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by Christopher Gerby For the first time in the history of World Team Tennis, a professional tournament and WTT matches are taking place at the same venue in the same week. Players participating in the USTA women's challenger event were encouraged to attend the Buzz vs. FoxForce match and a number of them could be seen dotting the stands. Janet Lee, Antonia Matic, Liga Dekmeijere, and the Uberoi sisters were among those taking advantage of what may well be one of the last chances to see Martina Navratilova play competitive tennis. The biggest crowd of the season turned out for this home finale. "It's more than they had for what's-her-name," observed one of the Buzz Boys from Amsterdam in a possibly intentional dig at Anna Kournikova. As the PA announcer made known in an introduction Martina seemed to find more than a little embarrassing, she is the only player in history to win Grand Slam titles in four decades. Her presence on the Buzz bumps Bryanne Stewart from the lineup just when she was finding her groove. The Aussie wasn't even on court when her pre-match introduction was made, so born ham Justin Bower threw a towel over his head and pretended to be Bryanne. As it turned out, the Buzz had given Stewart a different duty for the evening -- she was wandering about, selling raffle tickets. I wish I were kidding. The grand prize was a $1,600 tennis bracelet, ultimately won by an 8-year-old kid who won the crowd's hearts by getting on mic and announcing that he'd be giving it to his mother. First set: men's singles -- Justin Bower vs. Wesley Whitehouse After getting help from Mardy Fish and Meghann Shaughnessy early in the season, the FoxForce look a little shorthanded now. Don't tell that to Wesley Whitehouse, a strapping young man from South Africa who matched his countryman Justin Bower big serve for big serve. There were no service breaks in this one, nor did either player lose a point on serve in the tiebreak. Looking really determined to show up the Buzz Boys, who'd been getting on him quite a bit, Whitehouse launched a service winner to take the tiebreak and set by identical 5-4 scores. OVERALL SCORE: FOXFORCE 5, BUZZ 4 Second set: women's doubles -- Kutuzova/Navratilova vs. McShea/Sequera It was a doubles pairing for the ages (pun intended) when 47-year-old Martina Navratilova teamed up with Viktoriya Kutuzova, who's still a month away from her 16th birthday. Navratilova showed off the skills that still make her a viable threat to win doubles titles, holding serve to open the set and putting a return at Lisa McShea's feet to break for 2-0. McShea and Milagros Sequera have formed one of the hottest teams on the WTA Tour this season, winning four tournaments and reaching a final in another. The virtually brand new partnership of Kutuzova and Navratilova was having its way with them, though, upping the lead to 3-0 on a Kutuzova hold. In Game 4, a return Kutuzova appeared to place right on the line was called out. The rowdy fans on the scoreboard side made their own ruling: "Buzz Boys correction, it's good!" Viktoriya looked up and gave the guys a round of applause. The blown call was academic, as Sequera sent a forehand long on game point to make it 4-0 in favor of the Buzz. Navratilova failed to wrap up the set, coughing up a double fault on the simultaneous game point/break point. After an easy hold for McShea made the score even more respectable, young Kutuzova served out a 5-2 win at love. OVERALL SCORE: BUZZ 9, FOXFORCE 7 Third set: men's doubles -- Bower/Rudman vs. Johnson/Whitehouse Don Johnson (the Wimbledon doubles champion, not the guy who played Nash Bridges) had an ill-fated run as a member of the Buzz last year. Struggling with a wrist injury, he left the team midway through the season and never returned. As he came out for his first action of the evening, the Buzz Boys gave him a tongue lashing, chanting "traitor" and saying he let them down. They were kidding, I hope, but Johnson saw fit to respond. "I let you guys down? You guys threw me out," he said, referring to the Buzz's decision not to renew his contract for the 2004 campaign. Rumor has it Buzz owner Nitty Singh still hasn't forgiven "DJ" for last year's debacle. The Buzz got the early upper hand in this rare four-lefty encounter. Bower swung an ace out wide to complete the opening game and Johnson was quickly broken for 2-0. On game point in his first service game, Rudman tried to jam Johnson with a body serve. Showing pretty good reflexes for a 35-year-old, Johnson was able to bunt a forehand return down the alley for a clean winner and the service break. Whitehouse kept his unbroken service streak alive, holding to 2-2. Bower's serve continues to carry the team and he got this set back under control with an impressive hold to 3-2. Johnson wore the goat horns in Game 6, double faulting twice and pushing a backhand volley wide on game point. Don dropped his racket in disgust as the Buzz took a 4-2 lead. Rudman didn't have an easy time serving it out, but after rallying from 15-40 to game point, he locked up the 5-2 set with a service winner. The men's doubles, saved for last in the Buzz's six previous home matches, was moved up on this evening at Rudman's request. As Bower told me after the match, it was a switch that paid off for his partner. "It's quite intense out here, just sitting there mesmerized for two hours and then you have to play, and it's not easy. We moved it for him and it worked pretty well." OVERALL SCORE: BUZZ 14, FOXFORCE 9 Fourth set: women's singles -- Viktoriya Kutuzova vs. Milagros Sequera Viktoriya Kutuzova's experiments with a new serve may help her out in the long run, but they're hurting her chances to put points on the board for the Buzz. She opened women's singles with five consecutive faults and was broken by scrappy slow court specialist Milagros Sequera. What Kutuzova sometimes lacks in polish, she makes up for in sheer