My teams’ over all performance since 2010:
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Sports Illustrated. 6/13/94
Reported by Richard O’Brien
Edited by JACK MCCALLUM
Richard Williams, the father of two potential superstars in women’s tennis, presents himself as an idealist who has resisted the lure of big money, kept his children away from the pressures of the junior circuit and tried to ward off premature publicity. Williams does deserve some credit for what he has done to protect his daughters, Venus (who turns 14 on June 17) and 12-year-old Serena, from overexposure. Yet Williams undercut his own message last week by appearing on an ABC Nightline segment dressed like a human billboard.
“The reason those kids go out there to play professional tennis, it’s not because the kids want to go, it’s the parents, the coaches, the endorsement companies, and everyone else that’s rushing the kid along to be out there,” Williams told Ted Koppel. At the time, Williams was wearing a cap and vest endorsing PowerBar, an energy food for athletes.
Heidi Johnson, head of tennis promotions for PowerBar, says that Williams does not receive endorsement monies from the company but that “something financial may well work out in the near future.” Adds Johnson, “The girls use our product. We provide PowerBars to them.” Williams also is paid an undisclosed “consultant’s fee” by Reebok, which outfits the family for free. He does, however, do six to eight clinics per year in inner-city venues for Reebok.
Williams also made the point on Nightline that girls who go on the tour too early sometimes miss educational opportunities, ones that his daughters are presumably getting from being home-schooled in their Pompano Beach, Fla., apartment. He then tossed a misdirected dart at Steffi Graf. “I haven’t seen one person yet at that age, 13 or 14, that was ready for life,” Williams said. “We know that Steffi Graf’s education and the way she speaks is not up to par.”
Not up to par in which language, Mr. Williams, her native German or English, which she speaks fluently? Or perhaps you meant Italian, French or Spanish, all of which she is still studying.
The 2013 Brooklyn, Queens & Staten Island — 18 & Over Spring/Summer Season will start end of May.
IMPORTANT INFORMATION:
~ If you wish to captain a team, please email the appropriate coordinator no later than Tuesday, 7 May 2013.Your email must include your contact information (for the captains contact list). If you plan to have a co-captain, they must be copied on the email and their contact information provided.
QUEENS:
3.0 Women & Men: @me.com
3.5 Women & Men: @columbia.edu
4.0 Women & Men: @gmail.comBROOKLYN:
All levels: @metrotennis.comSTATEN ISLAND:
All levels: @metrotennis.com.
- Anyone wishing to captain more than one team in Metro must request approval from the Local League Coordinator. Please submit your request to @metrotennis.com no later than May 3rd.
- All captains must send the coordinator a preliminary roster of players committed to their team no later than May 7th. The roster must includes full names and current USTA rating. If your roster is not submitted by this deadline, your team will be dropped from the schedule.
- The Captain’s meeting will be on May 21st — details will be forwarded to confirmed captains.
- Captain, and co-captains, will be held responsible for the administration of their team for the duration of the season. Teams/Captains that drop out of the league after committing will be penalized.
- First time captains must have the Local League Coordinator’s approval and can only captain one team per season. Detailed requests must be sent to @metrotennis.com and include your tennis background and number of players you have committed to the team.
Thank you for your cooperation.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
DRA
Local League Coordinator – Metro
This year there are only two 7.0 leagues in Metro: Manhattan and Queens. We ended up playing the same team we lost to in the Manhattan final.
More pix on FB. Dan‘shandsome backhand. Pix on piwigo
Two teams had illegal matches (they fielded only one court – probably the players arrived late), and got All matches null/void. The landscape changed for the playoffs. We are the third in the team’s win/lose standing 9-2 but #4 in point standing now.
more pix on FB
Carefree, Raneses: we won 1D and 2D, lost 3D
Nassau Indoor, Adwar: we swept them.
Carefree, Raneses: Syosset, Schosberg got swept (lost all 3 courts)
Nassau Indoor, Adwar: Syosset, Schosberg
By points after the surgery are:
#1 68
#2 67
#3 53
#4 52 – us
Corp tennis league, run by usta, sort of. Two girls don’t really play tennis, came.
“Do you think you can beat the team?”
We were lounging at NTC after the victory, a captain (since 1997!) who’s multiple teams made into playoffs in multiple districts asked me, referring to the team we lost in the Manhattan final.
“I don’t know.” I replied, honestly.
Immediately I regretted. My answer was purely Chinese, humble and modest. Come on Irene, this is USA where the culture differs drastically from China – I felt my answer was an insult to my mates.
The reason to my answer: tennis is really a recreation that I enjoy even I don’t really know it well – I need my partner consistently telling me what to do. So I never have high expectation when I walk onto a court, or for my teams. If I or we win, great, other wise no big deal. Perhaps it’s this mentality that I’ve been having fun while improving my games. My teams have been making the playoffs since day one except one when I was in Beijing. Ok, My teams have been winning because the players were diligently playing the regular seasons’ matches – that’s what’s count. They sacrifice and they rush to the rescue whenever needed.
