11/14 Results.

11/14/16:

         

"Tito/Dawn-Chazz/Fernanda part of 15 at C.G.!":

GTA Monday Tennis at The Cedar Grove Courts turned into an all-day affair as it got started in the early afternoon with The Main Event being the GTA Mixed Doubles Championship Match as the GTA Mixed Doubles Champions: Tito "Touch" Castolo and "Dominant" Dawn Peterson put their Titles on the line against 2016 M-Dub Champs: "The Legendary" Chazz Weldon and "The Argentine Machine" Fernanda Toker. 

 

"The K Man" Kris Srinivasan was able to swing by late in the match and act as an impromptu host and Natalia "Nitro" Sout was a spectator there who say even more of the match than Kris did.

 

There would be some more spur of the moment action that would take place to carry that session into the late afternoon.  Then there was a break.

 

The later evening session was hosted by "Hollywood" Frank Samara and was also attended by Kris as well.  Between the two sessions, we ended up with a total of 15 official competitors.

 

First, we will recap what took place during the daylight hours.  And then we will detail how the evening session unfolded.

 

The Cedar Grove Results:

 

GTA Mixed Doubles Championship Match:

Tito Castolo/Dawn Peterson over Chazz Weldon/Fernanda Toker, 6-2, 6-1, to complete their first successful GTA Mixed Doubles Championship defense of their first reign!  Dawn: 1 Ace on Fernanda in the 1st Set.

 

The match was originally scheduled to start at 1pm.  Kris Srinivasan sent a text message of the result at 2:36.  So we can safely assume the match was played within that time period.  Kris only got to witness the final ten minutes of the match.  His take on it was that Tito and Dawn were just too good and very punishing.

 

Toker's Take: Tito was able to poach a lot.  The shots that made it to Dawn, she hit very well and was solid.  Also, whenever she got her first serve in, it was very strong, fast and good.  Tito was freaking amazing.  I would call him "The Sneaky Magician."  He was sneaking his way to the net and putting away the balls with angles and getting back balls that nobody should be able to get to.  He is amazing and he was giving us a tennis lesson!  We did everything we could, but it was very frustrating how he would just tap the ball and put it anywhere he wanted to.

 

Fernanda Toker/Dawn Peterson over Melvin Hyman/Natalia Sout, 6-2!  No Aces (apparently).  It was the official GTA Return of Melvin Hyman.

 

Fernanda Toker over Melvin Hyman, 6-1!  No Aces (apparently).

 

Samara's Notes: I thank Fernanda for sending in those additional results along with her commentary.  I also thank Kris for making the effort to get over to the courts in the daytime hours to see what was happening with this match.

 

We will now detail the comings and goings of the evening session.

 

When Samara pulled up to the courts at 7pm, "Latino Heat" Jose Gonzales was doing the exact same thing.  Out on Court Four, "J-Bach" Jordan Bachvaroff and "The Rainmaker" Richard Reicht were having a hitting session with one another.  Courts One, Two and Three were all vacant.

 

Jose and Frank soon joined Jordan and Richard in the hitting session, but Samara warned them all that if it ended up evolving into a Doubles One-Setter that his mobility would be greatly limited as he was suffering from severe heel pain in his right foot.

 

The day before (Sunday) a couple of hours after that session had ended, Frank got a Charlie horse cramp in his right foot!  This had never happened to him before.  He has had plenty of them in his calf muscles and some in either his hamstrings or quadriceps…but never in the foot!  The foot curled up like a claw!

 

While this only lasted for a couple of minutes, the pain lingered on much longer.  And the next day, the pain made its way back to the heel area.

 

Samara was happy to see "Holy Moly" Mike Mole arrived at 7:10 as he invited Mike to replace him immediately.  Frank went back out onto the bench alongside Court Four.

 

The four of them started a Doubles One-Setter at 7:20.  Five minutes after that, Kris and Doinks Srinivasan (aka "The Marathon Woman") came across the street.  Frank told them of his predicament and said the only way he would be able to play was if he was able to team with someone young and speedy.

 

Request granted!  At that very moment, "Nate the Great" Nathan Fernandes pulled into the parking lot.  The four of them then headed out onto Court One.  After a decent hitting session, they got a Doubles One-Setter underway at 7:35 as Nate and Frank teamed to take on Kris and Doinks.

 

"Mr. 500" Levy Lorenzo arrived at 7:45 and he went out onto Court Two while he waited for an invite into the official action.

 

Natalia returned to Cedar Grove for some more action at 8pm.  She soon joined Levy on Court Two for a hitting session.

 

The Doubles One-Setter on Court Four finished at 8:05 while the One-Setter on Court One ended just three minutes later.  This led to Lorenzo taking Samara's place in the next one on Court One while both Jordan and Jose shifted over to Court Two to give Natalia a tennis lesson.

 

Once Bachvaroff realized that Reicht was leaving at 8:15, he went back to Court Four to have a very lengthy hitting session with Mole that lasted until 9:45!

 

Sout eventually got involved in some official action at exactly 9:13.  Given how mild the evening temps were, we were somewhat surprised with the relatively modest turnout.  But then we remembered that the Giants were one half of the Monday Night Football equation and that it was a home game.

 

The Super Moon was unfortunately obscured by the clouds that were already in the sky…the leading indicator that rain was on the way.  Thankfully, the entire evening had remained dry.

 

And we ended up having a bit of a bull session at the end of the night as well.  Good times!

 

Let's get back to results.

 

Jose Gonzales/Richard Reicht over Mike Mole/Jordan Bachvaroff, 7-5!  No Aces.  These four faced off on Court Four from 7:20 to 8:05.

 

Nathan Fernandes/Frank Samara over Kris Srinivasan/Doinks Srinivasan, 6-3!  Doinks: 1 Ace on Nate!  It went like this: Doinks held serve (back-to-back winning Backhand Volleys by Kris made it 30-Love and that was where Doinks scored with an impressive sideline Ace against Nate to set up Triple Game Point, it went to Double Game Point and that was where an un-returned serve secured the hold), Nathan held (Nate hit a drop shot winner for 30-Love, then a Double Fault made it 30-15 which was where Nate hit a laser-like passing shot winner to set up Double Game Point and then he repeated that feat with a shot that was just as impressive as the last one to lock down his hold), Kris held (an un-returned serve made it 30-Love, it was then 30-15 where Doinks hit a victorious volley to set up Double Game Point which she then followed with an even more amazing Backhand Volley winner to secure her hubby's hold) and Frank held (Kris blew a volley for 15-Love, it went to 15-All and then straight to Double Game Point with an un-returned serve along the way and the hold came at the D.G.P.) as we were all on serve at 2-2.  Mrs. Srinivasan was the first to be broken (Love-15, 15-All and then off and running to Double Break Point as Frank…despite being gimpy…made a valiant get/winner combo and then Kris blew a volley to allow the break), but Fernandes held again (Frank hit a winning mishit volley, Kris blew a volley and then an un-returned serve set up Triple Game Point, it was then Double Game Point where Frank blew a volley to cut it to Game Point, but then came the hold) to go up 4-2.  Mr. Srinivasan also held again (a winning volley by Doinkis followed by a winner from Kris made it 30-Love, it was then Triple Game Point when back-to-back Double Faults cut that lead down to Game Point, but that was where Kris made an awesome get/winner combo with excellent placement that Frank would not have gotten to even if he was at one hundred percent…and that secured the hold), but Samara held again as well (Doinks hit a winning return for Love-15, but then Nate hit a winning volley which blazed the path to Double Game Point, it was then Game Point where Nate blew a volley to make it Deuce and then it was all Game Points until 3^rd Deuce…and I know I forgot some of the winners along the way, but there was one truly amazing get/winning volley combo by Nate and I think it was to set up one of those Game Points and there was one more Game Point after that 3^rd Deuce and then the hold) to put his team up 5-3!  The Marathon Woman was then broken again (Kris hit a winning volley for 15-Love, it was 15-All where a Double Fault made it 15-30, then it was Double Break/Match Point where Nate blew a volley to make it Break/Match Point only to redeem himself with an excellent drop shot winner for the break and the win) to end this one on Court One at exactly 8:08 (we had gotten it underway at 7:35)!

 

The Skinny: The only difference in this one was that everyone held serve except Doinks who was broken twice.  But that does not tell the whole story as she was an awesome force at the net with many volleys (some of which were winners while others kept the point alive) and she was actually quite strong during her services as well (with the highlight being the surprise Ace against Nate).  She was more on than she was off throughout the entire contest.  Kris was sizzling when he was hot, but then at times he got a little overcooked (overenthusiastic?) which led to some unfortunate errors.  Nate was his usual ever-present self as he was making gets all over the place (often with consideration to the fact that his partner was less than one hundred percent in his ability to move).  Considering his condition, Frank was just happy to not embarrass himself and get off the court with a victory under his belt.

 

Nathan Fernandes/Doinks Srinivasan over Kris Srinivasan/Levy Lorenzo, 7-6 (10-8)!  No Aces.  The basic breakdown: Kris and Levy got out to a 4-0 lead.  From there, it went 4-1, 4-2, 5-2, 5-3 and 5-4.  This was where I decided I should be taking some more complete notes.  Levy was broken (they earned their way to Game/Match Point only to have it go to Deuce, Break Point and then the break) to level it at 5-5!  Nathan then held (30-Love where Kris hit a drop shot winner for 30-15, but then he blew a volley to set up Double Game Point, it was then Game Point where Levy blew a volley to allow the hold) to put his team up 6-5.  And then they had an amazing game with Kris on serve as he hit an un-returned serve to get off to a 30-Love start.  It then shifted to 30-All where he hit a truly un-returnable serve to set up Game Point, but then he blew a volley to make it Deuce and then Nathan hit a big-time Overhead Smash winner to set up Break/Match Point, it went to 2^nd Deuce, 2^nd Break/Match Point where Levy hit a vicious volley winner for 3^rd Deuce, Game Point where Kris blew a volley for 4^th Deuce, but then he hit a winner to set up Game Point which was where Levy hit another winning volley to secure the hold and force the Tiebreak!  They had begun this one on Court One at 8:10.  It was now 8:58 as they headed into the Breaker: Doinks was broken on her lone serve and then Levy held the first of his two serves after Kris made a truly awesome get but then Levy was broken on his second for a 2-1 lead.  Nate was now on serve and an excellent and extended rally led to a 2-2 score, but a winning Overhead Smash from Kris caused Nate to be broken on his second serve for 2-3.  Kris held the first of his two serves for 4-2 at the changeover which was then followed by another lengthy rally for 4-3 on the second of his two serves.  Mrs. Srinivasan hit an un-returned serve to knot the score at 4-4, but then she was broken on her second to make it 4-5.  Lorenzo held the first of his two serves after Kris hit an emphatic Backhand Volley winner to make it 6-4 and set up Match Point!  But on his second serve, Nate answered with an equally awesome volley winner to cut that lead to 6-5…but it was still a Match Point!  Fernandes then held the first of his two serves after hitting a monster Overhead Smash for 6-6 at the second changeover and then we had Kris reply with a similar killer Overhead Smash to hand himself a 7-6 lead and another Match Point as he was about to go back on service.  What may have been the rally of the match (or at least of the Tiebreak) ended with a victorious volley from Nate to break Mr. Srinivasan on the first of his two serves.  The K Man replied with a truly un-returnable serve on his second go-round to go up 8-7 and have yet another Match Point in his team's favor!  The Marathon Woman held the first of her two serves to level things at 8-8 and then she held again after Nate hit a winner as her team now took a 9-8 lead and finally had the first Match Point in their favor in the TB (they had two M.P.'s in their favor against the service of Kris prior to the Breaker)!  Service now returned to Mr. 500 and he was broken on that first serve to drop the TB with a score of 10-8 for the opposition!  This ended at 9:10…exactly one hour after it started!

