[MullerMagic]

Hello MTF members! :wavey:

Some of you may remember me here from my old days here as 'Winnipeg'. I'm not exactly proud of my 'Winnipeg' days so I decided to come back. I want to apologize for the way I behaved way back when. I was young and immature... but years have passed and these days I'm a much nicer person!

I've made this thread to give everybody who I used to talk to on here an update on my tennis. For those who want to see me play or want to be refreshed, here's my college recruiting video that's a few years old: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6xRPmBLc5hI

I know I'm not very good, and I don't claim to be good either. I'm not gonna win the CYGS one day like Johnny Groove. These days, I don't even touch a tennis racquet all winter because I've gotten decent at the great sport of curling! But here it is being springtime, and I'm getting back on the tennis court, preparing for my one ITF tournament I play all year, the futures here in my hometown of Winnipeg at the end of August.

Here's my ITF profile: http://www.itftennis.com/procircuit/players/player/profile.aspx?playerid=100177373

As expected, mostly all losses. But I do pride myself on the fact that I can take games off these pros even though I only play off and on for a few months of the year.

Now for the next few days if you let me, I'm going to post a couple of JohnnyGroove style thesis's about my experiences year by year about the ITF tournaments I played in. Here's the first one about my first ITF men's event in 2012. I look forward to your comments and I'm happy to answer any questions you guys might have!

Here is the first thesis and just a headsup, this was written a month after the tournament took place back in 2012.

Canada F6 (My First Professional Tennis Tournament)

One month ago I played in my first professional tennis tournament, the Canada F6 $15,000 ITF Futures here in my hometown of Winnipeg, MB. This was also the first pro tournament to be held in Winnipeg since the 1999 Pan Am Games, so I was very looking forward to playing in this event.

I arrived on site at the Sargent Park Tennis Garden the day before Qualifying started and what do you know, the courts were big time sloped. Great, just what my serve and volley game needs (Sarcasm). The big problem for me is that I don’t play enough like all these travelling pros do so when your only weapon is having a very powerful flat first serve, I knew that I would be in trouble when I took my first few practice serves on these courts.

With the courts being so sloped it was impossible to get my first serve in on a consistent basis. Maybe if I was 6’6 or taller? But I am only 6’1 at the moment. So I had my practice session with Andrew Ochotta, who was a top junior in Canada and trains with the National Team and I was hitting okay for the most part. But with the courts the way they are my serve and volley game quickly became a counterpunching game, which was going to make things a challenge for sure!

So I left the venue after my practice and went home for the night to rest and get ready for my first round qualifying match the next day! I got drawn to play Ion Ursatanu, who has had some experience playing some Futures in Romania a few years ago. It was scheduled to be the last match on center court for the day, so already after seeing the order of play I was getting nervous! It didn’t help that I was looking up articles on the internet of Robert Dee, the British tennis player who didn’t win an ITF professional match until his 55th tournament!

Anyways I get a good nights sleep and arrive at the tennis courts an hour before my match the next day. I wait around anxiously for the match before mine to finish and when it does I am told to go on court in front of all these fans who had just watched a very high quality match before mine. Needless to say I was going to leave them disappointed.

I warm up alright and start the match with the attitude of “Don’t lose 6-0 6-0″. I actually play well in the beginning hitting decent groundstrokes even though I can’t get a first serve in to save my life! The first four games of the match were full of long and grueling rallies and after half an hour of play the score had me in the lead 3-1 surprisingly! I would not lead for much longer though as I would go on to lose the next four games to trail 5-3 before I finally hold serve again to make it 5-4. At the changeover I was telling myself to get the break back and level the set but that never happened as my opponent held serve to win the opening set 6-4 in a very long hour and a half.

In the second set, I started to play more freely and just hit my shots and as a result my opposition started missing. I even started to hit some big serves and some aces to win a few cheap points. Never thought I’d say this in a professional tennis match but I started cruising! I won the second set with a nice crosscourt backhand winner to which I let out a loud “CMON!” for the first time in the match to win the set in very impressive fashion 6-0. All the momentum was going my way now.

