The challenge was issued last week. Lenny and his friend Dave want to play myself and Pete. Me and Pete are the top team over at Leonia’s Overpeck Park. We win about 90% of our matches. I’m a top 10 USTA Eastern 35s player and Pete is a former high school wrestler and mixed martial arts fighter who took up tennis three or four years ago. He shows up to the court with one racquet, and wears Asics running shoes, and sometimes an “Italian Stallion” black sleeveless t-shirt.
Pete’s strokes aren’t textbook but he is a smart, consistent player. Most people, young or old, see his unorthodox game and instantly think he’s a pushover – but he has proven time and time again that he can play doubles with anyone locally, including some of the very best, most renowned players in Bergen County. I love playing with Pete because he has the heart of a lion, he’s mentally strong, super-quick, chases every ball, is steady from the baseline and can make some miraculous reflex volleys. Pete’s basic strategy is just get the ball back – and he does that extremely well.
Lenny and Dave want a piece of us. They are experienced, solid, technically sound players. The kind of guys who show up to the courts with big, colorful racquet bags and the latest styles in designer attire. Lenny is good but Dave is VERY good. Dave supposedly developed as a player in Russia and has the form and mannerisms of an excellent, distinguished player. Dave, like Lenny, has to be around or over 50. He he is clearly in top shape, quick and instinctive on the court.
Dave is very picky about who he plays and where he plays. He doesn’t usually play at Overpeck but evidently Lenny has convinced him to play this challenge match. Lenny brought Dave around last week to Overpeck, no doubt to scout Pete’s game. Dave remembers my game, we played singles about ten years ago at the Fairlawn Indoor Racquet Club and had some heated battles, but he won every set, some, to my distress, easily. He’s the kind of guy that doesn’t make any conversation before, during or after the match, he just wants to beat your brains in and then go home. Not the most likable guy I’ve met in tennis, put it that way.
I hated that fast indoor court and the poor lighting at his home court at Fairlawn indoor but there’s no denying it – Dave is super tough, I must admit. He doesn’t miss, executes smart, simple, basic, percentage tennis, kick serve, slice backhand, strong volleys and overheads. I once played him close but still lost 6-4. He screamed in fury after a miss during that set, I will never forget his explosive, serious rage. Don’t get me wrong, I respect that kind of intensity very much.
But in the 10 years that have passed, I got a lot better and confidently believe now that I can crush Dave in singles. This is a chance for revenge, ten years in the waiting.
So when Pete informed me this weekend that Lenny and Dave challenged us, I did not even think to hesitate. Let’s get it on!
The four of us met on Sunday afternoon at 3 at the Grand Avenue courts adjacent to Route 4. Dave and Lenny usually play here every Sunday morning. These courts were re-done this year and look sharp. There are seven courts, green and red painted, they play slow too, just the way we like it.
Obviously, the dynamic of this match is that Lenny has convinced “the master” Dave to come out and play because Lenny has concluded they will beat us. Dave saw Pete play last week and surely remembers me, so Dave undoubtedly is confidently on board with Lenny’s judgement. Believe me, Dave is not the kind of guy who likes to play against strangers or people who might beat him. If you know what I mean. Dave plays to win, simple as that.
The match starts and they break me. I would have liked a 30-minute warm-up, not five. But we break Lenny right back. It’s 1-1. I have never played Dave in doubles but initial observations are that Dave is deadly at net, making every volley and overhead – for winners too. I respect Lenny, he is a solid player – but I know he can be broken down. His confidence can he cracked. He is a good player with good shots, but he never really shows a capacity to play amazing or magical tennis. This is the difference between an average player and an excellent player, in my opinion.
Pistol Pete serves and we have game points but we let the lead slip away. Pete serving to the ad court at Dave is a tough match up for Pete who struggles with Dave’s consistent slice backhand return. After a long game, they break us and lead 2-1.
Dave has a very good kick serve but some good shot making gives Pete and I a love-40 advantage. These two Russians are tough competitors. They fight back and get it back to deuce. Dave’s serve is accurate with spin and it’s tough to return because he charges the net every time. He holds serve, they are up 3-1.
I serve and fall into a love-30 hole. Uh oh, we are in big trouble here. I notice Lenny and Dave are starting to talk happily, particularly Lenny, as if they are getting in a celebratory mood. “This is going to be easy, we are going to win this, yahoo!” – is what their body language and demeanor are telling us. But hold on. I make some good serves, Pete knocks off some volleys and we are back in business. It’s 3-2, Lenny and Dave are still up a break.
