Let The Games Begin! Nationals Season Start This Weekend!

Tennis in the desert.  Not a bad place to win or lose.

Dallas has two representatives at Nationals this weekend.  The High Point/Le team at 4.0 will be at Rancho Mirage and the High Point/Bender team at 3.0 will be at Tucson.   The 5.0 men are also playing this weekend at Indian Wells with San Antonio/Godwin representing Texas.

In the 4.0 draw, Texas is in Flight 5 with Florida, Middle States and Midwest.  This could be a tough flight.  They will do well to just make it to Sunday.   If they make it to the semis, they will play the winner of Flight 7 consisting of Southern California, Missouri Valley, Eastern and Intermountain.  It’s going to be tough sledding all around for these guys.  Texas plays Florida in its first match bright and early on Friday morning.  That should tell us a lot about how the weekend will go.

In the 3.0 draw, Texas is in Flight 7 with Caribbean, Southern and Florida.  Wow, that has to be the flight of death.  All four of those teams are likely in the top six and I wouldn’t be surprised if Texas, Southern and Caribbean were in the top four.  That is just brutal.   Looks to me like the USTA gave Northern California (flight 5) a free pass to the semis.  Even more interesting, New England, Middle States, Southwest and Northern are all in one flight together.  What a gift.  Of course I know nothing about 3.0 so that could all be dead wrong.

At 5.0, there are only three flights with Texas playing Southern California, Missouri Valley, Southwest and Florida.  That’s going to be rough. 

Good luck to everyone but especially our Dallas representatives.

Mixed Doubles again, always courteous, ever polite

I have that jacket and white pants combo but no one ever wants me to wear it to a match.

Ok, you want more posts?  That only seems to happen when the topics are mixed or He Who Can't Be Named, so you asked for it, you got it.


Over 18 mixed sectionals is coming up.  Here's a look at what's in store and my picks.

Mixed 10.0 has Oak Creek/Pearson as it representative with only Austin and Houston in one flight.  This is way too rich for my blood but I’ll take Austin if Dekruyff plays.

SpringPark/Abbruzzese represents Dallas at 9.0 and is in a flight with Austin, San Antonio and Lubbock.  Flight 2 features Fort Worth, NETX, Houston and SETX.   Don’t laugh but I’m going to take SETX to win it all with Vernon, Duplechin and Cobb leading the way.

The largest field is 8.0 with three flights and Greenhill/Carlson leading the way for Dallas.  Flight 1 sports Fort Worth, NETX, Corpus Christi and Valley.  Flight 2 has Austin, Dallas, SETX and Waco.  Flight 3 is Houston, San Antonio, Lubbock and Amarillo.  Many questions in Flight 1, notably will Voldemort be playing for Fort Worth.  I think FW advances with or without him but no further if he is absent.  Dallas has the team to go all the way if the captain gets the right lines out. 

In 7.0, Dallas is represented by SpringPark/Abbruzzese which finds itself in a flight with San Antonio, Austin, Wild Austin and Waco.   Both Austin teams should be pretty good with all three lines going to third setters in their cities match.  Flight 2 has Houston, Fort Worth, NETX, Valley and San Angelo.  Houston has several guys off of their 3.5 sectionals championship team.  I’ll give Houston the edge with 3.5 girls.

And in the did you know this was actually a thing category, we have Greenhill/Alzuro representing Dallas at 6.0.  It’s one flight with Austin, NETX, San Angelo, Amarillo and SETX joining Dallas.  Flipping the ever popular six headed coin, I’ll take Austin. 

Remember, these picks are for recreational purposes only are not made against the spread.

Even Older Tennis

Over 55 sectionals start tomorrow.  Here's a quick look at the draws.  Dallas had more teams in its 4.5 over 55 league (4) than the sectionals event has teams (3).  Should that alone qualify Dallas for a wild card?  It will be Wagon Wheel/Rubel representing Dallas.  The only other teams there are San Antonio and Houston.  Since I don’t see Freeman’s name at the top of this roster, I’m not as worried.  San Antonio has a big roster but it’s just three lines of doubles so that could end up hurting them.  I like Dallas.

