TENNIS CHAMPS! OPEN LEVEL 2010!

Transcription

1 TENNIS CHAMPS! OPEN LEVEL 2010! Playing in their second consecutive Team Tennis League finals Consecutivehampionship, the Open level juniors punched through to defeat a strong Beverly Hills Tennis team and claim the Championship trophy for the winter 2010 season in the West L.A. Junior Winter Tennis League. Last fall this same team lost in the finals to a worthy Brentwood team, and throughout the winter season they displayed superior toughness. Open team from left: Anthony Soeharto, David Gobel, Coach Mark Papas, Cosimo Bocchi, Martina Bocchi, Jared Kracoff, Ben Katz, Josh Kracoff, Jeremy Soeharto. Absent: Alec Rabinowitz, Charlie Steingard.

2 The BHCC Open team started out well, winning two of the three doubles matches. Co-MVPs Cosimo Bocchi and Ben Katz, shown on the right playing together, handily dispatched their No. 1 opponent 8-3. Anthony Soeharto and Jared Kracoff seesawed back and forth and wound up facing a tiebreaker but pulled through to win 8-7. Jeremy Soeharto and David Gobel in the second position unfortunately couldn t make it a sweep, losing 3-8. David mentioned how nervous he was, and in fact everyone watching felt the same way as parents and friends experienced the seesaw of emotions that always appear in a Championship match. Near court Jeremy Soeharto, left, David Gobel. Far court Jared Kracoff serving, Anthony Soeharto at net. But if the spectators felt the drama then, much more was in store. Moms were wondering about their boys, Dads about the lack of topspin. Coach Mark Papas was confident, but even he would never have predicted how it would unfold. 2

3 Time To Get Tough With two wins and needing five to win the Championship the BHCC Open players needed but three singles victories out of six left to play. Number one singles player Kama Cosimo Bocchi was expected to deliver a win, but he lost 4-8 against a very good player. Number two singles player Ben ihana Katz struggled against a streaky and dangerous player, trading games and leads until he figured out on his own how to put himself in a position to win the match. And he did, pulling away to take it 8-5. One victory, two to go. Jeremy Soeharto, the number three singles player, lost 3-8 to a player who happened to be really on for the match. Jeremy fought hard but just couldn t get any daylight. The last three singles spots needed to produce two victories. David Gobel played in the number four singles spot, but he faced the player who had played in the number one doubles team. David, nervous earlier, had a chance to redeem himself. The score went back and forth, it didn t look good, David s opponent had a big serve and a big forehand. He found himself down 5-6 in the 8 game pro-set. Josh Kracoff, in the number five slot, took an early lead against his opponent but saw it evaporate against what became a human backboard. Josh ran around and stood tall in the end, trading shots, but fell 6-8. Martina Bocchi, younger sister to Cosimo, played in the number 6 singles spot. She found herself down 0-3, at which point her mother Federica was not worried because she knows her daughter is a slow starter after watching her numerous tournament matches. But when down 2-6 she began to worry, and so did papa Carlo. 3

4 Unexpected Heroes The score stood BHCC 3, BHT 4, with two matches still playing. David Gobel, down 5-6 earlier, kept his focus and perspective and persevered to find himself ahead 7-6. He played an errorless last game and won 8-6. Not nervous anymore, it seemed. Martina Bocchi very quietly had crawled back into her match, winning one point at a time, one game at a time. Soon it was tied, 6-6, and she took the lead 7-6. Her opponent bombed all her first serves in to send the match into a tiebreaker. The Championship was tied at 4 victories apiece. The last match was coming down to a tiebreaker. The depth of the team was about to be tested. Martina Divina Yes! Martina yelled as she won the first point in the tiebreaker. Parents, teammates, and players watched from behind court 6 as Martina fought on bravely. She had been afraid earlier in the match when down but she was now a fearless Martina, channeling her namesake Martina Hingis and Martina Navratilova. Yes! she yelled again, her will to win strong, her body language looking as fresh as the first point. She ran around the court like I had never seen before, said Coach Mark. Divina Martina easily won the nerves-of-steel battle that is the tiebreaker, 7-4, bringing home the winter Championship to the Beverly Hills Country Club Open juniors. BHCC won 5-4. Martina Bocchi, right, after the victorious handshake at the net. 4

5 All I ve been asking of them is to play tough, be fearless said Coach Mark. Win or lose play tough, play well. And boy, did they come through today! Congratulations to them all! The team appears to return intact for the spring and hopefully will make another great effort. Martina proudly holds the trophy aloft. Left to right: Anthony Soeharto, David Gobel, Coach Mark Papas, Cosimo and Martina Bocchi, Jared Kracoff, Ben Katz, Head Pro Greg Walker, Josh Kracoff, Jeremy Soeharto. At the end of the day pizza and cake made their way into the players tummies. 5