Going into the 3rd set I knew that I just had to keep it going at the pace I was at and I would win the match. My opponent did pick up his game however and the final set was a very tight affair. I started to get nervous again with myself serving and the score 3-3 and deuce. But I held my nerves and with an ace, I hold serve to lead 4-3. Out of nowhere I break at love to lead 5-3 to serve for the match!

“This is it, don’t get scared now”

I have match point at 40-30. We get into a long rally and I hit a big forehand to the corner that my opponent just hits back wide. “CMONNNNNNNN!!!”. I won! I never thought I would win a professional tennis match let alone in my very first try but I did it!

In a grueling three hour match, I won 4-6 6-0 6-3 to advance to the qualifying final where I would play Dennis Simsek, for a spot in the Main Draw!

That night I would do some research on my opponent and saw that he is the best player from the province of Alberta with a worldclass forehand. Oh yeah also he used to be on the Turkish Davis Cup team and has a win over the former 33rd ranked player in the world, Luis Horna.

So basically what I am saying is that I’m gonna lose 6-0 6-0!

Also for the first time in my career I will be playing with lines people and a chair umpire who along with the 100+ fans will all get to witness this disaster unfold.

Like I said its very hard for a player who is all serve to play well on these sloped courts. That is my excuse and I am sticking with it!

“Oh boy, lets just get this match over with”

I serve to start the match. I actually get to 30-30 in my opening service game thanks to an ace and an unreturnable serve but that’s all I could muster as I would lose the next two points and get broken. Simsek then holds at love to make it 2-0 in the first 5 minutes and once again I am serving.

I HOLD SERVE

Whoa where did that come from eh? its 2-1 and all the sudden we have ourselves a match!? Am I gonna pull off the huge upset here??? Nah I lose the next ten games and the match 6-1 6-0 in a little over an hour. Obviously I am disappointed because I had chances for more games but lets take a second to look at the positives from the match (If there are any).

– Took a game off the ATP #1547 ranked player.

– Aces total: Dilello (5) Simsek (2)

– Actually won about 70% of my first serve points! Problem was I only got my first serve in 20% of the time.

I now wait around the tournament venue for the next day and a half waiting to see if I get into the main draw as a Lucky Loser or as an Alternate for the doubles main draw. As luck would have it I receive word that me and my doubles partner Shane Nicholls have been the beneficiaries of a withdrawal in the doubles main draw and we are now in and play the next morning against Jordan Kelly-Houston of New Zealand and Anderson Reed of the USA.

I was pretty happy just to get in and we actually played alright but were just clearly outmatched and lost 6-1 6-1 in an hour.

Overall I thought it was a great tournament from my standpoint! I won a professional tennis match and got into the doubles main draw. I realize that I won’t make it to the big leagues in tennis but that’s not gonna stop me from playing in my hometown Futures and at least give it a shot.

 

[156mphserve]

The first thing you shouldn't do when you sign up for a double account is admit to having said double account in your first post.

 

[MullerMagic]

The first thing you shouldn't do when you sign up for a double account is admit to having said double account in your first post.

I was banned 5+ years ago. This is me just trying to make amends with a new account.

 

[Orka_n]

Winnipeg! You're that huge canadatard/drama queen who went out in a blaze of glory (asked the mods to ban you?) after basically getting the entire forum against you.

Oh the memories.

 

[156mphserve]

I was banned 5+ years ago. This is me just trying to make amends with a new account.

problem is it doesn't work like that. Assuming it was a permaban then there was a reason for it and they're very unlikely be all yeah it was 5+ years ago, who cares.

 

[Il Mancio]

According to forum rules both this and your previous account should be banned now.

Multiple Accounts

If a user who is serving a ban longer than 3 months creates a double account to evade his or her ban, the double account will be deleted and the ban on the original account will be extended by 1 month.

If the moderator team determines that the duplicate account was created deliberately but not for malicious reasons - e.g. ban evasion or game cheating - then the initial 3 month ban will be reduced to 1 month.

