7/19/18:
"Samara hosts 23 (1 return) at C.G.!":
There was only one official session of GTA Thursday Night Tennis, but it was a big one as it was the first time in over a month that "Hollywood" Frank Samara acted as host of the session. And even though there were no "fireworks" as advertised (warned, perhaps), the courts were abuzz with great GTA Tennis action…the way it should be!
As promised, Samara pulled into the parking lot outside the Cedar Grove Courts precisely at 7pm. At that time, two of the four courts were already occupied by GTA players. Getting out of their cars around the same time Frank was, he saw "J-Wow" Janice Wang and a man he did not recognize. But that man soon said, "Frank?" It turned out to be Thomas Lee who got started with us earlier this season after "Ice Berg" Scott Bergenfeld brought him into the league from the indoor West Orange Tennis Club. But then Thomas suffered a knee injury that took him out of action (so much so that he was recently eliminated for activity). Soon the three of them (Thomas, Frank and Janice) headed out onto Court Three to hit with one another as Janice took solo duty in hitting against the guys (Samara thought Lee might want to split the court if he was still dealing with mobility issues).
Over on Court One, the teams of "Kevlar" Kevin Doyle/"Dominant" Dawn Peterson and "Killer Kat" Kathy Sheldon/"Bravo" Brenda Jordan already had some official action underway. Court Two remained vacant. And on Court Four, a Doubles One-Setter was just getting started between the teams of "Del Brotro" Mike Mole/"Lucky" Leo Victor and "The Bulgarian Bull" Jordan Bachvaroff/"Mo" Mostafa Hussaini. But just one game in, they switched up the teams as it then became Mole/Bachvaroff versus Victor/Hussaini. This did not seem like a good idea, but Mike said it was at the request of Leo and Mostafa.
At 7:30, "The Host with The Most" at Cedar Grove, "The K Man" Kris Srinivasan came across the street and headed out onto Court Three to make it a foursome. Much like Carlito of WWE fame some years ago, Kris had his ever-present apple in hand and/or in his mouth as he looked like "Mr. Casual" hitting shots at the same time. Thankfully, the apple disappeared by the time we entered into official play.
Santosh "Ever" Reddy arrived at 7:40 and sat on the bench alongside Court Four. Five minutes later, "The Accelerator" Abhilash Gadi and "The Webmaster" Senthil Kumar both arrived. The three then headed out onto Court Two for a hitting session.
At 7:55, "The Riz" John Rizzo and Tito "The Titan" Castolo arrived around the same time. John allowed Tito to become the fourth player over on Court Two while Rizzo opted to sit on the bench alongside Court Four for a while. He wouldn't be alone for long as "Kerosene" Kyle Eng arrived at 8pm. Five minutes later, Dennis "The Menace" Cabanatan arrived and he was followed in by The Gawleys - Rowdy Rob (aka The Rogue) and Laura the Aura! Thankfully, none of them would have to wait all that long to play.
"The Scorpion Dragon" Dino Celis arrived at 8:20. "J-Rod" Joe Rodrigues arrived at 8:35. And "Spin Doctor" Dan Martinelli arrived solely for an extended cameo appearance at 8:50 (he left at 9:45) as he was able to get some good conversation over on the bench with Samara and also Mole for a shorter period of time.
We ended up with a total of 23 official competitors on a beautiful night (weather-wise) for tennis. We were fortunate that we had all four courts at our disposal for the entire evening.
The Cedar Grove Results:
2 out of 3 Sets Mixed Gender Doubles Match:
Kathy Sheldon/Brenda Jordan over Kevin Doyle/Dawn Peterson, 6-4, 6-0! No Aces. Per the TMT Rules, Sheldon/Jordan entered the Women's Doubles Division as the New # 14 Ranked Team. Doyle/Peterson is already the # 13 Ranked Team in the Mixed Doubles Division. Not sure when this one started or finished as they then went into the following One-Setter (and all of this action took place on Court One).
Kathy Sheldon/Dawn Peterson over Kevin Doyle/Brenda Jordan, 6-1! No Aces. This one finished at 8:20.
Mike Mole/Jordan Bachvaroff over Leo Victor/Mostafa Hussaini, 6-0! No Aces. This took place on Court Four and lasted from 7:10 to 7:37.
Frank Samara/Thomas Lee over Kris Srinivasan/Janice Wang, 7-6 (9-7)! No Aces. It was the official GTA Return of Thomas Lee. It went like this: Janice was broken (Love-30 went straight to Game Point, but then it went to Deuce, Break Point and the break), Thomas was broken (Love-15 then point for point to Break Point, Deuce, Game Point, 2nd Deuce, Break Point and the break) and then Kris was the first to hold serve (Love-15 shifted to 30-15, Double Fault for 30-All, Game Point, Deuce, Game Point and the hold) for 2-1. Frank also held (Love-15 shifted to 30-15, then 30-All, Game Point and the hold) and then Wang was broken again (Love-15 then shifted to 30-15 shifted again to Break Point and then the break) for 2-3. Lee was also broken again (a Love-15 start shifted to 30-15, then 30-All, Game Point, Deuce, Break Point and the break) to level the set at 3-3, but then Srinivasan was broken at Love after he hit a Double Fault to set up Triple Break Point and that made the score 3-4! Samara held again (Love-15 went straight to Double Game Point, then came Game Point and the hold) for 5-3. J-Wow wowed the guys with a Love hold to pull to 4-5 and then T-Bone (hey, Costanza wanted that nickname!) was broken a third straight time as a 15-Love start went right to Double Break Point and then the break came on Break Point to keep the opposition alive at 5-5! The K Man rebounded with a hold (15-Love, 15-All then onto Double Game Point which was then reduced to Deuce, Game Point again, 2nd Deuce, another Game Point and then the hold) to reclaim the lead for his team at 6-5!
