The 2013 season Starts now...

 40 and Over, Baby

Last week end started the 2013 season for the Dallas Men's league with the inaugural Men's 40 and over league. I was initially excited about the changes to the leagues that the USTA was promoting. I thought the by dividing the leagues into 3 separate age groups, 18 and Over, 40 and Over, and 55 and Over it might make for more competitive matches.
Keep Captains from trolling the school yards with bags of Candy recruiting the 17 yrs old ex high School phenoms. Allow more older players to keep playing singles. Shake up the stagnant ranks. Prohibit Sandbagging, Keep more realistic levels at sectionals.
But in typical USTA and DTA fashion it looks like it has devolved into a poorly thought out money grab. Instead on running the leagues at the same time, giving players the incentive to play in their age group. The leagues have been grouped concurrently to craft a 12 month revenue stream for the DTA.
A tennis death march, dragging the oldest players through the long winter and spring until they colapse in the summer.
Problem 1) Why start a league in December starting right before Christmas spanning the worst weather periods.
Problem 2) Why allow players with to sign up and play in 2013 with a mid season 2012 rating? Arenas, Juan 4.5 Bearden, Blake 4.5 Burton, Chris 4.5 Clark, Keith 4.5 Gerber, Alan 4.5 Kargel, Mark L. 4.5 Kingsley, Vince 4.5 Lee, Shyh-Chin 4.5 Minter, Michael Blair 4.5 Nguyen, Hai Thanh 4.5 Peterson, Tom 4.5 Voss, Doug 4.5 Any Idea why these guys should be playing in a 4.0 team?
Problem 3) 4.5+ WTF?? is that even fair? 12 - 5.0 players, 15 - 4.0 players, and 91 - 4.5 players. Why do these 12 5.o guys want to bother handing out the beat down?
Let me get off my soap box and look at Week #1

3.5 40 & over I don't know much about 3.5 tennis. But the award for most confusing team goes to:
Prosper/Oh 3.5
A team that plays in McKinney, not Prosper, at a facility called 'Lifetime Tennis' That is NOT in anyway affiliated with Lifetime Fitness.
If I have to pick a team here I guess it would be Fretz, this team features 'Feather Bob' Bender and 'Capt Fantastic' Bill Kiaser.

4.0 40 & over
A lot of parody here in the 4.0 division. With all of the week 1 matches finishing up at 3-2, I expect plenty of rocking and rolling before the season is over.
Team Rockwall Newman looks to be comprised of ex-HP Somabut re-treads
(BTW. After a pretty good 2012, looks like a tough fall for Newman and Voss, just saying)
HP Wiley - Greg has put together a surprisingly strong team at the last minute made up of Garland and Lifetime spare parts.
Greenhill, Canyon Creek, and Springpark should all be in the mix as well.

4.5 40 & over
It looks like the 5.0 players are pretty evenly distributed among the teams, But come sectionals time I can see a team of 5.0 players from another city blowing it out. HP and Greenhill swept in week 1. But the real high water mark may have been Tbar vs Fair Oaks where FO dominated in singles but TBar swept the Dubs for the win.

Next Week
Match of the Week 4.0 HP Wiley vs 4.0 Rockwall Newman

Novak Djokovic is buying the world’s entire supply of donkey cheese

Novak Djokovic is buying the world’s entire supply of donkey cheese

By Jay Busbee | Busted Racquet – 6 hours ago

• Email0

Why is this man smiling? Donkey cheese! (Getty Images)We know that "Novak Djokovic is buying the world's entire supply of donkey cheese" sounds like the kind of headline that would show up around April Fool's, but it's apparently legit. The world No. 1 is spending millions to purchase all of the rare cheese made from, uh, donkey milk.

The cheese, known as pule, is white, crumbly and made from donkey's milk. It runs over $500 per pound, in part because one pound of the cheese requires over three gallons of milk. It's produced in Djokovic's native Serbia, and he plans to use it in his soon-to-open chain of restaurants. (Too much to hope that the restaurants are named "Donkey Cheese"?)

Pule recently received the distinction of the "world's most expensive cheese." Created at one farm in one town in Serbia, the cheese is derived from milk on one of Serbia's most well-known natural reserves. Djokovic purchased the farm's entire year's supply.

"It will save a lot of effort having to deal with various restaurants, with only one customer buying the lot we don't have to worry too much about salesmen," said Slobodan Simic, manager of the farm. "It is a great vote of confidence as well in what we do here." Simic recently told Reuters that the cheese could fetch as much as $2,900 a pound if it were sold on the open market, but it's sold privately at around $576 a pound to promote the farm's conservation efforts.

Congrats to Djokovic for cornering the donkey cheese market. We look forward to Donkey Cheese Sticks and Donkey Cheese Omelets showing up on his menus very soon.

2012 year-end NTRP ratings have been published.

You can look up players at tennislink

http://tennislink.usta.com/Leagues/

 Check it out and chime in if anything looks out of line. 

Fall 4.5 Play-offs

This weekend are the fall play-offs.  For those paying attention there has been the usual Fall BS going on.  I understand why people do it but that doesn't make it right.......

