Gladiator tennis League

2016-04-16T17:05:00.001-07:00

Gladiator Tennis 4.0 Men's Championship

Hudson Piehl WIN vs. John Mora
Move ahead to 1:10 (hr:mm) on the replay

2016-04-16T17:02:00.001-07:00

Gladiator Tennis 3.5 Men's Championship

Mark Maranon vs. Rob Ludwig WIN
Move ahead to 1:11 (hr:mm) on the replay or click the link:
https://www.playsight.com/share?svkey=47146251_1_288151

2016-04-16T17:00:00.001-07:00

Gladiator Tennis 3.0 Men's Championship

Matt Prill WIN vs. Durai Ponnalagu
Move ahead to 1:11 (hr:mm) on the replay

2016-04-16T15:51:00.001-07:00

Gladiator Tennis 5.0 Men's Championship

Marek Zacios vs. Ash Mehrotra WIN

2016-04-16T15:50:00.003-07:00

Gladiator Tennis 4.75 Men's Championship

Jason Cudebec WIN vs. Allen Cespedes

2016-04-16T15:50:00.001-07:00

Gladiator Tennis 3.5 Women's Championship

Silwia Rakauskas WIN vs. Cochita Jose

2016-04-16T15:49:00.000-07:00

Gladiator Tennis 3.0 Women's Championship

Mary Satchwell vs. Trisha Feely WIN

2016-04-16T14:08:00.001-07:00

Gladiator Tennis Men's 3.5 Semifinals

Howard Fox vs. Mark Maranon WIN

Robert Ludwig WIN vs. Howard Wax

Gladiator Tennis Men's 4.0 Semifinals

Ashish Pomal vs. Hudson Piehl WIN

John Mora WIN vs. Jordan Kraft

2016-04-15T07:22:00.003-07:00

Watch LIVE matches starting at 3PM Tomorrow

THIS SATURDAY - Watch NCAA Collegiate Tennis in Oak Park!

2014-09-11T09:58:00.000-07:00

Gladiator Tennis Mixer on Valentine's Day @ Naperville Tennis Club

2014-02-07T09:04:00.000-08:00

If you love tennis come and play at NTC on Valentine's Day !

Doubles play. Co-ed. No partner needed to sign-up. Light refreshments provided. Prizes. Raffle drawings.

Date: Friday, February 14th
Time: 7:30-10:30 pm
Cost: $30/adult NTC member and/or enrollees of Gladiator Indoor or
Spring Season
$40/nonmembers
Please bring cash or check. NTC members may charge their club account.
To register, call NTC at (630)355-5600 or email at www.info@napervilletennis.com. Space is limited so sign up early.

Get instruction personally from McEnroe's coach!!!

2013-09-04T18:18:00.000-07:00

Sept. 13 & 14: See Division I College tennis FREE in River Forest!

2013-08-27T19:50:00.002-07:00

Hello Gladiators & Tennis Friends!

On Friday & Saturday, September 13 & 14, the fourth annual River Forest Collegiate Invitational tennis tournament will be held with matches starting both days at 9 a.m. and running till about 6:30 p.m. on Friday and 4/4:30 p.m. on Saturday. The River Forest Tennis Club (615 Lathrop Ave River Forest; (708) 771-7783) is the primary tournament site, while the Oak Park Tennis Center (544 North Harlem Avenue; 708.366.9652) is a secondary venue. The tournament is free and tennis fans are encouraged to check out the exciting action!

The following Division I men’s teams will be participating in the tournament:

Belmont University (Nashville, TN)

Butler University (Indianapolis, IN)

Morehead State University (Morehead, KY)

Northern Illinois University (DeKalb, IL)

St. Louis University (St. Louis, MO)

University of Illinois at Chicago (Chicago, IL)

Valparaiso University (Valparaiso, IN)

Youngstown State University (Youngstown, OH)

It is an official ITA event and will have USTA umpires/referee on site at all times. UIC is the host school. Matches are played on the Har-Tru courts, all with the latest hydro-grid underground watering system. The event will look to move indoors in the event of inclement weather. Play will include three rounds of singles and three rounds of doubles for all players/teams which includes main draw, back draw and consolation rounds. The tournament is rapidly becoming one of the premier Midwest collegiate tennis events in the fall season.