Hollywood then had his third straight hold as a Love-30 start soon shifted straight toward Game Point and the hold as we were now headed for the Tiebreak! In the Breaker: Janice held her lone serve, and then Thomas held both of his as did Kris for 3-2. Frank, who held serve so well all along, was the first to be broken in the Breaker as the first of his two serves led to a 2-4 score at the first changeover. He held the second time around to pull to 3-4 and then with Wang back on serve we had the best rally of the match that ended in her team's favor for a 5-3 lead! She was then broken on the second of her two serves for 5-4. Lee held the first of his two serves to even things up at 5-5, but then he was broken on the second of his two serves to hand over the 6-5 lead and a Match Point to Srinivasan who was now about to serve. He was broken on the first of his two serves for 6-6 at the second changeover. He did hold his second, however, as his team now had a second Match Point in their favor with service returning to Samara. He ended up holding the first of his two serves after making an incredible get which allowed him to hit a sharp cross-court angle to draw the error from Janice to serve up a 7-Up (score, that is)! Hollywood then held his second serve as well to take an 8-7 lead for his team. This was now the 3rd Match Point overall, but the first MP in favor of Samara/Lee. Service now bounced back to J-Wow and she ended up getting broken as the opposition took this TB at 9-7! We played this on Court Three from 7:35 to 8:35 (exactly one hour long!).
The Skinny: For a guy who has only been playing tennis for a couple of years now, Thomas has excellent ground-strokes (especially on the forehand side...and he credits the clinics he took at the West Orange Tennis Club). He said he still felt sluggish as he continues to recover from the injury, but there was no noticeable slowness in his movement as far as the rest of us were concerned. He also lamented the fact that he never held serve. He thanked his partner for doing just the opposite (holding serve every time). Kris has complained of not being where he needs to be level-wise as of late. He had some really impressive moments, but also had a couple of head-scratching type errors mixed in along the way. Janice was mostly solid and steady throughout the contest. Frank was playing with a purpose and it showed...though he still made a few sloppy errors as well. This one may have a shot at becoming a Nominee for One-Set Specialty Doubles Match of The Year at season's end.
Mike Mole/Leo Victor over Jordan Bachvaroff/Mostafa Hussaini, 7-5! No Aces. This much better-balanced One-Setter also took place on Court Four (like the one this foursome staged before) and it lasted exactly forty minutes long, 7:40 to 8:20.
2 out of 3 Sets Doubles Match:
Abhilash Gadi/Tito Castolo over Senthil Kumar/Santosh Reddy, 6-2, 6-3, as both teams entered the Doubles Division as the New # 76 and # 77 Ranked Teams respectively! Abhi: 2 Aces on Santosh! This one got underway on Court Two at 8pm, but not sure when it ended as they then went into a One-Setter where they switched up the teams (we will get to that one later in this report).
John Rizzo/Kyle Eng over Rob Gawley/Laura Gawley, 6-1! John: 1 Ace on Rob (the very first serve of the match!); and Kyle: 1 Ace on Rob! Court Four hosted this foursome from 8:30 to 8:55. Rob is another player healing up from recent injuries and dealing with mobility issues.
Jordan Bachvaroff over Dennis Cabanatan, 6-4! No Aces. They got the job done on Court One as this one lasted from 8:35 to 9:10. Nobody should think they were "court hogs." This came at a time when many players were happy to sit outside on or near the benches and chit-chat for a while.
Kris Srinivasan/Janice Wang over Dino Celis/Joe Rodrigues, 6-4! Kris: 1 Ace on Dino! This one took place on Court Three and lasted from 8:45 to 9:29.
John Rizzo/Kyle Eng over Leo Victor/Thomas Lee,6-1! No Aces. These four faced off on Court Four from 8:56 to 9:20.
Dennis Cabanatan/Laura Gawley over Jordan Bachvaroff/Rob Gawley, 6-4! Jordan: 2 Aces (one on each); and Dennis: 1 Ace on Rob! Court One hosted this one from 9:15 to 9:52.
Mike Mole/Kyle Eng over John Rizzo/Leo Victor, 6-2! John: 1 Ace on Kyle; and Mike: 1 Ace on Leo! This one took place on Court Four and lasted from 9:25 to 9:50.
Senthil Kumar/Abhilash Gadi over Tito Castolo/Santosh Reddy, 6-1! No Aces. Not sure when this one began on Court Two, but it finished at 9:50.
Dino Celis/Joe Rodrigues over Kris Srinivasan/Janice Wang, 6-3! No Aces. Considering the fact that this one did not get underway on Court Three until 9:30, they all felt fortunate to get this one done at 9:59 (with less than one minute to spare!).
All in all, it was a busy and productive session...and, more importantly...it was a whole lot of fun!
Sincerely,
Frank Samara
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