LATA

Hello LATA members! It’s been a couple weeks, but we’ve gotten all our many photos together from the LA Open (thanks to everyone who contributed photos, including as always our Social Director Indiana Jerry). It was a great weekend of tennis, thanks to our many volunteers, including on-site directors Donald Wong and Jim Kloes, raffle prize securer and organizer Ralph Gorgoglione, banquet organizer Brian Truong, player’s program assembler Chris Norlin, and, as always, board members and organizers Travis Siems and Steve Sax. And many others too numerous to mention! The results can be found here: http://glta.tournamentsoftware.com/sport/tournament.aspx?id=B4C050C9-E360-4879-9DA8-2F42CF48D61E

Those of you who came to the tournament, or even the banquet, will surely know this already, but the Easter bunny took time out of his busy schedule to be a fixture at our tournament. You can see a lot more of him in a coming video montage Steve Sax is assembling, but he’s also prominently featured below.

And now, the tournament report, with a couple featured write-ups:

SINGLES

Open Singles (Featured Write-Up)

James Dao (1, rt.) d. Jose Sambas (2, l.) 6-0 6-2

If you chat with James Dao, you’ll quickly learn how much of a tennis enthusiast he is. What might not be as readily apparent, though, is how successful he is at the game. Our 2012 LA Open winner was also undefeated in four GLTA Open tournaments last year, followed by a win in the GLTA World Championships in Palm Springs in February (also beating Jose Sambas in the final), and that string of successes was enough to give him the #1 GLTA ranking worldwide and get him elected Player Of The Year. If you check out his scores, you’ll know that James is a fearsome competitor indeed.

But it’s not just winning that drives him — he loves the game wholeheartedly. Donald Wong joked that if you call James, no matter what time or how busy he is, he’ll find a way to get out and hit. Easy enough to do in Santa Ana, where James resides and is a self-employed real estate agent, but it wasn’t always so simple. James was a Vietnam boat refugee who came over to the US in 1979 and landed in Akron, OH. Upon seeing a tennis court for the first time, he was captivated by the fact that it “looked like a bigger ping-pong table.” His family then moved to Santa Ana in 1983, where James played extensively with his fraternal twin brother Mike. Alas, Mike quit the sport after college to raise a family, but James soldiered on, coming to love the game even more with every year he played.

As an adult, James first competed in USTA tournaments, also with great success — currently he’s ranked No. 3 in the over-40s in California, and is in the Top 25 in the nation. His tournament activity even allowed him to play a doubles match against multi-Grand Slam doubles champion Rick Leach, which he termed “an honor,” if not a rousing success. James might have kept on solely playing USTA and ITF tournaments if not for his friend Eric Stevens, who owns the Lakewood Tennis Center in Lakewood, a sometime site for LATA Team Tennis and GLTA tournaments; when Stevens mentioned those leagues to James, he joined up, playing GLTA tournaments and also Cal Cup, on which team he was #3 in 2011. James still plays USTA tournaments, but finds he can be more relaxed in the GLTA, and wants to continue to compete and to keep the Open player standard high. If he keeps playing this well, no doubt he’ll succeed!

A Singles

Chris Tomlin (unseeded, l.) d. Eric Geiger (1, rt.) 6-3 7-6 (2)

B Singles

Michael Sanchez (unseeded, rt.) d. Tony Hughes (1, l.) 6-3 6-2

B Consolation Singles (Featured Write-Up)

Will Pitharn (5, l.) d. Jeff Alabaso (11, rt.) 7-5 7-5

It’s tough when you lose in the first round, even if it’s to the eventual champion, but Will Pitharn made the most of it, toughing out Jeff Alabaso in two tight sets to win the B consolation. Down 3-1 in the first set, Will went on a tear and was up 5-2 in the second, only to see Jeff rally from the brink of defeat. “It was enjoyable — there were lots of fun rallies, and points were won rather than lost,” recalls Will. “I hung in there and kept the ball in play in some crucial positions.”

Born in Thailand, Will grew up in Sydney, and started playing tennis in a club there 10 years ago — in fact, his friends and clubmates Cuong Hoang and Tyrone Andres came from Australia to compete in the tournament. Will might still be there too, if a dashing American hadn’t come to visit Sydney who, Will admits, “swept me off my feet.” Moving to LA four and a half years ago, Will didn’t know anyone besides his partner, so joining LATA was a great way to meet people and keep up his game. Last year Will played PAC Cup, and plans to try out again in 2012. He’s also encouraged his man to take up tennis, which he has. And Will says he’s getting better — “he’s almost ready to start playing competitively.” Let’s hope they at least end up on opposite sides of the draw!

