So it will be a busy weekend with a Major Tourney in San Antonio and the Tri Level Championships in Houston and some good Senior league matches going on and don't forget the Oscars on Sunday night, will No Country For Old Men beat out Juno...(wait a minute that is a whole other blog)
SA Tourney thoughts:
It does seem the draw is a little thinned out due to Tri Level and underrepresented for Dallas folks.
3.5 singles
Phil Girder may get far with this good seed. Phil I just noticed you are from Aubrey, we should hit up there I didn’t know anyone lived up near the cows with me. Other favs would be Abilene winner Molina and Clyde Parker who would meet in the quarterfinals, I think the winner of that should do well. Lookabaugh as the #1 seed doesn’t seem to have many roadblocks in his draw.
4.0 singles
This draw is stacked, amazing what a better location than Abilene will do. Foad, Jorge, Mark Carter, Brock, Dennis, Newman, Kraemer, Dutchover, Canann, Marcus, Ellis, Voss, Abilene winner Nguyen, Trevino and Zielinski. I don’t see anyone burning through this draw with that much talent and I am leaving out a few wildcards. Don’t know much about 2 seed Murray but I would think he would figure in results as well. I guess I would have to pick Nguyen to go far with this many tough matches although if he runs into a big hitter like Zielinski or if Trevino trips him up in the quarters that could end his run.
4.5 singles
Oh the trash talking draw, Trautman has to be favored every time out for now but I like Kallus, Warren, Sevin, Schmucker to do well and best of luck to Noaman one of my former doubles partner, he has an 8 seed and if he gets into a rhythm he could cause problems for anyone.
While the 4.0 draw is a little stronger than it was in Abilene it is still a far cry from the loaded 4.0 draws of 2007. With that being said, Ansari made it to the semis last year and I expect no less from him in 2008. I don't think you'll see Foad out in the 1st round again in a major zone. Likewise, although I would love to see it continue, Nguyen will find his Abilene success very difficult to follow up (although he will benefit from great seeding throughout the year).
ReplyDeleteI predict the San Antonio crowd will do well in this one with Tom Le and Ismael Dutchover as my 2 guys you don't want to see in your portion of the draw and Ansari and Murray playing in 2 of the 4 spots on Sunday.
It will be interesting to see if the top of last years 3.5 crowd (Dutchover, Robles, Berilgen, Kraemer) can continue the 4.0 success Nguyen and Ellis had in Abilene - I'm pulling for all those guys! Good Luck!
Just my thoughts.
True Jason but I think we might be looking at the new 4.0s. You got everybody moved up so Ansari is a new powerhouse. With moveups like Jason Warren gone and others I think former 3.5 heavyweights of 07will do better this year because they really are on par with 4.0 tourney players so far. Unless some regular league players start coming out I think Nguyen and Dutchover could do well as you mentioned earlier in the year. This draw though not top loaded doesn't have many easy matches. That is great news for tourney players, I wish I had the time to play because these are the type of draws i would love to get in on.
ReplyDeleteCary,
ReplyDeleteAlthough the overall talent level is way down so far in 4.0s compared to last year, I couldn't agree more that it will make tournaments more fun for all. If the participants in the 4.0 major zones stay on par with Abilene and San Antonio then it will be a fun tournament year since so many folks will have a reasonable opportunity to advance and even win, as Nguyen, Ellis and Bassett showed us in Abilene. This could set up for an interesting mad dash for points come Fort Worth and Sectionals this year with potentially 20 or so folks who may be within striking distance of qualifying for Austin.
In 2007 the 4.0 studs participated in tournaments and leagues, I don't think we will see that in 2008 making the 4.0s more in line with the 4.5s where the elite players don't turn up in tournament draws (at least not in NTRP levels). There are plenty of elite 4.0 "rated" players across the state who will show themselves closer to August but I doubt we will see them in tournaments (at least not at the 4.0 level); however, we'll get a chance to see a handful of them in Kingwood this weekend. Actually, there will be more elite players at every level in Kingwood this weekend then there will be in San Antonio. My guess is if you were to canvas the Tri-Level sectional rosters you'll find a very high % of these same folks on summer league rosters at sectionals in August (where the top "rated" players at each level tend to show up).