mental toughness. After Sequera held at love for a 2-0 edge, "Vicky" struck back with a vengeance, ripping big forehands in a three game run to 3-2. The rest of the set went with serve, necessitating a first-to-five tiebreak... Kutuzova's wobbly serve was the obvious culprit in that tiebreak loss. Viktoriya confirmed afterwards that she is still tinkering with it. "It's not a problem. I just need to work more. I just change it a week ago. Sometimes I go back to my old serve, but it should be good. I'm not worried about it." Luckily for Kutuzova, she's got a fairly experienced tutor available. "She needs to work on her serve. I can help her a little bit, I think, on that," said Martina Navratilova after the match. Martina has impressed by the kid overall, though. "Her groundstrokes are awesome. She plays a good game. She's a hard worker and she wants it really badly. I'm sure that we'll be seeing her name in the future." OVERALL SCORE: BUZZ 18, FOXFORCE 14 Fifth set: mixed doubles -- Bower/Navratilova vs. Johnson/Sequera The combination of Justin Bower's nasty serve and Martina Navratilova's well-honed net instincts would seem to make for an unbeatable mixed doubles combination. However, it was Don Johnson winning a bang-bang exchange at the net in Game 3, a break of Navratilova's serve. And it was Milagros Sequera coming up with a superb topspin lob winner in a love hold for a 3-1. The Buzz lead, which looked so safe going in, was now down to 2 games. The margin stayed that way after Bower and Johnson exchanged well-played service holds. Navratilova got it to 3-4, but Sequera had little trouble serving out a 5-3 win of the set. "Milly" was the undisputed MVP in this event, burning the legend over and over with sharp returns and absolutely impeccable lobs. OVERALL SCORE: BUZZ 21, SPORTIMES 19 Once again, the Buzz had lost the final set and would need to win a game in overtime to secure the victory. A major dispute broke out at this juncture over whether the teams were supposed to switch sides of the court. It was determined that they should not, which was a good thing for the Buzz. A glaring security light had come on over the DJ's booth during the fifth set, shining in the eyes of anyone attempting to serve from the scoreboard side. It was Bower serving on the easier side here, needing one hold to put it away. A break for the FoxForce, on the other hand, would give Johnson a chance to serve this one into a supertiebreak, WTT's rare but exciting version of a big finish. On the opening point, Bower pushed a forehand volley long and let out an anguished scream. He got to 15-15, but Sequera tossed up yet another perfect lob for a clean winner and 15-30. An ace made it 30-30, but an Bower's ill-advised attempt at an overhead smash from the baseline was long for 30-40. Could the FoxForce cash in this huge break point opportunity? Not so fast -- Bower put a sharp volley at Sequera's feet to bring up a game point...which was a match point...and yet still a break point in the no-ad scoring format of Team Tennis. If ever Justin needed a big serve, it was now. And he came through, launching a mighty service winner to save the Buzz. FINAL SCORE: BUZZ 22, FOXFORCE 19 (OT) Martina Navratilova gave herself a mixed appraisal following the narrow victory. "I didn't serve, I guess, hard enough. Milly was returning my serve and she was returning Justin's serve as well, so I wasn't doing better against Don than Milagros. We won the (women's) doubles, so that was good. We could have made it a little easier on ourselves if we had won all those deuce points that we had." A win's a win, though, and Martina had fun performing for the Schenectady fans. "It's nice to play in front of a hometown crowd. I'm sort of the hired gun, playing five matches away and only one at a home. It's like, come on, I like playing in front of hometown crowds!" Viktoriya Kutuzova seems to be thoroughly enjoying Navratilova's presence. "She did not put pressure on me. She is really good player. That makes it really easy with her... You always are sure that she will put ball the way she says." As soon as the issue of Martina's age was brought up, Viktoriya replied, "So what? She's moving really good. She's a really strong person. She has a big experience and that always help us." The Team Tennis experience in general has been a good one for the soon-to-be American. "It has helped me a lot mentally... We spend so much time working like a team, with all type of great players. Everybody gets better, you know? I can say something for a player on my team and she can say something to me, and we all going up." Teaming up with a player of Navratilova's stature is a nerve-wracking treat for Justin Bower. "You do feel a strange sense of wanting to do well and wanting to impress," he said after the match. Bower marvels at the 47-year-old's physical fitness. "I think she bought one of those juicers on late night TV ten years ago. Anthony Robbins and the juicer! I've got my orders in." Justin can't exactly picture himself playing world class tennis at that age. "I'm 26 and I've had two surgeries and I've had two years off, so I'm lucky if I'm still alive at the rate I'm going." Enthusiastic about his new temporary mixed doubles partner, Bower said, "I'm not used to having a girl who can actually handle herself at the net behind me." Immediately realizing what a slap in the face that was to Bryanne Stewart, Bower remarked, "You guys are gonna get me in all kinds of trouble for that." As we wrap up our farewell to the 2004 New York Buzz (who started 0-4 but take a respectable 5-6 record into their season-ending road trip), let's spare a thought for Bryanne. The active members of the Buzz roster left on a flight for St. Louis the morning after this match, traveling without the unassuming gal from Oz. Left behind in Schenectady, Stewart took part in a tennis clinic for kids on Thursday afternoon. Oh well, at least she wasn't selling raffle tickets. |