The 2011-12 Nationals, held March 15-18th, are history. Throughout a (very) hot weekend on Long Island, Drew Broderick and Chris Gambino became the latest Men’s National Champions by beating repeat finalists Johan duRandt and Matt Porter 7-6, 6-3. This is Drew’s first National Championship and Chris’ third (he has two previous wins alongside Dave Ohlmuller).
The good news is that I can gloat until next October: in my Nationals preview editorial back in February I correctly predicted that three of the top four seeds will make it to the semis but not all four – another team outside of the top four will sneak in for that fourth semifinal spot. Moreover, in that same editorial, I named eleven teams that have a realistic chance of winning the whole thing. Of those eleven teams, ten made it to the round of sixteen and seven made it to the quarters. I have to take pride in these (rare) good calls so please do not hold this against me. Thank God the season is over otherwise a brutal prediction by me would have most likely been just around the corner.
I think the best team won. Broderick/Gambino have lost only two matches in the last two seasons (to Berka/Eberly in the semis of the 2011 Midwesterns and to Caldwell/Cordish in the round of 16 at last year’s Nationals). That’s Djokovic-esque considering the depth of today’s game. They dropped only one set in the entire tournament and played smart and sound paddle throughout. Maybe not the most exciting paddle but I believe that was by choice. Both Drew and Chris have the ability to do whatever they want with the ball but they had their eyes on the big prize and knew what style of play gave them the highest odds to get their hands on it. There are no marks for artistic impression in paddle.
As always, I can only comment on the matches that I have seen (at least partially). Also, it is awkward for me to comment on my own matches but I will do my best to remain objective. When they pulled the draw, I thought Juan Arraya and I got a pretty tough draw. In the 32s, we got Brian O’Connor and Devon Wakeford who are a talented and explosive team despite Devon’s relative inexperience. Winners would get John Schmitt and Danny Rothschild in the round of 16, the most dangerous floating team along with Goodspeed/Mansager. Am not even sure you can call either one of these teams “floaters”, regardless of their (low) ranking. Against Brian and Devon, Juan and I played a very solid match and led throughout – we were never behind. That always helps in the overall economy of the match, especially on a very hot day. It forces the team who is behind to press for a little more and that becomes exponentially harder to do the warmer it is. We won 3 & 4 and felt like we controlled the tempo of the match. We fought well and volleyed very well. At the same time, two courts away from us, Rothschild/Schmitt were playing their round of 32 against Scott Falatek and Vlatko Najdek, the 11th seeds from Philly. Scott and Vlatko came into the Nationals with a lot of confidence following their win in Lehigh in late February. In my mind, Rothschild/Schmitt were the clear favorites but Juan thought it was an even match-up. He turned out to be right as Scott and Vlatko won 6-4 in the third after controlling the entire match, particularly the first and third sets. A few hours later, Juan and I played Scott and Vlatko in the round of 16 and won handily 2 & 1. We played a very smart match and pretty much locked our entire half of the court – we just did not miss. It is always a relief whenever you have a much easier match than expected, especially during the middle day of the Nationals when, if things go your way, you are looking at three very tough matches.
I was able to watch most of the third set of the round of 16 match between defending champions Mark Parsons & Mike Stulac and Ben McKnight & Pete Rose. Pete and Ben won the first set 6-3 and I heard the beginning of the second set was touch and go. Mark and Mike won the second set 6-3 and ended up winning the third 6-1 but it was a lot closer than that – a lot closer. Pete and Ben had a very solid straight sets win in the 32s against Nathan LeFevre and Denny English, avenging their loss from Indy a few weeks back.