 

[BauerAlmeida]

Nice! Hopefully you get to play Johnny Groove one day.

 

[BauerAlmeida]

What's the need for attacking the guy instead of commenting on what he wrote?

 

[156mphserve]

What's the need for attacking the guy instead of commenting on what he wrote?

I didn't attack him, gave him some advice

 

[MullerMagic]

Winnipeg! You're that huge canadatard/drama queen who went out in a blaze of glory (asked the mods to ban you?) after basically getting the entire forum against you.

Oh the memories.

Yep, that would be me. Not proud of it.

problem is it doesn't work like that. Assuming it was a permaban then there was a reason for it and they're very unlikely be all yeah it was 5+ years ago, who cares.

I'm just here to make my peace with everyone. If I get banned again then so be it, but whatever I did back then to get banned was very minor compared to what it takes to get someone banned now.

 

[Il Mancio]

What's the need for attacking the guy instead of commenting on what he wrote?

Attacking?

 

[Snowwy]

Glad to see you back. I always check the Winnipeg draw for your name.

 

[DartMarcus]

Haha missed your posts.

Since I'm done with college tennis, I might actually look into playing this tournament in August. Seems that it's a really weak field, winning some matches doesn't really get any easier than that. :lol:

 

[MullerMagic]

Glad to see you back. I always check the Winnipeg draw for your name.

Thank you! :angel:

Haha missed your posts.

Since I'm done with college tennis, I might actually look into playing this tournament in August. Seems that it's a really weak field, winning some matches doesn't really get any easier than that. :lol:

Yeah it is pretty weak. The players I've been drawn against have been pretty strong actually, but there is a lot of local wildcards who aren't very good (like me). You honestly could probably qualify if you have the right draw. That's kinda why I keep training hard for that one event, because there's that off chance you get a very favourable draw!

 

[MullerMagic]

Thesis #2: Canada F6 (2013)

http://www.itftennis.com/procircuit/tournaments/men's-tournament/info.aspx?tournamentid=1100029012

Coming into this tournament, I hadn't played a sanctioned match since the ITF the year before. I practised my serve by myself maybe 10-15 times leading up to the event. But when I went the day before to sign in for qualifying, I probably had about 10 hours of solid rallying with an opponent all summer. My vertigo symptoms were at its worst, I got tired and fatigued very easily while doing activities and it made it very tough to practice all the time, or as much as I would have liked.

I wouldn't let that stop me though. I went to sign in for qualifying and during that day I hit with an American, Alexander Centenari, who's currently a ranked player. We hit for a few hours and played a little match during that time which he beat me 4-2. Later on in the day, I saw the group of Swedes (Rosenholm, Eriksson, E. Ymer, Arvidsson) come to the site to practice. I've always been a big Soderling fan/Swedish tennis fan so I was pleased to see them come to this tournament.

This was actually probably the strongest field a futures could possibly have. It was the week before the US Open and it was the only Challenger/Futures happening in North America that week, so it was just a great tournament for me to be apart of. The names in the qualifying draw included Wolmarans, Ymer, Soafer, O'Mara, E. King, Norrie, Frost, Mylnikov. While the main draw players, made this seem like more of a challenger than a futures with guys like Peliwo, Rosenholm, Kutrovsky, Pavic, Eriksson, Kokkinakis, A. Zverev, Sarkissian, Bambridge, Schnur, Chjovka, Pokrajac, Bester, Abid, JP Smith.

Anyways the draw came out and I was going to be up against the 8th seed in qualifying, Australian Leon Frost who's been ranked in the top 1000. Obviously the Frost Bakery is going to be open for business. And I knew that. I just wanted to go out there and do the best I possibly could.

I hit with Centenari early in the morning but about 20 minutes before our match was scheduled, the rain came and we were delayed for 4 hours. Finally the rain stopped and my match was set to begin on an outside court. But while the courts were still drying, all the players wanted to get in a quick hit. So I was sharing a court with none other than Kokkinakis ! Pretty cool looking back on it. During the rain delay I talked to Rosenholm a bit about Swedish tennis and congratulated him about his victory over Monfils the year before in Stockholm. Also the match on the court beside mine had Elias Ymer playing so while we were both warming up, we made some jokes about the weather to each other and I said 'nice match against Dimitrov buddy' (He took Dimitrov to 3 sets in Bastad a few weeks prior) to which he laughed and said 'hope we both have a good match here man'.

