Devarmann Pulls Out 2 Upsets at Chennai

Congratulations to past Music City Challenger Somdev Devarmann who beat Carlos Moya and Ivan Karlovic this week in Chennai. This is definitely a Music City Challenger alum to keep an eye on.

If you know of news about any other Music City Challenger player successes, please post a comment so we can recognize their acheivements, too.

Challeger Pictures

Thanks to Peter, here are several pictures from the Music City Challenger that was held in November 2008. I'll be adding more later this week but I thought you might enjoy these.

More from the Challenger

I will be posting more pictures soon from the Challenger but I wanted to share this one of several of the night shift ball boys and girls.

Thanks Nashville!

We apologize for the late post, but we just wanted to thank everyone for making the Nashville tournament a fun one again this year. We wish we could have done better, but at least we could enjoy everyone's company even being out of the tournament...... A special thanks to Rocky, Chuck, and many others that were working all week to make things happen..... We will shoot for a better tournament next year...... If you want to keep up with the Battistone Brothers and The Natural Two-Handled Tennis Racket until next year, visit www.NATURALTENIS.com

Take Care!

Challenger Complete- See you Next Year

Jesse Levine and Amadeus Nunaley-connor

I'll be adding more pictures over the next few days but wanted to post a quick wrap up.

First, thanks to all the players for joining us in Nashville. This week provided some outstanding tennis and I know that many in the local tennis community will be discussing the matches for several weeks.

Second, thanks to all of the volunteers that helped with the event from the Ballkids to the Front Desk and all those behind the scenes, the tournament wouldn't have been a success without you.

Third, congratulations to the winners of Saturdays matches. Doubles: Carsten Ball and Travis Rettenmaier and Singles Robert Kendrick.

Wednesday Update- Day

Here's your update of the day matches from Wednesday. As you can expect, the level of play is increasing as the stakes are higher and the matches are moving along.

On Court 5 we saw some fun points and hard hitting. The day began with Kevin Kim v Phillip Simmonds. While Simmonds poured his heart into the points, Kim was able to dig deep and pull out the victory at 6-3, 6-3.

The second match was Jesse Levine v Giovanni Lapentti. The first set seemed like a fairly easy round for Levine but Lapentti dug deep in the second set to try for the comeback. In the end, the match went to Levine 6-2, 7-5.

The next singles match on Court 5 was full of emotion and passion as Scoville Jenkins v Illia Bozoljac. This was the match to watch, if you wanted to see McEnroe like antics. Starting with Jenkins hitting a ball and knocking down the Pipe and Drape to Bozoljac breaking a racquet and having a bit of a shout with one of the ball moms, it was quite passionate. After 3 sets, Jenkins prevailed winning 6-2, 4-6, 6-3.

Moving over to Court 3 the day began with doubles. Fisher and Thomas v Charroin and Torte. The first set appeared to be a routine win for Fisher and Thomas but the second set became a real nail-biter as Charroin and Torte fought their way back into the match. With several very long deuce points and a tiebreak to determine the match, Fisher and Thomas were ultimately victorious with a final score of 6-3, 7-6 (9).

The next match of the day was Rajeev Ram v Michael Russell. Reports from the ballkids working this match were it was a battle of two hard hitters with Russell coming out on top. Final score was 7-6(2), 6-3.

The last match that the day crew was able to watch was the 3 setter between Robert Kendrick and Luka Gregorc. This was another well played match with long rallies and some emotion coming through. Ultimately, Kendrick prevailed winning 5-7, 7-5, 6-3.

Thursday Schedule

Wednesday Schedule of Play

Music City Challenger In the News

Photo Courtesy of Cathy Harris

Nice article about Bobby Reynolds win (local favorite) and today's match schedule in the Nashville City Paper.

Read the full story here.

Day Shift News From the Challenger

We had a chance to see some fantastic matches today. First match on Court 5 started with Kevin Kim v Matwe Middlekoop. They set the tone for the day with some intense tennis starting off with a three setter. Kim eventually won 6-3, 3-6, 6-3. On a side note, he was voted as one of the two "ball kid" killers when one of his serves left a 3" welt on the leg of one of the ball girls.

Next up on Court 5 was Somdev Devvarman v Travis Rettenmaier. This was a very fun match to watch, especially as Devvarman's footwork was just amazing- he moved like lightning. Two of the ball kids were impressed that he did everything their coach had been telling them they should be doing. Andrea, one of the ball girls was excited when Travis spoke to her. It was a highlight of her day.

Next on Court 5 was the Zack Fleishman v Giovanni Lapentti. Lapentti won this match after a 1st set tie break.

The last match of the day shift was Phillip Simmonds v. Dusan Vemic- unfortunately, we left before the match was over so we aren't able to report much.

On Court 3 the action was just as fast paced. The first match of the day was Van Der Merwe (qualifier) v Ball. Ball won 7-5, 6-3. The next match was Russell v. Dancevic. Russell won 6-2, 6-2.

Moving later into the day, visitors were treated to hometown favorite Bobby Reynolds vs Luis Flores. The first set was solid but the second set was a true show of tennis playing passion and ability as they played multiple deuce points and then a 7 set tie break.

The final match on Court 3 for the day shift was another 3 setter between Jesse Levine and Tim Smyczek. While we weren't able to see the end of the match the first two sets showed a true slug fest between two very hard hitting Americans (this ball mom has the bruises to prove it!).

More from the day shift tomorrow.