Unleash the Waco Heat....

Wow, lots of good matchups in 4.5 and 5.0. A few 5.0 predictions to start it off. Dibua beats Gound. Dibua beats Green. Reader beats Schornick. Reader beats Manalo. Reader beats Dibua. 5.0 is done.

4.5s - Looks like David Guy decided he is 4.5 to stay, good for you I guess. He will have a tough one early against the mean spirited David Luedkte, ex-coach of the Baylor womens tennis team, who made it to the finals against Dibua last year. If he wins that one, I don't see David beating Alfonso Rodriguez who has been red hot this year. Trautman should actually be thrilled with his draw on paper as he will not have to face Alfonso til the finals so perhaps there will be no sudden early round shoulder injuries this time. He does have Sanchez in the quarters and that should be tough if it happens. I would not expect Knutson to have a chance against Sanchez but Sanchez hates junk and Knutson hits it like he is Fred Sanford himself, plus Knutson has the confidence of beating Solis which I still cannot believe happened.

The real possible upsetter to all this in the 4.5 draw is Juan Dekruyff who is a very, very strong righty who has played ages, 5.0, and Open but also likes dabble in 4.5 as a lefty and still makes it to the finals at Austin tournaments with his off hand. Will be interesting to see how he plays this one. If he really tries and sticks around to the end, he could definitely emerge as the dark horse from the bottom and give Alfonso a run for his money. Otherwise, I would say this tournament will go the way of the last 3 major zones and end up in the hands of Alfonso.

4.0 - There's Foad and a whole bunch of other guys. My guess is that the winner will be someone from the whole bunch of other guys, but if Foad and can somehow pull it off, I guess that is good for Houston, even if a bunch of you guys keep hating on him for some reason.

Good luck to everyone, lets have some fun this week and here hoping you don't cramp!

Next Up, Wacko Waco.

Congrats to winners of Copperfield, especially last minute sneak-in David Guy, who ended up winning the 4.5 singles. I would have had Guy in my poll and voted for him if he had been in the draw AT THE SAME TIME AS EVERYONE ELSE. But no worries.

Next up Waco, site of the best tennis facility for a major zone in the entire state. Always good tennis up in Waco, and usually good weather to go with it, so let's hope for the best. Call out to all you 5.0 guys to answer lord of the strings and show up so that he doesn't get to take home the 5.0 title as the result of winning a measly 2 matches. Here's hoping for a 16 draw.

Will Alfonso and the valley crew make the drive? It would be a first, but Alfonso might like the idea of running away with all the majors with the exception of Abilene, which really only qualifies on the basis of points not level of competition anyway.

Will this year's crop of 4.0 graduates show up again and do some damage to the 4.5 veterans?

Will Greg Schmucker show up for his 1st non-Houston tournament of the year?

Will Foad's resurgence in 4.0 continue?

Will Brian Smith make the drive, and if so will he play 5.0 or Open?

Just a few of exciting topics to discuss on DAYS OF OUR RECREATIONAL, WANNABE TENNIS LIVES.

Countdown to the Magic Show (Weak David Copperfield Reference)

You guys are getting chatty again. Yesterday was the biggest post day since the day before the Gallery Furniture (1st time I have not called it the Coke). And really, no is even be that mean either. So good job. It is quite a strong tourney this weekend, especially the 4.5 draw. 4.0 would have been impressive as well if Foad Ansari and Eddie Janek had played this one instead of the exhibition event going on on the other side of town. There should definitely be some good matches this weekend. Not to discount Mike Salinas cause he is a solid player, but if Greg Schmucker wins that match I certainly hope he does show up to play Knutson, assuming again that Knutson wins. Listen to me, I sound like Dinker with all my matter of fact predictions. That being said, I do agree with the poll that Red Benzon should be the favorite to win. I am surprised that he is playing a 4.5 tournament. Guess he wanted to shut some of the people up who are always attacking him on the league blog. Anyway, good luck to him, if the weather cooperates and he can take the wear and tear of multiple matches, he definitely has the game to beat this weekend. 5.0 is what it is and none of the guys who signed up for it should be spoken of poorly. Several of the 4.5 entrants should have joined them in the 5.0 draw. Red Benzon, Herb Morton, Greg Schmucker, David McMullan, to name an obvious few. Like I said, it is what it is. Everyone enjoy and try to lay off the beer until after your singles matches. Doubles players, feel free to drink up all you like cause no one cares. Just joking.

