Thanks for the prod Anonymous, I have been a little sleepy lately. So there are two big tourneys this weekend and it looks like there are some good teams and players entered at both of them.
Brookhaven Doubles Indoor Tournament
3.5
Muniz and Bostick will be tough to beat. My 3.0 team(Kelly/Alzuro) from tri level will see them early, that should be a good warm up match. Montgomery and Kirk should be solid as well.
4.0
Really a toss up here. I like Harrigan and Hardaway together. I have partnered with both and they bring good strengths to form a good team. Robinson and Brouer are solid and the Somabut reps are Bob/Kirby and Hai/Jean and Deviney/Carlquist. It would be safe to pick any of those two teams. Madison/Sweeney should be good too. OK before I name the entire draw I will stop. Really looks like a good draw though, sucks there is no consolation because some good teams will get knocked out early.
4.5
A very small draw, I think some of those 4.0 teams should have moved up to play. Noel and Young play the #1 seed first and should have a good match. I am guessing the winner there has a great chance to win two more.
Abilene Major Zone
Singles
3.5
Some pretty good names headed out to W Texas, Scott Blackburn, Molina, Getz (who we will face at the Tri Level), Forrest Gray, Parker and Larry Reitzer. Tough to pick but I would probably go with Reitzer or Parker.
4.0
Good size draw, Jonathan Marcus, Mark Carter, Tim Newman, Paul Trevino, T Nguyen, Delira, Kraemer and Brian Walker. This sounds like an old 3.5 draw but plenty of talent and no clear frontrunner so I think you all will have some good matches. That type of grind out sounds good for Nguyen but I would probably vote for Carter or Walker to come out on Sunday.
4.5
All the big names, Trautmann of SA, Schumucker of Houston, Kern, Kallus, Mark Jenkins, JD Miles. Not that big of a draw so big names will play each other early. GO JD take out all these Houston chumps!!!
I think the 4.5 draw is really loaded in Abilene. I don't think the 4.0 graduates are going to have very nice introductions to 4.5. John Cox plays Schumucker early on, Kern vs. Gloria, and Saldana vs. Miles. All of these are top-tier 4.5s so I'm interested to see if these guys deserved to be moved up.
ReplyDeleteI'm looking forward to a good match at Brookhaven and I have to pick my #1 seeds in 4.0 to go all the way.
Brookhaven should be good all around. Every draw has some intresting matchups at one point or another.
ReplyDeleteIn the 4.0 draw, the bottom half has more of the known teams fighting each other out for the finals. Glad to be in the top half.
4.5 draw, if Noel/Young can get past the #1 seeds they've got a big shot at winning the tournament.
Abilene looks to be set up for the seeds to run through and make for some good semis and finals. I think the new 4.5 guys are in for a rude awakening, with Kern being my dark horse to pull an upset or two. He's got the game to do whatever he wants in singles. Tough guy to pass at net.
Looking forward to seeing Newman/Voss in the 4.0 doubles. Good draw with no one to really hurt them until maybe the semis and finals. Should be a good weekend all around.
4.0 good first round match. Carlquist/Deviney v. Stevens/Giuhat also Griffin/Hicks v. Madison/Sweeney. You are right Steven the top half of this draw is the place to be. Although you all could see Chad and Willis in the semis.
ReplyDeleteWill Kern get out of the 1st round? Gloria has some impressive stats. I like the the name too, Mario Gloria. If I am picking straight off cool name I have to go with Manuel San Miguel. He sounds like an entire country.
ReplyDeleteMario Gloria was ranked #1 in the 4.5s in 2005 and kinda fell out of the tennis scene for the last 2 years. Kern will put a lot of pressure on Gloria (every point) but I'm not sure if that will be enough. I've heard Gloria is very cocky and Kern is one of the nicest guys playing at any level, so maybe Gloria will come in with the big head and look make the misstake of looking past Kern.
ReplyDeleteKern, lay it all out there and win one for the good guys!
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ReplyDeleteAnother point of interest,
ReplyDeleteI just briefly looked over the draws for the Abilene major.
Why the F' have a major in Abilene is all the Players are from Dallas, Houston and Austin,
Guess a change of scenery is nice.
