Happy New Years and Brrrrrr..... It is January so that means it is time for 40s. Those players that are struggling to compete with whippersnappers get their moment. For those of you vacationing at a tropical paradise, it is really cold here in the metroplex. The season starts this weekend and the good news is it will actually warm up to playable conditions... if the weather man is right. If the weather remains like t is as I write this... well, the old joints and muscles are in trouble.
Lets get to the new season to discuss.
4.5+
We have the usual suspects with Harllee, Reiman and Rossouw as the favorites. Last year, Arcaria broke through and made it interested. Sweeney had to move up and split up after a trip to Nationals.
Rossouw has pared his roster back to a manageable size of 18. With 9 matches to play, this should be workable. He has good 5.0s of Barrick and Lama as well as several good 4.5s like Flores to complement his 5.0s. He should make another trip to city playoffs and have a good chance to make it to sectionals.
Harllee has a lot of the same players back. He has Bruno Braga as a 5.0 to build around and that is a really good place to start. Few 5.0s are going to beat Braga... especially at 40s. He has a lot of good 4.5s to work with as well. I see this team getting to city playoffs too.
Reiman has Foster as a 5.0. He is solid but Braga should have his way with him. Patrick Rea is his other 4.5 but I am not familiar with him so I am not sure what to make of him. He has several solid but not really playoff 4.5s on his roster. This team may or may not be there at the end.
Arcaria has some pieces but with this current roster, it is not enough. Buoni as his lone 5.0 is very solid. If he adds another top notch 5.0, he can compete. He has a chance but he will be fighting but needs a piece or two.
Of the other teams, nobody has enough to be serious contenders.
4.0
At 4.0, it appears the epicenter for Dallas middle age tennis is Garland Tennis Center. There are two flights.
4.0 Flight A: This appears to be a three team race between Garland/Russell (formerly known as Garland/Sisk), Brookhaven/Bartlett and Greenhill Ohl.
Garland/Russell: They have decided to take a page out of the Marc Rossouw playbook and start with 21 on the roster. There are only 7 matches to be played so playing time might be slim for several players. They do have some good 4.0s with Tony Le, Mike Zackary, Pat Teterud, Mark Sweeney and Duane Covell. I really expect this team to win the flight.
Brookhaven/Bartlett: This roster looks more or less the same as it has looked for a long time. I expect them to be competitive every week with an outside chance at winning.
Greenhill/Ohl: I could write the exact same thing about this as Brookhaven as the roster looks more or less the same and they will be competitive but only an outside chance at winning.
The other teams in the flight are just playing for fun.
4.0/Flight B: This flight is plain bad. I guess it is a two team race between Garland/Kanchi and Springpark/Walters.
Garland/Kanchi: They only have 9 on the roster. Of the players I know, they aren't bad. One is from San Antonio so that more or less makes this a team of 8. Without some additions, I see some defaulted lines in their future. This team has enough to make it to playoffs but is desperate for some depth.
Springpark/Walters: This team definitely brings a lot of 'experience' in both tennis and life. I actually think they could field a very good Super Seniors team.
Canyon Creek/Patterson: They have a few pieces but not nearly enough.
The truth is this flight is fairly wide open. Kanchi has the best top talent but no depth. The others have a few pieces but little in the line of top end 4.0.
In the end, Garland/Russell is the favorite to get to sectionals.
In the mean time, stay warm! It is Texas in January, if you don't like the weather, just be patient. It will change soon enough.