 

The Skinny: With a total of eight Match Points and a 10-8 Tiebreak score, this is a definite Nominee for One-Set Specialty Doubles Match of The Year at season's end.  In fact, without yet doing the research, it may be a prime contender to take the award!  All four parties put forth maximum effort in a battle that earned the attention of those nearby as Frank, Jose and Natalia were all highly interested spectators for a good portion of this contest…especially as it made it to the latter stages.

 

Doinks was willing to sit out (as she is still dealing with knee issues) to allow Natalia to take her place teaming with Nate in the next battle while Kris and Levy remained a team.  Given the fact that they were getting this next one underway at 9:13, they decided to forego the changeovers.

 

Nathan Fernandes/Natalia Sout leading Kris Srinivasan/Levy Lorenzo 6-5 (Incomplete when the lights went out at 10pm)!  No Aces.  Here's how it was going on Court One before they couldn't get it all done: Kris and Levy got off to a 0-1 start before going up 4-1.  It was then 4-2 when Kris was broken in a multiple Deuce game for 4-3 and he was, in the words of the late, great Yogi Berra: "starting to get that déjà vu feeling all over again!"  Nate was then broken (Game Point, Deuce where Levy hit an excellent passing shot winner for Break Point which was where Nate hit a big-time Overhead Smash winner to make it 2^nd Deuce and then Natalia hit a winner for Game Point, it then went to 3^rd Deuce, Break Point and the break) to fall to 3-5.  Levy was then broken (Love-30 shifted to 30-All after Kris first hit a winning mishit volley and then he hit an awesome Backhand Volley winner and then Natalia made an amazing get to set up Break Point where Kris hit another winning volley to bring it to Deuce, but it was Break Point again where Kris blew a volley to allow the break) to have his team's lead cut to 5-4!  Natalia then held (Kris blew two more volleys on the way to Double Game Point and then Natalia hit a passing shot winner to secure her own hold) to level things at 5-5!  Srinivasan was now back on serve (Levy hit a venomous volley to set up Double Game Point only to see that lead get cut down to Deuce where Kris blew a volley to make it Break Point and then he blew another volley to break himself) and that was his second straight break to lose the lead at 5-6!  Fernandes was on serve and was down 15-30 when the lights went out…serving to kill what could have been "anotha contenda!"

 

The Skinny: Kris was happy to avoid a second straight official loss for the night, but it would have been so much more exciting and fitting to see if this one was destined to be yet another potential Nominee for One-Set Specialty Doubles Match of The Year at season's end.  To have two nominees end up getting played back-to-back on the same evening could have been truly amazing.

 

Nonetheless, it was still a very fun way to close out the session…the end to a lengthy day of GTA action!

 

Best wishes,

Frank Samara 

11/13 Results.

11/13/16:

"Samara hosts 13 (2 New) at AP, Kris hosts 5 (1 Return) at C.G.!:

There were two sessions of GTA Sunday Tennis: the usual morning session at The Albion Park Courts hosted by "Hollywood" Frank Samara, then an afternoon session at The Cedar Grove Courts hosted by "The K Man" Kris Srinivasan.

We will first recount how the Albion session unfolded before we turn this report over to Kris for how the Cedar Grove session developed. 

When Samara pulled up to the courts at 9:45, he saw that all three courts were vacant.  He decided to take the South Court as the North Court was half covered in shadows from the trees.

Within five minutes of Frank's arrival, a man and two women walked onto the courts.  They approached Samara and the man asked what needs to be done in order to be able to play tennis at the Albion courts.

Frank's reply was that they are free public courts and anyone is welcome to play there...but then Samara also mentioned the GTA.  The man said he was definitely interested and he shared his contact info with Samara. 

He introduced himself as Jorge Alvarez and his wife said we could also just call him George.  It was a nice and friendly (albeit brief) conversation and then Jorge left with the two ladies (the second woman may have been his sister-in-law...I'm not sure).

At 10am, "The Lumberjack" Ryan  Pienciak pulled up to the courts and soon joined Samara out on South Court for a hitting session.  Ten minutes later, "The Vin Man" Vinnie De Benedetto also arrived and then took Frank' side in hitting against Ryan.

Despite the beautiful weather (the temps were rapidly reaching the 60 degree range), the turnout was weak in the early stages.   The trio on South Court were starting to wonder if they would ever get a fourth player to enable some official Doubles action.

At 10:30, "The Acclerator" Abhilash Gadi arrived and immediately took Ryan's side in hitting against Frank and  Vin.  And then, at exactly 10:43, they launched into a One-Setter.

Of course, just two minutes later we had the arrival of Natalia "Nitro" Sout at 10:45.  Poor Nat had to be the lone "fifth wheel" for quite a while.  She practiced a little bit on Center Court.  It was also her first time at Albion.

She thought her prayers (to end her loneliness) were answered when Tito "Touch" Castolo pulled up to the courts at 11am.  But when he walked down the hill to actually head onto the courts, he was dressed in his street clothes!  He was only there to make a cameo appearance and inform Samara about his GTA Mixed Doubles Championship Match scheduled for the following day (which Frank already knew about).  He did, however, take some time to talk to Natalia as well.

"Nate the Great" Nathan Fernandes arrived at 11:05.  For a while, he talked with both Tito and Natalia.  But once Castolo was ready to leave, it then turned into a hitting session.

And then, after a lengthy absence, "RK Fire" Rafaelo Kazakov returned to the courts of the GTA as he arrived at 11:10 and joined in on the hitting session with Nate and Nat.  This was also Rafaelo's first outing at Albion and he liked it much better than Robin Hood Park.

The next to arrive was "Big Kaz" Mike Kazlauskas at 11:25.  But instead of joining the other three for a hitting session, the group split into two hitting sessions with Nate and Natalia continuing to hit on Center Court while Rafaelo shifted over to the North Court to hit with Mike.

Once they saw that the first foursome was now heading into a second One-Setter, they then decided to play their own Doubles.  It got underway on the North Court at 11:40 and eventually became a full 2 out of 3 Sets Match.

"Latino Heat" Jose Gonzales was the next to arrive at 11:50.  Like Natalia and Rafaelo before him, he also had never been to Albion before.  He had to wait a while and watch the Doubles action on the South Court.

"Holy Moly" Mike Mole made his way to the courts at 12noon.  He and Jose then had a hitting session on Center Court just as a couple that we have seen before Albion made their way onto the courts.  They waited on the sidelines of the North Court for a while, hoping to get a court. 

"Coach" Dino Celis arrived at 12:10.  The second Doubles One-Setter on South Court then finished at 12:15.  Just as Vin was leaving for the day, the couple decided to leave as well...frustrated with not getting a court.  But their timing was foolish as Center Court would soon open once Gonzales and Mole were able to get into Doubles action on South Court.

Dino was content to sit on the benches alongside South Court with Frank while waiting to eventually play.  When "Spin Doctor" Dan Martinelli arrived at 12:35 to make an extended cameo appearance (once again sore after having played his weekly Sunday football game), he also rode the bench and went into full Heckler mode.

When Celis was finally able to get officially involved in some Doubles action at 12:55, we thought we would just equal our total amount of eleven players from last Sunday. 

But then Alvarez (the inquiring gentleman from earlier in the session) returned with a friend of his and they started hitting on Center Court.  After that One-Setter finished on South Court, Samara invited Jorge and his friend over to get some Doubles with us in order to officially bring them into the league.

The friend's name is Julio Linaberg.  After the One-Setter, he explained he is both rusty and having some movement issues as he had double knee surgery just eight months ago.  So, for now, we will give him the nickname of "New Knees" while Alvarez will have the moniker of "Just George" in order to differentiate him from "Big George" Jorge Solano.

So we ended up with a total of thirteen official competitors, two of them new.  Jorge and Julio continued to hit with one another after the Doubles action.  Likewise, Nate and Nat were having a hitting session on the North Court while Frank, Spin, Dino and Mike watched.

Samara left the group behind at 2:15 (with Jorge and Julio soon to follow) as he assumed all official action was done for the day.  But later in the afternoon, he received a text message from Fernandes which featured the result of a Singles One-Setter he played against Mole.  It turned out to be quite the upset. 

Let's now go to the results.

