The TennisDC Player of the Year (POTY) race came down to the wire. Adam Cooper came from WAY behind to take the victory. Friendly rivalry helps us all get better. Blog entry as written by Sat Jiwan Ikle-Khalsa.
Adam's accomplishments!
-300 matches
-200 wins
-multiple 20+ match seasons
-100+ matches.... ALL THIS YEAR!
These are just the highlights of Adam Cooper's 2017 season,
among some other impressive accomplishments. He's always been a dedicated
competitor, but he pulled out all the stops utilizing his A game to the best of
his ability and adding a B game, when he knew he needed to add something
different.... something a little extra.
I've known Adam for two and a half years. We've played 6
times in the Advanced and Elite Divisions of Tennis DC, primarily in
Montgomery County, MD. And while I've won each match, we always have a
good time, we talk about our daughters' schools, and we had our best
set yet in our last meeting. Having 12 deuce points over two
critical games. Adam usually plays higher risk than I do, and he played
the strategically smartest I've seen him play yet. Even letting out a
couple uncharacteristic frustration screams. Over the years we have
both been improving our games, continuing to push each other and our opponents
to achieve more. Apparently I pushed him too hard.... in a good way!
Over the last several years Adam completed an ever
increasing number of matches (31, 66, 96, 109*) , all while maintaining
a winning record in every category (matches, full three setters, 2 setters with
tie-breaks, and 10 game pro sets), with the only exception being a nearly 50%
record in playoffs 25-27.
And just last year in 2016, Adam won Player of the
Year through a brute force effort, completing 96 matches and 63 wins, but did
have to take some time off due to an injury late in the season. For
2017, Adam was on an unwavering mission. He set many goals and
reached them through dedicated effort, intense scheduling, and being creative
and adapting to his opponent.
Story of 2017
After a slow start, he had been on track for 100
matches since mid-year, averaging 10-15 matches per month, with multiple 20+
match seasons. His player of the year rival, Sat Jiwan "SJ" Ikle-Khalsa
(who won POTY in 2015) started the year strong with a few referrals, which are
like gold in the player of the year points. Adding several more by
mid-year via posting flyers across the region anytime he played a match in a
different area, and general networking. By end of the summer, with
SJ's 8 referrals, it didn't seem like Adam could ever catch up with SJ....
even by playing multiple days with two matches and even maintaining a 2:1 win
loss rate, and having some good playoff/tournament runs.
And those 8 referrals are so tough.
Though SJ had been playing less frequently, SJ was winning
enough to keep a sizable lead.
Through the fall, Adam kept playing like a madman on a
mission. BUT he also added to his game plan - he started posting flyers,
did a Yelp review and a TLN blog post. Anything he could to close
the insurmountable gap behind SJ. Through colder November and December,
braving 32 degree blustery mornings for OUTDOOR matches, Adam kept it up
and it paid off.
Summary of achievements for December 2017 - Best Year and
Month ever:
Though he started the month with a now typical 2
wins in one day, Adam had a 4 match losing streak before righting the
ship with 5 wins in a row, including the 2nd and 3rd time he won twice in
one day this month. All while hitting several milestones:
- 300 legacy matches 12/12
- 200 legacy wins 12/20
- 100 matches in one year 12/2 (finished with 109)
- 8 times playing twice in a day this year - and
mostly winning both matches, including 3 days in December to cap off the year:
(April 2, May 7, Sept 30, Oct 7*, Oct 22**, Dec 2, Dec 17, Dec 19)
By early December he passed SJ in POTY points, earning
a lead of 70 points, knowing that SJ was just one referral away from closing
that gap again. Then, in mid-December while setting personal playing and
winning records, Adam got another of those
hard-to-come-by referrals (his 3rd for the year, notching
yet another personal record), setting him clearly out front in the
Player of the Year race, with only 10 cold, holiday days remaining.
And nearly achieving an amazing 1,000 player of the year points. (975 -
rivaling those LA players with 700 matches and 30+ per season standards).
Congratulations to Adam on a smart match. Well Played!
Article by Sat Jiwan "SJ" Ikle-Khalsa, 5.0+
Elite+ Player in TennisDC, member since 2013
**Player of the Year 2015 - when HE came from behind to
win in the last weeks of the year, during the slow winter season**
SJ
is a TennisDC legend. When I started becoming active in the league he was
already the leader in number of wins and had a pocketful of tournament titles
to his name. He is a player who lives and breathes the game and is well-known
for the almost scientific approach he brings to matches. He is also generous
with his advice and astute observations post-match and I’ve seen his warm,
light touch when coaching children. I’ve never come close to him in
either results or ability, but I always enjoy our matchups. While I’ve
been playing longer than he has, I tend to have a looser, more instinctive
(read: mindless) approach to the game. Our POTY back-and-forth this year has
been a lot of fun, and is coming down to wire to see who will be the first
repeat winner for TennisDC!
--- Adam Cooper
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