The 3.0er of the Year - Travis Haselswerdt
(Bay Village)
Singles Player of the Year - Roger Lee
(CVAC)
Doubles Player of the Year - Craig Warner
(Towpath)
Doubles Team of the Year - Michael Garza & Camron Whitacre
(Ketterington)
Captain of the Year - Camron Whitacre
(Ketterington)
With 24 overall wins, Travis took home The 3.0er of the Year award but it was Joshua who, thanks to his dominance over both Travis and fellow nominee Roger, took home Singles Player of the Year honors. Craig, thanks to his Ohio leading doubles wins (15) was honored as the Doubles Player of the Year while Dayton area stars Michael and Camron dominated in league and playoffs to take the Doubles Team of the Year award while Captain Camron, who lead his club to Nationals, won Captain of the Year as well!
For the first time since 2015, the the D.F.O. Voting Panel was so divided regarding their one and only job - voting - that the D.F.O. was forced, like a possum staring at an oncoming predator, to just ... give up.
Winning the sole Major* of the season, the Paramount Fall Championships, long-time 3.0 stalwarts Joshua and Travis almost entered the annals of 3.0 history by becoming the 2019 D.F.O. 3.0 Doubles Team of the Year! These long-time tennis foes, competitors throughout their careers on the singles courts of many a tournament, shocked the 3.0 tennis world when they made peace to join 3.0 forces for one last shot at 3.0 glory, and boy howdy, what glory they achieved (if by "glory" you're talking about a shiny, plastic trophy ... which we are!). But alas, the D.F.O. is fickle, and upon review and reflection and re-voting, the long-time tag team of Michael and Camron, who enjoyed a fantastic 9-3 season and a fantastic 15-3 career together, were seen as the Doubles Team of the Year award winners! Congratulations Michael and Camron on a fantastic multi-year run!
Camron not only played great but he led great as well, leading Kettering Tennis Club to a fantastic 15-4 mark, ending their season with a run to Nationals in the process!
Getting back to Tommie, as the only 70+ year old to take a tournament title - and defeat both Travis and Joshua - it made sense that his attributes be honored as incredibly special!
2019 DFO 3.0 Player of the Year Finalists
* = Years at 3.0; Nomination Criteria
Tournament Qualifiers
Mark Felgner*3
Tournament: Perrysburg Open Runner-up (2-1), NEO FF 3rd (1-1)
League: 2-1 Singles, 4-2 Doubles; Playoffs: 2-0 Doubles
Joshua Grischow*7
Tournament: Akron Open Champion (3-0), Paramount Fall Finalist (2-1), Akron Open Shootout 3rd (2-1)
League: 5-2 Singles
Travis Haselswerdt*5
Tournament: Wooster Aspen Champion (2-0), Akron Open Finalist (3-1), Paramount Winter Consolation Title (3-1)
League: 12-7 Singles, 1-0 Doubles
Matt Hutchison*3
Tournament: Akron Open Shootout Champion (3-0), Paramount Winter Round of 16 (0-2), Akron Open Quarter-Finals (1-1), MU A&F Champion (2-0) [in W.Va.]
League: 3-4 Singles
Paul Papas*10
Tournament: Akron Open Consolation Finalist (2-2), Green Open Round of 16 (0-2)
Abhishek Sreesaila*3
Tournament: Green Open Finalist (3-1), Paramount Fall Quarter-Finalist (0-2)
Benjamin Young*3
Tournament: Wooster Aspen Consolation Finalist (0-2), Paramount Winter Quarter-Finalist (1-1), Akron Open Shootout Quarter-Finalist (2-1), Akron Open Round of 16 (0-2), Green Open Quarter-Finalist (1-1), Paramount Fall Semi-Finalist (1-1)
League: 8-2 Doubles, Flight Champion; Playoffs: 1-0 Doubles
Joe Vinci*2 (CVAC)
League: 10-1 Singles, 5-3 Doubles; Playoffs: 1-1 Doubles
Roger Lee*2 (CVAC)
Tournament: Akron Open Shootout 4th Place (1-2)
League: 15-7 Singles, 2-0 Doubles; Playoffs: 1-0 Doubles
Ryan Hockaday*4 (KTC)
League: 4-0 Singles; Playoffs: 5-5 Doubles
Doubles
Tournament Qualifiers
Sam Cannata*5/Corey Roth*5
Tournament: CRC 6.0 Doubles Finalists (1-1)
Joshua Grischow*7/Travis Haselswerdt*5
Tournament: Paramount Fall Doubles Champions (2-0)
Michael Earnest*6/Craig Warner*5 (Towpath)
League: 3-0; Playoffs: 0-0
Joe Vinci*2/Lawrence Newman*5 (CVAC)
League: 3-0; Playoffs: 0-0
Oleg Lisheba*5/Gary Zwick*4 (CVAC)
League: 3-0; Playoffs: 0-0
Michael Garza*5/Camron Whitacre*7 (KTC)
League: 1-0; Playoffs: 8-2
Michael Gorman*4/Donald White*5 (KTC)
League: 4-0; Playoffs: 2-2
Voting Notes
In what turned out to be the second closest vote ever (see 2015's vote!), the Voting Panel was overwhelmed with the number of worthy nominees. However, many of the nominees weren't quite eligible due to being too good (i.e., the "One-and-Done" rule). Thus, the Voting Panel eventually narrowed the nominees down to Joshua. And Tommie! Joshua had won the biggest event of the season but Tommie had beaten Joshua head-to-head ... and ... was ... 70. 70! Initially, the vote didn't seem like there needed to be a vote, and Joshua looked to be the logical choice for Player of the Year status. But ... BUT ... BUT, Tommie had beaten Joshua during the tournament season and was 70! And had beaten a number of 3.0 stalwarts during his multi-tourney run!
