Hello from T-Town,
Great to be back home where it’s been three weeks since the last competition at our facility. We’ve had some interesting weather with hot and humid temps as well as some breezy conditions and rain. A good week to get used to the outdoors where all of our matches will be played from here on out barring any objection from Mother Nature. This weekend is an exciting one as we begin SEC play and welcome two notable opponents in Vanderbilt (Friday at 6pm) and Kentucky (Sunday at 1pm). Both are improved teams from last year and will present plenty of toughness like the rest of our conference. There are no layups or slam dunks in the SEC which is why the conference motto is so true – “It Just Means More”.
Last weekend the guys played their hearts out in Montgomery at the 70th Annual Blue Gray National Tennis Classic. Clay Torbert, BG Tournament Chair, and his staff did an incredible job once again hosting 16 teams (8 men, 8 women) and providing incredible hospitality and a memorable Southern touch. So many people put their heart and soul into this event that brought great crowds to Lagoon Park and O’Conner Tennis Centers, as well as plenty of smiles, y’alls, excitement and cheers. Roll Tide and Thank You to everyone involved!
Our team’s goal was to reach the finals and have the opportunity to win the title for the first time since 1989. We came into the tournament as the #2 seed with Rice University standing in our way in the first round early Friday morning. The Owls were the defending Blue Gray champions so we didn’t take them lightly at all. Following a solid doubles point victory with wins at #2 & #3 doubles, we scored at #6 (Alexey Nesterov), #4 (Edson Ortiz) and #2 (Thibault Cancel) and secured the victory. Match Bama! Roll Tide! The Tide advanced to the 2nd round for the first time since 2009. Personally, that was my immediate goal as match #1 had been a tough go since I arrived in Tuscaloosa.
The day was not over as the tournament’s second round began later that afternoon with a doubles match against the University of Arizona. The Wildcats recorded an impressive first round win over the #4-seed, Princeton, and were ready to keep our momentum from continuing into the night. Our doubles play actually started off slowly we went down early breaks on a couple of courts. Thibault and Alexey kept their engines in high gear and stormed out for the first win, while Zhe and Patrick did their best to battle back from a 1-5 deficit. Edson and Mazen snatched their service break back and looked to put things away. The Wildcats were tenacious and very vocal calling out “first point Cats”, “break point Cats” and “break on court 3 Cats” to name a few lines. Our guys did a better job of focusing on the tennis and not the cheers as the match wore on which might not have been the case early on. Patrick and Zhe won three straight deuce point games to get back on serve at 4-5 in their set which tamed any sort of Arizona momentum. This allowed the other two tandems to do their thing and ultimately it was Mazen and Edson that clinched our 14th doubles point of the season. Point Bama! Roll Tide!
Saturday morning began at 10am and six singles matches on court. After an hour delay due to a little drizzle, we went back on court with a 1-0 lead. Lagoon Park was packed with fans of all ages as the Blue Gray hosted a Kids Festival filled with lots of games, face painting, slime making, picture taking with Big Al and Aubie (Auburn’s furry friend) and a ton of sugar consumption from the ice cream, cotton candy and other sweets on hand for the boys and girls (including my minions Nina, Grant and Greta…by far their favorite day of the weekend). Matches were played on all courts and cheers were bellowed from various places throughout the facility. The sun shined bright and the action was riveting. Quite the perfect day.
Arizona battled at all positions in the lineup most notably at the top spot as Trent Botha (younger brother of former #1 singles and doubles player for Alabama, Jarryd Botha) let Mazen have every ounce of grit he had. Each player won a set so their tie would go into a pivotal third frame. Edson put on an impressive display of tennis which included a left handed down the line passing shot, followed by a huge “VAMOS!” His win pushed the score to 2-0 Alabama, but Arizona responded with wins at #4 and #6 to tie things up 2-2. Ironically, Patrick faced his best friend from back home in Finland and had just begun the third set before the Tide rolled over the Cats. Thibault came from behind to close out his match 6-1 in the third while Mazen followed suit with a 6-2 in the third win. Match Bama! Roll Tide! That extended our winning streak to 14 (longest in program history) and pushed us to the title match against Arizona State.
