5-4 (Incomplete when the session ran out of time)!  No Aces (apparently).

Samara's Notes: I also thank John for sending in those results in a very timely fashion.

All the best,
Frank Samara
gtasamara5@gmail.com

3/23 Results.

3/23/18:

"17 play (2 New) at the Bubble Party!":

There was just one session of GTA Friday Tennis and it was the usual GTA Friday Night Tennis Party at The Wayne Bubble with both "Hollywood" Frank Samara (in terms of reporting the results for the GTA) and "The Riz" John Rizzo (coordinating the registration efforts, booking the courts, supplying the food and beverages, etc.) hosting it. 

After the big sendoff party and large turnout for "The Levitator" Levy Lorenzo on Friday night, March 16th, (aka "Levypalooza!"), the demand registration-wise was lagging early in the week.  Combine that with the uncertainty of the fourth Nor'easter moving in during the middle of the week and we were wondering if we would even get 12 players registered.

But then we had the usual late-Thursday and all-day Friday surge of registrants take us way past the maximum 16 participants for the typical two-hour session...and that was with both Rizzo and Samara sitting out of the action.  John turned away about half a dozen late would-be registrants.

Had we known of such demand by Wednesday, Rizzo could have gone to the "bigwigs" of The Bubble and asked for an extension of session time and it would have been a four hour party session very similar to the week before. 

The way we ended up with the odd total of 17 competitors overall was after "Big Charlie V" Charlie Vreeland opted out after playing a full 2 out of 3 Sets Doubles Match as he was feeling it a bit in his knees.  "The Adonis" Don Moya then took that spot for the remainder of the session as both Rizzo and Samara continued to sit out the balance of the evening.

Two of the 17 were new and making their official GTA Debut as each was the recruit of someone already in the league...always a good thing!

Two hours of non-stop play allows for a lot of action...and it all unfolded as follows. 

The Wayne Bubble Results:

2 out of 3 Sets Mixed Gender Doubles Match:
Tom Heidt/Charlie Vreeland over Kevin Doyle/Robin Wilson, 6-1, 6-1, as Heidt/Vreeland entered the Doubles Division as the New # 155 Ranked Team via the TMT Rules!  Doyle/Wilson are already a ranked team in the Mixed Doubles Division.  No Aces.  This match was the first official action of the session as it got underway on Court Two at exactly 8:23.  The 1st Set finished at 8:50.  After a five minute break, they then went into the 2nd Set which ended exactly at 9:23...the entire match was an hour long (not counting the time-out between the sets)!  Also, they decided to forego the changeovers (though they did switch sides between the sets) which made this match move along faster.

Ray Spadaro/Dawn Peterson over Sam Wong/Kathy Sheldon, 6-4!  No Aces.  This foursome faced off on Court Four from 8:26 to 9:13.  They then played a Rematch One-Setter which we will get to a little later in this report.

2 out of 3 Sets Mixed Doubles Match:
Paul Mallick/Janice Wang over Ryan Sherry/Sarah Ramadas, 6-3, 6-4, as both teams entered the Mixed Doubles Division as the New # 63 and # 64 Ranked Teams respectively!  Ryan: 3 Aces (2 on Janice and 1 on Paul) in the 1st Set; Paul: 1 Ace on Sarah in the 1st Set; and Janice: 1 Ace on Sarah in the 2nd Set!  It was the official GTA Debut of Sarah Ramadas.  This match took place on Court Three (aka The Show Court) and the 1st Set went from 8:38 to 9:10.  They wasted little time going into the next set and the match ended at 9:43.

The Skinny: Sarah is the wife of Ryan Sherry and she usually plays in another group that books time at The Bubble.  She is quite the player.  The amazing thing is that Ryan said this is the first time they ever teamed together!  After this match, they decided to switch up the teams for a One-Setter...which we will get to later in this report.

2 out of 3 Sets Mixed Doubles Match:
Matt Fortunato/Laurie Boughton over Tim Nguyen/Suzanne Bujara, 6-3, 6-1, as both teams entered the Mixed Doubles Division as the New # 65 and # 66 Ranked Teams respectively!  Laurie: 1 Ace on Suzanne in the 2nd Set!  It was the official GTA Debut of Matt Fortunato.  Like the action on Court Three, this match officially got underway on Court One at 8:38.  Not sure when the 1st Set ended or the entire match finished as the two teams stayed together for a follow-up One-Setter which we will report a bit later.

The Skinny: This last pairing was in some doubt for a while as Laurie was involved in a car accident on the way to The Bubble!  First, let me say that she was OK health-wise (though did complain about some level of stiffness in her neck and back) as she was then able to play tennis afterward (the likely adrenaline rush may have been masking some of the pain...and I speculate that it would likely be worse the following morning). 

Right where Route 3 West merges with Route 46 West and the lanes come together, traffic was backing up and Laurie said she had to pull off some racecar driver-like maneuvers to avoid hitting the car in front of her.  Thankfully, she was able to stop in time...only to get rammed from behind by a guy in a big SUV!  If that wasn't bad enough, after rear-ending her...the guy left the scene of the crime (a typical guy thing to do...LOL!). 

Well, the guy was a total idiot as he could not flee all that far with the traffic jam ahead.  Laurie luckily was able to take down his license plate.  She was able to pull off to the side of the highway (as she had been flagging him to do the same before he decided to bolt) and go into the lot of the Great Notch Inn (aka Biker Central).  She called it into the Clifton Police and they then put out an APB to all the police departments of all the towns along the way heading westward.  We just hope they catch the creep!

Sam Wong/Kathy Sheldon over Ray Spadaro/Dawn Peterson, 7-6 (7-5)!  No Aces.  This Mixed Doubles Rematch One-Setter lasted on Court Four from 9:15 to 10:12...three minutes shy of an hour!  There was a lot of smart Doubles play throughout their two sets.

Tim Nguyen/Suzanne Bujara over Matt Fortunato/Laurie Boughton, 6-3!  No Aces.  This took place on Court One.  Not sure when it began, but it ended exactly at 10:09.

Don Moya/Robin Wilson over Kevin Doyle/Tom Heidt, 7-5!  Don: 1 Ace on Kevin; and Tom: 1 Ace on Robin!  This was played on Court Two from 9:33 to 10:13.

Ryan Sherry/Janice Wang leading Paul Mallick/Sarah Ramadas, 5-1 (Incomplete when they decided they should stop it at 10:11)!  Janice: 1 Ace on Sarah.  They had gotten this one underway on Court Three at 9:46.

It truly was Ladies Night as seven of the seventeen competitors were women!  If we had just one more gal in attendance (Gal Gadot, perhaps?  Ah, wishful thinking!), we would have had eight and eight initially.  That would have been ideal for either four courts of Mixed Doubles action or two courts for Men's Doubles and two courts for Women's Doubles.

