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by Christopher Gerby Upstate New York's franchise in the World Team Tennis league returns this summer with a third different name and three new players. Formerly known as the New York OTBzz and Schenectady County Electrics, the team is now billed as the New York Buzz (not to be confused with the Patrick McEnroe-led New York Hamptons, located elsewhere in the state). It was a busy off-season for the Buzz, who have undergone several personnel changes since their roster was first announced. Would-be coach Roscoe Tanner never made it (perhaps too occupied with his legal woes) and Jana Nejedly also bowed out. Most significantly, Martina Navratilova chose to focus on her WTA doubles efforts rather than suit up with the Buzz. In the end, team owner Nitty Singh had to build around reigning French Open doubles champion Mahesh Bhupathi. He's joined by Justin Bower, Jill Craybas, and Nannie de Villiers. Good as Bhupathi is, that quartet isn't likely to sell many tickets on their own. Without any household names on the opposing Sacramento Capitals, New York played its home opener in front of a relatively small crowd. Overcast skies probably played a role in keeping fans away, but a brief sprinkle just before the match was scheduled to get underway was the evening's only rainfall. After a brief delay, the Buzz took the court to face the league's defending champs. First set -- women's doubles: Craybas/De Villiers vs. Drake/Likhovtseva Russia's Elena Likhovtseva and partner Maureen Drake of Canada came roaring out of the blocks, immediately taking a 15-40 lead against Nannie de Villiers. Likhovtseva then cracked a winning forehand return to secure the early break and a 1-0 lead. Likhovtseva blasted an ace in the following game, holding for 2-0. "Dr. Sound" (the PA announcer/DJ we love to hate) is back again this season, playing his same batch of sound effects and music clips. He was a bit confused early on, however, and exclaimed "That's it, ladies! That's two!" as the visiting Capitals took their lead. He eventually did figure out which team was which, however, and chimed in with a timely "Three Blind Mice" clip when a Likhovtseva forehand which looked long was called good. Even Elena and Maureen appeared to realize they'd gotten a lucky break there, but they gladly accepted the point and went on to secure a 3-0 lead on a winning Drake volley. Just as things were looking miserable for the Buzz, Craybas and De Villiers started to find the range on their groundstrokes. They reeled off three straight games to tie the set, prompting Likhovtseva to frown and bounce her racquet. De Villiers pumped her fist after knocking off a forehand volley in Game 7, which she later won by putting away a smash. Suddenly Drake was serving to stay alive (since only 5 games are needed to win a Team Tennis set). The 30-year-old got into a 0-30 deficit, but got back on track with a sharply angled second serve ace. Drake eventually held for 4-4 and took the set into a 9-point tiebreaker. The Capitals again started fast, taking a 4-0 lead. Craybas saved a pair of set points with a backhand winner and a solid serve for 2-4. A smash from De Villiers handcuffed Drake to make it 3-4. Nannie then launched a perfect topspin lob to save the fourth set point, tying the score and bringing up a winner-takes-all final point. An entertaining rally ensued, but came to an abrupt end when chair umpire Candy Pantano ruled that De Villiers touched the net. There was no argument from the Buzz, but they were surely disappointed to lose such a close set in that way. OVERALL SCORE: SACRAMENTO 5, NEW YORK 4 Second set -- men's singles: Justin Bower vs. Mark Knowles The Buzz uniform includes a snazzy white-and-red cap, but Justin Bower chose to instead wear a Deion Sanders-esque 'do rag. Bower is a lefty from South Africa ranked 213th in the ATP's entry system. On paper that made him a favorite against Mark Knowles, a veteran from the Bahamas whose singles appearances are few and far between. Knowles started out playing like the doubles specialist he is, following every serve into the net. It didn't work out so well early on, as he sent a backhand long to surrender an early service break. Bower handed the break right back, however, and the battle of one-handed backhands was even at 1 game apiece. Bower's free-flowing, loosey goosey style is pretty entertaining, but (if this set was any indication) very erratic. He began spraying unforced errors and coughing up double faults, allowing Knowles to take a 4-1 lead. Bower got pumped up in Game 6, raising his arms in triumph after a beautifully struck backhand winner. An ace closed out the game and forced Knowles to serve for it at 4-2. Rather than continue charging the net at every opportunity, Mark hung around the baseline waiting for his inconsistent opponent to make errors. Bower did save one set point, but sent a backhand return long on the second to complete a 5-2 loss of the set. I asked Knowles afterwards if he was pleased with that surprisingly stress-free singles win. "This is my first year (playing Team Tennis), so I'm trying to get used to the real quick format...I got down a break early and was able to break right back. He's got a pretty big serve, so it was a good result." OVERALL SCORE: SACRAMENTO 10, NEW YORK 6 Third set -- mixed doubles: Bhupathi/De Villiers vs. MacPhie/Likhovtseva With a four-point deficit to erase, New York was finally able to send Mahesh Bhupathi into action. He missed the Buzz's season opener (a road win against the Hamptons) because he was late getting back from Wimbledon. Ironically enough, his last bit of business there was a mixed doubles semifinal with Elena Likhovtseva, who would be on