That's funny, I was thinking I would rather be in the bottom half (where I am), as there are some tough unseeded players in the top half - Carlquist/Deviney, Stevens/Giuhat, and my pick to the finals Windham/Ryan. My half has a tough Sweeney/Wildberger, and Hutchison/Pham will give some troubles. I would pick Nguyen/Nguyen to the finals there. It will be a fun weekend no matter what happens. Abilene Major zonal looks much easier at 4.0 than Brookhaven, but prior commenter was right, why isn't Dallas the major, and Abilene a 100 pointer?
ReplyDeleteRe: Abilene
ReplyDeleteDoes anybody know what type of player Mark Carter is? What is it about his game that would make someone seeded 8 a favorite? Especially since he lost to Forest 3&1 last Fall in Southlake?
Don't know his game but he has had steady results over the past couple of years. Not saying he is amazing but took out Trevino twice and dropped a bagel set on him once. Did lose to Paul Burton in league play but Paul has gotten a lot better since I hit with him a year and half ago.
ReplyDeleteYep I went to school out in West Texas and I wouldn't want to go back for a visit. It is not like there is a fan base and tourney players need to be shown off to produce more ticket sales in the smaller cities. I say stick with big zones in big cities. If the USTA is looking to grab players from smaller cities I think there is better ways to do this.
ReplyDeleteKirby,
Windham/Ryan: R U serious? I will say with Kevin's power and Jeromie's athletic skills they pose a little bit of a problem but I am not sure they are that great of doubles players. (no offense guys)
He won Berry Creek a couple of weeks ago.
ReplyDeleteRE: Abilene
ReplyDeletePiss poor set up on the draws too. Why the hell would you make people play one singles match Friday AM and not have to play again until Saturday AM. Some draws could have been saturday/sunday only. But I guess they are trying to stimulate the Abilene economy.
Also, singles matches scheduled for 8:00 Saturday followed by 10:30. Let me make you play twice in 2 1/2 hours so you can do nothing the rest of the day......genius
Foad Ansari #1 seed in 4.0 tourney has to be large fav since he finished near the top of 4.0 last year
ReplyDeleteThe whole Abilene thing is a fiasco! If you believe some of the talk there will be some people dropping out of the 4.5 draw because of the Friday start. As far as Gloria goes I'm just trying not to get embarassed. I guess if you were number 1 in 4.5 it may not be that you're cocky, you may just be that good. Guess I'll find out. Anyway you look at it hopefully it'll make me a little better. I would like to see a Jenkins - Miles matchup. I had a tough time with Mark last year and played JD in mixed once. Abilene should at least tell us how much of a difference there is between the top 20 in 4.0 from last year and top 20 from the existing 4.5. I'm rooting for the 4.0 bumps but it may take a year to get up to speed. I'm not sure I'm that good of a guy but thanks anyways.
ReplyDeleteThat is unfortunate about the scheduling problems. That is one reason I don't even do local tourneys. I would rather cram all the matches close together in a smaller amount of time. Best of luck to you new 4.5s I will be checking to see how it all goes down this weekend.
ReplyDeleteWell the TD was pretty clear that he intended to start all matches Friday morning. Pretty stupid, but it shouldn't come as a surprise to people. I tried to talk some sense into him for 4.5 but he kept talking about having to fit in dubs/mixed.
ReplyDeleteVik
I believe initially the tournament page said round of 16 matches wouldnt be before 3pm on Friday. I just see no reason not to play 2 on Sunday. I should be home Sunday so I guess I shouldn't complain.
ReplyDeleteCary, to the Mens 4.0 draw at Brkhvn: I know that Windham and Ryan are giving a lot more focus to their doubles game, and they are hitting the ball like hard 4.5 players - can they keep enough balls in play - that remains to be seen. I only picked them to alert my teammates to not take them lightly, and thinking I'd pick a darkhorse w/my "inside info".
ReplyDeleteI beat Mark Carter at Brkhvn last year in a close one, but I had to medical timeouts, and he complained to the Ump that they were too long. I prob threw him out of his rhythm. As I remember, he was 50'ish, but very steady, and in good shape. Don't remember any shot sticking out as awesome, def. beatable.