The River Forest Tennis Club, the tournament’s primary host site, was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright and for many years hosted the U.S. National Men's Clay Courts, as well as the River Forest Junior Open and Girls' 18 & Under National Clay Court Championships .

John Griffin, the tournament director and past President of the River Forest Tennis Club, has asked me to help promote the event since I work as a Sports Editor for the Wednesday Journal of Oak Park & River Forest. John also played at Northern Illinois University and is a great guy and occasional hitting partner of mine on the tennis courts.

A handful of Gladiators recently attended Cincinnati’s ATP/WTA pro tennis event and everybody returned to Chicago raving about the experience. This tournament is another opportunity to watch high-level tennis up close but this time at no charge and much closer to home! Incidentally, I will be at the tournament as a reporter covering the matches for the Oak Park Wednesday Journal (www.oakpark.com) and also enjoying the action as a die-hard tennis fan!

Best,

Marty Farmer

Gladiator Tennis contributing writer/3.0 Far East player

2013-05-06T21:39:00.001-07:00

"Dust"-ed in the win!

Despite Dustin's denials, Farmer finds tactical change to win Gladiator war

Sedgwick Park, La Grange- Marty Farmer opened defense of his 3.0 Far East Division Gladiator title in style with a grueling 7-6 (4), 3-6, 6-3 win over Dustin Baldassari at Sedgwick Park on Sunday afternoon.

Playing in pleasant but cool conditions with a swirling wind, Baldassari seized an early 3-1 lead before Farmer battled back to secure an opening set tiebreaker. At 3-all in the decider, Baldassari gagged a few volleys and Farmer took full advantage closing the set with an emphatic down the line forehand winner.

"I'm sure Dust wishes he had a few of those volleys back," Farmer said about his close friend's missed opportunities. "He's an extremely dangerous player, kind of like Shinsako on steroids. When Dustin is on, he can take the racquet out of your hands. On the flipside, he plays such an aggressive brand of tennis, I just tried to hang in there an pick my spots."

Baldassari again showed who's boss early in the second set racing out to a 5-1 lead. Farmer climbed within 5-3 before calling "Danza" on the set.

Stretching into a third hour, the combatants waged was at 3-all in the third. After holding serve to go up 4-3, Farmer found the decisive break he was looking for in the eighth game. At 30-all, Farmer threw in some drop shots which unglued Baldassari.

"Guys like Dust, Curtis Wyrick and Adam Brune, they are what I like to call CTA players," said Farmer, who has won three Gladiator titles over 7 seven seasons. "These guys are red line all the way hitting for lines. It's a mixed bag if you're on the other side of the net. He's a tough guy to collect information on because he's so aggressive.

"I made a change tactically, which was to mix up my shots with slice, spin, different paces and basically junk ball Dust in spots. Thank God, it worked."

As for Baldassari, don't bet against the uber-talented 27-year-old Westchester resident.

"I had trouble with the sun and wind," Baldassari said. "I prefer playing night matches, but I managed as best I could. I think both of us didn't play our best, but it was very fun and competitive match."

Next up for Farmer is John Tomasias (both players are 1-1), while Baldassari takes on Jon Epstein in match between 0-1 players.

The hard-fought victory capped off a whirlwind week for Farmer.

"I left my [beloved] Sun-Times job, started a new one [Sports Editor of the Oak Park Journal] and was invited by the Bulls media relations to atend Heat vs Heat Games 3 & 4. Then, this match with Dust. It's been exciting and a bit nerve-wracking."

See McEnroe, Courier, & Lendl in Chicago this Wednesday!

2012-10-15T13:45:00.001-07:00

John McEnroe, Pete Sampras, Jim Courier and Ivan Lendl visit Chicago to showcase their skills in the PowerShares Challenge!

(Photo Courtesy of www.powersharesseries.com)

While Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray are busy battling it out for year-end No. 1 recognition on the ATP Tour (current World No. 1 Federer claims his 300^th week as South African Airways ATP Rankings this week, while Djokovic holds the inside track to regain the top ranking for 2012), tennis legends John McEnroe, Pete Sampras, Jim Courier and Ivan Lendl will renew acquaintances and rivalries at the PowerShares Challenge at the United Center on Wednesday, October 17^th.

