Texas Sectionals 4.0 and up

[asimple]

As far as I can tell the self rate guidelines are not enforced consistently across the board. Appeal process can be random and depend on who you know. Maybe a starstruck person was tickled pink that a former top player wanted to play in their little ol' 40+ league.

I have to admit, I would have liked to play doubles against Leach.

From what I have seen 50 seems to be the age where people's ability seem to fall off pretty quickly, and my guess is that an ex-pro might have quite a few injuries to contend with as well.

 

[J_R_B]

That was my thought too.

And doesn't enforcement require someone to file a grievance? Or is an LC supposed to proactively notice and correct self-rates that don't follow the guidelines?

I don't think anyone is supposed to proactively correct self-rates, but if a former touring pro actually CHEATED on a self-rating questionnaire to play 4.5 league tennis, I would be absolutely shocked. I just assued that he self-rated and then was granted an appeal through the section to play 4.5.

I don't think 5.5 would have been fair either though. In our match he did not seem so far above everyone else to say he is now a 5.5.

If that's true, then I would see granting an appeal for 5.0, but to appeal a former top 30 pro to 4.5 seems a little ridiculous. The will be captains that see that and think "well, why can't I recruit Pete Sampras for my 4.5 40+ team?"...

 

[coyote]

Again, I never mentioned which area/section I was from in that thread. Something makes me think we've already met. If not, we should get together to hit some time!

Regardless, I wouldn't take anything back I posted in that linked thread other than calling the guy self-satisfied. That was judgy and written in the heat of the moment with the bad taste of questionable sportsmanship still in my mouth.

(Going to ignore the borderline threatening nature of this last post.)

You don't need to worry about this forum. I didn't take anything threatening. We have never met but if you keep playing I suspect we will run into one another some day.

Best of luck; just remember that this community is small and when you personally attack a person/team; somebody may notice.

 

[Brian11785]

You don't need to worry about this forum. I didn't take anything threatening. We have never met but if you keep playing I suspect we will run into one another some day.

Best of luck; just remember that this community is small and when you personally attack a person/team; somebody may notice.

Just know it was never my intention to attack anyone. This forum is a place I come to discuss pro tennis/gear/technique and occasionally blow off steam in this subforum. Again, I stand by (almost) everything I have posted, but I should, in the future, be more cognizant that the Internet is not as anonymous as it might feel.

 

[goober]

From what I have seen 50 seems to be the age where people's ability seem to fall off pretty quickly, and my guess is that an ex-pro might have quite a few injuries to contend with as well.

In my experience there is a fall off in singles but not as much in doubles. I know plenty of 50+ somethings that can hold their own in 4.5 dubs but none of them ever played pro or even high level college.

 

[coyote]

Fair enough, as I said, we will eventually run into each other and probably be just fine with one another.

Best of luck

 

[coyote]

I have to admit, I would have liked to play doubles against Leach.

From what I have seen 50 seems to be the age where people's ability seem to fall off pretty quickly, and my guess is that an ex-pro might have quite a few injuries to contend with as well.

Fall off... yes... but not that far off. Top 50 in the world is UNREAL!!!

I am with you, I would love to play him just to take my beat down. Do I get to 12 points or him to 12 games quicker?

 

[asimple]

In my experience there is a fall off in singles but not as much in doubles. I know plenty of 50+ somethings that can hold their own in 4.5 dubs but none of them ever played pro or even high level college.

I think this is also a function of how you define "hold your own". I'm mainly a singles player but I haven't seen that many "competitive" 50+ 4.5 players who hadn't played 5.0+ in the past. The strongest team in my area is full of the 50+ guys but they are ex-college players. In general it seems the strong doubles teams have been the 30/40 age groups.

 

[atatu]

Victim of Houston 4.5 here
Thought we had a pretty strong team until Sunday. No, we had a really good team. Just picked a bad year to go up against Houston.

Atatu - Enjoyed our match against your team. Bad luck that we were in the same flight.

Fort Worth ? You guys had an awesome team, smoked us. Yeah bad luck that Houston had their best team ever this year.

 

[wings56]

Fort Worth ? You guys had an awesome team, smoked us. Yeah bad luck that Houston had their best team ever this year.

Like I said before, Houston is going down next year.

 

[HoustonHacker]

Fort Worth ? You guys had an awesome team, smoked us. Yeah bad luck that Houston had their best team ever this year.

Ya think?

