Tennis Anyone? Ask Valentin Ionescu-Tiba of Tennis Los Angeles

Valentin Ionescu-Tiba and fourth-ranked professional Andy Murray, who recently won the Olympic Gold Medal, have something in common. Wha? You must be kidding. Nope, not kidding. Here it is: In 2012, they each played 53 matches through the spring. http://legacy.tennis.com/stats/index.aspx/  (At the time of this write-up on 9/1/12)

Now, it’s one thing for a full-time professional tennis player to reach that number of matches. It’s another thing for a Tennis League Network (TLN) recreational player, who works full time, to play that much tennis. After all, tennis is what Andy Murray does for a living. On the other hand, it’s also not so unusual for Valentin—who is clearly obsessed with tennis.

“As of now (Sep 3rd) my 2012 total number of matches played in the league (from Jan 1st until Sep 1st) is 110.” it’s one thing for a full-time professional tennis player to reach that number of matches. It’s another thing for a Tennis Los Angeles recreational player, who works full time, to play that much tennis. After all, tennis is what Andy Murray does for a living. On the other hand, it’s also not so unusual for Valentin—who is clearly obsessed with tennis.

Now, it’s one thing for a full-time professional tennis player to reach 53 or more matches. But it’s another thing for a TLN recreational player, who works full time, to play that much tennis. After all, tennis is what Andy Murray does for a living. On the other hand, it’s also not so unusual for Valentin—who is clearly obsessed with tennis.
 “As of now (Sep 3rd) my 2012 total number of matches played in the league (from Jan 1st until Sep 1st) is 110," Valentin says.


So move over, Mark Stern of Boston (Tennis Northeast), where Valentin previously played, your record of most matches played – 50 matches in fall 2011--has been smashed like an overhead. Although Valentin used to play on your side of the court there in Boston, he's a newly promoted 3.5 player who’s been playing with Tennis LosAngeles since September, 2010 He's now the record holder: http://tennislosangeles.com/info/MatchesInSeason.

 
If you could ask him a question, would it be this one?

 
TENNIS ANYONE?

Tennis Orange County Match Makes TLN history: 6-7, 7-6, 7-6

Thomas Cielinski and Alan Kuhn of Tennis OC should be grateful for tie breaks. Otherwise, like the storied match between John Isner and Nicolas Mahut, who played an 11 hour, 70-68 5th set match at Wimbledon in 2010, they, too, may have made a crazy kind of history. It was that close--three tiebreak sets: 6-7, 7-6, 7-6. It was Tom’s first victory in the 10 matches he and Alan have played to date. 


Tie-break sets are now nearly universal in all levels of play, even in final sets. But that’s not so at all of the Grand Slams. Tie-breaks are not used in the final set in the Australian Open for singles, French Open, Wimbledon, the Olympics, Davis Cup, or Fed Cup. The US Open is the only grand slam to use a tiebreak in the final set for singles. The Australian Open and French Open do, however, use the final set tiebreak for men's and women's doubles. (Toward the end of this article, you can learn about the evolution of the tie break, which has had mixed reception in the world of professional tennis.)

In fact, such a close match is quite rare in TLN history. This is the just the 3rd time in nearly 100,000 matches that a three tiebreak match has been reported to Tennis League Network. Moreover, it hasn't been done in more than four years. The match between Tom and Alan was not only a battle, but it was also a watershed event for Tom, who was the victor for the first time in the ten matches they have played. So does it matter that it was a close match? Not to Tom of course. A win is a win.

Here’s the story according to Tom (Alan left it to Tom to provide the blow-by-blow commentary). While he is proud of his win, you will see that he is somewhat modest.

“The match was three hours long, as are all of the matches that I have played with Alan. We have played each other three times per season, with him winning the previous nine matches in a row.


“During our recent marathon match, the second set tie breaker turned in my favor when people entered the court next to us to start playing. This may have distracted Alan for a brief moment. As a result, he sent a forehand long. The result was that I took the second set. Admin's Note: They probably should of played a let.

