2011-12 Illini Tennis Thread - Men's team wins Big Ten title

[WesterveltVictoryCigar]

Kalmanovich and Nevolo won twice and are in the round of 16. Hoh lost his first round match then won a consolation match.

Several upsets as the top 3 seeds have all lost in the main draw.

[Aobanoniji]

Nevolo escaped two match points to win. Apparently the wind was really bad which contributed to lots of seeds going down. Nevolo and Kalmanovich in the finals would be fine with me!

[illinoisportsfan]

Nevolo and Kalmanovich both won today to advance to the quarterfinals.

That's pretty impressive having two players in the quarterfinals of a national championship tournament. (Of course, some of the top college players are taking the fall season off to play in pro events.)

Oh, what might have been this year if Singh hadn't transferred.

Let's hope Dancer can pull a rabbit out of his hat with one or two January enrollees (who can get cleared quickly by the NCAA).

[Aobanoniji]

Yeah, too bad about Singh. He emailed me a couple weeks ago and told me he needed a scholarship so he had to transfer. Dancer is going to HAVE to work some magic because if one player goes down we can't play a dual match. I want to keep the faith.

[illinoisportsfan]

Originally Posted by Aobanoniji

Yeah, too bad about Singh. He emailed me a couple weeks ago and told me he needed a scholarship so he had to transfer. Dancer is going to HAVE to work some magic because if one player goes down we can't play a dual match. I want to keep the faith.

I find that hard to believe. Every team only gets 4.5 scholarships and Illinois only has six players now, with two of them being from in-state (Nevolo and Kopinski). I can't believe that Georia has more scholarship money to give than Illinois right now, unless there are some shenanigans going on there.

[Aobanoniji]

Originally Posted by illinoisportsfan

I find that hard to believe. Every team only gets 4.5 scholarships and Illinois only has six players now, with two of them being from in-state (Nevolo and Kopinski). I can't believe that Georia has more scholarship money to give than Illinois right now, unless there are some shenanigans going on there.

That's what he told me. Said he wasn't given what he was promised when he came to Illinois so he had no choice. Who knows what all the circumstances are. At any rate, he's gone so we'll have to see what Dancer does now to beef up the roster.

[Aobanoniji]

Nevolo won the second to even the match and took a bathroom break. When he returned, they penalized him NINE POINTS. And then again for protesting. So he started the second set at 02, 0-30. Unbelieveable. Needless today, Nevolo had no desire to play on after that and went down easily 6-0.

Congratulations college tennis! You got to show the world today what an asinine and moronic sport you can be.

[illinoisportsfan]

And Kalmanovich blew three match points and lost his match in three sets.

Not a good day for Illinois tennis after a promising start.

[JSpence]

Originally Posted by Aobanoniji

Nevolo won the second to even the match and took a bathroom break. When he returned, they penalized him NINE POINTS. And then again for protesting. So he started the second set at 02, 0-30. Unbelieveable. Needless today, Nevolo had no desire to play on after that and went down easily 6-0.

Congratulations college tennis! You got to show the world today what an asinine and moronic sport you can be.

Wow, I've never heard of a penalty like that. Was he gone for 45 minutes or something? That's just dumb. It gives somebody out there another reason not to go to a match someday.

[Aobanoniji]

An inconsistent enforcing of the rules leads to things like this. A fail on the ump, a fail on Dancer who should know but getting his team ready isn't his thing (he has said so himself a few times), and a big fail on college tennis. It'll be a while before I watch or think about checking it again. Pathetic.

[Aobanoniji]

While everyone is celebrating a great Illini weekend with football, volleyball and soccer(?) victories, the tennis team had a different result this weekend. It started good with Nevolo and Kalmanovich gettin to the All-American National tournament but it all stopped there. Kalmanovich lost after having 3 match points and playing for almost 4 hours. The problem was with the Nevolo match. After 2 sets, Nevolo had tied the match and before the third set, Nevolo took a bathroom break. In college rules, you are allowed 3 min, 2 min is some cases(wtf), and if you go over that, you are penalized 1 point for every 20 seconds (another wtf). This rule is not usually followed to the letter but yesterday's ump was. When the umpire started penalyzing Nevolo, Dancer was frantically looking for his player. When Nevolo finally came back, he was 3 min late and already down 0-2 and love 15. He tried to get a medical timeout to get his head straight but that cost him another point. He was clearly upset about what had happened (I was watching the online feed) and won only 4 more points to lose 6-0 in the third. W. T. H. was Dancer doing?
1. He should know the rules and make sure his players know them.
2. He should know where his player is.
3. He needs to own up to that he really really screwed up.