the other side of the net this time. "I felt like I performed bad," Likhovtseva later said about that Wimbledon loss (against Mike Bryan and Liezel Huber). Mahesh admitted it was strange to play against Elena so soon after teaming up with her, but didn't hold her responsible for the Wimbledon result. "The opposition didn't really miss a ball, so it was no contest." Bhupathi was still a bit jet-lagged and it showed. His serve was broken in the set's opening game, in which he double faulted and missed a volley. Brian MacPhie then showed everyone why he's known as "The Hammer" by blasting some big lefty serves in a love hold for 2-0. The Buzz got back into it, though, as De Villiers held her serve and Likhovtseva double faulted on a break point to make it 2-2. MacPhie gave his partner a reassuring pat on the back as they changed sides, but they couldn't change the momentum. Bhupathi played a flawless service game, giving the Buzz their first lead of the set at 3-2. MacPhie (who'd been dubbed "MagPie" by a couple girls in the stands who misread the name on his jersey) and De Villiers exchanged holds again as the set stayed on serve at 4-3 New York. At 15-15 in the following game, Likhovtseva bent down to tie her shoe and was taunted by Dr. Sound's playing of the "Jeopardy!" theme. MacPhie played along, pretending to get upset with his partner's supposed stalling -- he even threw his racquet in mock frustration. It was no laughing matter a few points later, however, when Likhovtseva double faulted twice in a row to lose the game. The skinny Russian unhappily whacked a ball clear out of the stadium as the Buzz celebrated their 5-3 win of the mixed doubles set. OVERALL SCORE: SACRAMENTO 13, NEW YORK 11 Fourth set -- women's singles: Jill Craybas vs. Elena Likhovtseva Jill Craybas had to take some confidence into the singles bout, since she'd just given Likhovtseva a tough match at Wimbledon. "It was 4 and 3, it was close, but grass is a totally different surface," the Rhode Island native said after tonight's match. Indeed, the hard court in Schenectady's Central Park favored Elena Likhovtseva, who quickly put those third set serving woes behind her. She stormed out to a 3-0 lead, taking 10 of the set's first 12 points. Buzz coach Eric Kutner had seen enough and decided to make a substitution. Nannie de Villiers, whose scheduled work for the night was done, had to quickly shimmy out of her warmup pants and jacket to replace Craybas. Kutner is a graduate of Princeton University, so you'd have to assume he knows what he's doing. Even Craybas understood the move and didn't fight it. "Of course you always want to try and come back, but you know, what's best for the team..." De Villiers doesn't play much singles, but you wouldn't know it from the way she started out on short notice here. Nannie held at love for 1-3 and then battled Likhovtseva to a 40-all "game point." The crowd was showing some signs of life and De Villiers was exuding positivity. However, she then sent a forehand wide and threw her head back, looking to the sky after her big chance slipped away. Likhovtseva's hard, flat groundstrokes ultimately proved too strong for both of her singles opponents. Already up 4-1, she broke De Villiers at 30 to wrap up an impressive 5-1 set. OVERALL SCORE: SACRAMENTO 18, NEW YORK 12 Fifth set -- men's doubles: Bhupathi/Bower vs. Knowles/MacPhie "It ain't over till it's over" in the World Team Tennis scoring format. If the Buzz could win the fifth set, they'd send the match into overtime and still have a chance. That was an awfully tall order, however, as first-time partners Bhupathi and Bower took on an established team ranked 10th on the ATP computer. It didn't help that Mahesh's last appearance in men's doubles was a dismal straight set loss at Wimbledon. He and Leander Paes crashed out there against David Adams and Mikael Llodra in what Bhupathi called "probably the worst match we ever played...It was just one of those things. Gotta forget it. It happens probably once in your career." The Bhupathi/Bower partnership got off to a rocky start. Bower was curiously chosen to serve first and dropped the game when Knowles whacked a swinging forehand volley winner. MacPhie (a three-time winner of the league's MVP award) cracked a pair of aces in holding for 2-0. Sacramento broke serve again as a very cool looking fall-away forehand from MacPhie clipped the baseline at 30-40. Dr. Sound inquired about the call, but Justin Bower let him know it was a clean winner. He and Bhupathi were looking quite resigned to their fates at this point. A service winner from Knowles closed out a hold for 4-0, putting the Capitals one game away from victory. "You can beat 'em! They're just magpies!" cried a now-familiar voice in the stands, trying to encourage the Buzz. Alas, Bower's serve was broken again as Knowles and MacPhie took a 5-0 whitewash of the final set. FINAL SCORE: SACRAMENTO 23, NEW YORK 12 With his right shoulder wrapped in ice, Bhupathi put his best spin on the lopsided loss. "It was the first time we've ever played together, so you've gotta give us some time... I think we fought well. These guys are good, you know, they won it last year. I think we'll get better with every match." Meanwhile, the defending champions from Sacramento should be brimming with confidence, especially with their top player back in the fold. "We were at a huge disadvantage in the first match," explained Mark Knowles about Elena Likhovtseva's absence from Monday's season opener. "She still hadn't gotten back from Wimbledon, so we were playing with somebody out of the crowd. She's such a great player, obviously a very accomplished singles player as well as doubles player, so she brings a big boost to the team." |