For those of us that are trying to win every time we step on the court and improve our game every week there are play-offs.  The seedings are as follows (it's very complicated due to the unbalanced schedule and flights)

Seedings:

1. Fair Oaks 8&0 - have some strong players (Fleming & Cervantes) but have made it unbeaten through a seemingly weakish flight and didn't have to play Brookhaven - however, finishing unbeaten is impressive;
2. TBar 7&1 These veterans have played consistently well all fall;
3. GlenEagles 7&1 - came through clearly the toughest flight despite losing their 3 studs to 5.0.  This is a team to be reckoned with;
4. Lakes 7&1 - Continue to ride Welwood & Jannesch and have enough other weapons to find their way to 3 wins every week;
5. Brookhaven 7&1 - Not sure what to make of this rebuilt team.  Are they dangerous? of course but who will be available;
6. Greenhill 5&2 - Disappointing showings against TBar and DFW Hilton.  Hopefully they fare better next week - lucky not to be the 8th seed or even in the playoffs at all;
7. JCC 6&2 - I am surprised this team didn't win flight B and are the dark-horse to win the tournament
8. Village 5&2 - Seem to have struggled to get their best players out but I suspect they will do so for the play-offs.  This is a dangerous team.  Tim Frick is a very good player as are Baker, Vacalis & Peiser

No Royal Oaks! No Oak Creek! Were the 2 Dallas Sectionals representatives drained by the August heat?

The format is knock-out!  Not round robin.

Matches are split between Brookhaven & LBHouston on friday at 6pm   Semis at Brookhaven at 11am on Sat and final at 3pm at Canyon Creek. 

Based on the above seedings match-ups are:

Fair Oks vs Village

Lakes vs Brookhaven

GlenEagles vs Greenhill

TBar vs JCC

I think JCC will play the Village in the final

I suspect that Brookhaven & TBar will lose some players to 40s sectionals which happens in Arlington on the same weekend.

Predictions?

The DTA

From the dta.org website:

DTA Annual Meeting

The DTA will hold its annual meeting on Wednesday, September 19th, at Canyon Creek Country Club. The meeting will begin at 7:30 (refreshments will be served) and include an annual report, adult volunteer awards presentation and the election of officers for 2012-13. The slate of nominees will be posted here by September 5th.

What follows has not been approved or authorized by the DTA and are not the views expressed by the DTA or USTA and I currently do not represent either in any capacity.  It is merely my editorial opinion:

Guys, there is far too little representation on the DTA by guys that play in the usta!  We cannot expect the DTA to represent us if we only bitch Anonymously on the blog.

 The DTA runs the usta leagues on behalf of the USTA and it is the USTA rules that must be followed.  The DTA is legally bound by the USTA rules.  The DTA does have some latitude, however, in certain areas eg playoff formats, putting teams in flights etc.  They have an Administrative role.

 With the exception of just a few positions (I think just 2) no one on the DTA is paid.  They act under the direction of the aunpaid appointed directors elected at the AGM and voted on by you.  If you don't attend you cannot vote & therefore have no say in who represents you! (Consider it practice for Nove 5!)

 

Also, the DTA is a not for profit organization.  Nobody is getting rich off your league registration fees.  Most of the league fees go towards playoffs! (court fees, balls & prizes) and also the player participation gifts. Their major fund raisers are the TBar Challenger and the Dallas Cup and the proceeds are almost entirely used to develop Tennis in the Metroplex mostly for kids.  They have been heavily involved in building quick start courts and providing after school tennis activities for kids with working parents thereby keeping them off the streets and out of gangs (away from drugs and crime!)

 Whatever your prejudice of the DTA I challenge you to open your mind and reassess your view of the organization and your involvement.  We need representation on the DTA in order to make a difference and particularly on the men’s side where we have minimal representation.  We cannot expect people who have no idea about men’s 4.5 tennis to flight the teams equally if we all just sit on the fence and criticize.

I know Russ Johnson has been involved as has Brandon Myers.  I plan to try to get involved again in 2013 (if they will have me – I think I pissed them off last year…..).  Let’s get Brandon nominated as the VP of Leagues and get some more representation and support on the board.  This includes all levels not just 4.5!

Texas Tennis Open

The Texas Tennis Open Kicked off last week-end and runs through Friday.
Featured players include world #7 Angelique Kerber and former world #1 Jelena Jankovic.

Special Events

When visiting the Texas Tennis Open, you not only get to watch world-class tennis but you get the chance to participate in a wide variety of events and activities.

Player Autograph Sessions & Contests

Get your favorite player’s autograph in the Sponsor Pavilion. Autograph sessions will be held Friday, August 17th – Wednesday, August 21 along with giveaways and contests with great prizes from many of our sponsors!

Rebounce – Help Green the Game of Tennis

Help Rebounce, tennis and the earth by recycling your used tennis balls. Receive $10.00 off one admission ticket to any session with 6 used tennis balls. (Not valid with any other discount or on previously purchased tickets.)

CELEBRATE OUR HEROES

Monday, August 20th — Come and help us pay tribute to the heroes that serve our community! Admission is free to all members of the Military, past and present, Police and Fire Department with valid ID shown at the Box Office. Additional guests or family members will receive a 50% discount at the box office.

Community Tennis Day – NETT, TCD AND USTA NIGHT

Tuesday, August 21st—NETT, TCD and USTA members will receive 50% off tickets at the gate with their membership card on East Box and GA seating.