What does he do?
Dancer's comments:

"Dennis made a little bit of a tactical error and it cost him at the beginning of the third set," Dancer said. "He was unable to recover, which was too bad. Overall, I think Dennis' transition play was a big improvement. It is a good foundation for him to build on. He incorporated that today, and we've been working on it for years, so it was really exciting to see."

http://www.fightingillini.com/sports...100811aab.html

W. T. F.?!! Talk about spinning. This is the quarterfinals of one the three biggest tournaments of the year and this is what he has to say?

Craig Tiley came to Illinois and built a national power out of nothing. We were the best team in the B1G and top 5 in the nation. Since Tiley resigned for a better job in Australia, the Illini are now No. 17(last rankings), No. 4 in the B1G, constantly losing players (we have the bare minimum of 6), and his players don't even know the rules. He is always saying he got outcoached.

http://www.fightingillini.com/sports...052011aaa.html

http://www.fightingillini.com/sports...040211aaa.html

http://www.fightingillini.com/sports...032711aaa.html

It is sad that it has come to this. We are hosting the NCAA National tourney in 2013 but we are not even going to be playing in it. We will be spectators while other teams play for a national championship on our courts. Talk about humiliating.

If it was the basketball or football team, people would be calling for Dancer's head but tennis is a small time sport. Horrible coaching, terrible attrition, and disappointing results won't matter. The football-loving AD will probably be unconcerned while Dancer continues to destroy the tennis team that Tiley built.

[krushdad]

Do you know where Dennis was during the time he left the court? I doubt it. If he was in the restroom was Brad supposed to go take a dump for him? Please make sure you know the facts before you make assumptions and then proceed to dump on the coach. Thanks.

The Illini men's tennis team, have had some great individual performances this fall. Playing as "INDIVIDUALS". We have never had three players make this most recent tournament, and have never had two make it to the qtr. finals.

Illini tennis is looking very good this fall and should be ready to "roll" once the real season begins! GO ILLINI!!! Oh, And I don't think you have to worry about having a couple of extra players when the real season begins. ;-)

[Aobanoniji]

Originally Posted by krushdad

Do you know where Dennis was during the time he left the court? I doubt it. If he was in the restroom was Brad supposed to go take a dump for him? Please make sure you know the facts before you make assumptions and then proceed to dump on the coach. Thanks.

The Illini men's tennis team, have had some great individual performances this fall. Playing as "INDIVIDUALS". We have never had three players make this most recent tournament, and have never had two make it to the qtr. finals.

Illini tennis is looking very good this fall and should be ready to "roll" once the real season begins! GO ILLINI!!! Oh, And I don't think you have to worry about having a couple of extra players when the real season begins. ;-)

Did you know where he was? Please enlighte me. And I have a whole lot more to dump on this coach besides that. Bottom line; he does not have his players ready. He admits that much himself. He is a bad coach period. Thanks.

[VTIllini]

Originally Posted by Aobanoniji

Best Illini results:
Singles: 2002 Amer Delic (runner-up)
Doubles: 2002 Delic/Michael Caulkins (champions)

I was expecting great things from Delic as a pro after following his Illini career, but he doesn't seem able to get past the first or second rounds. Any guesses as to what has gone wrong?

[WesterveltVictoryCigar]

Originally Posted by VTIllini

I was expecting great things from Delic as a pro after following his Illini career, but he doesn't seem able to get past the first or second rounds. Any guesses as to what has gone wrong?

Not good enough?

Seriously, making it as a pro in a sport like tennis or golf is incredibly hard to do.

[illinoisportsfan]

Originally Posted by VTIllini

I was expecting great things from Delic as a pro after following his Illini career, but he doesn't seem able to get past the first or second rounds. Any guesses as to what has gone wrong?

For a collegiate player, Amer Delic has had a pretty successful pro career. He reached as high as #60 in the world and has earned about $900,000 in prize money (probably over a million if you count non-ATP sanctioned tournaments).