I was worried about losing 6-0 6-0 after he held at 15 in the first game. But in my first service game I hit some aces and unreturnable serves and held at 30 so the rest of the match I felt I was playing with house money. I did some scouting and noticed Frost was a decent counterpuncher and thought I needed to overpower him to win some points. We got into a lot of long rallies and I hit some nice winners on him, but he clearly won the majority of the rallies, as even though I took him to deuce a few times....he won the first set 6-1.

In the second set my vertigo was acting up big time. I was getting very dizzy and tired. He held to go up 1-0 in the second set and I was so dizzy that I sat down during the quick changeover to which he said "Hey, no sitting, keep playing". Right then and there I threw up into a bucket, and got back onto the court to serve. I was able to force some errors out of him on my serve and quickly held at love, and then layed down on the court while he grabbed a ball from another court. Ymer came over and picked me up! He told me to keep fighting. And I really tried, but I was done physically. We got into some long rallies but he always manage to get me going court to court, eventually opening up the court for a winner. Final score was 6-1 6-1. I out-aced him 8-2. I know that seems like a bad score, but I was actually not that upset after the match. I took two games off someone after being on the court for only 10 hours that summer, and I was having serious vertigo problems on the court.

I wasn't able to get into the doubles main draw that year, so I hung around the venue and watched a lot and hit with some of the guys before their matches like Haythem Abid and Erik Chjovka. The day before the final, I got a Facebook message from none other than John-Patrick Smith, who asked if I could hit with him the morning of the final. He was set to play 6'5 Croatian Ante Pavic in the final and apparently had asked around looking for someone with a big serve that could give him some preparation for Pavic. Obviously I jumped at the chance to hit with Smith, so I met him that morning on center court and we hit for maybe half an hour and then he asked me to bomb some serves at him, to which I happily obliged. Probably hit around 20-25 big flat serves, and I aced him a fair share of the time, but when he made contact he was getting it back to me pretty good, so I thought he should be good to go against Pavic. We finished our practice with a few service games and he won them both. He then thanked me for warming him up and I wished him luck in the final, saying that I'd cheer him on.

JP actually overcame a set and a break deficit to beat Pavic in the final in a little over two hours 3-6 6-4 6-3. Right after the match and the trophy ceremony, Smith had to go as he was off on a plane to New York for the US Open, playing in the doubles event. Overall it was a great tournament and even though I didn't do very well, I love the fact that I get to feel like almost a pro for one week a year.

Stay tuned tomorrow for my final thesis coming from last years futures!

 

[Johnny Groove]

Too much negativity imo, starting with the thread title.

Also, what else are you doing? Like day to day stuff? Coaching? Working? How do you make money?

But still, best of luck to you man. When is your next event?

 

[Winnipeg]

Too much negativity imo, starting with the thread title.

Also, what else are you doing? Like day to day stuff? Coaching? Working? How do you make money?

But still, best of luck to you man. When is your next event?

I wouldn't say its negativity. I'm just realistic.

I'm a hockey writer, have a book coming out at the end of this summer. I also work as a chef at an Italian restaurant.

My first event this year will likely be at the beginning of August, as a warm-up for the local futures event. I've started training now and am going to try and get into the best match-ready position I can.

I got some motivation now that I have the great JohnnyGroove actually commenting on my thread.

 

[scarecrows]

you played challenger qualies last year

there were even odds for that

 

[Il Mancio]

Please update us in case you play again CH qualies.

 

[Winnipeg]

you played challenger qualies last year

there were even odds for that

No no, that was just a main draw doubles in the futures tournament! But yes I did notice there were odds for that match!

Please update us in case you play again CH qualies.

Will do. There is talk about a challenger coming to Winnipeg in the coming years.