DALLAS SPORTS NIGHT

Thursday, August 23rd — Wear your favorite local team jersey, Rangers, Mavericks, Cowboys etc, and help us celebrate the history and tradition of sports in Dallas. Purchase your tickets at the box office Thursday night wearing your sports shirt or jersey and receive $5.00 any level of ticket.

Get out And support Tennis in Dallas!

I'll be there volunteering all week if you want to say Hi, Just look for the Fila bucket hat.

Hitler plays USTA league tennis in Dallas

This made made me LOL a little bit, Enjoy.

I'm not sure who made this, but thanks.

4.5 Sectionals Preview

Here is the link to the 4.0, 4.5 & 5.0 schedule for Sectionals: 

http://assets.usta.com/assets/642/15/Mens_4.0-Up_schedule_2012.pdf

It would be awesome to have many of you out there supporting the Dallas teams as well as that Fort Worth 4.5 team……  All in all 6 teams from our area will be represented at Spring Park, Huffines and Collin County Community College!

4.5 Flight 1:

SETX, Austin, Wild Houston & Valley

Austin are very strong and odds on favorite to make it to the finals on Sunday. 

4.5 Flight 2:

NETX, Dallas, North Houston & Austin Wild.

This is the Austin team that lost in last year’s final to Dallas/ Pickett.  They are strong despite losing a few players to 5.0.  North Houston were expected to have a solid team but now Houston looks like their better representative.  We know Royal Oaks will be tough.

I think Royal Oaks have a great shot to make it through here behind strong singles and then with Jason Moore & Craig Bell tough to beat at doubles.

4.5 Flight 3:

Fort Worth, San Antonio, San Angelo & Corpus Christi

This will probably come down to FW vs San Antonio on Friday at 1130am at Huffines. 

4.5 Flight 4:

Wild Dallas, Houston, Amarillo & Waco

Houston will be tough to beat and the Oak Creek depth is questionable.

Likely semis:

Austin vs Royal Oaks

Houston vs San Antonio or Fort Worth

4.5 Cities this weekend

Let’s see if I do better than last week where JCC finished second instead of the predicted 5^th and the Lakes came in last.  That result shows the difference between having a deep squad (like Royal Oaks who only had 11 available but still had quality lineups) and having limited depth -  Lakes were without 2 key players (Whittaker & Oberg) and as a result were not able to realize the potential that their full lineup threatened.
 
One of the surprise teams of the season was the Village.  Unfortunately I don’t see their Cinderella story continuing and are unlikely to win a match.  However, could they really be better than JCC?

Lifetime will be without their big Swedish stud (Mudsam) who was bumped to 5.0 for the fall.  Eddie and Featherstone have been great all season but against the quality of Royal Oaks, they might struggle.  Yes they already beat Royal Oaks once, but expect revenge as Royal Oaks bring the house!

I see Lifetime finishing 4th behind Oak Creek who have a lot of experience but may struggle in the heat against deep, quality lineups. Coach Rasor and Andy Alarid will need to be playing well for Lifetime to challenge Oak Creek or Somabut.

Oak Creek have a good roster on paper but will struggle to field back-to-back strong lineups in the heat.  John Wright, Ryan Snell, Brad Clark, Rudy Peters, Brad Tidwell & Kole Fink will all have to play a lot, and well, for this team to be competitive 

Second place, and a likely wildcard to Sectionals, will probably go to the High Point/Somabut team.  They have 5 strong lines and will give the other 4 teams fits.  Alfredo & Marcus are very difficult to play against and Tony & Ryan are also a handful.  Their third line is slightly weaker and their singles is solid.  Sam can easily play all 4 matches but Van may need to be subbed in for one of them.

On balance Royal Oaks are just that little bit better and will likely win that match 3-2.  You have to believe they will have more guys available than they did this past weekend.  If Wooley, Waldrep, Moore, Molina, Bell, Lawrence & Vogl are playing this team is very tough to beat…..

Here are my match-by-match picks:

1v4 Lifetime vs Somabut : Somabut 3-2

2v3 Village vs Oak Creek : Oak Creek 3-2

 

2v5 Village vs Royal Oaks : Royal Oaks 4-1

3v4 Somabut vs Oak Creek : Somabut 3-2

 

3v1 Lifetime vs Oak Creek : Oak Creek 3-2

5v4 Royal Oaks vs Somabut : Royal Oaks 3-2

2v4 Village vs Somabut : Somabut 4-1

1v5 Royal Oaks vs Lifetime : Royal Oaks 4-1

5v3 Royal Oaks vs Oak Creek : Royal Oaks 4-1

1v2 Lifetime vs Village : Lifetime 3-2

 
Final Standings:

1.      Royal Oaks 4&0

2.      Somabut 3&1

3.      Oak Creek 2&2

4.      Lifetime 1&3

5.      Village 0&4

Have fun guys! Play hard and call them fair

2012 Early Season Rating

The 2012 Early Season Ratings for USTA League Tennis players are now available.

Please click on the appropriate link to view. You will need Adobe Acrobat Reader to view most of the documents.

WOMEN -- MEN

To file an appeal, please first read the FAQ. There are different processes for each type of appeal.