“ The third set was more of the same. Alan continued his wall-like form, never missing, but never going for too much. Given that it was the middle of the day, he may have worn out down the stretch, since his wall technique requires a lot of energy.

“Finally, he lost the third set tie breaker when I sent a forehand winner up the line rather than cross court, which may have surprised him. After a warm embrace at net, we sat and enjoyed Tustin's best tap water. In addition to my two handed backhand, my best shot was the first serve; Alan’s is his serve which he calls ‘the swerve.’ It’s simply unreturnable.”


Sounds like it was one helluva match, doesn’t it? Tom sums it up this way: “The Kuhn simply can't be beat without playing a 3 hour match, six bottles of water and a note from him to my wife indicating I was playing and not cheating on her.” Admin's Note: Simply amazed it was only 3 hours. These guys are all about just starting the next point.

Strong Opinions about Tie Breaks.

Not everyone agrees on the wisdom of tie-breaks, which makes them somewhat controversial. Steve Tignor, a writer for Tennis.com, changed his stance on the subject after Olympic tennis. He explains it this way:

“The recently concluded Olympic tennis changed my mind on this issue, but my main reason for embracing the final-set tiebreaker is not the obvious one that would be cited by most time-sensitive television producers. The real problem with deuce sets is that when a match goes as long as Federer v. Delpo or even Jo-Wilfried Tsonga v. Milos Raonic (that one went 25-23, for Tsonga) the reward for the winner's heroic feat is almost always a quick subsequent loss.

For example, “After the storied 70-68 win over Mahut at Wimbledon, Isner lost to No. 46 ranked Thiemo de Bakker in the second round. Isner got five games in three sets. After Paul-Henri Mathieu knocked off heavily favored Isner, 18-16, in the fifth at Roland Garros earlier this year, he lost his next match to No. 23 Marcel Granollers. 

The tiebreak was invented by James Van Alen in 1965 after an earlier, unsuccessful attempt to speed up the game by the use of his so-called Van Alen Streamlined Scoring System (VASSS). For two years before the Open Era, in 1955 and 1956, the United States Pro Championship in Cleveland, Ohio was played by VASSS rules. The scoring was the same as that in table tennis, with sets played to 21 points and players alternating 5 services, with no second service. The rules were created partially to limit the effectiveness of the powerful service of the reigning professional champion, Pancho Gonzales. Even with the new rules, however, Gonzales beat Pancho Segura in the finals of both tournaments. Even though the 1955 match went to 5 sets, with Gonzales barely holding on to win the last one 21–19, it's reported to have taken 47 minutes to complete.[11] The fans attending the matches preferred the traditional rules, however, and in 1957 the tournament reverted to the old method of scoring.

Impetus to use the tiebreak gained force after a monumental 1969 struggle at Wimbledon between Pancho Gonzales and Charlie Pasarell. This was a 5-set match that lasted five hours and 12 minutes and took 2 days to complete. In the fifth set the 41-year-old Gonzales won all seven match points that Pasarell had against him, twice coming back from 0–40 deficits. The final score was 22–24, 1–6, 16–14, 6–3, 11–9.

In 1971 the tiebreak was introduced at Wimbledon when the score in any set except the final set reached 8–8 in games.

In 1979 Wimbledon changed their rules so that a tie break would be played once any set, except the final set, reached 6–6 in games.

In 1989 Davis Cup adopted the tie-break in all sets except for the final set.

In 2001 the Australian Open replaced the final set of mixed doubles with a match tie-break (first to 10 points and win by 2 points wins the match).[12] Despite some criticism of the change by fans and former pros,[13] the US Open and the French Open have since gone on to join the Australian Open in using the same format for mixed doubles. Wimbledon continues to play a traditional best of three match with the final set being an advantage set.

Tie-break sets are now nearly universal in all levels of play, even in final sets; however, the tie-break is not a compulsory element in any set, and the actual formatting of sets and tie-breaks depends on the tournament director in tournaments, and in private matches on the players' agreement before the match begins. Tie-breaks are not used in the final set in the Australian Open for singles, French Open for singles, Wimbledon, the Olympics, Davis Cup, or Fed Cup. The US Open is the only Grand Slam to use a tiebreak in the final set for singles. The Australian Open and French Open do, however, use the final set tiebreak for men's and women's doubles.