Nonetheless, everyone in attendance seemed to have a great time and the matches were well-balanced talent-wise...thanks to the hard work (planning-wise) of Mr. Rizzo.

After the session ended, it was just Samara and Rizzo going to the Tick Tock Diner for a late snack.

Samara signing off!
gtasamara5@gmail.com

3/22 Results.

3/22/18:

"8 compete (2 just hit) at The Bubble!":

There was just one session of GTA Thursday Night Tennis.  It was the usual Night Owls session at The Wayne Bubble with "King Crush" Chris Chiaro and "The Riz" John Rizzo sending in the results.  "Hollywood" Frank Samara was unable to attend the session.

We will get the results from Chris first and then the rest from The Riz.

The Wayne Bubble Results:

Chris Chiaro/Fadia Nicolas over Senthil Kumar/Frank Hohorst, 6-3!  No Aces.

Senthil Kumar/Frank Hohorst over Chris Chiaro/Fadia Nicolas, 6-2!  No Aces.

Chris Chiaro/Fadia Nicolas over Senthil Kumar/Frank Hohorst, 6-3!  Fadia: 1 Ace on Senthil!

2 out of 3 Sets Doubles Match:

Paul Daddio/Anish Mehta over John Rizzo/Don Moya, 7-5, 6-1, to become the New # 52 Ranked Team in the Doubles Division!  Anish: 2 Aces on John; and Don: 1 Ace on Anish!

Syed Rashid and Arthur Fontanilla had a 90 minute hitting session with one another. 

Samara's Notes: I thank both Chris and John reporting those results in a very timely fashion. 

Sincerely,

Frank Samara

Gtasamara5@gmail.com

 

 

 

 

Revised 3/20 Results.

3/20/18:

"12 play at The Bubble!":

There was just one session of GTA Tuesday Night Tennis which was the usual Night Owls session at The Wayne Bubble with "King Crush" Chris Chiaro reporting the results as usual host, "The Riz" John Rizzo, did not attend the session. 

THIS JUST IN – Right after this Results report was released to the league, both "J-Rod" Joe Rodrigues and "The Running Man" Ryan Sherry came forward with more scores.

We will now get the results from Chris, Joe and Ryan in that order.

The Wayne Bubble Results:

Chris Chiaro/Tony Shiao leading Dan Hwang/Mark Cipollini, 5-2 (Incomplete when the action had to be stopped when someone had locked the keys in the office and Mark had to address the situation)!  No Aces (apparently).

 

From there, Chris, Tony and Dan hit around for a while.  And then…

 

Chris Chiaro over Tony Shiao, 6-1!  No Aces.

 

2 out of 3 Sets Doubles Match:

Senthil Kumar/Syed Rashid over Joe Rodrigues/Mike Sindler, 6-4, 6-4, as both teams entered the Doubles Division as the New # 152 and # 153 Ranked Teams respectively!  No Aces.

 

Lou La Forgia/Frank Hohorst over Tom La/Ryan Sherry, 6-4!  Frank, Tom and Ryan: 1 Ace each!

 

Tom La/Ryan Sherry over Lou La Forgia/Frank Hohorst, 6-2!  Ryan: 1 Ace!

 

The Ryan Report: Then we started a set with Dan coming in to sub for Lou, but we didn't finish and I don't remember the score.

Samara's Notes: I thank Chris for reporting those results in a very timely fashion.  And I also thank Joe and Ryan…better late than never! 

Sincerely,

Frank Samara

Gtasamara5@gmail.com

 

 

3/20 Results.

3/20/18:

"Only 4 play at The Bubble!":

There was just one session of GTA Tuesday Night Tennis which was the usual Night Owls session at The Wayne Bubble with "King Crush" Chris Chiaro reporting the results as usual host, "The Riz" John Rizzo, did not attend the session. 

We will now get the results from Chris.

The Wayne Bubble Results:

Chris Chiaro/Tony Shiao leading Dan Hwang/Mark Cipollini, 5-2 (Incomplete when the action had to be stopped when someone had locked the keys in the office and Mark had to address the situation)!  No Aces (apparently).

 

From there, Chris, Tony and Dan hit around for a while.  And then…

 

Chris Chiaro over Tony Shiao, 6-1!  No Aces.

Samara's Notes: I thank Chris for reporting those results in a very timely fashion. 

Sincerely,

Frank Samara

Gtasamara5@gmail.com

 

 

3/18 Results.

3/18/18:

"8 play at AP, 17 play at Bubble!":

There were three sessions of GTA Sunday Tennis: the early morning one at The Albion Park Courts in Clifton hosted by "Hollywood" Frank Samara and then the two back-to-back late afternoon/early evening Sunday sessions for the two Night Owl groups up at The Wayne Bubble - the first one co-hosted by "Kevlar" Kevin Doyle and "Killer Kat" Kathy Sheldon and the second one hosted by "The Riz" John Rizzo.

Let's first detail the comings and goings at Albion before getting the Bubble results from Kevin, Kat and John.

Samara rolled up to the courts exactly when he said he would at 10:30.  Nobody else was there yet, but two young guys he did not recognized had just pulled up in their car.  So Frank thought it best to get himself out onto the courts to at least hold one of them (and the one of his preference which is the North Court).

Upon getting out there, he noticed that the net on the North Court was too high as the hook had become detached from the metal loop down on the court.  Samara was able to fix that, but he was unable to adjust the net on the South Court which is far too low in the middle right now.  Well, as Meat Loaf once sang: "Two out of three ain't bad!"  I'm talking about the courts as there are a total of three at Albion (the net on Center Court seemed to be just right).

Frank figured the turnout to be low as the weather was on the cool side as forecast most of the week.  Where the weathermen got it slightly wrong, however, was the fact that it was pretty windy (at least it was upon arrival).  They had been saying it should be relatively wind-free.  They were right about the full sunshine.  The peak temperature was forecast to get to about 45 degrees and I'm not sure if it ever actually got there. 

At 10:35, "Vintage" Vinnie De Benedetto had also now pulled up to the curb.  Soon enough, he was heading down the hill toward the courts.  They started hitting to one another on the North Court. 

Before they got all that far with their hitting session, "Sneaky" Suzanne Bujara was entering the other gate at the corner of the South Court at 10:40.  Frank then started hitting against both Vin and Suzanne.  The good news was that the winds had died down by the time they had started this hitting session.  The bad news that there did not seem to be a fourth player in sight.

Vin said if nobody else arrived by 11:30, he was going to leave as he had some early afternoon plans anyway.  Well, at 11:15, it was the arrival of "Del Brotro" Mike Mole to save the day.  After a five minute hitting session, the first Doubles One-Setter of the day was underway as Mike teamed with Suzanne to take on Frank and Vin.