4.5 QT Preview (July 13-15)

So the field was set almost a month ago.  I can’t wait forever for the DTA to release the schedule so here is a write-up…. (I am no Bookie so not sure these odds even make sense but hopefully you get the picture):

10/1 JCC – I was surprised that this team lost to the Village.  I don’t know if that is because JCC are not as good as we thought or because Village are better?  The bottomline is that these guys have a tough 3 days ahead of them.  They can field 5 solid lines but I don’t see any that are clear favorites in any matchup against the other 4 teams.  Shulman is a strong player and so obviously are Vahdat and Reiman.  Tim Williams can also be tricky.  I don’t expect them to be blown-out by anyone but expect some a few 2-3 losses and some surprise wins.  (I am putting them behind Garland only because in the fall playoffs Garland won the head-to-head but these two teams are close.)

8/1 Garland – this team has made the QT based on the exceptional singles form of Trent O’Bannon & Jermaine Mayfield.  Hiram Gonzalez is a good player who has hopefully returned from his travels and will be in form by the QT weekend.  Andy Xu has proven to be very good also but his work and family commitments have made his practice schedule questionable.  The big question is what Big John does with his doubles lines.  We know Brent O’Bannon and Vassberg have done well together.  Hai Nguyen has Nationals experience and Jimmy Fenn is always dangerous! Like JCC we may suffer a few 2-3 losses but hopefully squeak a few 3-2 wins also…..

6/1 Lakes/ Way – knocked-off TBar 3-2 to secure their Qt berth and made it out of a very tough flight.  Not to be underestimated this team has a weakness at singles although Blake Wittacker has been the stand-out exception.  If he is not available for any matches this team will be in big trouble.  Welwood may be good at singles but hasn’t proven it yet and my guess would be that they would field Oberg & Pollock and then Welwood & Jannesch on 2 of the dubs lines with Wittacker hoping to pickup the 3^rd win?  Feldman is just returning from surgery so his fitness is questionable and while Dunford, Richardson & Fankhauser are solid I don’t think they can stack up against Royal Oaks exceptional depth.

5/1 Favorites: GlenEagles – This is a very dangerous team! Culley & Brown won Cotton Bowl together and have done well at 5.0 this season.  Tim Brownlee went to Nationals with Hi Pt last year and their supporting cast of Tom Juhn, Robert Reeves and Chris Lewis make them a similar proposition to the Lakes team.  Again though I don’t see them matching up with Royal Oaks in quality depth.  However, you only need to win 3 lines in each match.

1/8 FAVORITES: Royal Oaks – have made it by virtue of winning the Fall but lost to both Garland and Lifetime during this past season.  They definitely have the deepest roster.  Last year they had numerous players unavailable for play-offs but essentially finished second to High Point in the final push for sectionals berth.  I believe this is still the team to beat at QT and possibly even at Cities but they have a tough path.  The best 8 players on this team in my opinion are: Lawrence, Flores, Vogl, Moore, Wooley, Waldrep, Bell & Durten.  Clossen is a strong player as is Warner.  Apparently Molina is also good but I don’t know anything about him.  Stidham is solid as are Devereaux and Wegmann - most teams would be excited to have them in their top 8.  Of course there is always the wildcard Webb, who when on, is a 5.0 player!  With this kind of depth, if Rothwell avoids the pressure to play the other guys on the roster, and assuming they are all available – he should field 5 strong lines and often fresh players, for every match!  This is key in the July Dallas heat.

Hit 'em hard; hit 'em in and call them fair!

Week 6 update

New 4.5 Rankings:

1.      Lifetime 6&0 – Take down Royal Oaks last week! Only Brookhaven/ Harlee remaining with their tricky doubles lineups…. With Lifetime’s solid singles look for the 3-2 win and to lock-up a great regular season and Cities berth.

2.      HP/ Somabut 6&0 – Cement themselves as a force with a clutch win over a tough Lakes Lineup definitely the surprise team of the season so far!  Only the last place LB Houston team remain ahead this week

3.      GlenEagles 5&1 – another 5-0 win last week!  Technically an elimination match this week against Greenhill but I expect a 4-1 or 5-0 win for GlenEagles

4.      Lakes / Way 5&1 – Lost to Somabut this past weekend and have an elimination match this week against TBar

5.      Royal Oaks 4&2 – The comfort of that Fall victory and automatic berth into QT makes their regular season somewhat irrelevant but were considered contenders to win this flight and now have 2 losses…… it’s “tough sledding” getting through QT AND Cities! Still a huge threat in the play-offs with great depth of talent & experience

6.      Village 6&0 – Another week and another Village win.  Must beat 3^rd place DFW Hilton this week to clinch spot in Cities.  That shouldn’t be too tough. 

7.      Oak Creek 6&0 – Finally a convincing win (albeit against a team of 4.0s)  Last match vs SpringPark should be a formality 

8.      Garland 4&1 – Thanks to Lifetime beating Royal Oaks now have QT spot locked up assuming they can take 3 wins off each of Hackberry & Lakes/ Peterson – outside shot at Cities if Brookhaven/ Harlee beat Lifetime and Garland win all 10 remaining lines…..

9.      TBar 5&1 – Another close win and now an elimination match this week against Lakes will determine who goes to the QT

10.  JCC 5&1 – Looking to pounce on the Cities spot if Village slip up against DFW

11.  Brookhaven/ Harlee 4&2 – Final match vs Lifetime may impact play-offs if they can pull out the upset.  Technically still in with a remote shot at making the play-offs but need a lot of help

Dropped from rankings (ie irrelevant) Brookhaven/ Bartlett – sorry lads….. will the Brookhaven teams now start talking about combining their best players to create A & B teams next season?