Kirb
I hear you Kirby and thanks for mentioning Leonard and Doug I forgot to mention my teammates. They will be tough if they play their best and get an early lead. It is definitely not a good idea to overlook anyone in that 4.0D draw including Ryan/Windham.
ReplyDeleteAnd Jonathan I know you always ask if there is anyone who hits harder forehands than you and I forgot about Kevin Windham. This guy crushes the ball harder than any 4.0 I have ever seen and looking at his recent results he is working on control as well. If he puts his game all together he could be very scary and will be a force to compete at top levels with his movement and power.
Nobody hits a forehand harder than Chad Carlquist in 4.0.
ReplyDeleteLuckily I have never played Carlquist and I will try and avoid him now. Thanks for the heads up.
ReplyDeleteWhere are the odds makers for the Brookhaven tournament? I would like to see odds on the top 8 4.0 teams.
ReplyDeleteThanks.
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to playing my first 4.0 Major Zone.
By the way, in the 3.5 Draw, a favorite I would list is Forest Gray. He's a 4.0 player who is young (22 or 23) and a very big hitter and took me out last summer at Waco's MZ tourney in 3 sets. Big serve, strong ground
Sure I will list some odds although after my 25 to 1 odds on Madison's Tri Level team I hate to jinx anyone by making them the favorite. I did see Stevens/Giuhat pulled out so Carlquist/Deviney I guarantee will at least make it to the 2nd round. How is that for a prediction?
ReplyDeleteI will try and redeem myself after some poor tri level picks
ReplyDelete4.0 Doubles:
Brouer/Robinson 4 to 1
Martin/Somabut 5 to 1
Nguyen/Nguyen 5 to 1
Carlquist/Deviney 7 to 1
Madison/Sweeney 8 to 1
Harrigan/Hardaway 10 to 1
Jeffries/Lazzara 10 to 1
Burton/Crow 10 to 1
Hutchison/Pham 12 to 1
Ryan/Windham 15 to 1
Griffin/Hicks 15 to 1
Archer/Buford 18 to 1
Good luck Jason against Mario. I played a really tight match with him and he can be beaten. His net game is flawed so if you can bring him to the net you have a better chance. I hit a lot of short balls and he missed a lot of volleys. He is a cocky player but you will see a lot of that at 4.5. It doesn't mean he's unfriendly, he just expects to win.
ReplyDeleteAlso, in tournaments in general, I would much rathe play a match at 9 a.m. and then later at 5 p.m., instead of back to back. The reason this isn't feasible is because so many people play multiple events. I think it would be interesting to have tournaments that only have singles or only doubles, but tournaments will never do this because it lowers their profits. Trying to shuffle schedules around for the players playing multiple events is the biggest reason for the scheduling conflicts that all of these tournaments have, especially in majors, when some people play 3 events in one day.
Freeman just posted Kern's 3 set win over Saldana. I have a feeling the Abilene scores will be slow to come out but hopefully they will update overnight. Sounds like they had a good match.
ReplyDeleteI like your thoughts on the 4.5s, I see this in strong 4.0s as well, they seemed shock when lesser players come after them.
Speaking of lesser players v. 4.5s Jeromi's schedules is a little rough right now but we will get the next challenge match done sometime soon.
I was surprised by the result but I have never seen Jason play so I wasn't really sure what was going to happen. I was surprised by Foad's loss.
ReplyDeleteJim and I had a tough match last night but it was a lot of fun as our matches always are.
John and I definitely want to play you guys on a weekend sometime when we can collaborate our schedules.
Wow interesting results all around Ratana taking out JD Miles, really? Great win Ken. Also Windham and Ryan taking out the #1 seed at the Brookhaven tourney. Tuyen Nguyen rolling along in Abilene. Kern had a good run. Looks to be a good inter team battle at BH this afternoon between the Nguyens and Kirby and Bob.
ReplyDeleteCongrats to Enrique Molina -one of the Oak Ridge Boys for winning in Abilene over Parker in straight sets
ReplyDeleteI am trying to find a way to delete my odds from my previous comment, Windham and Ryan 15 to 1, I give up. Great win guys!
ReplyDeleteKirby must have the inside scoop on your improvement or he and Davydenko had a large bet on this match and there is some shady things going on.
Congrats Enrique... but maybe that shows you shouldn't have appealed your rating in December.