The Albion Park Results:

Ryan Pienciak/Abhilash Gadi over Frank Samara/Vinnie De Benedetto, 7-6 (7-5)!  Ryan: 1 Ace on Frank; and Vin: 1 Ace on Ryan!  It went like this: Ryan held serve (15-Love, 15-All where Ryan hit a winning volley for 30-15 and then he scored with a shard and speedy Ace up the T against Frank to set up Double Game Point where Abhi then hit a nice winner to secure his partner's hold), Vinnie held (back-to-back un-returned serves made it 30-Love, but that was where Ryan hit a winning Overhead Smash for 30-15 and then an awesome rally led to 30-All which was where a soft second serve Ace caught Ryan by surprise to set up Game Point which ended with a wicked winner of a Windmill Overhead Smash by Frank), Abhi held at Love after starting off with two straight un-returned serves and then hitting a winner to set up Triple Game Point and then Frank also held (an un-returned serve for 30-Love which was where Vin blew an overhead for 30-15 and then Frank hit a whipping winner to set up Double Game Point where he then secured his hold with an un-returned serve) as we were all on serve at 2-2.  Pienciak held again (an un-returned serve for 30-Love, it shifted to 30-All, but then it went to Game Point where Vin blew a volley to allow the hold), but then De Benedetto also held again (Ryan blew what looked to be a certain overhead to make it 30-Love, but it shifted to 30-All after Ryan redeemed himself with a walloping Backhand Volley winner in his Lumberjack chop style, but then it went to Game Point where Ryan made a great get only to have Frank respond with a great get/winner combo to secure his partner's hold) to tie things again, this time at 3-3.  Gadi was the first to be broken (Vin hit a vicious Backhand Volley winner for Love-30, but then Ryan hit a monster Overhead Smash winner for 15-30 where then Vin hit another winning volley to set up Double Break Point and then came the break), but Samara was also broken (Love-30 shifted to Game Point as Vin hit a winning Overhead Smash and then there was an un-returned serve, but Abhi hit an excellent passing shot winner for Deuce, then came Break Point and the break) to knot the score once more at 4-4!  The Lumberjack held yet again (Frank blew a volley and then Vin blew an overhead which made it 30-Love and then Vin redeemed himself with a winning volley for 30-15, but then it went to Double Game Point where Abhi hit another passing shot winner to secure his partner's hold), but The Vin Man also held a third straight time (Vin made a great get to keep his team in the point and then Frank soon ended it with a victorious volley winner and then Ryan blew a volley and there was an un-returned serve on the way to Triple Game Point which would soon be cut down to Game Point as Vin blew a volley along the way, but then they got the hold) to level things yet again, this time at 5-5!  The Accelerator was broken again (Ryan hit a winning volley for 30-Love, but then Frank hit a killer Overhead Smash winner on the way to making it 30-All, then came Break Point and the break), but so was The Wood and this time it was at Love after Abhi hit a ripping passing shot winner for Love-30 and then it was off and running to the Tiebreak!  In the Breaker: Ryan was broken on his lone serve, Vinnie hit a winning Overhead Smash to secure his first service, but was then broken on his second for 2-1.  Abhi hit a Double Fault on his first serve to fall to 1-3 but then held his second to pull to 2-3.  Frank hit an un-returned serve for 4-2 at the changeover and then he held his second as well after Vin hit a winning Overhead Smash as they went up 5-2 in the TB...which seemed like a fairly secure lead...until it wasn't!  Pienciak held his first serve after Frank blew an overhead and then Ryan held his second after he hit a winning Overhead Smash to pull to 4-5.  De Benedetto was broken on his first serve after Abhi hit a blast of a winner and then he was also broken on his second when Abhi hit a winning volley and now that supposedly safe lead was now lost at 5-6 and Match Point!  And then Gadi held his serve to lock down the victory!  It was quite the mini-comeback as they won the last five straight points of the TB and the match!  We played this on the South Court from exactly 10:43 to 11:30. 

After this One-Setter, Ryan needed to go to his car to retrieve his phone (as he realized he had left it there).  As he opened the gate to the park, a man had been roaming the park with his pit bull off the leash!  The pit bull jumped up on Ryan (likely in a friendly manner), but Pienciak was understandably shaken by this and just gave him a "down, boy!" 

The dog did go down and in Ryan's attempt to avoid the dog further, he tried to sidestep him only to end up stepping on him (his paw, I think) instead!  Pienciak then fell down to his knees with one of them (likely the left one) catching the pavement that extends beyond the fence (rather than falling on the softer dirt or grass just beyond it)!

Thankfully, the pit bull never bit Ryan, and Pienciak never made a big deal of it with the owner (who showed concern and seemed somewhat apologetic).  I do believe there are leash laws in Clifton and I think this guy would have been in the wrong had Ryan decided to pursue it further. 

Coming back, Pienciak was not sure how well his knee would hold up through further play.  Furthermore, De Benedetto only had time for one more set anyway.  So, instead of trying to convert that initial One-Setter into a full 2 out of 3 Sets Doubles Match, we instead decided to just play the next one as a stand-alone rematch One-Setter.

Ryan Pienciak/Abhilash Gadi over Frank Samara/Vinnie De Benedetto, 6-2!  No Aces.  Here's how it went down: Frank held serve (Vin hit a vicious volley winner for 30-Love only to have Ryan score with a wicked Backhand Volley winner and then have Abhi hit an awesome return winner for 30-All, but then an un-returned serve set up Game Point where then another un-returned serve secured the hold), Abhi held (an un-returned serve made it 15-Love, a Double Fault made it 15-All, then another un-returned serve set up 30-15 and then it went to 30-All where another Double Fault set up Break Point, but then another un-returned serve made it Deuce, it went to Break Point again where another un-returned serve made it 2nd Deuce and then came Game Point and the hold), but Vinnie was the first to be broken (Ryan hit a killer Overhead Smash winner for Love-15 where Vin hit a venomous volley winner for 15-All, but then Ryan hit a drop shot winner as it was off and running to Double Break Point and then the break) to fall to 1-2.  Ryan held (an amazing get by Abhi was answered by an emphatic volley winner from Vin who was waiting at the net to make it Love-15, it was then Love-30 before shifting to 30-All as Ryan hit a winning lob along the way, but then Ryan blew an overhead to set up Break Point, but then it went to Deuce...and from here forward, I could not remember who hit what winners and when as it was all Game Points to 3rd Deuce, then one more Game Point and the hold) and then Samara was broken at Love after Abhi scored with another one of his down-the-Doubles Alley passing shot winners for Love-30 and then Ryan hit a winning volley on Triple Break Point to earn the break as his team was now up 4-1!  Gadi held again (started with a Double Fault, then an un-returned serve for 15-All, another Double Fault for 15-30, another un-returned serve for 30-All where Ryan then hit a big-time Overhead Smash winner to set up Game Point and he followed that with an equally impressive Overhead Smash winner to secure his partner's hold) as his team went up 5-1!  De Benedetto held (Vin hit a volley winner for 30-Love which was where Ryan replied with a villainous volley winner for 30-15, but then came Double Game Point and the hold) to pull to 2-5, but then Pienciak held again in an epic game where I could not remember who hit what winners and where as it was fast-paced and intense (15-Love, 15-All then straight to Double Game/Match Point, Game/Match Point where Frank made an amazing get that led to Deuce, Break Point, 2nd Deuce, the 3rd Game/Match Point which was then clearly the rally of the match and it led to 3rd Deuce, but then came the 4th Game/Match Point and the win) for an impressive victory!  We also played this one on the South Court and it lasted from 11:35 to 12:15.

2 out of 3 Sets:
Nathan Fernandes/Rafaelo Kazakov over Mike Kazlauskas/Natalia Sout, 6-2, 6-7 (7-5), 6-2!  No Aces.  Once the first two sets were split, they decided to play it as a full match.  The North Court hosted this battle from 11:40 to 1:45, an impressive total of two hours and five minutes!

Ryan Pienciak/Abhilash Gadi over Jose Gonzales/Mike Mole, 6-3!  No Aces.  This was contested on the South Court from 12:16 to 12:49.  Ryan and Abhi went 3-0 on the day, quite impressive!  After this one, both Jose and Abhi left for the day.

Mike Mole/Ryan Pienciak over Dino Celis/Frank Samara, 6-4!  No Aces.  The dirty lowdown: Ryan held at Love as he made a great get that caught Frank somewhat off-guard and forced him to blow a volley and then Frank blew an overhead in the next point as well and then Frank was broken (Mike hit a drop shot winner for Love-30 and then Dino hit a whipping passing shot winner for 15-30, but then came Double Break Point and the break) for a 0-2 start where his team only won one of the first eight points!  Mike's service started off with back-to-back Double Faults for Love-30, then he hit an un-returned serve for 15-30 and then it went to Double Break Point where Dino hit a winning return for the break, but Dino was also broken (Ryan hit a drop shot winner for Love-30, it shifted to 30-All, but then came Break Point and the break) to fall to 1-3.  Pienciak held again (Dino hit a blast of a return winner for Love-30, but then it went straight to Game Point, then Deuce, Game Point again and then the hold) to extend his team's lead to 4-1, but Samara held (Love-30 shifted to 30-All, Break Point, Deuce, Game Point where Ryan blew a volley to allow the hold) to enable his team to pull to 2-4.  Mole held at Love as he hit two un-returned serves and Frank blew a volley along the way to now make it 5-2, but Celis also held and it was at Love as Frank hit a Backhand Volley winner for 30-Love and then an un-returned serve set up Triple Game Point (which was where the hold came) to pull to 3-5!  And then came what seemed to be (at the time) a pivotal game with The Lumberjack on serve.  Frank (who was in rare form temper-wise, more on that a little later) hit a shot that he suddenly realized would have been sailing out, but in the process he ended up hitting what would have to be called a Backhand Volley passing shot winner and as he did it, he exclaimed: "Ah, whatever!"  It was now Love-15 but it went straight to Double Game/Match Point as Frank blew a volley along the way and then it was in this next point where I believe Dino hit the shot to the sideline that may have been wide, but Mike played it as he wasn't sure.  After the point, Ryan (who thought it was out) asked Frank for his opinion.  Samara wasn't sure as his view of where it had landed had been obstructed by the tape running atop the net.  Pienciak let it stand and now it was Game/Match Point where Dino hit a winning volley to make it Deuce.  It then went to Break Point and the break as The Lumberjack's service was broken and his team's lead was chopped down to 5-4!  But then came the truly pivotal game with Hollywood on serve as it went 15-Love then point for point until 30-All where Mike hit a winner to set up Break/Match Point.  It then went to Deuce and then the 2nd Break/Match Point where Frank scored with an abusive Overhead Smash winner that sailed off of the back of Ryan to make it 2nd Deuce, but then it was the 3rd Break/Match Point where Frank then scored with an angry Backhand Volley winner for 3rd Deuce, but then it went to the 4th Break/Match Point which was now the 6th M.P. overall and Mike hit a winner to finally end this one in dramatic fashion!  We played this on the South Court from 12:55 to 1:37.

The Skinny: Spin was in full solo Heckler mode for this one as his buddies, Dino and Frank, are two of his favorite targets for ball-busting.  Not sure if it was last autumn or already two years ago when Martinelli started the odd tradition of collecting what he calls "outburst leaves" for every time Samara would yell out in a self-directed fashion after each unfortunate error.  Suffice to say that in this one, the total went over a dozen leaves collected by match's end!

Dino Celis/Mike Mole over Jorge Alvarez/Julio Linaberg, 6-1!  No Aces.  This was the official GTA Debut of both Jorge Alvarez and Julio Linaberg.  This was also contested on the South Court and it lasted from 1:39 to 1:55...just sixteen minutes!