Likely QT teams:

·         Royal Oaks (Fall winner)

·         Garland (Flight A)

·         GlenEagles (Flight B)

·         JCC (Flight C)

·         TBar or Lakes (Flight D)

Cities:

·         QT winner (GlenEagles/ Royal Oaks?)

·         Lifetime (Flight A)

·         Oak Creek (Flight B)

·         Village (Flight C)

·         Somabut (Flight D)

5.0 update:

Not much to report with some scores still to be posted.  The Fair Oaks vs Village (postponed due to Mothers Day) & Fair Oaks vs Greenhill marquee matches will take place in the next few weeks and these will determine the play-off teams with GlenEagles on 2 losses now on the outside loooking in and needing help.  They may sneak into the picture if Fair Oaks are able to beat both Village and Greenhill but that will be tough as Village in particular are heavily motivated to win out in order to make the play-offs.

Hit 'em hard; hit 'em in and call them fair!

Week 5 update - 4.5 rankings

1.      Lakes / Way 5&0 – Still to play TBar & Somabut…..

2.      Lifetime 5&0 – Easy win over the Hack; Still have Brookhaven & Royal Oaks to play

3.      Royal Oaks 4&1 – Lifetime this week which will go a long way to determining if a third team from this flight goes to the playoffs

4.      HP/ Somabut 5&0 – Thumped Brookhaven’s interesting lineup and only have the Lakes ahead – definitely the surprise team of the season so far!

5.      GlenEagles 4&1 – since their week 1 slip-up they are starting to look like play-off contenders again

6.      Village 5&0 – Well we have to take these guys seriously now.  Solid 4-1 win over a good JCC lineup.  They now have the inside lane to Cities and should finish first in their flight – biggest mover of the week  up from #12 last week

7.      Oak Creek 5&0 – Very close win over an average Greenhill team.  Scratching out 3-2 wins pales in comparison to GlenEagles blowing out everyone 5-0  

8.      Garland 3&1 – Essentially eliminated Brookhaven from playoff contention with a 4-1 win although 2 of those were in 3^rd sets.  Now need some convincing wins to get the edge in tie-breakers in case Lifetime lose to Royal Oaks and all 3 end with 1 loss

9.      TBar 4&1 – Another win, albeit a close one.  Still to play Brookhaven & Lakes

10.  JCC 4&1 – surprising loss to the Village and really it wasn’t very close.  Should still be a lock for QT but I guess the other teams are taking these guys more seriously after their great fall and start to this season

11.  Brookhaven/ Bartlett 3&2 – Without some of their key players and a with another interesting lineup these guys are now all but eliminated from play-off contention despite a deep and talented roster and still have a motivated TBar team to play - biggest drop of the week down from #4 last week

12.  Brookhaven/ Harlee 3&2 – Once again lost both singles lines despite signing up Hall who may be one of their better singles players of recent seasons.  A little late unfortunately and they are now unlikely to see play-off action

Week 4 update 4.5 & 5.0

New 4.5 rankings

1.      Lakes / Way 4&0 – nice win over Brookhaven; Blake Wittaker was the hero with a big comeback to clinch it; Still to play TBar & Somabut though

2.      Lifetime 4&0 – Featherstone & Hill continue to dominate at singles; Still have Brookhaven & Royal Oaks to play

3.      Royal Oaks 3&1 – field 8 different guys to last week but still not their best lineup; as expected they roll through singles; Lifetime looms large as the remaining obstacle but getting everyone qualified will be the focus in the other 2 remaining weeks

4.      Brookhaven/ Bartlett 3&1 – Still to play Somabut & TBar their playoff chances just took a huge hit.  duToit not being available for the Lakes was a big blow; expect a 3-2 bounce-back win this week against Somabut – should sweep singles

5.      Oak Creek 4 & 0 – top of the table clash this week vs Greenhill/ Allen; expect a comfortable win for Oak Creek to show just how week this flight is

6.      JCC 4 & 0 – showdown vs Village this week; expect another convincing win for JCC in probably the weakest flight

7.      HP/ Somabut 4 & 0 – continue to cruise but still have big matches against Brookhaven (this week) & Lakes ahead

8.      GlenEagles 3 &1 – expect them to continue crushing the remaining teams on their schedule until QT

9.      Garland 2&1 – convincing win over McKinney; need Andy Xu to find his form if this team is to be a factor in the playoffs (if they make it of course!) – big match this weekend against Brookhaven/ Harlee

10.  TBar 3&1 – Beat Greenhill 3-2 and continue their fight-back after underestimating Somabut in week 1.  Still to play Brookhaven & Lakes

11.  Brookhaven/ Harlee 3&1 – loss to Royal Oaks highlights this teams deficiencies at singles and that 3^rd  line is just not strong enough to sweep dubs every week against the stronger, deeper teams.  Big match this week vs Garland

12.  Village 4&0 – QT pretty much locked up but will have a few weeks to lick their wounds after JCC beat them this week

5.0 update

On the 5.0 front there were no surprises last week but there are 2 clashes of significance this week.  Fair Oaks vs Village & Greenhill vs GlenEagles.  Expect GlenEagles & the Village to bring out their guns as a second loss for either severly threatens their playoff chances.  With these matches being on Mother's Day, however, we may see some postponements as teams jockey to get their best players available.....

