HTTS 2.0 - Weekend Preview

I am still on the fence about this new era of Houston Tourney Tennis Scene but I will give it time. If nothing else, profanity is down by 100%. As far as tennis this weekend, pretty busy. Start with the smaller, closer to home event, Conroe. 4.5 doubles is stacked with strong talent for a tourney this small. Must be some type of pre-playoffs/sectionals league practice. As far as singles, I will go with Green winning over Abshire in the finals.

Moving up I-45 to to Fort Worth, one thing is obvious...the bottom of that 4.5 draw is much more stacked than the top half, with Moser, Cherry, Rivera, and Schmucker all in the bottom mix. Right now, I look for Luedtke to make it throught the top (feel free to prove me wrong Scott Sevin), and either Rivera or Cherry to take the bottom. Probably Cherry. The fact that 3rd sets will likely not be played could definitely keep the older guys like Luedtke and Rivera in the mix longer than you think, but I will go with Cherry to take the title.

5.0 Round robin - I will go with Mcdonough if the guy is really back to playing tennis again. He used to be pretty solid if not somewhat theatrical on the courts.

Have fun if you are playing and if you want this blog to flourish, please register even if under a vague user-name so that we can make sure this blog achieves more than a means for Reader and Dekruyff to avoid having to go to Facebook to catch up with each other every day. Just joking, at least you guys are posting.

Restart...

Due to intense pressure and the threats of legal action, the previous posting and resulting message stream was removed. I will likely do one of two things. 1) Require registration for posting, i.e. no more anonymous posting, or 2) just delete the blog entirely and get on with my life and let you guys get on with yours. I get very little out of doing this. I provide this forum cause I figured those of you that play tournaments might actually make it informative or entertaining. So far I have been dead wrong. Up to you if you want it to keep going.

Back on tourney news, I predict Alejandro Sanchez wins 4.5 singles.

Juneteenth....Time for the Chase.

Hey, with my focus currently on Wimbledon, I will let you guys have at it with regard to the all-important (sarcastic) Juneteenth event this weekend. In my past, I had a policy of "NO Consolation = No Play Tourney", so I have never been a big fan of this event. Obviously, the biggest question this weekend will be whether or not a real person by the name of Patrick Chase shows up at Juneteenth as a spectator. I am in the camp that says no he will not as he does not exist other than in the typings of a wayward tennis player.

There is a yellow rose in Texas...

I think that lyric has something to do with Tyler. If not, too bad. Looks like more of the cast of regulars will be back in action this next tournament. The heat should finally be enough of a factor to impact the outcome of matches so that should throw some wrinkles into things. I am not going to bother making any predictions this time around, other than there will be at least one rain shower during the event, most likely on Friday or early morning Saturday. No, I am not getting into meteorology. Its based on what seemed to happen every time I went to that tournament in years passed. Remember to BYOB, it is Tyler after all.

And Now For Something Completely Different....

Not really, but I always liked that line from Monty Python, back in the good ole days. Before we turn to Tyler talk in a week or so, I think we should focus our efforts and the power of this blog (as if) to make this Green/Moser match happen. Not that there is any bad blood between the two or that the matchup is so compelling it would be a travesty for it not to happen, but just because. There are other matchups I would like to see happen. How about another Schmucker/Knutson showdown? Those are always tight.

Waco Time 2009

Time to start talking up Waco. 5.0, why do you guys even bother? 4.5, 33 guys signed up so that's not too bad. Early predictions, Alejandro Sanchez and Tim Green should be favorites. Once again, there are some names missing from the list that surprise me. Looks like at least a couple of the Houston die-hard tennis junkies have finally gotten tired of being non-factors at these tournaments. All good things eventually run their course. How bout that Federer? And dont' tell me about the altitude or that Nadal was tired and maybe even injured. Don't think Fed will win the French but with him and Novak both given Nadal trouble recently and Murray also playing well, this could be finally be an interesting French Open. What does that have to do with Waco? I think they overlap on the schedule. Best of the Best and the Texas Wanna-Be's all going at it over the same weekend.

Time to get out and work on that Coppertone...CORRECTION - Make that Copperfield tan.

Copperfield time. From the size and quality of the 4.5 draw it looks like this event is much more deservant of MZ status than Corpus was, but so it goes. It seems like a distant memory now, but there was actually a time when the 5.0 draw at this tourney made. Alas, no more. But that just means, the 4.5 guys get to welcome John Patch as a likely full time 4.5 player for the rest of the year. In singles, I will make an early call that Schmucker, Morgan, Kent, and Martinez will be in the mix late in the draw. Can't really call a winner, but would say Kent has a pretty good shot as this is his homecourt tourney. 4.5 doubles? Wow. The Dibuas going against each other for a change should make for an exciting match if their teams should meet. Would have liked to see a Dubuas vs. Dugas showdown, but this will do.