Why the insult: all the players on the team are competitive and my “I don’t know” didn’t do them justice – seemed I doubt their ability or our chance which I certainly don’t.
Ok, back to the match.
We have a great season, out of 10 matches we won nine (not making any excuse … but … the only lose came when we had to forfeit a court due to snow), swept six.
It’s rare for me to sit on the sideline watching a match in its entirety. And the truth is, it’s hard. I sweat so much. I got four towels as sitting pad (we were on courts 10-12) but end up using them to dry my sweaty palms. My entourage came out in force. There were plenty spectators rooting for our opponents. All three courts were closely contested.
The first doubles played on Court 10, the closest to the benches. We won the first set at 4. There were many heart wrenching rallies. Finally our pair arrived at the match point at 5-4 but couldn’t hold. At that point, 2D and 3D started third set tie break almost simultaneously. It’s a tense moment. Few mates stood the whole time.
The opposing captain anchored their first doubles. I remembered playing her a couple of seasons ago. During that time, she teamed up with a fearsome hard hit giant whose serve was so powerful that I had to stand way behind the baseline, with my back to the wall. However, he had many misses too. Making the story short, she carried him. It was a timed match, 6-4, 4-6. I would find out that she joined 9 teams that season. Nine teams! Believe me, by now you should know that we are nuts and bums, anything is possible, if not more. I have a partner who’s on 19 teams and played 89 matches in 2014. That meant quarter of his nights in 2014 were spent playing League sanctioned tennis, excluding the practice nights, or day. Hope he’s single. Not sure if this would set a League record.
The third court was too far away for us to keep a score on them. Peacock was on the second court which was close enough for us to follow. They started off beautifully, poised with frequent high fives. Then we were horrible by the scene: the enthusiasm was gone. Peacock was kind in the pause mode. He was being passed left and right.
“What’s going on?” We wanted to shout out to find out. Did the tough warrior crumble?
His partner apparently was not having a good time. Who would under such circumstance? Her shoulders were slumping. She kept her head low. Her frustration was for all to see, it was piling high as the match went deeper. They lost the first set. I was so sure that my second double team was the surest bet.
We were evenly helplessly frustrated. So we turned out attentions back to Court 10. My pair was resilient and naturally talented. They finally closed out the second set at 5, and the match. (6-4. 7-5)
We breathed one third relief because the other two courts were still engaged in battle. They were all in third set super tiebreak. Because we did not know the scores of the tiebreak, our hearts took wild swing, went up and down with the conclusion of each point. When I high fived with Lum who stood next to me, over a beautiful down the line shot, I realized her palm was as sweaty as mine. I handed her a towel. She was so engulfed in the match, her husband took it for her. She used both fingers to keep track of the score in the tie break.
The opponent served. Lum’s right hand has three fingers up and left two. Our pair was on the right, and just won the point. One more finger on the right hand went up. She shook her hand, signaling it was 9-7.
“I hope I counted it right.” She whispered. I certainly hoped too.
Peacock returned the weak second serve with his trade mark that’s-it cross court shot. It was a winner. We waited to see if it was indeed the match point. My girl turned back and raised her hand. Peacock just stood there, did not move.
“Did we win?” we asked.
She walked over the give Peacock a high five.
Guess we must have won.
I shall let Peacock explain the horrifying scene on court during the first set:
“Our Mixed 7.0 tennis team won the Queens District Championship tonight. It was a tough 2-1 win. Unfort, I sprained my back at 3-3 in the 1st set and lost 4-6 but adrenaline kicked in and the pain subsided enough to come back to win 6-3, 10-7. After sitting for 1 hr, the lower back pain is so bad I can barely walk.”
Now we knew why Peacock looked off on court.
“.. Can barely walk, feel like a 90 yr old. Luckily I still have my cane fm foot surgery 2 yrs ago. Hope it’s a little better tmr…”
Oh my. Hope Peacock gets better tomorrow. He went to play the following day and won. Please don’t ask me how .. there is a will there is a way. One of the mates had to change her dinner plan (resulting cancelation – I was grateful but feeling guilty … ) to play.
The rule said we should exchange the lineup 30 minutes prior to the match. At 13 minutes to the match, I asked the opposing captain if she’s ready. She asked for five more minutes. I waited. Perhaps one of her players was running late.
We’d sizable spectators, for both sides. Both teams played well. I just want to take this opportunity to thank every mates who made this team so great.
All my three mixed doubles teams made into playoff. Although LI has one more match to play (4/28) but from the cumulative points we won, we will make the playoffs, no matter what. This itself is a cause to celebrate.
