It's back, the Towpath Doubles event! Who is playing? Who are the favorites? WHO WON?! Check it all out ... HERE!
Intro
For the past few seasons, the Towpath doubles event has been the marquee local doubles event of the 3.0 scene, providing 3.0ers area-wide with a chance to hone their doubles skills during the harsh winter season. The pre-tourney before the more fabled Akron Open, this event is steadily increasing in prominence and prestige, no doubt shown by the big-time 3.0 names in attendance almost yearly!
Except for the January event. In which no one signed up.
BUT STILL!
The event, thanks to last year's champs, Tim and Matt, getting promoted to 3.5, promises to crown a new champion, so let's get looking at what it's going to take to hoist said championship!
Format
A one day, early morning event, only the most dedicated 3.0ers will be able to muster the early morning energy necessary to achieve 3.0 championship status! And to attain said status, these 3.0 warriors of the hard courts will have to play EVERYONE in a round robin! The team that gets to five games first, via regular scoring, will gain the win!
Profiles
Andrew Chan + Peacock Gregory (2.51+2.75 = 5.26) ... 2-2 ... second event, with their 4th place finish at the 2022 Akron Open Doubles Championships being their maiden 3.0 tournament voyage! ... Pros: The second most experienced pairing, they surely know each other's games like the back of their own ... um ... backhand?! ... Cons: Will the pressure of returning to the site of their former 3.0 glory be too much to handle?!
Kishore Devarakonda + Pradeep Madhavanpillai (2.73+3.23 = 6.06) ... 0-0 ... first ever tournament! ... Pros: Play for the same Center Court club, meaning they've got Center Court Communication! ... Cons: Will the jitters of their first ever event be too much to handle at 8am in the morning?!
John Gambol + Clay Rexrode (3.0T + 2.76 = 5.76) ... 0-11 ... third event, all on the pristine courts of the Towpath Tennis Center! ... both were members of the 2022 55+ 6.0 National Championship team! ... Pros: Championship pedigree plus home court knowledge! ... Cons: Will the paparazzi and attention-seekers throw them off their game?!
Travis Haselswerdt + David Gann (2.97+2.90=5.87) ... 9-4 ... their fourth event together, they've increasingly enjoyed worse results each season, topping out as runners-up at the 2020 Akron Open before then finishing 3rd in both the 2021 Towpath Doubles and then 2022 Akron Open Championships ... is a 4th place currently in the works?! ... Pros: Most experience of any tandem, with double digit pairings, all on the Towpath courts! ... Cons: Most experience of any tandem, with almost no tangible success!
Rymwen Mil + Gunnar Shied (N/A + N/A = N/A) ... first event together, they're completely unknown! ... Pros: As the youngest pairing, they have the exuberance and energy necessary to make a deep tourney run! ... Cons: Do they lake the necessary 3.0 experience to do well in this 3.0 event? Yes, Rymwen is a tennis coach and yes, Gunnar played in high school, but is that really 3.0 tennis?! Only time will tell if the answer is "no" or "heck no!"
Predictions
I’m going to do my very best. But if one thing I’ve learned from one of the highest* level of tennis in the birthplace of tennis (mighty Midwest), it’s 3.0 singles greatness doesn’t necessarily transfer to 3.0 doubles greatness. With that in mind… LETS GET TO IT!!!
Round One
Kishore/Pradeep (1-0) over John/Clay (0-1)
It’s just something about these self rated guys. It usually seems to underscore how good they really are. I like that they’re from the same club and that they’re relatively unknown. I think they may be a surprise. Clay and John will have a difficult time even arriving to the courts in time being the police escort and all. The huge number of fans will be clamoring for a picture, a quote, an autograph, the list goes on and on. Too much to handle and yet still prepare for greatness.
Gunnar/Rymwen (1-0) over Peacock/Andrew (0-1)
This may be one of those examples where they say you have to start at the 3.0 level, but in two years you’re playing 4.0. I like the youth and the formal tennis experience. Tough opening draw for Peacock and Andrew.
