League News

They said it couldn't be done, nobody thought going into tonight that Claes could play a match and feel like he hit too many shots as he walked off the court. Weston and Lofgren let another tight match slip through their hands as Persson's rampant net cords, and Phillips' punishment of the corner proved to be too much.

Beecher and Crick are now tied for the lead in League Points with 13. Weston(10), Lofgren(9), Nilsson(8), and Persson at (7) round out the remaining players that are yet to be mathematically eliminated from a 1st place finish. Next week's format is a set with each player on your court, look for potentially big PTI swings as 3 unique matches will be counted!

The APTA thanks League Director Randy Lofgren for his unending service, commitment to growing the game, and charitable donations of PTI Points

In a match with more "runs" than Claes in the 2016 Club Championship, Team World, Crick and Nilsson, take out Team USA, Weston and Lofgren. After starting out slow and dropping the first set 6-1, Nilsson and Crick unlocked the code and put Weston in a haze of boredom with a 6-1 set in their favor. Tied at 1 set a piece, Weston and Lofgren regained control and worked their way to a 5-1, 15-0 lead. In a final desperate effort to gain traction, Crick calls a minor back foot across the center line, foot fault infraction on Weston. Realizing the racquet sports faux pas he had just committed, Crick quickly back peddled to just informing Tom what he was doing wrong.

The mental assault was unleashed and the damage was done. Weston and Lofgren couldn't pull it together and lost the next 6 games in heartbreaking fashion. This "victory" takes Crick to the top of the League Standings and moves Nilsson to middle of the pack.

The APTA thanks League Director Randy Lofgren for his unending service, commitment to growing the game, and charitable donations of PTI Points

With less than a week until Thanksgiving, this “National” Tournament's level feels more like my family's holiday round robin than a real NRT but I’ll cap it anyway as I’m stuck inside due to Covid.

Round of 32

Martin-Walsh vs Steyl-Zimmerman

The first play-in match with Steyl-Zimmerman(an OG Charlotte team) taking on recent CT transplant Martin and partner Walsh. Martin Bostrom is reported to have vouched for James Martin’s PTI but that won’t be enough to get this team to victory. Steyl-Zimmerman in close straight sets.

Dawson-Lederman vs Cantrell-Stratton

The second play-in match will get the tournament rumbling as the Yalies, Dawson-Lederman, teammates of Marc Powers make their NRT debut against an unknown Cantrell with the older wiser Stratton. The major question in this match is which version of Yoda will Stratton be, “Prequel Clone Wars Yoda” or “Deranged Feeble Empire Strikes Back Yoda”. Vegas says the latter and has Dawson-Lederman figuring it out after losing the first set.

Round of 16

Crick-Lofgren vs Steyl-Zimmerman

This match has lefty on lefty hate crime written all over it. Crick-Lofgren in two quick sets.

Halverson-Scott vs Dunseith-Owens

Dunseith-Owens have too much racquet skills to lose to this team. Halverson might as well start filling his Hydro Flask from the keg before this one starts.

Morris-Watson vs Brady-McElhenny

The only thing worse than a slow death to a boring team, is doing it on your home courts. Morris-Watson in a slow 1 and 1.

Stern-Wegerek vs Kadow-Rudd

Rudd is making this a one day trip from Atlanta, but he won’t be feeling the effects in Round 1. Kadow Rudd take out the host club Board Members in quick fashion.

Beecher-Phillips vs Alday-Haneklau

Phillips excels in this type of match and will need to be off the court quick if he hopes to compete today.

Dolan-Moyer vs Leffke-Weston

Leffke finds his backhand and they send the Pittsburgh boys home early.

Cochrane-Ward vs Buwick-Despard

Ward is the x-factor here and has reportedly trimmed down into fighting shape. Buwick-Despard will have to play a great game of keep away to win this match. Vegas can’t not take the Former National Champion here.

Dawson-Lederman vs Miller-Nilsson

Something is going on with Miller and his acquisition of big Swedes. Nilsson will have to find himself in this match as they win with a scare in one set.

Quarter-Finals

Crick-Lofgren vs Dunseith-Owens

Crick-Lofgren continue to gain momentum as they roll through Kentucky in this match.

Morris-Watson vs Kadow-Rudd

There are two match ups in this round that have the potential to be the match of the tournament. This is the first.For Kadow-Rudd to advance, Kadow needs to not lose this match while Rudd has to figure out a way to end points. We will find out if Rudd’s paddle game has finally caught up with his paddle confidence. Kadow-Rudd in a long 3 sets.

Beecher-Phillips vs Leffke-Weston

Phillips had nightmares last night after seeing this match up. Weston has the defense of Drew Broderick combined with the speed of John Hughes and the offensive paddle skills of a Series 18 player in Chicago. This match ends in one of two ways, Leffke breaking from the game plan, or Phillips too exhausted to compete in a real manner in the semis. Beecher-Phillips win in the longest match of the day here.

Cochrane-Ward vs Miller-Nilsson

Cochrane’s special sauce runs dry as Miller-Nilsson bring enough defense and net control to get through this one.

Semi-Finals

Crick-Lofgren vs Kadow-Rudd

This is where we find out if Rudd fulfills his destiny to become the left-handed, non-swedish, Claes Persson of Atlanta. The one day trip wear and tear help to cause Kadow-Rudd to fall flat in this match. Crick-Lofgren lose no more than 5 games.