Hit 'em hard; hit 'em in and call them fair!

4.5/ 5.0 update Week 3

Some interesting developments so let’s do this in 3 parts:

PART 1: Week 3 key matches at 4.5

Brookhaven/ Bartlett vs Lakes/ Way

I doubt Lakes can win a singles line so they will need to sweep dubs which will be tough.  Likely matchups:

Singles 1: Paul du Toit vs Blake Whitaker – Brookhaven wins straight sets

Singles 2: Billy Roberts vs Matt Fanhauser/ Mike Richardson/ Ed Vercelli – Brookhaven wins straight sets

Dubs 1: Ellis & Myers vs Oberg & Pollock – Lakes in very close 3^rd set breaker

Dubs 2: Roger Anderson & Andy Ludwig vs Welwood & Jannesh – Lakes in close 3^rd set breaker

Dubs 3: Jeff Williams & Todd Feldman vs Fess & Sinclair – Brookhaven wins in straight sets

Brookhaven takes it 3-2

Royal Oaks vs Brookhaven/ Harlee

Likely matchups (this one is more tricky):

Singles 1: Molina vs Dave Wittington – Royal Oaks wins

Singles 2: Shawn Wooley vs Tom Adcock – Royal Oaks wins

Dubs 1: Adam Webb & Nathan Lawrence vs LaSelle & Ramos – Brookhaven wins

Dubs 2: Craig Bell & Jason Moore vs Yermakov & Boissevain – Royal Oaks wins in 3^rd set breaker

Dubs 3: Vogl & Durten vs Chris Ryan & Malcolm Renwick – Royal Oaks wins

Royal Oaks wins 4-1

(A little birdy told me Bailin may be out of town…..)

PART 2: 5.0 update

There are now 4 power teams!  There is a war this season for the sectionals berth.  Some great tennis is out there for those that are interested in the real thing – FOR FREE!  Fair Oaks have some strong players and on Sunday Stitt and Schuldberg put on a doubles clinic!  Culley of GlenEagles shows week in and week out why their 4.5 team will be a factor every week.  That guy is a strong 5.0 forget 4.5…..

Greenhill have the playoff spot locked up thanks to a win in the fall but are hard-pressed to keep pace and the Village team are always tough.  One of these 4 teams won’t be in the playoffs (if I understand the format correctly – top 2 plus fall winner?) at this stage that looks to be either Village or GlenEagles. 

PART 3: new 4.5 rankings

1. Brookhaven/ Bartlett 3 & 0 - dominant so far – Lakes this week is first real test
2. Lakes/ Way 3 & 0 – cruising but likely to see their lack of depth (depth doesn’t mean having a big roster it means fielding 5 strong lines!) come up short vs BHaven this week
3. Lifetime 3 & 0 – Featherstone & Hill are dominant at singles but they need to see the big Swede start winning if they are to be a real factor against Brookhaven’s strong dubs later this season
4. Royal Oaks 2 & 1 – big loss to Garland keeps Garland alive but these guys have a QT spot locked up and didn’t have their best 8 available
5. Oak Creek 3 & 0 - Their toughest match is behind them - cruisin towards Cities
6. JCC 3 & 0 - cruising through a weak flight; 5/12 vs Village will be their only test
7. GlenEagles 2 & 1 – After further reflection I don’t know where they get their 3^rd win from at QT or Cities?  Culley & Fair are almost guaranteed as are Brownlee and Brown but then what?
8. Somabat 3 & 0 – 1 more easy week and then the fun starts: still have Bartlett & Lakes ahead
9. Brookhaven/ Harlee 3 & 0 - haven't played anyone yet but short at singles
10. TBar 2 & 1 – getting back on track but still have Bartlett & Lakes ahead
11. Garland 1 & 1 – bounceback win vs Royal Oaks keeps them alive and ranked but now must get back in race with some dominant wins over weaker teams

Dropped from rankings: Village after losing to Fair Oaks

Honorable mentions: Greenhill/ Allen & Fair Oaks both at 3 & 0 but the real opponents still lie ahead

4.5 update - Week 2 in the books

New rankings:

T1. Brookhaven/ Bartlett 2 & 0 - dominate Greenhill and then take out Oak Creek without some of their top players
T1. Royal Oaks 2 & 0 - cruise through Hack might be tested this week at Garland?
3. Lakes/ Way 2 & 0 - likely to be 3 & 0 after this week
4. Lifetime 2 & 0 - destroy Garland but lack depth; Featherstone playing really well!
5. Oak Creek 2 & 0 - Their toughest match is behind them - cruisin towards Cities
T6. GlenEagles 1 & 1 - still to play their best lineup
T6. JCC 2 & 0 - cruising through a weak flight; 5/12 vs Village will be their only test
8. Somabat 2 & 0 - should be 3 & 0 after this week
9. Brookhaven/ Harlee 2 & 0 - haven't played anyone yet
10. TBar 1 & 1 - bounce back against weaker team
11. Village 2 & 0 start but in very weak flight
12. Garland 0 & 1 - horrible performance at Lifetime last week; must beat Royal Oaks this week to stay in rankings
dropped from rankings: Greenhill 0&2

Handicapping the 4.5 field…..