We break Lenny again, it’s 3-3. We have a match here on this cloudy Sunday afternoon. I’m starting to feel warmed up and sharper now. Had a great hit with my friend Natalia on Saturday afternoon, doing drills for two hours. She played at Louisville University and junior tournaments like Eddie Herr and Orange Bowl. She once even played Shahar Peer in an ITF tournament when she was 12. Natalia also competed in the Pan American Games for her country the Dominican Republic. She has a lot of experience and helps me with little technical things like footwork and form, which I tend to forget sometimes. After that hit in River Edge, I drove to another court in Hackensack and crushed a teenager son of a former NJ State 35’s champion. The father of the kid told me this spring that his son was going to beat my by July. They finally challenge me now, in October. The score was 6-0.
But back to our doubles match. I am really feeling it now. Pete serves again and we have a game point. Pete is a warrior, plain and simple. He doesn’t hit with any spin, his shots are predictable but he will attack the net whenever he wants. His volleys aren’t in any way aesthetic but he has very quick hands and makes most of them. Pete’s the type of player that Lenny and Dave surely think they could easily handle with their well-honed text book strokes and techniques. But if they start to lose to a guy like Pete, shock and frustration sets in. How the hell could I be losing to a guy like THAT?!
Lenny is showing signs of pressure now. He screams in anguish after routine misses at net and baseline. The mood has changed. It’s clear Lenny is starting to feel major tension. Doubts have crept into his mind. His worst nightmare is coming true. Dave is stoic, never smiles or says anything, but he can’t be pleased at the turn of events. They had control of this set and lost it. This match is a dead-even, dog-fight now – anything can happen. I am quite certain they fully expected to steamroll us.
But Lenny and Dave are no joke. They break Pete’s serve and take the lead, 4-3. Dave serves next and is up 30-15. I decide to make an adjustment. I am not getting good Volkl on Dave’s kicker to my backhand in the ad court so I change tactics and step in and take it on the rise. It works as Dave nets the volley – because his timing was thrown off. The next two times Dave serves to me I again take some of his time away and am able to pull him wide and put the ball at his feet, to his backhand volley.
I get another idea, suggesting to Pete to try returning a lob down the line over Lenny’s head, instead of going crosscourt to Dave, the volley monster. Dave is making almost every volley off Pete’s return.
Pete pulls it off. He places a perfect lob in the corner, forcing Dave to change direction. We win that point. Pete does it again, another excellent lob that works and we win another point. Break point for us. I step in and crack another good backhand at Dave’s feet. Pete knocks off the easy volley and we are at 4-4. I roar like a lion seeing Pete do his thing at net. We touch fists again. We got these guys where we want ’em! We survived the storm. We can beat these guys!
Lenny and Dave are in trouble. They are mute silent, compared to their glee about 15 minutes earlier. I serve now. We win first point. 15-love. Then on the second point, I connect on a perfect topspin lob over Dave at the net. My three previous lob attempts over Dave all failed as he swatted them each for winners. This time it lands just inside the line and Dave desperately scrambles back to get it, but he can’t. He hits the fence in frustration. 30-love us.
All the sudden Dave seems to have hurt his hamstring. He’s limping around, flexing his leg. I tell Pete to ignore it, I think he’s faking it to throw us off mentally. Don’t believe it, he’s probably just pretending. But surprisingly, Dave comes to the net and shakes hands, he’s retiring. Did he really hurt himself? Or did he mentally give up and bail out of the match? Dave is a super-fit athlete who plays several times a week and is involved in a career of physical therapy. I don’t buy it. Dave is no dummy, he knew we were on a roll and had the momentum. And Dave knew his mentally flustered partner was due to serve next. We already broke Lenny twice – and at love in his previous service game.
This feels like a fantastic win. There is no disappointment at all with the curious, abrupt retirement. I know we were going to win this match. So does Pete. We are both thrilled with having played another set of excellent tennis, against two respected players in Lenny and Dave who, in my opinion, pulled a “No Mas” like Henin did in the Australian Open final to Mauresmo.
After Dave walks off quietly to his white Audi, Pete and Lenny decide to play some singles. But Lenny says he has to leave after three games. Pete was winning 2-1. Lenny has never lost a set in singles to Pete…
We will see soon, if Lenny and Dave decide to issue another challenge for a rematch. Hopefully they will because it was a well-played, good spirited match, with clean calls and good sportsmanship by all four competitors.
Stay tuned…
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Dan Markowitz · October 10, 2010 at 1:27 pm
Scoop,
I wouldn’t play a match against these guys again. If you feel one faked an injury just as you guys had the edge and the other quits after playing three games. That’s not fair and respectful play.
Way to hang tough.
Scoop Malinowski · October 10, 2010 at 2:29 pm
Yeah I’m pretty certain he faked it. They were in trouble and he bailed out. I don’t think he wants to play again anyway. Dave is the kind of guy who must win and he’s unsure about if they can beat us and how his partner can handle the pressure. Plus the other guys quits all the time when he’s losing, like he has to go somewhere. But he always finishes the set when he’s winning it. Since I beat him 21-3 in a 21 last year he won’t play again. And he always talks about it doesn’t matter to win or lose, it’s just exercise. lol.