Sometimes something small leads to something amazing.
“Duke. Bro, we just got cancelled.”
“Gary-what are you talking about?”
“We lost Impact for October.”
“Wt….”
I thought about options and new and exciting things. I want to say I was watching Sinner Alcaraz French Open style and said to myself–”THAT’S IT!!”
The truth is simple. The Chonburi people were Team Thana City or something like that, so I figure, if I have the tournament at Thana City, they would come plus it’s clay.
A phone call. And Bam, we got 5 courts 8-5 pm at Thana City on October 25.
It’s been awhile since I played on Red Clay. Thana City is a composite clay type court, it’s made out of tiny granules and the play is similar to clay, you can slip–ask Kashe– (7 times that I saw). And each shot requires a push with your legs and a strike with your hands through the ball. All in all, it’s not a hard court experience.
Doing the math, we got 9 groups–7 singles and 2 doubles. We so got this. 8 am to 5 pm on a beautiful Saturday morning–crisp about 30 degrees, overcast, perfect weather. The team got there early as we set up the event.
A new Banner!
Sponsors gave us coupons and samples–Thank you High Tea by Pickabo and BTY–Better than Yesterday electrolyte–gives you power on those days. Highly recommend it.
The first matches brought out the Men 3.5 a and b – A blazing Brazilian Jorge took out the party boys Mr. R, Mr. Two, and Pete (JUNIOR player and pretty good –Keep an eye on him). THe other group had a typo as Pro, POR dominated his group and took out the other party boy, Nat.
“Bro.. “
“Nat –where are you?”
“On the way.”
“Nat–where are Two and Mr R.”
“Oh we left his restaurant like at 230…”
AHAHHA the party boyz, those days are behind me now
So in all fairness, there are traditions and there are rules. For effective tennis, normally no alcohol, no heavy meats, and no intimacy. Needless to say, my significant other doesn’t care for these rules.
As they said in Top Gun Maverick–these are not guidelines, these are as inmutable as gravity, no alcohol.
Well, on Wednesday my roommate from college was going back to California, Levels has a Diva night so four free drinks for ladies and 300 entry for dudes before midnight. Needless to say as the clock hit midnight and we were on the fourth lady drink for the ladies and fifth for the dudes, hey should we get a bottle popped up. Then, THANI? WHERE ARE YOU–and then he came. Needless to say the night started at 1230 am and finished at 330 am. And on Saturday, the G-unit could not serve or hit the ball. Aging sucks. The recovery is just not there.
I could not serve on that surface. In three sets of the Men Doubles, the first serve just would not go in. I could not strike the ball, I could chip it and hit drop volleys but every hard shot went out. Needless to say, Leilani saved the day as we took the Men Doubles ! down 4-1 then tiebreaker 7-4.
Meanwhile the tournament went on, Duke led 4-3 30-0… then, he didn’t as he lost to Leilani 6-4–cramping had set in. Duke had the opportunity to train with Stepanik in Czech Republic–great deal 1000 thb an hour and he learned to play on his toes. Unfortunately, the calf muscle is a very small muscle group and easily cramps–which it did on the third match.
Women Singles saw the domination of Noi–yeah, her name means a little but she’s way too much on the clay taking down Nam, Bongkotporn, and Jah. Noi is in the white.
Men 4.0 saw Eli win both categories and six matches with Sora taking second in the morning and Thana in the afternoon. Eli did say Canadians can play on clay… I was like hmmm
The 5.5 saw the arrival of Orest and Walter taking second. Orest is lefty, big, and he beat Tetta once… That’s legend, rematch will be Le Smash Nov 9.
The Mixed Pair of Nalin and TIng continued to assert themselves champions over coach Nut and Pk.
And then, it was over. The plus side was we had two courts for another hour so we played for some for fun doubles and then, had a meal at the dining area by the pool. Overall, a very posh experience
I thought to myself. That was amazing.
At the end of the day, it was amazing just to sit and have a few and relax. Thani up top, Bew and Dawa in black, then Duke bottom right and Nalin–minus Ting–My crew that makes this all go. Thank you to Thana City Staff our sponsors High Tea by Pickabo and BTY