Round Two
Travis/David (1-0) over Clay/John (0-2)
Not fair. Just. Not. Fair. So I mentioned the fans clamoring to see their hometown heroes, instead they’re going to try NOT to focus on the monster across the net. It’s like staring at the sun. A car crash. You don’t want to look, buuuuuuut. Yeah, Travis is ugly. Also, David has a big serve, and if he’s on that spells big trouble for Clay and John. I also like the consistency of Travis from the baseline and David’s favorable net play.
Gunnar/Rymwen (2-0) over Kishore/Pradeep (1-1)
Match of the tourney imo. Self rated v self rated. I see long games. Lots of power and precision is what I’m foreseeing. Youth prevails here.
Round Three
Gunnar/Rymwen (3-0) over Clay/John (0-3)
G/R, as you may have noticed, is my team of the tourney. Anything can happen in a first to five format, but C/J will need a mixture of luck and skill to come out on top here.
Travis/David (2-0) over Peacock/Andrew (0-2)
I think this will be a close match. Experience is key here, and they come into this tourney ranked #1 and #2 in just that. Taking T/D in a close one here.
Round Four
Travis/David (3-0) over Gunnar/Rymwen (3-1)
This may be a mild upset. David, as I mentioned, has a wicked serve and he’s going to need every bit of that power and consistency to win this match. Travis has been working on his serve and I believe he will be feeding off the success of David here. Experience at the net, and again, the ability at the baseline to keep games alive will be too much for the inexperienced G/R.
Kishore/Pradeep (2-1) over Peacock/Andrew (0-3)
Teamwork and communication is the hallmark of doubles success. K/P members of the same club and they’ve no doubt learned each others strengths and weakness. By this time of the tournament, however, they’ve been on the court the longest. Will fatigue set in? Did they get a restful sleep the night prior? No and yes. They will prevail.
Round Five
Clay/John (1-3) over Peacock/Andrew (1-3)
I’ve gone back and forth with this one. Both of these teams will be looking for the first win of the tourney. Has fatigue begun to set in? Probably so on both sides. I’m going to lean towards the team that knows each other the best and had the national experience to fall back on. They’re not afraid of the big stage, which, obviously, THIS IS! It will be a fun match and very spirited. Victory, yet a close one, to C/J.
Kishore/Pradeep (3-1) over Travis/David (3-1)
Very, very nice draw to end this tourney. A victory for T/D here means the hardware. Unfortunately I just don’t see it happening? There’s pressure on the serves now and I think the inconsistency along with the power will lead to more second serves than we’ve seen yet from this partnership. K/P will edge them out here in a very closely contested match!
The winner of this tournament will go down to tie-breaker format (of course, I’m making this up as I’ve no idea how tiebreakers are done) of total games won and game differential. Thus:
1) Gunnar/Rymwen (3-1)
2) Travis/David (3-1)
3) Kishore/Pradeep (3-1)
4) Clay/John (1-3)
5 Peacock/Andrew (0-4)
Results
1st - Kishore & Pradeep - 3-1 (18)
2nd - Gunnar & Rymwen - 3-1 (18)
3rd - Travis & David - 3-1 (16)
4th - Peacock & Andrew - 1-3
5th - Clay & John - 0-4
WHOA! What a wild ride of 3.0 doubles! Sure, you can check this link for detailed results, but boy howdy, you can read it all here, too!
In the end Kishore and Pradeep hoisted the Towpath Trophy (which turned out to be a free water bottle), as their 3-1 record stood atop the field!
But wait, didn't Gunnar and Rymwen ... and Travis and David ... also finish 3-1? What gives?!
Well, what gives is something never before heard of in tennis - TIE-BREAKERS!
Huh. Guess that is kind of heard of.
Anyway, while there was a three way three win 3.0 tie (lotta three's!), Kishore and Pradeep, thanks to having the most games won (18), edged out Gunnar and Rymwen (18) and Travis and David (16).
Wait, what?!
CALM DOWN! As K&P (as they like to be called) defeated G&R (as we think they like to be called) head-to-head, they won the tourney thanks to not one but two TIE-BREAKERS! All this despite Travis and David defeating them (to earn their third straight 3.0 third place finish, which is ... something). What a while ménage of 3.0 tennis!