While that One-Setter was still in progress, "Nate the Great" Nathan Fernandes walked toward the courts and then entered the area at 11:40.  And just as the One-Setter finished at 11:50, Natalia "Nitro" Sout and "Hurricane" Jose Gonzales had both pulled up to the curb and soon made their way down the hill toward the courts.

With a total of seven players on hand, Vin decided to soon leave to enable Frank and Jose to team to take on the tandem of Mike and Suzanne while Nate and Natalia would have a hitting session with each other over on Center Court.  And when that one ended at 12:16, Samara suggested that he step off along with Bujara to allow Fernandes and Sout to face Mole and Gonzales.  As Suzanne had some things to do at home, she decided to leave at this time.

Then the two proposed teams above went into a prolonged hitting session of almost twenty minutes which initially was about getting used to the new balls that Jose had brought into play for the match as the older balls were even flatter due to the cold temps.  The One-Setter finally got underway at 12:35.

So Samara was sitting out on the sidelines of the North Court watching the Doubles action when there was a surprise appearance made by "Stealth" Omar Santos.  Frank led Omar to Center Court for a hitting session. 

And just as Samara proposed the idea of a Singles One-Setter to Santos, the Doubles One-Setter on the North Court had ended.  Frank then called out to see who might want to play Singles (thinking it may end up being Omar versus someone else).  Instead, Santos opted to join the guys for Doubles while Natalia said she wanted to play some Singles against Samara.  And not just a hitting session...she wanted to play sets!

While the four guys had a lengthy Doubles battle on the North Court, Samara and Sout had a couple of fun sets of Singles on Center Court.

The last one finished about five minutes prior to 2pm and Frank had to leave.  As he was walking off the courts, it seemed the guys were going to have a Rematch One-Setter with Natalia sitting on the bench as a spectator.  But Nate later informed Frank via text that it was scrapped once Omar had to leave early.

Let's get to the action!

The Albion Park Results:

Frank Samara/Vinnie De Benedetto over Mike Mole/Suzanne Bujara, 6-1!  Frank: 1 Ace on Suzanne!  It went like this: Mike held serve (30-Love, 30-15, Double Game Point was reduced to Deuce, but then came another Game Point and the hold), Frank held at Love, but Suzanne was the first one to be broken (Love-15, 15-All, but then onto Double Break Point, a rebound to Deuce, Break Point, 2nd Deuce, Game Point, 3rd Deuce, Double Fault for Break Point and then the break) for 1-2.  Vinnie held (Love-15 went straight to Double Game Point and the hold) and Mole was broken (Love-15 shifted to 30-15, then 30-All and a Double Fault to set up Break Point which was followed by another Double Fault to break himself) to fall to 1-4.  Samara held again (started with a well-placed but not fast-paced sideline Ace on Suzanne, it then went to 30-Love, 30-15, Double Game Point and the hold) while Bujara was broken again (Love-30 shifted to 30-All, but then came Break/Match Point and the break) to take the loss.  We played this on the North Court from 11:21 to 11:50.

Jose Gonzales/Frank Samara over Mike Mole/Suzanne Bujara, 6-0!  No Aces.  Here's how it went down: Mike was broken (Love-30, 15-30, Double Break Point, Break Point and the break), Jose held (15-Love, a Double Fault for 15-All and then point for point to Game Point and the hold), Suzanne was broken as she started at Love-15, it shifted to 30-15, but then shifted again to Break Point and the break and then Frank held (15-Love, 15-All, then onto Double Game Point and the hold) for a 4-0 lead.  Mole was then broken again (Love-30, 15-30, a Double Fault to set up Double Break Point, then Break Point and the break) while Gonzales held again and this time around it was at Love as he put it away on Triple Game/Match Point!  This early afternoon bagel was served up on the North Court and its making took 17 minutes (from 11:59 to 12:16)!

Mike Mole/Jose Gonzales over Nathan Fernandes/Natalia Sout, 6-3!  No Aces.  This one also took place on the North Court and lasted from 12:35 to 1:08.  When Santos arrived at 12:50, the score was 2-2.

Frank Samara over Natalia Sout, 6-0!  No Aces.  The breakdown: Frank held (Love-15 went straight to Double Game Point, then Game Point and the hold), Natalia was broken (Love-15 then point for point to Break Point, Deuce, Break Point, 2nd Deuce, Break Point yet again and then finally the break), Samara held again (30-Love, 30-15, Double Game Point and the hold), Sout was broken again (15-Love went straight to Double Break Point, then Break Point and the break), Hollywood held once more (Love-15 went straight to Double Game Point, then Game Point and the hold) while Nitro was broken yet again and this time around it was at Love as it was Triple Break/Match Point when she hit an ill-timed Double Fault to break herself!  We played this on Center Court from 1:10 to 1:30.

Omar Santos/Nathan Fernandes over Mike Mole/Jose Gonzales, 6-4!  Jose: 2 Aces on Omar in the same game!  This was contested on the North Court from 1:10 to 1:52.  At 1:30, the score was 3-2 (I don't know in which team's favor it was) and that led to Samara and Sout playing a Rematch One-Setter.  Meanwhile, Santos was in fine form as it may be the most consistent and solid level of play we have ever seen from him.

Frank Samara over Natalia Sout, 6-0!  No Aces.  The dirty lowdown: Frank held (30-Love shifted to 30-All, Game Point and the hold), Natalia was broken (Love-30, 15-30, Double Break Point and the break), Samara held again (Triple Game Point, Double Game Point and the hold), Sout was broken again (15-Love went right to Double Break Point, then came Break Point and the break), The Wood held again (15-Love then point for point to Game Point, Deuce, Game Point and the hold) while The OGM was broken (Love-15 shifted to 30-15 shifted again to Break/Match Point and then came the break) to eat her second bagel (perhaps she prefer it better to be referred to as a doughnut) of the day.  This was also played on Center Court as it lasted from 1:32 to 1:54.

Samara's Notes: Natalia wanted so desperately to win at least one game...especially as we headed into this second One-Setter.  She did come closer this time around.  The points felt somewhat more intense in this one.  And the duration was two minutes longer...reflecting the fact that the rallies were lengthier and that the games were closer as well.  Ms. Sout made some great gets and she also hit at least a handful of excellent return winners along the way.  But she also often had problems with my deep slicing backhand shots.  She said she had a lot of fun and wants to test herself more in Singles as the year moves forward.  Hopefully, she becomes a more active part of the Women's Division this season.

We now turn this report over to Kevlar Kevin, Killer Kat and The Riz for the results from The Bubble!       

