Schenectady County Electrics vs. Hartford FoxForce
by Christopher Gerby
On July 17th, the Schenectady County Electrics defeated the Hartford
FoxForce in a 21-20 thriller. Ten days
later, the teams met again in Schenectady's final home match of the
season. The only change in the lineups was Hartford's replacing of
Murphy Jensen (playing a tournament in Los Angeles this week) with a
curly-haired young man named Doug Bohaboy. You "boy band" fans might
be interested to hear that Bohaboy looks a bit like 'N Sync crooner
Justin Timberlake. Meanwhile, Jolene Watanabe was courtside for the
Electrics, but not on the official roster. She was merely there to
lend moral support, serve as a practice partner, and document some of
the night's action with a camcorder.
Potential rain in the forecast and ominous clouds in the sky were
probably to blame for the crowd being smaller than it had been for
Martina Navratilova's last appearance in Schenectady, but the fans
who did turn out were enthusiastic. The feeling was apparently
mutual, as Navratilova thanked the crowd for their support. "I think
the older I get, the more I appreciate it," she said. Navratilova
also took part in a pair of hasty little ceremonies honoring the
Madison sisters (who sang the national anthem before the Electrics'
home games) and Nitty Singh (the team's indefatigable owner/general
manager). Without a speech prepared, Nitty simply took the opportunity
to ask Martina whether she'd be back on the team next year. "I have
no idea," the 43-year-old replied with a smile.
First set -- women's doubles: De Villiers/Navratilova vs. Horn/Mattek
There was no waiting around the main attraction on Thursday night, as
Martina Navratilova served to open the women's doubles set. She got
into a 30-40 hole, but bailed herself out, clinching the game with a
service winner. She and Nannie de Villiers then managed to break
young Bethanie Mattek's serve to secure a 2-0 lead. Hartford got to
within 40-30 in the following game, but a defensive lob from Liezel
Horn landed an inch or two over the baseline to make the score 3-0.
Mattek was the star of Game 4, knocking off some nice volleys as Horn
held serve for 1-3.
Navratilova started to look her age in her second service game of the
evening, struggling to bend down for low volleys on the last two
points and netting both of them. However, she immediately had some
vintage moments against Mattek's serve, knifing an airborne volley for
0-15 and pushing a forehand return down the line for 0-30. A few
points later, Mattek erred on a backhand to drop serve and trail 2-4.
Nannie de Villiers wasted no time serving out the set. Up 40-0, she
drilled an overhead smash which deflected off Mattek's foot into the
stands. De Villiers held up an apologetic hand, but the Electrics
now had the first set in their pocket. OVERALL SCORE: SCHENECTADY
5, HARTFORD 2
Second set -- women's singles: Martina Navratilova vs. Bethanie Mattek
The upstate New York fans were treated to a rare, surprising treat --
Martina Navratilova playing competitive singles. She played her final
WTA Tour singles match in 1994 and had resigned herself to doubles
duty only on July 17th. The contrast in experience between Navratilova
and her opponent here is astounding: Martina won 31 Grand Slam
titles (11 singles; 19 doubles; 1 mixed) before Bethanie Mattek was
even born! If Mattek was overwhelmed, though, it didn't show as she
racked up an ace, an athletic forehand volley winner, and a winning
backhand pass on her way to 40-40 in the set's opening game. However,
the winner-take-all game point went to Navratilova, who dropped in a
lunging touch volley to break serve for 1-0. An encouraging start for
the legend, but she had all kinds of trouble with her
serve in Game 2, grumbling openly about problems with her ball toss.
The lights appeared to be bothering her, but Martina set me straight
when I asked her about it after the match. "No, my toss was just so
off. I had to catch it and start over. The lights were not the
problem. It was my arm that was the problem." Problem enough that
Mattek was able to break serve by crunching a second serve return
down the line.
The 15-year-old Minnesota native continued her impressive display
in the third game. Leading 40-30, she placed a winning backhand
volley down the line, raised a victorious fist, and looked right at
Navratilova. The kid's got spunk! Navratilova wasn't about to roll
over, though. She held at love for 2-2 and broke for 3-2 before
succumbing to service problems again. Martina double faulted for 30-40,
grumbled "God bless America," and then lost the game when Mattek ripped
another winning backhand return. The wildly up-and-down set took one
last momentum swing at 3-3. Mattek began spraying errors and
Navratilova regained control of her ball toss. Navratilova broke at 15
and held at love, closing out her 5-3 triumph with one last winning
forehand volley. Sketchy as some other parts of her game are these
days, the 19-time Wimbledon champ is still a marvel at the net.