The Skinny: It likely would have been a good idea to split up Jorge and Julio, but they are friends and wanted to team together.  They hit nice shots (especially Alvarez), but their limited movement (mostly Linaberg, still recovering from double knee surgery) kept them from getting to many of the hard-hitting shots coming off the racquets of both Celis and Mole.  Hopefully, we will see more of both of them in the future.

Mike Mole over Nathan Fernandes, 6-4!  No Aces (apparently).

Nate's Notes: This was a great set of tennis with Mike coming back from being down 2-4! 

Samara's Notes: This could possibly be the unofficial One-Set Upset of The Year (if memory serves, this is a category that I created in my annual H-Wood's Unofficial Awards...which follows the annual Official GTA Achievement Awards every season).  As for official recognition, it may end up being a possible Nominee for One-Set Singles Match of The Year (perhaps on the Intermediate side as Mole is still part of that division).  Aside from all that, I believe this was likely played on the North Court as that is where everyone still was at the time of my departure.  I do not know the start and stop times.

Sounds like it was a very exciting way to end quite a productive session.

We now turn this report over to Kris.  Let The K Man take it away!

It was almost a tennis-free weekend, but I got pulled onto the courts by my wife Doinks around 12:30 with Brenda Jordan and Richard Reicht on the scene (besides Doinks).  Just as I was reaching the courts, Mike Principe was entering the tennis courts as well.  It was good to see him for the first time this season.  Meanwhile, November is still holding good weather-wise for the outdoor folks.

The Cedar Grove Results:

Kris Srinivasan/Brenda Jordan over Richard Reicht/Mike Principe, 6-2!  No Aces.  It was the official GTA Return of Mike Principe.

The sun was so glorious to the point that it was blinding to serve from one side of the court.  After missing our chances, we were down Love-2 before we launched our comeback to take the next 6 straight games. Brenda was the star by taking the ball in the air and thumping them between the two players for clean winners.  Richard was pretty good with his serves and strokes.  Mike was impressive for having not played in such a long time.  While his serves were weak, he was moving with great agility and putting the ball back regularly.  Brenda was precise in her placements and that made a big difference.

Doinks Srinivasan/Brenda Jordan over Richard Reicht/Mike Principe, 6-4!  No Aces.

It was a superb comeback from being down 1-4 for the women to take 5 consecutive games for what looked like an improbable win.  Brenda continued to play well and also had nice attacking shots at the net player when returning serves.  Doinks got into her groove as the match progressed by playing deep shots and setting up nicely for Brenda to put away some easy winners.

Kris Srinivasan/Mike Principe over Doinks Srinivasan/Brenda Jordan, 6-1!  No Aces.

Sorry we had to burst the bubble the women were in…J.

Overall, it turned out to be a somewhat lethargic, lazy man's game for me and the presence of more players would have ignited the atmosphere.  Cheers!

Samara's Notes: Glad to know that at least a handful of players took advantage of the favorable weather up at Cedar Grove as well.  As always, I thank Kris for all he does for the GTA.

Sincerely,
Frank Samara


 

11/10 Results.

11/10/16:         

"Chiaro-Fernandes part of 8 at C.G.!":                                          

GTA Thursday Night Tennis only took place at one location: The Cedar Grove Courts.  The session was surprisingly hosted by "Hollywood" Frank Samara as he had a change of plans and informed "The K Man" Kris Srinivasan late in the afternoon of his change of plans.  Due to some remaining level of uncertainty, he did not announce these plans to the league.

The scheduled Main Event was GTA Champion: "King Crush" Chris Chiaro putting his Title on the line against 2016 Grove Cup Champ: "Nate the Great" Nathan Fernandes.

When both of them got there by 7pm, Kris informed them that Frank would be coming to note their match…but also that he was running a bit late. 

They were nice enough to extend their hitting session long enough for Samara to arrive.  Frank got there at 7:15 and he once again had his daughter Angeliz and son Dante with him.  Once again, much thanks to Kris and The Srinivasan family for hosting them in their warm and cozy home while their dad performed his duties for the league.

Upon their arrival, not only were Kris, Chris and Nate all in attendance…so was "Big Kaz" Mike Kazlauskas who was sitting on the bench alongside Court One watching Chiaro and Fernandes trading shots in their hitting session.

Unfortunately, Courts Three and Four were already occupied by outsiders.  Court Two was vacant as that was the most leaf-ridden of all four courts…though it would not remain that way for long.

At the same time of the arrival of The Samara family, both "Spin Doctor" Dan Martinelli and "The Natural" Natalie Guzman pulled up to the courts separately.

This led to Kris, Mike, Spin and Natalie taking Court Two for some Doubles action.  But first (and thankfully), The K Man came back with a broom to sweep the leaves off of that court.

Ironically, this meant that the Chiaro-Fernandes match would now be taking place on the worst court of the four in terms of how many leaves were on it.

They got the match officially underway at 7:20.  Meanwhile, the Doubles One-Setter on the adjacent court officially started at 7:46 and was able to shift over to Court Four at exactly 8:01 after the two guys who had been on it left at 8pm.

At 8:05, "J-Bach" Jordan Bachvaroff arrived to make an extended cameo appearance as he was in street clothes and sat down on the bench alongside Court One to watch the GTA Championship Match.

At 8:20, "Teej" T.J. Shah and "Ragin" Rajan Shah arrived together.  They took Court Three which was vacant at this time.  Ten minutes later, "The Lumberjack" Ryan Pienciak arrived and joined their hitting session.  But Ryan never got involved in any official action at Cedar Grove as he left at 9pm to go play in The Wayne Bubble (where, once again, no official GTA scores were reported from).

By 9pm, The Shahs would eventually get to play some official Doubles against Kris and Spin.  This meant we ended up with a total of eight official players for the session.  Not too bad when you consider how cold it ended up being, the draw of The Wayne Bubble and the fact that if we had much more…we would have had a logjam situation until 8pm.

All's well that ends well.

The Cedar Grove Results:

GTA Championship Match:

Chris Chiaro over Nathan Fernandes, 7-6 (12-10), 6-1, to complete his third successful GTA Championship defense of his second reign!  No Aces.

1^st Set: Chris held at Love as he started off with a winning Overhead Smash, followed that with another whipping winner, then backed that up with a vicious Backhand Volley winner and then finished the game off with a drop shot that forced the error from Nate, but Nathan responded with a Love hold of his own as an extended rally led to 30-Love and another marathon rally ended the game.  Chiaro was the first to be broken (Love-30, 15-30 where Chris blew a volley to set up Double Break Point and then came the break), but Fernandes held again (Chris hit a sizzling winner for Love-30 and followed that with a drop shot winner to set up Triple Break Point, but then back-to-back un-returned serves brought it to Break Point and then it went to Deuce where Chris blew a volley to set up Game Point and then came the hold) to go up 3-1.  King Crush held (Love-30, 15-30 where Nate blew a volley for 30-All, then it went to Break Point, Deuce where Nate blew another volley to set up Game Point, then it was 2^nd Deuce where an un-returned serve set up Game Point once again, it went to 3^rd Deuce where Chris hit a venomous volley winner for Game Point and then he hit a passing shot winner for the hold), but Nate the Great held yet again (Chris hit a monster Overhead Smash for Love-15, but then he blew an overhead for 15-All which was where Nate made a great get that led to 30-15, but he paid the price for it as he slipped on a leaf down in the valley between Courts One and Two and he subsequently twisted his ankle in the process…he asked for a two-minute timeout which Chris graciously gave him and then came Nate got back on the court to face another victorious volley winner from Chris for 30-All only to have it go to Game Point and the hold) for 4-2.  The Champ held again (Chris blew an overhead for a Love-15 start, but then hit another villainous volley winner for 15-All and it was then 15-30 where Chris hit a drop shot winner for 30-All and then he hit a whopper of an Overhead Smash winner to set up Game Point where another lengthy rally led to Deuce, then it was Game Point where another crushing Overhead Smash winner secured the hold), but The Lord of The Cup held yet again (15-Love where Chris hit a winner for 15-All which was where Nate hit a missile-like passing shot winner for 30-15 and then Chris blew a volley to set up Double Game Point and then Nate hit an even more impressive than the last one laser-like passing shot winner for the hold) for 5-3.  Chris held once more (30-Love, 30-15 where an un-returned serve set up Double Game Point, but then Chris blew an overhead to cut it to Game Point, then it was Deuce where Chris hit a winning Overhead Smash to set up Game Point once again, it went to 2^nd Deuce where Chris hit a net-cord-aided winner to get back to Game Point, it went back to 3^rd Deuce which was where Chris hit a winning volley to set up Game Point yet again and then a marathon rally ended in his favor for the hold) and then Nathan was broken (Chris hit a winning volley for Love-15 and then repeated the same feat for Love-30, it went to Triple Break Point where another extended rally led to Double Break Point, but then came the break) to level the set at 5-5!  Chiaro held (Chris blew a volley for Love-15, 15-All where the best rally of the match up until that moment ended with an equally impressive Overhead Smash winner by Chris for 30-15, it was then 30-All where Chris hit an awesome passing shot winner to set up Game Point and then came the hold) to go up 6-5 which was his first lead since opening the set at 1-0!  But Fernandes also managed a hold (another enduring rally led to Love-15, it was then 15-All where a rally featuring multiple and successive great gets by Nate frustrated Chris into badly blowing what should have been a surefire overhead and that made it 30-15 which was where an un-returned serve set up Double Game Point and then Chris hit a killer Overhead Smash winner to cut it to Game Point, but then came the hold) to force the Tiebreak.  The time was now 8:15 and the set was 55 minutes old (it had begun at 7:20).  Without any hesitation, they went right into the Breaker.