Last year, Gladiator Director/Founder Steve Hess attended the event and enjoyed some decidedly red carpet treatment through a sponsorship connection.

This Wednesday, I will be covering the PowerShares Challenge as a correspondent for Gladiator Tennis (www.gladiatortennis.com). As a professional freelance writer and 2011 Gladiator Sportsmanship of the Year Award winner, I am eager to relay to all of you an inside look at this year’s highly anticipated matches. More importantly, I attended the PowerShares matches last year as a fan and encourage everybody to check this year’s PowerShares Challenge out. The unique format truly offers an up-close look at some of the sport’s greatest athletes.

The PowerShares Challenge event at the UC on Wednesday is part of the PowerShares Series Tour that will visit 12 U.S. Cities during its seven-week season. Other Grand Slam champions slated to compete in the PowerShares Series Tour include Andre Agassi, Michael Chang, Pat Rafter and Mats Wilander along with Hinsdale native and Davis Cup champion Todd Martin.

All told, the athletes will be competing for a prize pool of $1 million to be shared among the top three finishers at the end of PowerShares Series Tour season. The format for each PowerShares Series tournament will feature four legendary players competing for ranking points via a pair of two, 1-set semifinals followed by a 1-set championship match.

Last year at the United Center, Courier edged Agassi 8-7 (3) in the final of PowerShares QQQ Challenge (October 20, 2011). In the semifinals, Courier defeated Martin 6-3 and Agassi prevailed over McEnroe 6-4. In addition to watching some of the game’s all-time greats play at an exemplary level of tennis, fans were treated to plenty of banter from the players between each other, as well as the audience, umpire and ball kids.

On Wednesday, the competition at the UC promises to be better than ever with new additions 2011 champion Sampras and Lendl (replacing Jimmy Connors who has a hip injury) in the fold along with the return of charismatic players Courier and McEnroe.

“We are thrilled to be coming back to Chicago,” Jim Courier said. “Finishing behind Pete in the PowerShares Series standings last year gives me something to work towards this season, and I look forward to the challenge versus an incredibly talented field.”

The PowerShares Series Tour kicked off in Surprise, Arizona on October 13 as Courier rallied for an 8-7 (1) victory over McEnroe in the final. In the semifinals, Courier bested Martin 7-6 (5) while McEnroe was in fine form with a 6-2 win against Michael Chang.

After one stop on tour in the books and the highly anticipated Chicago event (Wednesday, October 17 at 7:30 p.m.) on deck, Courier holds the early lead in the PowerShares Series 2012 standing with 400 points followed by McEnroe (200 points) along with Martin and Change (100 points apiece).

Ticket Information for Wednesday’s matches:

*For complete tour and ticket information, please visit www.PowerSharesSeries.com.

*Also visit unitedcenter.com or call the United Center (312) 455-4500 for ticket information about Wednesday’s PowerSharesSeries Challenge.

-Marty Farmer, correspondent for Gladiator Tennis

Player Spotlight: Alex Potts

2012-02-19T21:44:00.000-08:00

Alex Potts

4.0 Level
23 years old
Geospatial Intelligence - Airforce

Gladiator Highlights

17 career wins
1548 career wildcard points
2011 Division winner - 3.5 Near East
2010 & 2011 playoff qualifier

Alex had played all four years of high school, but had lost the desire to compete by the time college started. In his 3rd year of college, Alex found out about the league through word of mouth when the league started in it's first year, 2007. He had been out of the game for about three years when he heard about it. He could only play when home from college in the summer seasons but it sounded like fun. The prospect of a league where there were no set schedules interested him, because it allowed for the flexibility of playing around his work schedule.

Alex had so much fun the first few seasons that he discovered his competitive drive once again, and with Gladiator Tennis as a motivation he lost sixty pounds over the next two years in a drive to not just play, but to compete. As he emerged into better shape, his game improved also. Alex finished the 2011 season by moving up from 3.5 to 4.0 in his final season, and winning a couple rounds in the playoffs.

