Playoff Format: This is a round-robin tournament. Each team will play the other teams at their level once. Each court is worth 1 point. The team that wins 2 or more courts wins the match. The team from each level with the most match wins advances to the Section Championships in Schenectady on June 3 – 5.
The match ups and regulations are finally reached us only two days before the playoffs.
Eng vs. Vogt
Kim vs. Rowe
The league coordinator once said dealing with USTA is enormous headache because they’re just very difficult to deal with .. wrote
Captains
First, thank you so much for your patience and understanding while we worked on the National Tennis Center scheduling mistake.
First off, our league is an extensions of the USTA, even IF it isn’t but we are the solid fan base for the sports, why can’t the USTA treat us with courtesy and respect? Last week, I played in a tourney ran jointly by CatsNY and ACS that was able to swiftly changed to indoor the day after due to inclement weather forecast, with same number of courts, 3 days prior. I was thinking, geeee .. 10 courts (usta only has 12 indoor courts), 3 days and they could do it. BUT as the league, the usta can not accommodate us in any way?
This past January I had my birthday party at USTA. Dealing with them was an unpleasant experience as if the organization is run by a group of incompetents. Numerous meaningless emails had exchanged, and vast of them were due to non reply and or informing me of whose job it actually was. One day was J and next was D, or might be T ..
I didn’t realized they had over charged me till I did my credit bills. So more calls later, a refund was issued but it posted actually as a debt. I called again. Aside learned more staff names (non of them returned my call ..) nothing happened. I should have just called up Amex and dispute the charge. It was resolved on 3/25.
Due to scheduling mistake, the 7.0 mixed doubles played at City View. The Metro Local League Coordinator warned us that:
PLEASE NOTE: This is a private club and they do not allow food deliveries or meals (chinese food, pizza) to be brought into their facility. If you team chooses to bring snacks (i.e fruit, crackers/cheese) please make sure you clean up when you are done and the club is left clean and neat.
So we got some kielbasa and durian.. ok .. joking aside .. we starved to death.
Eight players (out of 10) showed up for work. My team is famous for handsome guys, beautiful gals and awesome couples: I have 3 pairs of love birds on my team, and I haven’t heard any bathroom argument, yet.
We faced Vogt/Kende. Our first doubles was leading 5-1 in the first set but ended up losing it 7-5. Wah was really mad and lost first game in the second set … However they came back to win the second set at 6-1 and took command of the super tiebreak. More pix on FB.
The league (forgot his name .. Steve?) man’s calling out matches for the semis. We were able to sit on Court 3 watching our First and the Second pairs play.
The other semi was Kim vs Rowe/Bailey. Kim won and would face us in the final.
1st 5-7, 6-1, 10-6
2nd 6-2, 6-4
3rd 6-7, 3-6
We played the Final immediately after the semis, 30 minutes rest between the matches. We have to recycle five players. Few pix on FB
The roving Emp as usual, asked where do we all live and he deemed my partner Ricky lived the farthest hence we got to call the coin toss. I called it head and the head it was. Ricky opted to serve. Mr. Across-the-Net returned it down the line and won the first point. He would hit few more down the line shots (ok, more than half a dozen!) and won every single one of them. The other captain would come to clean the lines during the change over, thanks cap!
I was dreaming or brain dead. I hope non of my kids is reading this, I opened my first game with a double fault.
Everything looked rosy and encouraging .. .. not!
Ricky played really well and carried the match, that included me. After we won the first set at 6-3, Mr. Across-the-Net questioned the score at change over. He asked Ricky whom did he last serve. By then, my brain was long dead so I didn’t remember. I thought the girl was the first one to call it set. I merely followed her indication and retreated to the chair.
The second set was really competitive. I was serving at 6-5 but couldn’t close the match. In the ensuing tiebreak we jumped to a handsome 5:0 lead. Then it became 5:1, then 6:3. We change end. (USTA uses Coman rotation in the tiebreak, which players switch court at 1, 5, 9, etc.) Ricky served. The Emp was on court. One of the opponents sent a down the alley shot that was sailing toward the line. I scrambled to the corner, out of breath, barely got there in time to hit a cross court. He gave it a hard chase but then called it out.
I really don’t like close calls. We all play to win and want to win it fair and square. However those close calls often put that to test: I work hard for the point, give it all I have, often panting like a cow hence my judgment in a blink moment might not be at it best. Extending courtesy and fairness is good sportsmanship but I also want to reward myself and my effort. Isn’t it a familiar situation, as is in life, when and where we were presented with thorny situations?
I was actually relieved because it was HIS call, not mine.
However the Empire who stood at the net put his left hand down to signal it was good after I looked at him for a confirmation.
I was really relieved not being the one to make the controversial decision, and of course at the win too. If the Emp weren’t on court, we’d continuously played at 6-4 and who knows the out come of the set and the match. If it were my call, and I called it IN, I don’t think I’d enjoy it as much because in my mind as well in everyone else’s was the nagging question: was the point that decided the match IN or OUT?
We all have to live with the decision we made in life and its consequences.
We won 7-3 and shocked hands at the net. The club was empty when the time we finished our final, only the two teams. I didn’t know what to say to the opposing captain when we walked by each other on the court, incidentally on different side of the net. So there was no word exchanged.
After the semis, there were more players around and I got few congratulations gestures. Michael was there too (unfortunately his team lost), we chatted briefly after the semis. I still remembering him came to me after the conclusion of the match the year before to congratulate me.
