8/21/18:
"4 play (1 New) at NTC, 8 play at C.G.!":
There were two official sessions of GTA Tuesday Tennis: the first one was an impromptu afternoon session at Nutley Tennis Club as "Dynamic Dee" Denise Savino needed a fourth player for Doubles, so she invited "Hollywood" Frank Samara who actually had the opportunity and time to take her up on her offer (a rare moment, indeed!); and the second one was the usual evening session up at The Cedar Grove Courts with the contributors from that session being "The Marathon Woman" Doinks Srinivasan and "J-Rod" Joe Rodrigues.
Let's first go to how the NTC session came about and then we will get the results from Cedar Grove!
I received a text from "Dynamic Dee" Denise Savino around 12:30 or so stating she needed a fourth player for some Doubles action at Nutley Tennis Club and wanted to know if I was available. The match would start at 2:30. Her timing was perfect as she caught me at a rare available time (well, by 2:30 I would be available). So, I replied that I could be the fourth. I assumed it was for Mixed Doubles. Turns out once I arrived at NTC a little before 2:10, I would be in "the Charlie position" going up against three angels (i.e. ladies). I would team with Dee against "Fiery" Sue Fredericks and her friend, Linda Feldman (who I had never met before).
I already knew what a crafty lefty Sue was...well, Linda was pretty much her equal except for being a "righty." She was also just as nice and pleasant to play with...and it all made for a fun match.
The NTC Result:
2 out of 3 Sets Mixed Gender Doubles Match:
Frank Samara/Denise Savino over Sue Fredericks/Linda Feldman, 6-1, 4-6, 6-1! No Aces. It was the official GTA Debut of Linda Feldman. In the process, Samara/Savino entered the Mixed Doubles Division as the New # 44 Ranked Team while Fredericks/Feldman entered the Women's Doubles Division as the New # 22 Ranked Team.
We hit it around for close to ten minutes and got the match underway on Court One (aka The Show Court) at 2:40. I did not note the games on the changeovers. I actually had all the games memorized for the first two sets, but once we went into that 3rd Set...it was like the slate was wiped clean. Here is what I still remember about the match. Sue served first and held and then we took the next six games for the 1st Set and I held serve in my first two service games (remember that). That initial set ended at 3:05. We took about a two minute break before the next set and then Sue and Linda changed up their return of service sides...which seemingly worked wonders for them.
In the 2nd Set, it was game for game with us (Dee and I) either having a one game lead or having it all tied up before Linda held serve in a 5 Deuce game to go up 4-3. They would then go up 5-3 before we won more game to make it closer before going down when I was broken at Love for the set to level the match! I also had two prior breaks of my serve earlier in this set (both were on Break Point and the second time around I was up Game Point before it went to Deuce, Break Point and the break). This set ended at 3:55. We took a slightly longer break after this set (probably three to four minutes before heading into the deciding set).
We jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the 3rd Set until I was broken yet again (I had a Game Point lead only to go to Deuce, Break Point and then getting broken) to cut our team's lead to 3-1. At this moment, Denise says to me, "I think you like getting broken." My reply was, "yes, broken by women...the story of my life!" The ladies enjoyed this, but for our opponents it would be their last source of enjoyment as we won the remainder of the games and it was Sue broken for the loss (Triple Break/Match Point, Double Break/Match Point, it finally ended on Break/Match Point) at 4:25.
Samara's Notes: It really ended up being a fun match to play and I am glad that Denise took a chance on inviting me to play as it was a rare occasion where I had a window of opportunity to take a break from my usually rigorous routine. I think it was the first time I had played in over two weeks! Without looking back thru all the recent Results reports, the last time I played may have been the BBQ/Tennis Party event at NTC.
I would have to say that Denise was the MVP in this one as earlier in the day she had played three sets of Doubles up at Packanack Lake in Wayne (so she had a total of six sets of tennis within a rather short time period). The ladies on the other side of the net wisely singled her out in many of the points, but Dynamic Dee was more than up to the challenge. And I was the main culprit for the letdown in the 2nd Set. In the 1st Set, I caught our opponents off guard with my slice and dice game. Then, they adjusted somewhat and I got a little sloppy. In the 3rd Set, I both caught my second wind and regained my focus. Sue and Linda were a joy to play with and I hope we see more of them in the future.
We now shift west (and go from afternoon to evening) to Cedar Grove for the rest!
The Cedar Grove Results:
Mike Sindler/Doinks Srinivasan over Adam Pienciak/Rose Inciong, 6-4! No Aces.
The Details from Doinks: Thanks to Adam for joining in so we could play a set of Doubles.
Jordan Bachvaroff/Don Moya over Joe Rodrigues/Rose Inciong, 6-1! No Aces.
2 out of 3 Sets Doubles Match:
Joe Rodrigues/Don Moya over Jordan Bachvaroff/Mike Mole, 6-2, 6-3, as both teams entered the Doubles Division as the New # 65 and # 66 Ranked Teams respectively! Don: 1 Ace on Mike in the 2nd Set!
Samara's Notes: I thank Doinks and Joe for sending in these results. Always appreciated!
Sincerely,
Frank Samara
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