BUT ... Tommie was also a one-and-done, and per D.F.O. rules, one-and-done players are ineligible for postseason awards. Thus, the vote seemed to be trending in a particular direction ... Joshua's.
But by then the Voting Panel was thoroughly distracted and thus Travis suddenly entered the discussion. Indeed, last year's runner-up D.F.O. 3.0 Player of the Year nominee to Mayu and his amazing 30+ win season, this heretofore non-factor did in fact enjoy what historically had been the #1 factor determining if a nominee won the Player of the Year award - wins! That's right, historically, in the 20 years of this made-up award, the 3.0 player with the most wins had typically won the Player of the Year award every time!
Indeed, having the most wins of anyone on the list plus winning the inaugural WAC Championship plus being the only human man to defeat Tommie, who had in fact defeated Joshua, put Travis back in the running! But Travis had lost to Joshua in the Akron Open finals and had lost to Tommie at the PFC.
WHAT TO DO?! Half of the Voting Panel felt that Joshua was the only answer, as he had beaten Travis head-to-head in the Akron Open finals. But the other half of the Voting Panel felt that Travis having more wins and being the only person to best Tommie in 2019 was the answer.
So what to do?!
Give up and just give the award to the fellas with the most wins. Huzzah!
For the third straight season, a captain won multiple post-season awards, but for the first time in a number of seasons, the voting was relatively straight forward. Indeed, Camron's season was so dominating that he was the easy-peasy choice for this most illustrious of D.F.O. honors!
Ineligible Nominees
Ben Flossie*
Tournament: Green Open Champion (4-0), Akron Open Shootout Finalist (2-1)
League: 7-1 Singles, Flight Champion; Playoffs: 1-0 Singles
Notes: What a great one year run as Ben not only took home a tournament title, but also captained his squad to a Flight championship!
Peter Frankfort*
Tournament: Paramount Winter Champion (4-0)
League: 5-0 Singles; Playoffs: 1-0 Singles
Notes: Taking the first tournament of the year against one of the greatest 3.0ers of all-time in Matt Birkbeck, Peter enjoyed an amazing first season, both in singles and in mixed doubles!
Tommie Ford*
Tournament: Paramount Fall Champion (3-0), Akron Open Consolation Title (3-1)
Notes: Enjoying an amazing comeback season after nearly a decade off the tournament courts of high-level* tennis, and despite technically not meeting the requirements necessary to qualify for the biggest award no one has ever heard off, the legendary Tommie, thanks to the "Septuagenarian Stipulation," almost became the D.F.O. exception to the rule en route to sharing the biggest award this organization offers (which is a true statement), the somewhat coveted 2019 D.F.O. 3.0 Player of the Year Award! Indeed, despite a relatively low number of matches, Tommie made them count, winning at nearly a 90% clip en route to becoming the first 70 year old in recorded 3.0 history to not only win a 3.0 tournament, the Paramount Fall Championships, but also almost win D.F.O. Player of the Year recognition! Sadly, Tommie's lack of matches and one-and-done status, despite the Septuagenarian Stipulation, stripped him of potential fake tennis glory, but that will never take away from his actual real tennis glory!
Andrew Griffith*/Timothy Griffith*4
Tournament: Green Open Doubles Runner-up (2-1)
Notes: The father-son combo enjoyed a fantastic maiden 3.0 tennis voyage!
Michael Kawash*
Tournament: Green Open Semi-Finalist (1-1), Wooster Aspen Consolation Title 1-1), YMCA Open Finalist** (2-1)>Kentucky
Notes: Travelling across state lines, Michael enjoyed a fine tournament run north of the Kentucky border!
Sean Lyden*
Tournament: Perrysburg Open Champion (2-0)
*Unrated
Notes: Winner of the most western 3.0 event in Ohio, the 3.0 world awaits the return of Sean to the 3.0 courts!
Aditya Kalyan Ayachitula/Shailendra Verma*
Tournament: Green Open Doubles Champions (3-0)
*Unrated
Notes: A mystery to most, this doubles tandem took home the first ever GOC Doubles title!
Ryan Fendley*/Robert Schaefer*4 (KTC)
League: 3-0; Playoffs: 6-2
Notes: Rookie Ryan, teaming with veteran Robert, helped lead the storied KTC club to yet another Ohio Midwest Championships Championship title!
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