Louis got elected to be the president of CatsNY, few board members George, Jonathan, Power, John, etc each contributed $1k for seeding. This is his first dinner at Mellie’s, with 3 tables at $40 pp. The dishes were pretty good compare to other times. More pix on FB and piwigo
The court jesters entertainers Tony, Mark and Jeff, etc., multi-talented group of players.
The tourney was scheduled on Saturday April 25 but due to inclement weather, the CatsNY was able to postpone to Sunday 4/26 from 10 out door courts to 10 indoor courts. We were informed on 4/22. NTC has only 12 indoor courts and I was really surprised that the CatsNY could do in such short period of time.
I teamed up with Dick, two loses and one win. It’s 8 games per set no ad. Lum and Wah took the trophy. Congratulations.
Mingder Chang was on hand.
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I kid you not, I’m definitely budding around with Jim Courier and Mary Joe Fernandez: they wrote to me again. What’s more? They even sent me a nice looking certificate which I will definitely frame and hang on the wall.
Can you image that?
Ok, it’s a lousy day here in New York, rain and more rain .. few cups of tea and glasses of wine didn’t lift my mood .. but lord, I wish they send less and do more..
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Someone questioned me if I’m still under warranty and suggested to take up bumper to bumper insurance plan, when I complained my legs and arms hurt after my back and shoulders. Don’t know I own those body parts .. till they all acting up.
Our last match of the regular season was scheduled at 8pm. Guess my brain was hurting too bec I had 8:30 in mind. When I limped onto the the court, it’s 8:10. I was just too bit heavy for my partner to carry, lost 4 and 3.
Good news is .. Pumpkin scored her team’s first goal and won 7:6; Golfer would score a goal too late that evening on ice too. Darn it, why didn’t I bring home a win??
Once again, we made the playoffs, which will take place at NTC on April 30 that weekend. The two divisions have similar scores, guess more competitive matches ahead. Mark your calendar and come to cheer us up!
I made a mess by credited one game more in the first set and one game less in the second set. Although the out come isn’t affected in any way but a thick floury of emails changed from morning to afternoon.
Subject: the score was wrong, please correct it, it’s 6-3. 2-6, 0-1 instead of 6-4, 1-6 and 0-1
[the Flight Coordinator], can you please correct the score from last night’s match. Sorry I wasn’t there to sign off on the scores Irene.
the Flight Coordinator:
What court is this? I need all of the info so I can pass it on to the [league] coordinator.
It’s the second court which I entered 6-4, 1-6, 1-0. It should be 6-3, 2-6, 1-0.
Me:
GM .. and very sorry for the mess. Guess I didn’t help. … I couldn’t go back there and change it?
The other cap:
Nope, only the coordinator can. Should be an easy fix.
The the Flight Coordinator:
I need to have the captain that did not record the scores go in and dispute the scores so the coordinator can make the changes.
Looked like it’s [the Flight Coordinator]’s first time too .. The good news is, which means probably the wrong score never happened in the past; the bad news is, Irene committed the sin. Need to be careful to avoid such time consuming worthless correction in the future.
Thought about this joke:
A Chinese said “I’m sorry” to someone he just bumped into accidentally.
The White guy replied: “I’m sorry too.”
The Chinese (thinking two???) .. then “I’m sorry three.”
The White guy: “What are you sorry for?”
The Chinese (thinking four??? 怎么没完没了 endless..) .. “Okaaaay, I’m sorry five.”
..
ha ha ha .. I know I’m very funny … ha ha ha … Out of curiosity, I just tested the usta site, it detests the wrong scores (the top chart) .. good design.
Our last night’s match – the 9th was a good one, at least for me. I pulled myself together, thanks to my partner. However I failed to close the match when I was serving at 9:7 in the third set super tie break .. eventually we were able to win the next point. Very close. … I still hang around the no man zone!!
The flight coordinator sent out the spread sheet for the refund for the Manhattan League that ended (regular season) on Feb 4. For the 7.0 flight, out of 18 teams, only 4 teams didn’t need any adjustment. The work load of running the league isn’t small or light.
Q7.0 2011 has fewest players, 10 in total (incl me), that included three couples. We did really well, made into the Metro Championship.
That year the teams in Metro were plenty. We played at NTC: vs Manh, vs Brooklyn, vs Bronx in two days, May 15-16.
New York City consists five boroughs, namingly Manhattan, Queens, Brooklyn, Bronx and Staten Island. Because of the players, Manhattan and Queen seem to consistently have league every season while the later three won’t. With lesser teams, there is greater opportunity to advance to the playoffs. There are teams that gaming this way. Who knows what is going to happen in playoffs? On a good hair day, even Irene could win a match.
We played Manh (0-3) & Brooklyn (1-2) the first day (5/15), Bronx the last on day two 5/16. Jerry and I drew an elder couple (not sure they were married or just partners on court) on Court 14. The gent had trouble walking at the beginning. It was very distracting. Beating on an injury player is just not cool. Also, my team having lost both matches yesterday, was out already. Soon my concentration was gone. I began to look right and left, hoping to catch some actions. The score ended up 7-5 and 6-4. At the net as we were shaking hands, the gent said profusely that they had no business of winning.
During the match, I saw the outfits on Court 16 was unified: both players wore identical top and skirt. Because it was all mixed double matches, so one had to be a guy. Therefore, I joked to Jerry,
“Maybe next time, we could use little unity by dress the same.”
One of my mates heard, and knew instantly what was I talking about because she knew the two on Court 16. One was undergoing gender change.
Two years after that, through other teammate, the new girl would be on my team and anchoring the first doubles. A small world.
Renée Richards, an American ophthalmologist, changed his gender and played on the women’s tour. But she did not go far. Never win a slam.