Tiebreak: An absolutely awesome rally to open it and it led to a big-time Overhead Smash winner by Chris to hold his lone serve, but then Nathan held both of his serves to go up 2-1.  Chiaro held both of his serves as each point ended with emphatic volley winners as he reclaimed the lead at 3-2!  Fernandes was broken on his first serve when Chris hit a passing shot winner for 2-4 at the changeover.  He was then broken on his second as well to fall to 2-5.  King Crush was broken on his first to have his lead cut to 5-3, but then he held his second to go up 6-3 and set up Set Point!  Nate the Great held his first serve to pull to 4-6, but it was now the 2^nd Set Point.  Chris then blew an overhead which allowed Nate to hold again and pull to 5-6.  Still, it was the 3^rd Set Point with service returning to The Champ.  He dramatically blew what should have been another sure overhead to make it 6-6 at the second changeover!  Chris then blew a volley on his second service and now found himself down 6-7 as the 4^th Set Point was the first opportunity for The Lord of The Cup who was now going back on serve!  He was broken on the first of his two serves to make it 7-Up, but then he held his second for an 8-7 lead which led to it being the 5^th Set Point and the second in his favor.  Service came back to Chris who ended his first service point with a scorching passing shot winner which inspired his first famous "c'mon!" as it was now 8-8!  He followed that up with a similarly impressive passing shot winner to go up 9-8 and it was now the 6^th Set Point and fourth in his favor.  Service returned to Nathan who held the first of his two serves with a volley winner for 9-9 which led to the third changeover.  He then held again and was now up 10-9 to set up the 7^th Set Point which was the third in his favor.  Chiaro was back on serve now and when he was able to end yet another point with a walloping passing shot winner to make it 10-10, he bellowed a bold "c'mon" once again!  He then held his second service for 11-10 to now set up the 8^th Set Point and fifth for his advantage.  Fernandes was then broken on his first serve when The Champ ended it with a blast of an Overhead Smash winner to finally secure the epic 1^st Set which ended exactly at 8:31…which meant it was one hour and eleven minutes long!  Just two minutes later, they were onto the next one.

2^nd Set: Nathan was broken (an un-returned serve set up Triple Game Point, but that was cut down to Game Point where Chris hit a winner to make it Deuce and then he hit an even more impressive winner to set up Break Point where Chris then earned the break with a drop shot winner), but Chris held serve (Chris hit a killer Overhead Smash winner for 15-Love and then hit a nasty Backhand Volley winner for 30-Love where a marathon rally ended with a whiplash winner from Chris to set up Triple Game Point, it was then Double Game Point where another extended and exciting rally was finished with yet another whopper of a winner by Chris for the hold) to get off to a 2-0 start.  Fernandes was broken again (started up 30-Love, it was then 30-15 where Chris hit a winning Overhead Smash for 30-All, it was then Game Point where a great get by Nate was answered by a winning volley by Chris waiting at the net to make it Deuce and then Chris hit a lethal Overhead Smash winner for Break Point where he then followed up with a similar succinct Overhead Smash winner for the break) to fall to 0-3!  Chiaro was finally broken (Chris hit another wizardly winner to go up 15-Love and then followed that with a winning volley for a 30-Love lead, it was then 30-15 where he blew an overhead to make it 30-All and then it went to Break Point where Chris then crushed another Overhead Smash winner to bring it to Deuce, but then it went to Break Point where perhaps the new best rally of the match ended with an equally amazing lob winner from Nate for the break) to finally allow his opponent onto the scoreboard at 3-1!  But from there, Nate the Great was broken yet again (Chris blew a volley for 15-Love and then blew an overhead for 30-Love which was where Chris hit a wicked Overhead Smash winner for 30-15 and then scored with an out of reach winning drop shot return to make it 30-All which was where Chris then hit a passing shot winner to make it Break Point, but then an un-returned serve brought it to Deuce where another Godzilla-like Overhead Smash from Chris set up Break Point once again and then Chris hit his second net-cord-aided winner of the contest for the break), King Crush held (a crippling Overhead Smash winner set the table with a 15-Love start as it then went to 15-All where Chris hit another winner for 30-15 where he then blew a volley for 30-All, but then it went to Game Point where Chris hit a winning volley for the hold) and then Nathan was broken once more (Chris hit a victorious volley winner for Love-15, it was 15-All where Chris hit another winner to make it 15-30 where Chris then hit a blast of an Overhead Smash winner to set up Double Break/Match Point and then came the break) to drop the set in somewhat surprisingly lopsided fashion as The Chris Express got on a roll and just simply could not be stopped!  The match ended exactly at 9:01 as this set was just 28 minutes long.

The Skinny: The 1^st Set was one for the ages.  Had it been a stand-alone One-Setter, it surely would be this season's One-Set Singles Match of The Year.  Chris came out on fire in the opening game hitting three successive winners and a near fourth to finish his first hold at Love, but when Nathan responded with a Love hold of his own in his usual calm, cool and collected manner…it may have been a sign of thing to come.  Chiaro continued to swing away with abandon, but when so many of those shots continued to sail back in his direction off the racquet of the seemingly always there Fernandes…the frustration began to set in and now The Champ found himself often pushing his shots long or pulling them wide in a failed attempt to keep them out of the challenger's reach.  This is what Nate does to most opponents…get back shots that most others won't get to and it leads to a rash of unforced errors before said opponent even realizes what is happening to him.  Of course, the reigning GTA Champion also brings out the same response from his opponents, but the points usually end in a much more succinct manner…not in the marathon rallies that Fernandes is so fond of and where he is so adept.

Along the way, Chris asked Frank to note just how many unforced errors he was making…but Samara only tracks the blown overheads and volleys.  Still, if you look back at the 1^st Set breakdown, you can see they were many.  That kept the door open and actually allowed Nathan to lead the way for most of that opening set.  Chiaro got his act back together just in time as he was finally able to close that door in an epic Tiebreak that lasted 16 minutes alone (I've seen some shutout sets end in the same amount of time)!  Heading into that 2^nd Set, The Champ was determined not to have a similar one hour plus set not take place.  He committed himself to going for the winners whenever and wherever possible.

Fernandes had to be somewhat fatigued at this point (from constantly making gets to further extend rallies) and also a little mentally deflated to have come that close only to ultimately now be down a set rather than up a set.  This led to King Crush having a much cleaner game in the 2^nd Set and, despite a few more times where he made errors when the challenger pushed him to go just a little longer, he raised his percentage of successful winners just enough to blast past his opponent and race to the finish line!

Despite the lopsided score in the 2^nd Set, Chiaro said afterward that it did not feel that way.  And it certainly did not look that way from the sidelines either.  But the points and games now fell in favor of The Champ's much more often than they did in that marathon 1^st Set…and that was the difference!

Congratulations to Chris on a hard-fought victory, but also major kudos to Nate for a spirited effort.

The Consequences: Chiaro is now free to defend his GTA Championship against anyone in The Top 10 of the Advanced Division, but is also not obligated to do so until the month of April in the 2017 Season.

Also, I do believe that Former Champ: "Instant" Moka Pathan never cashed in on his immediate rematch as he decided to forego it (perhaps due to Ramadan) and let others challenge Chris first.  I'll know better once I review the entire season as I do all the work necessary for the annual year-end GTA Achievement Awards.  If that is the case, he can always exercise that option and take his shot before anyone else does.

Mike Kazlauskas/Dan Martinelli over Kris Srinivasan/Natalie Guzman, 7-5!  Mike: 1 Ace on Natalie.  This one got underway on Court Two at 7:46, shifted over to Court Four at 8:01 and did not end until 8:44 (just two minutes shy of being an hour long).  It sounds like they had a lot of fun during this one.  Even after they moved over to Court Four, we were still able to hear the frequent and jubilant outbursts of one Dr. Spin Doctor throughout this contest…LOL!

Kris Srinivasan/Dan Martinelli over T.J. Shah/Rajan Shah, 6-3!  No Aces.  Court Four also hosted this one which lasted from 8:59 to 9:28.

All in all, it was another fun session that featured an epic match as well.

Best wishes,

Frank Samara  

 

11/9 Results.

11/9/16:         

"Mixed Doubles at The Wayne Bubble!":                                          

Due to the rain, GTA Wednesday Night Tennis only took place at one location, and it was at The Wayne Bubble Courts.  The session was hosted by "The Riz" John Rizzo (who did not play) while "Hollywood" Frank Samara organized one match for the GTA.

Rizzo was nice enough to bring Samara to the event along with "Dynamic Dee" Denise Savino (and take us back as well).  Between the actual members of this new Wednesday Evening Night Owls Group and subs that had arrived, we had twelve players (six men and six women).  This enabled us to have Mixed Doubles action on Courts One, Two and Three for the entire evening. 

Two of the subs that were already there were "The Argentine Machine" Fernanda Toker and "T-Rez" Tommy Reszkowski.  They were sitting there with Night Owls regular, "Bravo" Brenda Jordan.  They then called out Samara for some Mixed Doubles action.

We took Court Two while the other two foursomes took Courts One and Three.  Only one of the twelve players wanted to switch after sets were done…so I guess he got overruled.

It ended up being a good thing as we were able to play an entire Mixed Doubles Challenge Match.  And it went as follows.

The Wayne Bubble Result:

2 out of 3 Sets Mixed Doubles Match:

Frank Samara/Brenda Jordan over Tommy Reszkowski/Fernanda Toker, 6-4, 2-6, 6-4, to become the New # 10 Ranked Team in the Mixed Doubles Division!  Tommy: 2 Aces on Brenda (1 in the 1st Set and 1 in the 2^nd Set); and Frank: 1 Ace on Fernanda in the 1^st Set!

We did not do changeovers every two games (only at the end of each set) in order to save time.  As such, I wrote down all the games (the breakdown, but not the winners) after each set.

We had a fairly lengthy hitting session to get warmed up before actually play.  As such, we got the 1^st Set (and it wasn't until we split sets that we decided to make it a full match) started at 9:15.

1^st Set: Fernanda was broken (Love-15 to 30-15 to Break Point and then the break), Frank held at Love after starting off with a sideline Ace against Fernanda and Tommy was broken (Love-15, 15-All and then to Double Break Point and the break) to get off to a 0-3 start.  Brenda was broken (Triple Break Point cut down to Break Point, but then the break) to allow the opposition onto the scoreboard, but Toker was broken again (Love-15, 15-All and then to Double Break Point and the break) to fall to 1-4.  And then Samara held again (30-Love shifted to 30-All, Game Point, Deuce, Game Point again and then the hold) to take a seemingly commanding lead at 5-1, but Reszkowski also held (Triple Game Point, Double Game Point where he hit a sideline Ace against Brenda for the hold) to pull to 2-5.  Jordan was broken again (Triple Break Point, Double Break Point and a Double Fault for the break) and The Argentine Machine finally held (15-Love to 15-30 to Game Point, Deuce, Break/Set Point, 2^nd Deuce, Game Point and then the hold) to pull to 4-5.  Hollywood held again, but it was a struggle (15-Love to 15-30, 30-All, Break Point, Deuce, Game/Set Point, 2^nd Deuce, Break Point, 3^rd Deuce, the 2^nd Game/Set Point and finally the hold on what was the 3^rd S.P. overall) to take the initial set at 9:45.  There was a five minute break before the next set where the teams then switched sides while keeping their return of service sides intact.