Player Spotlight: Scott Risley

2012-02-09T23:13:00.000-08:00

Scott Risley

5.0 level
40 years old
Future medical professional

Gladiator Highlights

13 seasons played
46 career wins
3953 career wildcard points earned
Playoff qualifier every year since 2007
Best playoff finish - 2008 Champion for 4.5

Scott found out about Gladiator Tennis in 2007 when a friend told him that a league was being formed. Scott started playing tennis at age 14, but only played tennis in high school and had been out of the game for about 15 years. His initial interest was just to be happy to find some players to hit with, as very few people he knew played tennis.

After starting out at the 3.5 level in 2007, Scott's competitive juices began flowing and he was motivated to continue to improve his game. He has improved to the point of reaching the 5.0 level this past season, 2011. Scott must have some natural talent for tennis, because he has never actually taken a professional lesson, and is pretty much self taught. Scott says, "No matter your age or experience level, you can get back in the game and improve it with Gladiator Tennis!" He is living proof.

Player Spotlight: Mostafa Baladi

2012-01-27T11:47:00.000-08:00

Mostafa Baladi

3.5 Level
Economist

Gladiator Highlights

14 seasons played
27 career wins
2493 wildcard points earned
playoff qualifier every year since 2007
16 epic matches decided by a 3rd set tiebreaker

Gladiator Tennis launched in 2007 with only 34 players in the first season. Mostafa was one of these players who founded the league, and he has played in every single season we have been in existence. Mostafa discovered the league at the Naperville YMCA, where he saw our neon yellow flyer.

Tennis has always been Mostafa's favorite sport, and he played in a USTA league for 15 years while living in Madison, Wisconsin. Mostafa moved from Madison to the Chicago suburbs, and dropped out of tennis for a year while searching for other people to play. Gladiator offered the competition and flexible scheduling he was looking for, and he credits it as an excellent way to get back in the game, keep active, and stay in shape. Tennis runs in the family, and Mostafa's son plays in the league at the 5.0 level.

Player Spotlight: Nitesh Arora

2012-01-17T14:20:00.000-08:00

Nitesh Arora

5.0 level
38 years old
Software Developer

Gladiator Highlights

13 seasons played
11 players referred into the league
39 Career Wins
3630 Wildcard Points earned
Playoff qualifier every year since 2007
Best playoff finishes: 2007 finalist, 2009 4.5 finalist

Nitesh has played every year since the league's inception in 2007, and has referred many players into the league. He found out about the league when renting a movie at rental store and seeing one of our bright neon yellow flyers posted there. The idea of competitive play minus travel was appealing, and he took a chance on it. 5 years later, Nitesh is still playing and has been one of the core players of our league. Nitesh exemplifies the sportsmanship that is so frequently found in our players.

Prior to Gladiator, Nitesh had not played competitive tennis. He learned the game by watching pro tennis on TV and playing with teenage friends in India where he grew up. Upon coming to America 13 years ago, Nitesh kept an eye open for tennis players and finally saw the flyer for Gladiator. He started out in the 4.0 division, and steadily moved up to 5.0 where he has played all 2010 and 2011. Now that he's back in the game, Nitesh also plays USTA tennis, and plays at Naperville Tennis Club in the winter.

The 8 "founding fathers" of Gladiator Tennis

2012-01-03T15:39:00.000-08:00


Left to right: Alex Potts, Mostafa Baladi, Robert Fishman, Steve Hess, Scott Risley, Jeff Barnett, Ray Travis, Nitesh Arora Not pictured is Mike Krohn

Our league is indebted to the 8 players above who helped get Gladiator off the ground in 2007, and continue to make up the core of the league today. Now we have over 500 players - who would have imagined it! This blog will start by spotlighting each of these 8 players - our "founding fathers". Stay tuned each week for a new blog entry.

Welcome!

2012-01-02T20:09:00.000-08:00

Gladiator Tennis wants to wish you a Happy New Year and welcome you to the latest addition to our newly revamped site.

Our Blog is going to feature the latest in Gladiator Tennis News, Player Spotlights and Highlights from our season. We look forward to a happy, healthy and injury-free 2012 with all of you.