Well, it's about that time of year when a lot of us start thinking about the USTA summer league. Of course, the more serious captains have been working on their rosters continuously since last season, always having an eye opened for a potential contributor.
I haven't talked to very many people so I'm not very well-informed of the goings-on around the city. The few people I HAVE talked to are all in agreement that the Copperfield 4.5 team is going to be a team to keep your eye on. With John Kudrick (it seems like just a couple of years ago when he was playing at 5.5 NATIONALS) and Blessing Bvunzawabaya now rated 4.5, they could be almost unstoppable. Rumor has it that Blessing will be working at Liezel Huber's new tennis academy in the Northwest part of town, so time will tell if he'll have the time or desire to play with a Copperfield 4.5 team.
Mostly everyone I've talked to is still scratching their heads over some of the ratings after all of the appeals were accepted or denied. Tim Hurlbert's name is the one most often mentioned. Despite losing the Dibuas, Kingwood will again be loaded.
I saw a bunch of league players out at the UT-aTm match yesterday. Craig Bobo and Ben Whitsett were playing in a tournament there and are already in midseason form. Whitsett looks like he's improved from last season, and the duo were just a point or two away from handing a loss to former UT All-American Jack Brasington. I believe Bobo will be taking over from Tim Green and Ken Burkhart captaining the Hangovers. With his connections as tennis director at Walden Country Club I won't be surprised to see some more talent added to the roster. The Hangovers have been diligent about working on their games in the offseason, with leagues and drills just about every week. Lurking in the background is Red Benzon, of course. With his tennis connections, any team he joins will become an immediate favorite.
I haven't heard too much about the other divisions. Apparently the Houston Racquet Club will be fielding a team in the 5.0 division, which I'm sure will be competitive. I'm sure Tim Green will be fielding a team in 5.0 that will raise the bar in that division. Love him or hate him, (I've never figured out why there is such animosity towards Tim in the comments here??????) he's got a great track record at putting teams together. Although it was well-balanced, last year was a down year for the 5.0 division in Houston. Perhaps there will be a talent boost this season.
I've heard absolutely no talk about 4.0. I know Jason Freeman will have a team, and based on past performance his team will definitely bear watching. It remains to be seen if he can field a winner after losing a ton of talent from last year's squad and being hamstrung by the "three player rule" which affects teams that go to Nationals. Rice, Lakeside and Chancellor's are three other teams to watch. I just found out that Rice captain Bill Hunt had suffered a heart attack just prior to Sectionals last season. Hopefully he has fully recovered and will again be putting together a top-notch team.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Rumor is Freeman was at the Met last night recruiting players from A&M and Texas.
ReplyDeleteIs Freeman going to put a 4.5 Team Together as well as a 4.0 Team? I've heard that Sarosh is playing really well. I think he will be a asset to any 4.5 Team.
ReplyDeleteI think that Blessing and John Kudrick are both nice guys but, by no means are they 4.5 Material. How did that happen? These 2 are definitely a notch above the elite 4.5's in Houston. I hope the Texas Section realizes that the Computer Rating System has lots of kinks that still need to be worked out.
ReplyDeleteI thought Omon Dibua stayed down at 4.5. Is that correct? If so, Kingwood will be right where they left off.
ReplyDeleteYeah, Omon is a 4.5
ReplyDeleteNot sure how to post this as a new topic, so I'll add it as a comment.
ReplyDeleteThis one deserves it's own new topic.
"Valentines' Day" League Matches
If the HTA in says it's a family oriented association it missed the mark when scheduling league matches on Valentine's day.
The only guys who should dare to play on Valentines Day are either divorced, getting divorced, never getting married or too young to get married.
Not sure the percentage, but I'm guessing at least 80% of the guys in the league are married or have a significant other and don't want to play tennis on Valentines Day.
Come on HTA, give us guys a break!
Can you say "pu$$y whipped"?
ReplyDeleteTake her out on Friday or Saturday.
El Captain did you ever think about trying to reschedule the match for Wednesday or Saturday. Or does your captain have you by the nuts.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous,
ReplyDeleteIt's the league and other capitan that has us by the nuts. I suggested another night, but they wouldn't budge. Probably needs a few more default wins.
El Capitan
What is the name of the mens usta league in houston. When does it start?
ReplyDeleteI have it on good authority that the Austin Wild Sectional Champions are reloaded, and I mean reloaded! They will be in the hunt at Sectionals despite dealing with the 3 player rule for Sectional Champions.