Dallas sends two teams to 55 and over sectionals at 8.0 this weekend, the Greenhill/Kaiser team as the Dallas champion and the Brookhaven/Bartlett team as the wildcard.  Both teams are stock full of recognizable names.  The Dallas champion is in flight 1 with San Antonio, Corpus Christi, Fort Worth and Valley.  Dallas Wild is in flight 2 with Austin, NOHO, Houston and SETX. 

In flight 1, San Antonio looks to field two solid lines in this three lines of doubles format.  Corpus has been pretty weak in sectionals so far this year and Valley is always a mystery since they only had to beat one team to advance.  I like Dallas and Fort Worth in this flight. 

The NOHO team in flight 2 has several players from their team that made the finals of 40s last weekend so they should be tuned up and ready to go.  Austin had the most impressive city record in this flight, going 21-3, while SETX advanced with a modest 7-8 line record.  I like NOHO and Austin in this flight.  And I’ll say Fort Worth and NOHO in the final.

While there were only three Dallas teams at 7.0 (we are represented by the High Point/Bender team), there are actually three flights of 7.0 at sectionals.  Fight 1 has Dallas, NOHO, San Antonio and SETX.  San Antonio has done extremely well at 3.5 sectionals this year with a semi (18s), a finalist and a winner (40s).  Normally that would be hard to pick against but I’ll go with Dallas.

Flight 2 has Waco, NETX, Houston and Wild Fort Worth.  Every team but Waco has a player DQ’d so this one is a mystery.  Flight 3 has Austin, Corpus Christi, Fort Worth and Lubbock.  Who am I kidding?  I don’t know any of these players at 7.0.  I’ll take Bob Somabut and Steve Kemp to lead the Dallas team to victory since they are the only people I actually know. 

 

40s Sectional Wrap Up

I don’t know many people who were at over 40 sectionals so I don’t have a lot of inside information on this one.  It sounds like there were multiple good teams at most levels.  The winners were Austin at 4.5+, Dallas at 4.0, San Antonio at 3.5 and Dallas at 3.0.

The 4.5+ level was the most interesting to me.  At first glance seeing Austin, San Antonio and Houston all in the same flight I really liked Dallas’ chances.  Dallas had San Angelo, Valley, NOHO and Fort Worth.  Dallas did well, going 3-1 (13-7) on the weekend but were taken out by San Angelo in a tough 3-2 match.  As expected Bruno rolled with a 6-0, 6-1 win (that guy is unbelievable).  Looks like it came down to two third set tie breakers and Dallas lost both.   In the final San Angelo kept their magic touch in three setters, winning both of them, but that was it.  Austin took the other three lines in straight sets and Dekruyff did not disappoint.  That guy is now 29-1 for the year, losing one three setter at 9.0 mixed (18s).   I’d have paid to see he and Bruno square off but that didn’t happen.  Everyone likes to complain about ringers at the lower levels but you've never run into anything like these two guys.

For the 4.0s it was a traditional Dallas versus Houston final, although the better Houston guys had snuck over to NOHO to play.  NOHO squeezed by a tough FW team in their flight but otherwise sailed.  Dallas went undefeated in flight play in a lighter flight.  The finals were 3-2 Dallas.  

Did San Antonio have something going on at 3.5 this year?  SA and SA Wild played each other in the final and SA Wild won 3-2.  That’s some pretty solid depth at one event for one town.  The Dallas team went 1-2 but lost to SA and Austin who were both strong.  

Who is surprised that Bender won 3.0?  I don’t know much about him but he just seems to win a lot. 

There were only three teams in the whole event but this team did go 19-1.  That’s pretty good at any event.

I believe 55 and over is this weekend in Beaumont.  Dallas is sending two teams so good luck to all.

40s Preview... Hot in San Antonio

With the real season over, the more experienced guys sectionals is up next.  The 40s winners are usually the team that can find some singles players.  The doubles are usually pretty salty but the singles is usually pretty bland.

