Saturday 7 December 2024

On a humid December day, 3 out of 6 Maccabi sides won. One more week to go before the summer break.

Section 5 players L to R: Marcus Frajman, Arvid Kreimer, Geoff Rosenberger, Gilad Nagar

 

Tennis Victoria BRTA

 

Section 3 Maccabi 2-3-42 defeated by Hawthorn 4-5-42

Jordan Jaffe 8-5
Jonny Henquin 7-8
Steven Kleytman 2-8
Damon Flicker 3-8
Jordan Jaffe/Jonny Henquin 6-0 6-0 W/O
Steven Kleytman/Damon Flicker 4-6 6-7

In the singles, Jordan played a big hitter with a massive serve who he had lost to previously 8-2, fortunately for Jordan, a change of tactics and the ability to play at a much higher level than previously, resulted in a 8-5 win. Jonny played an extremely consistent and good player, with many long rallies and close points, after 80 minutes, Jonny nearly completed the comeback from 1-5 down but lost 7-8. Steve also played a very consistent player, but struggled to get going and get into his own consistent game which ultimately let him down and going down 2-8. Whilst, Damon unfortunately was unable to reach the best we know he’s all capable of and struggled to take control of the match, going down 3-8. 

In doubles, the no.1 player had to leave early so the opposition actually ended up forfeiting the doubles, giving Jordan and Jonny the ability to have an intense table tennis match. But for Steve and Damon, they played a very close match against consistent players on a very hot and windy day. As the entire match was extremely close, Damon and Steve were very close to forcing it to a 3rd set but unfortunately struggled to finish off some of the big points and ended up going down 4-6 6-7.

- Jordan Jaffe


Section 4 Maccabi 3-5-46 defeated Ardrie Park 3-4-43

Steve Gostin 2-8
Saul Muscatel 3-8
Joel Rabinov 8-1
Lachie Zuker 8-2
Steve Gostin/ Lachie Zuker 7-6 6-2
Saul Muscatel/ Joel Rabinov 2-6 6-3 5-7

On Ardrie Park's mod grass, we played singles first with 4 courts (though the opposition were concerned about playing on the back courts) in what proved to be 4 one sided singles.

Steve played possibly the best player in the section (a leftie) to go down 2-8.

Saul played a familiar foe, going down 3-8.

Joel in a summary of his season in singles, opened the match with his opponent losing his racquet on the serve: only for Joel to not even land the return... from there the opponent made heaps of errors to gift Joel a 8-1.

Lachie played well to continue his good singles form, winning 8-2.

Steve and Lachie had it tough in the opening set against a father-son pair, facing set points at 5-4, 40-15. However that was the turning point, as they won a long first set in a tiebreaker, before closing out the match 6-2.

Saul and Joel didn't get going in the opening set down (along with the opposition lifting immensely from the singles) to go down 2-6. They changed things up in the 2nd set (swapping sides to serve from, return from) and it worked to go from 1-2 to 6-3. The final set was both pairs playing well, with just about every game going to deuce. At about 3-2, the day was decided (though we wanted the win). Saul held serve for 4-2, before the pivotal long game: both sides had chances with this game unfortately our downfall as Saul and Joel faded for 5-7.

Overall: Great to get the win (and an away win). Joel and Lachie had 0 issues playing on the back courts and wouldn't have even noticed the perceived lack of being able to move on the back courts had the oppostion not mentioned it. There were far worse courts to play on. Though Ardrie Park did have a interesting "home court advantage" up their sleeve that we were unprepared for. 3 of us ended up swallowed a fly... sneaky little pests. Anyway onto next week for a home game to end the year. 

- Joel Rabinov

Section 5 Maccabi 4-6-53 defeated Royal South Yarra 2-3-49

Geoff Rosenberger 8-3
Gilad Nagar 8-5
Arvid Kreimer 3-8
Marcus Frajman 7-8
Geoff Rosenberger/Gilad Nagar 7-5 7-5
Marcus Frajman/Arvid Kreimer 0-6 6-3 7-6 (10-8)

 

Standout performances from Geoff and Gilad gave us an even footing after the singles at Royal South Yarra. Warm conditions made it difficult for everyone. Gilad didn't have it all his way but displayed resilience to prevail. Geoff lost the first three games but then won the next eight! Marcus forced his match into a tiebreak but went down. Calf issues affected Arvid in his singles.

Geoff and Gilad came back from 5-2 down in the first set and 5-3 down in the second set to win in straight sets as the number 1 pair! A truly marvellous performance. Arvid and Marcus decided to take up the opposition's offer to play on real grass for the doubles (Arvid had never played on grass). It didn't seem like a wise decision at first as Arvid and Marcus struggled to adjust to the different surface, losing the first set 6-0 in about 20 minutes. A change in tactic by trying to approach the net more and higher consistency turned the match around to secure a memorable victory at 2nd placed RSY, which made the afternoon tea even better.

- Marcus Frajman

 

Section 6 Maccabi defeated Caulfield Rec Walkover

 

Section 9 Maccabi 2- 4-48 defeated by Royal South Yarra 4-6-58

Saul Jayes 3-8
Errol Dorfan 3-8
Daniel Goodrich 8-2
Jack Stock 8-7
Saul Jayes/ Errol Drofan 0-6 6-4 6-7
Daniel Goodrich/ Jack Stock 2-6 6-3 6-7

Daniel and Jack, back playing together after a long hiatus, had rusty 1st set down 2-6. They picked up in the second and played more aggressively, but were also lucky with their opponents hitting it long at one end where the wind was stronger, helping them take out the set 6-3. They were up 7-4 in the super tiebreaker but couldn't hold the lead, down 9-11. 

Daniel had a great win 6-2 and is back on the winners list in singles. The game started off close 2all then Daniel took control of most of the points from here and really targeted his opponents weaker backhand side, which proved effective taking out the set 8-2.

Errol and Saul started very slowly. Took a set to warm up.  Playing doubles first worked against us.  

 Errol ran out of puff after getting back to 3-4 after starting very slowly again down 0-4.  Too many unforced errors.  Errol says that it was his Worst performance of the season.
Fair enough, considering always wins and has been carrying us for years.

Saul had a nice comeback through doubles but was unable to pull through with singles. Running up and down and showing strong legs, was unable to catch his opponent despite getting to deuce in most games.

Jack, playing his first singles match in 2 months, started strongly before the rustiness and lack of match play showed. After making many mistakes, Jack down 7-5, felt free all of a sudden and with no pressure, played his best Tennis of the afternoon.

Going into the tiebreaker, Jack does what he does best and goes into lock down mode, which served well as his opponent made a few skill errors.

Overall, disappointing to lose our first match of the season but we have bigger fish to fry.

 - Jack Stock

Section 10 Maccabi 3-4-38 defeated by Royal Avenue 3-4-45

Sebastian Raboy 8-3
Ashley Raboy 8-6
Evgeni Grishin 7-8
Karen Foldvari 1-8
Sebastian Raboy/ Ashley Raboy 6-4 6-4
Evgeni Grishin/ Karen Foldvari 2-6 0-6

 

Tough day at the office, very hot and blowy. Ended up only losing by 7 games. Thanks to Karen Foldvari and Evgeni Grishin for filling in today for our team.

- Ash Raboy