I guess we'll see at Nationals. I don't believe a Houston 4.5 team has made the finals of 4.5 Nationals in the 17 years that I've been playing. I give the 4.5 team a better chance at winning it all than the 4.0 or 3.5 teams.

 

[cknobman]

Just looked at the results.

Nice to see the Fort Worth teams put up some respectable results!

As for Houston they seemed to clean up this year.

 

[cneblett]

I also sort of wonder if he avoided it by playing only in the over 40 league and not 18. Where he could have been dqed but it would make no difference. Wonder if that happened at all for self rates only in the over 40 4.5 or 18 5.0 this year

In the early start ratings published yesterday, mike was listed as 5.0.

 

[dode]

I like him just fine (had met him previously - http://tt.tennis-warehouse.com/showthread.php?t=464314), but he was definitely a d*** to my teammates that day. As I said in that thread, a few of my teammates got on to me for even acknowledging him later in the afternoon. That's how sucky of an impression he made on them.

Again, unless you were there, how would you know which area/section I am from? My location isn't listed in the thread.

I saw some of this guy's antics at nationals last year. He got into more than one confrontation that I saw down there. I was so happy when they got beat in the semi-finals. I also found it quite humorous when I saw that he got double bumped, since he wasn't even one of the best 3 or 4 players on the team. Karma can be a b**** sometimes.

John

 

[atatu]

Thread revival alert !! Just got back from Dallas, Amarillo takes the 4.5 title over Austin this year, all I can say about the kids they had playing singles is WOW. SE Texas upset Fort Worth and Lubbock surprised Dallas, it was definitely the year for the smaller cities.

 

[tennis_tater]

Looks like the team with the former 5.0 plus/usta top 50 boys 18/ teaxas A& M player cruised through sectionals and will be returning to nationals again.

 

[mikeler]

Looks like the team with the former 5.0 plus/usta top 50 boys 18/ teaxas A& M player cruised through sectionals and will be returning to nationals again.

I heard about that guy from our team 2 years ago.

 

[JLyon]

Looks like the team with the former 5.0 plus/usta top 50 boys 18/ teaxas A& M player cruised through sectionals and will be returning to nationals again.

Funny he found his game just in time for Sectionals, what a joke and people wonder why many refuse to play USTA league now days.
9 self-rated players also helps, including the A&M player, a Super Champ, and JUCO player

 

[cknobman]

Funny he found his game just in time for Sectionals, what a joke and people wonder why many refuse to play USTA league now days.
9 self-rated players also helps, including the A&M player, a Super Champ, and JUCO player

If that is true expect to see some DQ in the next week or two.

 

[mikeler]

If that is true expect to see some DQ in the next week or two.

Without researching scores, it sounds like they tank at the local level to keep their rating intact.

 

[JLyon]

Without researching scores, it sounds like they tank at the local level to keep their rating intact.

BINGO!!
The team already had one ringer DQ'ed during the season, but the captain is notorious for pushing the rules, if not flat out breaking but no one files anything.

 

[atatu]

Are you guys talking about 4.0 ?

 

[JLyon]

Are you guys talking about 4.0 ?

yes, sorry to change the topic from 4.5 but the 4.0 stuff was a joke.

Sounds like Amarillo had 2 studs for singles, very similar to 1999 when the won Sectionals as well.

 

[atatu]

yes, sorry to change the topic from 4.5 but the 4.0 stuff was a joke.

Sounds like Amarillo had 2 studs for singles, very similar to 1999 when the won Sectionals as well.

Yeah the two kids they had playing singles have both won matches on the futures circuit, but I don't really have a problem with it, they just worked the system a little better than Houston this year.

 

[JLyon]

Yeah the two kids they had playing singles have both won matches on the futures circuit, but I don't really have a problem with it, they just worked the system a little better than Houston this year.

They beat some 2*/3* players which is just good draw in qualifying.
Powell is only a 2* recruit which is similar to what Austin has with Bond and the other juniors.

 

[atatu]

They beat some 2*/3* players which is just good draw in qualifying.
Powell is only a 2* recruit which is similar to what Austin has with Bond and the other juniors.

Like I said, I don't have a problem with it, but you haven't seen these guys play so you don't really know. I know you are just going by what you see on tennisrecruiting.net so I don't fault you, but you need to see these guys play, to really have an idea.

 

[SpitFire]

Seeing you guys post is making me jealous as hell. I went to Spring Park to watch my cousin from Lubbock play. Made me miss playing as a team.