Round One Results
While Travis and David enjoyed a first round bye (for some reason), K&P and G&R got off to fast 1-0 starts, only dropping a game between the two of them, thus setting up a huge Round Two draw...
Round Two Results
... in which the two of them faced off. K&P, hailing from Center Court, used their excellent communication and teamwork to counter the raw power of G&R, and in a back and forth display, it was communication that outlasted power in this show down as, with their 5-3 win, they were the early leader's in the gorgeous Towpath clubhouse for tournament glory! Meanwhile, Travis and David got their first match, taking on Clay and John for the second time in their careers, and thanks to some well-placed lobs from David, the pair was able to show that maybe their first round bye wasn't a fluke after all!
Round Three Results
Travis and David, the most experienced duo in the event, immediately took on one of the other very experienced duo's in the event in Peacock and Andrew. Up early, Travis and David's experience looked to trump their opponents', but the experience of Peacock and Andrew quickly outdid that of their opponents', and before long it was 2-2 with several tight tie-breakers in which only experience would be the difference. OH SO MUCH EXPERIENCE! Luckily for Travis and David, their experience won the day as David's laser-like serve came afire, giving them the 2-0 record they needed to make a title run!
G&R, meanwhile, desperately needed a win to stay in the running, but the super-duper experienced Clay and John weren't about to roll over for anybody! Despite being shut-out in their previous two matches and despite playing the pre-tournament favorites, the septuagenarian pairing gave as good as they got, using their deft touch to counter the sheer blunt power coming their way. Indeed, perhaps the match of the event, this one went to 3-3 with the underdogs having the next game on their racquet! G&R, however, were able to get the big points when they needed them and thus, despite the valiant effort, Clay and John fell, but not before the crowd of onlookers (all two of them) went bonkers in applause!
Round Four Results
K&P got back on the court after a well-earned respite, and immediately picked up where they left off, getting a hard-fought win versus Peacock and Andrew to hold a seemingly insurmountable 3-0 record!
SEEMINGLY!
Meanwhile, G&R needed a big win versus undefeated 2-0 Travis and David to have a shot at their first ever title, but things got off to a rough start as they went down early in the first game. But harnessing their inner - but especially their outward - power, the pairing crushed the ball through their heretofore undefeated cross-court opponents, and despite a final game that seemed like it took 45', they were able to emerge victorious, ending their maiden tourney run with an impressive 3-1 record with 18 games won, putting all the pressure on...
Round Five Results
... the next match! That is, if K&P beat Travis and David, K&P would finish 4-0 and win outright! But if T&D (as they like to be called, whether they like it or not) could pull off the upset there would be three 3-1 teams! WHOA! Meaning it would all come down to games won. WHOA AGAIN! As K&P had 15 games won, they needed at least three to be crowded Towpath champs, as they enjoyed the head-to-head win over G&R. Travis and David, meanwhile, realized after some heavy mathematics that with their 12 games won so far, sadly for them, the best they could hope for was to play spoiler.
And spoil they did! In a back-and-forth, even-steven match, Travis' net play and David's power serve were en fuego this one and only match, and while every game went to deuce, they ended up winning most the big points, making them wonder why they couldn't do this more than, well, once a tournament. Rolling to a victory, it looked like K&P's 3.0 dreams would be ended thanks to the back-to-back third place champs (if that's a thing), but in a game they had to have, down 40-0 and 4-2 and against one of the biggest serves in the 3.0 game, they did just that, forcing Big Dave to double fault and forcing Travis to net overheads so quickly that they not only erased the 40-0 deficit, but won the all important third game as well!
And while Travis and David won the match, everyone was actually paying attention to Peacock and Andrew getting their first wins of the event versus a spry Clay and John.
Thus, when all was said and done, K&P were able to get their first ever win, G&R were able to notch their first ever 3.0 wins together, T&D were able to take third place (yet again), Peacock and Andrew enjoyed their second tourney run together, and Clay and John continued to impress the crowd with their all-out hustle and grit! Congratulations all!
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