The Wayne Bubble Results:

The 3 to 5pm session (scores submitted by Kevin and Kathy):

Vlad Smolyanskiy/Jeanette Pegg over Kevin Doyle/Sam Senowitz, 6-4!  No Aces.

The Kevlar Commentary: Vlad had to leave after that, so the three of us then played Canadian Doubles for the rest of the session.

Brenda Jordan/Robin Wilson over Kathy Sheldon/Marie Easton, 6-2!  No Aces.

Kathy Sheldon/Robin Wilson over Brenda Jordan/Marie Easton, 7-5!  No Aces.

Kathy Sheldon/Robin Wilson leading Brenda Jordan/Marie Easton, 3-1 (Incomplete when the session ran out of time)!  No Aces.

The Chat from Kat: The ladies played some fierce Doubles today...very competitive!  We're looking for an appropriate nickname for Brenda because she is so good at the net.  We were calling her "The Octopus," but that's not a cute enough name.  Any suggestions?

Samara's Notes: First off, I thank both Kevin and Kathy for their very timely reporting of these results.  Second, I agree with Kat about needing a new moniker for Brenda.  I gave Brenda the "Bravo" nickname several seasons ago, mainly because I'm a fan of alliteration and could not think of anything more appropriate.  But I confess that it was mentally lazy on my part.  So now I hereby offer up "Volley Girl," as a play off the term: "Valley Girl."  Because I do concur with Kat and the other ladies about Ms. Jordan's excellent net game.  She has become very effective with those put-away volleys the past few seasons.  I hope Brenda likes it. 

We now go to The Riz for the scores from the 6 to 8pm session.

Ryan Pienciak/Tom La over Senthil Kumar/John Rizzo, 6-1!  No Aces.

Ryan Pienciak/John Rizzo over Dan Hwang/Tom La, 6-2!  No Aces.

Ryan Pienciak/John Rizzo over Senthil Kumar/Dan Hwang, 6-4!  No Aces.

Ryan Pienciak/Tom La over  Senthil Kumar/Dan Hwang, 6-2!  No Aces.

Syed Rashid/Mike Sindler over Rich Liu/Frank Hohorst, 6-4!  No Aces.

Frank Hohorst over Rich Liu, 6-4!  No Aces.

Samara's Notes: I also thank John for sending in those results in a very timely fashion.

All the best,
Frank Samara
gtasamara5@gmail.com

3/16 Results.

3/16/18:

"30 players (1 New) compete at Levypalooza at The Bubble!":

There was a very special session of GTA Friday Night Tennis at The Wayne Bubble to honor the sendoff of one of the most admired and respected competitors in the league - "The Levitator" Levy Lorenzo.  Even though he was only with us for a couple of seasons, he made a major impact on those who were fortunate enough to have the chance to get to know him.  His kind and generous spirit along with a humble yet humorous demeanor won him many fans and friends.  And his on-court performances led to many wins as well.

For the past few seasons now, we have called our GTA Season Opener Parties - "Bubblepalooza!"  Well, it just hit me now as I write this report that we had somewhat of a "Levypalooza" as this session came much closer to mimicking those larger parties rather than our usual GTA Friday Night Party sessions.

Once we found out the Friday night before that Levy would soon be moving back to his native Philippines permanently to enjoy his retirement and that he was already planning to have one last on-court outing at The Bubble, we decided we wanted to do something a little above and beyond the regular session.  Plus, we also accurately expected a greater demand from the GTA faithful to be there that night. 

As "Hollywood" Frank Samara started promoting the event, "The Riz" John Rizzo went into his usual organizer mode (for these Bubble events) as he began collecting registrations and making plans for snacks, beverages and a special "retirement" cake as well. 

While Rizzo's usual focus was primarily the registrations and then the above accommodations, Samara's role was making sure that all those that attended had their fair share of court time at The Bubble.  Unlike the Bubblepalooza events where we sometimes try to go for a record-setting attendance rate of the players, this time around we settled on a number that was more manageable...somewhere between those events (up to forty or more) and the usual GTA Friday Night Party session (maxing out at 16 players for two hours of non-stop action).

We capped it at 30 players while expanding the session from the weekly two-hour session to a four-plus hour event (like those Bubblepalooza Season Openers).  It ended up working out quite fine.  We were also able to keep the cost the same ($20 per person) by not ordering hot food.  Still, there were plenty of snacks.

And some of the attendees brought their own food while also partaking in the "BYOB - Bring Your Own Beer" billing also announced along the way.  I'm not entirely sure who brought what, but I do want to single out two of the biggest food contributors - Tito "The Titan" Castolo and Fadia "Finesse" Nicolas.  I thank them and anyone else who chipped in to expand the offerings.

One quick funny side story...when John ordered the cake (chocolate...Levy's favorite), he instructed them to write "Good luck Levy" on it.  When he got there to pick it up, it instead said: "Happy Birthday Levy!"  Thankfully, they were able to change that to, "Happy Retirement Levy."  Ah well, all's well than ends well.

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 also as a tribute to Levy.  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 leaves a lasting impression on Levy as he looks back to his time in the GTA.  He seemed to be very happy with it and also added it was the first time he ever played tennis past midnight.

Besides the thirty official competitors, GTA Women's Champion: Laura "The Aura" Gawley and her hubby, "The Rogue" Rob Gawley, made a special cameo appearance to see and salute Levy.  They arrived around 9pm and stayed close to half an hour. 

Also, while running The Bubble this particular evening, "Master MC" Mark Cipollini often came by to watch the action and chit-chat with the attendees sitting out in The Lounge area in between being out on the courts.  And while the vast majority of competitors stuck around for most of the evening, there were some (which we knew ahead of time) who chose to be there for the first half while there were others who made in in time for the second half of the session.

Let's get to the action!

The Wayne Bubble Results:

After a roughly five to six minute hitting session on all four courts, the first round of One-Setters all began within the minute marked 8:21!

Jorge Solano/Tim Nguyen over Tom Heidt/Charlie Vreeland, 6-0!  No Aces.  This somewhat surprisingly lopsided set ended at exactly 8:49.  The games must have been long as 28 minutes is quite a respectable amount of time for a "bagel set," and especially more so when you consider they decided to forego the changeovers in this one.

Fadia Nicolas/Arlene Hyde over Kathy Sheldon/Denise Savino, 6-3!  Arlene: 2 Aces (one on each); and Fadia: 1 Ace on Denise.  It was Women's Doubles action on Court Two and it finished at precisely 8:48.  Like the guys on nearby Court One, these ladies also decided to forego the changeovers.

Scott Bergenfeld/Matt Aery over Ralph Bernard/Erik Jensen, 6-4!  Ralph: 1 Ace on Matt; and Erik: 1 Ace on Matt!  It was the official GTA Debut of Matt Aery.  There was some hard-hitting action on Court Three (aka The Show Court) as the crowd in the lounge found it to be quite entertaining.  It was done at 8:53...pretty lengthy considering they also had foregone the changeovers.