The next match I watched was probably the most brutal round of 16 match-up: Peter Berka & Drew Eberly vs. Scott Estes and Brian Uihlein, the 8th and 9th seeds, respectively. I think both teams are equally entitled to say that they got a shitty draw. Had that been the final of the Nationals, am not sure too many would have been shocked. Instead, it was a round of 16 and one title contender would have to do battle in the 16 reprieve. I watched the first two games of the second set (Berka/Eberly had won the first set 7-6 – that set lasted longer than our entire match vs. Falatek & Najdek since we started at the same time) and that’s all I needed to see: the first game of the second set lasted 18 minutes, with Berka serving. Petey & Drew are as good as Mansager/Goodspeed at playing long, back-and-forth games AND winning them. That destroys their opponents’ will and it was no different here. After winning that first game, there was little doubt left for anyone as to who will win the match: Berka/Eberly won 7-6, 6-1. Having played with the U, I know he is one of the few players out there who does not really have a game plan against anyone. He just plays his game and that is usually good enough. If you look at his playing history, this approach has served him extremely well. I do think however that this will be less and less the case going forward, regardless of who you are. A precise game plan, a clear strategy, and the discipline of a Tibetan monk will supersede talent, athleticism, and shotmaking ability. I believe it already has. In my opinion, in their two losses this year vs. Petey & Drew (the other one coming at the Charities, also a straight set loss), I do not think Junior and the U had a clear game plan, or at least not the right one for that matter. Petey and Drew always do and that is one of the reasons why they are a tough match-up for anyone.
On the next court, Brad Easterbrook & Lennart Jonason were entangled in a great battle against David Caldwell & Blake Cordish. Brad & Len were up 6-3, 5-2 and at that point Superman & Blake started a great comeback and almost took it to a third set, which am sure the crowd would have not minded one bit. In the end, Easterbrook & Jonason were able to squeeze out a very entertaining win by winning the second set 7-6. Some of the points were sick as they usually are whenever Caldwell is on the court – there simply is not one thing the guy cannot or will not do, it is really amazing to watch him play.
I did not see what am sure was another great round of 16 match between Steve DeRose & Jon Lubow and Flip Goodspeed & Scott Mansager. I wish I had. Luby & Stevie won 6-4 in the third and I heard they were down 3-0 and 4-2. If it is true, that is an impressive comeback against Flip & Scott who rarely relinquish a lead.
In the quarters, Juan and I played Mike Marino and Dane Schmidgall, the tough 4th seeds. Dane and I know each other’s games inside and out since we are teammates and partners on the Lake Forest Series I team in Chicago. It was a high quality match from start to finish and only a couple of points per set made the difference, at it is usually the case with even match-ups, win or lose. I thought this was Juan’s best match of the year as he stayed aggressive throughout the match and went for his shots with a lot of confidence. Confidence is the biggest difference maker in one’s game and the distinction between having it or not is doubt. Once doubt starts creeping in, you suddenly develop alligator arms in the backcourt and the touch of a rapist at the net. We won 6-4, 6-4 against two very difficult opponents. All in all, a great middle day for Juan and me during the biggest tournament of the year: we played three tough matches and did not drop one set. Things would not have gone any better for us.
I did not get to see what probably was the best match of the tournament: the quarter-final between top seeds Johan duRandt & Matt Porter against Berka & Eberly. The score says it all: duRandt/Porter won 6-4, 6-7, 7-6. Drew and Petey were up 3-0 and 5-3 in the third set. Knowing them, it will take them some time to get over that. Ports & du never give up as exemplified not only by this war but also by their tough round of 32 win against Brian Heil and Chris Struck: 4-6, 6-4, 6-4. I did not see that match either but am sure the score is reflective of a high quality scuffle.
Sunday did not prove to be good for us as we were not able to match our high level of play from the previous day. We lost 4 & 3 against duRandt & Porter despite starting the match better than them. Not necessarily because we were playing great (we were not, we playing just OK) but because they were brutal. We did not take advantage of that and once they started playing better and better (which we knew was only going to be a matter of time) we did not make the necessary adjustments. Making adjustments is as important as having the right game plan and strategy. There comes a point during a match there your strategy is not working. Once that happens, you need to make the right adjustments and we did not. Why we did not do that I am not sure. It is tough to lose a match that late in the tournament and feel like we did not try everything we possibly could to turn things around. We just went with the flow which is inexcusable for both Juan and me and we share an equal blame for it. Neither one of us went to the other one during the match and tried to do whatever it took to stop the bleeding. Unfortunately, we did not learn from last year’s loss in the quarters against Parsons & Stulac when we pretty much did the same thing. Things started slipping away from us and we did not adjust one bit. I feel that we have a lot of weapons of different caliber in our arsenal but did not delve into the entire line. We only brought to the fight the middle of the pack Glock and never unveiled the bazooka or even the Rambo knife. Am not sure the outcome would have been different but at least we would not have had the sense of regret and the bitter “what might have been” aftertaste that still lingers with both of us almost an entire week after the match. Bottom line: Ports and du deserved to win and they were the better team, no doubt about it.
