Tennis season is finally upon us. The "Coke" is just weeks away and league rosters are beginning to fill up. I took an early look at the rosters this morning and saw a few things that caught my eye. The Kingwood Crush begins its new era under Chantz Chanthanalay and has added a couple of new players in Don Rios and Quack Bui. Aadrian Hasker has joined the newly formed Sienna 4.5 team which at first glance doesn't figure to be a heavyweight, though Hasker alone will make them dangerous. An intriguing new name on the Westside team: Rodolfo Benitez. I haven't yet googled him, but a quick look at his results include a two and one shellacking of Neil Carpenter and Monty Lindloff in a doubles matchup...I suspect we may have our first ringer. Time will tell. Jason Freeman's 4.5 entry Hurricanes 2 appears at first blush to be a nonfactor, composed at this time of all 4.0 bumpups.
It looks as though Donn Nguyen's Sienna 4.0 team will again make some noise this year. Pennsylvania import Bret Anderson was impressive in HTA season, teaming with brother (?) Brian to beat, among others, teams like James Bui and Andy Diep. Freeman's team is always one to watch, and has some solid veteran signups already. It will be interesting to see whether onetime stalwart Phong Hau has recovered from two knee injuries.
As usual, roster moves will start moving into full swing once the Gallery Furniture Open reaches us. For those interested in playing in the tournament, I believe the deadline is approaching this weekend.
Let the smack talk begin.
ReplyDeleteYou gonna disable anonymous posting this year? Let people own up to what they say!
I think it would make the city playoffs much more interesting....
I don't have any plans to disable anonymous posting and will delete things I consider overly mean-spirited, particularly if they are not tennis related.
ReplyDeleteIt should be an interesting year. 4.5 tennis over the last decade has been Benzon, Kilshaw and Mob Squad and none of them are around now. Things could be wide open unless Hai and Chantz can keep the Kingwood train running smoothly in Jimmy's absence. Where will Tim Green end up...has he ever been on a team that DIDN'T make it to Sectionals???
4.0 is, as always, about Freeman. Will he be able to put together the same caliber of team while living in the nation's capital? Or is Sienna, Chancellor's, Copperfield, Lakeside or your team now the team to beat?
Benetiz: http://www.gomocs.com/pdf5/122597.pdf?ATCLID=1437722&SPID=10584&DB_OEM_ID=17700&SPSID=93743
ReplyDeleteCheck Page 18, All-Conference in Singles at UT-Chattanooga in Late 80's
Sienna looks pretty tough. They may be the team to beat.
ReplyDeleteLakeside looks weaker than expected. They seem to be made up of mostly 3.5's and average 4.0's unless someone recognizes some names that I don't.
kingwood looks pretty tough so far. hai can play both doubles in singles. chantz is a solid doubles players. bui and rios are solid singles player. let's see if the dibua bros will join kingwood. phi will probably join kingwood
ReplyDeleteI don't care what anyone is thinking the Deucebags are going to be the team to beat. Word is tran has recruited Haasker from the Mob squad.
ReplyDeleteKingwood Crush is not going to have enough players to fill a roster so they will fill the coolers with beer and koniak to pass time. Chantz will be unbeaten as long as he has a 6pack pre match time.
Ristau is trying to pull a fast one but his hand will be slapped just before he gets his hand out of the cookie jar. Can u say (D) airy (Q)ueen..
Mod Squad wasnt that a movie from the 90's. they will be back as 4.0's next year and a force to be reckoned with.
Copperfield. HMM.. they have a Stud German OOPs I mean BERGMANN. That lefty has skills. They also have the trio of Kent's.
What about Hurricane Freeman's team. They may hit harder than IKE with the key players.
OH WELL COME OUT WHEREVER YOU ARE YOU SANDBAGGERS!!!!!!
I heard that the Dibuas will no longer play 4.5
ReplyDeleteTheir ground strokes are definately 4.0 level.
ReplyDeleteCONGRATS GOLDBERG!!!!!!
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looks like hasker has already signed up with sienna. bergmann looked exhausted in that heat last year, hope he is conditioned this year. no powerhouse players on freeman's roster so far. all that sarosh hype was squashed. are the dubia's going to play league at all?
ReplyDeletesome people complained that the copperfield crowd was loud and rowdy last year. i say that's great for tennis! these people drove across town to sit in 100 plus degrees to show their support. let them have fun!
I thought the Sienna 4.0 team had great crowd support during the semi-final match as well.
ReplyDeleteI agree that the loud crowds made things a lot of fun last year! The crowd during our match (Sienna) with the Hurricanes (which HTown just referred to) made the match that much more interesting. It said alot about having a team that is truly regional as most of our guys either live in Sienna or are 1 degree separated from someone who lives here by work or family. It makes it difficult for us to recruit the "All-Star" teams that are out there but it sure does make it fun.
ReplyDeleteHey Towle what are your early predictions for League in 4.0 and 4.5?
ReplyDeleteWhat about Tran any predictions for 4.0 or 4.5?
We know HTown Hacker has some early predictions. ????
Towle doesn't make predictions. Look at my 201(k)!
ReplyDeleteSolve it on the court is my opinion.
As a student of history though, there seems to be 6 of 8 teams consistently there each year with 2 teams changing year on year.
This year may be different but will just have to see.
Hopefully every captain makes sure his/her peeps are signed up for the HTA tax and no one gets DQ'ed at city. That is just ridiculous that that happens EVERY YEAR.
Rolido Boys make some noise in 4.0 this summer? Sorry about the rhyming.
ReplyDeleteWhat about the 5.0 teams?
ReplyDelete5.0's Suck. I mean come. Brian Smith??!?!?!? JOKE.
ReplyDeleteWestside has a couple of new members that are pretty solid. I don't know there names off the top of my head but one guy is young and the other might be this benetiz character. If they end up on Ristau's team they will be much tougher...
ReplyDeletealso, i'll find out the names and post them here...
ReplyDeleteDeadline for a majority of roster is tomorrow.
ReplyDeletenobody cares about the deadline?
ReplyDeleteDavid Hall cares. He loves to file protests. For anything.
ReplyDeleteBon Bons?
ReplyDeleteProtest I thought that was Red's thing.
ReplyDeleteAccording to tennislink it looks like there will be 18 4.5 teams and 34 4.0 teams. That is the most I can ever remember.
ReplyDeleteThere won't be nearly that many teams. Probably less than last year.
ReplyDeleteGreen and Puma on the same team. Two dudes who don't hit the ball.
ReplyDeleteWhat are you talking about. Green and Puma love to hit each others balls.
ReplyDeleteFreeman is poaching players. Fucking lawyers.
ReplyDeleteOff with his head. How do he have 2 4.5 teams? Is one the studs and the other the scrubs?
Only that dude could sell that shit from a time zone away.
Freeman: do us all a favor and find a new obsession since you don't even play anymore. Go run for office or something where there are more of your own kind.
How can you poach players when the team they used to play on doesn't exist any more?
ReplyDeleteBut I agree, off with all lawyers' heads.
Screw Freeman. What has he ever done.
ReplyDeletewhats the tennis tournament blogs name? anyone know?
ReplyDeleteHere you go, try here:
ReplyDeletehttp://lmgtfy.com/
This should have your answer.
Way to go Goldfish! One day I'll hold a job long enough to get into the company newsletter.
ReplyDeleteMaybe.....