2^nd Set: Tommy held serve (Love-15 then straight to Double Game Point which was then cut down to Deuce, Game Point again and then the hold), Frank held (Love-15 and then straight to Double Game Point and then the hold), Fernanda held at Love, but Brenda was the first to be broken (Love-15, 15-All and then right to Double Break Point which was then reduced to Deuce, Break Point again, 2^nd Deuce, Break Point again and then the break) for 1-3.  Reszkowski held again and this time it was at Love as he was up 30-Love where he hit a soft, slice Ace against Brenda to set up Triple Game Point and then came the hold for 4-1, but Samara also held again (Love-30 went straight to Game Point and then the hold) to pull to 2-4.  Toker also held again (15-Love, 15-All and then it went right to Double Game Point and the hold), but Jordan was broken again (Love-15, 15-All and then straight to Double Break/Set Point, it went to Break/Set Point but then came the break) to drop the set and level the match at 10:10.  There was another five minute break between sets and then the teams switched sides again while again opting to keep everything "status quo" with their return of service sides.

3^rd Set: Fernanda held serve (Love-15 then point for point until 30-All, Game Point and then the hold), Frank held (30-Love, 30-15, Double Game Point and then the hold), Tommy held (30-Love, 30-15, Double Game Point, Game Point and then the hold) and Brenda held (15-Love, 15-All and then it went right to Double Game Point and the hold) as we were all on serve at 2-2.  Toker held again (Love-15, 15-All and then a Double Fault for 15-30, 30-All, Break Point, Deuce, Break Point again, 2^nd Deuce, Game Point and then the hold), but Samara was the first to be broken and it was somewhat shockingly at Love to fall to 2-4!  Reszkowski was also broken (Love-30, 15-30, Double Break Point and then the break), but Jordan held again (15-Love, 15-All and then it went right to Double Game Point and the hold) to knot the score once more at 4-4!  The Argentine Machine was broken (Love-30, 15-30, Double Break Point and then the break), but The Wood managed a tough hold after he got off to another Triple Break Point start and it seemed that a second straight Love break was imminent only for his team to then run the table and take it straight to Deuce, Game/Match Point and then the hold for the win at 10:50!

The Skinny: This was a really fun yet competitive match.  When you add all the games won throughout the three sets, it would have ended up as a 14-14 tie…that's how close this match was!  We were fortunate to win those games at the more advantageous times and take two of those three sets.  The true difference maker was that Brenda was finally able to hold serve and do it twice in the 3^rd Set.  She continues to display her consistent improvement as several of her volleys and fast-paced forehand returns ended up as winners.  Speaking of consistent improvement, Tommy (who still has limited experience) continues to amaze with great get-making and some awesome Overhead Smashes winners as well.  Fernanda was her usual steady self who also made great gets when they were needed.

After the match, Frank and Fernanda had a one-on-one hitting session to finish off the final ten minutes.

Going forward with the Night Owls, I hope to attend most of the Tuesday night and Wednesday night sessions…even after the 2016 GTA Season officially ends on December 15^th.  I will continue to go there whenever I can to try to stay in shape and keep the rust off until the 2017 Season officially begins on March 1^st (if it is a mild winter, there is a chance we may launch the season on Sunday, February 26^th).  I also hope to introduce these new Night Owls players to the GTA as I get to know them better.

Samara signing off!

 

11/8 Results.

11/8/16:         

"Shiao-Celis in Mt.clair, Shah-Nate Final part of 12 at C.G.!":                                          

GTA Tuesday Tennis took place at two locations: a late morning/early afternoon session at The Mountainside Park Courts (aka The Iris Gardens) in Montclair featuring a full 2 out of 3 Sets Challenge Match between Tony "Sure Shot" Shiao and "Coach" Dino Celis and the usual evening session at The Cedar Grove Courts which was hosted by "Hollywood" Frank Samara with assistance from "The K-Man" Kris Srinivasan and "The Lumberjack" Ryan Pienciak (who sent in the scores that were completed after Samara's departure). 

That Cedar Grove session featured the long-awaited Grove Cup Final Match featuring "The Sultan of Swing" Raj Shah going up against "Nate the Great" Nathan Fernandes.  It seemed somewhat fitting that on such a historic night (Election Day) we had the culmination of a tournament that seemed as enduring as the Presidential campaign as it occupied much of the past season.

Let's first go to Dino's recap from Montclair before we detail how everything unfolded up at Cedar Grove.

The Mountainside Park Result:

2 out of 3 Sets Challenge Match:

Dino Celis over Tony Shiao, 6-3, 6-4, to become the New # 6 Ranked Player in the Advanced Division!  Tony: 2 Aces in the 1st Set!

From The Coach's Clipboard: We played from 11am to 12:30.  The 1st Set was close until I was able to break his serve and then hold my serve to secure the set.  In the 2nd Set, I was up 5-2 before Tony almost turned the match around with brilliant controlled tennis to pull to 4-5 and then he was serving to level the set and the match.  However, he wasn't able to hold due to unforced errors and I was able to come out on top to take the set and the match. 

Lots of credit goes to Tony for his hustle in the 2nd Set.  He had some great forehand shots and one incredible offensive lob for a winner.  It was a great hard-hitting match.

Samara's Notes: I thank Dino for his very timely reporting and congratulate him on a very impressive victory.

We now go to Cedar Grove to recap what took place there.

Samara pulled up to the courts at 6:50 and he had his daughter Angeliz and son Dante with him.  Upon their arrival, they saw that Courts One and Two were already lost to outsiders while Court Four featured "J-Bach" Jordan Bachvaroff hitting against both "Dominant" Dawn Peterson and Natalia "Nitro" Sout.

Only Court Three remained vacant, so the Samara clan took it over in order to hold it for the upcoming Grove Cup Final Match.

Kris came across the street at 7:10 and Frank asked him if he could take the two young Samaras back over to his house so that they could use the bathroom as the night was much chillier than expected.

We had a peak temperature near 70 degrees earlier in the day, but it had dipped all the way down to 47 degrees by 8:15pm!  We all know how those cold conditions can affect one's desire to make a visit to the john.

Kris was not only kind enough to do that for us, but he offered to let them stay at his house and watch TV rather than hang outside in the cold.  Doinks played a most gracious host as well as she made them hot chocolate and gave them snacks.  I thank both of them for their generosity and hospitality.

While Daddy Frank remained out on Court Three, he soon saw some familiar faces heading toward him at 7:15.  It was Chris Barbieri and Andrea Lim.  They are a very nice couple that have played tennis with us at Cedar Grove on and off through the last couple of seasons.  Samara soon hit against both of them.

At 7:25, Fernandes arrived as did the GTA Champion: "King Crush" Chris Chiaro.  At this time, a trade was made involving the two courts that were in play for the GTA.

Sout shifted over from Court Four to Court Three while both Bachvaroff and Peterson opted out of any further action (Jordan cited his ongoing knee issues, but he did hang around for a while) while Chiaro also joined her for some Mixed Doubles against Barbieri and Lim.

Meanwhile, Samara shifted over to Court Four for a hitting session with Fernandes to warm him up for the match against Shah.

At 7:30, Celis and Shah arrived at the same time.  While Raj got ready, Frank continued to hit with Nate until 7:35 when Samara stepped off like Costanza to allow Shah to take his place.  At 7:45, they got the match officially underway.

Meanwhile, Kris returned to the courts at 7:40.  Ten minutes later, Pienciak made his arrival.  And another five minutes after that, both "The Rainmaker" Richard Reicht and "Mr. 500" Levy Lorenzo each arrived separately.

It was somewhere around this time that both Courts One and Two were vacated.  So these four gents headed over to Court One to have a fairly lengthy hitting session which became an official Doubles One-Setter at exactly 8:08.

It was also around this time that "The S Bomber" Genalin Capan arrived to make an extended cameo appearance to take a seat on the bench alongside Court Four to watch the Grove Cup Final.  She had Natalia by her side.

At 8:30, Doinks came across the street to join them (also just to watch) and then "The Spin Doctor" Dan Martinelli also arrived to ride the bench and do the same.

After finishing his Doubles One-Setter and then watching (scouting?) some of the Shah-Fernandes match, Chiaro left for further action up at The Wayne Bubble (for which nobody sent in any results, so they will have to remain as unofficial).

And it was also around this time when both "Teej" T.J. Shah and "Ragin" Rajan Shah arrived together in hopes of getting involved in the action.  First, they had to have a fairly lengthy hitting session with one another on Court Two before finally seeing some official Doubles action on Court One (close to 9pm).

We ended up with a total of 12 official competitors for the evening…not too shabby when you consider that some of the GTA Gang were up at The Wayne Bubble while many more likely stayed home to watch the election coverage.

The Cedar Grove Results:

Chris Chiaro/Natalia Sout over Chris Barbieri/Andrea Lim, 6-3!  No Aces.  It was the official GTA Return of both Barbieri and Lim.  They played this on Court Three from 7:40 to 8:02.

Grove Cup Final Match:

Nathan Fernandes over Raj Shah, 6-4, 7-5, to become the New # 2 Ranked Player in the Advanced Division and the 2016 Grove Cup Champ and next Top Contender to the GTA Championship!  No Aces.  They got this match officially underway at 7:45.

1^st Set: Nathan was broken (Love-15 where Raj blew an overhead for 15-All, then it was 15-30 where Raj made a great get that led to Double Break Point, it then went to Break Point where Raj made a winning volley for the break), Raj was broken (a truly un-returnable serve made it 15-Love, it was 15-All where Raj blew a volley to make it 15-30, it then went to Double Break Point where Nate hit a winning Backhand Volley for the break) and then Fernandes was the first to hold serve (30-Love, 30-15, Double Game Point where Nate blew a volley to make it Game Point, but then came the hold) to go up 2-1.  Shah then held as well (Love-15, 15-All where Raj blew a volley to make it 15-30, but that was where a truly un-returnable serve made it 30-All and then an excellent, extended rally ended with an emphatic Backhand Volley winner by Raj to set up Game Point and then came the hold), but Nate the Great held again (15-Love, 15-All where another lengthy rally led to 15-30 and then a winning volley by Raj set up Double Break Point, it then went to Break Point where Nate hit a winner for Deuce and then another marathon rally set up Game Point where Nate blew a volley to bring it back to 2^nd Deuce where an un-returned serve set up Game Point where Nate then hit an awesome passing shot winner to secure his hold) for 3-2.  The Sultan of Swing also held again (Raj hit an excellent passing shot winner of his own for a 15-Love start and he followed that with a winning Overhead Smash for 30-Love, it was then 30-15 where an un-returned serve set up Double Game Point and then came the hold), but Nathan held yet again (15-Love where Raj hit a monster Overhead Smash for 15-All and then it went to Double Break Point where Raj blew a volley to bring it to Break Point and then he did the same thing again to make it Deuce and then an un-returned serve set up Game Point, it went to 2^nd Deuce and Game Point again where Nate hit a winning lob to lock down another hold) for 4-3.  Raj also managed another hold (Nate hit another winning lob to make it Love-15 and then it was Love-30 where another enduring rally led to 15-30 where Raj hit a powerful winner for 30-All only to have another extended rally make it Game Point and then it was Deuce where Nate hit a winning Overhead Smash to set up Break Point, but then came 2^nd Deuce, Game Point and the hold) to knot the score once more at 4-4!  But from there, Fernandes had yet another hold (Raj hit a winning Overhead Smash for Love-15, it went to Love-30 before it shifted to 30-All where Raj blew an overhead to set up Game Point where an un-returned serve secured the hold) while Shah was broken for the second time and this time around it was at Love after he hit a Double Fault on Triple Break/Set Point at exactly 8:33!  Two minutes later, they got the next set underway.