Well congrats again to Pickett and his High Point crew on representing Dallas just a year after Feldman and his Oak Creek team took Dallas to Nationals. So is there a contender to 3 peat?

I am surprised at how poorly the strength has been distributed between the respective flights and definitely brings into question the seeding system used and how teams are allocated to flights. There are 2 “flights of death” and some very good teams that will not see post season play while some weaker squads will be there. Surely the best teams should fight it out for all the glory?

Flight A – the 1st pool of death
Contenders:
Royal Oaks Rothwell – deep and talented but have not replaced the likes of Baker and Feldman at singles. Definitely in the conversation to win the spring but not sectionals and nowhere near where they were last year
Brookhaven Harlee – Ramos is back to partner LaSelle and Todd Bailin is a super player. I think I saw Wittington advertising for P90X or the insanity workout and will be tough on the singles line but that is their weakness unless there is some other ringer to be added
Lifetime Hill – adding Johan and Coach are big for this team and with Featherstone playing great this team is strong at singles but lacks dubs depth.
Garland Sisk – Great singles depth and we know John is good at picking up solid self-rates. These guys are legit and will be tough

Also in the flight:
Hackberry, McKinney, HP/Bazan & Lakes/Petersen

Flight B –
Contenders:
GlenEagles are the team to beat here! Culley & Brown proved themselves in cotton bowl; Brownlee is starting 8 from Picket’s nationals squad
Oak Creek Herget – small but quality roster!

Also in the flight:
Canyon Creek, TBAR/Miller, Collin County, GHill/ Allen, Garland 2/ Sisk

Flight C – Cake flight!
(ridiculous! Only JCC has seen any postseason action. Corey’s team is not the team of last spring so shouldn’t be seeded at all. I don’t understand how this flight was determined?)

Contenders:
JCC – Reiman continues to do great things with this team but they won’t be taking anyone by surprise this year. Shulman is a fantastic player and good captaining got him a 4.5 computer rating for a player clearly with 5.0 level ability

Also in this flight:
El Dorado, LTime/Arcaria, DFW, Garland/ Breukner, Village, Fair Oaks – yes one of these teams will be at the QT……….

Flight D – death flight #2
Contenders:
Brookhaven – Deep and strong roster with some nice additions! Feldman, Billy Roberts, Brandon Myers healthy again, Matt Cecere, Paul duToit! These guys are contenders to beat Royal Oaks at Cities
Lakes/Way – Wow! These guys are strong. Getting back Oberg from 5.0 to partner Pollock and then Welwood and Jannesch drift down from 5.0 and they add Blake Wittacker for Singles depth this team is dangerous!
TBar – perennial contenders
Greenhill – come so close so often and with Griggs back their singles is strong but I suspect will be on the outside looking in again

Also in this flight:
Somabut, LBH, DCC & Oak Creek Myrick

QT: Lakes/ Way, L/Time/ Arcaria, Oak Creek/ Herget, Lifetime/ Hill

Cities: Royal Oaks, Brookhaven/ Bartlett, JCC, GlenEagles & Lakes/ Way (QT winner)

Winner: GlenEagles as an upset pick!!

Early season rankings:
1. Royal Oaks
2. Brookhaven/ Bartlett
3. Lakes/ Way
4. GlenEagles
5. Lifetime/ Hill
6. Brookhaven/ Harlee
7. Garland Sisk 1
8. TBar
9. JCC
10. Oak CReek
11. Greenhill

Team Arcaria Finishes 2nd at Tri-Level Nationals

Congratulations to Shawn Arcaria’s 3.5/4.0/4.5 Tri-Level men’s team, which reached the National Final this past weekend at Indian Wells. Way to go, Team Fort Worth. What a huge accomplishment. Captain Arcaria’s team members are, as they appear in the photo below, Jean Nguyen, Ryan Delapaz, Noeh Romero,  Shawn Arcaria, Jason Kern, Eric Gordon, Stephen Bennett, Manolo Diaz-Marta, Drew Schultz, and Mother Fucking Bill Kaiser. The Forrest Gump of Men's Tennis. One trip to the Nationals with Father Bob's 3.5 team, One trip to the Nationals with Arcaria's Tri team, and the cover boy of the 2011 USTA Guide book on how to be a USTA Captain. Where will he show up next?
Here are some other interesting pictures I found of Mr Kaiser.
Despite his total lack of coordination and Big Bird-esqe physique he is able to put himself in the middle of the action. Who is this enigma that seems to find his way into tennis History?

Not just on the edge, but at times, the very center.

Some say that he is immortal and can be found through out tennis history! 

If you have and information about this mysterious man please leave it below.

TEXAS Tri-Level Men's 4.5 & under Section Championship

Tri-Level Sectionals Champs Ft Worth
@Houston, TX

Looks like Dallas will have 3 teams representing Dallas at the Tri.

1) Team Sisk (Dallas Winner)

2) Team Yoshida (Dallas WildCard)

3) Team Arcaria (Dallas West - FT Worth Winner)

Out of these three I would put Team Sisk as the favorite to make it to the Finals.