4.5+ Dallas is represented by Brookhaven/Harllee.  They are usually pretty formidable in 18s so they should do well.  They catch a break in their flight as it is Dallas West (Ft. Worthless), Valley, NOHO and San Angelo.  Fort Worth has a couple of 5.0s that I don't know.  I doubt any can match up with Bruno.  Anis is Dallas' other 5.0 so I have to like their chances to get out of their flight.  On the other side, I suspect Austin will come out.  I say that because while the DTA tells us that Austin is opposed to mid-season rating leagues, Austin gets to use them.  I suspect that advantage would be enough.  Austin still has the mighty Juan DeKruyff and I hope he and Bruno play to see who is the Texas 40+ big dog.

This flight is tough.  It has always tough Houston, Austin and San Antonio.  I suspect this will take something out of these guys.

For this reason, I'll take Dallas.

4.0 Dallas is represented by Fretz/Clark.  This team looks a lot like the Tony Le 18s team that punched their ticket to Nationals.  They have Corpus, NETX and San Antonio.  I like them to get out of this flight and probably play the lucky loser as I assume that will be the 4 seed.

It is a 3 flight event so a lucky loser will still make the semis.  This is the team I expect to play Dallas. 

The second flight will be either Austin or Houston.  Austin gets those mid-season ratings but it is Houston.  Looking at the roster, I say Houston but not sure.

The third flight will probably  be Dallas-West/Rigney.  This looks a lot like the sectionals finalist team for 18s and I have no reason to think they started sucking.  Looking at NOHO, they look like the likely lucky loser.

I'm feeling like a homer so I like Dallas to advance.

I'm really homerish this week so I am taking Dallas in 3.0 and 3.5 too but I didn't even open up the teams.

Good Luck this weekend. 

4.5 Predictions... My Usual Thoughts on the Fall League

I guess our readers are wanting some more.  While the pay for writing this blog is substantial, I still have to supplement it with another job. 

I don't have time to do a lot of analysis.  But since this is the all important fall league, I will oblige.  We all know that the heavy hitters really take this time serious.  :)  With the cooler weather coming, some of the better players lose their mojo so the fall is about as exciting as Combo and Mixed 40s.

Flight A:  My first thought was LB Houston/Moore but there are a lot of new names.  Lets see how well they work together.  I will take Oak Creek/Herget-Loose. to win with Greenhill Rossouw as runner-up.

Flight B: There are a lot of mediocre or bad teams in this flight.  Brookhaven/Harlee should win but Lakes/Way is a contender.  The rest should all go abut .500 beating each other in close 3-2s mediocre 4.5 tennis. 

Flight C:  This is between Greenhill/Rossouw part 2 and Oak Creek/Pribadi.  I like Rossouw to win this fight.

At first glance, this crop of 4.5 teams seems down.  There could be a non name brand team to emerge.  I do have to give the DTA credit in that they appear to evenly and fairly separate the better teams.  There is no flight you just scratch your head and say... how could they put that many good teams in one flight.  Kudos to them. 

4.0 Fall Predictions

Didn’t mean to leave everyone speechless with my recent post.  In efforts to revive the blog a bit and with Murray on leave, I will provide a thread to start the talk on the Fall 4.0 season. 

4.0’s get the Sunday afternoon spot and will be competing with NFL Sunday football.  That always seems to be a wildcard as to which players from each roster place Fall tennis more important than their favorite NFL team. 

I really don’t have the time to dig into each roster and give an in-depth analysis, so I will let you, the poster, provide us with that.  This is just my initial take, and I will be interested to see what actually transpires. 

Flight A –  winner: Oak Creek/Rich          runner-up:   McKinney/Kanchi

Flight B –  winner: Broohaven/Bartlett      runner up:   McKinney/Oh

Flight C -  winner: Greenhill/Ohl               runner up:  Springpark/Abbruzzese   (or vice versa)

Flight D – winner: Huffines/Robbins         runner up:  Oak Creek/Iyer

Your thoughts………

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