Samara's Notes: Afterward, I had the chance to meet Matt for the first time.  He is a very nice guy who recently moved to the area and has been looking for nearby venues for tennis.  Upon hearing about the upcoming GTA Intermediate Invitational Tournament, he decided to register for it (as did Jorge Solano as well).

Tito Castolo/John Palaca over Levy Lorenzo/Sam Wong, 7-6 (7-2)!  No Aces.  This one was played on Court Four and it lasted the longest (ending at exactly 8:59).  Not only did it go to the Tiebreak, but this was the only court of the four in this initial round of action engaging in the traditional changeovers every two games.

Samara's Notes: The quality of pure Doubles-style tennis was quite high in this one as these four very experienced competitors were seemingly playing on-court chess with one another in terms of their strategy and placements.  Tito often plays the role of "The Puppet Master" in these situations as he seemingly has the ball (and often his opponents as well) on a string.  Meanwhile, Sam had put in an early request to John to make sure he had the chance to team with his buddy, Levy, at least once this night (Mr. Lorenzo was the one to bring Mr. Wong into the GTA in the first place).  It was true camaraderie on this court.

Just a side note, from here forward I no longer noted which courts were engaging in changeovers and which ones were not as it was enough of a task to try to record results and suggest new foursomes along the way.  John often aided in the groupings which we tried to handle (as always) with consideration as to either who has been sitting out the longest while mixing in new arrivals or getting those who will be leaving early back out on the courts as often as possible while they will still be around.  For the most part, it worked out quite well.  Now back to the action!

Jorge Solano/Denise Savino over Tim Nguyen/Fadia Nicolas, 6-4!  No Aces.  This foursome took Court Three and the Mixed Doubles action lasted from 8:55 to 9:39.

Dan Knitzer/Laurie Boughton over Janice Wang/Natalia Sout, 6-3!  No Aces.  Young Dan (aka The Dark Knight) certainly did not mind being the lone guy with the three ladies on Court Two as this one lasted from 8:57 to 9:30.

Fausto Murg/Arlene Hyde over Mike Mole/Kathy Sheldon, 6-1!  No Aces.  Court One hosted this Mixed Doubles action from 8:59 to 9:22.

Senthil Kumar/Rich Liu over Ralph Bernard/Scott Bergenfeld, 6-3!  Ralph: 1 Ace on Senthil!  This foursome engaged in some fierce action on Court Four.  They got it underway at 9:05.  While finishing on Court Four at 9:44 is not an unusual amount of time (39 minutes), it turns out they had actually started a second One-Setter as they did not realize more people were waiting to play (it seems most of the group in the lounge area had drifted toward the back of it for food and drink).  So, later in the night, the same foursome got to take another court to finish that in-progress set.

Don Moya/Charlie Vreeland over Tom Heidt/Erik Jensen, 6-1!  Don: 1 Ace on Erik; Charlie: 1 Ace on Erik; and Tom: 1 Ace on Charlie!  They got the job done on Court One as it had begun at 9:30 and was finished by 9:57.

Fausto Murg/Elias Eid over Dino Celis/Matt Aery, 6-1!  Fausto: 2 Aces (one on each); and Dino: 1 Ace on Elias!  This action took place on Court Two and lasted from 9:37 to 10:04.

Tito Castolo/John Palaca over Levy Lorenzo/Sam Wong, 7-5!  Tito: 1 Ace on Levy!  This time around, the same foursome of buddies (same teams as well) got together on Court Three and played from 9:44 to 10:24.  Being the Show Court that it is, the excellent Doubles action on the court entertained the throng that was in the nearby lounge area.

Mike Mole/Kathy Sheldon over Dan Knitzer/Arlene Hyde, 7-5!  No Aces.  This Mixed Doubles action occupied Court Four from 9:50 to 10:43.  Mike and Kat had leads of 4-0, 4-1 and 5-1 before Dan and Arlene fought back to make it much more interesting.

Fadia Nicolas/Laurie Boughton over Janice Wang/Natalia Sout, 7-5!  No Aces.  This excellent Women's Doubles action took place on Court One and lasted from 10pm to 10:40.

Senthil Kumar/Rich Liu over Ralph Bernard/Scott Bergenfeld, 6-2!  No Aces.  Now on Court Two, this foursome revisited the action they had started before on Court Four with Kumar/Liu already up 2-1.  Well, it did not take long for Senthil and Rich to get the job done as the resumption of action got underway at 10:08 and was over by 10:22! 

Samara's Notes: Scott said (in front of Ralph) that he just felt they were not a winning combo together, perhaps because they are too much alike.  They are both big forehand hitters who like to swing away, often with reckless abandon.  When those shots land, they can be deadly.  But when I say "land," I mean within the lines of the court.  For two One-Setters, most of their otherwise lethal bombs were landing long and well beyond the baseline.  But Rich also confessed that neither set was pretty as all four of them seemed to be engaging in a contest of Double Faults.

Don Moya/Elias Eid over Jorge Solano/Dino Celis, 6-2!  Don: 1 Ace on Jorge!  This one was contested on Court Two from 10:23 to 10:51.

Rich Liu/Fausto Murg over Scott Bergenfeld/Erik Jensen, 6-3!  No Aces.  This was conducted on Court Three from 10:29 to 11:05.

Sam Wong/Doinks Srinivasan over Senthil Kumar/John Palaca, 6-4!  No Aces.  This foursome occupied Court Four from 10:38 to 11:14, but that does not tell the entire tale.  Doinks was a late arrival (as she said she would be) at 10:30.  To her credit, she got onto this court as the lone lady amongst the gents and decided to jump right into official action without any warm-up.  At that time, the teams were Sam and John versus Senthil and Doinks.

Seven minutes into it (at 10:45), it was decided that the teams should be switched in order to achieve a fairer balance (I don't know who initiated this or decided why it was not fair or in which team's favor), but they did seem to achieve their end goal (which ended at 11:14, by the way) as a 6-4 score does indeed indicate a well-balanced match.

Levy Lorenzo/Tito Castolo over Mike Mole/Dan Knitzer, 6-3!  Dan: 1 Ace on Tito!  Court One was the site of this battle of Youth versus Experience.  And it was Experience that ruled the day (the night, actually) as the two crafty Filipino veterans emerged victorious against two of the younger members of the GTA.  The war was waged from 10:45 to 11:30.

After this One-Setter, Mike ended up having a hitting session with Janice Wang.  And then Natalia Sout later joined in on Janice's side.  Eventually, Dan found his way back to the court for some Mixed Doubles action...which we will get to later on in this report.  And, actually, we are getting a little bit ahead of ourselves as Janice was first involved in the following One-Setter.