The other semi between third seeds Broderick & Gambino and second seeds and defending champions Parsons & Stulac was pretty painful to watch. It lasted three hours and twenty minutes and because of the heat (over 70 degrees) all four players decided pretty early on that none of them will press unless they really have to. And they rarely had to for the next three plus hours. It reminded me of a chess match where both Grandmasters (or four Paddlemasters in this case) are resigned to a draw from the get go and are not willing to risk anything because that could have an equal chance to end up in a win or loss. When you are playing for a place in the final of the National Championship those odds are simply not good enough. In the end, Chris and Drew were a hair better in taking advantage of the tiniest resemblance of momentum and that was what separated the two teams. It was an even match from start to finish and despite not being a memorable one, the players’ intensity, endurance, and refusal to give up was remarkable.
The final featured two equally great teams and a stark contrast in styles: flash, shotmaking, and athleticism on one side (duRandt/Porter) and patience, smarts, and opportunistic strikes on the other side (Gambino/Broderick). Gambino & Broderick stuck to their script and made (much) fewer errors. I do not recall either one of them hitting any winners to duRandt and Porter’s seven or eight (maybe even double digits) but they just did not give any free points away while Johan and Ports did, including two inexcusable (at that level and stage) overheads into the net (!?) in the last game. Similar to last year’s final, the first set was crucial and once Drew and Chris won it in a breaker, they played from ahead for the rest of the match. They jumped to a 4-1 lead in the second set and despite a mid set resurgence from Ports and Johan (they brought it back to 3-4) you could not help but feel that Drew & Chris were in complete control of the match. This was Johan’s third straight final (having one the first one with Jerry Albrikes) and Ports’ second straight – both feats are outstanding in this day and age.
I keep hearing about the “new breed” of paddle players, the new style replacing the old style, etc. Other than the depth in the field and players’ athleticism and shotmaking variety (players hit more FYMs, spin shots, and swing volleys than before) I am not sure much else has changed from the days when Goodspeed/Mansager and Gambino/Ohlmuller had season tickets for the Men’s Nationals final. Gambino won his previous two National Championships in 2001 and 2003. He won his third less than a week ago. That more than a ten year difference between his first and third title. Same player now as he was then except that he is a decade older now. New breed of players!? Really!? If a team is willing to give up the net, slow things down, control the tempo of the match with their lobs, AND fight like maniacs, I am not sure there is much you can do other than try to match them shot for shot. I do not see things changing much in the near future either.
Two separate thoughts: a big shout out to Tim McAvoy for his well deserved Hall of Fame induction on Friday evening. I doubt there is anyone reading this who does not know Tim or his story. A great player and an even better guy who definitely overachieved in life with Nancy! Tim – congratulations on your HOF induction and am looking forward to playing against you some day since I have never had that honor (yet).
My condolences to Bobo and Tim Mangan for the passing of their mom, platform tennis legend Nancy Mangan – a classy lady with whom I had the pleasure of meeting and speaking at length a couple of years ago during the Nationals in Philly. May she rest in peace.
Great job by tournament co-chairs Duane Hayden and Tim Mangan. It is never easy to follow Chicago when hosting the Nationals but Duane and Tim were the right people to lead their team throughout a challenging project. Well done!
Enjoy the summer and I will see everyone in the fall. As always, I suspect we will witness the formation of some new exciting teams during the off-season. Same players, new partnerships.