The sun was setting and the Sun Devils made their way to court. The program had begun their first season in ten years as Arizona State cut men’s tennis in May 2008. After aggressive fundraising and support from the Phoenix community the men’s team returned to Division I competition this year. Bama on the other hand, was in their first Blue Gray final since 2009, with their sights set on a championship that had not been returned to Tuscaloosa since 1989 (under the current team format). The stands were packed at Lagoon as several other matches were also being contested into the early hours of Saturday night. Our team had a surprise visit from strength coach, Evan Van Nostrand, who raced down the interstate for a little extra boost in the final. After a passionate team break led by ‘Van’ the Tide took to the courts for doubles. The sets were highly contested with not much margin for error on any court. Patrick and Riccardo were inserted at #3 and were the first pair to put up a ‘W’ on the board. Thibault and Alexey inched out to a small lead and had the opportunity to serve out their match while Edson and Mazen were headed for a tiebreaker. The Devils (pitch-) forked their way back into the set on court 2 by breaking the French/Russian combo and also forced a tiebreaker. Chants of “ALA!”, “BAMA!” filled the stands and echoed throughout the facility with “A!” “S!” “U!” also being chanted here and there. Edson and Mazen were first to and through the finish line as they stampeded out to a large lead in their breaker and closed out the Tide’s 15th straight doubles point of the season. Point Bama! Roll Tide!
The adrenaline flowed on as we went out for the singles portion of the match. Arizona State’s roster was filled with players with ATP points and significant experience playing professional tournaments around the world. The visitors from the desert struck once, twice and three times on courts #5, #4 and #2. ASU 3, BAMA 1. Alabama found themselves in a hole for the first time all season so we’d see how gritty we would be for the remainder of the match. Patrick Kaukovalta was running his 6’ 5” frame side to side, up and back against his similar height, yet larger opponent on court #3. PK had won the first set and had opportunities to win the second but lost in a narrow tiebreaker. Alexey was down a break in the third set on court 6 but willed his way to victory battling through leg cramps late in his match. Point Bama! The score was now 3-2 ASU with Patrick up a break in the third while Mazen headed to a third set of his own. Patrick’s opponent began to cramp while he was up 4-2 and ultimately collapsed in pain during a point and couldn’t continue. Point Bama! 3-3 with all bodies, eyes and cheers shifted to court 1.
Mazen’s opponent, Michael Geerts had a #435 professional singles ranking and came to college for just one season of competition. He and Mazen had competed against each other in junior international events and probably never though about squaring off in the future at Lagoon Park. Funny where tennis can take you. Geerts inched out to a 4-2 lead in the third but Mazen held to make it 4-3. The ASU opponent then jumped out to a 40-0 lead while serving 4-3 and within a blink of an eye, Mazen reeled off four straight points and evened the match at 4-4. Wow some incredible tennis was played in that game, not to mention all of the final set. Mazen then raced out to a 40-0 score but his Belgian counterpart duplicated what had just happened to him and won four consecutive points to jump ahead 5-4. Momentum shifts were happening with each ball struck and point won. Again truly impressive tennis and invaluable experience for Alabama to face. After getting the score to 40-30, Geerts cranked a forehand that was too tough to defend and Arizona State had claimed the Blue Gray. Bummer…but not to be disappointed. The guys learned a lot about each throughout the tournament and all the players experienced being in a dog fight from start to finish against a high-level team. Edson and Mazen received the runner-up trophy and brought it to the team huddle. We put our arms around each other and sang Yeah Alabama and yelled “Roll Tide!” for a final time that weekend.
After a couple of days rest, we returned to the courts for some night time hitting in preparation for our version of Friday Night Lights. Come join us at 6pm against Vanderbilt as we open the SEC season with a bang and a bbq too The Crimson Racket Club is sponsoring and serving up FREE hamburgers and hot dogs to all fans in attendance. Riccardo Roberto and Jeremey Gschwendtner are our fathead/player pin featured players. Sunday is Bama Tennis Kids Day and we will welcome Big Al (our fathead and pin featured player), provide FREE pizza to all kids, have a bounce house on hand and also give away FREE squishees to the first 75 kids. What are squishees you might ask? Well if you have any kids aged 5-10 years of age you know the craze. If not then come on out and see for yourself. For our out of towners that can’t make it to Tuscaloosa on either Friday or Sunday, stay up to date with online scoring and live streaming by clicking on these links.
Hope to see you out there for more wild and crazy tennis, excitement and memories created, pluck and grit on display. #ThatsBAMA
Roll Tide,
George