The 2020 Green Open Championships (or GOC for those in the know ... which is now YOU!) got off to roaring 3.0 start as both the singles and doubles competitions began. AT THE SAME TIME!
Singles
In singles, tournament veteran Paul, who has been on tour since 2011 and participated in the first ever GOC - which back then was only open to the nearly professional level OPEN LEVEL players! - tested fellow tournament vet Timothy with a series of deft lobs and drop shots, putting his long-time experience and vast doubles skills to use. Timothy, however, fresh off his first ever league season in which he helped lead his Green team to some solid team wins, was able to answer with pinpoint shots of his own as the two Green veterans - both have participated in every GOC 3.0 event over the last three years! - enjoyed a fantastic opening match. In the end, Timothy emerged victorious with a solid 6-4, 6-3 victory, and Paul could only tip his proverbial hat, smiling while leaving the court and exclaiming one of the matra's of every 3.0 player, "I'm still here, another year!"
Day 2 Matches
SemiFinals - Travis Haselswerdt v. Timothy Griffith
- Preview: A match between two of the tourney favorites, both have a record-tying TWO Consolation Titles to their somewhat illustrious 3.0 tournament careers! Which means they're both good at winning after losing!
SemiFinals - Chip Bond v. Benjamin Young
- Preview: Two captains of their respective squads, this will be a leadership display! Who will win, Chip's fiery brand of stewardship or Benjamin's more quiet pedantic style?!
Consolation Finals - Paul Papas v. TBD
- Paul will be playing someone and be attempting, in this third try, to gain a Consolation Title!
Doubles
Day one was so packed full of excitement that both singles and doubles events took place on adjoining courts! AT THE SAME TIME! And, to add to the drama, both doubles events ended in eerily similar fashion. In center court, Travis and Benjamin, two 3.0 tournament stalwarts who have enjoyed vast 3.0 tournament experience, joined tennis forced. However, neither had ever played together, meaning their on-court communication would be tested. Making this all the more interesting is that 78' away was the father-son combo of Bob and Tim, who, while lacking significant tournament experience had played together, and had just recently finished 3rd in the Akron Open Doubles Championships just the month before. WHOA! Experience v. experience! Only ... um ... different kinds of experience.
On the far court, defending GOC Doubles champions Aditya and Shailendra returned to the site of their former glory, and had an enormous amount of 3.0 positivity going for them, making them the odds on Las Vegas favorites to repeat their GOC glory (sidebar - it would be pretty awesome if Vegas actually did make wagering possible on 3.0 tennis ... probably illegal ... but awesome nonetheless). Not only did both have a winning history on their side, but history itself was on their side as they were the first 3.0 doubles team to ever win the GOC! Facing them, however, were home-grown Green players Chip and Timothy, perhaps new to doubles, but having home court advantage and enjoying a doubles league win together to end the season in their one and only tag-team experience. WHOA! Experience v. experience! Only ... yep, you got it ... different.
Both matches started off the same, as the side with the doubles experience ran off to early first set leads! On the far court, the defending champions took the first set while on the center court the father-son combo used a combination of big serves and amazing reflexes, combined with precise forehands, to keep their opponents off guard.
In the second set, however, leadership experience paid off as both Benjamin and Chip, captains of their respective USTA league teams, took charge of their squads, directing their teammates to the best positioning possible, Chip with fiery speeches and Benjamin by telling Travis to actually stand where it might help them win an actual point instead of randomly moving around the courts. While different styles of leadership, their leadership paid off, and both their teams fought back to take the second set. Indeed, on center court, Benjamin's leadership was especially effective, as down 5-6 and love-40 on Benjamin's serve, the NCRC Captain rallied Travis' broken spirits to win the next five points (mostly on his own) and send the second set to a second set tie-breaker ... that they actually pulled off!
As both matches went to a third set SUPER TIE-BREAK, the crowd was on pins and needles (mostly because they were watching the 3.5 match between newbie rock star H. Michael Wiant and former 3.0 GOC Champion Ben Flossie), and Tournament Director Keith was forced to come over to both courts to break the tension (and by "tension" we mean help the players understand how the SUPER TIE-BREAK actually worked, because all eight of them were pretty tired and not thinking very clearly at this point). The Schneider Family, on their heels after Travis and (mostly) Benjamin's comeback, didn't just give in, and the SUPER TIE-BREAK was back and forth, until, at 5-4, Benjamin's side rolled off four straight points to take a commanding 9-4 lead. However, Bob and Tim, with huge forehands, rallied, and getting the score to 7-9, showed a never-give-up 3.0 attitude that made Benjamin and Travis wish they would stop saying "never" and please just "give-up." Finally, though, Travis hit a weak return that was so weak it was almost a drop shot, and with that, the match was over. BUT WHAT A MATCH! What a display of 3.0 tennis skills!
On the other court, much the same was taking place, as Aditya and Shailendra stormed off to a huge SUPER TIE-BREAK lead, going up 9-5. But with their championship hopes on the line, Captain Chip harnessed his inner (and outer) most leadership skills to get his team back in the match, one agonizing point after another, and with the astute organizational skills of a Dwight D. Eisenhower, Chip not only got his team back in the match, he not only got his team to tie the match, but he got his team to eventually win the match 11-9 with an amazing come from behind victory!
WHOA! And with that, the 3.0 fans of the greater Green area were given a show of epic proportions as all four doubles teams put on a fantastic 3.0 display of relatively amazing tennis!
Day Two Matches
Championship Finals - Chip Bond/Timothy Griffith v. Travis Haselswerdt/Benjamin Young
- Two USTA league captains lead their teams to the championship finals as Chip, Timothy, and Benjamin all aim for their first ever 3.0 championship ... while Travis just hopes Benjamin can carry the team again.
Consolation Finals - Aditya Ayachitula/Shailendra Verma v. Robert Schneider/Tim Schneider
- The former champs look to add to their trophy room but will have to face one of the fastest rising 3.0 doubles tandems in all of O-H-I-O!
Where are They Now?
While we here at DFO focus solely on the lowest 3.0 level tennis we can find, occasionally we like to shout out to those who have graduated from our 3.0 halls and have advanced to the ivory towers of 3.5 tennis. With that in mind, congratulations to former GOC 3.0 Champions Joshua Grishow ('18) and Ben Flossie ('19), both of whom competed in the 3.5 singles event this year, with the former narrowly falling while the latter enjoyed a first round victory before giving a great match to this season's Akron Open 3.0 (and 3.5!) Champion, H. Michael Wiant. No wonder the GOC is becoming on of the biggest events on tour ... just look at all these amazing 3.0 names from the past and the present!
Day Two Recap
Check out the Day Two Recap ... here!
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