Not Quite Mid-Year Review

Well someone posted today about how boring the blog has been and I agree. The blog has gotten very boring over the last week or so. See what happens when everyone is kind to each other. Yawn. No surprises in the winners of the 4.5 and 5.0 singles down in Corpus. Never heard of the guy who won the 4.os. Next Major Zone a little more than 3 weeks away up in Waco, home of the best tennis facility of any of the Texas Major Zones. Before that, there is Copperfield locally for those interested. Deadline is May 9. Usually a fun tournament if for no other reason than John Kutrick keeps the keg of beer flowing all weekend long, which is great for those who lose early as well as those who care more about free beer than how they play. With 4 Major Zones come and gone, have there been any major surprises to you guys? Players you would have thought would have a great year in 2008 who so far have not? Players who seem to be on the fade? Players you never heard of that have emerged as forces? Newly bumped 4.5s who have either exceeded or disappointed since moving up from 4.0? Players who seem to have disappeared from the scene? Alfonso Rodgriquez coming back looking like he has spent the last couple of years on the tour? Players you have completely grown tired of talking about?

Can Ya Feel The Wind Already?

Yep, only a couple of days away from Corpus so time to fire up the discussion again. Starting with 4.5s, you don't have to go far down the draw to find the first compelling potential matchup and that would be a possible 2nd round showdown between Houston's own Greg Schmucker and Kris Knutson. Kris's unique style could be quite a handful if the conditions are on the windy side. If Greg shows I would think he should be able to come out on top if he stays patient. I am aware that Kris has had his number in the past but I believe it has been quite a while since they have last played. Brian Goldberg also will have his hands full with a tough 1st round draw against Leonardo Solis. Hopefully Brian can give him a tough fight but I would have to go with Leonardo. As someone pointed out, Kallus should be able to come out the victor against his 1st round opponent BYE but then will have to face the winner of two local Corpus guys. If there is even a hint of breeze, I am going with the Corpus guy. Bradley Nash, John Griffin, Ruben Vargas, and Richard Patton round out the Houston contigent and all would appear to have winnable 1st round matchups. Not saying they should win, just that the opponent's names should not inspire fear either. I know there will probably be at least 1 unknown and unseeded player who makes his way very deep but looking at the draw as it stands, I would go with Solis and Rodriguez in 1 semis & Sanchez and Casas in the other with Rodriguez taking home his 3rd Major Zone of the Year.

In 5.0, all but 1 of the 7 players are Houston area guys. The only compelling 1st round match up will be between Tim Green and Reggie Black as they both play well in the typical Corpus Conditions. Tim should come through in this one and should then win the tournament over the winner of the match between Herb Morton and Joe Schornick. From what I have heard, Tim has pretty much owned the Corpus tournament in the past at 4.0s, 4.5s, and 5.0s. Look for the domination to continue.

And finally, yes there will be some 4.0s going at it as well. Will Foad be able to break the streak of 1st round Major Zone exits? Will he fight his way through the consolation draw? Will anyone else try to comment on 4.0s since I obviously cant'? We shall see.

What's it take to get a seed these days?

Looks like final competitor list are up now for Corpus since the seeds are already posted. Right off the bat it stands out that the 5.0s are once again getting screwed because of the small draw sizes. Herb Morton & Reggie Black get the only 2 seeds since there are only 7 players, leaving Tim Green and Joe Schornick out in the cold. Based on his history, Tim Green should be the top seed though I know he does not currently have the points. Does anyone know how many seeds the computer spits out per 8 spots in the draw? Based on the 5.0s it is 2. Based on the 4.5 and 4.0 draws it is only 1 per 8. I think tournament directors need to either be willing to add additional seeds based on knowledge of players or perhaps go to masters-cup round robin format for Major Zone draws of 8 or less. 5.0 tournament tennis is doomed to never grow in terms of draw sizes as long as the draws keep working out this way. 4.5 is a bit better as there are 26 guys signed up and thus 4 seeds. Even here I would say the seeds should be extended to at least 6 to catch a couple of other guys that are ranked right around the top 10 and basically one or two spots behind the #4 seed. This way, those guys at least get one of the 1st round byes and perhaps don't have to waste a full day of vacation to get down to Corpus for a Friday morning match. Maybe I am wrong but it seemed to me that in the past, tournament directors had discretion to increase the number of seeds regardless of the draw size. I don't see what is wrong with having 2 seeds for every 8 spots, meaning there should be 8 seeds for the 4.5s and up to 16 seeds for the 4.0s. In the atp, there are 32 seeds in the Grand Slam draws of 128 so 1 for every 4. Even here at River Oaks, there were 8 seeds for a 32 draw. That is the fair ratio if you ask me.

New Week, New Discussion Thread, Same old crap....

Since we were past 100 posts again on the last thread I went ahead and started a new one. Still nothing new to talk about other than the approaching deadline for registering for the Corpus Christi Hurricane Tennis Challenge (or Buc Days Major Zone as it is also known). With nothing more to add at the moment, I will turn it over to you guys for a new round of bashing each other...well, more like bashing the same 2 or 3 people over and over again but you know what I mean. Have at it.