Ilias Lalousis: Beware of a Greek Bearing A Tennis Racket!

Ilias Lalousis has likely never encountered Marcos Baghdatis on a tennis court, but he and the 42- ranked player on the men’s professional tour, have one thing in common. They are both from Greece. Baghdatis still lives and trains in Cyprus, but Ilias came to Los Angeles about 6 years ago to study, and started working there after graduation. He is enjoying the weather, which, he says “is perfect for playing tennis throughout the whole year!” In fact, says Ilias, “TennisLosAngeles.com is the reason I became addicted to tennis again!”

It was a long hiatus. “I started when I was 7-8 years old, and was taking classes.” But he stopped when he was 16 years old because he decided to focus more on track and field, “where I was more competitive,” he recalls. He had played a few times since then, “but I really got into tennis again when I joined Tennis LA!”

Despite what he thought when he was a 16-year-old kid, he has proved to himself that he can be very competitive in tennis. He is now a 4.0 player who not long ago moved from the Advanced to the Elite Division, with an overall record of 27-4 and a Winter Season 4.0 Championship title.

 Obviously, Ilias has come a long way since he was referred by a friend who was already playing in the league. He started with the partner program in September, and then joined the winter season league. The he reached the Winter Season final. “That was a great match,” he recalls. “We were both very close in the score. Every point mattered. The match could have gone either way.” As he describes it, the match was one that turned “on the details.” And, what do you know? It turned his way.



Ilias doesn’t have any league rivalries yet but is “looking forward to having them in the future!” So look out players in Tennis LosAngeles. Ilias Lalousis has traveled the distance from Greece to California and plans to keep on moving through Tennis LosAngeles as a winner.

Ilias plays about 3 times per week. What he likes most is “the diversity of the players and the flexibility of the program…I am also really impressed with the very responsive Tennis LA administrative team. Keep up the good work!”
http://TennisLosAngeles.com/

Southern California-- A Lovely Climate for TennisOC

Maria DeSouza moved to the U.S. from Ireland in 2009. Last September, she left San Jose, CA and went south to Orange County.
She truly loves living in southern California. “The weather, the canyons, the ocean…it’s really beautiful.” Do you think that might have something to do with a climate that is conducive to year-round tennis?

When she moved to Orange County, one of the more important things she took with her was her tennis racket, which apparently is becoming well known within the TennisOC league. With a NTRP rating of 3.0 –“But probably 3.5 by now”—she is playing about four times a week.



Her current level of play clearly reflects dramatic improvement for someone who played squash in Ireland, but who is relatively new to tennis. “I started playing little more than a year ago (February of 2011), taking lessons and playing in leagues and tournaments. I played a little casually for a few years before that.”



As a newcomer, Maria learned about Tennis OC in much the same way as many of us learned about our respective local Tennis League Network site. “Someone at my local tennis courts told me about it – I don’t even remember who at this stage,” says Maria. “I like the flexibility and variety of players, the competitive incentives, the format and the price. I just like pretty much everything about this league. I can’t pick just one feature.”



Given that she plays a lot of matches, are there any that are memorable? “There have been a lot of good matches … some ‘out of my league’ though, but always enjoyable. There are no real rivalries, she says, “since I have played too many different people to have had any real rivalries – so far.”



Overall, Maria says she has really enjoyed Tennis OC. “I’ve improved my tennis and met lots of great people. It has also allowed me to recruit lots of great players for my USTA Combo mixed doubles and Ladies Spring League teams.”



Maria is married, but her husband doesn’t much enjoy tennis. He prefers golf, or badminton. Nevertheless, “He patiently (sometimes) supports my obsession for tennis !!” Her 9 year old step-daughter is “very athletic,” and “mostly plays baseball (on a boys team). She is a good swimmer too.” But it should come as no surprise that her interest in tennis is increasing through Maria’s influence. “She’s a natural!” Maria says proudly.



