Honolulu Challenger Day 3 – Final Qualifying Rounds, Main Draw First Round

Written by: Staff on 24th January 2012

Honolulu Challenger Day 3 - Final Qualifying Rounds, Main Draw First Round

America's Bobby Reynolds returns a shot to his compatriot John Isner during their second round match at the Sydney International tennis tournament in Sydney, Australia, 11 January 2012. EPA/PAUL MILLER AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND OUT |

Aloha folks from the 2012 Honolulu Challenger! Today, the action from the $50,000 event heated up with final round qualifying matches and main draw first round battles featuring players such as Bobby Reynolds, Robert Kendrick, Alex Kuznetsov, and Amer Delic. I was able to view the matches and takes notes on the players and their strengths.

It’s pretty clear that the level of play here is quite high and that while it’s not necessarily always about power, these players are able to produce low trajectory balls to specific targets on the court consistently. While I felt inefficient in my movement yesterday, feeling off balance or a step late here and there, I noticed today in Bobby Reynold’s first round singles match that his movement and awareness on the court is smooth and calm. I’d chalk that up to mere experience and comfort as he’s been in this environment for years!

A second major part to the game (that is lacking in my own game) is the ability of the players to produce hard groundstrokes when they take the ball early. Nowadays the game is played by taking away your opponent’s time, but the lesson or saying becomes much more real when you experience it first hand like I did against Kevin Kim yesterday. Today I watched him do the same thing, as well as Reynolds, and pretty much every other player who won today. It’s one thing to talk about it, it’s another thing to be able to go out there and do it. I know that in my next practice, I’ll be using way more intensity each ball to produce stronger shots and really try to “let go” of my backhand, let the wrist snap on the follow through, keep my eye on the ball past contact point and basically try to hit it harder and still have it land in the court.

The only big servers here are Amer Delic, Robert Kendrick, Bobby Reynolds, Michael McClune, Takanyi Garanganga, Alex Bogdanovic, and of course Jack Sock. I watched Ginepri practice today but he wasn’t really loading up on his serves today; we’ll see how it is during match time.

These guys are pros because they’re able to do what they do consistently day to day. Not only does that mean consistency in their games, but also in their mental approaches. The only frustration I saw today was in the second set with Kevin Kim’s match which he dropped. He missed a first serve late in the set and smacked the ball hard into the side fence, it bounced right back to him and he gave it to a ball runner. He ended up winning the third set and qualifying for the main draw. Other than that, there were no racket bounces, swear words, or loud shouts all day!

Jack Sock was very impressive during his doubles match partnering with Nick Monroe. Unfortunately he was playing against my friends Ikaika Jobe and Hendrik Bode from Hawaii, but it was confirmation that he’s really really good in my book. The best players out here look the most solid, they don’t miss balls where others become flimsy at the wrist or radical in shot selection. Sock definitely looked like he belonged.

The funniest thing that happened today was when Travis Rettenmaier and partner Amer Delic were sitting on a changeover against Dennis Lajola and Michael McClune. Since there was a lack of ball runners and the sun blazing out here, they gave the players umbrellas to keep them out of the sun. Travis opened the umbrella and propped it up for Amer and himself. It was comedic because of the humorous comments they made to the chair umpire and their overall care-free attitude towards it. When is the last time you saw a player on tv creating their own shade on a change over??

Tomorrow I hope to talk to a few more players about sponsorships and life on the road, maybe get a hit in or two with them, I’ll let you know!

Shubert