Don Moya/Janice Wang over Tom Heidt/Charlie Vreeland, 6-3!  No Aces.  Court Two hosted this one from 10:55 to 11:22.  Tom requested that John and Frank put this match together as Mr. Heidt wanted to challenge his mentor, Mr. Moya, with his buddy (Mr. Vreeland) in tow.  They took on "The Power Couple" of Moya and Wang and put up a decent fight, but failed to emerge victorious.

Elias Eid/Natalia Sout over Fadia Nicolas/Laurie Boughton, 6-1!  No Aces.  This was contested on Court Three from 11:09 to 11:35 as Elias now took the role of Charlie of "Charlie's Angels" being the lone guy on a court with three ladies.  It was also a happy happenstance as Fadia approached Elias afterward as she had rightfully assumed he was Lebanese as is she.

Going into this next One-Setter, one much consider the following (reprinted from previous Bubblepalooza results reports):

Both Samara and Rizzo, who are always so preoccupied with keeping everything smooth-sailing at these bigger Bubblepalooza-like events, like to wait until late in the session to play...ensuring that everyone else gets at least two opportunities to play along the way (though, this time around, it was more like three or four times to play with the lesser crowd than in some of those past events).  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 Samara (though Rizzo seemed to thrive this time around).

John Rizzo/Scott Bergenfeld over Frank Samara/Dino Celis, 6-4!  Dino: 1 Ace on Scott!  It went like this: John was broken (15-Love, Double Fault for 15-All, 30-15 and then a shift to Break Point and the break), Dino was broken (started with a big sideline Ace against Scott, then it went from 30-Love to 30-All where a Double Fault set up Break Point and then came the break), but Scott was the first to hold serve (15-Love, 15-All then onto Double Game Point, a Double Fault for Game Point, but then the hold) to go up 2-1.  Frank also held (30-Love, 30-15, Double Game Point and the hold) and then Rizzo was broken again (Love-30 shifted to Game Point, but then came Deuce, Break Point and the break) to lose the lead for his team at 2-3.  Celis held (30-Love, 30-15, Double Game Point and the hold) to increase his team's lead to 4-2 only to then have Bergenfeld hold again (30-Love, 30-15, Double Game Point and the hold), Samara was then broken (Love-30, 15-30, Double Break Point and the break), The Riz finally hold (30-Love, 30-15, Double Game Point, Game Point and the hold) and then The Scorpion Dragon was broken (15-Love then point for point until 30-All, Break/Match Point, Deuce, it ended on the 2nd Break/Match Point) to take a tough loss as the opposition offered up a solid comeback effort.  We four played this on Court Four from 11:16 to 11:56.

Samara's Notes: I was in decent form for the first half of it while John seemingly got off to a slightly sluggish start.  But about midway through, the tables turned as I either "shanked" or overcooked a couple of would-be surefire Overhead Smash winners which then made me gun-shy as I was then backing off what were clear opportunities for redemption along the way.  I felt bad as it often led to Dino having to cover more court than he normally would when teaming with me.  I wasn't lazy...I was just out of rhythm, distracted...and then I simply became disgusted with my own performance.  To quote Kramer of "Seinfeld," "Look away!  I'm hideous!"  And this is not to take anything away from the job done by John and Scott as these old pals who had not teamed together in many years seemingly gelled just when they needed to in order to get the job done.

I immediately removed myself from the court, head hung in shame as I asked Don Moya to take my place (for the record, we often asked Mark Cipollini to join us and become the 31st player of the evening, but he was too busy running things and/or cleaning up after us).  While waiting for The Adonis to take the court, Scott and Dino had a brief hitting session with one another.

Senthil Kumar/John Palaca over Rich Liu/Doinks Srinivasan, 6-0!  No Aces.  Court Two hosted this one from 11:25 to 11:40...a bagel prepped in just fifteen minutes time!

Elias Eid/Fadia Nicolas over Levy Lorenzo/Laurie Boughton, 6-3!  No Aces.  These four put on a show on the Show Court otherwise known as Court Three from 11:38 to 12:06 as Levy and Laurie got run over by The Lebanese Express!

Dan Knitzer/Janice Wang over Mike Mole/Natalia Sout, 6-4!  No Aces.  This Mixed Doubles action was played on Court One as it got underway around 11:40.  Not sure when it finished as it then went into another set that would never find its way to a full finish (more on that later in this report).

Tito Castolo/John Palaca over Rich Liu/Doinks Srinivasan, 6-2!  No Aces.  This was conducted on Court Two from 11:44 to 12:09 as Rich and Doinks fared a little better together this time around.

Don Moya/Dino Celis over John Rizzo/Scott Bergenfeld, 5-5 (7-4), an unofficial result!  No Aces.  It is a shame this one did not see its way to a full and official conclusion on Court Four (they got it underway at exactly 11:59 and it ended in a premature fashion at 12:41).  Mark was trying to get things wrapped up and kudos to him for allowing us to go overtime as the original plan was to try to have all action end by 12:30.  So when he heard they were at 5-5, he suggested a Tiebreak take place at that moment and all four were on-board with that decision.  It allowed for some measure of satisfaction for Don and Dino, but it also meant this one cannot be considered to be an official result for the record books (i.e. mostly nomination consideration at the end of the season).  Oh well!  Still, it seemed all four had fun in a battle full of hard shots and good gets.

Elias Eid/Fadia Nicolas leading Senthil Kumar/Levy Lorenzo, 6-5 (Incomplete)!  No Aces.  This one had begun on Court Three at 12:10.  It had to be cut short at 12:41.

Dan Knitzer/Janice Wang leading Mike Mole/Natalia Sout, 3-1 (Incomplete)!  No Aces.  Not sure when this makeshift half-set (which is what it ended up becoming) got started on Court One as it picked up where the previous full One-Setter left off, but they called it a night at 12:35.

Frank Samara/Doinks Srinivasan tied with Tito Castolo/Laurie Boughton, 2-2 (Incomplete)!  No Aces.  To save time, we decided to forego the changeovers...but I memorized how the games went...and this is how it was all going: Frank was broken (Love-15 to 30-15, Double Fault for 30-All, Game Point, Deuce, Break Point, 2nd Deuce, Break Point and the break) and then Laurie held in an epic battle (Love-15 shifted straight to Double Game Point which was reduced to Deuce and then it went to Break Point, 2nd Deuce and then all Game Points as Frank was playing his usual "Gatekeeper" role quite well returning from the Ad side of the court to take it all the way back again and again until it got to the 6th Deuce and yet another Game Point when Samara failed to take advantage of an open court shot for a potential 7th Deuce when his attempted drop shot met the top of the tape instead which allowed the hold) for 2-0!  But Doinks then held in impressive fashion (Triple Game Point, Double Game Point and then the hold) while Tito battled but was ultimately broken (15-Love then point for point until 30-All, Break Point, Deuce, Game Point, 2nd Deuce, Break Point and the break) as everyone got to go happy (though likely not fully satisfied) with a 2-All tie!  We started this one on Court Two at exactly 12:12 and ended it at 12:34.