Maria is such a Tennis OC cheerleader that her enthusiasm has encouraged more people to join.



“I just played in the league and told people about it because I thought it was a wonderful way of playing lots of tennis with good people. I encouraged a few people to join or to get their wives to join so that there would be a women's division, but there were lots of others who joined with no influence from me.”

8 years and 502 tennis matches later and this game still challenges, entertains and keeps me fit.

2009 National Championship

    My name is Steve Chagnon, the owner/lead administrator for the Tennis League Network (TLN), an online tennis community that matches players of similar levels. You might know the program as one of 30 city based programs: TennisDC.com, TennisLosAngeles.com or TennisNorthEast.com.

A quick background on me . . . I grew up being a sports fanatic.  I had a childhood baseball addiction, which eventually led to my love of basketball through my 20's.  Basketball is a great team sport but it's brutal on the ankles and knees. It's also quite humbling when you barely get into your mid-30's and you lose your outside shot.  Through the years tennis was always in the background but it took front and center when I entered my 30's and my basketball skills faded. 

    For me, the beautiful thing about tennis is that there really was only one period where I got pretty good. At my first job out of college with EMC Corporation, a co-worker and I would hit the courts once a week, to just hit around or play matches. Within a few short months we both had elevated our games to a point where winners were becoming commonplace and playing rallies was the norm. This was all lost when I ended up leaving the company.  No more partner. No more tennis. 

    It took about 7 more years before I found a local program and started to play competitive singles matches. But the program had some major flaws, mainly that it relied on postal mail to connect players together, phone calls to post score updates. Things moved slowly, if they moved at all. Eventually, they stopped moving, and the league was entirely shut down. 

2010 National Championship 

So, the concept for TLN the program grew out of my continued desire to compete in a fun and engaging sport.  That’s what tennis is.  It doesn’t matter how old you are or how athletic – just get out on the tennis court and you can see improvements within a short period of time. All you need is either a wall to hit against, an instructor or a tennis partner. The program's true foundation is that we find you passionate tennis players who love the sport of tennis to meet up with you, a  “stranger to them”, on the courts. Call us the match-maker of the online tennis world.  But it’s not a singles group and there's no dating, just the initial awkwardness of meeting up with a new potential tennis friend. This leads to exchanging forehands and backhands and hopefully lots of rallies.  

    So TennisNorthEast.com was born, the Metro Boston Tennis League - the first, the original, and now the 3rd biggest community in the 30-city network.  The program and its format has changed dramatically over the years, with constant feedback from the community, and implementing changes to make this the truest form of Flex League available. What’s all the fuss about, you ask?  Play as much as you want during an 8 to 9 week season. If the first match was a barn-burner, then get out on the courts again and play a rematch.   Women who win 4 matches or men who win 5 matches during the regular season qualify for the playoffs. The single-elimination playoff format is where the champions are crowned. City champions are then eligible to go to our national championship, which is held yearly in November at the gorgeous Crandon Park Tennis Center in Key Biscayne, Florida. 

   Time has passed since that first league kicked off.  Here I am still playing, 502 matches later, with a marginal (at best) record of 251 wins and 251 losses with 3 losses in championship finals. I'm a struggling 3.5 player needing to hold serve way more often than I currently am. But, I'm constantly striving to improve aspects of my game as I still AIM to eventually win a championship.  Spring is nearing and it's time to get physically prepared for the 2012 outdoor season. Sadly, for us up here in Boston, it doesn’t start until late April, unlike the players in LA, Orange County, and most southern cities where they get to play outdoors year round.  

    This year, Tennis League Network will surpass its 100,000th match played. The program has evolved over the years and will continue to evolve, by listening to the community, which is the only way to make sure we're trying to deliver the best product possible.  Though I have my own 502 matches under my belt, I certainly intend to keep going, and think 1,000 matches is a good target.  By the time I reach it, perhaps a player in Los Angeles or Orange County will have surpassed me. If you get there before me, then a lifetime membership in the program will be yours. Good luck! 


                            -Steven Chagnon 
                            Owner and Lead Administrator 
                            Tennis League Network, llc