Sisk has been placed in the flight with Arcaria, SETX, and NETX.

Team Yoshida has been placed in a much tougher flight with Houston, San Antonio, and Austin.

With only 6 players it's going to be an uphill battle for team Yoshida.

Also, Word on the Street is that Houston has been accused of placing some questionably rated players on their roster. If anyone cares to elaborate please do so in the comments section.

Prediction:

Finals Dallas vs Houston.

Winner :Let's Go DALLAS!!!!!!

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USTA Dallas League Coordinator Retires!!!!

In an email sent out this morning to league captains Jane Gilpin has officially stepped down citing personal reasons and her husbands health concerns.

What does this mean for Dallas League Tennis?
Who will be her replacement and who makes that decision?

Over the years there have been many posters who have been at odds with the way Jane has run the league and the perceived lack of transparency and accountability.

Perhaps this will bring a new era of openness?
Maybe a Coordinator that will embrace technology and the internet?
(Seriously, you can't email the captains schedules'? Making people to drive to Addison between 10am - 2pm to pick them up, cmon!!)

Change is good???
Let me know what you think.

2012 Tri Level 1/13 - 1/14

In the First Post of 2012 lets take a look at who are the players in this year's Dallas Tri Level Tournament.
The Baby Tri (3.0, 3.5, 4.0) was last weekend.
"Big" John Sisk squeaked out the win past Mark Ferrell by 2 sets.(I'm not sure where you find a 3.0 player, Apparently, I'm not only one, there were only 4 teams competing.)

The Big Boy Tri-level (4.5, 4.0, 3.5) Is this Weekend.

We have Two flights,
Red Flight:

Bob Somabut

Bob is rolling out a 7 man team.
3.5 team:Bruce Nehlsen/Ed Brenner - This is the 3.5 team to beat in this flight.
4.0 team: Arman Kumdereli/Bob Somabut - Two talented 4.0 players that got the bump to 4.5 at the end of the year.
4.5 team(s):Takashi Nishizaki/Keith Robinson/Tony Le - This maybe the weak spot in Bob's line up. None of these three have very much history playing together.

Kazuo Yoshida

Small 6 man team, no room for rest or injuries.
3.5 team - Edward Baca/Roger Reifsnyder
4.0 team: Joe Taylor/Vince Kingsley - This former Sumabut tandem should be tough to beat, both are solid dubs players and have a long history of playing together.
4.5 team: Kazuo Yoshida/Tim E. Vassberg  - Yoshida was on the 4.5 team that went to Nats, Vassburg has win and losses ate every level from 4.0 - 5.0. This team is a mixed bag.

Steve Jacobson

3.5 team: Todd Allan Brown/Ernest E. Gatewood probally the weakest 3.5 team on paper.
4.0 team(s): Jim R. Bostick/David P. Adams/Steve M. Jacobson -  Bostick who is a 3.5 player will be weighing down the 4.0 effort.
4.5 team: Thomas M. Slater/Shaun Nix - This team will not be able to out last either of the 2 4.5 teams in this flight

Prediction:
Jacobson: 0 -2
Somabut beats Yoshida 2-1 to go to the finals.

Blue Flight:

John Sisk

We have a full 15 player USTA roster here, what "Big' john is planning to do here is anybody's guess.
3.5 team(s):Ramon Golen, David Leslie ,Ventura E. Delarosa, Jomon Nadukkudiyil, John D. Hampton
4.0 team(s): Christopher A. Caceres, Jimmy John Wilson, Jerry T. Palacioz, Kevin Kai-Chung Hsu
4.5 team(s): Vu H. Le, Jason Moore, Hai Nguyen, James W. Ribman, Tim L. Brownlee, Phy D. Pham
It's going to be hard to bet against this nonsense.

Marc Rossouw

If somebody is going to challenge "Big John" it's going to have to be the South African. I don't think they are going to be able to touch Sisk's 4.5 line.
3.5 team(s): Andrew Tucker Fifield, Scott Sykes, Kevin John Ryan
4.0 team(s): Leonard D. Hutchison, Blake Bearden, Matt L. Spellman, Trae Bowman
4.5 team(s): Chris Ellis, Marc Rossouw, Jeff A. Laselle, Scott Baker



Fred Schlesinger
The JCC Crew getting back together, but do they have the Hebrew Hammer? probally not.
3.5 team(s): Peter Tanguy, Alan Fishman, Bruce I. Aranoff
4.0 team(s): Fred E. Shlesinger, Gary Adelman, Steve Schachter, Rowan Hilton Buskin
4.5 team(s): Stephen Dru Cambron, Tim Williams, Michael Reiman



Brandon Myers
A solid collection of players but no names that strike fear.
3.5 team(s): Rene Alzuro, Damian Michael Thacker, Michael Shields
4.0 team(s): Richard C. Shaw, Tony Weiss, Brad K. Bartlett
4.5 team(s): Jimmy S. Fenn, Brandon Myers, Gene A. Ludwig

Prediction:
Schesinger 0-3
Myers 1-2
Russouw 2-1
Sisk -3-0

Finals:
"Big" John Sisk
vs
Bob "The Mastermind" Somabut

Line 3.5 - Winner:Sisk
Line 4.0 - Winner: Somabut
Line 4.5 - Winner Sisk
TRI-Level Champ: Big John Sisk