Samara's Notes: I was loathe to take the court again after stinking up the joint on Court Four earlier.  I was busy helping Mark clean up the mess in the lounge area when I heard the cries from Court Two seeking a fourth player.  As there was nobody else around to step up to the plate (Mark was too busy picking up dirty paper plates!), I then decided I had to "take one for the team" and get back out there.

Again, I started off rather decently only to fade (mentally, not physically) as the contest wore on...so I have to give the MVP title to Doinks for a spirited effort...especially so late in the evening (though she was still the freshest of the bunch due to her late arrival).

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 some more GTA history...and also give Levy a proper sendoff.

All the best,
Frank Samara
gtasamara5@gmail.com

3/14 Results.

3/14/18:

"12 play at The Bubble!":

There was just one session of GTA Wednesday Night Tennis and it was the usual Night Owls session up at The Wayne Bubble run by "The Riz" John Rizzo along with "Hollywood" Frank Samara acting as host to collect scores along the way.

The Wayne Bubble Results:

Kathy Sheldon/Robin Wilson over Fadia Nicolas/Jeanette Pegg, 6-4!  No Aces.  This got underway on Court Three (aka The Show Court) at exactly 9:11.  Not sure when it finished as it went into another One-Setter featuring the same teams...but we will get to that one a little later in this report.

Ted Cedroski/Sean McHugh over Kevin Doyle/Vlad Smolyanskiy, 6-4!  No Aces.  This one got started on Court One at 9:12.  Not sure when it ended as it went right into another One-Setter where they switched up the teams...and we will also get to that one a little later on in this report.

2 out of 3 Sets Doubles Match:
Frank Samara/John Rizzo over Sam Senowitz/Elias Eid, 6-1, 6-0, as both teams entered the Doubles Division as the New # 160 and # 161 Ranked Teams respectively!  John: 2 Aces on Sam in the 2nd Set; and Frank: 1 Ace on Elias in the 2nd Set!  After a hitting session that lasted about ten minutes, the match got underway on Court Two at 9:13.

1st Set: Sam was broken (Triple Break Point, Double Break Point and a Double Fault for the break), John was broken (Triple Break Point, Double Break Point and then the break), Elias was broken (15-Love shifted to 15-30, 30-All, Break Point and a Double Fault for the break), but Frank was the first to hold serve (though it was a struggle as it went 15-Love, 15-All then onto Double Break Point with a bounce back to Deuce, Game Point, 2nd Deuce, Break Point, 3rd Deuce, Game Point, 4th Deuce, Game Point and finally the hold) to go up 3-1!  Senowitz was broken again (started with a Double Fault, shifted to 30-15, shifted again to Break Point, Deuce, Break Point again and then the break) while Rizzo held (15-Love then point for point to Game Point, Deuce, Game Point again and then the hold) to take a 5-1 lead for his team.  And then Eid was also broken again (Love-15, 15-All and then back-to-back Double Faults to set up Double Break/Set Point, it went to Break/Set Point, Deuce, then the 3rd Break/Set Point and finally the break) to drop the initial set at 9:43.  Two minutes later, the next set was underway.

2nd Set: Frank held at Love and Sam was broken at Love for a quick 0-2 score.  John held (Love-15 and then a big corner Ace against Sam for 15-All, 30-15 and then another corner Ace on Sam to set up Double Game Point and then came the hold) while Elias was broken (15-Love, 15-All, 30-15 and then a shift to Break Point and the break) for 0-4.  Samara held again (Love-30, 15-30, Double Break Point, corner Ace on Elias for Break Point, Deuce, Game Point and the hold) while Senowitz was broken again (started off with two Double Faults, 15-30, another Double Fault to set up Double Break/Match Point and then the break) to lose the set and the match at 10:03.

The Skinny: We told Sam and Elias upfront that we had an interest in making it a full 2 out of 3 Sets Doubles Match so that Rizzo and I could once again become a ranked team in the Doubles Division.  And then we reinforced that idea between sets.  We did realize that the sides were somewhat uneven.  We thanked them for playing the match.

We decided we had time to play a One-Setter and we thought it best to switch up the teams with John opting to team with Sam.  We will get to that in just a bit...but first...

Fadia Nicolas/Jeannette Pegg over Kathy Sheldon/Robin Wilson, 6-3!  No Aces.  Did not have a chance to note when the ladies finished this one on Court Three.  Both Kat and Jeanette needed to leave early...leaving Fadia and Robin to have a nice practice Singles session with one another.  I've given Ms. Wilson the moniker of "Rockin' Robin," but maybe she should be called "Runnin' Robin" as she made several nice gets as "Fadia Finesse" had her running all over the court to field drop shots and also had Robin moving side to side.

Kevin Doyle/Ted Cedroski over Vlad Smolyanskiy/Sean McHugh, 6-4!  No Aces.  This was also played on Court One, but I do not know the start and stop times.  After this one, they switched the teams again for the lone remaining pairing of the night.  But first...

Frank Samara/Elias Eid over John Rizzo/Sam Senowitz, 6-4!  Sam: 2 Aces (one on each and back-to-back in the same game!); and John: 1 Ace on Elias!  We started this one on Court Two at 10:04.  It went like this: John was broken (Love-15, 15-All then onto Double Break Point and the break) while Elias held (Love-15, 15-All then onto Double Break Point, a bounce back to Deuce and then all Game Points thru to 3rd Deuce, another Game Point and then the hold) for 2-0.  Sam got his first hold of the night (30-Love and then a big sideline Ace against Elias to set up Triple Game Point where he then hit a big corner Ace on second-serve against Frank to make it a Love hold) while Frank was broken for the first time this evening (15-Love then point for point until 30-All, Break Point and the break) to level things at 2-2!  Rizzo held (15-Love then point for point to Game Point and the hold), but Eid held again (started with a Double Fault, then 15-All and another Double Fault for 15-30, then 30-All, Game Point, Deuce, Break Point, 2nd Deuce, Game Point and the hold) to tie matters again, this time at 3-3.  Senowitz was broken (15-Love, a Double Fault to make it 15-All, then 15-30 and a shift to Game Point, Double Fault for Deuce, Break Point, 2nd Deuce, Break Point and the break) while Samara held at Love for a 5-3 lead.  The Riz held again (Love-15 then shifted to 30-15 and then came another shift to set up Break/Match Point, Deuce and then a well-placed Ace up the T against Elias to set up Game Point, then came 2nd Deuce, Game Point and the hold) to pull to 4-5.  But then the E-Double held a third straight time and this time around it was at Love as he closed this one out on Triple Game/Match Point at exactly 10:43!