Beecher-Phillips vs Miller-Nilsson

This will be a match of who has been more efficient leading up to the semis. Miller-Nilsson take this match from the back-court in two tight sets.

Finals

Crick-Lofgren vs Miller-Nilsson

Crick-Lofgren will have way more in the tank going into this match and the result will show that. Crick-Lofgren continue to be the only champions of this event winning their 7th straight title.

RNG was not friendly tonight as PTI 1(Crick) & 6(Phillips) and 2(Lofgren) & 5(Beecher) paired up, starting 3(Nilsson) & 7(Steyl) and 4(Weston) & 8(Carpenter) in a deep hole. Both underdogs fought well in the opening round keeping the matches tight all the way to 4-4. In the final round, Beecher and Lofgren were too solid as their returns and drastically different serves gave them enough net control to play on their terms. Phillips finally got his first League Point while Beecher became the Undisputed Heavyweght Champion of Charlotte Paddle, and most importantly, nobody missed the unending net cords with the absence of Claes Persson.

This week marked the end of the first rotation of formats. We will loop back through the formats one more time, and then declare a Session 1 Champion.

The APTA thanks League Director Randy Lofgren for his unending service, commitment to growing the game, and charitable donations of PTI Points

Lakers and Celtics, Red Sox and Yankees, Frazier and Ali, Crick-Lofgren and Miller Persson. In a match up of what many refer to as the biggest paddle rivalry in the history of the South, Claes started out hot in both sets but his kill shots quickly turned into suicide shots as Nathan unleashed a plethora of around the net digs. With Crick's forehand now in Mid-Season form, Mark Fischl was heard on the APTA Live Stream referring to John Hughes as the "Nathan Crick of the North".

With tonight's format of 1&4 vs 2&3 and 5&8 vs 6&7, the stage was set for the closest PTI match seen thus far in "The League". Phillips as a 12.37 paired with Leffke at 16.87 against Weston at 13.59 and Beecher at 14.88. That's right, Beecher and Weston come in at a combined .77 PTI favorite, basically a pick-em. Leffke coming off two recent wins over the team of Beecher and Weston, was unable to get his feet under him as he and Phillips stared the PTI in the eyes and shouted "No!"

The APTA thanks League Director Randy Lofgren for his unending service, commitment to growing the game, and charitable donations of PTI Points

Tommy Beecher's ascendence to the top of League Standings has not gone unnoticed, but it does bring with it, many questions. The first of these is, who the hell is this guy. A quick background check revealed a few key facts that led to his impressive early season run. While in college, Tommy was a quarterback at USC(not the real one in California), where his teammates referred to him as Jeff Garcia's personal assistant. After graduating college, Tommy went on to captain a USTA League Team that won the National Championship in what is believed to be a competition of who is best at tanking matches during the regualr season to keep their rating down. The real question however, is this guy a real contender to win the league title or will he fade away into the background as the season progresses?

In unrelated news, League Fees will be increased by 20% moving forward due to the increased alcohol consumption over the last two weeks, in what local experts are referring to as the "Chris Steyl Effect". Starting this coming Wednesday, the League Fee will go from $5 per night to $6 per night. Finally, I feel obligated to mention Claes continued his dominance as he went 3-0 on the night, hitting enough kill shots to label the event as a "Mass Shooting". Look for him to have a potentially tough week moving forward with the expected return of Nathan "Nate Dogg" Crick.

The APTA thanks League Director Randy Lofgren for his unending service, commitment to growing the game, and charitable donations of PTI Points

The third week of Randy's Amazing PTI Platform League has come and gone. The night began with uncertainty as Tropical Storm Zeta caused chaos on the Charlote Paddle Scene. In what can only be described as an unbelievably shocking turn of events, Lofgren went from "Hero" to "Zero" as fast as Claese could slash, cut, drop, and kill his way to victory, but certainly not to be confused with "Absolute Zero", a rare feat achieved by two league members the previous week.

Joining Lofgren in the "Loser's Lounge" was Chris Steyl, who ran into the buzzsaw and current #2 in League Standing, Tom Weston. Tom is only 2nd to Nathan "Nate Dogg" Crick, the only player to put up 2 League Points each night. Play continues next week as Claes begins to find his form with the weight of "tied for last place" off his shoulders. Look for a wild night as random chance will play a large role in the outcome next Wednesday!

The APTA thanks League Director Randy Lofgren for his unending service, commitment to growing the game, and charitable donations of PTI Points

Week Two of Charlotte's newest and hottest league, Randy's Amazing PTI Platform League is in the books! While Claes continued to fail at gaining any league points on Court 1, the majority of the action took place on Court 2. Niclas Nilsson, The Biggest Swede in the South partnered with Robert "Suns Out Guns Out" Phillips to take on Tom "What's a Drive?" Weston and Randy "Just Say Uncle and I'll Make it Stop" Lofgren in what turned out to be a disaster of a night for Nilsson and Phillips.

Weston lobbed and Lofgren watched as the meltdown unfolded. The 6-0, 6-0 victory from Weston/Lofgren led to a heated debate on the eligibility of Nilsson and Phillips in week 3. Ultimately, pitty and guilt led the league organizers to their decision to allow Robert and Nic another week in the league.

The APTA thanks League Director Randy Lofgren for his unending service, commitment to growing the game, and charitable donations of PTI Points