ReplyDeleteHe should do well in the Spring, surprised the lopsided score against Blackburn. I believe one of the Oakridge guys called him a ringer. He also appealed back down to 3.5. Do you think Enrique could beat Jacques?
ReplyDeleteHe should be the singles player to beat this Spring at 3.5 and if Reitzer plays 3.5 league he should do well. He could maybe get Canyon Creek to the playoffs at 3.5 for the first time in a while.
I'm back now. I've been spending all my winnings in picking Ryan and Windham at Brkhvn. ha! I mostly just knew those guys had beaten a couple of decent doubles teams at High Point pretty badly.
ReplyDeleteYes, congrats to Ken Ratana! Looks like he should be the 4.0 player to beat this year, since he's winning some at 4.5.
So what's next in the tennis world? Can someone explain this Davis Cup ? We just won it, seems like a month ago, and now matches are going again. Do they do like soccer, where there are like major groups and mini groups of teams/countries not quite as good ? I guess with the long tennis schedule, they have to schedule things out all year, maybe they should go to every 2 or 4 years, like Ryder Cup, Olympics ?
Yep that was quite a pick. I almost think I do better at predicting when I have never played for seen the person play. I had some common opponents of Jeromie and Kevin and that kind of skewed my view. It is great Kevin has improved that much he should start to figure in some big matches pretty soon. Glad to see them in the HP Monday night league as well. I wish I could have played this time around but maybe next time.
ReplyDeleteRe: "Nobody hits a forehand harder than Chad Carlquist in 4.0."
ReplyDeleteChad Carlquist hit a forehand so hard at me once in a doubles match that it went back in time before it got to me and hit me in the face...in 1985.
Once Chad Carlquist hit a forehand so hard at me That by the time his stroke was finished, it was actually a serve!
ReplyDeleteOK now I have to see this forehand, it is becoming a legend now.
ReplyDeleteHow about a thread on the hardest serves in 3.5 and 4.0?
ReplyDeleteDon't know if it justifies a thread but my vote for 3.5 would be Jim Bostick. I recently played Steve Adams as well and he is serving pretty well.
ReplyDelete4.0 That would have to be me right? :) But I am at a loss to think of one right now. I haven't run into one in a while that gave me problems. Oh wait, best I have seen in a while is Mike Runda of the Lakes. He really uses his height well. I played against Hai and he has a great combo or placement and speed.
Honestly speed isn't that hard to deal with but disguise is tougher to deal with because it is frustrating to get aced and you are leaning the wrong way (Hai aced me 4-5 times at least) I don't get frustrated if someone is just blasting away at me because it is just a matter of time until you can start timing it.
As far as big serves at 4.0: Kevin Windham and Jeromie Ryan come to mind, as well as Trey Berry. Big serves at 4.5: Tim Kotharik, Clint Cash, and Tully George.
ReplyDeleteok Kirby are you sponsors for Jeromie and Kevin. I actually do remember Kevin having a pretty strong serve but I watched Jeromie play before and don't recall.
ReplyDeleteNot sure where he is now but Matt Spellman had one of the nastiest serves at 4.0. Some lefties don't take advantage of that difference but his serve was just about unreturnable. When I had to return I would stand as far back as possible and just lob it to the baseline and hope he didn't crush an overhead on the next shot and hopefully I could restart the point.
ReplyDeleteHave any of you seen Gene Davis' serve? It is unbelievable for a 4.0!
ReplyDeleteOh yeah, Gene Davis had a heck of a serve, darn near unreturnable. Of course, Anonymous, I think you and I both know he isn't 4.0 - and thats probably why I didn't think of him. Cary, you know when you gave me those 15 to 1 odds on jeromie ryan and kevin windham, I won bunches, so now I am in their fan club. ha! Matt Spellman did have a good kicker and is a lefty - reminds me of another lefty, Chad Carlquist, who has a serve equally nasty.
ReplyDeleteKirb
oh that's right we were talking about serves, I've been drinking :)
ReplyDeleteI guess I will have to check out Gene Davis this weekend. I hope he hasn't been hyped too much because I am expecting the next Djokovic by now.
oh you wont be disappointed about Gene Davis he is the real deal
ReplyDelete