2^nd Set: This time around it was Nathan being broken at Love as Raj hit an awesome Overhead Smash winner to set up Love-30 where another marathon rally set up Triple Break Point which ended with a vicious volley winner by Raj, but then Raj was also broken as he blew back-to-back overheads to get off to a Love-30 start before he got to 15-30 where he blew yet another overhead to set up Double Break Point where he then hit another emphatic volley winner to cut that to Break Point, but then came the break for 1-1.  Fernandes held (Love-30, 15-30 where Raj blew a volley for 30-All and then an un-returned serve set up Game Point, then it went to Deuce where Nate hit a drop shot winner to set up Game Point where he then hit another drop shot winner to secure the hold), but Shah was broken again (Nate hit a truly un-reachable drop shot return winner for Love-15, but then Nate blew a drop shot attempt for 15-All where Raj blew a volley for 15-30 only to then follow that with an amazing drop shot winner for 30-All, but then it went to Break Point and the break) to fall behind at 1-3.  Nate the Great held again (back-to-back un-returned serves for a 30-Love start which was where Raj hit a winner to cut it to 30-15 where another un-returned serve set up Double Game Point which was where Raj blew a drop shot to allow the hold) and then The Sultan of Swing was broken at Love after Nate hit a killer drop shot winner for Love-15 where he then followed with a lesser, but still successful drop shot winner for Love-30 and now he fell fast behind at 1-5!  Nathan was then broken (an un-returned serve for 15-Love which was where he hit an emphatic winner for 30-Love which was where Raj hit a big-time Overhead Smash for 30-15 and that began the shift to Break Point where Raj then hit yet another powerful winner to earn the break) and Raj held (Raj hit yet another winner for 15-Love which was where Nate made a great get that led to 15-All and it went to 15-30 next where Raj hit an amazing winning lob for 30-All and it then went to Game Point where an un-returned serve secured the hold) to pull to 3-5.  Fernandes was broken again (Love-15 where Nate made another amazing get to make it 15-All, it then went 30-15 and then to 30-All and then Break Point where Raj hit a winning Overhead Smash for the break) and then Shah held again (an awesome rally ended with an equally impressive winner by Raj for 15-Love and then it was like a Groundhog Day instant replay in the next rally which ended with a scorching volley winner by Raj to make it 30-Love, it was then 30-15 where another energetic yet extended rally to set up Double Game Point and then came the hold) to stay alive at 5-5!  Finally, Nate the Great held serve (Raj hit a sizzling winner for Love-15 which he followed with another winner for Love-30, it was then 15-30 where Nate hit a very impressive volley winner for 30-All which was where Nate made a great get/passing shot winner combo to set up Game Point which he then followed with an exciting drop shot winner for the hold) and then The Sultan of Swing was finally broken (started with a Double Fault and then Nate hit an awesome winning lob for Love-30 which was where an un-returned serve made it 15-30 and then it went to 30-All and then Break/Match Point where Nate hit a reflex Backhand Volley winner to earn the hold and the win) to take a tough and hard-fought straight-set loss at 9:17!

The Skinny: This was an exciting match and a fitting end to a lengthy, but successful 2016 Grove Cup Tournament.  Even though it was a straight-set affair, it stands a chance at being a Nominee for Singles Match of The Year at season's end.  Both were broken early and then Nate led the way throughout the 1^st Set where he was only broken that one time initially while Raj was broken twice.  Fernandes then jumped out to a commanding lead in the 1^st Set and would then be just a couple of points away from the win on multiple occasions.  It seemed he was getting tight while Shah was getting loose and just swinging away like a puncher on the ropes just looking to score the surprise knockout.  But Nate got his act together just in the nick of time…before heading into a possible Tiebreak and perhaps even a 3^rd Set.  Congratulations to Nathan on an impressive victory and also kudos to Raj for a spirited effort where he made sure that Fernandes did simply run away with this one…there would be a fight to the end instead.

The Consequences: Fernandes will be next to challenge Chiaro for the GTA Championship.  They hope to get this match played in November and the mild weather conditions are helping that cause.  It should be a great match.

T.J. Shah/Rajan Shah over Ryan Pienciak/Richard Reicht, 6-3!  T.J.: 2 Aces on Ryan!  They got this one underway on Court One at exactly 8:59.  Not sure when it ended as I left before it finished and then they were onto this next one.

Ryan Pienciak/Richard Reicht leading T.J. Shah/Rajan Shah, 5-4 (T.J. was on serve and the Ryan/Richard combo had already had one Match Point, but could not seal the deal before this one ended prematurely at 10pm)!  T.J.: 1 Ace on Ryan.

Sincerely,

Frank Samara

 

11/6 Results.

11/6/16:

"Samara hosts 11 at AP, Women's Doubles Titles part of 8 at C.G.!:"

There were two sessions of GTA Sunday Tennis: the usual morning session at The Albion Park Courts hosted by "Hollywood" Frank Samara and then a somewhat unusual morning session at The Cedar Grove Courts (hosted by "The K Man" Kris Srinivasan and "The Marathon Woman" Doinks Srinivasan and featuring the GTA Women's Doubles Championship Match as the reigning GTA Women's Doubles Champions: Laura "The Aura" Gawley/"Spicy" Sally Pillay put their Titles on the line against the 2016 W-Dub Champs: "Killer Kat" Kathy Sheldon/"C.A.T." Christine Toth).

We will first recount how the Albion session unfolded before we turn this report over to Kris for how the Cedar Grove session developed. 

When Samara pulled up to the courts at 9:35, he saw "Mr. 500" Levy Lorenzo hitting with his son-in-law "The Bostonian" Chris Homick out on the North Court (Levy said they just got there around 9:30).  Levy said he also had a friend who would soon be coming as well.

Frank soon took Levy's side as they each hit against Chris until that friend, the fourth player arrived. 

And that friend pulled up to the courts at 9:50.  He is Sam Wong and we will call him "Mr. Seasons" as he is the owner of one of the finest Chinese restaurants in the area...The Seasons in Styretowne Mall in Clifton.

We hit for a little while when Sam suggested shifting over to the South Court as the North Court had the most leaves on it while also presenting a sight-challenging situation of sunlight and shadows.  The South Court was entirely in the sunlight (alleviating the shadow problem while also making the conditions warmer) and was pretty much free of leaves.

We made the shift at 9:55 and got a Doubles One-Setter officially underway exactly seven minutes later.

Just three minutes later at 10:05, a couple and their young daughter took over the North Court.  They only stayed, however, until 10:30.

"MC Quick" Mike Carruci arrived at 10:10 and took Center Court to practice his serve until around five minutes later when GTA Champion: "King Crush" Chris Chiaro arrived and started to hit with him.  That would eventually lead to a Singles One-Setter.

At 10:30, Frank noticed a text message from Kris up at Cedar Grove stating that he and Doinks would appreciate his presence to host that session to add to the already important atmosphere with the GTA Women's Doubles Championship Match about to get underway.  But Samara's reply was that we already had six players in attendance at Albion (with surely more on the way).

"J-Rod" Joe Rodrigues was the next to arrive at 10:45.  This was just as the Chiaro-Carucci One-Setter finished so then Joe got to hit with Mike for a while.  Then, Rodrigues ended up hitting against Chiaro once Carucci decided it was time to leave.

When the second Doubles One-Setter finished on the South Court, Frank and Levy willingly took themselves out of the action to let Chiaro and Rodrigues take their places while Homick and Wong remained on court.  They officially got that third Doubles One-Setter underway on the South Court at exactly 11:12.

At that very same minute, "Nate the Great" Nathan Fernandes ended up walking onto the courts and briefly took a seat on the bench next to Samara and Lorenzo.

But when "The Accelerator" Abhilash Gadi arrived at 11:15, Nate jumped out onto Center Court to hit with him.  And Samara and Lorenzo told them that once they felt ready, they would join the two of them for a Doubles One-Setter on the North Court.  That eventually got underway at 11:30.

"Coach" Dino Celis and "Holy Moly" Mike Mole made their way (separately) to the courts at 11:40.  They each sat on the benches alongside the North Court until Mole was called into action over on the South Court five minutes later while Celis continued to eat his lunch.

When Dino eventually got involved in the official action, he became the eleventh and last official player of the session.  But prior to that at 12:10, we had a brief cameo appearance by another new face.

His name is Janz Gonzalez and he recently met Mike Mole who gave him some introductory info to the league.  He was unable to play on this occasion as he had just received a recent vaccination which, like most injections, ended up in the crook of his elbow...thus affecting his ability to play.  But he hopes to join us soon to make his official GTA Debut. 

Let's now go to the results.

The Albion Park Results:

Levy Lorenzo/Chris Homick over Frank Samara/Sam Wong, 6-2!  No Aces.  It was the official GTA Debut of Sam Wong.  It went like this: Levy held serve (Chris hit a winning volley for 15-Love, but it shifted right to Double Break Point as Sam hit a winning passing shot return followed by another winner, but then an un-returned serve cut it to Break Point, it went to Deuce where another un-returned serve set up Game Point and then came the hold) and Sam was broken (an un-returned serve for 15-Love, a Double Fault for 15-All, then it went 15-30 where Sam hit a winner for 30-All, but then came Break Point and the break) for 0-2.  Chris was broken (Chris made a great get that led to 15-Love, then Frank hit a drop shot winner for 15-All were Levy hit a winning volley for 30-15 only to have Frank hit another drop shot winner for 30-All where a truly un-returnable serve set up Game Point, but then Levy blew a volley to make it Deuce and then Frank hit a winning volley to set up Break Point where Chris blew a volley to break himself) to allow the opposition onto the scoreboard, but then Frank was also broken (Sam hit a winning volley and Chris blew a volley to make it 30-Love, but then it shifted to 30-All after Chris hit a winning volley followed by another winner, it then went to Game Point, Deuce, Break Point where Levy hit the winner for the break) to fall to 1-3.  Lorenzo held again (15-Love where Frank hit a wicked winner for 15-All, but then it went straight to Double Game Point with an un-returned serve along the way and another one to secure the hold) and Wong was broken again (Love-30 shifted to 30-All with back-to-back un-returned serves, but then it went to Break Point where Levy hit the winner for the break) to fall to 1-5.  Homick was also broken again (started with a Double Fault, then it was Love-30 where he hit a truly un-returnable serve to make it 15-30 where another Double Fault set up Double Break Point where Sam hit a net-cord-aided winning return for the break) to have his team's lead cut to 5-2.  But Samara was also broken again (an excellent rally led to Love-15 where back-to-back un-returned serves made it 30-15, then it was 30-All where another un-returned serve set up Game Point which was where Frank blew an overhead to make it Deuce and then Sam hit a winning volley to make it Game Point again, but then Sam blew a volley to bring it to 2nd Deuce and then came Break/Match Point and the break!  We played this one on the South Court from 10:02 to 10:35.

