TCC Players at Chicago Charities Tourney

• RD1: Vuk/Doakes escape past Brock/MJ 6-2, 6-0
• I’m told Brock/MJ did all the little things right here… got there early, got a solid warm up, came in with a gameplan, played one of their opponents 2 days prior, and got up to an early 2-1 lead. Just failed to finished the last 11 games well. But rest assured, it wayyyy closer than it seemed… plenty of deuces.
• RD2: Brock/MJ wrecked Hammond/Marker 6-1, 6-4
• The boys took care of business, saving their energy for future rounds………….
• RD3: Brock/MJ sneak past Heitmann/Acree 6-7 (9), 7-6 (4). 10-8
• I had the pleasure of watching this barn burner and our boys didn’t disappoint. Pretty Boy Acree was super should and had some tough overheads. Gereon ‘John Mayer’ Heitmann was a pro’s pro… just making all the right decisions. But it wasn’t enough against Brock and one of our Big Dogs.
• RD4: Faig/Rosenburg dismantle Brock/MJ 6-2, 6-0
• In a post match interview, I asked for a few words from our boys and here’s what I got from the legend David Brock “MJ ran out of steam and I didn’t have any [steam] to begin with.” All three of us unanimously agreed that unfortunately, that was indeed not a winning recipe. They’ll go back to the drawing board and look to find new recipes for the MKE Open on Nov 16.
• Post tourney, the boys found their way to Glen View to……. watch the quarter’s, Brock made sure to get a shower in stating there was a steam room but he ‘allegedly couldn’t find it’, ate plenty of incredible food, Brock found where the beers were and got his money’s worth, sober MJ had his fair share of coke’s and they marketed the heck out of the Brew City Open…. by the end of it, MJ was pledging a blank check to Brock with the caveat of ‘just don’t tell my wife.’

• RD1: Beneitz/Castro ruin Lied/Emhardt 6-3, 7-6 (6)
• After going down 5-0 in the first 5 minutes of the match, somehow we found ourselves winning 8 of the next 11 games, putting ourselves up 5-2, 40-love in the second. What’d we do next? Started feeling wayyyyyy too good and proceeded to absolutely shit the bed. Surprising? No. Disappointing? Yes.
• RD2: Lied/Emhardt lock up Rowland Brothers 4-6, 6-4, 10-3.
• After the first match, I get off the court and find that I can barely walk… again, not a winning recipe. But I decided to go out and take on the Menedez Rowland Brothers anyways. Charlie carried us to victory as I mostly just stood there with my thumb up my butt and watched (Brock style). In the breaker, there was a conversational baseline no call from the brothers (one almost put his finger up but didn’t follow through) at 2-3 where we ended up winning the point and then winning the next 7 points there after. Post match, dude took the ball and sent it to the moon. I was scared he was about to go full Menedez on us. Spoiler alert, they didn’t… at least not yet. All jokes aside, they were some of the nicest guys. Also they didn’t have the greatest racquet skills but were deadly paddle players.
• RD3: Lied/Emhardt crystallized [H]eisnburg/Fish 6-3, 6-3
• Could have been more of a dismantling but we were ‘working on our game.’ Super nice guys. Blast to play against.
• RD4: Lied/Emhardt outshine Hill/Pierce 6-3, 6-3
• In undoubtedly the sunniest match I’ve ever played in, Charlie and I found a way, sunglass-less, to take care of these gents. It took a little bit of time but we finally realized, ‘maybe we should play more balls to the sunny side…’ that indeed was a winning recipe.
• RD5: Lied/Emhardt trample Faig/Rosenburg in a walkover
• We’re unsure of the status of these guys but it could be quite possible that MJ/Brock ended these guys career
• RD6: Lied/Emhardt upset #66Puig/#73Tanaka 1-6, 6-2, 10-7
• By far our best win of the day… Puig is like a mini Vuk… aka my kryptonite and Tanaka looked like he was straight out of mortal combat and hit the absolute piss out of the ball. After the second set turn around, our opponents said they needed to grab a drink and they’d be back…. and back they came with beers. That was definitely not a winning recipe but obviously we upset them… in more ways than one.
• Playing with Charlie an absolute blast and I’m super grateful for Vuk setting us up. We ended up taking #33 in the tournament, winning the backdraw, taking home $100 each with an entry fee $140 each, while improving our game. I still haven’t gotten my money yet but I’m not holding my breath…. I was told we were going to be ACH’d – LOLSSS

WHAT I LEARNED

• GIVE YOUR OPPONENTS THE OPPORTUNITY TO MISS meaning it’s important to let some deep (or wide) lobs/drives go for a few reasons:
• They’ll actually go out some of the time… SHOCKER
• You’re letting your opponents know that you have a feel for out balls and not just going to play everything
• Being at the baseline isn’t a substantial disadvantage… sometimes it can even be an advantage
• KNOW WHERE YOUR ADVANTAGE LIES meaning what interactions are more favorable for you guys vs your opponent. Recognize that something is advantage even if you only win 51% of the time doing it. If you win some interaction at 55%, that is a MASSIVE ADVANTAGE, and you need to exploit that as much as possible. Examples:
• Volley, volley interactions
• Transitioning from baseline to net
• Ripping returns
• Being more patient than them
• Rollers to the corner
• ADVIL ACTUALLY WORKS? can’t say I’ve ever used Advil and it actually worked in my tennis career… maybe the injuries were too bad??? but I took some Advil after my second match and my foot didn’t hurt the rest of the day… nor does it now… incredible
• GET YOURSELF SOME COMPRESSION BOOTS $360 this is not a sponsored ad but I feel incredible the day after the tournament and we played 5 matches. Probably 8 hours of paddle. I’m going on record saying these boots were the reason.

As a parting, I’ll leave with you with one quote to ponder….

“Never let facts ruin a story.”