Anyways, I'm a 4.0 tournament player (more like 4.5) from DFW looking for a team. Hit me up if you're interested in playing or just want to hit some.

 

[JLyon]

Like I said, I don't have a problem with it, but you haven't seen these guys play so you don't really know. I know you are just going by what you see on tennisrecruiting.net so I don't fault you, but you need to see these guys play, to really have an idea.

yeah we had same issue locally as well couple 2*/3* players who walloped everyone, so looks like the stars mean nothing anymore when you have a bunch of 2* and 3* kids beating up on very good 4.5 players.

 

[J_R_B]

There is definitely variation within the star rating levels, but a 3* around here is probably typically borderline 4.5/5.0. There is a kid who's a 3* in NJ who was DQ'd from 4.5 last year. There's a 1* kid who just beat a couple 4.5 league players in the local tournament last week.

 

[wings56]

was a tough year for SETX 4.5... came up big against ft. worth... had a few key players that were missing that would have at least gotten us to the finals.

Good job from Amarillo to put it all together this year.

 

[atatu]

was a tough year for SETX 4.5... came up big against ft. worth... had a few key players that were missing that would have at least gotten us to the finals.

Good job from Amarillo to put it all together this year.

Yeah that guy you had playing singles was very very good, a couple of more players like that and you'd be planning for Nationals now.

 

[wings56]

Yeah that guy you had playing singles was very very good, a couple of more players like that and you'd be planning for Nationals now.

Unfortunately we won't have him probably ever again... he will get bumped up and be back at 5.0 next year. He was on another level over the weekend. I played with him last night... first set was more from this weekend and then he came back down to Earth.

We're hoping to get some other good guys back for next year though.

Were you on the Austin 4.5 team?

 

[atatu]

Unfortunately we won't have him probably ever again... he will get bumped up and be back at 5.0 next year. He was on another level over the weekend. I played with him last night... first set was more from this weekend and then he came back down to Earth.

We're hoping to get some other good guys back for next year though.

Were you on the Austin 4.5 team?

Yeah, I was on the team, but didn't play against you guys (choked against edit: The Valley, so I was happy to watch) the other guy who played singles for you (younger kid) was a good player, and very fair also.

 

[wings56]

Yeah, I was on the team, but didn't play against you guys (choked against Amarillo so I was happy to watch) the other guy who played singles for you (younger kid) was a good player, and very fair also.

He is solid. I was the one running the electrolyte drinks out to him when he was cramping at the end. I played against Hillestad/Gilmer.

Thats okay though... when we played the valley... we had two matchpoints on my serve against the guys that played line 1 against yall. I went for a second serve ace and put it in the net... next match point my partner dumped his overhead in the net... ended up losing in the third set tiebreak.

The guys we played REAKED of alcohol. I should have drank more before that match...

 

[atatu]

Well, we made it to Nationals in the 40 and over 4.5 plus league, so I can't complain ! More tough matches against Dallas and Fort Worth !

 

[coyote]

Well, we made it to Nationals in the 40 and over 4.5 plus league, so I can't complain ! More tough matches against Dallas and Fort Worth !

Congratulations. Dekruyff was definitely the difference. Impressive that he can still play at such a high level. Good luck at nationals

 

[mikeler]

I was at 40, 4.5+ Nationals last year. What a trip, enjoy every minute of it.

 

[JLyon]

Congratulations. Dekruyff was definitely the difference. Impressive that he can still play at such a high level. Good luck at nationals

Yeah he has gotten crazy good, amazing he has kept the level I played him at Sectionals 15+ yrs ago and he has only gotten better.

 

[atatu]

Yeah he has gotten crazy good, amazing he has kept the level I played him at Sectionals 15+ yrs ago and he has only gotten better.

Agreed, for a guy in his 40's he's very tough, when he first moved to Austin around '97 he was just an average 4.5 level player, now in his mid 40's he's close to being a 5.5 player.

 

[JLyon]

Agreed, for a guy in his 40's he's very tough, when he first moved to Austin around '97 he was just an average 4.5 level player, now in his mid 40's he's close to being a 5.5 player.

I feel horrible now, I was close with him in '98, now I am a borderline 4.5 player trending to 4.0.

Congrats to you guys ATatu on taking the 40's

 

[atatu]

I feel horrible now, I was close with him in '98, now I am a borderline 4.5 player trending to 4.0.

Congrats to you guys ATatu on taking the 40's

Thanks ! Haven't been to any team nationals event since 2002 or so, it will be fun now as an old guy !