He's played in the main draw of every grand slam event and beaten many great players, including #4 Davydenko. He has always had the physical skills, but sometimes his mental game holds him back.

He has also struggled with injuries, which have set him back several times. Most recently, he is trying to come back again from a knee injury after being off for over a year. He currrently has his ranking back to 226 and has competed in one ATP event this year after qualifying.

He has also been successful this year in Davis Cup, playing for Bosnia-Herzegovina and winning all three matches against Estonia, and both singles matches against Denmark: http://www.daviscup.com/en/players/p...yerid=10026014

http://www.atpworldtour.com/Tennis/P...mer-Delic.aspx

[VTIllini]

Originally Posted by illinoisportsfan

For a collegiate player, Amer Delic has had a pretty successful pro career. He reached as high as #60 in the world and has earned about $900,000 in prize money (probably over a million if you count non-ATP sanctioned tournaments).

He's played in the main draw of every grand slam event and beaten many great players, including #4 Davydenko. He has always had the physical skills, but sometimes his mental game holds him back.

He has also struggled with injuries, which have set him back several times. Most recently, he is trying to come back again from a knee injury after being off for over a year. He currrently has his ranking back to 226 and has competed in one ATP event this year after qualifying.

He has also been successful this year in Davis Cup, playing for Bosnia-Herzegovina and winning all three matches against Estonia, and both singles matches against Denmark: http://www.daviscup.com/en/players/p...yerid=10026014

http://www.atpworldtour.com/Tennis/P...mer-Delic.aspx

I didn't realize how far off-base I was. Comes from insufficient research. Thanks for the helpful source examples.

[Aobanoniji]

The second of the big individual titles, the ITA Indoors, is gettng underway. Before the main tournament in November, twelve regional tournaments are held all over the country. These act like qualifying tournaments and all of the players who made the semifinals get to play in the national tournament.

Of the Illini players, Dennis Nevolo and Roy Kalmanovich qualified for the national tournament so they do not have to play the regionals. Stephen Hoh, Bruno Abdelnour, Ross Guignon and Tim Kopinski are all in the Midwest Regional draw.

The tournament starts Nov 13th and ends on the 18th.

[Aobanoniji]

The Illini in the ITA Regionals finished up yesterday.

Singles
Bruno Abdelnour won two rounds and lost in the round of 16
Stephen Hoh won two rounds and lost to No. 2 seed Buchanan in the round of 16.
Tim Kopinski won the first day and lost in the round of 32 to the No. 1 seed Rola.
Ross Guignon lost the first round and also the next cnsolatin match.

Doubles:
Abdelnour/Guignon lost in the 2nd round.
Hoh/Kopinski lost in the 3rd round.

Nevolo and Kopinski are already qualified for the national tournament. Starts in November.

Go Illini!

[WesterveltVictoryCigar]

Nevolo is in the finals of the ITA National Indoors singles! Will play #1 seed Mitchell Frank from UVa tomorrow afternoon at noon.

Live scoring

[WesterveltVictoryCigar]

Nevolo couldn't finish it, lost in 3 sets to Frank. Still a nice run for him in this tournament.

[Aobanoniji]

Congratulations to Nevolo on a great tournament. Now let's see if Dancer can find some players who will stay in the program.

[ilphotog]

Saw the womens team Saturday at Purdue, different kind of format, the team had some ups and downs but generally played well. The two freshman are really talented, early on I would guess that Kopinski would get the early nod, Jamison has some serious hitting power, when she gets her accurcy down she could be awesome.
I think this year this team starts climbing up into the mid to upper Big Ten, they will be the deepest they've been in a long time. Looking forward to 2012.

[illinoisportsfan]

Originally Posted by ilphotog

Watched Jared and Alex play this summer, both looked really good. Poised, took care of of business.

It looks like Alexander Jesse has reneged on his commitment to Illinois. The tennisrecruiting.net story about his commitment that was supposed to run got pulled and he's been removed from Illinois' commitment list.

What the heck is going on with Illinois' tennis team? That is two years in a row that a top recruit has de-committed at the last minute. Add that to the Ku Singh transfer and the Brian Alden transfer and the ridiculous turnover in this program for years now and something just isn't right.

[Aobanoniji]

It's sad. It really is. Dancer was given the keys to a castle and turned it into a motel. He's got to go.