It will be fun watching how all this plays out.
Good luck to everyone in San Antonio and Kingwood!
What happened to Marcus is Abilene?
ReplyDeleteCongratulations to Enrique Molina for reaching the Finals at San Antonio, One of the Oakridge Boys.
ReplyDeleteBoy that is two finals in a row. He got beat by a Hacker From Hell. Really, Hacker From Hell.
Phill Grider got to the Quarters again in which he also lost to the Hacker From Hell. Great run Phill.
You guys have got to see this Hacker. A professional Hacker who plays mind games, trys to confuse the score to get an advantage. Never ever generates his own pace and lobs, punches, directs, and frustrates the his opponents. Half the battle is staying calm and not feeling embarassed by his playing. The harder you hit the harder the ball comes back the more errors his opponent makes. HORRIBLE. He is playing other tournaments and is playing league.
Ismael Dutchover had a great run into the Semis. He played great and could of and should of beat Murray. Very close match.
Good job OR boys! Sorry to hear about Campos, I have only played a few tourneys but I vividly remember a match against a player like this. I blew him off the court in the 1st set and then he decided to become even more defensive and literally refuse to finish the point he just wanted to try and frustrate me. I was up 6-0, 3-0 and I lost the final 9 games in a row. The only way to beat a player like this is come to the net and finish the point early but don't force it and you might just have to hit two winners. I have ran into score manipulaters as well they suck even worse. If any of you have played me you know I say the score rather loudly and against cheaters like that I would announce the score when they are serving as well. Don't waste too much energy fighting the score but stand your ground and make them explain each point they won.
ReplyDeleteoops, I guess that would be 12 games in a row, I am not so gooder at math :(
ReplyDeleteDoes this mean that Enrique could be considered a ringer for 3.5 team tennis this year?
ReplyDeletePossibly. I have looked at some of the rosters out there so far and 3.5 singles ringers are always hard to find but I think Molina will be at the top of the heap along with Delira and Prather but there might be a few new surprises out there. Klamecki is still tough and Barnhard and Varghese if he comes out to play this season.
ReplyDeleteI have seen Klamecki play and I don't think that he is that strong. He makes a lot of unforced errors. Aren't Delira and Prather on the Oak Ridge team along with Enrique? So much for the 'true 3.5' team.
ReplyDeleteMarc is a tough one to grade. He has the power of a 4.0 but the patience of a 3.0-3.5. Once he learns to hit one or two more balls he will be very scary. Even without that patience I have seen him play some good matches. He pushed Kyle Bowman at City Championships last year and Kyle is a solid 4.0 and could take out anyone left at 3.5 right now. Is Delira going to play with Oakridge? That would be interesting....That would still be a "true" 3.5 team. It wasn't that long ago people told me I didn't belong at 3.5 anymore but tell that to my ego that just got double bageled at the Tri Level sectional last weekend. This years 3.5 ringer is next season's 4.0 cannon fodder.
ReplyDeleteJacques is not playing with Oak Ridge, as far as I know, he and I are just playing some tournaments together and the Tri-level thing.
ReplyDeleteAs far as Enrique goes, he has had a great run lately in the Major Zones and has worked really hard to get there. He belongs right where he is until the computer won't let him go back down, just like any of us.
As far as the Oak Ridge team goes, most every player on the roster has a tournament record/ranking, which shows where we belong. None of us were in the top 20 last year, but I believe several of us will be this year and so if the computer bumps us up, that's where we'll be, if not
then at least we're not self rated players that have been sought out as a gun for hire to play the game of losing here and there on purpose just to stay down. We are "true" to our level as far as we can be, but most of us that are in this level are 4.0 level players. Everyone has to play where they're competitive. As long as all of this sandbagging continues we will all be out of level. 3.5s are really 4.0s, 4.0s are really 4.5s and so on all the way to the top where it all started.
I forgot how to log on for now, so I'm David Prather
That's too bad, that would be some preseason roster drama we could talk about. A little too early to tell quite yet but in the next couple of weeks rosters will be a little more fleshed out and we can see who looks to be tough.
ReplyDeleteGood luck with your sr. team.