3/28 Results.

3/28/18:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

We go to that result now.

The Cedar Grove Result:

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

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

Now for how things unfolded up at The Wayne Bubble.

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

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

Let's go to the scores!

The Wayne Bubble Results:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

And quite a night it was, indeed!

Sincerely,
Frank Samara
gtasamara5@gmail.com
 

 

3/27 Results.

3/27/18:

"9 play at The Bubble!":

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

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

The Wayne Bubble Results:

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

 

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

 

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

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

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

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

Sincerely,

Frank Samara

Gtasamara5@gmail.com

 

 

3/26 Results.

3/26/18:

"Bergenfeld-Lee at WOTC!":

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

We now go to the report from Scott.

The WOTC Results:

3 out of 5 Sets Challenge Match:

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

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

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

Sincerely,

Frank Samara

Gtasamara5@gmail.com

 

 

 

 

3/25 Results.

3/25/18:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Let's get to the action!

The Albion Park Results:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Wayne Bubble Results:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

All the best,
Frank Samara
gtasamara5@gmail.com

3/23 Results.

3/23/18:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Wayne Bubble Results:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Samara signing off!
gtasamara5@gmail.com

3/22 Results.

3/22/18:

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

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

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

The Wayne Bubble Results:

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

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

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

2 out of 3 Sets Doubles Match:

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

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

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

Sincerely,

Frank Samara

Gtasamara5@gmail.com

 

 

 

 

Revised 3/20 Results.

3/20/18:

"12 play at The Bubble!":

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

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

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

The Wayne Bubble Results:

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

 

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

 

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

 

2 out of 3 Sets Doubles Match:

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

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

Sincerely,

Frank Samara

Gtasamara5@gmail.com