Ted Cedroski/Vlad Smolyanskiy over Kevin Doyle/Sean McHugh, 6-4!  No Aces.  This action on Court One closed out the session at exactly 11:02.

Sincerely,
Frank Samara
gtasamara5@gmail.com

 

 

3/13 Results.

3/13/18:

"14 play at The Bubble!":

There was just one session of GTA Tuesday Night Tennis which was the usual Night Owls session at The Wayne Bubble with "The Riz" John Rizzo reporting the results (Rizzo both acted as the host of the session and he also played).

We will now get the results from The Riz.

The Wayne Bubble Results:

2 out of 3 Sets Doubles Match:

Nick Caputo/Mark Cipollini over Paul Daddio/John Rizzo, 6-1, 6-0, to become the New # 22 Ranked Team in the Doubles Division!  No Aces.

 

2 out of 3 Sets Doubles Match:

Senthil Kumar/Lou La Forgia over Chris Chiaro/Frank Hohorst, 6-2, 6-4, to become the New #128 Ranked Team in the Doubles Division!  No Aces.

 

2 out of 3 Sets Doubles Match:

Chris Chiaro/Senthil Kumar over Lou La Forgia/Frank Horhorst, 6-3, 6-1, to successfully defend their # 130 Rank in the Doubles Division!  No Aces.

Tom La/Syed Rashid over Mike Sindler/Ray Spadaro, 6-4!  Tom: 5 Aces (4 on Ray, 1 on Mike)!

Tony Shiao over Ryan Sherry, 7-5!  No Aces.

Ryan Sherry over Tony Shiao, 6-0!  No Aces.

Ryan Sherry leading Tony Shiao, 5-1 (Incomplete when Shiao thought it best to stop the action at 10:57 with the 11pm cutoff time soon looming)!  No Aces.

Samara's Notes: John did not know if this was intended to be a full 2 out of 3 Sets Challenge Match.  With the 3^rd Set ending up incomplete, it has to be reported as One-Setters anyway.  It would have been quite impressive, however, if they were able to complete this match with Ryan getting the victory as it would have placed Sherry in The Top 10 of the Advanced Division (forever removing him from going back to the Intermediate Division) and it also would have put him into the upcoming GTA Championship Tournament and taken Shiao out of it.  What a difference a game makes!

Tom La/Syed Rashid leading Mike Sindler/Ray Spadaro, 6-6 (6-5), but Incomplete!  No Aces.  Did I just say, "What a difference a game makes?"  What a difference a point makes!  They were just one point away (potentially…just like the Shiao-Sherry situation above) from a proper conclusion! 

Samara's Notes: I thank John for reporting those results in a very timely fashion.  Samara signing off!

 

 

3/12 Results.

3/12/18:

"Bergenfeld-Lee at WOTC!":

There was just one session of GTA Monday Night Tennis and it was at The West Orange Tennis Club (an indoor facility) as "Ice Berg" Scott Bergenfeld and Thomas "Not Tommy" Lee got together for a full 3 out of 5 Sets Challenge Match.

We now go to the report from Scott.

The WOTC Results:

3 out of 5 Sets Challenge Match:

Scott Bergenfeld over Thomas Lee, 6-3, 6-3, 6-4, to successfully defend his # 35 Rank in the Intermediate Division!  It was the official GTA Debut of Thomas Lee as he directly enters the Intermediate Division as the New # 39 Ranked Player.  No Aces.

The Skinny from Scott: Excellent match!  Tom had me running all over the court.  He was very consistent in keeping the ball deep to my backhand.  I was blocking the ball back a lot.  I can honestly say I was exhausted!

He was having a little trouble putting away the shots he needed to make to win or hold games. My forehand was a little off, but strong enough to make the points I needed to at key moments. The 3rd Set was the most competitive.  He was up 4-3 and had a few Break Points on my serve, but couldn't capitalize.

All in all, an excellent evening of tennis!

Samara's Notes: I thank Scott for his very timely reporting of this result along with his colorful commentary.  It is greatly appreciated.  And I also welcome Thomas to the league.

Sincerely,

Frank Samara

Gtasamara5@gmail.com

 

 

 

 

3/11 Results.

3/11/18:

"21 play (1 return) at The Bubble!":

There were two sessions of GTA Sunday Tennis at The Wayne Bubble as it was the two separate Night Owls groups in their late afternoon and early evening sessions.

"Bravo" Brenda Jordan sent in the results from the first session (the 3 to 5pm group) while "The Riz" John Rizzo reported the scores from the second session (the 6 to 8pm group). 

We thank both for their reporting and go to Brenda's report first.

The Wayne Bubble Results:

Kathy Sheldon/Brenda Jordan over Vlad Smolyanskiy/Marie Easton, 6-4!  No Aces (apparently).

Then Kathy was nice enough to sit out so that Sam Senowitz could step in and play.

Sam Senowitz/Brenda Jordan over Vlad Smolyanskiy/Marie Easton, 6-4!  No Aces (apparently).

It was a very small session, but lots of fun.

Samara's Notes: I thank Brenda for sending in those results in such a timely manner.  And now we go to The Riz Report.

3 out of 5 Sets Doubles Match:

John Rizzo/Nick Caputo over Ryan Pienciak/Senthil Kumar, 6-4, 6-1, 1-6, 6-3, to successfully defend their # 84 Rank in the Doubles Division!  In the process, Pienciak/Kumar entered the division as the New # 157 Ranked Team. Nick: 1 Ace on Ryan in the 2nd Set! 

Arthur Fontanilla/Frank Hohorst over Mike Mole/Bill Bess, 7-5!  No Aces (apparently).  It was the official GTA Return of Bill Bess.

Mike Mole/Bill Bess over Arthur Fontanilla/Frank Hohorst, 7-5!  No Aces (apparently).

Mike Sindler/Elias Eid over Rich Liu/Syed Rashid, 6-0!  No Aces (apparently).

Rich Liu/Syed Rashid over Mike Sindler/Elias Eid, 7-5!  No Aces (apparently).

Tom La/Jonathan La over Ray Spadaro/Ryan Sherry, 6-2!  No Aces (apparently).

Ray Spadaro/Ryan Sherry over Tom La/Jonathan La, 7-5!  No Aces (apparently).

Mike Sindler/Elias Eid leading Rich Liu/Syed Rashid, 3-1 (Incomplete when the session ran out of time)!  No Aces (apparently).

Samara's Notes: I thank John for his very timely reporting of these results.  Samara signing off!

Gtasamara5@gmail.com