Corpus this weekend, how about that.

Good luck to Houston players in the draw.  May your balls not be blown off the courts...unless you are into that sort of thing.  I am talking about the ungodly wind in case your mind was in the gutter.

Coke...I mean Gallery...sorry, I mean HTA Major Zone 3 days away.

Since I can't even stand viewing my own blog because of all the crap spam messages, I am sure you can understand why I haven't been very active.  However, in light of the Houston Major Zone this weekend, it would seem very wrong of me not to post something new.  Unfortunately, since this will be the second straight year that I won't be involved at all with the tournament, I really don't have any predictions or comments to make other than from what I can tell entries were down by a decent amount compared to last year.  Is it the impact of the surprise USTA rating fiasco?  The $33 entry fee?  Houston's facilities compared to other Texas cities?  We may never know.

Deadlines are here for Abilene & Mabry

Late reminder. Deadline for Mabry is tonight (200 pointer in San Antonio, starts Feb. 5). Deadline for Abilene Major Zone is tomorrow night (400 pointer, also starts Feb. 5). Abilene probably a worthwhile trip for any of the freshly-bumped-up players who want the best shot at getting some hefty next level points. All the major zone gets a lot tougher competition-wise after this one.

So long 2009. So long USTA participation....

Maybe that is a bit of an overstatement. We shall see. I for one don't see the 3.0 to 3.5, 3.5 to 4.0, 4.0 to 4.5, and 4.5 to 5.0 (oh wait, there weren't any) bump-ups eagerly signing up for events in 2010. Will the 2009 30th-ranked 4.0 want to drive 200 miles to get spanked by the top 4.5 guys who stayed put? I doubt it. Will a team of 4.0s who couldn't win their division in league play be excited about the prospect of getting humiliated by the latest edition of the Freeman All-Star team. I doubt that too. But I bet the 41st ranked 4.0 from 2009 who was left at 4.0 for 2010 is pretty darn excited. That guy only has Kris (I know how to game the system to get bumped down a year after making Master's Cup) Knutson between himself and 4.0 domination. Obviously I am a bit skeptical of the USTA's recent move. Maybe it will be a good thing. Typically, these type of decisions made by bureaucrats at the National level never achieve the polyannish objectives they envision. In this case, it must have been to level out the competitive landscape for league competition, tournament players be damned.

Other than that, I don't really know what to expect or look forward to in 2010. Maybe instead of seeing the departure of unexpectedly bumped players, we will see the return of players that have been missing from the circuit the past couple of years. Lots of Houston die-hards that in the past played every event no matter how far away seem to have faded from the scene. Work, Family, Decline of Game, Bad Economy - who knows the reason, but I don't see a lot of the faces around Houston courts (let alone at tournaments) that I used to consider permanent fixtures on the scene. Kinda hard to talk and/or joke about you if you are not out there playing. Let's hope we see everyone back on the court in 2010 and that unexpectedly USTA got it right and somehow tournament tennis is a more enjoyable experience for everyone in the new year.

See you on the courts.

Guess 4.0 Draws were too big....

....that's the only reason I can see for bumping up a ton of 4.0s and pretty much leaving everyone at 4.5 untouched. Too bad, cause it is the 5.0 draws that really suffer from lack of players. The reality is we are thinking like tournament players and I am sure this "mass" re-rating has everything to do with league play. If it is true that 40 of the top 50 4.0s were bumped up, it seems ridiculous that not even 5 of the top 10 4.5s were not bumped up. USTA has done a lot of bone-headed things the past few years, yet it appears that overall USTA tennis participation continues to rise. It will be interesting to see if a backlash against the new ratings and the ridiculous level of entry fees have an adverse impact in 2010.

Bring in the scrubs...

Is there a USTA NTRP players' strike that I am not aware of? I ask cause I can't for the life of me understand why I see a bunch of names in the draws for the Master's Cup in Austin that should not be there. 4 of the 8 qualifiers for 5.0 are not in the draw. Maybe that should not be a surprise given the sad state of 5.0 tournament tennis in general. 4.5's - No Tim Green and no David Luetke. No Tim is a surprise cause I figured he would want to add this title to his collection before heading back up to 5.0 next year. Nothing else to add here really, as far as Houston's presense at the event it is a shame as John Patch, Odion Dibua, and Tim Green are out and only Reggie Black is in. Odion is the only guy I felt could have given Reader a run for his money, so Reader I hope I am not jinxing you by saying it should now be your event to lose. You are technically from Houston so I hope you do win it. 4.5s, I will still go with Juan Dekruyff to win it as he, like Tim, will be bumped up to 5.0 for the new year. As always good luck to all that are playing.

Master...Master...All I see or hear is Master...

I think I have that lyric right, but it's probably been a decade since I heard that song. Anyway, that's my lame segway into the year end Master's Cup. Start with 5.0: Here are your 8 qualifiers - John Patch, Henry Manalo, Thomas Reader, Odion Dibua, Jason Gound, John McDonough, Henry Akono, and Phillip Zavala. I will call it a coin toss between Reader and Dibua to take the title. Dibua can physically destroy anyone. Reader is very skilled and crafty and it depends how much he cares whether he wins this event. If he wants to win this title then I can only see Dibua preventing him from getting it. I will pull for Reader cause just maybe it will make him hate me less.

In the 4.5s, your final 8 are: Tim Green, Jochen Moser, Alejandro Sanchez, David Luetke, Scott Sevin, Juan Dekruyff, Ben Hawkins, and Guillermo Martin Del Campo. I will look for the winner to come from either Green or Dekruyff. Both are being moved up to 5.0 at year end so that should mean Tim will want to win this title since I believe it is one he does not already hold. In Juan's case, it should mean that he will play right-handed when it matters instead of toying with his opponents by beating them with his off hand. If Juan shows for all matches he would be my pick to win.

In the 4.0s, I really have only heard of Ruben Vargas from the top eight so I guess I will go with him.