C Singles (no photo available)

Russell Jenkins (1) d. Larry Lawrence (unseeded) 6-0 4-6 6-2

D Singles (no photo available)

Matt Slaymaker (unseeded) d. James Thompson (3) 6-0 6-0

D Consolation Singles

Daniel Todd Walkup (4, rt.) d. Manny Cuprill (unseeded, l.) 6-2 6-1

Open Doubles

Eric Davenport/Jose Sambas (2, l.) d. Gordon Paltimusa/Bradley Spencer 6-4 4-6 6-2 (unseeded, rt.)

A Doubles

Frank January/George Byrd (1, l.) d. Steve Dejong/Chris Tomlin (2, rt.) 6-4 6-3

B Doubles

Michael Vasquez/Joezen Punongbayan (4, rt.) d. Michael Sanchez/Todd Amoroso (unseeded, l.) 6-2 5-7 6-1

C Doubles

Larry Lawrence/Matt Whitfield (unseeded, rt.) d. William White/Kyle Winslow (1, l.) 7-5 6-4

D Doubles (Round Robin)

1st Place: Daniel Todd Walkup/Jongo Yul (1, rt.)

2nd Place: Paolo de Angelis/Massimo Dobrovic (unseeded, l.)

Once again, thanks to everyone who participated! Applications for the Centre Court Tournament, which will be September 1-3 at the Home Depot Center, will be available online very soon. We hope to see all of you there!

John Ramos

Editor, The Score

Hi everyone,

Paul Yates asked me to tell all you players coming out for West Coast Cup that the first practice, which is this Sunday, April 29th, will be at La Cienega Tennis Center (La Cienega between Gregory Way and Olympic Blvd.) This is a one-time change due to a special event being held at Cheviot. All future WCC practices will be held at Cheviot, as normal. So again, here’s the info for this Sunday only:

West Coast Cup Practice
Sunday April 29th 6PM to 8PM
La Cienega Tennis Center Beverly Hills  (NOT Cheviot – it is closed
for special event)

And if you haven’t signed up yet but are interested and have an LATA rank of C or below, let us know!

Hello LATA Members!

Paul Yates, our Team Tennis Chair, asked me to let you know about the start of West Coast Cup. Please see below. (Pac Cup and Cal Cup announcements coming soon!)

West Coast Cup 2012

First meeting/practice April 29th at Cheviot Hills Tennis Center 6PM to 8PM.

Now in its second year, West Coast Cup is a fun, competitive tennis event for GLTA “C” Level players and below from San Francisco, San Diego, Palm Springs, and Los Angeles.   The format is based on the popular Cal Cup (for Open/A level) and Pac Cup (for B level) events.

The two-day West Coast Cup tournament is scheduled for August 25th and 26th at Golden Gate Park in SF.  If you enjoy team events, it’s a great weekend of tennis, friends, and more.

LA will field a team of 14 to 16 players to represent LATA.  An application is posted on the LATA website or contact Paul Yates at pymedia@gmail.com for more info.

Your captains/coaches are:
Ray Cherry
Jeff Sheng
Paul Yates

Let’s get out there and teach SF and San Diego a lesson!

Hello LATA Members!

Those of you active on the GLTA circuit surely know about this tournament already, but the Long Beach Doubles is coming up in May. Rogeve Gulati, the tournament director, asked if I would make an announcement about it, and since a lot of our members have played it and highly recommend it, it seemed like the thing to do! Here is the original announcement:
Entry is now live for the 10th annual Long Beach Pride Doubles tournament!!!  Tournament dates are set for May 19-20th, Long Beach Pride Weekend, with all play to take place at the usual site — El Dorado Tennis Center.  We will have divisions at all levels (Open thru D); approximately 85 players are already entered, and the B & C draws are full with waitlists (maximum number of teams is 16). 

Compass or Round Robin Draws remain the standard for the event (3-4 matches per team, win or lose).  And this year, in response to feedback, we will offer a new lower priced entry option.  Base entry fee is only $60 per player and will include everything except our fabulous “swag” bundle (tournament shirt, towel, bag-tag, etc), which will cost an extra $15 per.  Operating costs have been rising steadily over the years, but we have tried very hard to not raise fees…hopefully this is a good balance that will help us manage the event costs and still offer a lot to players.   

Standard entry fee will cover matches, tennis balls, water, snacks and pizza lunches at courts, a Saturday party (and probably a small Friday draw party get-together at the host hotel), team photos, trophies and GLTA fees…and hopefully some extra surprises for our 10-year anniversary. 

Tournament shirts (for those who choose the “swag” bundle option) will be either the Nike Dri-Fit shirts we have been getting the past couple years or something equivalent.   Because the Nike shirts have tended to run a bit big, we are trying to see if there are alternatives that are of the same or better quality with a more true-to-size fit.  Theme colors this year are Royal Blue and White.

I hope to see you all down there!