The Skinny: We already knew Chris came with big game as we saw him a couple of months ago in the summer.  With better than average height and great range, he likes to get up to the net to finish off points with winning volleys and Overhead Smashes.  He also has quite the big serve as well.  Sam was the unknown commodity coming into this one.  His style is quite similar to the man we used to call "The Legend Killer", Timothy Wong (no relation).  They both run around their backhand (most of the time) to hit a lethal and low-slung but fast-paced flat forehand.  Homick resides in Boston, so we won't see him again until his next Jersey visit.  But hopefully we will see much more of Mr. Wong in the future.

Chris Chiaro over Mike Carucci, 6-0!  No Aces.  They played this on Center Court from 10:25 to 10:45.

Levy Lorenzo/Chris Homick over Frank Samara/Sam Wong, 6-0!  Chris: 1 Ace on Sam.  Here's how it went down: Chris held (started with a sideline Ace on Sam and then two more un-returned serves set up Triple Game Point, it was then Double Game Point where a Double Fault brought it to Game Point and then Frank hit a winner to make it Deuce, but then Frank blew a volley to bring it back to Game Point where another un-returned serve secured the hold), Sam was broken (Frank hit a winning volley and Sam hit a winner to make it 30-Love, but then it went straight to Break Point and the break), Levy held (15-Love where Chris blew a volley for 15-All, but then Chris redeemed himself with a winning volley followed by another winner to set up Double Game Point and then came the hold) and Frank was broken (Chris hit an awesome volley winner to make it Love-30 where Sam hit a winning volley to make it 15-30, it then went to Double Break Point and Break Point where Sam hit another winning volley to make it Deuce and then it was all Break Points until Frank hit a drop shot winner for 4th Deuce and then Sam hit a winning volley to set up Game Point, but then it went to 5th Deuce where Levy hit a winning volley for Break Point where Sam blew a volley to allow the break) to fall to 0-4!  Homick then held again (Chris hit a passing shot winner to start up 15-Love where an excellent rally ended when Chris made a great get only to have Sam hit the winning volley for 15-All and then it went point for point to Game Point, Deuce where Levy hit a winning roller over the net to set up Game Point and then came the hold) and Wong was broken again (15-Love then point for point until 30-All where Levy hit a winner to set up Break/Match Point where Levy then hit a passing shot winner for the break) to take the loss.  This rematch was also played on the South Court and it lasted from 10:38 to 11:10.  Ignoring the "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" train of thought, Levy and Chris decided to switch their service sides in this one...and it ended up paying dividends as they fed their opponents a late morning bagel!

Joe Rodrigues/Chris Homick over Chris Chiaro/Sam Wong, 7-5!  No Aces.  They also played this one on the South Court.  It lasted from 11:12 to 11:45.

Nathan Fernandes/Levy Lorenzo over Frank Samara/Abhilash Gadi, 6-4!  Abilash: 1 Ace on Nathan.  The dirty lowdown: Levy had a Love hold after an excellent rally led to Triple Game Point where Nathan then hit a drop shot that forced an error, Abhilash held (Love-15 where a slow slicing Ace caught Nathan off guard for 15-All which was on the way to Double Game Point, then came Game Point and the hold), Nathan held at Love after Frank blew a volley for 30-Love and then an un-returned serve set up Triple Game Point where what may have been the best rally of the match led to the hold and then Frank held as well (Frank hit a passing shot winner for 15-30 but then it shifted to 15-30 as Frank blew a volley and Levy hit a winning volley, it then went to 30-All, Break Point where Abhi hit a crushing winner for Deuce and then came Game Point and the hold) as we were all on serve at 2-2!  Lorenzo was broken (15-Love shifted to 15-30 shifted again to Game Point, Deuce, Break Point, 2nd Deuce, Break Point and the break...couldn't remember the winners in this one by the time of the changeover), but so was Gadi (Abhi hit a passing shot winner to go up 15-Love where Nathan then hit a winning Overhead Smash for 15-All, it was then 15-30 where Frank hit a very impressive winner for 30-All, but then came Break Point and the break) to tie things again, this time at 3-3.  Fernandes held again (Love-15 shifted to 30-15 then Frank hit a drop shot winner which began the shift to Break Point, but then it was Deuce where Nate hit a monster Overhead Smash for Game Point which he then followed with an equally impressive winner to the opposite corner for the hold), but Samara was then broken (Love-15 shifted to 30-15 shifted to Break Point and the break) to fall to 3-5.  Mr. 500 was broken again (30-Love, 30-15, Double Game/Match Point, Game/Match Point, Deuce, 3rd Game/Match Point, 2nd Deuce, Break Point and the break...couldn't remember the winners in this one as the focus was on counting the M.P.'s) to have his team's lead cut to 5-4, but The Accelerator was also broken again (Frank blew a volley for Love-15, it then shifted to 30-15 right after Frank hit a winning volley, but then it shifted again and now it was Break/Match Point where Frank hit a killer Overhead Smash for Deuce, but then came the 2nd Break/Match Point and this is where this one ended on what was the 5th M.P. overall) to take a tough loss!  We played this one on the North Court from 11:30 to 12:17.

The Skinny: This was a competitive contest which featured the speedy Gadi going up against the rangy and always ready Fernandes while Samara and Lorenzo did their best to facilitate many of these lengthy rallies.  All four players had times where they shifted from hot to cold and then back again.  It was a lot of fun.

Mike Mole/Joe Rodrigues over Chris Homick/Sam Wong, 6-2!  No Aces.  The South Court hosted this contest from 11:50 to 12:22.

Nathan Fernandes/Dino Celis over Mike Mole/Chris Homick, 6-4!  Chris: 1 Ace on Dino.  It was 1-1 with Chris on hold where it went to Double Game Point and that was where he hit a really nice Ace up the T against Dino for the hold and then Nathan was broken to fall to 1-3!  But then Mike was broken as he hit three Double Faults along the way to have his team's lead cut to 3-2.  Dino was broken to fall to 2-4, but from there it was Homick being broken, Fernandes holding, Mole being broken and Celis getting the hold as his team came back by winning the last four straight games!  They played this one on the North Court from 12:27 to 12:56.

Frank, Joe and Levy were watching from the benches alongside the North Court.  Rodrigues ended up leaving just one minute before the match actually ended.

From there, Lorenzo and Homick also soon left.  Fernandes and Mole then had a lengthy drill and hitting session while Celis and Samara watched.  Those remaining four left the courts at 2:15.

Samara's Notes: I thank Kris and Doinks for their invitation to the Cedar Grove session (which we will detail shortly), but there are still many players who prefer playing in Clifton.  This part of the league cannot be abandoned. 

In fact, there are still some who wish we would have stayed at Robin Hood Park instead.  But the much better condition of the brand new courts at Albion more than justifies the switch.  I gladly welcome anyone else to host sessions at RHP.  The more concurrent sessions we have going on, the better.  The same way we welcome new players - the more, the merrier!

We now turn this report over to The K Man!

The Cedar Grove Results:

GTA Women's Doubles Championship Match:
Laura Gawley/Sally Pillay over Kathy Sheldon/Christine Toth, 6-2, 6-0, to complete the first successful GTA Women's Doubles Championship defense of their second reign!  No Aces (apparently).

The Main Event was the GTA Women's Doubles Championship Match between the teams of Laura and Sally against Kathy and Christine.  Incidentally, there were few other matches that took place on such a gorgeous Sunday with the sun glowing benevolently with mild temperatures through the day.

Laura and Sally showed their dominance, but Kathy and Christine were certainly not cowed by the pressure piled on them.  They dug in hard and played some really nice points.  The problem was that they couldn't string a bunch of points together to win some games.

Kris Srinivasan/Brenda Jordan over Marijus Kuzavas/Doinks Srinivasan, 6-3!  Doinks: 1 Ace on Brenda; and Kris: 1 Ace on Marijus!

Good match for us as we played solid tennis and coupled with unforced errors from Marijus who was warming up, it turned out to be a relatively easy match for us.

Kris Srinivasan/Laura Gawley over Marijus Kuzavas/Brenda Jordan, 6-3!  No Aces.

Another good win for us despite Marijus coming on much harder this time around.

Sally Pillay/Christine Toth over Doinks Srinivasan/Kathy Sheldon, 6-2!  No Aces (apparently).

Sally was like a bull compared to the soft play by Christine.  Still, Doinks and Kathy were giving a good accounting of themselves…well, at least for the first half of the match.

Laura Gawley/Sally Pillay over Doinks Srinivasan/Brenda Jordan, 6-0!  No Aces (apparently).

Brenda was raring to go for one more set and that, too, after already playing already two previous One-Setters.  She insisted on challenging the Champs who didn't take much time to burst her bubble of enthusiasm...J.  Still, Brenda is always a good sport!

Marijus Kuzavas over Kris Srinivasan, 6-4!  Marijus: 3 Aces!

It was a very close match all the way through. One side of the courts was a bit tough with sun and winds playing a role.  I also missed out on an opportunity to lead at 5-4, but it was slightly satisfying on some points which were well-constructed.  Marijus had lesser errors, but did lack his usual fire on some of his shots.  But he did come up with some nice Aces at the right time.

It turned out to be a great day for tennis, and we sure capitalized it.  Cheers!

Samara's Notes: It sounded like a great session…especially with the focus on the ladies.  To hit sixty degrees on the first Sunday of November is somewhat of a gift in and of itself.  I am glad to see we were able to take advantage of it simultaneously in our two prime locations.

All the best,
Frank Samara