OVERALL SCORE: SCHENECTADY 10, HARTFORD 5
Third set -- mixed doubles: Haygarth/Navratilova vs. Blake/Horn
Playing her third set in a row, Navratilova still looked pretty
fresh, wrapping up partner Brent Haygarth's opening hold by putting
away an overhead smash. James Blake, a 20-year-old American with a
seemingly bright future, smacked a pair of aces on his way to evening
the set at 1-1. Navratilova held for 2-1 and then completed a break
of Liezel Horn by deftly placing a forehand into the open court. The
FoxForce came in with a good 7-5 record and playoff hopes, but were
now trailing by seven points in the overall tally. Nonetheless, Liezel Horn --
the most animated player I saw in World Team Tennis this year -- was
still upbeat. After striking a nice forehand volley winner to get a
0-30 lead against Haygarth, Horn exclaimed "Yay!" and hopped around the
court on one foot. Alas, Schenectady barreled through the next four points
to save the game and lead 4-1. Blake scored another easy hold for
2-4, but the damage was done. At 40-15, Navratilova hit a potentially
set-winning overhead. Horn ran it down, but could only put up a weak
lob which Martina smashed to snare a 5-2 win of the set. OVERALL
SCORE: SCHENECTADY 15, HARTFORD 7
Even with a lopsided score and no big names scheduled to play in the
last two sets, the majority of the crowd stuck around. During the
intermission, Navratilova played auctioneer as fans bid on a number
of items signed by herself, Mary Pierce, and Serena Williams. Upon
hearing that all the proceeds would go to charity, noted left-wing
activist Navratilova suspiciously asked, "It's not the George Bush/Dick
Cheney charity, is it?" (Nope, Martina, the money goes to a local
animal shelter.) The fans were a little reluctant to open their
wallets, so Martina had to be creative in her sales pitches. Trying to
hawk a shirt signed by Pierce, Navratilova explained, "She wore it
in the match. It's got her sweat on it and everything. So for all you
weirdos out there..."
Fourth set -- men's singles: Michael Hill vs. James Blake
With his fluid, net-rushing game firing on all cylinders, James
Blake won eight straight service points on his way to an early 2-1
lead against Schenectady's Mike Hill. Hill got to 40-40 in the next
game and looked like he'd held serve with a delicate drop shot...but
the fleet-footed Blake ran it down and flipped a cross-court forehand
winner for 3-1. James held for 4-1 and then delivered two winning
returns in a row to put Hill in a 0-30 hole. Blake even had luck on
his side -- at 15-30, he broke a string hitting a forehand return,
but the ball fell in for a clean winner. Hill could only shake his
head in stunned dismay. The Aussie fought back to 40-40, but netted a
backhand volley on game point to seal his fate. Blake's 5-1 win of
the set was a quick, decisive thing of beauty, punctuated by powerful
serves and accurate volleys. One can only wonder why he hasn't found
more success in the first full year on the ATP Tour. OVERALL SCORE:
SCHENECTADY 16, HARTFORD 12
Fifth set -- men's doubles: Haygarth/Hill vs. Blake/Bohaboy
Mike Hill made a quick recovery, ending the fifth set's opening game
with an ace and a service winner. Blake put an exclamation point (in
the form of an ace) on his hold for 1-1, but Schenectady seized the
momentum after that. Haygarth held easily and Bohaboy was broken for
3-1. Hill's impressive serving continued in Game 5, which ended
when Bohaboy sent a two-handed forehand into the net. Never broken
in the three sets he played tonight, Blake kept his team alive with
a hold for 2-4. The margin of the overall score was huge, though, and
Bohaboy didn't look capable of helping Blake spark a dramatic comeback.
Indeed, Brent Haygarth jumped out to a 40-0 lead and ended the match
by blasting an ace past Bohaboy. FINAL SCORE: SCHENECTADY 21,
HARTFORD 14
I caught up with Bethanie Mattek after the match and asked her a
few questions one-on-one. I started with the obvious -- how did it
feel to play singles against Martina Navratilova? "I wasn't expecting
it," she replied. "The last time we played them, De Villiers played
(singles), so I was expecting to play her. When Martina walked out,
I was kind of shocked, but I kinda got into it. She plays a different
game. She doesn't give you much pace. I'm used to pace. I tried my
best, you know. I kinda mis-hit a few because she wasn't giving me
anything and she played well." Asked for her overall thoughts on the
World Team Tennis experience, Mattek said, "It's been fun. It's
different from normal tennis because the crowd can get into it and
because it's short. Whoever starts the quickest wins." Lastly, I
asked if she's hoping to get a wild card into next month's U.S. Open.
"Yeah, I may get it in doubles. I'm not sure at all about it right
now. I hope I can." Either way, she's planning to play in the
juniors event there.
Navratilova gave an honest account of her own performance. Rusty after a
week of playing more golf than tennis, "my serve stunk and I was a
little nervous playing singles." She was happy with her form in
the doubles sets, though. I asked if she's gotten any offers
regarding a doubles partner for the U.S. Open. "A couple possibilities,
but nothing definite yet" was her reply. Navratilova was also vague
about her plans for 2001 -- "I don't know if I'll play tennis at all
or if I'll play Team Tennis. It's possible." Martina's immediate
future includes a few more matches for the Electrics, who carry a
6-5 record into their season-ending road trip.
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Last updated 26 September 2015
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