BALLY'S ARTICLE, A players perspective
by David Harris
Where should I begin? I know, I know. You're all thinking the same thing I’m thinking, “What was up with those trophies?” I mean, some of you got pairs of socks. It’s disappointing at first, even now when I think back on it, it’s pretty sad. I talked it over with Ryan, and sat and contemplated the situation on my own.(Editors Note: Many people liked getting something original and something they can use as a trophy) For any of you who have been involved in tennis over the past year would agree with me when I say that Marc Kreisberger’s trophies from the 25th Annual Amstel Light Tournament were beautiful. Why sale them short, they were crystal masterpieces. What lacked at that(AMSTEL TOURNAMENT) tournament? Well, splitting up the tournament between two locations affected the tournament quite a bit. The tournament had an amazing party. Unbelievable in many aspects. Endless food, great music, and lot and lots of people, but that’s where the tournament ended for me. It wasn’t really special for me. Anyways, enough of that tournament, this is about the 2004 Bally’s Cup.
For me, I didn’t even get to go to the tournament party. However good or bad it was, I’ll never truly know. I do know though, I missed out on food, and that disappoints me always. From day one, I got to the Bally’s and from the second I got there I saw all the staples of a tennis tournament. Ryan was running around like usual. Always busy, always working hard. I saw my friend Brittany Adcox on the courts, and I sat down by Ryan and The ever infamous Marc Kreisberger. We watched some tennis, and at that moment I realized the different vibe from this tournament(BALLY'S TOURNAMENT). All the matches were so close that we all had to wait together. It was a much more personal tournament than I had ever played in before. I’ve only played tennis for about seven months now, and I haven’t got a trophy yet. I worked harder than anyone in the tournament to win. I know I did. I played the first round against an employee of the Bally’s. Ryan Milliron had just moved here from Texas. He was going to start to attend UNLV next semester, and played a little tennis in high school. I won 6-0, 6-0. It felt great. All my training paid off. The only bad thing about this win was that it would set me up for a quarterfinal showdown with the number two seed, Marc Kreisberger. Marc and I have played the exact same amount of time, and we have always had a healthy rivalry between each other. He doesn’t like to lose to me, I HATE to lose to him, so this next match was important.
It was everything that it was hyped up to be. I barely pulled the first set out. Luckily, I got a good start, so even when he got his foot in the match it was a little too late. I won the first set 7-5. That’s about as close as you can get. Marc was outplaying me, but I was playing the big points better. So it was a flip flop. If had had better point management, he would have taken that first set easy. His strokes were great, and he was definitely faster and in better shape than I was used to. This showed in the second set. He crushed me. 2-6. It seemed that no matter what I did it didn’t work out. That was the difference between the first and second set. The second he played all the points well. Sometimes I tried just to get him to deuce to keep him out there. I figured I had a better chance if I got to the tiebreaker because he was playing to good.
For me, the break between the second set and tiebreaker was great. I got some water, and looked around and smiled. This tournament was awesome. We had a crowd going by this time, and we had some of the tightest points two people could have. I barely pulled out the tiebreaker 10-8, and it took everything out of me to win it. Words wouldn’t express how happy I was with this win. I was on the top of the world. Although I always had the upper hand when it came to the win loss record against Marc, something about that night just had me scared. I knew how much he was playing, and he was playing well. So it really was super to pull out a tournament win over Marc. Like most great feelings, they came to an end. The next round was a semifinal showdown against Fredrick Irwin. All I had to do was beat this one guy, and I was going to get a trophy. Remember, at this time none of us knew what the trophies were going to be. This match started off bad and ended worse. I came into the match way to confident. Marc had played this guy before, and he beat him pretty bad. So what was my mind set going into the match? “Well, Marc beat him, I beat Marc, and I’ll beat him.” What a horrible way of thinking. I lost the match 6-4, 6-4. Lost my cool, and broke my 200 dollar Yonex racquet. I sat at my car and cried over the loss. This isn't the end of the tournament to me, and I’ll come back to this in a second. I just want to let everyone know what I learned from this experience.
I sat and talked to Ryan about the tournament, and he asked me to write about it. I’m glad he said that because I wanted to let everyone know what I learned. A lot of times people don’t want to listen to people who haven’t played as long as them, but this time it would help out a lot. Ryan said something like, “Don’t get to up from a win, and don’t get to down from a loss.” I think about the loss now, and I can’t believe I cried over it. A tennis match! Not the end of the world. Sure, it sucks because I put a lot of training into, but I trained for all the wrong reasons. I got disappointed for all the wrong reasons. I didn’t think positive. I beat someone 6-0, 6-0!!! That’s hard to do on any level. You have to play really tight all the time. You have to make very little mistakes. I beat my friend Marc. He was seeded! I made it to the semifinals I lost to the guy who won the tournament!!!! I mean come on. I can’t believe I was mad about this. I had a blast, and finally got some tournament wins.
Let’s go back to the end of that night. I was so mad that I lost that I didn’t plan on attending the finals day. For some reason though, I came. I now realize why. I had other people to watch. Why do you ask? We all had to wait for our matches together and slowly but surely we got to know one another. I met some really nice people. Dana Cortez and her family was one of the groups of people. I watched her play her Women’s 4.0 final match, and then talked to her after the tournament. We decided we would play mixed doubles the next tournament. Her family was having a Halloween party, and I got to go. They were very nice people. Frank Sidoris is a Men’s 4.0 player. He hit with me before one of his matches, and I really got to know him. He’s so honest and has a great heart. It was great to meet people like Frank, and Dana. I got to talk with the parents of Carli Doerr. She’s a junior player in town, and she has a very bright future. Whether I see any of these people again it doesn’t matter because for those moments I got to know them. That was what was so great about the tournament. We got to meet people. I don’t know all your names yet, but I’m sure I will some day. Either way, the 2004 Bally’s Cup was a huge stepping stone towards a positive community for tennis. I have nothing but smiles, and the best trophy I could ask for. Vegas Tennis.
David Harris is a 3.0 player . He is a member at The Stirlig Club at Turnberry Place and plays on Stirling team. He also is the owner of a music memorabilia store in the Stratosphere casino. His father is the well known political campaign manager.
EDITORS NOTE: Thank you to Dave Harris for his insightful article and honest feedback. I welcome all opinions and feedback. I enjoy getting articles sent to me to publish. Please feel encouraged to forward any tennis notes, updates on any player or team, and even a full article as David Harris submitted. Thank you David. Well written, I enjoyed your honesty.
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