Remember The Alamo!....City MZ Deadline.

Last string was getting really long (120+), so time to start fresh. Congrats to Tyler Champs, you know who you are, even if I haven't heard of some of you. To those participating in Al Edwards, have fun, but not much too talk about given the small draws. Reggie wins 5.0 and either Halm or Morales win 4.5. Done.

More importantly, deadline for Alamo City is Sunday, June 29, so remember to sign up. Please feel free to take the Dinker Challenge and sign up for the 5.0 draw. If you are a glutton for the punishment that 12 man singles and 3 team doubles draws represent (sarcastic), sign up for both events. More seriously and Dinker's comments aside, it would be great to see more guys playing 5.0, thus producing more interesting draws and the prospect of a true weekend's worth of tennis. Even better, if you do sign up for 5.0 and lose, why not actually stick around and play your consolation match for a change. That might also inspire some of the guys from 4.5 who are willing to give 5.0 a try, but know they may very well lose in the 1st round, the prospect of getting at least a couple of matches under their belt.

Finally, only 2nd round of Wimbledon and both Djokovic and Roddick are already gone. Time to pull for Safin. Maybe Alfonso will end up dropping a match here in Texas before the season is done....though I dont' see who could pull it off.

Stumped on Tyler.

Well, with the draws out, the only thing I feel confident on predicting is that it will likely rain at least once over the 3 days. Other than that, 4.5 is about as open of a field as I have seen this year with no Rodriguez, Sanchez, Trautman, etc. and Schmucker having already pre-announced the customary no-show default. Zheng is solid and can stand the heat. Leach has to be the hometown favorite and has won this event before. Griggs has won major zones in the past. Luedtke is a pomposs a** but he is a very crafty, solid player. Knuston can definitely annoy his way to the finals. JD Miles can go far if his game is on. Goldberg, never say never, he tries harder than anyone else on the court. All these guys are solid but I would have to think Jason Cooney actually has the best shot if he has been playing recently. Let's go with Cooney vs. Zheng in the finals, with Cooney winning. With Leach as honorable mention as the 2nd favorite from the bottom half. Kallus, sorry you did not draw Bye as your 1st round opponent this time. Hopefully Chris will go easy on you and good luck in consolation, it is your's to lose.

5.0 - Well, at least the draw made. You got your Jason Gound and you got your Tim Green, in opposite halves respectively. Lets go with Jason over Tim in a tough 3 setter. If it goes the other way, it will not be a shock either. Of course, there could definitely be a guest champion among the couple of unknown guys in the draw.

4.0 - ZZZZZZZZ. I'm sorry, I dozed off. What were we talking about?

Anyway, good luck to everyone and here's hoping you get your $80 in gas money's worth of tennis out of the weekend.

Time for Tyler Talk

I will wait for the draws to come out before making any of my worthless Tyler predictions. I can say that I am confident that Alfonso Rodriguez will not win 4.5 this time around. Remember back in early spring, when every other post was "Sarosh this" and "Sarosh that"? The guy is all but forgotten and Alfonso seems to have emerged as the new 4.5 focal point. Not much else to add right now, but it was time for a new discussion string anyway as the other one had gotten quite lenghtly and had way too much talk of Knutson vs. X. I am obviously to blame as well since I was the one who put up the polls. Someone asked for a Knutson vs. Reader poll but I won't even waste the time on that one cause a poll result of Knutson 1, Reader 39 just seems mean.

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?