ReplyDeleteCase,Holland,and Thurman got bumped got bumped up to 5.0's. That's there Top 3 so I doubt they will be as Strong but, As we all know The USTA Summer League gets stonger and stronger every year. Houston's Team could be loaded if all play.
ReplyDeleteHow would I be able to see who is playing where in usta this year? Has the league already started? If so where do I go on tennis link to see it? There are a lot of leagues to choose from. The thursday night league shows most of the teams mentioned here. Does Houston not play usta league on saturdays like everyone else. I see the San Antonio league has already started.
ReplyDeleteLook out for a guy by the name of Greg Taylor on Austin's 4.0 team. Very strong player though I do not believe he played any college tennis. Just juniors. He will be tough for 4.0s.
ReplyDeleteThe Landsharks look pretty good with a 6-0 record but it doesn't look like they have played any of the top teams (although Polo Match Point is typically decent but they already look out of the race with a couple of matches in the books).
ReplyDeleteIs that score correct where Greg Taylor beat Kallus 6-1, 6-1 in March? If so, that is impressive for a guy with a 4.0 rating.
Kallus, what are your thoughts on this guy?
Greg Taylor:
ReplyDeleteAgreed those tourney results at 4.5are impressive but he looks like he has already racked up two or at least one strike. They will have to be careful with him.
Freeman has 6 players signed up so far and they are all from Houston.(....so far) The 50 mile rule was talked about at our captain meeting but so far no official announcement.
ReplyDeleteDon't worry I'm sure Freeman's got something up his sleeve. He needs to be presented with the award for one who doesn't seem to have a job other than captaining league tennis. This isn't necessarily bad, just shows obsessive dedication. Again, it'll be interesting to see him either turn into a Kilshaw or a Benzon.
ReplyDeleteBill Hunt is doing well although he won't be captaining the 4.0 Rice team this year. He may play some but he's left managing it to one of his tutees so it will be interesting to see what the composition of that team is going to be like this summer.
ReplyDeleteI've heard the mob squad is reforming at 4.5. This will certainly put an interesting new twist on things for the 4.5 level. Do any of the old generally solid teams like Jedi Knights, YUTTS, Kingwood etc. do any sort of recruiting as hardcore as say Green or Benzon do?
ReplyDeleteI doubt the Mob Squad will be much of a factor. They all got even fatter. Alex Chang looks like he been living at the buffet. Plus, none of them play any more.
ReplyDeleteEven fatter? Were they all previously skinny or something?
ReplyDeleteKilshaw only lost Odion from last years Sectional finalist team. They should be tough again this year.
ReplyDeleteWill Copperfield put together this dominate 4.5 team people are already complaining about? I personally doubt it.
ReplyDeleteDid anyone notice Freeman's team took a spanking to end spring league? Are they vulnerable for the USTA league?
ReplyDeleteKilshaw can only keep 3 players on his 4.5 team from last year. How do you figure he'll be loaded?
ReplyDeleteWhy can Kilshaw only keep 3? They didn't go to Nationals or am I just confused again?
ReplyDeleteKilshaw can keep all his players from last years teams unless they got Bumped up Year End. (Odion 5.0) They will be strong once again with Armstrong ,Hurlbert,Omon Dibua and a few other late additions.
ReplyDeleteMr. Kern are you going to be on Coach Freeman's 4.5 All Star Team?? He will have a formidable team this year,Although it will be tough for him to do what he did in 3.5's and 4.0's in the 4.5's. Lots of Hidden Talent in 4.5's this year though.
If Copperfield got all their guys to play they could be really tough. I doubt it will happen but name a team that would handle the following:
ReplyDeleteKudrick, Blessing, McMullin, Rodrigo, Robins, Letan, Kent, Kent, Salinas and 3-4 more solid line 3 players.
Again though.... I doubt it happens.
This Copperfield is not going to Happen mainly because of Blessing moving to another Club. Even if they had that team they are amongst the top teams not dominant by no means what so ever.
ReplyDeleteWould Blessing seriously play 4.5 anyway? Kudrick if he had an injury or something? Especially if this Kudrick guy really went to nationals 5.5. Freeman is not going to be dominant at the 4.5 level. It's just way too hard to find that many guys to play consistently down unless of course you are Red. That said, Freeman should be competetive at least...
ReplyDeleteThere should be a nice slew of 5.0 teams this year. I heard that Bobo's group may play 5.0. Don't know if that means Tim Green will field a separate team. Of course Red will try and put something together. He'll probably be on 13 different teams since he has a 4.5 rating.
ReplyDeleteThis year seems to be shaping up to be very strong in all the divisions...
I bet Bobo will have a 4.5 team as well.
ReplyDelete